Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — UNKNOWN

MRS GCABASHE: We heard everything you just told us, and we will try that you receive some letters that you didn't receive, like letters that say how your husband actually died.  We will try and look and find if we can find those statements.  And if there was any case we will try and investigate with the police people and find out how the case ended.  Another thing about your life, the Commission would like to express itself to people who got hurt, and they will try and heal wounds like the wounds that you have lost your husband, and the Commission will try and look after that.  I thank you very much, and I hope that this woman that you mentioned that she is trying to comfort you, and we hope that she'll continue doing that.  We like people who are like her.  We thank you very much.

MRS GCABASHE: Now I would like to give way to the Chairman.

MRS GCABASHE: Mrs Makowani, I will apologise, I am missing some points.  You said the car that was being fixed was Mr Mapanga's car.  At this time when they went to look for the petrol to put in Mr Mapanga's car where was Mapanga at that time?

WITNESS:   They were together the three of them.   Mapanga, was he - what about Mapanga?  Would you tell us about Mapanga?  Did he die, or ... (incomplete)   ---   They all died, the three of them.

MRS GCABASHE: Thank you very much, you've just clarified my point.

MRS GCABASHE: I would like to thank you, Nomusa, for coming

MRS GCABASHE: forward here and giving us your testimony.  Usually when  you tell people about your tale it's like you're taking part of the pain and you're giving it to other people.  We are going to take part of your pain and leave with it, so that you don't have this heavy pain alone.  What the Commission can do we will do.  Thank you.

MRS GCABASHE: MS SHEZI

MRS GCABASHE: Ms Shezi, we thank you for having come forward.  It's a very painful thing for us as mothers to lose our children just like you have lost your son, Muzi.  We are with you today, and we hope that we are going to hear all about his torture.  We would like you to give us a general overview, a background as to who your son was, what did he do for the community, how old was he when he died?  Was he attending school, or did he belong to any political organisation.  Just give us something that will assist us to have a picture of Muzi as a person.

WITNESS:   Muzi was my son.  He was the only son.  He was a member of the UDF.  He was 18 years old at that time.  That was in 1987.  He died in 1987, August.  We are three at home.  That is my brother and my sister, the one who is sitting next to me, as well as our children.

MRS GCABASHE: When you say Muzi was the only son, does he have any sisters?

WITNESS:   He does have a sister.

MRS GCABASHE: What standard was he at that time?

WITNESS:   He had already left school at that time, because I did not have enough money to send him to school because I was a domestic worker.  So he was holding a temporary job with his uncle.  Then one Saturday Muzi came home.  It was round about six, half past six Saturday afternoon.  He said to me he is coming back.  He didn't say where he was going to.  He said he was coming back.  We slept without him having returned.  I went to look into his bedroom but he wasn't there.  Then on Sunday round about one still he wasn't back home.  I wondered where he was.  Then there came another elderly lady who was coming from the church.  She came and said to me did I hear about two youngsters who were burnt by the main road.  I just kept quiet, I didn't tell anybody about this, but I just decided to go, telling myself that I was just going to look and see if I could get him.  I kept on asking other kids as to where he was.  I went back home, I just stayed there.  I never said anything, I just kept quiet, I never told anybody where I went to.  We slept on that Sunday evening.  Then on Monday morning still he wasn't back.  I woke up and went back to work.  I came back from work, still he wasn't home.  In the afternoon on that Monday my brother came from work.  He said he didn't see my son at work so he asked for permission to come and look for him.  That was on a Monday.  We slept on that particular Monday, then Tuesday morning my brother went out to search for my son, but they couldn't get him.  Then on that very same evening I had also asked permission from work to come back early.  Then my brother decided that he should go to the main road because it was raining, so we went - they went there besides a dam.  They dug somewhere there alongside the dam.  They came back with a little fabric that was part of my son's trouser, as well as my son's shoes.  They were already shrunk because of the mud.  He brought these to me and said, "These look like Muzi's clothes."  That's when I started realising that really my son had gone.  We woke up on Wednesday morning.  I remained at home and my brother went over to the police station because he had already discovered these little fragments of fabric.  They went to the mortuary.  When they got there they found him at the mortuary.  His face was burnt.  They came back to tell me that they had got him and he was burnt.

MRS GCABASHE: We do hear, Mrs Shezi.

WITNESS:   We prepared for the funeral.  Police kept on coming to ask as to when was he going to be buried.  We indicated to them that we didn't know.  Until the day of the funeral, that was on a Saturday, when the police came in the morning.  They asked us as to what time was the funeral proceedings to the cemetery.  My sister said we don't know, because she was now fed up.  Another guy called Duff came just before we proceeded to the cemetery.  I went to see my child.  I saw his face was burnt.  The funeral procession was from Lay Centre.  Dr Mgojo was conducting the funeral service for my son, as well as others.  We went to the cemetery.  As we approached the cemetery everybody was just waiting at the door to see this funeral procession coming.  Everybody was just scared.  When we got to the cemetery we buried my son, and the place was a little bit below.  Just next to my son's grave there was an Inkatha funeral.  Then the reverend came to shake my hand.  We buried my son.  I saw something that I had never ever seen before when children keep on looking at those who were singing.  As they were filling the grave they kept on glancing at the Inkatha people.  They said a person had just died, a person had just died.  Then they sang Nkosi Sikelele.  They kept on glancing upwards until they finished filling the grave.  Then we went away.  As I was on the way I saw the Inkatha people.  They shot, and when the one shot it hit one of the Inkatha members.  He hit his co-member.  He asked whether, "You saw that you had shot me."  The other one said he was sorry, he didn't realise that he was shooting a co-member.  I went to call the police.  When I looked at the police I found them pointing guns at us instead of at the Inkatha people.  We pointed out that it was the Inkatha people who were actually shooting at us, but they nevertheless continued pointing their guns at us.  When we went out we saw a car burning.  When we got home - it was on a Monday, then we had already buried my son - we were harassed continuously.  We couldn't sleep.  Just in the vicinity where I was staying I think it was UDF, then on the other side it was UDF.  They kept on harassing us, and everybody in the neighbourhood was just scared because we were being continuously harassed.

MRS GCABASHE: I would like to ask you just a little question.  Did they kill and burn Muzi?  Before then was there some friction, or did he fight with the Inkatha people, or did they try to attack him, or is it something that just happened before they even fought?