Human Rights Violation Hearings — Cradock — 1996-02-10

BONGANI FINCA: We will now call upon Eric Njobo to come forward please.  We welcome you Mr Eric Njobo and we thank you for coming here today.
 I will hand over to Reverend Xundu to help you to take an oath after that I will ask Tiny Maya to lead you with questions on behalf of the Commission.

REV XUNDU: Thank you Mr Chairman.

ERIC NJOBO: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Thank you.  He has been sworn in properly Mr Chairman.

MS MAYA: Thank you Mr Chairman.  I greet you Mr Njobo.  In your statement in front of us, we see that you are going to tell us about your son, Andile Alfred Plaatjie, who was killed in 1986.  Can you please explain to us who was Andile?

ERIC NJOBO: Andile is my son in this way - I married his mother, I am his step-father.

MS MAYA: Thank you sir.  How old was Andile at the time of his death?

ERIC NJOBO: He was 25 years old.

MS MAYA: Was he working at the time?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, he was working.

MS MAYA: Did he have a family?

ERIC NJOBO: No, he did not have a family?

MS MAYA: Did he have any children?
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ERIC NJOBO: No, he did not have any children.

MS MAYA: In the community, what was he doing?

ERIC NJOBO: He was working.

MS MAYA: Was he a member of any community organisations or political organisations?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes.

MS MAYA: At the time of his killing, do you know what was happening?

ERIC NJOBO: No, I don't know, because I was sleeping in my house.  Monde came, Monde Nanxi came in the morning.  He told me to go to his home with him.  We went there, when we arrived there, I saw my son sleeping in bed and I asked if he was dead there, he was stabbed in the stomach.
 I asked what had happened and Monde told me they were coming from the night vigil and the police came, but Monde ran away and he ran to the neighbours house.  I found my son in Monde's home and Monde told me that they were being chased by the police the previous night.

MS MAYA: In other words Monde saw who these people were?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, Monde knows everything.

MS MAYA: According to your knowledge, did Monde identify any police?

ERIC NJOBO: Monde is right here inn this room, he can explain that.

MS MAYA: Maybe we can talk to Monde after we had spoken to you.  At this time, what was the situation in the community?

ERIC NJOBO: Things were very bad in the community because police were all over and we were tear gassed all the time.

MS MAYA: You said that you found Andile sleeping in the bed and his intestines protruded from his stomach?  Can you please explain that?
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ERIC NJOBO: He was stabbed and I could see his intestines.

MS MAYA: According to your knowledge, at that time the police used to stab people?

ERIC NJOBO: No, this did not happen frequently but at that night, it was Monde and the other one who was stabbed by the police.

MS MAYA: Was this other guy also stabbed by the police?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, he was stabbed by the police.

MS MAYA: According to your knowledge, was there any inquest done concerning this incident?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, we went to the police to lay a charge against them, but they told us they will contact us, but up until today, they did not.

MS MAYA: Did you go to any attorneys?

ERIC NJOBO: No, we did not contact any attorneys.

MS MAYA: Is there any reason for that?

ERIC NJOBO: No, but we were confused at that time.

MS MAYA: Do you have any other thing you want to say about Andile and this incident?

ERIC NJOBO: Andile was coming from his work at night, he was working for me, he was supporting me.  He was supporting myself and his mother.

MS MAYA: In other words, you lost a person who was supporting you?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, I lost a person who was supporting me.

MS MAYA: What is your request sir, to this Commission?

ERIC NJOBO: My request to this Commission is that up until today, I don't know who killed my son.  The police just told me they will contact me later.
 My request is that I want the Commission to investigate who killed my son.
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MS MAYA: Is there any other thing you want to say to this Commission?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, I lost my wife because of this.

MS MAYA: When did your wife die?

ERIC NJOBO: My wife died after this incident, because she was sick all the time.  She died two months after this incident.

MS MAYA: Thank you.  I will hand over to the Chairperson, maybe you will be asked some questions.

BONGANI FINCA: June Crichton?

JUNE CRICHTON: Mr Njobo, can  you hear me?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, I can hear you.

JUNE CRICHTON: The night vigil, can you tell me first of all who the night vigil was for, who had died?

ERIC NJOBO: It was Ngalo, it was Ngalo.

JUNE CRICHTON: The night vigils that you had, there must have been many of them at that time, was there a lot of harassment by the police at those vigils?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, they were harassing people because when they attended night vigils, police used to harass and assault them.

JUNE CRICHTON: Did they try to disrupt the proceedings and get people away from the vigil?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, they used to go to the night vigils and disrupt everything.

JUNE CRICHTON: There was clearly no respect for people who had died?  My second question to you is, did you receive a Death Certificate at all?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, I received a Death Certificate.

JUNE CRICHTON: What did it state as the cause of death?

ERIC NJOBO: The Death Certificate stated that they are still investigating.  I was told that they were still
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investigating and they will contact me.

BONGANI FINCA: Mr Njobo, you said that Ngalo was the soldier of Umkhonto We Sizwe.  Do you remember his first name?

ERIC NJOBO: Yes, I do.  I think it was Maganda, but I am not sure.

BONGANI FINCA: According to your knowledge, your son was he the only one that was killed that night, or who was injured that night?

ERIC NJOBO: There is another one who was stabbed the same night.

BONGANI FINCA: Was he from the night vigil?

ERIC NJOBO: I am not sure, but he was also stabbed that night.

BONGANI FINCA: At the time of your son's death, was he involved in the organisations?

ERIC NJOBO: He was a member of CRADORA at the time.

BONGANI FINCA: Thank you Mr Eric Njobo.  We remember these sad days.  The days that the Umkhonto We Sizwe members were killed.  We also remember that the people who were in power at that time, refused permission for others to go to these kinds of funerals and people were afraid, even ministers were afraid to attend such funerals.
 They were afraid to go to give support to the families and the families were supposed to bury these people alone.  We think that as you have presented your testimony, your son went to the night vigil to try and comfort the families of the soldier.
 We will come back to you and to the guy you have mentioned, Monde, who was present when these things happened.  Our investigating team will come back to you to get those details so that we can have some more information from you and from Monde.  Thank you.