Human Rights Violation Hearings — Vryheid — 1997-04-16

WITNESS:   This was the NUM.  I got forms, I recruited a lot of employees.  In 1989 whites or boers started realising that something wasn't going right, because they realised that employees were now taking up their grievances.  Most of them used to come to me and complain about the boers, and I would take their matter forward.  And in June 1990 I called a meeting and I told employees that we should talk about the idea or the rumour that there's going to be employees who are going to be dismissed.  And then there was a rumour again that I was supposed to be killed because I was the one who was causing havoc in Hlobane.  I wasn't scared because I had the support from employees.  In August I realised that boers didn't like the idea that there was a union, and boers suggested that Xhosa-speaking people were supposed to be killed, because Xhosa-speaking employees were the ones who were causing havoc or who were the members of the NUM.  I told the employees to be brave.  Some employees resigned because of this situation.  I reported the matter to Cyril, who was still a general secretary.  He held a meeting with the Iscor people in Pretoria.  He had some talks with Mr Howard, and they were writing each other letters, which I still have today.  And they said they were supposed to search the mine because there were weapons in the mine, because these weapons arrived there because boers gave them these weapons.  Even though it was a secret, but we came to know about those weapons.  Boers denied this.  And then later we realised that the boers were the ones who were making us against each other.  They succeeded, because there was a belief at the end that the quarrel or the fight was between the Xhosa-speaking and the Zulu-speaking people.  There was a game in June 15 or 16, if I am not mistaken.  When I came back from Newcastle, from the meeting with the union, I came to know that people were about to fight, but some employees told me that no, it was nothing, it was just words.  In October I was about to go to bed at about 10 o'clock.  I heard one guy calling my wife, asking her where I was, and my wife said, "He is around."  And then he said did I hear that people have smashed windows, and then I said to him, "No, I haven't heard."  And then I woke up and I dressed up, and I took my wife to hospital, where she was working.  I saw a group of people coming towards me so I ran into the bush.  I tried to hide myself against the trees.  I saw a group of people who were with someone who hated me, and I knew that this guy had targeted me.  I saw him among this group of people.  After they left I continued going ahead through the bush.  Again I met another group of people, and this time they saw me, and one of them said, "Who is this one?"  And I answered him back, I said, "It's Prince."  And then they said to me, "Prince, go ahead, because there are people who are coming to abduct you."  I knew the situation, and I knew that the boers had people whom they were using, that they wanted actually us to fight the Zulus and the Xhosas or the Sothos.  I went on.  It was quite a distance.  I went straight ahead to the police station.  When I arrived there I found out there were Zulus and the Sothos and the Xhosas as well at the police station.  That's when I asked the people what was going on, and then they said to me, "We don't know.  We were being waked up with weapons or spears."  I couldn't find anyone to talk to.  We slept at the police station, and then they told us to give our names.  If you were Xhosa you were supposed to give your name in a Xhosa list, and if you were Zulu you were supposed to give your name in a Zulu list.  The next morning I called the union people or members, and I explained to them that people have died and this is what had happened, and at the end I discovered that plus or minus 17 people were killed, and people who were injured were plus or minus seven.  Then I realised that there was no other way to follow this case carefully, because people who were supposed to give me more information on these things were people who were actually involved in these killings.  As time goes on I realised that I couldn't get any assistance from anyone.  Later on, as I was trying to pursue this, because I knew as well that there was no one who was going to stand for these people who were killed, and there was no one who was going to stand for the orphans or the widows.  I was the one who knew the situation inside, and I was the one who was responsible for the safety of the employees, but I couldn't get any assistance from anyone.  And later I wrote a letter to Madiba, and Madiba took my letter to Mr Mafumadi, Minister of Safety and Security, and Mr Mafumadi took the letter to the National Commissioner, and he also forwarded the letter to Natal.  I tried not to get the situation out of hand, and the commissioner from Natal, when I met him - if I am not mistaken I think his name is Mr Gerber - he told  me that he can't find other letters from the Attorney-General's office.  But what he told me is that the Attorney-General declined to prosecute, therefore he can't get the files of this case.  Therefore the situation was just left like that.  And I am certain that the boers were supporting this situation, and they also lied that employees resigned because there was no procedure or formal procedures which were followed as to resignations.  We just gave our names as Zulus and Xhosas, and what happened after that is that they gave us money after that and they told us that at least we resigned.  If your name appeared on that list it meant you resigned.  Later when we were in town on the 16th one boer came to us.  We were a group of Xhosas and Zulus, and this boer came from labour control after he was reported by someone who was working at labour department that we were at the post office.  And they came to us and they told us that we can resign or we can take a leave without pay, but that leave was not more than 21 days.  I took 21 unpaid leave days.  And then later we argued, me and this boer, because I asked him why were we fighting inside the mine.  We argued, we didn't get along well.  No one resigned at that time.  I tried to get hold with group of 10.  These were the people who were chosen.  I went to Mr Ngcube, because I knew him that he was a secretary or a chairperson,a nd I tried to talk with him.  And even though he was known as someone notorious, but I tried to talk to him.  He made some arrangements that I should go back to the time, and a certain meeting was called and I kept on contacting him through telephone.  He told me I should come to the office in No 1 office.  This was the salary office or salary department.  We talked together with someone from labour department, and I went and met the employees, and they said, "We are surprised that you wanted us to kill this young boy.  We know this young boy very well.  We are surprised because this young boy used to help us."  And then I tried to report to the mine management.  This was before the 21 days were finished which I took for unpaid leave.  This happened when I was going to their offices.  The boers were laughing at my face and I didn't know why.  And Mr Ntshangase told me that some people have resigned.  When I tried to follow this I discovered that also my name was among the people who resigned.  When I tried to find out how this happened they didn't explain to me.  I went to see the PRO office person and I tried to talk to him, and he told me that there's nothing that he can talk with me, I must go and see my supervisor because he's the one who refused to approve my leave.