Human Rights Violation Hearings — Krugersdorp — 1996-11-12

PROF MEIRING: Two questions I would like to ask.  Maybe I did not hear properly.  At the end, just now, you say that the National Union of Mine Workers did not want you to have the body.  Was that wrong?

MR MOSHANI: No, it is not the National Union of Mine Workers.  I am saying the police did not permit to give us the body.  They said the body should be burnt.

PROF MEIRING: Thank you.  Thank you for setting that straight.  I just want to ask about the children.  You were talking about the two children of your brother.  They were very young at that stage.  The one was five and the other one was a baby.  Today the oldest one must be round about 16 years of age and the other one must be round about 11, 12.  What are the two children doing at the moment?

MR MOSHANI: The eldest one is quite a sickly person.  He is old, but he seems to be retarded.  He is not developing quite like other children of his age.  The other one is at school.

PROF MEIRING: And two different mothers?

MR MOSHANI: Yes.

PROF MEIRING: Where do they live?  The mothers, where do the mothers live?

MR MOSHANI: The eldest one is staying at my mother's place.  KRUGERSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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The other one is staying with his mother, where his mother is staying.

PROF MEIRING: Where is that?

MR MOSHANI: That is in Alice.

PROF MEIRING: Are they going to school, the two children? The first one is retarded, has he been to school?

MR MOSHANI: He has never been to school because he has been retarded ever since.  The smallest one is the one who is at school.

CHAIRPERSON: Yasmin Sooka.

YASMINE SOOKA: Mr Moshani, you say, I was not quite sure whether you told us about what your brother's occupation was in the National Union of Mines.  Was he an office bearer at the mines?

MR MOSHANI: According to rumours he was a member.  I think he was an office bearer, but I do not know his particular position because I was not there.

YASMINE SOOKA: Was he a shop steward, do you think?

MR MOSHANI: I think so.

YASMINE SOOKA: This meeting, you mentioned that your brother was the only one who was killed, but it seems, from what you have said, that the police shot on a whole number of mine workers.  Do you know how many other people were injured in the same incident?

MR MOSHANI: According to what I heard is that he was shot with a proper bullet whereas the other ones were shot with pellets.  He was shot with real bullets and that is why he was killed.  The rest were shot with pellets.

YASMINE SOOKA: Just one more question.  I know that you might not know the answer to this.  Who was actually running the shebeen and the shop?  Was it the mine owners or who
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actually, was the alcohol being sold to the mine workers?

MR MOSHANI: The bottle store belonged to the mine and it was being operated by the owners of the mine.  They closed down the bottle store, but they were not shot.  They went outside the bottle store.  As you go up to Soweto there is another shop along the road.  That is the shop that I am referring to.  They were heading towards that shop and that is where they were accosted by the police, when they were on the way towards that shop, that is where he was shot.

YASMINE SOOKA: And the shop, was it still on the mine premises or was it off the mine premises?

MR MOSHANI: I think the shop, as the mine was quite big, it was close to the mine.  I believed it belonged to the mine.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: We have heard about the death of your brother.  We also hope that they Commission shall try all that is in its power to try and investigate the matter.  As soon as we have got some tangible information we shall get to you in due course.  We have also heard the stories that you are not working and your brother had children as well as the fact that you want to know as to why your brother was killed.  We shall send these recommendations forth to the Investigations Unit so that more information can be gathered so that we can get back to you.  We thank you very much for having appeared before us.
KRUGERSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG