Human Rights Violation Hearings — Empangeni — 1996-11-06

WITNESS:   On the 12th March I had a lot of chickens in my house or my yard.  I used to go and buy food for my chickens.  I went to the same area where I usually go to buy this food for my chickens.  I waited there and I couldn't find the food, so I went back home, and then when I got home I realised that I made a mistake, I should go back, because my chickens were hungry.  I went there.  I waited for this car that usually comes to sell this food.  I saw people being delivered by a certain car and it was a private car.  It was dropping people by two or three and after the car stopped there and dropped the people, the people would go inside the forest and hide there.  I kept on waiting there, asking myself what was going on and then I started getting scared and I knew people were dying in that area.  I said to myself, "Maybe I shouldn't wait here.  I should go back home while it's still early", because I was scared that if something happened to me here and no one will find me.  As I was walking towards a taxi rank or bus stop, a lot of people came out from the forest.  Some of them had spears.  Some of them had hammers, and from this group of people only two people knew me and one person who started talking to me, who knew me very well, was Ngubo Buthelezi.  I just can't remember what this person said to me.  I think he said to me, "If you think what organization do you belong to?", and I said to him - before I could even answer him that's when he started hitting me, and all of them came for me.  They surrounded me.  That's when they started stabbing me with these spears and I fell down.  They saw that I wasn't dead.  They started walking away and there was a woman who was screaming and when this woman was screaming some of them wanted to run away, but when they realised that some of them were not scared they came back, and the doctor who examined me said there were 18 wounds.  It was in March when I was admitted in hospital.  Then I was discharged after seven months.  After I was discharged, when I arrived home, I discovered that my family - I mustn't leave this thing out that my wife used to come to hospital every time - after a date she'll come and visit me, but there were days when she didn't come and see me, and after I was discharged I realised that while I was in hospital she had a miscarriage and when I received this news I was very sad, and IFP members heard that I was discharged from hospital and one of them said, "It's okay, even if he's been discharged, he won't live long".  I stayed a few days at home and I was visiting the doctor all the time and one day I vomited blood.  I didn't know that I had blood inside my stomach.  I went back to my doctor in hospital.  That's when they drained the blood from my stomach, and they operated me.  I stayed at home and I was very sick.  I went back to work and at the clinic they said I must only do light duty, and the white people who were working there were changed and a new person - a new white person came and he took over and he said to me, "Sick people don't stay here.  They go to hospital".  I was hurt from these words, because I've been with RBM for over twelve years.  I carried on with my duties and I was sickly most of the time.  When I realised that it was difficult for me to work there, because people used to hunt me down, used to check as to what time I'm going to knock off, and later on the white people at work said they were going to change us and they said they were going to deduct the staff and at that time I knew that they were trying to get rid of me and then they said to me I must choose if I want a voluntary retrenchment or I want to change and work to another area.  I realised then that I couldn't do any job from any other department and then I told them that I was going to take a voluntary retrenchment and then I went home.  They kept on attacking me at home.  I remember one day there were a lot of buses from my area to Esikhaweni and on that - I just don't remember the date - police from KwaMbonambi Police Station and a stability unit went and surrounded my house and they knocked at my house and I asked them who was that and they said, "Open the door, because we are police", and I told them that I don't believe that they are policemen and then they kicked my door, and those who were standing next to the windows started breaking the windows.  They all went inside.  They woke my children up and they searched everyone and that's when they discovered that it was just me and my children.  These are the things that really tortured me.  Things were not well since I got injured because then I had to work for myself.  I was forced to leave the job and the standard of living went a little bit lower.  I'm struggling up until now.  If I may go back a little bit and give you a picture of what happened, because when I gave you the statement I just gave you what really affects me, I didn't give you about things that affect other members of my family or the community.   Sokhulu is an area where people had died.  People who killed other people mostly were stability police and the KZP.  I remember one day they came and they shot school children and they killed them, and I was sitting here all these days and no one came up here and related this story to you about the incident.  I want everyone to know this, because when we came or when we became to this new South Africa, ANC chose me to be a secretary of Sokhulu area.  If I may go back and relate this story to you.  Now I am exactly like a crippled man and I used to work for my family.

CHAIRPERSON:  Mr Mchunu, you mentioned that the doctor informed you that you had 18 stab wounds from spears on your body.  Is that right?

WITNESS:   I said if I count them there are 18, because they are visible.  I can count them.  When I was admitted at Ngwelezana Hospital, before I was operated, there was a nurse who was responsible to check if the wound was big or small.  If the wound was small she was ... (rest of sentence not translated)

CHAIRPERSON:  Now, you also mentioned you recognised two of the people who attacked you or was it only one?  You mentioned the name of Buthelezi and Ngubo.  Is that one person?  Is that Ngubo Buthelezi or is it two different people?

WITNESS:  Ngubo Buthelezi is one person.  The second one is Bongani Mathenjwa.

CHAIRPERSON:  And are these local people from Sokhulu area?

WITNESS:  Yes, they are from Sokhulu.

CHAIRPERSON:  And do you know where they are now?

WITNESS:   Ngubo Buthelezi is at Pongola and he is a, "Sangoma", the one that goes and sells the, "Muthi" in the streets.

CHAIRPERSON:  And Mathenjwa?

WITNESS:   Mathenjwa went back to  Nseleni, because he is still young.

CHAIRPERSON:  Did you report these people to the police?

WITNESS:   I went and I opened a docket at Mbonambi Police Station and when I told this policeman, the one that was taking the statement, I asked for a docket number, and the police said to me, "You seem to know the job very well.  Why can't you come inside and write the statement yourself?" and then I left and the police told me to go and wait at home.  After that I went to KwaMbonambi, because it's nearer.  I saw Ngubo Buthelezi.  I went inside the police station.  I said, "This is the person who injured me", and the police said, "This is not the way we are operating", and I left Ngubo like that.  Ngubo went to Pongola.

CHAIRPERSON:  Do you know the name of that policeman from KwaMbonambi?

WITNESS:   No, I don't know his name, because at Mbonambi Police Station the police knew me and when people were dying a lot from Sokhulu I once led a march to the police station to tell them that we are tired of dying and so I wasn't in good books for the police.  It wasn't easy to be friendly with the policeman there.  I was just giving him the statement because I had doctor's documents with me.