Human Rights Violation Hearings — Newcastle — 1996-09-10

WITNESS:   I was attacked by Inkatha at night.  It was at about quarter past one in the morning.  I never saw the people who attacked me, but I saw one of them, because at the time that they came I woke up and I peeped through the window and I could see one of them.  It was a person I knew.  It was J C Msibi, and J C Msibi was leading the people and they were standing alongside my window.  And J C put something down.  I could not see what he was putting down.  And he went back, he went onto the fence, and he cut my fence and came back and locked the door from the outside.  And he picked whatever he was picking up.  Apparently these were petrol bombs, and he started throwing the petrol bombs.  The petrol bomb went in through the window and it hit the floor.  There was a carpet on the floor and the petrol bomb hit the carpet, but it did not break.  It was a bit bottle, a litre.  He threw in another litre and it also hit the carpets, it never broke.  When he realised that he was not being successful he said something to his followers and they started taking out guns.  And they started shooting for quite some time at my house.  There was a fridge, a very big fridge, a double-door fridge, and I used this fridge as a shield.  And they shot the fridge so many bullets - it had so many bullets.  The bullets were coming from all directions, but it was only one bullet that hit me.  It hit me on the leg, on the foot.  That is the only bullet that hit me.  There was a female in the house, and that person is the one who got injured.  She was shot in both arms, the left as well as the right arm, and the leg as well, and she was amputated on the right leg.  That's how she got injured.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... correct?

WITNESS:   It was my girlfriend.  I was staying with her.  We were not married.

MR LAX: Please can we have some order?  Please.  We can't continue if you don't show some respect, please.  Thank you.

WITNESS:   After we had been shot there came some members of the community, as well as neighbours.  They had come to see whether we had survived the attack.  We were taken to the hospital.  It was at night when we got to the hospital.  I think it was at about 2.00 am.  When we got to the hospital just as we were getting in we also saw Warrant-Officer Nkabinde.  He asked me as to whether I was surprised.  He asked me whether I wanted to open a case.  I said it was still too early because I had just been injured.  I think he knew about my attack, he was also involved.  Immediately thereafter I saw Dr Mdlalose.  Dr Mdlalose also came to see us, but I was surprised as to why he had come to see us, because I wanted to give a picture of Dr Mdlalose that I knew him very well.  I was surprised when I was shot and Dr Mdlalose never came to me to see that I was shot, but he went to the female who was with me and he interrogated her and asked her some questions.  As I have haven't got the time to talk about Dr Mdlalose, Dr Mdlalose went to open a case after we had fought.  We fought on a Saturday and Msibi went to speak to Mdlalose.  Whatever he did Msibi always went to Mdlalose, and Mdlalose would act on the basis of the information that he got from Msibi.  Even if Msibi would get a policeman who was on the phone he would grab the phone and said he was talking to Ulundi, and he would never be arrested.  And Mdlalose opened up a case against me.  He opened up a case because he said I had gone to a meeting that was convened by him where they were going to choose a branch leader or a region leader.  When I got to the meeting I went to Mdlalose and told him that people were being killed at section 7.  They were being finished by a certain Mr Msibi, and whenever we spoke to Msibi, Msibi would tell us that he was an untouchable because he was under Mdlalose's wing.  So I told Mdlalose that he was Msibi's protector.  Then he said that wing was Ulundi, and Mdlalose seemed to be surprised by this revelation.  Mdlalose called R M Shabalala in that very same meeting.  He also called D A Bhengu, as well as Mthethwa.  There were about eight people that he called, and he said I should repeat what I had said to him and repeat it to the whole group.  And he reiterated my statement and said that they were being troubled by Ulundi.  And he said to Mthethwa the following morning at eight on Monday there should be a meeting where we were all going to meet, the eight of us, and they were going to thrash out this issue.  The meeting was adjourned.  The following day at eight we got to the police station.  I was with about 400 people who heard that Mdlalose had called me.  They said they wanted to go there and hear as to what was going to be discussed.  Before we discussed the matters Shabalala R M got in, and he was followed by two other people, his son as well as another man.  When he got in through the door Mdlalose called to him and asked him as to who was accompanying him.  Shabalala said,"It's my father as well as my son.  They were called by me."  He asked them as to why they had come.  Mdlalose said, "We do not need any witnesses.  Mdlalose said Shabalala was hijacking his meeting.  He said he was calling the meeting and he was hijacking it, and he said if he wanted he could also call his own witnesses to come and give testimony.  He went out and said he was handing the meeting over to Shabalala, and Mdlalose went out to report to the police that I should be arrested.  On that day I was arrested.  When all the people went out the police kept on looking for me and they arrested me.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... you're making a very long story about what can be quite a short statement, and I must just say to you, what were you arrested for?  Just briefly, what were you arrested for?

WITNESS:   I do not know.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... charged?

WITNESS:   No, I was never charged.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... that you were arrested again, is that right?  You were charged ... (intervention)

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR LAX: Charged with killing someone called Khuzwayo.  Is that ... (intervention)

WITNESS:   That is correct.

MR LAX: And no case ever came of that, is that right?

WITNESS:  They said the chief prosecutor in 'Maritzburg had dismissed the case or withdrawn it.

MR LAX: Now, let's just get back to the person that you were living with who lost her leg.  Where is she now?

WITNESS:   She is in Harrismith.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... receiving treatment there, is that right?

WITNESS:   Yes, she is still receiving treatment.

MR LAX: (Inaudible) ... anyone charged for these acts against you?

WITNESS:   No, no one.  I went to Nkabinde.  I wanted the cartridges, the empty cartridges, and I told him to give the cartridges to me.  He took them out of the drawer and showed them to me, and I asked him as to why he was keeping them with him.  He said he was waiting for the case to be heard because they were part of the evidence.  I said I was surprised because I had opened up a case.  I said I was opening up a case and I wanted the person who shot me to be arrested.  I knew him, it was Msibi, and he said he could not arrest Msibi.

MR LAX: If I could cut you short.  To this day no one has been arrested and there's been no case?

WITNESS:   No, not even a single one.

MR LAX: Thank you.  Chairperson.