Amnesty Hearings — Aliwal North — 1998-04-28

MR PRIOR: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr Chairman we proceed now with the amnesty application of Luyanda Gqomfa, application 0949 of '96.
	The appearances are as in the previous matter, except that Mr Mthembu is no longer appearing, Mr Mbandazayo appears for the applicant.  He is the only applicant in this matter.  Mr Chairman may the bundle that's been prepared be marked "A", and I have put up a second bundle of namely photographs as "B".  They indicate the points of relevance in my view, relevant to this particular amnesty application, and my I place on record Mr Chairman, that I have conferred with my learned friend, Mr Mbandazayo, who has taken instructions on the bundles, particular bundle "B", and by consent the bundle "B" can go in as being an accurate reflection of the various points which are depicted on those photographs.

CHAIRPERSON: Will Mr Gqomfa's affidavit the be "C".

MR PRIOR: I omitted to say that.  Yes, his affidavit will been "C".  Mr Chairman, may I just for the record place the following on record, the notices were sent out, the section 19 notices, to victims.  The deceased in this matter was a Mr Smit who died during this operation, during this attack.  His widow was informed, and she obtained the services of Mr Jan Wagenaar, attorney with Wagenaar, Muller and Du Plessis of Pretoria.  My I place on record, Mr Chairman, that Mr Wagenaar had certain difficulties.  This matter was set down for hearing for last week, but we accommodated him and set it down for today onwards.  I, he is not present and I phoned him at the luncheon adjournment and he indicated that he would not be appearing because of certain difficulties he had had in obtaining funding of his client through the Legal Aid.  Mr Chairman, I don't think this is the time to go into the merits of what Mr Wagenaar told me, I accept what he has said to me there.  I know that there was some difficulties that he had, or some objections that he had voiced to the TRC, and those were taken up with the relevant officers there.  Suffice to say that he is not appearing.  His client has been informed about the position and there is no appearance from the widow of Mr Smit.  I indicated to him nevertheless that this matter as in the case of the other matters would be postponed to hear evidence from the PAC or APLA High Command, and he indicated that at that stage he my well have been properly instructed and my appear at that stage, but that decision would be made at a later time.  The other victims that were involved was a Mr Deon Maartens who was in the vehicle driven by Mr Smit, unfortunately he has since passed away in a motor accident unrelated to this event.  A Mr A Franzsen who is present today and a Mr B Maliehe, he has been given notice, but we've had no feed back from him as to whether he wants to appear in the matter or not.  The implicated person is as in the other matter, Mr Mphahlele and he is present.  Thank you Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mbandazayo, do you wish your client to be sworn in?

MR MBANDAZAYO: Yes, Mr Chairman.

MR PRIOR: Thank you, Chairperson.

HUMPHREY LUYANDA GQOMFA: (Duly sworn in, states).

MR MBANDAZAYO: Thank you, Mr Chairman.  Mr Gqomfa, do you confirm that the affidavit before the Committee was returned by you and that you abide by its contents.

HUMPHREY LUYANDA GQOMFA: That's correct.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Mr Chairman, I will leave the other paragraph, I'll start with paragraph 10 which read thus, "With regard to this incident, it was on the 18th of March 1992 during the white referendum.  I was deployed in Sterkspruit by Letlapa Mphahlele and the late Temba Ntapayi.  On this day Happy came to me with the ...(indistinct).  They took me to a certain place in Sterkspruit where plans were made to get a car for an operation"
	Now, just before I finish the paragraph I would like you to explain to the Committee what transpired when Happy Letlapa Mphahlele came to you and it was decided that you get a car for operation and what type of operation was that one?

HUMPHREY LUYANDA GQOMFA: Shortly I can say, on that particular day, it was on the 18th of March 1992.  It was a day of the referendum as Mr Mbandazayo had said.  When this Comrade came, Comrade Happy, and the other two Comrades, he was the third one.  There was another Comrade who was providing us with transport that was at Datsun.  It was blueish in colour, greenish in colour.
	We took the direction to Zastron, from Sterkspruit to Zastron.  I think we took the right-hand route.  We stopped at about 10 - 15 kilometres.  We alighted from the Datsun, and the Datsun went back.  After which a bakkie, Isuzu, came from the Biscuit Bakery.  The colour was cream, the colour of the bakkie was off-white.  There was only one occupant in that bakkie.  We decided not to shoot the people who were in that car because we didn't have a reason, we didn't have a grudge, we didn't hold a grudge to other Africans but we wanted their car.  We had no reason to shoot at that person.  All we wanted from them was transport.  We wanted to use their transport.  We took the car from him.  We gave him a R20 note.  We told them to go to the Police Station to report that the APLA cadres took his car.  We ensured him that he would get his car in the same condition.  We left that Comrade there.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Can you, Mr Gqomfa, explain to the Committee how did you approach him?  Were you having your firearms pointed at him, how, can you explain to the Committee the manner in which you managed to take the car from him?

HUMPHREY LUYANDA GQOMFA: What happened is this, this car was approaching us.  There were three or four of us.  We had our pistols.  There was only one person who was holding a pistol.  It was Comrade Mphahlele.  When they came he shot in the air, the Comrade shot in the air.  As he was an elderly person he was shocked and he stopped.  That's when we took his car.

CHAIRPERSON: Before you go on, I don't know, I would like some guidance from the Interpreters, but it seems to me it might be better if the microphone was a little bit further from the applicant.  Thank you.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Thank you, Mr Chairman.  I will proceed to paragraph 11
"After this incident we went through the bridge that borders Easter Cape and Orange Free State.  When we were about 5 - 7 kilometres from the bridge, we took a U-turn facing the direction we were coming from.  We climbed out of the bakkie, that is where Happy or Letlapa deployed us.  I was having an R5 rifle.  Letlapa a 3.8 special, then Wacumzi 9mm pistol and Monde 7.65 pistol.  Happy was on my left-hand side at almost about +- 100 meters of me.  On my right-hand side was Monde with 7.65 pistol.  Wacumzi Ben Tambuza was with 9mm pistol on the far right with the car, as he was the driver of the car."
Now, you are explaining in this paragraph how you were deployed, how you were armed.  Can you tell the Committee, at the time you were deployed, were you aware what type of operation are you going to embark on in that area when you went there?

HUMPHREY LUYANDA GQOMFA: Before we could go to that place we didn't know where the operation was, but as cadres we knew that if we were deployed inside the country, we knew what type of job we would perform.  I'm not sure if you're satisfied with my answer.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Tell the Committee, at what stage did you become aware of the target?

HUMPHREY LUYANDA GQOMFA: When we took the transport, we didn't know what we were going to do, but we knew that there should be an operation and the details of the operation.  We only knew that we were taking the arms where we alighted from the vehicle.

MR PRIOR: Sorry, you haven't answered the question.  The question was, at what stage did you become aware of the target.  It's really quite a simple question.  Do you not understand the question?  I'm just trying to help, because your own lawyer is asking you the question and you seem to have difficulty answering it.