Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1999-05-03

MR MATTHEWS: Surely that is a most important thing you would have brought with you to show us that you are in fact a member of the IFP?

CHAIRPERSON: When did you receive these cards?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: At first they came and recruited us and we were given some slips and then thereafter, they brought the cards.

CHAIRPERSON: Was this shortly after your husband died?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: And have you still got the same card?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: Yes, it is the same card.

CHAIRPERSON: So if we arrange for someone to go back with  you, you will be able to give them the card so that they can make a copy of it, and make it available to us?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: Yes, I would give that person my card.

MR MATTHEWS: Have you ever heard about people having cards from both organisations and hopefully pull out the right one when they are asked by somebody as to which political party they belong to?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: I do not know about it.

MR MATTHEWS: Where was your husband killed, in whose house was he killed?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: He was killed at his place, but I was not at home on that day, I had gone to my parents' home.

MR MATTHEWS: Was there a young child that used to sleep with him?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: Yes, it was his child and that is where they killed him.

MR MATTHEWS: Was there another female in the room at the time he was killed?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: Yes, she was present.

MR MATTHEWS: They were not killed, correct?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: Yes, they were not killed.

MR LAX: Just hang on a second Mr Matthews, we can't get any translation here.

INTERPRETER: Sorry, which translation did you miss?

MR MATTHEWS: Can I continue?

MR LAX: Yes, please continue.  What was just the last question.

CHAIRPERSON: There was another female present, they were not killed.

MR LAX: Okay, please continue.

MR MATTHEWS: Can you give us any other reason which is very important for this Committee to arrive at a decision, can you give us any other reason why the applicant would kill your husband, other than a political one?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: I do not know, because I did not know who killed my husband.  I only learnt of it at Pietermaritzburg.

MR MATTHEWS: The applicant says that your husband was indeed a member of the ANC, they used scrap cars and other vehicles to block the road and they were compelling people to join the ANC in the area, that Beki Mkhize instructed him to kill your husband?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: I do not know anything about that, that they would use scrap cars and other vehicles.

MR MATTHEWS: I have no further questions, thank you.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR MATTHEWS

CHAIRPERSON: Did you know the applicant?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: No, I do not know him.

CHAIRPERSON: Re-examination?

MS MTANGA: Thank you Chairperson, I have one question.  Ms Zuma, have you got your husband's membership card, did you receive his card?

BUSIZIWE ANTOINETTE ZUMA: When we went to pay for the cards, when we were issued with cards, we did not take his, we did not pay for his, because he was already dead.

MS MTANGA: Thank you Ms Zuma.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MS MTANGA

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.  Could arrangements be made for someone to obtain her card and copy it, I think we don't want the original do we, make copies of it available for applicant's Counsel, for the members of the Committee and for yourself and for any other interested party.

MS MTANGA: That will be arranged Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: And at the same time, I don't know what this card looks like, if it has no date on, endeavour to ascertain from the people issuing such cards, what the date would have been.  I gather we can expect some cooperation there.  On behalf of myself, the members of my Committee and the other parties involved, we thank you for having come and testified, and we trust that other people will come, so that we can get a completely fair picture of what in fact happened.  Thank you.
WITNESS EXCUSED

MS MTANGA: My next witness, Mr Chairperson, would be Ms Booi, Zuziwe Booi.

MR LAX: Can you hear me, Ms Booi?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes sir.

MR LAX: Will you be testifying in English or Zulu or which language?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: In Xhosa.

MR LAX: Would you please stand.   What are your full names please?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Judith Justisia Zuziwe Booi.

MR LAX: I see you are struggling with those headphones, if you just put the top down into the earpieces, it will be smaller and fit easier.  Someone will help you now.  Is that more comfortable?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes, sir.

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: (sworn states)

MS MTANGA: Ms Booi, do you confirm that you are the sister to the deceased, Mr Mtimkhulu?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes, he comes after me.

MS MTANGA: Can you also confirm that you were present at the exhumation of the bodies at Hammarsdale?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes, I was present.

MS MTANGA: And you identified your brother's body?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes, when he was exhumed, I did explain what marks he had on his body that could be used to identify him.

MS MTANGA: Can you tell this Committee how your brother appeared, were there any wounds visible when he was exhumed?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes, when the body was exhumed, we as the Mtimkhulu's knew him to have an injury on his right foot, but when the body was exhumed, we discovered that his left hand had been amputated from the elbow.  The left foot had also been amputated, that is from the ankle and on his head, there was a cross, it was shaped like an arch because the cross was not straight, but in the shape of an arch.  There was also a hole on his head, indicating that he could have been shot.  There was dried blood on his head.  He was dressed, but they had not washed the body, he had just been put into the hole in the ground.

MS MTANGA: You have also stated that you also saw the other bodies of the two other victims, and you noticed some visible wounds on them as well.  Can you give some evidence on that?

JUDITH JUSTISIA ZUZIWE BOOI: Yes, firstly in my summary I confused some names, Plaatjie en Joseph Lekata are switched around.  As my brother had been cut, amputated on the left hand and left foot, Plaatjie had his right hand and foot amputated.  His foot, his leg was amputated from the knee.  I did not see the lower part of that leg.  His arm was amputated on the wrist.  This other boy from Sterkspruit, Joseph Lekata, when his body was exhumed, the top of the head when the body was exhumed, the top fell off.  When we looked at that hole, it was obvious that a nerve had been cut off, and the entire brain was missing.  The whole head was just empty, therefor the nerve was cut off and the brain taken out and then the top of the head, put back.  His eyes were also missing, there were just holes.  It was obvious that he had been in shock, because his mouth was wide open and his tongue was missing.  His stomach had various cuts on it, and the intestines were protruding.  That is how he was buried, and he was also filthy.   At the time I was frightened, because this had been - a third person had been witnessing - exhumed from the ground, I heard from the man who had been with me, that his private parts were also missing.  What I had noticed was that his chest, his breast had been very large, he looked like somebody who had been suckling a baby.  That is what I saw.

MS MTANGA: Ms Booi, according to one of the medical practitioners who carried out the post mortem on the bodies, the bodies of the victims were severely decomposed, such that she was unable to make a determination of what parts of the bodies would have been wounded.  How did you notice all this?  How were they visible to you?