Amnesty Hearings — Ermelo — 1998-07-23

MR BLACK: The next development you refer to was, you were ordered to undergo para-military training at Matetekulu, a youth training base in Kwazulu-Natal for the purposes of becoming a special constable in the Kwazulu-Natal Police.  Do you see that?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: Yes.

MR BLACK: Could you just give us a bit more detail on that, how it came about that you were sent away for training and what type of training you received?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: It was in 1991 when we came back from Makuza camp, and certain members had to be taken from the Black Cats group, taken back to be trained and come back so that they should face the ANC here at Ermelo.

MR BLACK: So you completed your training in June 1991?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: After you'd qualified, or underwent the training course, you came back home to Ermelo and what did you see when you got back?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: When I came back, I discovered that there were many community members who were getting injured, including ANC members, and some of them were being attacked for simply wearing an ANC T-shirt, and many people died innocently.

MR BLACK: Turn over to page 53.   Now, were you happy for what you saw when you got back after your training?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: Not at all.

MR BLACK: Would you have been prepared to put into practice your para-military training in Ermelo, on behalf of the people who had sent you away?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: Things in the township were such that there was nothing else that I could do to continue with these people, because I realised that what they were doing are not part of our vision when I entered the Anti Crime Campaign, they were doing exactly what was against the Anti Crime Campaign.

MR BLACK: You go on to say that you contacted Mr Perela Shongwe, who was a member of the ANC Youth Organisation, who introduced you to the ANC leadership in the township, is that so?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: And you did, did you eventually become a member of the ANC?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: Now if you move further down, you say that when the Goldstone Commission invited persons to give evidence about those events which prevailed in Ermelo and Darville(?) area, you actually gave evidence before the Goldstone Commission, and you gave details about and experiences of the attacks which were carried out by the Black Cats and allegedly supported by the South African Police against ANC supporters?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, Mr Black, just before that, a further little detail, how did it come about that you gave evidence before the Goldstone Commission, how did you get there?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: I contacted the lawyers for human rights.

CHAIRPERSON: Where was that?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: I was here and they were in Johannesburg, I phoned them.

MR BLACK: Thanks.   Why did you want to testify before the commission?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: It is because the things that were happening at the place where I lived were not pleasing at all, because the police would create a situation where a case that's been opened would not succeed, and I wanted to expose everything that was being covered by the police.

MR BLACK: So while you were busy in the process of giving evidence before the Goldstone Commission, you've returned to Ermelo and you met Mshwandle Gushu, is that correct?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: That is Mshwandle Gushu who has just testified, the first applicant?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: You say he introduced you as a member of the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and did he instruct you and others to form a self defence unit, a SDU?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: He asked you who the leaders of the Black Cats were, who were terrorising the community, is that so?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: We've already heard that Mr Gushu was not from Ermelo, but had actually, he had been called to, had arrived from outside to come to Ermelo?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: You told him that the leaders, Chris Ngwenya was the principal leader of the Black Cats and by that stage Zwane had already been killed?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: You also mentioned that Obed Nhlabathi, Bongani, Malinga and Nkosi, together with the police, were the main forces behind the Black Cats?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: So you actually gave him and pointed out various leaders of the Black Cats to him, is that so?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: Did you then, did you join this SDU, did you... (intervention).

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: Yes.

MR BLACK: And did you actively participate in its activities?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: You say you returned to give evidence to the Goldstone Commission and while giving evidence to the Goldstone Commission, you were told, or you learnt, that Chris Ngwenya had been killed, and after Chris Ngwenya had been murdered, the Black Cats went to your home and killed your mother, because they knew that you had revealed the activities of Chris Ngwenya and the Black Cats?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: Is that what you were told?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: Yes.

MR BLACK: Then when you returned home, you found that Obed Nhlabathi was still alive and he was still playing a prominent role in the attacks on the community?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: Now, when you returned home, then did you again make contact with Mr Gushu?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: You describe him as your MK commander?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: Did he give you a firearm?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That's correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Where and when did you get in contact with Mr Gushu again?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: The first time I came across Mr Gushu, I did not know his name at that stage, and I think quite a number of Black Cats at one stage met Mr Gushu without knowing his real name, they knew him as Rasta, and when I met with him when I was still with the Black Cats during 1991, we tried to negotiate or have talks with Mr Gushu, but I did not trust whatever he said until at a later stage when I was showed Palela Shongwe, or Palela Shongwe showed him to me.

MR BLACK: I'm not quite sure if I understood that, the commissioner wants to know perhaps when you came back, after having testified before the Goldstone Commission, you reported back to your MK commander Gushu?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct.

MR BLACK: And where did you meet him to report back to him?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: Mr Gushu was staying at Wesselton.

MR BLACK: Mr Gushu has testified that after the, if I may refer to it as the Piet Retief incident in which he was involved in the shooting of Mr Msebe, he purchased a gun and he gave it to you.   Is this the time and stage when he gave you a gun, when you came back from the Goldstone Commission?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: That is correct, he gave me the gun after the Goldstone Commission.

MR BLACK: Now you said your Comrade Livingstone Lukhele was given orders by Mr Gushu, what were the orders which he gave?

BONGANI WILBERFORCE KHABA: When I came back as a member of the self defence unit and when I got to the location, I got information that the people who were involved, for instance Obed, had a big part that he was playing in attacking the members of the community, and Mr Gushu gave us the permission to go and look for Obed and kill him.

MR BLACK: Right.   You say that about May 1992, you were with other comrades, you learnt that the Black Cats were harassing people at a disco in Ermelo, is that correct?