Human Rights Violation Hearings — Newcastle — 1996-09-10

WITNESS:   On that day I told him that I could not do what he wanted me to do, and thereafter he stopped troubling me.  But at the time - it was in 1973 and I was staying at section 27.  I was Dr Frank Mdlalose's neighbour.  He was staying at 27/72 - maybe he is staying somewhere else now - and I was staying at 27/78.  Then in 1975 there was a certain Inkatha group that was formed, then there was a certain sergeant at the prison, Sergeant Khumalo.  He has now moved to Durban Central Prison.  And Khumalo asked me to join Inkatha.  I asked him what was the significance of the group, what were the objectives of the group?  He said to me it was a cultural as well as a community group, which was going to be the channel through which the grievances of the community were going to be addressed.  He went on further to explain that since I was involved in the community this would be a good organisation to join.  And he said he wanted me to attend a certain meeting, an Inkatha meeting, and the chairman of that meeting was Mr Mdlalose, who is the present premier.  I went to that meeting, and I heard that there was going to be elections, and I also got elected, I got a position in that Inkatha.  And the position that I got was that I was Chief Buthelezi's deputy, who has since now been deceased, and he was a circuit inspector at that time.  I was told that I was going to be his deputy secretary.  And we formed a certain committee.  As we were still working under this committee we were told that we should try to hold certain cases, that is neighbours' matters or matters of the community.  We were quite united at that time, and I knew that the Inkatha organisation was a cultural organisation which was acting in accordance with the requirements of the community, and I never knew that at a later stage it would turn out to be something that was fighting against the community.  We did our job with quite a lot of resilience, and there was a certain Sergeant Khumalo who was our chairman.  After discovering that my mother was all by herself I decided to go back home to my mother's place.  I did not want to take her from her place and bring her to where I was staying.  As I was at my mother's place at that time Madonsela was a councillor in that area.  And at that time I grew less and less interested in politics, and I was just staying, not being affiliated to any political organisation.  Then in 1987 there came a certain councillor, D A Bhengu.  He was the councillor at that time.  And when he got there he said he had come to ask me to take his position and be a councillor because he was being transferred, he had got a post at Ondini and he was going to be an MP.  I told him that I was less interested in politics and I did not want to take part.  He begged me to take the position because he said I was the candidate that he first thought of who could take that position.  Then I said to him I will sit over it and I will decide later on.  He asked me to attend the meeting which was going to be at 2 o'clock that afternoon.  Then I went to DNC.  Just as I got there the members of the church were going out, and I turned back with them, I came back.  And he said to me, "Let us now go to the meeting."  When I went to the meeting I discovered that Bhengu was not there, but he had sent certain people who were candidates, who had been chose as candidates for this position.  And when we got to the meeting there was an election.  I was also nominated and I was chosen to be a councillor.  Then thereafter I discovered that the mayor was Jeffrey Nkosi.  No, it was Zondo.  He has since died.  At that time when I got to the meeting there was some conflict amongst the councillors themselves, because they felt that there was some favouritism that was going on with regard to the elections.  And we continued in that spirit of non compliance as well as non co-operation.  After about two months Nkosi was also chosen.  He was elected as a mayor.  And I did not see eye to eye with Nkosi, because the things that he was doing I was challenging them, and I used to tell them whenever he was acting wrongly.  That's how we got to be on the opposite ends of each other.  Then there was a Chief Magistrate, Mr Webber.  He convened a meeting.  At that time there was a political group called the UDF, and he convened a meeting where he said he wanted all the leaders of the political groups so that we could thrash out certain issues.  He wanted to resolve the matters because there was so much conflict and so many people were dying, and he wanted us to come with suggestions as to how to quell the violence that was taking place in the community.  I went to that meeting because I was also a leader.  This meeting was held at a certain hall next to the court building.  Just before Webber opened this meeting he said he wants everybody who is going to talk be a constructive speaker and try to quell the violence.  He did not want to entertain any destructive criticism because he wanted to get a solution to the present problem of violence.  Somebody started talking, then when he opened the meeting F J Siwela lifted up his hand.  He said, "Mr Webber, I think the UDF is having problems with the IFP, because the UDF was busy following and chasing members of the IFP."  Webber said he should sit down because he was not being constructive.  He told him that he wanted somebody who could bring a solution to the problem, and not a problem to every solution.  He again lifted his hand, that is Siwela, and Siwela continued to talk in this manner, and he was admonished by Chief Magistrate Webber.  And I lifted my hand to be the next speaker, and Webber allowed me the platform and I said whatever I had to say at that time.  And Webber asked as to whether they had heard me, and he asked as to whether they supported me, and they supported me and they gave me a round of applause.  I sat down and people continued talking, different speakers getting the platform.  I lifted my hand once more and Webber pointed at me to give me the platform.  And he further asked as to whether they had heard what I had said and they supported me once more.  I think I stood about four times or more.  Then thereafter the meeting was adjourned.  After the meeting there was rumour that there was going to be a special meeting which was going to be held at the council chamber, and we were told that everybody should be there at 6 o'clock at the council chamber for this very special meeting.  The community members also went there, as well as members of different political groups, and when we got to the council chamber the very first speaker who took the platform was Jeffery Nkosi, who was the then mayor.  Jeffery Nkosi addressed the community and told them that he had called them to try and resolve the problems that were prevailing within the community, but pointed out that there were certain members, or certain people in this meeting who were informers, but he did not want to mention as to who these people were.  He referred to the Chief Magistrate meeting and he said, "There is a person who was very prominent and he was busy talking to a certain Professor Nzimbankulu, and they were showing that they were colluding, but we were not going to mention any names."  I did not pay much attention to that because I did it in good faith.  When I spoke I did it in good faith.  He further pointed out that he was going to give Mr Siwela the platform, and he should tell us as to what is going to happen.  And Siwela stood up and addressed the members of the community, and said the mayor was going around in circles and not pointing out as to who the informer is.  Then he pointed at me and said I was the informer.