Human Rights Violation Hearings — Uitenhage — 1996-08-28

MANDLA NELSON NKOKI: We had no real name as such, we only met as the Uitenhage residents that knew each other, and fortunately we all lived in the area called Angola, that is the entire area including Mapalo and the other areas.
 What happened then was that since we all lived there, there were rumours that we were trying to establish Azapo, whereas that was not our intention because Azapo was already in existence by 1985, in the location.  Being lead by comrade Tose and Andile, he has since passed away, but him brother is still here, he is a priest.
 There was once a rally held at the stadium, and one of the speakers there was comrake Fikile Nkobose, and he mentioned a clique which lived at the corner of Ngwamsa Road that was trying to establish Azapo, and that rally was on a Sunday afternoon.  On the Monday morning after that rally, pamphlets were strewn on the corner where we lived, saying that we were banned from all the corners of Kwanobuhle and they did not want to see us walking around as groups and we laughed at this because we thought, how can we fight with the Boers about banning orders when there are still going to be other Africanists that are going to give us other banning orders so this caused great dissatisfaction and on the following weekend, on the Sunday, when those pamphlets were distributed there was a meeting at Mlwinana where all the structures under the UDF, from the top team, the area committee's, the street committee's and the action committee's, held a meeting there and we met at Malaw Nagase at Mlene Street and we wanted to discuss what this pamphlet has said and a delegation was sent out to me to the men who were in charge on the side of the UDF.  
 The delegation was led by myself and Dwarf Nkusu and we went to Mlelwana and there we were met by comrade Bihlwa and Stinki and what they said was that there was a problem that seemed to be arising there in Uitenhage.  There is a balloon and it seems that this balloon could pop at any moment and it is not good that something like this should happen.  Please remember that we all grew up together, we know each other, we have been at school together and we used to fight together at school, so if there should be conflict here, I don't think that there is going to be anyone who is going to submit to the whole process.  Abrey said that he understood that but on our side as well that we would try by all means that this balloon should not pop.  We then left.
 Giving rise to this situation, where there were these allegations, it came from where the SSC was established in Uitenhage in 1982.  The SSC was the Service Starving Community and it was established by ex-political prisoners who had come back from the 1976-1977 political era.  The SSC was established in 1982 and late in 1983 the UDF was established.  The UDF called upon all the structures to be it's affiliated and that it would be like an umbrella, but because the SSC was like a welfare organisation which fed people, Mr Nugashlepro Jones, and Hokie Ndondashe and also Jankie, served in the committee in this SSC and as Africanists, they had a problem to take the SSC at an affiliate of the UDF because the UDF had already expressed that it had adopted freedom charters and that is where the problem started, and these allegations that we were groups living at corners of Wamsa are mere additions to this problem that had been in existence already as I have mentioned, because in that committee, there were people like comrade Sais, who were serving on this SSC.
 What happened was that we were there because nothing seemed to have been happening because Abrey and them gave us an assurance that nothing was going to happen.  Then on the 13 March, a boy by the name of Lulama who lived at Kwane, came to me.  This was in 1986.  Lulama from Kwane Street came to me, he came to live there by me.  I had a shack at home, and Mr Makosindondo, an ex-political from the SSC came and we were sitting for a few minutes but since the previous day, which had been a Tuesday, and Lulama had come to me and I had drafted a speech for him which he was going to deliver at Mtongeni Street where the school children had asked that all parties should be given an opportunity to state their positions.  I then helped Lulama with the speech, he went and delivered the speech and on Wednesday the 13th, he came to sit by me in this shack.  At approximately 2pm, when school came out, Mbueseli came to me, he is currently serving a jail sentence, and they came in, he and other comrades, and they asked to see Lulama, and I said to them that Lulama  lives at Kwana and I have got a problem that you should come and look for him here at my place, I feel that you should go and wait for him at Kwana Street where he lives.  
 They then left, but after a few minutes, they came with a group of students who came into our house, and took Lulama and left with him.  Then Pilele Dolo came and said to me, look, we can't just leave Lulama to go like that, let us go with them.  We went up Palo Street where the other profession was walking up the other road and we got near to Rev Xhaxa's place when there was a road going down towards Neqa where Abrey Spila was because they said that Lulama had taken a gun from the Action Committee that belonged to Stoogo.  We then went, and since they couldn't find Abrey, Pilele Dolo was assaulted and loaded into a combi and taken to comrade Gomomo's place at Mabanhle.

REV XUNDU: Excuse me please.  I understand the details but I would like you to tell us about the political strategies of the time, because it will help us to see what the cause of the conflict was, and you have already mentioned that the UDF adopted the freedom charter, that is a political stance but what other political strategies inhibited the action which caused the conflict?

MANDLA NELSON NKOKI: I don't want us to go on particular events.  Very briefly then Reverend, as I had mentioned that by then we had not formed any political party. We were just staying there as people who believed in an Afrikanism and then as far as programs were concerned, we did not have any specific program, except to say that we were busy trying to establish contact to establish Aznio as a youth wing of the Pan-Afrikan congress.  The conflict arose while we were busy with that process.
 After there were certain developments, we were forced to go and stay in Khayelitsha as early as April.  Thanks to the ministers preternal of Uitenhage, we could facilitate peace meetings and the first peace meeting which they facilitated was due to take place at the spectrum hotel on a Saturday, where we had to go back to our homes because after this incident of the 13th, we went to live at Buyele Nogasi's place in Khayelitsha.
 When we got to Spectrum, we were surprised to find a note saying that there was no meeting that was going to take place between us and these leaders.  We were merely told that we should disband and hence the meeting couldn't take place, though the priests were there to facilitate the meeting.  We then left and went to go and stay at our homes until the meeting in May 1986, when our first victim, Vuyele Nogase was killed, and then that was where the feud in Uitenhage started.

REV XUNDU: I would like to ask you on that point, the feud that started in Uitenhage, do you think that that is where policemen took the opportunity to divide the location and fan political fire and conflict between people, in your opinion?

MANDLA NELSON NKOKI: Reverend, that is the first thing that I felt that we would like to agree and affirm, is that the Boers thought that they had got people that they could use, yet is was an opportunity for them to fan the situation in Uitenhage and make it worse before this whole situation of the feud.