Amnesty Hearings — Vanderbijlpark — 1999-05-17

MR STRYDOM: Yes, thank you Chair.
	And it's stated here:
"We went to Saldana's house where we saw that everything was in a total disarray"
Is that portion correct?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No.

MR STRYDOM: What's wrong there?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Where you read that everything was in disarray at Saldana's house.

MR STRYDOM: Now wasn't the situation that things were turned upside down there?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Things were not in the normal state, windows were broken.

MR STRYDOM: And inside the house, was everything in order?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I had just arrived on that day on the day of the attack.  What I found wrong was the broken windows.

CHAIRPERSON: Just before you go on, there is a sentence here.  Can you remember I just read to you the portion of the statement which indicates that you screamed, Saldana came out of his house to warn you not to make a noise, do you remember that portion?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Yes I do.

CHAIRPERSON: Right.  Now after this statement continues and it says
"I said to Saldana there was no one because they had already left."
And I think by "they" here reference is being made to the attackers.  Did you say this to Saldana?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I went to Saldana's place and I said to him I need help.  I cannot see Pule.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay, so you did not say to Saldana "well there was no one else" that was all of them, I mean "everyone is gone"?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is so, I never said that.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  And you went to his house as I understand your evidence?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: And then did you find him?  That is Saldana?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I found them all in the house.

CHAIRPERSON: They were inside the house?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Yes inside the shack.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.   Yes Mr Strydom?

MR STRYDOM: At the stage you went to Saldana's house had you already seen the Hippo?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I had finished that portion, I saw the Hippo whilst I was behind the house before I went to Saldana's place.

CHAIRPERSON: When you arrived at Saldana's house, was he with someone there or was he all by himself?

MIRIAM MOLETE: He was with his wife and child.

CHAIRPERSON: Well see the statement that I've been reading to you continues to say
"In response to my question as to where my sister was he said he did not know."
I beg your pardon:
"In response to my question as to where my sister and her child were, his response was he did not know."
Do you know anything about that?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No, that's nothing I know.

ADV SIGODI: Sorry, can I just clarify something with you?  The shack number 17 that you sent to, whose shack was it?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Florence Molete.

ADV SIGODI: And the other one, Saldana's house?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Number 19, that is one who follows me, Jeanette Molete.

ADV SIGODI: So both of these shacks belonged to your sisters, your two sisters.

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct, the two shacks belongs to my sisters.

CHAIRPERSON: Is Jeanette and Pule one and the same person?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Oh okay.

ADV SIGODI: So when you arrived at Saldana's house you say you found him with his wife and with his child, Is that correct?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct, madam.

ADV SIGODI: What did you say to him, did you ask him anything or did you say anything to him?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I said to him I'm looking for Pule, where is Pule, my child has been injured and Saldana said no, leave for the dumping place so that I can get an ambulance.  He never answered me where my husband was.

MR STRYDOM: When you got to Saldana's house did you tell him that you just saw a Hippo driving up the street towards the factory?

MIRIAM MOLETE: There was no time for such statements.  I told him I need help, I was carrying a child, I asked him where is Pule, that is when he said we must leave for Madiki so that he can arrange for ambulance.

MR STRYDOM: And did you find - sorry.

CHAIRPERSON: When you went to Saldana's house you had already seen the Hippo?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct.

MR STRYDOM: The Hippo, was it clearly visible so that many people could have seen it driving in Bakwena Street?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is correct.

MR STRYDOM: Apart from the attackers did you see when you went outside when you saw the Hippo, other people from Slovo Park or Boipatong in the streets?

MIRIAM MOLETE: There was nobody it was just that Hippo and those people alone.

MR STRYDOM: And what was the colour of the Hippo?

MIRIAM MOLETE: The Hippo's colour was mustard yellow.

MR STRYDOM: Was it a camouflage or not?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I said it was yellow.

MR STRYDOM: No but I just want to find out if it was a bright yellow, you know this bright yellow that the police paint their vehicles with, like the vehicles that sometimes stand outside here.  Was it a bright yellow colour or was it you say a mustard yellow, is it a darker yellow or what?

MIRIAM MOLETE: It was this light because it was clear outside.

MR STRYDOM: I want to put to you that I've got a statement in my possession of Poleng Mnisi, that forms part of the bundle more towards the front, Chairperson, and what I want to put, I'm not going to read this statement to you but I want to put to you that Poleng Mnisi never made mention of any Koyoco or any Hippo in her statement and I've also got a statement of Florence Molete, your other sister, and similarly she does not state in this statement that at any stage she saw any Hippo or Koyoco.

CHAIRPERSON: Who is the second person?

MR STRYDOM: Florence Molete, yes.
	So it seems to me that you were the only sister that saw this vehicle, is that according to your knowledge also the situation?

MIRIAM MOLETE: Each one of us made in the statement in the manner they observed the events and this is how I observed the events.

MR STRYDOM: These people with the camouflage clothing, did they have overcoats on or not?

MIRIAM MOLETE: No.

MR STRYDOM: And I think just to make it clear, also not Balaclavas, they had caps on?  Is that correct?

MIRIAM MOLETE: That is not correct.  They had camouflage overalls and caps.

MR STRYDOM: You see because according to Florence Molete in her statement at page 2 of her statement, on top of the statement appears the figures 1610, the second page of Florence Molete's statement.

MR LAX: Mr Strydom, where about on that page, can you just refer?

MR STRYDOM: At the bottom of the page.

MR LAX: Is that paragraph 4, is that right?

MR STRYDOM: Yes the last portion.  It stated
"When I got outside it was full moon, the light bright and I saw a White male person wearing a (camouflage) and an overcoat which was unbuttoned and it made it possible for me to see the clothing.  He was having a rifle which was pointed towards the shack.  Even though he was wearing a Balaclava, his face was fully visible and I could clearly see that he is a White person.  I then ran back into the shack and called Pule."
So this could not have been the same person you have seen, is that correct?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I do not know because Florence was at another point and that's her statement.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you still - when you called Florence into the bedroom can you still remember where she was?

MIRIAM MOLETE: She was in the kitchen.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.  You wouldn't know what she was doing, would you, at the time?

MIRIAM MOLETE: I said she was preparing to sleep, as visitors at her house she decided to move to the kitchen and sleep there.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay and did she respond to your call?

MIRIAM MOLETE: We did not shout, I was whispering.  I said to her come and see, they are attacking Pule.  That is when they were breaking this door as she tried to come to me.

CHAIRPERSON: I see.