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

MAKHULU: I was in my house because it was windy, I had closed the door.  I was taking pills to give to my epileptic son.  I just heard a bullet that was shot at the window, then I locked the door.
 Only to find that the person they had been shooting at had, was in the shack behind.  We hid and this went on for quite some time, it was quiet.
 Then there was a knock on the door and we were asked to open.  When I opened my sick son stood up and peeped at the corner there, it was full of policemen just in front of my house.
 My son exclaimed because he had seen a dead person, so I went out and saw someone laying there.  There was blood coming out of the nose and the mouth and the policemen were laughing.
 The one called, Seti, asked whether he was my son, then I said no, I don't know him.   Then he asked where does he come from, I said I don't know, then another policeman said, who is this person, where does he come from.
 Then this one said it is the person that I had gone to look for at Dube and this dog is, does not even come from here, he comes from Transkei then they pulled him at his leg.
 And there was a pool of blood and they pulled him out, dragging him out of the gate and they put him at the back of the blue cars.
QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
7 S MATITI
 So I closed my door.  They went away, I then took a spade to cover the blood.  They went away with him.
 While sitting there, I was asked to go to Quamani in Queenstown, asked to go to the lawyers there.  They asked me about what had happened, and I explained.
 After a while, they again came and they said there was a court case in Whittlesea and this policeman said there, this Zandisile was laying there, he was sleeping there in the rent office under a tree.
 Then I said, no, this one was not sleeping under the tree, because my name is not under the tree, no rent office, they killed this man in my house.  So the case went on and then they said I could go and that was the last I heard of everything.
 The one that had shot him, died.  Even another one who was there, died.  It is only others who are still surviving.

DR RAMASHELA: Do you remember the names of all of the policemen who were involved in this?

MAKHULU: The one of them was Seti, his name was Seti, then another one Mrayi, then Mntu, then Lobesi, then Mdamani.

DR RAMASHELA: Now you say Mr Seti is dead now, is he?   Do you know where Mr Mrayi - he's dead also?

MAKHULU: Yes.

DR RAMASHELA: How about Mr Mntu?  What are they doing now, do you know?

MAKHULU: I'm not sure about Mdamani, but I think he's still working.

DR RAMASHELA: Where do they live?

MAKHULU: They live in Whittlesea in Sada.

DR RAMASHELA: The attorney, Mr Magqabi, where is he now?

ST BLESS: They say he is in King William's Town and Soli
QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
8 S MATITI
came from Durban.

DR RAMASHELA: You talk about how your brother's death affected your family.  Particularly your father, could you tell us a little bit about that?

ST BLESS: My father died from a heart problem after the death of Zandisile in 1993.

DR RAMASHELA: You mentioned a principal of a high school, do you remember his name?

ST BLESS: He was Mr Qwacha.

DR RAMASHELA: And where is he now?

ST BLESS: He is no longer here now.   I think he is in another place called King William's Town.

DR RAMASHELA: I will come back to you Ms Bless, but I want to talk to Makhulu.  Makhulu, you witnessed, you and your son, witnessed one of the most horrendous acts.  How did you cope and how are you coping with that now?

MAKHULU: I relocated to Seymour after that.  My son is sick and somehow I feared that this would affect me, so I decided to leave the place where I was living.

DR RAMASHELA: How is your family doing and how are you doing?

ST BLESS: We are going on except our father who died.  Then there is one sibling who is still attending school.  I suffered after the death of Zandisile.   I used to be on night duty, trying to run away from home.
 People did not know that he was, the police did not know that Zandisile was my brother and the policeman used to go and knock at my home.
 One day in October, when I was at work at about nine, the police came, they took me away, then I asked them where to, they did not answer.  They just took me into their car.
QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
9 ST BLESS
 I asked them whether I should take off the uniform, they said no, they took me to a police station and we went into an office.
 They swore at me, calling me a liar, those nurses who are liars, who are politics, they wanted to make an example with me and the nurses think that they are clever.  they said there was a writing there on the wall fence, which was swearing at Tsebe, then they asked me about that writing.
 They said I had written it together with the children from Queenstown.  They wanted to know who was the writer of that.  Then I said I knew nothing about the writing, I had not even seen it.
 Then they said someone had written it by night, then I asked them, how could I do that when I'm on night duty, how can I go and write.
 There were many of these policemen sitting around a table, then they called upon a certain man and this was a watchman from our Clinic who had been questioned day time and they asked whether they knew me.
 Then he said, yes, he did.  I was Bless.  Then they asked this watchman where was this nurse when they wrote that on that wall fence, then they said, you are a liar, what did you say to us.
 Then they pushed him, they opened another office and another old man came out and they asked whether he knew me.  Then he said, yes he knew me, I was Bless working at the Clinic.
 Then they asked where was he when there was that writing and they swore at this old man because he said I was not there at that time.
 I was surprised that they had kept this watchmen there.  QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
10 ST BLESS
These policeman kept on talking to one another side, then one of them asked that we should be taken back home.  I was taken back, so I was not happy at all because of the Ciskei police, I was affected by the death of my brother, Zandisile.
 They were now extending it unto me.  So we went to court and the person who was sitting was Mr Magqabi and the Advocate was Soli.  Then the policemen admitted that they had killed Zandisile.
 Then the Advocate asked why.  Seti said he had changed with freedom songs.  This Advocate asked, then don't you want to be free and get liberated, he did not answer that one.
 So the case was postponed and we went back the following day.  Soli said the police were found guilty, that was the verdict.  He asked Mr Magqabi that he should see to it that the parent of Zandisile should get something, some compensation of some kind and so Soli agreed.
 Then we did not know how the policemen were sentenced.  And there was no peace, in fact we don't think they were given any sentence and even the parent of Zandisile never got anything until he died and that was the end.

DR RAMASHELA: So nobody received his pension benefits?

ST BLESS: Zandisile's father was given R2 000-00 by Tsebe of Ciskei.

DR RAMASHELA: You don't say anything about your mother.

ST BLESS: My mother and father separated when we were still very young.  We have a stepmother, who had one child, who is still at school doing standard 9.  Our stepmother left after the death of my father and she is now in Cape Town.

DR RAMASHELA: In your statement you ask for three things.  QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
11 ST BLESS
That the Commission do something to expose the perpetrators and to find out why your brother was murdered and that you want to find out what happened to your brother's clothes and finally you ask very simply for assistance to erect a tombstone on your brother's grave, am I correct?

ST BLESS: That is true, Ma'am.

DR RAMASHELA: Is there anything else?