Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1999-05-25

MTHETHELI CROSBY KOLELA: The second incident. We were going to a rural area called Tembeni. Yes, that was the same night. We received an instruction from our commander, that is Mr Sotyifa. He told us that there was a report from the Chairperson of ANC, that particular branch, that is Mr Mantawule, he said that there was a certain policeman there who was called Mxolise Ngqolozana.

CHAIRPERSON: You say he was a policeman.

MTHETHELI CROSBY KOLELA: Yes, that is correct.

MR LAX: Can I, just before you do. Can I just ask the name of the Chairperson who gave the report? I just didn't catch it?

MTHETHELI CROSBY KOLELA: The surname is Mantawule. His first name is Tembusile. What we were told there by the Chairperson of that branch through our Commander Sotyifa was that this policeman was disturbing all the meetings that would be held. Meetings of the African National Congress in that area and he was victimising the members of the African National Congress and the other people had run away from their homes and others would sleep at ANC offices in King William's Town. And others were sleeping in Border Council of Churches and others would sleep in offices of SANCO. That is when we were instructed through our Commander Sotyifa and we were told that that kind of a person was an enemy and in those days we knew very well each and every person who loved freedom wouldn't just go and disturb the meetings in the African National Congress. The only people who would do that were the people who were against development and democracy. Therefore, he was regarded as a person who was on the side of the enemy. The enemy at those times was Brigadier Gozo's government. When we got into that village ... (intervention)

DR TSOTSI: Do you say you were sent to this policeman to do what with him?

MTHETHELI CROSBY KOLELA: We were told to go and kill the policeman. We had a lot of things to consider before going ahead with the plan. The first thing was to check about this person who sent us there. We had to check if this person was not holding a grudge against this person. We had to be sure that this person was doing it because he was a member of the organisation and we also realised that this person was not giving problems to individuals but was problematic to the whole organisation.
	Secondly, we had to check the place where to get this person so that the other people would not be affected. Meaning the innocent people. We had to go around the village and check the room, his bedroom that is. We wanted t find him alone without anyone, because in those days we had nothing against his family. The only person that we were looking for was him. When we got in, we saw his car about 12 as we were coming in the village. When we got into the village we saw him sitting in his car with a certain lady. The first thing that we asked was that if it was the right thing to kill him in that particular place where he was sitting with this lady. We had agreed that it was not the right thing because there was a second person and we didn't even know how that person was affected in his actions - by his actions.
	The other thing that we were looking at was that we did not - we wanted to be sure that by finding him there was not a trap that was directed to us. We went to check in his house. When we arrived there, we went past again and we monitored around the village to check as if it would be safe for us after the mission to exit the village. We monitored him from that place. We thought that he would leave then go straight home. When we came back to the very first spot where he was, he was no longer there. We went to his house. When we arrived there, we were not sure if he was in there or not. But we had agreed that as we did not know what room was he in, and we decided not to demolish or to demolish the whole house with the explosive because the other people and the children who were there would be affected and the people who were innocent. That is when we agreed to abort this mission and go back home and try to think afresh.
	When we left there we were stopped at a certain road block. We were ordered to take off our clothes, everything. We were assaulted by those soldiers who were there manning the road block. I personally was assaulted until my arm was broken. All of us were limping as we were hit with the rifles right on our legs. After that the solders who were there, they instructed us to get into the vehicle and leave the place. We heard them saying that we should get into that vehicle and wee were going to be shot at as if we were the people who were running away. 
	After that, a policeman came. The police was totally against this action - was totally against the fact that we were ordered to take off our clothes and then he put us into the van. That happened after the argument that took place between the police and the soldiers in the road block. The police instructed that we should be arrested just like normal people. And we had changed our names in that road block, we did not give them our real names. The reasons for that was that each and everyone who was in the Executive of the African National Congress, in the structure of the ANC Youth League or any alliance and the Self-Defence Unit, we knew that Brigadier Gozo's government had their names. If we had revealed our real names there, I am sure that even today we wouldn't be alive.
	The police took us to the cells in Zelini that is called Zeli Police Station. When we arrived there at Zeli Police Station we were held by the other police who were at there. At the police station we managed to make calls to our legal representatives and even phoned the African National Congress to tell them that we were arrested.
	The following day we were taken to Tamaga Police Station. When we arrived there at the police station, as we were about to write our - register our names or write our names, that is when we revealed our real names. Because we knew that if those names were entered in the police register at least the people would get a clue if something happens. The soldiers at the time, more especially the Intelligence Unit of the Ciskei Defence Force, they were very angry about that. We were taken to - into some things that looked like sacks. It was myself, Bafo Ngqunge and Mabitana Mani. We were put into the van and taken to a certain farm that even today I don't know that farm. We were assaulted there. As my arm was broken like this, it was being twisted like this. We were told to tell the truth. The truth that they are looking for is that they wanted to know where the weapons were coming from. We were forced to lie ... (intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: I'm getting a bit confused. First of all, why did soldiers beat you up and why did the police arrest you?

MTHETHELI CROSBY KOLELA: When we arrived at the road block, they saw these three handgrenades and the Stashkin pistol that was in our possession. They asked us where did you get those weapons. They were torturing us and interrogating us. We are not sure whether we were being assaulted because of the weapons or else they wanted to know, to get information that - we were not so sure of the reason why we were being assaulted, because it used to be the procedure in Ciskei that if they find you with weapons they would associate you with ANC and they would even assault even if they are looking for nothing. The police were arresting us because legally the soldiers do not have the right to arrest us. And they were also divided in this issue because when the others came they said the other should phone the police so that it could be the police who would arrest us. That is when the police interfered now, and that is when they took us to the police station.

CHAIRPERSON: As a result of the arrest, were you charged?