Human Rights Violation Hearings — King William's Town — 1997-05-12

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mjalane, I know that you are, you have requested us to take a few cases related to people from Alice where you are going to be making representations on their behalf.  Could you indulge us by allowing us to complete this particular hearing by taking the Badi case which is very closely related to the case that we have been handling right up to now?  I think it will not be long.  I know that you are not involved in that particular case, are you?

MR MJALANE: Not ...

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, so we would like just to complete that and then come back to the cases that you are going to be interested in.  Thank you sir.  Elizabeth Nowakhe Badi together with Eric Badi.

REV XUNDU: Thank you Mr Chairperson. I will swear them in.  Elizabeth Nowakhe Badi, please stand up.

ELIZABETH NOWAKHE BADI: (Duly sworn in, states).

ERIC BADI: (Duly sworn in, states).

REV XUNDU: They have been properly sworn in.

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome you, Elizabeth Badi and Eric.  How are you related?

MRS BADI: He is my brother.

CHAIRPERSON: Is he going to help you give evidence?

MRS BADI: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: We are taking this case because it is related to the previous one.  We are not going to start from the beginning.  Mr Sandi will lead the evidence on behalf of the Commission.

ADV SANDI: Thank you Mr Chairperson.  I do not want to waste your time.  We will start with Nowakhe Badi.  You say on the 15th of October 1992 at home in Alice, Msobomvu, what happened?  Could you tell us please.

MRS BADI: On the 15th of October 1992 Eric came at night, knocked on my window.  He said I must switch off my light.  He then told me that Eric had been shot and needs some clothing.  I took my son's clothing and threw it out of the window.  Eric then told me that my, members of my family had also been shot.  They did not find him there.  Then these people knocked and opened the door and they shot everybody in the house.  I asked them to leave, because I was scared that they were going to come to me.  Nontsikelelo came and knocked on my window, had been shot.  She asked me to open the door.  She told me that she had been shot in the legs.  I was scared to switch on the light.  I took Nontsikelelo, put her under covers, gave her a nappy to bind her wounds.  I asked her if her upper body had been injured.  She said, no, it was just her legs. I asked what had happened at home.  She told me that Vuyokazi and Nowinile had died, shot dead.  She told me that my father was alive.
 We could not move, because we did not know where the enemy was.  My brother came, knocked, told me that my father, as well, had died.  Tammy also came, who had run with Eric.  They hired a car.  We took Nontsikelelo to hospital in Alice.  My brother, Cobert, was also in the car and we dropped him off at the police station in Alice to give a report and statement.  There were bottles that my brother had picked up.  No, there were bullets that my brother had picked up. I left them at the ANC office.  People who worked at Fort Hare came.  We told them what had happened.  We were then taken, the media came and we all went to Msobomvu.  The corpses had been taken by the police.  There was blood everywhere. The furniture was destroyed.  It was chaos.

ADV SANDI: Three people at home died.

MRS BADI: My niece Vuyokazi was 11 years old.  My father, Ben Badi and Nowinile Badi, my parents had been shot.

ADV SANDI: Therefore it is the entire family practically?

MRS BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: At the funeral were there police?

MRS BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Were there soldiers?

MRS BADI: The soldiers were at the graveyard.  There were police vans everywhere.

ADV SANDI: Was it usual that the police would attend these funerals armed, especially when there is a mass funeral?

MRS BADI: It was a normal thing.

ADV SANDI: How did you feel?

MRS BADI: We did not trust them and this hurt us a great deal that they were at the funeral.

ADV SANDI: Did the police investigate this matter?

MRS BADI: They went to the hospital.  After that they never came to the homes.

ADV SANDI: Was there a court case?

MRS BADI: No, because on the 16th of July in 1994 we were called in.  We were told that they are still investigating the case and no perpetrators had been found.

ADV SANDI: Therefore nobody was questioned or arrested?

MRS BADI: Mr Galane started investigating the matter.  He questioned some people and he called us in, actually, to, he said that we must come and see the people who had damaged my home.  Sandile Mati, Madoda Kula and Welcome Maronono were there and they were identified as people who had done the damage.  They were also in the newspapers.  The private investigators, the investigators.  It was Madoda Kula, Sandile Mati and Welcome Maronono.

ADV SANDI: Is that all the evidence that you have?  Is Eric going to say anything?

MR BADI: I was the first one to be shot at home.  It was after midnight. Somebody knocked at the door.  Somebody called out my name.  Then he also called out my nickname and I thought that my friend who uses this nickname was in Johannesburg.  I peeped through, there was a man at the door with a rifle.  This man carried on knocking.  I did not open the door.  I was too scared, I went back to bed.  Then this man knocked at the window.  He started shooting at the window.  I was shot twice at the thigh and the leg. I tried to hide.  He carried on shooting.  I jumped out of the window.  He drove off.  He had done what he wanted to do.
 I went to check on my brother.  When I got there he was not there.  The window was opened.  I jumped out of the same window.  I went to our next door neighbours.  My brother was there.  He was in a drum of water.  He then leapt out of the water.  He helped me run, because I was weak.  I said that we must go to my sister.  When we got there I told my sister that people at home had been shot.  Before I got to my sister we heard sounds, bullet sounds, exactly the way they sounded when I was being shot.  Then a grenade went off.  There was an explosion.  After he had shot at me as well a grenade was shot, was thrown.  When I got to my sister I told her what happened.  We left my sister.  We went to a man from another village asking for help.  He got a car that took me to hospital.

ADV SANDI: What happened at the hospital?

MR BADI: I was stitched.

ADV SANDI: Do you know if there were people who were identified in connection with this matter?

MR BADI: It is the same people that my sister had mentioned.  These were the people that were shown at court.

ADV SANDI: Was there a case?  Would you go to court?

MR BADI: Yes, we would go to court, but there was no case as such.

ADV SANDI: Who was the accused?

MR BADI: Sandile Mati, Welcome and Madoda Kula.

ADV SANDI: Was Mr Galane investigating this matter?

MR BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: And nothing came of it?

MR BADI: That is so.

ADV SANDI: Do you have requests in connection to this matter?  Who were your legal representatives?

MR BADI: We did not have any legal representatives?

ADV SANDI: You just let it pass?

MR BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Is that all your evidence?

MR BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Were you a member of any political organisation?

MR BADI: We would organise meetings.

ADV SANDI: Were you members of the ANC?

MR BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: All of you at home?

MR BADI: Yes.

ADV SANDI: Is there somebody who threatened you?  Are there people in the village whose houses were burnt down or people who were shot?

MR BADI: No, it started with my family.  This was after the Bisho massacre.

ADV SANDI: Is there something you would like to add?  If there is, maybe you can think about it as I will hand you over to the Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: How old was Ben Badi when he died?

MRS BADI: He was 70 years of age.

CHAIRPERSON: Vuyokazi Badi?

MRS BADI: She was 11.

CHAIRPERSON: Nowinile?

MRS BADI: Ben's wife was 65.

CHAIRPERSON: So who is at the Badi home now?