Human Rights Violation Hearings — Grahamstown — 1997-04-09

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: What happened too Mtandazeli is that it was a school day, although I cannot remember which day it was, he was on his way to school.  He had gone to school and he
came back from school that afternoon, had something to eat and went back for afternoon studies and at approximately 5 pm he had not come back yet, because normally they return back to school at 2 pm.  We were worried as to why he had not returned yet and we heard a toyi-toyi march past our house, move up our street.  We were then fairly certain that he was part of that toyi-toyi because  the children back then would join the toyi-toyi as soon as they heard one.
 At approximately 6 pm the Mdisa family came to our home to tell us that Mtandazeli had fallen at their house and they had come to fetch us.  We got into Mr Maneli's car and also the Mdisa family car and we went there.  When we got there we found him laying on the ground and they told us that he came there running and he told them that he had been struck behind his ear and that he had a headache.
 They asked him what they could do for him and he asked for headache tablets and said he would like to sleep.  They offered him a bed and he declined that and he said he wanted to lie flat on the ground.  They gave him these headache tablets.
 After a while - they kept checking on him and they found that he was laying very still and after a while they'd check on him every few minutes and at some stage they found a greyish fluid flowing out of his nose and they noticed that there was some hair missing from behind his ear.
 And they then realised that they should come and fetch us because we are related in some way and we found him laying there like that.  This Mr Maneli that was with the Mdisa family assisted us because he also had a car and he took us to Settlers Hospital.
 Because those were turbulent times - the 80's were
turbulent times and there were so many toyi-toyi's, police presence and so forth, it was not easy for us to hear exactly what happened.  We just had to hear it through the grapevine because when we got to the Hospital, we met up with a Doctor White who told us, basically confirmed that he was deceased and then after a few days students came to sympathise with us after having heard that he was dead.
 And we appealed to these students that if anyone of them knew what happened, they should please tell us.  His one friend Whitey told us what happened and how it had happened.  Whitey's version of events was that they were toyi-toying up M-Street and when they got near the Nqoline Funeral Parlour the police came and dispersed them with rubber bullets and tear gas and what Whitey noticed was that while the police were standing there, Nombenqana and the Boers got out of the police vehicles and he directed, Nombenqana directed something at them and fired.
 This thing zoomed past Whitey and struck the person in front of him, who was Mtandazeli and it struck the back of his ear.  He fell and Whitey continued running.  Mtandazeli got up and ran into the Mdisa house where he fell.

ADV SANDI: Where is Whitey currently?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: Because those were such turbulent times and the ANC and AZAPO were in conflict and he belonged to AZAPO, he was a victim being sought by the ANC and he had to flee his home, but his mother took him to his aunt in Cape Town.  But he had left here already having made a statement.

ADV SANDI: When he left, did he - had he said who had shot at him?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: We had not, we were not able to ask too many questions back then because of the way it was.

ADV SANDI: Is that Mtandazeli's mother?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Who did you say the Attorney was?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: We went to Mr Sandi.

ADV SANDI: Was it not Mr Mpati?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: They were in partnership Mr Mpati and Mr Sandi.

ADV SANDI: What happened in court?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: After he had been taken to the Doctor, he was taken in for an operation.  Thereafter he was taken for the post-mortem to be conducted and we received notices informing us that an inquest was going to be held and that we should be at court at a certain date.
 We went to court and there were policemen present there who were testifying before Mr Koti, Nombenqana, saying that they did not do that because they were not trained to shoot, but at the time when Mr Koti was to take the witness stand he said that he had been trained in the use of that firearm and he could shoot, but because the witness Whitey was not present at court we don't know what became of the matter, that was the last we heard of it.

ADV SANDI: And if your presence here today, is there any wish you would like to express?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: Our wish as a family is that this matter be reopened because what happened back then was confusing to us as a family because of the way the police handled us, they would come in the morning at 1 am and harass us and attack us with tear gas, so we did not know exactly what was happening.  We merely buried him because - for the sake of the formality so we would like this matter to be reopened and be given a chance.  If we could be present that we could
bury Mtandazeli in the dignified manner, befitting him.

ADV SANDI: In your testimony you said that you would like Mtandazeli's mother to receive counselling.  Could you elaborate on that?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: Yes, I requested counselling because after this happened, we found that she was not herself any more.  There are times when she would just - all this would just come back to her and we felt that perhaps counselling could help.

ADV SANDI: Is - are you referring to the same way she behaved a few minutes ago?

NOSIPHO ANGELINA MDYOGOLO: Yes, as soon as she recalls what happened, she becomes hysterical and sometimes we have to call in other families as well to try and console her.

ADV SANDI: Thank you very much Ms Mdyogolo.  We would now like to move to Ms Koliti.
 Ms Koliti, you are here to tell us about Nontle Koliti.  Is Nontle your grandchild or  your child?

MS KOLITI: She was my child.

ADV SANDI: How old was she at the time?

MS KOLITI: Nontle was 13 years old at the time.

ADV SANDI: She was 13 years old?

MS KOLITI: Yes, she was 13 years old.

ADV SANDI: She was shot in 1986, is that correct?

MS KOLITI: Yes, that is correct.

ADV SANDI: Please tell us Ms Koliti what happened on this particular day.

MS KOLITI: On this day I was at work.  Someone came to fetch me from work, telling me that Nontle was not well.  I was surprised because when I left home, she was well.  My boss let me go.  We went home.  When I arrived at home,
there were many people at my house. 
 I heard that Nontle was shot and she passed away.

ADV SANDI: Who shot Nontle?

MS KOLITI: It was said that it was Mpukumpuku who shot her.

ADV SANDI: Is Mpukumpuku Khadi who was a policemen?

MS KOLITI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Who was with Mpukumpuku at the time?

MS KOLITI: When Mpukumpuku shot my daughter, the witnesses said that he was together with Nombenqana.

ADV SANDI: Is Nombenqana Mr Koti?

MS KOLITI: Yes, he Mr Koti.

ADV SANDI: You said that you consulted at Attorney and this case proceeded to court.  What happened in court?

MS KOLITI: This case was conducted in court, but I don't remember for how long.  But we were told once that Mpukumpuku had passed away.

ADV SANDI: Was it the end of the case then?

MS KOLITI: Yes, it was the end of the case.

ADV SANDI: Do you have a request to the Commission today so that the Commission would recommend your request to the President?  Did you receive any money or were you compensated by the Government?

MS KOLITI: Yes, I did receive an amount of money from an Attorney.

ADV SANDI: What was this money for?  Was it for burial expenses?

MS KOLITI: Yes, it was for burial expenses.