Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1998-03-26

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Because of what Mr Zikhali did, we sat down and planned what we were going to do about him.  He could move in and out of both areas whilst we could not do that.  We realised that he was no longer involved with taxis as a taxis operator, but was now involved in politics.  We planned how we were going to attack him.  We were four when we planned, but there were only three of us who attacked him.  We then went to ...[intervention]

MR ALBERTS: Just hold on a second.  Was it a decision that was made between the four of you or was there somebody taking the lead and in fact eventually giving an order?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: The person who was taking decisions was not there when we went to do this.  After dropping us at a certain place, he drove to his house and waited there for us to phone him.  That is Mr Dlulane.

MR ALBERTS: And when was it decided that this killing were to take place?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: I think he was supposed to be killed in January 1993.  This, however, did not happen as we planned.  On this day then, we knew that his car had gone to the casino and we saw him being dropped somewhere by his driver.

CHAIRPERSON: When was this decision taken, when?

MR ALBERTS: Mr Chairman?

CHAIRPERSON: When was this decision taken?

MR ALBERTS: Yes when was the decision taken to have Mr Zikhali killed?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: I cannot remember, but I remember that he was finally shot on a Sunday at about 8pm.

MR ALBERTS: I see the date of death as indicated on the inquest document is the 21st of November of 1993, how long before the incident did you come to this decision?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: It took a long time.  We started planning to kill him in 1992 and he was killed in 1993.  We could not get him at that time, and violence intensified in 1993 in the location and IFP members were killed without any reason, and I was also shot.  I do not know why they were being attacked.

MR MALAN: Mr Myeza, - Sorry Mr Alberts, I am just trying to get an idea when he was killed in relation to the decision taken.  We have the dates, end of 1993 he was killed and you say in 1992 the decision was taken, can we try and approach this differently?

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.

MR MALAN: When you took the decision to kill Zikhali what did you do?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: We were still deciding whether to kill him or talk to him so that he could stop what he was doing.  I then said to Mr Nyawuza ...[intervention]

MR MALAN: No.  Sorry for interrupting.  Let's accept that you have now taken the decision, after the discussion he was to be killed, that decision was now taken, what did you then do to implement the decision?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: There is nothing else we did other than to kill him.

CHAIRPERSON: You waited nearly a year to do that?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Yes, because we could not get hold of him.  We only managed to get him when we heard that he had a girlfriend staying in Ntuli's cottages in the location.

MR ALBERTS: How did this girlfriend assist you in killing him?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Before we got hold of Mr Zikhali, our intention was to kill a Security Branch policeman.  When we went to his house, we were disturbed by a dog, and that policeman came out of his house with an R4 rifle.  We then ran away.  As we were running away, we saw Mr Zikhali accompanied by his girlfriend.  She was taking him to the bus stop where he was going to wait for his kombi to pick him up.  Vusi Myeza, without asking him anything, then shot him.

MR ALBERTS: Can I just go back to my previous question, did the girlfriend actually assist you in killing or is it just the fact that you saw him with his girlfriend that assisted you?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: No, his girlfriend did not assist us in anyway.  She left him at the bus stop and went back into her house.  We then got a chance to shoot him.

MR ALBERTS: Was it just by chance that you now saw him somewhere where you could get to him?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Yes, because he was walking on foot and not in his car.

MR ALBERTS: Okay tell us in detail what happened after you saw him going to the bus stop or rather to the taxi rank?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: We followed him because we were on the road.  We then saw his girlfriend leaving him alone, and we then used the opportunity to attack him.  Myeza then shot him once in his chest.  We then left.  These boys ran to the scrap yard and I went to Mr Nyawuza's house.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay before we go to the details about where you went after the shooting, just give me some details about who was the person that did the shooting?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Vusi Myeza.

CHAIRPERSON: Were you also armed with a gun?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Yes, I had a firearm.

CHAIRPERSON: You didn't fire?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: I did not shoot on that day.

CHAIRPERSON: So after he was shot what happened to him?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: After he was shot, we ran away.  I went to Nyawuza's house while these other boys went to Regina Gcabashe.  I did not tell Mr Nyawuza of what we had done.  Regina Gcabashe then phoned Mr Nyawuza and informed him that the boys had told her that they had been attacked.  Mr Nyawuza and myself then got into his car to go and fetch these boys.  Mr Nyawuza handed his shot gun to me ...[intervention]

CHAIRPERSON: I think that this is becoming a little confusing.  Do you understand what is being said, are you getting a comprehensive picture of what he is saying?

MR ALBERTS: Mr Chairman, no not quite.

CHAIRPERSON: Well now why are you allowing it?

MR ALBERTS: Yes Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Please I want you to understand that I would like this step by step.  You have told us that after the shooting your friend Myeza and his companion went to somebody else's house, they went to that scrap yard and they went to somebody else's house.  You went to Mr Dludlani and you reported to him that this man Zikhali had been killed, is that right?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Oh I thought you said: "I went and reported to Dludlani?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: No, I did not tell him.  A short time after my arrival the phone rang.

CHAIRPERSON: Alright so you went to Mr Dludlani's house and what did you do there?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: I kept quiet because there was females around.  We did not want them to know what we were doing.

CHAIRPERSON: Alright I don't want an explanation. What was the next thing that happened while you were at Mr Dludlani's house?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Regina Gcabashe who stay near the scrap yard then phoned and asked Mr Nyawuza to go and fetch the boys because they were being attacked.  Mr Nyawuza then took his shotgun and gave it to me, and we went there.  We found Vusi and Sbu Zuma and took them away.  As we were driving past the place where we had shot Mr Zikhali, we saw the police taking his body away.  We stopped our car to take a look, and Mr Nyawuza praised us for a job well done.

MR MALAN: Could you just please slow down a little so we can follow it?  Would you tell us again, you went in the car to fetch Vuzi Myeza and Zuma?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Yes.

MR MALAN: And then you said something about the police taking the body?

CHAIRPERSON: Let's put it this way, where did you go to after you picked Vuzi Myeza and Zuma up?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: We were on our way back to Mr Nyawuza's house.

CHAIRPERSON: And what happened there?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: We went to sit at Mr Nyawuza's house, just to see whom did the police suspect.  We realised that the police were not suspecting anyone of us.

CHAIRPERSON: My question was not all that, not what you suspected, my question was when you went to Nyawuza's place what happened if anything?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: Nothing else happened.

CHAIRPERSON: Were the police there?

THULANI MZOKHONA MYEZA: There were no police at Nyawuza's house.

CHAIRPERSON: Were the police in the vicinity of Nyawuza's place?