Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-24

MRS NCALO: It was on a Saturday. I was coming from work. When I arrived at home Nokuzola said to me, she says Sistami, they call me Sistami, I am going to see Dumi.  She said when I come from Dumi I am going to see my friend, she
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
16 MRS NCALO
has got a birthday party in Orlando. I allowed her to go.
 On the morning, on a Saturday - sorry, on a Sunday, on the 19th, the phone rang.  It was Mrs Padi.  She said to me open your gate, we are coming to your place. I was surprised. I thought maybe she is inviting me to church.  We were going to church in Orlando.  
 When I opened the gate I saw a red car in front of the gate. I saw Mr Padi and Mrs Padi and another lady and gentleman.  When they got in, Mr Padi told me that Dumi had some visitors, he was not arrested but he was killed.  He said I must go and prepare myself. I was very shocked.    
 We went to Pierre.  When we arrived in Pierre I was already told that the children were injured.  When I was in Pierre, there was blood on the gate.  When we got into the house the owner of the house told us what the boers had done the day before. I have never seen anything like that in my life.  
 He also told me that there was a boer who was watching us.  He didn't even allow us to go out, because this boer was watching us in the house.  There was a girl also.  We don't even know that girl.  We said let's go and see.
 We went into the house.  The first thing that I saw when we came in, it was Mrs Padi and myself.  The first that I saw when we came in was Nokuzola's watch.  Nokuzola was working for the ANC offices. It was only two weeks before that they had moved to Shell House. She had this watch on her, with the ANC emblem. I saw this watch.  It appeared in that blood. I saw her sandals. I told Mrs Padi that this is Nokuzola's watch, those Nokuzola's shoes. 
 Mrs Padi said to me let's pray.  We closed the door. We stood up because it was full of blood.  We started praying.  SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
17 MRS NCALO
What I was praying for, I was asking for God to give me strength, because I had already seen my child's belongings, and that she was there. We took off our coats. I had strength after that. I was no longer weak.
 We started cleaning up.  The walls were full of holes, the bed was already destroyed, the mattress.  What I found in this blood was Nokuzol's bra, her underwear. It was bent on both sides of the breasts. 
 We cleaned the blood. There were bones and pieces of flesh. We were collecting this and putting it into a plastic bucket.  When Mr Padi went (indistinct) to get the people to help us, we told them not to bring along the women, because they are going to make a noise, rather bring the fathers and come and help.  We cleaned up.  There were some remnants of brains combined with the blood.  
 When we were finished, we collected Dumi's goods.  We put them in a plastic bag and came back home.  The men were left there, trying to finish up the other things.
 When I was at home, I went to Mr Padi's place and delivered the clothes to him.  We put it to the house. When we were finished they took me home.
 When I arrived at home, Shirley, the one who is also Nokuzola's story, I told her that Shirley, Nokuzola was shot by the boers.  She started crying. I told her not to cry.  She asked me if I was serious. I told her that she has passed away, Nokuzola passed away.  We collected the stuff, like she was already dead in the house.  
 We started telling the people about Nokuzola's death.  Mr Padi said to me I must just sit down, he will be the one who will be doing all the ups and down.  He said just sit down, I will do everything.
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
18 MRS NCALO
 Mr Padi was the one who went to the mortuary and identifying the corpses.
 During the funeral it was also Mr Padi who was helping. I was so confused. Even during the memorial service I couldn't go there, because I was very sick. I stayed in the house. On the day of the funeral the boers were there all over the place, they were even the church.
 When we went to Avalon, the helicopter was just moving above us.  There were a lot of vans.  When we were in Avalon, they were surrounding the Avalon, pointing guns at us. But nothing happened.  We managed to bury them.
 After that there was this son of mine who was coming from Tanzania who were at home for four months.  He was crying, saying how can the boers kill my sister like this, they should have killed me.
 After the funeral, on the 1st of June, we went to the funeral. On the 13th of June the other one who was crying, the one who was crying, the brother of Nokuzola, was shot on the 13th, only 10 days after the funeral. He is the one who was shot, but he was not killed by the boers. He was not shot by the boers but he was shot by the other gentlemen fighting in the street.
 During Nokuzol's funeral, Bongani is my third born. Nokuzola is my first-born and Shirley and Bongani.  When we were burying Bongani the boers they were there again.  They were controlling the funeral.  We buried Bongani, but on that particular day they did nothing, but they were also there at Avalon, even when they were going home, they were there.  They were in front of us. Then Bongani was buried.
 In June 1991, it means we buried two children at my home, with a difference of 10 days.
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
19 MRS NCALO
 As the time goes on our ... (END OF TAPE 5 - SIDE B) ...
 ... at last we ended up with three boers, Mr Havenga who is Mr Havenga. The other one is Johannes Schoeman and the other one is Daniel Knoester.  Those were the boers that were together in the court.  When they were questioned by the advocate, Knoester said that on the 6th of May he was not aware that there was a girl also, because it was dark.  He mistakenly shot the girl.
 On the 26th of May the magistrate discharged all of them, because he described the whole thing as self-defence. They even asked is he also referring to Nokuzola. He said both of them, it was self-defence.  Yes, he said Dumi was very dangerous, that's why I had to shoot him, and that if Dumi had the chance he could have killed me.  The guns that they were using, they brought them, we saw those guns and the bullets.  But when they were shooting Nokuzola and Dumi we didn't see those guns, because they said it was a hand-grenade.  They said the guns they were using, it was the one if they steal it, if people steal it, people cannot open it, but still they use that particular gun and they steal it. If the car is running and the owner doesn't want to stop, they use that particular gun. The car was destroyed.  They used the very same guns for hitting Nokuzola and Dumi.
 The other day they were showing photos. I saw Nokuzola being the one who opened the door.  But this policeman said when he was asked, he said he kicked the door open.  The advocate showed him the photo also that Nokuzola is opening the door. He opened it and stand behind the door. When they were looking at the other photo the bed was full of blood.  Meaning he was on the bed when he was shot.
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
20 MRS NCALO
 They did that, they killed the children, but they said my child was a mistake, because it was dark.  The magistrate said that Mr J Botha, do you mean that it was self-defence.

MS MKHIZE: I would ask, if you have got Nokuzola, it was clear that she was shot, there were bullet wounds on her face. Is there a place where it is shown where she was shot?