Human Rights Violation Hearings — Welkom — 1996-10-08

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, it would appear that you are also a victim indirectly.  Maybe you need also to see that you get treatment somehow.  Anyway thank you very much for this, for coming up, for the trust which the people have laid on you and as Professor Magwaza has just said, those parents are still free to come forward as individual families to put their stories.  The aim of the Truth Commission is that people must speak out the pain, should not internalise the pain which they have inside.  I think she's trying to say that they must also come up and speak out and take out this pain which is so much ... (inaudible) ... a cancer in themselves and that will release them emotionally.  Thank you very much.  You can also encourage them to come forward.  Thanks a lot.

WITNESS:   Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: /CHAIRMAN

CHAIRPERSON: Before tea, let's take just one.  That is witness Jackson Xhamfu and Janu Morabi and they will be led by Professor Simangele Magwaza.
EXCHANGE OF GREETINGS BETWEEN CHAIRMAN AND WITNESS

CHAIRPERSON: Lapa, I see that you are two who have come forward.  Who is Jackson Xhamfu?

MR XHAMFU: I am Jackson Xhamfu.

CHAIRPERSON: And Jani Morabi is the other one?

MR XHAMFU: Morabi's not present.

CHAIRPERSON: (Not interpreted)

MR XHAMFU: This is my wife.

CHAIRPERSON: What's her name?

MR XHAMFU: Her name is Aletta Xhamfu.

CHAIRPERSON: Before you even start to relate your story ... (incomplete translation)

MR XHAMFU: I would like to speak Xhosa.

CHAIRPERSON: (Not interpreted)

MR XHAMFU: I do, but not very clearly.  I would like to speak Xhosa.

MRS XHAMFU: I speak Xhosa and Sotho.  I don't know any Zulu.

CHAIRPERSON: I'm going to speak English then so that we don't have problems if you know ... (inaudible) ... can you both stand up and take an oath.  Are you both going to speak?  Both of you are going to speak?

MR XHAMFU: Yes, we are going to speak together.  My wife is going to start then I'm going to speak last.
/ALETTA XHAMFU
ALETTA XHAMFU  (Sworn states) (Through Interpreter)

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much for coming, especially to come as a family because when we have these incidents we need to have a family fused together supporting each other.  This is very encouraging and I wish it could be the model to many families.  Now, you are going to be led by Professor Simangele Magwaza when you tell your stories and you said that it is the wife that is going to begin first.  Professor Magwaza?

PROF MAGWAZA: We thank you very much for having come here today to tell us about the story of your son.  This is an experience that has been shared by many families but what you are going to tell us today is also your own experience about the loss of your son.  According to the statement here we have Mr Jackson Xhamfu who lives at No 3805 Tabong and he was born on the 4th of April 1937.  You wrote the statement and the statement you wrote is about the violent death of your son Ndoyisile Albert Xhamfu who had gone into exile to join the ANC.  What we don't have about your son in this statement which I think we don't have the correct date of birth.  In the statement is says he was born in 1986 but I know he wasn't born in 1986.  When was your son born?  What was the date of birth of your son?

WITNESS:   He was born in 1966, on the 3rd of November 1966.

PROF MAGWAZA: Mama, you said you were the first person to speak.  Could you tell us briefly about your son?  You have told us the age.  Was he at school when he went away?  How did he go, why did he go, and what was happening at that time?  Just give us a complete picture about your son.

WITNESS:   In 1986 my son Ndoyisile was attending school at  Lebogang and he was doing Standard 10 during that year.  Then in July, that was on the 14th, that was the last time that I saw him and I heard later on that they had skipped the country and they had gone to Lesotho.  We got the message later on after they had skipped the country.  At the time he was being harassed by the police and we were having absolutely no peace at home and at the time in 1986 some were arrested during the state of emergency and I think Ndoyisile decided to skip the country then.  We stayed up to 1991, that was the first time that I heard when we were told in 1991, we got a message from the offices of the ANC, that was in January but I don't remember the date quite well but it was in 1991.  Mr Xhamfu was not present on that day and I had to rush off to the ANC offices and as I was still preparing myself to go to the Welkom branch, certain members of the ANC came and they picked me up.  They wanted Mr Xhamfu as well to come but there was no transport.  So I decided that I should be the one who goes there.  I told him to be left behind because there was no transport.  I went to the offices and was told to speak to a certain man called Jani Mohapi and Jani Mohapi is the present mayor in Bloemfontein.  It was myself together with other ANC members.  And when we got to Jani Mohabi, Jani Mohabi was surprised that we did not know that my son had died.  And he told me that at the time that he got arrested by the Bloemfontein police, when he got into the police station, the very same police who arrested him told him that Jani as well as David had been arrested and that was the last time that I spoke to Jani and he related this story to me.   And when I came back I told my husband together with other members of the ANC.

PROF MAGWAZA: I would like to ask a few questions before you carry on.  When you son skipped the country and went away who told you that he had skipped the country?

WITNESS:  We received telephone calls.  He called me and he said "Mama, I am in Lesotho," and I said to him, "What are you doing in Lesotho?"  He said, "I have no choice.  The South African police said they were going to shoot me dead."  And it is true.  Every time they wouldn't get hold of him at home and the message they would leave was,  "We are going to kill him," and he decided to skip the country until in 1991 when I heard about this.

PROF MAGWAZA: You say that he was harassed by the police.  What did they actually do to him before he left?

WITNESS:   As a parent I knew that he was a member of COSAS at the school where he was studying.  He took a part in politics.

PROF MAGWAZA: So you say the police used to come to your home.  What would they do to him?

WITNESS:   They would come looking for him.  At the time I had two boys.  It was Ndoyisile and Victor.  If they couldn't get Ndoyisile, they used to pick up Victor and they would take him to the cells and I would be left alone at home until the next day when they bring him back.  And they would interrogate him.  They would tell him to take out his brother.

PROF MAGWAZA: Did they ever harass you or your husband?

WITNESS:   No, they were not harassing us but as parents they were harassing us spiritually because they would take this last born Victor and they would take him away.  I  remember one day they took him to the police station and they assaulted him and his ears were severely injured and as a parent I would be emotionally harassed.

PROF MAGWAZA: According to your statement  Ndoyisile came back in 1987.  Did you know that he was already back before he died?

WITNESS:   I didn't know that he was back.  I only heard from Jani Mohabi that Ndoyisile was killed in 1987 and he was in Bloemfontein.

PROF MAGWAZA: Okay, and according to the records you only heard about that in 1991.  So Ndoyisile was killed in 1987.  You knew nothing about it and you only heard in 1991 that he had been killed and you heard that from Mohabi.  Is that correct?

WITNESS:   That's correct.

PROF MAGWAZA: I would like to follow your relationship with Mohabi.  Did you know Mohabi before?  Has you seen him in the township before he told you this story?

WITNESS:   I didn't know him.  I didn't know him really.