Special Hearings — Children's Hearings — 1997-06-12

GEORGE NDLOZI: I thank you.  I think I will first start by reading the document that we have prepared and it actually illustrates the effects that that violence had on the youth.
 It goes as follows, the historical background of the conflict in the Katorus area from mid-1990 to 1994, has been well documented.  Much has been said about the role of the Self Defence Unit and the Self Protection Unit,b ut very little has come out to light as to the effect this conflict had on the youth of the area.
 Whether you were involved in defence or not, the violence affected you.  It was not unknown for children attending nursery schools or creches to find a body near their jungle gym or swings.  Hostel inmates and SDU's took potshots at each other across school yards.
 Children were not spared the horror.  Schooling in the area, came to a complete standstill.  Children barely reaching their teens, left schools to defend life and property.  Areas situated near hostels, were particularly affected.
 Hundreds of people were forced out of their houses and in many instances, parents left their sons to defend whatever was left of the family home.  In some cases families were targeted because sons had joined the Self Defence Unit.
 In Tokoza for example, one Macashu Mabaso's family was brutally murdered in their Kumalo Street home in August, 1993 because of his SDU activities.
 Macashu joined the Self Defence Unit at 16.  According to Mabaso at a time the SDU had no faith in the police force and so people were being killed at an alarming rate for refusing to join the IFP.  Along with a few friends, they formed a Self Defence Unit.
 At first they had no weapons and relied on petrol bombs, pangas, knives, etc.  As the conflict intensified and the IFP became increasingly armed, the Self Defence Unit started recruiting known criminals.  It was the criminals that supplied the first weapons to the Self Defence Unit. 
 Later the community got together and started donating money for guns.  That is when the Section got its first AK47.  At 17 Mabaso was elected Commander of the Thambo Section.
 The vast majority of SDU members in Katorus were forced to leave school and most left at very critical times, either in standard 8 or 9.  There are of course exceptions.
 Lucky Mtumkulu is just one.  At 13 he was shot in the head and stomach while watching television.  He was true to his name, he survived and four youth with him were killed.  Lucky was a member of the Thambo SDU.  He was saved by his Commander Macashu, who carried him unconscious, from the house.
 This wasn't the first person Macashu has saved but you will never hear him talking about those things.  He doesn't talk about it, but the other boys do.  Asked if he was scared to go into enemy territory to rescue friends, he said if they shoot one of our boys, I will always go there, even if they are dead, I will risk it to fetch them.
 There is no denying that some of the SDU's have been involved in serious human right abuses.  In Katorus there are the exceptions, rather than the rule, given the evidence available to us.
 Most SDU's were engaged in defending their families and homes from the IFP and this communities with the recent revelation that members of South African Police were actively involved in supplying IFP with arms, it is no surprise in retrospect that SDU's were particularly targeted by the Security Forces.
 Organisations working in the East Rand at the time, particularly the independent board of enquiries, noted that the Security Forces operated on a shoot to kill policy.  It was far easier to shoot SDU's than to arrest them and go through a tiresome court procedure.
 Security Forces in the East Rand, particularly those based at Vlakplaas and Enoni were notorious in the townships.  In 1993 the ANC successfully applied to the Supreme court to prevent the further torture of approximately 140, regulation detainees.
 Tales of torture at the hands of policemen based at the Political and Violent Crime Unit at Vlakplaas and Enoni, are legendary.
 For example, at Enoni, there was a dog called Stoffel, which often bit detainees.  Electric shocks and tubing were the order of the day.  Jan Munnik, the former police reporting officer for Gauteng and his team found electric shock equipment at the back of the casper, as well as pieces of an inner tube of a tyre used to smother people.
 Michael Marte was a 16 year old member of the SDU in Ramakonope West in Katlehong.  He was arrested by members of the ISU and the Political and Violent Crime Unit.  Apart from being smothered with the inner tube of a tyre and sat upon by Stoffel, a rope was wound around his body and pulled tight like a spinning top.  The police would then turn the rope and Michael will go spinning off and smash into the wall.
 This was done several times.  Amnesty International took up this case when Michael was denied bail and kept in police cells for six months.
 Research shows that the South African Defence Force was involved in acts of torture in the area.  In August 1993 at least 11 youth were arrested by the South African Defence Force.  Black bags were placed over their heads and sharp needles were shovelled under their nails.
 Subsequent medical evidence proved that this had indeed taken place.  Members of the Self Protection Unit and the IFP were also tortured by the SAP.  They were often arrested and told that if they did not talk, they would be dumped in an ANC area conversely.  ANC supporters will be told that they will be told that they would be dumped in an IFP area.
 According to those present in 1993 a certain policeman known as Joshua entered a house which was being used as an office by the SDU of Thambo and Slovo, and informed the boys there that none of them would leave until April 27, 1994.
 On the walls of the office were pictures of dead comrades, all of whom had been killed by Security Forces.    Joshua told the boys that the time would come, Joshua told the boys that their time will come.  A victim of one of the shootings in Tokoza tells a typical story of what happened.
 I heard a knock on the door, just after midnight.  The person said, (indistinct) I want to come in.  He thought it was a friend and went to the door.  Five men with AK47 and petrol bombs came in.  They shot me, I fell down and another one with a pistol came to finish up.
 I thought this is the last time, I am going to die, but he missed me.  My friends came to help me.  This was the most striking theme of the Self Defence Units, friendship and comradeship.  With that being a daily reality as Sydney Nkozi said, balancing on a crippled leg, I depend on the members of the SDU's.  If they leave me, I have nothing, we help each other.
 Jimmy Nkondo was born on November 26, 1977.  He joined the SDU at 13, in 1990.  His house is about a stone's throw from the notorious Biofoto hostel.  He was not recruited by any particular person, but joined the SDU to protect his family.
 Prior to moving to Extension 2, Tokoza, Jimmy stayed in Nqala Section in Katlehong, about one kilometre from Biofoto hostel.  When the violence erupted, his parents ran away with his younger brother and sisters.  He decided to stay to protect his home.
 In the beginning the SDU was not well armed, were not well equipped.  They used to carry weapons like knives, pangas, sticks and petrol bombs.  He joined the Unit in which his role was to carry petrol bombs.  He was part of the Unit for about two years.  After his parents left, life at home was difficult.
 He gave up attending school and food was scarce.  Very often they only ate cabbage, potatoes and carrots.  Sometimes parents of the other boys who had not left, would give them money for food.  When Jimmy joined the SDU, he changed from a carefree young man who enjoyed school and sport, to a person with no mercy.  In stead of being nurtured in the family home, he was forced to become a killing machine.
 There was no choice, it was kill or be killed.  In 1993 he was given his first AK47 by his Commander.  He used to patrol his area with his Unit, ensuring that there will be no attack.  He became known as abafana, abanikrag, which roughly translated means "the ones who carry out missions bravely and perfectly with no mistakes".
 In November 1993, Jimmy's world changed.  Fellow SDU members were arrested and some among those arrested, starting pointing out other SDU's who operated in the Section.  On November 6, 1993, Jimmy was on patrol when members of the East Rand Murder and Robbery Unit, spotted him with his AK47.
 He was shot and arrested.  Jimmy was arrested at about five o'clock in the morning.  He had tried to run, but was shot in the leg.  He tried to crawl away to safety, but the police spotted him.
 Once he was found, he was beaten and dragged into a police vehicle.  Jimmy claims that the police took a pair of scissors and dug them into his left leg, trying to remove the bullet.  He laid next to the vehicle for at least 30 minutes before an ambulance came.
 He was then taken to hospital and placed under police guard.  He was hospitalised for a week and then taken to Germiston police cells.  This is when Jimmy's problems really began.
 Nobody had informed the family as to where he was.  The next three to four days were spent frantically searching for him.  Numerous visits were made to the cells to no avail.  Eventually Attorneys intervened and found Jimmy chained to a wall in a cell in Germiston.
 He was eventually granted bail and faced charges of attempted murder and possession of an AK47.  Jimmy was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years.  An appeal was launched and he is currently on bail, pending appeal.