Human Rights Violation Hearings — Tembisa — 1996-11-27

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: My name is Dumusani Dlamini. It was on the first of April 1992, it was about seven and we were sitting in the house with my mother, my cousin and some other children. At about 8 o'clock we heard gunshots.  It continued until past eight.  The noise subside and we thought everything was well.  Unfortunately they were still coming to our house.
 As we were sitting in the house my mother was in the kitchen and my friend was in the dining room and my cousin was sitting in the bedroom with the children. We waited, however the Toasters Gang and the Inkatha people came into the house, we could see them through the window, they shot my friend first on his left hand, he fell on the ground under a sideboard, my mother came out of the kitchen and she went to investigate about the shootings. Unfortunately the young boy was still standing outside looking at him and then he shot at my mother with an AK 47. The children started making a noise in the house and he shot in the direction of the bedroom.  They started running and hiding               TEMBISA  HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
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under the bed and we thought the people are gone.  Unfortunately they were still hiding outside the houses.  Tammy decided to go outside to go out next door to my sister by the name of Tiny to ask for help because he was injured.  My sister asked him what had happened, and he just told her that he had been shot. Tiny was also afraid to get out of the house.  The neighbour also came to ask what had happened and we told them we were shot. After some time Titi our neighbour came to our house, it was dark, we'd already switched off all the lights.  My mother was already dead, her legs were hanging over the side of the bedroom and the whole body was in the dining room.  We tried to call the ambulance and they told us that they were afraid to come to our place because the people were shooting at each other.
 We met a hippo on the street and they we coming to collect another corpse.  They said they would call a van to take her. When we arrived at Rabasotho, one policeman asked why they have to go to the other place, not Ntabene and he started arguing and they were saying that they were not going to carry the corpse.  The other police said, "You have to carry them", and we tried to explain that they have to help us.  They called some prisoners to help us carry the body and put the corpse in the mortuary.

CHAIRPERSON: We thank you very much, as you have given us this painful evidence as you witnessed the killing of your mother in front of you. We know that this might be painful to your heart. I'd like to ask you a few questions in order to get clarity on this case.
 You said you were sitting and heard some gunshots. In the first place, did you belong to any political organisation as a family.
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DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: Yes we do.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you tell us about yourself, your mother and other people as to which political organisation you belong?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: I'll say the children were ANC members and were comrades. When we discovered later they were looking for us and were targeting for us, unfortunately they got my mother. They killed her because her children were comrades because there was some battle between the gangsters, the Toasters and us, we tried to find them.  They ran away to another place, its Visumuzi and they mixed with Inkatha.  The Toasters were the people who had the fullest knowledge as to what was happening about politics within the community.  Those are the people who were involved together with Inkatha.

CHAIRPERSON: On that particular day when this incident happened, you said there was this young man who was standing, this is the man who shot so many times and you thought he had gone but unfortunately he was still around. Is it a person you know?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: Yes I know the person.

CHAIRPERSON: As you are sitting here, is he still alive around in the community?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: You mean the young man?  He was burned and his name is Yster.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you repeat that?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: He was killed, his body was exhumed and burned after he died.

CHAIRPERSON: How was he killed?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: He was shot at Visumuzi.

CHAIRPERSON: You said he arrived and shot at your place. TEMBISA  HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
 
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Is this killing connected to his killing?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: No I'll say they were arguing over their farms,  It wasn't connected to what happened at our place.  They were fighting amongst themselves.

CHAIRPERSON: You talked about the Toasters and you said this man was a member of the Toasters Gang. Can you explain more about this gang?  Maybe this can help us in getting clarity that was given to the Commission in the evidence before.

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: I'll say the Zulus came together with the Toasters Gang.  It was a war between the Comrades and the Toasters, because the Toasters were robbing people in the community, they lived Tamburg and went to stay at Visumuzi, therefore they got the chance to attack the community, because they knew where we stayed and this man was also a member of the gang.

CHAIRPERSON: When you talk about the Toasters, how many people were there?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: They were gangsters in the community.

CHAIRPERSON: I know some gangsters were small gangs and some others are big gangs, they also have some branches and can you tell us how big the gangs were.

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: There were many gangsters, they didn't have a branch, they were from Tamberger Section in the location.

CHAIRPERSON: I can see that you don't have a clear picture as to how many there were, but can you estimate?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: There more than ten.

CHAIRPERSON: How many were there, just give an approximate figure.

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: I will say there were about twenty something.

CHAIRPERSON: There are also some people you mentioned in TEMBISA  HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
 
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your statement. You said they witnessed this incident when your mother was shot.

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: Yes my cousin who passed away.

CHAIRPERSON: As you said, you know the person who shot your mother. After the incident, did you try to open a case with the police or try to contact some lawyers about this matter?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: Yes we gave a statement at Rabasotho and nothing happened.

CHAIRPERSON: Have you ever been called to give some evidence about the matter?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: No.

CHAIRPERSON: I would like to thank you and I'll ask the other Commissioners to ask questions to get clarity on this matter.

MS SEROKE: Dumusani in your statement, you mention Mr Dusi.  Can you tell us more about this man, how is he connected to the Toasters.

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: He's the man who found a place for them at Vusumuzi because he didn't like Comrades.

MS SEROKE: As you say he didn't like comrades, to which political organisation did he belong?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: He was an Inkatha member.

MS SEROKE: Is this therefore a reason why he tried to accommodate them after you chased them from Tembeka?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: Yes.

MS SEROKE: Is Mr Dusi still alive?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: Yes he's still alive.

MS SEROKE: What's he doing?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: He's staying at Vusumuzi, I don't know what
he's doing.
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MS SEROKE: You also told us that the Toasters, one of themwas Yster, Sdumu, Nanguzi and Smanga, and you told us that Yster has been killed.  Where are the other three?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: They are still alive.

MS SEROKE: What are they doing?

DUMUSANI HENRY DLAMINI: I will say they are around but they're not prepared to talk about it.

MS SEROKE: When you meet them, knowing that they've caused so  much trouble, what does the community say about them?