Human Rights Violation Hearings — Cradock — 1996-02-10

BONGANI FINCA: We ask Polina Nolese Mbalula to come forward please.  We realise that there is a lot of people in this hall.  We also realise that a lot of people are uncomfortable because there is not enough space, we expected that in Cradock the hall would be this full, but we do trust that people will be disciplined because people from Cradock have been disciplined by the struggle.
 Thank you.  We just want to remind you that the people who come to testify before us, should be given reverence, they come here and tell their stories.  We welcome you Mrs Mbalula, the Reverend Xundu will swear you in and Mrs June Crichton will lead the evidence.

REV XUNDU: Thank you Mr Chairman.

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: (sworn states)

JUNE CRICHTON: We welcome you Mrs Mbalula and according to your statement here, we are going to hear about the death of Nobeki Mbalula.  Can you tell me first of all what her role was?  We have to start again, can you hear me?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: Yes, I can hear you.

JUNE CRICHTON: We welcome you to this Commission and we are here to talk about your sister-in-law Nobeki Mbalula.  Would you tell me first of all what her role in the community was?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: She did not have a particular role in the community.  She was not doing anything.

JUNE CRICHTON: I understand according to your statement,
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that she was a member of the ANC, is that right?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: Yes, she was just a member of the ANC, she was not a leader as such, she was  a member like all of us.

JUNE CRICHTON: And your relationship to her is as sister-in-law, is that correct?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: Yes, she was my sister-in-law.

JUNE CRICHTON: ... that day, can you give us a little bit of an idea of what was actually happening in Venterstad at that time?  What was the situation in the community?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: The children were quite involved in the struggle.  The one time they burnt down the car from the Municipality.  After a week a hippo came.

INTERPRETER: The witness is going to fast, the witness is going to fast.

JUNE CRICHTON: Would you like to just begin again telling us what happened when the hippo came.  Start from that point.

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: All right.  My sister-in-law, Nobeki, had gone to visit her mother with her husband.  It was a Sunday, when they were coming back the police were shooting around the township.
 They were in a casper.  She also unfortunately got shot.  She ran away, she ran and tried to hide under a caravan.  The police continued to shoot.
 She got shot again whilst hiding under the caravan.  She got shot in the head.

JUNE CRICHTON: How were you informed about her death?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: She was with her boyfriend.  I could hear that there were gun shots.  She had a child and I was with these children.  Her boyfriend then came and other comrades.
 She could not walk, they had to carry her and put her on the bed.  I was the only one who was in the house who was
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an elderly person.  When I went to look at her, I realised that she was no longer alive.  I then had to go and tell her parents that she had passed away.

JUNE CRICHTON: Are you ready now?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: Yes, I am ready.

JUNE CRICHTON: I would like to move on a little bit and ask you - I would like to ask you whether there was a court case or an inquest of any sort?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: We took the corpse, we were struggling and as we were trying to take her out, there was a policeman with a gun at the door.  Her son was outside and as he tried to go in, he came across this policeman with a gun.
 It was difficult for my husband to go and tell our relatives.  We then got a car from other comrades.   We took the corpse to the police station.
 There was a comrade called Quabane.  The police were arguing with this comrade and with myself.  As she had a baby, the police said that the corpse can breast feed the baby.  We then asked what we should do with the corpse.
 They said that we could do whatever we wanted to with it.  We left the corpse.  On the Monday morning the police continued with shooting around the township.  They would kick down doors.
 We were trying to report to the Venterstad police.  On the Monday they came to our house.  They kicked down the door, they ate food, they took food from the fridge and they ate.  The police would continuously come shooting.
 On the Tuesday they came yet again.  We were not at the house, we had gone to the mortuary.  They took my husband's bicycle.  They said that it is impossible for my husband to have such a bicycle, he must have stolen it.  They took it.
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 It was difficult to report these cases to the police, because they had taken somebody's life already.
 They also detained a lot of children from the township.  There was no law, no decorum.  They then took my husband to Cape Town for an operation.  He eventually came back.
 When he came back, he was not covered, he was naked.  He was at the back of a bakkie.  I then rushed to the bakkie.  It was a White policeman that was there.  My husband was no longer alive.
 We went to the mortuary where he was.  I could not recognized him as he had bled a lot.  There was blood all over his head.  I tried to investigate and I tried to get help because I had children to look after and also this baby.
 I kept on going to the Magistrate, the Magistrate sent me to the Social Workers.  The Social Workers could not help me either.  I was ill of health, high blood pressure, heart ailment, even mentally, I was affected.  My husband was not working.  He would get temporary jobs.  I had no money.  We had to borrow money from our neighbours to bury my husband.
 People wanted their money back and I could not give it back to them.  I asked the Magistrate if the law could not help me, he said no.  He then said that I must get money from Social Workers to pay my debts.
 From there I would be sent back to the police station.  The police then sent me to a police Commander.  I wanted a Death Certificate because the Social Workers needed it.  They said that I could not get it before the case was over.   They needed to ascertain whether my sister-in-law was guilty or was it the police that were in the wrong.  I had this baby to look after.   Because I had no help, I had to
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take these children to my sister-in-law's ex-husband.
 A Red Cross car came to my house, but there was no one at home, we were at work.
 When they got to my house, they gave me R600-00 and food.  They said that they could not help me any further.  They said that they would feed me for three months.  They were then informed that there is more to the family.
 The R600-00 was divided amongst the members of the family, I was left with R300-00.  My husband ...

INTERPRETER: The witness is going too fast.

JUNE CRICHTON: Mrs Mbalula, I must ask you to speak more slowly and I need to ask you a couple of questions at this point and then if there is more for you to say afterwards, you can add it.
 I need to ask you and take you back to Nobeki's death and ask you very specifically if you know who the boyfriend was?  The name of the boyfriend?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: Yes, I do know the name.  It was Balabala Tugani.

JUNE CRICHTON: And then as well as that, I would like to know when the corpse of your sister-in-law was being taken out of the house, there was a policeman standing at the door.  Was it that policeman who said that the baby could be breast fed by the corpse?

POLINA NOLESE MBALULA: Those police were from Middelburg.  They were in a casper from Middelburg.  Those are the police that said that.

JUNE CRICHTON: Do you know who they are, would you recognise them?