Amnesty Hearings — Vereeniging — 1999-01-26

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: What motivated me to move to Kwamadala hostel, I had a quarrel with two young men.  One of them was Doti and the other one was Skosana.
	Doti and Skosana were there at my place of work at Hollywood Inn Nightclub.  They wanted to hit Timothy Stals Mazibuko with a handgrenade.
	I said to them; stop doing what you intend doing.  If you want peace or harmony stop that because you are going to injure this person and all of us will be affected and the other people who know nothing about this.
	They said they wanted to do their job.  I said - I drew my firearm, a 9mm that was in my possession and I told them that after finishing what they wanted to do, I was also going to hit them back.  
	The other said;  then that means the guy was my friend because I was prepared to do whatever on his behalf.  I told them that this person was a customer.  The situation was bad and I couldn't live freely in the township thereafter.  Whenever I'm walking around the township, I would see people looking at me in a funny way, in a strange way but I knew what the cause was ...(intervention)

MR STRYDOM: Just to interrupt you there, this Doti and Skosana, were they members of the ANC?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: Yes, they were well-known members of the ANC.

MR STRYDOM: During that period, were you a member of any political party?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: No.

MR STRYDOM: Yes, can you take it from there, what then eventually happened and why did you move to Kwamadala?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: The month was April in 1992.  Skosana and other young men who were residing in that same area called me Umkgwenbe.  I told them to stop calling me with such a name.  Skosana referred to me - said I was a dog and he wanted to get something to hit me with.  When the other one opened his jacket I saw an AK47.  I ran away.
	They shot at me but they missed me and I went to my place.  I told my brothers and I told them that the situation was tense.  Just because I'd stopped the guys trying to hit Skosana(sic) with the handgrenade and Skosana influenced the other people against me and they told the other people that I was a member of Inkatha Freedom Party. 
	My situation became worse.  On the 16th we couldn't sleep at our respective places because the people were pelting the house with stones.  We woke up.  I took that firearm, that 9mm.  I shot in the air for about five times.  
	The pelting of the stones subsided and my friend Jabulani said to me; it's better for us to leave the place because the people would come and burn us inside the house.  We did as Jabulani was saying.
	I didn't even know that Jabulani was an IFP member.  We went to Jabulani's girlfriend and we spent a night there at her place.  Jabulani told them about the situation.  After that they said we must get into the shack.  They locked us inside the shack, they locked from the outside.
	Jabulani opened the window and tried to talk to them through the window and asked them why were they using a padlock.  They said they that the people should think that there was no-one inside the shack.
	On the 17th we woke up and Jabulani told us to go to a certain place to get better protection.  I asked him: "Where are we going?" and he said: "Lets go to Kwamadala hostel.  I had no alternative but we had to go to Kwamadala hostel.  We went to Kwamadala hostel, it was three of us.

MR STRYDOM: Who was the third person that went with  you and Jabulani?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: It was Doctor, the name was Doctor.

MR STRYDOM: Now when you went to the Kwamadala hostel on that morning or during that day, did you know that there will be an attack on Boipatong that night?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: No.

MR STRYDOM: Then what happened, how did you become aware that there was going to be an attack?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: After we had got into this hostel in one of the rooms that was occupied by the young men from the township, we saw our old friend that used to work with us at Hollywood.  His name was Serame Mokoena.  We had some money, we bought some liquor.  We just wanted to calm down our emotions with this liquor.  As we were sitting there I went to the toilet to relieve myself.  I heard something like a whistle or siren.  I heard sound.  It looked like some people were talking outside, a number of people were talking outside.  I was in the toilet at the time.
	After relieving myself I went out of the toilet.  I enquired as to what was happening, what was this siren for.  Serame said it might happen that something is going to happen, maybe there are people who want to come to attack us because the siren wouldn't just ring for nothing.  He told us to go to the stadium.
	We went to the stadium.  When we arrived at the stadium, as we were coming in Hollie Bajozi was going out of the stadium.  Serame asked him: "Why are you going out so quick, what was happening?".  Hollie Bajozi told Serame this: "We were instructed to go and fetch our weapons."  
	As he was telling us that, Mkhize came and he said: "I told you that this is the day that you've been waiting for, you must go and arm yourselves."  We left.  When I arrived at the house, Doctor gave me a pump-gun.

MR STRYDOM: Who gave you the pump-gun?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: Doctor gave me the pump-gun.  After giving me this pump-gun there were two pump-guns left.  One was his and one was Jabulani's.   We left for the stadium.
	When we arrived there, Damarra said each and every man must get out.  We went to Serele and we came back again - I beg your pardon, he said, if they can go to Serele and come back and find a man inside the hostel, that man would be killed.  We left for Serele.
	We used ntelezi just before going to that.  We applied that ntelezi on ourselves and we left through the gate.  We were in a hurry.

MR STRYDOM: Did you know at that stage what was going to happen in Boipatong?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: Yes, it was well-known that the Self Defence Units were to be attacked.

MR STRYDOM: Did you agree with the idea that Self Defence Units should be attacked?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: No, I did not agree.  As I was going there I did not agree with the idea.  As they said we were going to - if they said that we were going to Zone 12 at Sebokeng, I would be in the forefront but unfortunately we went to this nearest house.
	We went there, we went under the bridge, we walked behind the nursery ...(intervention)

MR STRYDOM: Whilst you are in that area, did you see any Casspir vehicles there and did you get into a Casspir vehicle and were you transported to Boipatong?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: No.

MR STRYDOM: So you said you were by foot, what happened then?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: We went past the bridge that was on the tar road.  We walked through another footpath through the bridge and we took cover under a big tree.  We were told to wait there for the others.  They came.
	We were divided into two groups and we were told that another group should go in front and the other one would follow.
	In that process we saw a fence from the school that was used to barricade, to close the road, and it was tied up next to a certain pole.  We removed that fence, we went through.  When we were at the corner, at the road that was used by the taxis, we were told to start with the job.

MR STRYDOM: Do you remember who told you that?

SIPHO ALFRED MR BUTHELEZI: I was with Serame and I asked him who was the gentleman that was talking.  He said to me the gentleman was Damarra.  I said fine.

MR STRYDOM: And what job are you referring to?