Human Rights Violation Hearings — Ermelo — 1997-05-22

MS MTSWENI: He was working with Mr Blosser who's also in Pretoria.   Mr Blosser knows where my brother was working.

THOMAS MANTHATA: You've got nothing from where he was working, after his death or even during his.... ?

MS MTSWENI: He just started work during that month that he was hacked.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Had he not worked anywhere before ?

MS MTSWENI: Yes, he was working in Middelburg.

THOMAS MANTHATA: It's very complicated.   Maybe we'll stop questioning any further.

RUSSELL ALLY: Mrs Mtsweni, in your statement you seem to suggest that Mathews and July Mtetwa actually knew each other before this incident.  Is that correct ?

MRS MTSWENI: Yes, it is.

RUSSELL ALLY: Were they friends ?

MRS MTSWENI: No they were not friends but they knew each other because we were neighbours.

RUSSELL ALLY: In you statement you also suggest that what caused them to become enemies was some dispute around a tavern.  Some tavern had been opened and soon after that they became enemies.  Can you just explain to us what you mean by that.

MRS MTSWENI: They were fighting because they were patrons of the tavern, both of them.

RUSSELL ALLY: But why were they fighting ?  Do you have any idea ?

MRS MTSWENI: I do not know why they were fighting but they once attacked him at some stage before they hacked him.

RUSSELL ALLY: Who's this they that you're referring to who attacked him ?

MRS MTSWENI: July together with his sister.  He was attacked for the first time then, then this incident was the second one.

RUSSELL ALLY: Now in your statement you also speak about this conflict we've been hearing about most of to-day.  The conflict between the ANC and the IFP.  You say there was a fight between IFP supporter s and ANC supporters.  This feud or dispute between your late son Mathews and July Ntetwa, how did this relate to this conflict, this fight between the ANC and the IFP which you speak about ?  Was there a link ?

MRS MTSWENI: July was a member of Inkatha and he was a police informer and all of us at my place were members of the ANC.

RUSSELL ALLY: Did your son, after the first attack, you say that he was attacked by July and July's sister, did he do anything about this ?  Did he report the matter or did he take any steps to protect himself ?  What happened after this first attack ?

MRS MTSWENI: No, we never laid a charge.

RUSSELL ALLY: Nothing.  Your son was attacked, according to your statement, that this took place in January of 1991.

MRS MTSWENI: That's correct.

RUSSELL ALLY: And you say your son died in January of 1997.

MRS MTSWENI: That's correct.

RUSSELL ALLY: That's this year, this January.  So there's  six years that have passed.  In the certificate that you've also put in your statement, the cause of death here says natural causes.  What was it that caused the death of your son ?

MRS MTSWENI: I do not believe that it was a natural death.  He was always undergoing treatment and I think there's some substance that was coming out of his mouth.  I think this was a direct result of the attack by the Inkatha people six previous years.

RUSSELL ALLY: In the attack you son lost his right eye.  That's correct ? After this attack he was blind in the one eye ?

MRS MTSWENI: That is true.

RUSSELL ALLY: Did he recover sufficiently from this attack ?  Did he ever work again after that attack or ...?

MRS MTSWENI: No,  he never recovered thereafter.  He got sick and he was undergoing treatment for the past six years for his eyes as well as for the whole of his mouth.

RUSSELL ALLY: Thank you very much.

MR LEWIN: Dr Randera ?

DR RANDERA: Ma'am Mtsweni and Tembi, it's very difficult to try and encompass what you have actually been through because you have both seen and suffered from the experiences of your son.  You have seen him through the effects of the attack.  You've seen him in hospital.  You've been through the court case where the person you think was responsible for the attack on him, is let free.  You've seen him being disabled and now more recently you've seen him die.  Again there's very little that we can do to lessen that.  What we can do is to try through the references that you have give, the case numbers, to see what can be done about possibly re-visiting the case or re-opening the case.  There is a report you talk about as well of a disability grant that is there and in offering our condolences and our sympathy I would just like to say that we will do what we can to follow this through.  It must be very difficult for you to have come to-day and we would like to say how grateful we are to you for that.  We share in you pain and give you what comfort we can through saying thank you very much for coming.  Thank you.