Human Rights Violation Hearings — Heiderveld — 1996-04-24

MS MELANE: His is Jackson Vellem.

MARY BURTON: Jackson Vellem, now how do you spell that?

MS MELANE: V E L L E M.

MARY BURTON: Thank you and that was also Ginana's surname, Ginana Vellem.

MS MELANE: Yes.

MARY BURTON: We also have the name Vukile, was that also Ginana's name?

MS MELANE: Vukile is also my father's name.

DR BORAINE: All right let's continue, Ms Glepu can you hear me all right, okay.

MS GLEPU: Yes.

DR BORAINE: Ms Glepu you can remember or can you remember what happened when Ginana was shot?   And if so take your time and tell us in your own words what you saw.

MS GLEPU: Yes I am listening.

DR BORAINE: Now I am going to listen and you can tell me what you saw.

MS GLEPU: We were in the house at no 15, 81 I saw my door opening, we were watching TV, two boys rushed in.  I got up and I saw a man coming in as well and I told him that I - no the kids have passed through.  And I saw the kids passing - jumping the gate at no 11 at the back, at the backyard.
 Now this man left also, I closed my door.  I hear noise outside, when I looked outside, I saw this man, at that time I didn't know that he was a policeman.  So I saw this man dragging Ginana by the neck from no 16 which is now opposite my own house.  He dragged him and Ginana was asking what have I done, what have I done and his hands were up.  And he was holding tobacco and matches.  Ginana was walking backwards, leaning against the fence of no 16, this man shot Ginana the first time and he shot him in the chest.
 The second bullet went through but it - it missed Ginana and - no - no he slipped and he fell on his back and he asked what have I done, and this man stood over him and asked - and shot him again.  He tried again to shoot, and then at that time now Ginana's father appeared saying no that is my son, that is my son.
 It was at that time now when the van approached us, it was rushing and this policeman inside this van asked what - why have you shot this one.  And then he said hey I've shot this one, but let's run away, so he got into the van and ran away with the van.  Ginana's father asked, looked for transport to take Ginana, but he couldn't and then some of the neighbours took Ginana to the police station.

DR BORAINE: I  thank you very much, it's very helpful, could you tell us did you - do you know who the man was who shot Ginana?

MS GLEPU: Yes I know him.

DR BORAINE: And you say that you - he was not dressed as a policeman.

MS GLEPU: No he had a check shirt and pants that's all.

DR BORAINE: And you know his name.

MS GLEPU: Yes I know his name, his name is Faku.

DR BORAINE: [indistinct]

MS GLEPU: Yes he is.

DR BORAINE: When you saw Ginana, did he have a gun in his hand?

MS GLEPU: No he didn't have a gun in his hand.

DR BORAINE: So it was the only the policeman who had a gun in his hand.

MS GLEPU: Yes it was only the policeman.

DR BORAINE: [indistinct] thank you very much, I'd like to just stop there for a minute and find out if my fellow Commissioners would like to ask you some more questions.

CHAIRPERSON: Any  [intervention]

MARY BURTON: Ms Glepu did you know Sergeant Faku yourself or did you see in the newspaper that, that was his name.

MS GLEPU: I only saw it in the newspapers that it was him and I also saw him in Court as I was the first witness in the Court at Wynberg.

MARY BURTON: [indistinct] - so you recognised him in Court as the man who had shot Ginana.

MS GLEPU: I recognised him immediately.

DR BORAINE: I want to return to Ms Melane please if I may and thank you very-very much indeed.

DR BORAINE: Ms Melane tell us just a little bit about your brother he was 17 years old, was he active in politics, was he a member of a party, was he working for any party, tell us about him.

MS MELANE: Ginana was still at school.  He was not involved in any organisations.

DR BORAINE: [indistinct] in - in school politics?

MS MELANE: No he was not involved in any organisations, I don't remember anything.

DR BORAINE: Last question I have for you is Ms Glepu mentioned that she was a witness in a Court case in Wynberg, and that she recognised Sergeant Faku as the man who shot your brother.  Did you attend the Court case as well?

MS MELANE: No I never went to Court because I didn't want to go to Court, it was my father who use to go to the Courts.  At that time I didn't want to hear anything about this case.  What I was told was that he cried and he was asking what he has done, so I didn't want to go back to that and listen to all those, and listen to everybody talking about his cries.

DR BORAINE: [indistinct] you did say that the Court case was adjourned and then it was going to take place in the Supreme Court, but that you don't know what happened.

MS MELANE: Yes I've said that, my mother - my father kept on waiting for a long time and he kept on telling us that he doesn't know why there is not progress in this Court until he left Cape Town.

DR BORAINE: [indistinct] that we are going to try and see if we can't find out some more details because earlier you said that you wanted to come to the Commission because you wanted people to know what had happened to your brother and the sadness and the sorrow that you've experienced and you wanted to know who actually was responsible and we certainly will do our best to find that out.  Is there any other way in which you think the Commission might be of help to you?

MS MELANE: I would personally thank the Commission because it has already helped me by letting people know my little brother died and I want to tell everybody how my brother died and the fact that he was innocent.  He was a very good child around the house, he use to clean and he use to fix old radio's.
 He was quite helpful around there - around the home.  I am already grateful to be able to tell everyone about this, because this is something that has been [indistinct] at me, especially the fact that it was just disappeared and nobody talked about it again.

DR BORAINE: Is there anything at all?

MS MELANE: No there is none.

DR BORAINE: I want to thank you very much indeed and I'll ask the Chairperson to take over.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much to you sister and your mamma for coming here to be the witnesses.  We also are grateful to have you here.  And now we are - we are hoping that you will get something to heal you.  Thank you.