Human Rights Violation Hearings — Sebokeng — 1996-08-07

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: (sworn states)

DR RANDERA: Will you just take your time and tell us what happened on the 17th of June 1992?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: On the 17th of June 1992 people attacked at my place.  We were sleeping at night, we just heard some noise outside.  When we tried to open we heard those people talking in Zulu.  The very attackers saying, "Wake up you dogs" and with the listening I heard the door, the door burst open as if they were throwing some stones on it.  After that my mum and my dad were already awake then, everyone in the house was awake. As we were still listening I saw a tall man storming in the house, one of them said, "Here's a bitch, kill it!" They threw in a burning tyre inside the house, it looked like a group of young people who were just, who were the very ones who put, set it into fire.
 I asked, "What have we done?".  They said, "Keep quiet bitch, are you still busy asking, why are you asking?" I found that they've already blocked some way for us in the passage, there was no way out for us but I managed to get a chance for escaping. I ran, I escaped as fast as my feet could carry me. Our house was surrounded by those attackers. Some tried to catch me.  Fortunately I managed to escape. 
 I left my place to our neighbours, that is the fourth house from my house just in the front.  I found out that three men were running after me, I got to this house, I knocked at the door, they opened for me.  When they opened 
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the door they already heard my voice, fortunately. I could not hold myself. I told them that I'm suspecting those people could have caused a lot of damage back home.
 After a few minutes, plus or minus 30 minutes, I went back home, there was no one at home but that burning tyre was still burning inside the house. What happened, I went outside to ask the neighbours were my sisters and brothers? Only to find that they were under the beds.  
 When those people left, the attackers, I mean, I went to ask the neighbours if they saw my brothers and sisters. Fortunately they were just around there.  When I asked where was my mum and my father, they said they didn't see them, they didn't know where they were. One of the neighbours approached me ...(sobbing)

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Manyika, you take your time, all of us will wait a little bit and when she feels free to resume we will go on with the testimony. Mrs Manyika, are you sure you want to go on with the testimony?  Are you feeling better?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: Yes I can go on.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Dr Randera.

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: This man told me killed your mother, your mother is lying down and I went to see, I found that she was already dead. I asked if they had seen my father, they said yes, they've seen my father going to my elder brother at Slovo Park, going to ask for some assistance. He was alive then, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital and when he got to the hospital, that's when he died.

DR RANDERA: Sibongile, do you want to continue?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: Yes I still want to continue.  The only people who survived this attack was myself and the rest of the kids. They were under the bed.  My mum and my dad died, we
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have lost our parents as I'm talking we are the only kids at  home. My sisters and my brothers, especially the two boys had to quit school because there was no bread winner at home, we had to go and look for some jobs. Fortunately they got some jobs and they were employed and the other four kept going to school. Those are the ones I'm left with.

DR RANDERA: Sibongile, thank you very much.  You know this happened so recently that it's still so fresh in your mind. I'm very sorry that we, that you're having to go through all this pain again. Is it okay for me to ask you a few questions?

DR RANDERA: Yes. Sibongile, just tell us about your parents, how old were they when this happened?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: My mum was 47 years old, my father was 50 years old.

DR RANDERA: And you say the children were left, there were three others besides yourself, how old were they?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: The ones who were still going to school were four, one of them was Mavis but she's completed her standard 10.  The other one was Anna, she's in standard ten and Elizabeth, she's in standard 4 and Godfrey, he's in standard 3. And Godfrey hardly ever passes at school, especially after this event he's not performing well at school.

DR RANDERA: Sibongile, you said that your father was seen going to your brother's house in Slovo Park, so where was your house, in the township itself of Boipatong or somewhere else?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: Yes in Boipatong.

DR RANDERA: Were you or your brothers and sisters injured at all in the attack?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: No I just had some scratches because I was
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jumping fences, trying to escape from the attackers.

DR RANDERA: Sibongile, you say the people spoke to you in Zulu, are you sure about that?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: Yes, certainly.

DR RANDERA: And how long after all this happened, you said you were in your neighbour's house for probably about plus or minus 30 minutes. In that atmosphere time actually doesn't seem to have much meaning, but you do say in your statement, plus or minus 30 minutes. How long after all this did the police or the army arrive on the spot?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: They came after a long time.

DR RANDERA: Thank you I have no other questions Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: May I ask Mrs Seroke, do you have a question?

MRS SEROKE: How old were you then?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: I was 26 years old. I was born in 1966.

MRS SEROKE: Were you at school, were you a student then?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: Yes I was at school, I was in standard 10, I was repeating my standard 10.

MRS SEROKE: Did this happen to your home only or even some neighbours?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: I remember very well that it only happened to my place and right next to our house and our front opposite. It means three houses were affected.

MRS SEROKE: According to you, do you know why they victimised those houses?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: No I don't know, I'm still asking the same question even today.

MRS SEROKE: Were your mum and your father politicians?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: No.

CHAIRPERSON: Sibongile, Dr Borrain says no questions to HRV/122 you/...
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you, may I ask one question before I say a word to you? Sibongile, you've come to the Truth Commission to tell your 
story and it is a very difficult story to tell. Why have you come, what do you think the Truth Commission can do for you and for your brothers and sisters?

DINAH SIBONGILA MANYIKA: All I'm asking from the Truth Commission, I don't want financial assistance as such. Money won't do anything, it won't take me anywhere, I'll just ask for the Truth Commission to give my brothers some bursaries so they can further their studies.