Special Hearings — Children's Hearings — 1997-05-14

CHAIRPERSON: Why would IFP say you were a coward?

WITNESS: It was because I was   scared to go to funerals. Even when my relatives were killed at a Ephatheni   I didn't go to their funerals.

CHAIRPERSON: You must stop me if I put this thing wrong. Were

CHAIRPERSON: /they

CHAIRPERSON: they saying you were a coward because IFP members from Ephatheni   were being killed, and you didn't go there to their funerals to bury them?

WITNESS:   Yes. I think that's why they said so, because I was scared, and my uncles used   to tell me not to get involved in this violence.

CHAIRPERSON: Beside this rumour that you were a coward is there anything   that you will suspect that IFP were the people who attacked you?

WITNESS: No, nothing.

CHAIRPERSON: Now you are staying at IFP area or IFP dominated area. How   is the situation there?

WITNESS: I am staying nicely there, and it's peaceful.

CHAIRPERSON: Are there any people who are coming to you and tell you - or   apologise to you about this incident?

WITNESS: No, no one. And because of that I   still say I suspect it's IFP, because whenever ANC was attacking any house or   anyone they were arrested, but with my case there was no one arrested. If it   was ANC members they would have arrested them, but it was IFP, that's why they   ran away, no one arrested them. And my uncle said he really wants to know who   attacked me. He's the one who took me to hospital, to Sanatory Hospital

CHAIRPERSON: The last question. Is it possible that the people who attacked   you were criminals, not IFP?

WITNESS: Yes, it can be possible, more especially now   I have noticed that criminality in this country is really at the highest level.   You can't leave your laundry in lines, you can't leave anything. They steal   windows, everything.

CHAIRPERSON: Are there people like that in your area who were criminals,   and yet they were known as IFP members?

WITNESS: Even if they won't come forward,   but they know themselves.

CHAIRPERSON: Let me just ask one last question, because now that

CHAIRPERSON: /you gave

CHAIRPERSON: you gave us your statement we must follow the rule, we must   investigate. Are there any people that you think might be responsible for what   happened to you? I mean someone that you might have heard his voice, or might   have seen his jacket, even though you won't tell us here in public, but maybe   you can give us those names in private?

WITNESS: I would like to put this before   the Commission, that even today I don't know if I am safe or not. I didn't recognise   any voice because I wasn't staying there in that area up until today. I didn't   even see anyone that I know. I only heard dogs barking outside, and they knocked   at the door. I didn't want to open the door, and then I rushed into the window   to jump off outside, and then that's when they started shooting. My uncle came   through the window, and then he helped me. He is the one who helped me.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. As I have said that if you have any information   you mustn't be scared to tell us or to let us know.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mbanjwa, thank you very much for coming.   Thank you very much for sharing and giving us a picture of what was going on   in Ephatheni at that time. It seems that from what you have told us people who   remain anonymous came to your mother's house, and attacked your mother's house   and shot you, and have left you with irreparable damage to your body. However,   you seem to be a person who is happy to take advantage of opportunities, who   has shown initiative, and who gives us hope for the future. You're someone who's   always looking for a way to make your life better, and as such you are a good   example to many other people who have suffered in violence who can

CHAIRPERSON: /make the

CHAIRPERSON: make the most of things. And we really want to thank you for   bringing that hope to us, and we wish you very well as you head back home. So   once again thank you for coming.

WITNESS: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: /

CHAIRPERSON: CHAIRMAN

CHAIRPERSON: Kwezi, we welcome you as one of the facilitators   from yesterday's group. Before you continue to tell us about the groups that   you facilitated yesterday could you please stand just to take the oath.

KWEZI MALAHLEYA: (Sworn, States)

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. Would you please continue   to tell us about the groups that you facilitated yesterday?

WITNESS: Yesterday we   were working with Port Shepstone children, and most of them, if not all of them,   are from Gamalakhe. And in fact Gamalakhe area it's where they are staying now,   but they are originally from Umzumbe. These children were drawing pictures of   their lives, more especially during the violence. What is very clear in these   pictures is that they have suffered because of the violence between two organisations,   which are ANC and IFP. And there were as well police, and police were helping   IFP. And the pictures here they show that these children were staying at ANC   area, ANC dominated area, and we can see in these pictures a yellow van belonging   to the police, and IFP welcoming them. And I would like to play the tape in   which a certain girl, who is now 12 years old - and when these things happened   this child was six years old in 1991.

CHAIRPERSON: "We used to arrive at home and not find parents,             and parents have ran away. And we will also run away and hide in the             bushes, and there we will be bitten by mosquitoes, and houses will             be set alight and people will be running away. My home was burnt,             and everything inside

CHAIRPERSON: /my home.

CHAIRPERSON: my home. I still have my parents. No one was injured."

CHAIRPERSON: This girl said,

CHAIRPERSON: "I am a girl who is 12 years old. When violence             started I was six years old and we were staying at Umzembini area.             I used to walk from home to school, and as we will come back from             school with my schoolmates we will find no parents at all at home,             and we were supposed to think as to what to do, because we could tell             that violence had broken out, and we would go to the bushes and we             would stay there without food for days. And for days we wouldn't know             where our parents are, and I wouldn't even know if my parents were             alive. I stayed for ... (incomplete - end of Side B, Tape 3) ... go             to school and study with other kids. We couldn't play like any other             kids. We were supposed to think as to where to get food or to hide             ourselves. My friends lost families. We would hear gunfire at night             and we wouldn't know if they were shooting at someone that we know.             Sometimes they were shooting at young kids who were also six years,             and we didn't know that we were going to survive. That's how we stayed."

CHAIRPERSON: This is where the story of this 12-year-old child ends, and   her story is almost similar to the stories of the

CHAIRPERSON: /other

CHAIRPERSON: other children in the group, and what is very important is   that they couldn't stay in their homes and they had to survive under those conditions.   They were supposed to think as to what to eat and where to stay.

CHAIRPERSON: I would like to direct one question to you, Kwezi, because   we are giving a report. Now, there's a six-year-old child, and because of what   the child has experienced I want to know from you if they have now survived   this, or are they living a life which is not going to be fixed, or something   that we will help?