Amnesty Hearings — Vanderbijlpark — 1999-05-11

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I can hear from the right ear.

MR MAPOMA: Okay.

MR BERGER: Slowly please Mr Baloyi.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Okay.

MR BERGER: Please continue.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: When the suitcase opened, it was full of women's shoes as well as drinking glasses.

MR BERGER: Did the attackers continue to go for you?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: It was just one person who was attempting to hack me.

MR BERGER: What was happening in the rest of the house if you know?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They did not enter into the other rooms.  They just remained where I was in the sitting room.

MR BERGER: What happened then?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: He tried to hack the door, but I closed it.  He continued hacking the door, trying to get it open.  The door still has those marks up to today.  I showed it to my children.

MR BERGER: Did they manage to get through the door?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: No, they were unable to enter the room.

MR BERGER: Did they eventually leave your house?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Somebody was calling, he said "the time is up, we should leave now, leave what you are doing."  He spoke in Zulu.

MR BERGER: Did you hear any other languages spoken that night?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

MR BERGER: When was that?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: At that very same time, when they were calling the others, somebody said in Afrikaans "maak gou", which means hurry.

MR BERGER: That voice that you heard shouting "maak gou", are you able to say if it was spoken by a black person or by a white person?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: The people who attacked me, spoke in Zulu and that voice was clearly a white person's voice.

MR BERGER: The Afrikaans?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

MR BERGER: What happened then?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They all left and went into the forest.

MR BERGER: What did you do?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: As I went out, because the door was already broken, I stood in my yard.

MR BERGER: Mr Baloyi, what was stolen from your house?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They stole records and children's clothing which was on the chair.   The hi-fi, they broke it outside but they did not take it with.

MR BERGER: Besides the door and the hi-fi, what else was destroyed in your house?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: The glasses that were on display on the sideboard as well as the glasses that had been in that suitcase that they brought along.

MR BERGER: Was anyone, any member of your family, anyone staying with you, injured during the attack?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: All persons in my family, had hidden in the toilet.

MR BERGER: So nobody was injured?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Mandu was just injured when she stepped on the glasses that had been part of the glasses that had been broken.

MR BERGER: All right, Mr Baloyi, let's go back to, you have now come out of your house, the attackers have left your house, what did you do?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I saw as they were walking off into the veld, as they were going back to kwaMadala.

MR BERGER: Where were you standing?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: As I was standing outside, things were happening very fast.    I went back to the house checking if no one was injured amongst my children and I realised that no one had been injured because they had hidden in the toilet.

MR BERGER: And then what did you do?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I went on to the garage's rooftop.

MR BERGER: Yes, what did you see?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I was able to see everything that was happening out there in the veld.

MR BERGER: Could you also see to Amatolo Street?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, I saw it clearly.

MR BERGER: Your house is near the corner of Bafokeng and Thembu Streets, is that right?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, that is correct.

MR BERGER: And the street, the street to the north of yours is Amatolo?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: That is correct.

MR BERGER: And beyond Amatolo is the firms?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, that is correct.

MR BERGER: What did you see if anything, happening on Amatolo Street?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: At Amatolo I saw the very same Police vehicle that had been standing in front of my house, parked under the tree there.

MR BERGER: How many Police vehicles did you see?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I saw a casspir and two "koyoco's".

MR BERGER: And what were these vehicles doing?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Let me just finish off - as the IFP people were walking along the veld, they were being led by two of these vehicles.  Two were on the side of the firms.

MR BERGER: Mr Baloyi, I am sorry, we are not getting the interpretation.

MR LAX: Sorry, what has he said so far, we haven't heard a thing since the side of the fence?  The side of the veld or side of the fence, veld?

INTERPRETER: Firms.

MR LAX: Oh, firms, thank you.

INTERPRETER: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Baloyi, we want to record what you are saying.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Please speak slowly and allow the Interpreter to interpret what you say.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Otherwise some of your evidence will get lost.   Do you understand that?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes, I do.

CHAIRPERSON: Would you please start again, your Counsel asked you what did you see, just start from there.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: As I was standing on top of the garage, I saw that vehicle, a "koyoco" parked under a tree in Amatolo Street.  It drove off from that street and went directly to the gate, to the gate in front of the Metal Box factory where the other two vehicles were also parked.  The Police got off those vehicles and they fired shots in the air.

CHAIRPERSON: Who fired shots, did the Police?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: A Policeman fired, it looked like fire.

MR BERGER: Yes?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: It was a huge light and you could see it suddenly, the scene became bright and you could see what was going on.

MR BERGER: This was the shot fired by the Policeman into the air, which lit up the area?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

MR BERGER: Please continue.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They then left and these two vehicles helped them, they had eliminated the place and they were walking along Umzimvubu towards the main road.

MR BERGER: Mr Baloyi, the Police vehicles that you describe were moving along Amatolo Street, is that what you said?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Those are separate.

MR BERGER: Now the ones that were moving along Amatolo Street.

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: It was just one, others were parked under a tree, that is at the Metal Box gate.   It was a casspir and a "koyoco" vehicle, and when the one from Amatolo reached there, it was then three vehicles in total.

MR BERGER: Where were the attackers at that stage?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: They were in the veld, they were just moving along in the veld.

MR BERGER: Then you spoke about Police vehicles in Umzimvubu Street, is that right?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: I did not know where these came from, but there were two of them.  These were the vehicles that had escorted them.

CHAIRPERSON: Let me get this, there was what you call a "koyoco" which earlier on during that evening, had parked next to your house?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: And then there was a casspir and a "koyoco" which were parked at or near the gate of the Metal Box?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: And then there were two "koyoco's"?  Are those the ones that were travelling along Umzimvubu?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Which were providing light to the attackers?

MACHIHLILE WILSON BALOYI: Yes.

MR BERGER: Where were the attackers in relation to the vehicles on Umzimvubu Street?