Human Rights Violation Hearings — Vryheid — 1997-04-17

MR LAX: Now, could you just help us please with some details of your family?  Is it correct that your son had six children?

WITNESS:   That is correct, he had six children.

MR LAX: Thandi, Sizwe, Thokozani, Siphiwe, Mlungisi and Zakele.

WITNESS:   That's Zanele.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... must have made a spelling mistake here.  What are their approximate ages?

WITNESS:   I wouldn't  know their ages because the first-born had just completed his standard 10.  That is Sizwe, and the girl is still - could not complete as she suffered the death of her father.  These others, the four, are at school, those who come after Sizwe and Thandi.  Thokozani is at school. Siphiwe and Mlungisi are at school.  Zanele is not yet at school.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... for us.  Now, you're here to tell us about the death of your son.

WITNESS:   Correct.

MR LAX: Which happened on the 14th of April 1994.

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR LAX: Please go ahead.

WITNESS:   We were at Haladu.  In that year I wasn't feeling well, I was ill, and swollen the whole body, and the children were out in the fields with the livestock.  When they got back they talked about the battle and the fight, that when it gets here we will be the first victim, the Mbuthu family.  Those were the neighbour's children.  And I did not pay much attention to that.  Late in the afternoon, as I was lying down sick, I saw the neighbours running.  No, they came to my house to ask for refuge, and they were telling me there's a fight, and a fight coming in and going on.  I could not function very well as I was sick, and in the morning still there was nothing, there was no fight, no battle at all.  They went back to their respective homes, and the next time around they came again.  You see as neighbours we know one another, and we are in good terms.  They are my children as well.  The neighbour's children are mine as well, and we are a praying home and we will pray together with these children.  Nothing was funny about this.

MR LAX: Just one second, if I can interrupt you there please.  What is the name of your neighbours?  What is the family name of those people?

WITNESS:   It's Khanya family who used to come and sleep at my house, running away from the fight.

MR LAX: Please continue.

WITNESS:   One day - I have my boy, who was born in 1970, and had impregnated a girl in the neighbourhood, and I asked for the child, the grandchild, and he had to pay damages for that.  They brought the child who is a grandchild and we saw fire and we saw smoke right down the road, and we were surprised what was happening.  And that day we had this function of accepting my daughter-in-law.  We saw many neighbours and children running to my house.  I asked, "What's happening?"  They said, "There is a fight that's just erupted on the other side."  People were sweating, running for their lives, and they alleged that the people were coming from eMondlo, and my son was forever in town, where he was selling, perhaps a vendor.  He was a vendor here in town.  And I asked him, "What are you going to be selling?"  He said, "I will be selling meat," and I said to him, "No, only women sell meat, not men."   As this went on he wasn't there.  He had two children with a certain girl, and at times he could not come back to my house and would spend time with the other lady who has two children with him.  And the situation was not stable at that time.  We will see people running to and fro and claiming that there is a fight erupting.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... interrupt you again.  You speak a lot about fighting.  What was the fighting about?

WITNESS:   May you repeat your question.

MR LAX: You've told us about a number of instances where people were fighting with one another, some people running away, some people attacking, and so on.  What was the fighting about?

WITNESS:   We didn't know.  We just heard.  It was something we heard, not knowing what was starting all that.  I would accommodate these children and sleep in my house.  And the mosquitoes in my house - or the area was infested with mosquitoes, which were troublesome to these children, and my son wasn't there, he was in town where he was selling.  In the afternoon the following day I heard that in Haladu the situation is not stable, and the message got to Mhlongo's house claiming that the situation is not stable at all at Haladu, and we therefore decided to go back to Haladu to see what was happening.  And my son wasn't there at the time, he was with the mother of the two children.  When we got there we did not find the people we wanted to see, and we found an old lady who told us that yes, it was bad, the situation was getting volatile.  And we heard from this man, who was telling us that, "Mbuthu's boy was killed.  We don't know whether this Mbuthu boy is the one who was working in town."  And I could feel that I am losing strength as I suspected that that was my son.  We did not know exactly as to who was killed, because he used to travel in a 5 o'clock bus coming back home, and it had become a custom that we expect him around five.  And when five lapsed my daughter-in-law went to find out if he was coming or getting off the bus, but to no avail.  And I got worried, continuously so, especially that I had heard already that Mbuthu's son had died in Haladu.  I therefore decided to go to Mhlangeni, where I could receive my pension fund.  I saw cars coming from Nquthu, going by Kelumusa School, and I was watching then.  And those cars just passed right there, and they were so many, but still I hadn't heard the truth as to who exactly died because both of my sons were not home.  I left there, I went to Mhlangeni.  I saw Haladu residents there and I asked about this Mbuthu son who's been killed, and no one could open up and forthcoming to me.  I asked Pastor Mchunu, and Pastor Mchunu said, "We've seen that Mbuthu boy lying down, and when I suggested that we have a look at him they therefore decided that we shouldn't."   As I was there, waiting in the queue for my pension fund, I conversed with somebody and said, "Mbuthu's son has died in Haladu," and they responded and said could he be my son.  I was lost.  I told them I did not know exactly what happened.  "They said he was taken by the police vehicle to Mondlo.  Quickly get done with this pension money and rush to the police station to have a view on the corpse."  And I went home.  When I got home there were tears, people were mourning.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... it's okay.  (Pause)

WITNESS:   When I got home I found the children crying, saying he had been brought by the police.  The police came and he was taken to Nquthu Mortuary.  He had died.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... continue.  (Pause)