Human Rights Violation Hearings — Uitenhage — 1996-08-28

CHAIRPERSON: We would like to call upon Mirriam Nomulelo Manziya as our next witness.

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Let me greet you, Ms Manziya.  Once more, I would like to confirm your names, are your names, Mirriam Nomulelo Manziya?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, that is right.

REV XUNDU: So these are your full names?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes.

REV XUNDU: Looking at the statement you made here in front of me, you have come to appear here on behalf of your son, by the name of Mthuzimele Phillip Manziya?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, that is right.

REV XUNDU: You said that he was murdered on the 27 December 1989?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: I last saw him on the 27 December 1989, that is when he went out of the house and on the 28th, police arrived at my home to inform me that Mthuzimele had been murdered by the Ama-Afrika and taken to hospital in an ambulance.

REV XUNDU: How old was Mthuzimele at the time, can you still remember?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: He was born in 1953.

REV XUNDU: Was he still at school, or was he working?
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MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: He was a worker at the time.

REV XUNDU: Now, let's go back to your statement.  Now, you said he left home because he was going to look after the initiates?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, it was after supper, and he said he was going to sleep, then I asked him that I wanted to prepare breakfast for him so that he should take it with him, then he said, no, there is some unrest outside because the Ama-Afika and the AZAPO's are killing everyone outside and I asked him to sleep and then he refused because he said they were looking after the initiates because the AZAPO's wanted to attack the initiates.

REV XUNDU: Was there any initiates that had been attacked at the time?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: No, not yet, it is only that they wanted to keep guard before they could be attacked.

REV XUNDU: These policemen who arrived in your house to inform you that your son had been killed, can you recall their names?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: They were unknown to me, it was the first time for me to see them.

REV XUNDU: You said who actually had killed Mthuzimele.

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: They said that he had been hacked by Ama-Afrika.

REV XUNDU: Did you perhaps inquire who the Ama-Afrika people were?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: No, I could not speak any further with them because we were shocked.  All we did was we went to the provincial hospital by taxi and my children left me behind and I followed and when we got there, I saw my children carrying his clothes because he had been transferred to the
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Livingstone hospital and they discouraged me that I shouldn't go to the hospital but I insisted and that was the time that the ambulance was pulling out for the Livingstone hospital and my children were very happy because he was in a very bad condition because his body had been stuffed into a plastic bag.
 I then went to Port Elizabeth and I arrived there before the arrival of the ambulance and I had to wait and then I was called, so when I saw him, he couldn't look, he couldn't speak, he was just quiet.

REV XUNDU: At the time the policemen came to your home to inform you that the Ama-Afrika had killed your son, did you actually understand what they meant by Ama-Afrika?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: We heard about Ama-Afrika as the Ama-Azapo, we didn't actually know what that was.

REV XUNDU: Now, let's go back to the time when you were in hospital.  What was happening there, and who was there?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: When I got there, he was placed in a corridor, he was lying there, he couldn't see me, he couldn't look.

REV XUNDU: Was he dead at the time?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: No, he was still alive.  On the 28 December 1989, on a Thursday, I went home, leaving him there, and then I went back to the hospital on the 29th, and I could see he was able to look, but he wouldn't recognise me.  I talked to him, but he couldn't respond so I left him on that day.
 The following day on the 30th, I again visited the hospital, and I could see he was making an attempt to speak but there was no voice because teargas had been administered to them and his eyes were bloodshot, and then when I went on Sunday, it was then that I got the news that he was dead.
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REV XUNDU: When you were visiting him, did he perhaps have any wounds on his body?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, he had, because on Saturday, on the 30th, as I was standing next to him and looking at him with all the sympathy, he could hear me, but he could not respond, then he lifted one hand, he again lifted one foot, trying to show to me that he was not paralysed and then he turned around and that is when I noticed five wounds at the back and he also had one wound on the head where he had been hit, but the nurses wouldn't like me to observe.

REV XUNDU: All the wounds, were they at the back?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, they were, it was as if he had been lying on his stomach when they were hacking him.

REV XUNDU: Now you mean those people who had hacked and stabbing him, were they intending on killing him?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, they were, because he had two wounds down the lower body, and in the middle he had another wound and then he had a very bad gash on his head.

REV XUNDU: At the time he was buried, was the funeral conducted at home?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: No, he was buried by the ANC.

REV XUNDU: In your statement you said that is was a mass funeral with 9 others, but there were 13 who died in all, and 3 bodies were hidden somewhere and only 9 could be discovered, and the funeral was conducted on the 13th and then the other 4 that had previously been hidden was buried the following day.  Who was the murderer of all these people?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: They were together in all this incident.

REV XUNDU: Were they murdered by the same people who had killed your so?.
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MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, they had been killed there in Khayelitsha.

REV XUNDU: According to what you heard, what are the full details about this attack?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: They say the Ama-Afrika were in ambush and they chased them and then a casper came and teargas was administered and they were pushed towards the direction of the Ama-Afrika.

REV XUNDU: Now you say, what you gather is that they were chased by the casper?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: Yes, the hippo came from the direction of the town and administered teargas, pushing them towards the direction of the Ama-Afrika, so that they were not in a position to run away, that is when the Ama-Afrika got an opportunity to hack and attack them.

REV XUNDU: Is that all you have to say, before I ask you what your requests and wishes are?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: I would say that is the only explanation I have because my evidence is based on hearsay.

REV XUNDU: What are your wishes?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: My pain is that my son had a child who is still of school going age, attending Std.7 and he is a boy.  His wish is that he should be helped to further his education because he is still interested.

REV XUNDU: In your statement you say how is your sleep?

MIRRIAM NOMULELO MANZIYA: I don't enjoy good health, such that even last time I had to consult a doctor last week.  I was having sleepless nights.

REV XUNDU: Now, is that all you would like to say to us, or is there any other information you would like to give to this Commission?  If there is anything that you have forgotten at this moment?
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