MR LEWIN: Could I please call the next witness, Lawrence Mbambo. Would you please come forward. And could the rest of the people please now settle down and keep quiet. Mr Mbambo, welcome. Thank you very much for being patient and waiting for us. Hope you feel comfortable. And before I ask Dr Randera to lead you in your evidence could you please stand and take the oath.
MR MBAMBO: (sworn statement)
MR LEWIN: Could we just, before Dr Randera starts, could we either close the back door or keep it quiet there please.
DR RANDERA: Mr Mbambo good afternoon. How are you?
MR MBAMBO: Thank Mr Chairman.
DR RANDERA: Mr Mbambo, before you proceed could you just introduce the person who is sitting next to you?
MR MBAMBO: The person next to me is Zimelda Langa. She is my cousin's sister. She is the only person who was in the house.
DR RANDERA: Thank you, I welcome her too. Mr Mbambo you are taking us to 1991. You are going to be talking about yourself and what happened to your wife. Please take your time in going through your story. We will be asking some questions at the end but that is just for clarification. Thank you.
MR MBAMBO: My name is Lawrence Mbambo of Number 2280 Lekota Street, Wattville. I was married to Dr Siatemba Limbi Joyce Ndaba who was 31 years of age at that time and who was practising as a dentist at Matadeni Hospital, Newcastle in Kwazulu/Natal.
In 1991 I was the secretary of the ANC Benoni branch. We, the Executive of the ANC, under the leadership of Jepin Potini, received information from Intelligence in Shell House, that there were people who were monitoring
the Committee when it was attending its meeting in Actonville in the ANC office.
So what we did after that, we had to change out venues in conducting our meetings every Monday, within our Executive Committee. We had to change from one house to another house. At this stage there was a lot of rumours and agitators around the township and the hostels in Wattville.
There were people who were trying to provoke violence in the township and during that time the violence was spreading from Tokoza to Vosloorus. It had moved now to Benoni. It was in Daveyton. So after receiving a threat two weeks later on the 24th November 1991, it was a Sunday about 8 o'clock in the evening, my house was attacked by a gunman and we did not know his name at that time. Inside the house, inside the kitchen, my wife was sitting on a chair after cooking, waiting to dish out. And I was not in the house by then. My sister was in the house busy ironing in the dining-room.
This gentleman knocked first and my wife said: "Come in". Before she could ask what he wants, he entered the door and told them to keep quiet and then pulled a AK-47
and shot several bullets at them. Then, immediately after shooting, the guy vanished. My sister was ironing in the dining room. She could see the person. She could describe the man as a short, young black person who aged at plus minus 20 years of age.
Then, after pulling the gun, my sister ran for her life and hid herself in one of the bedrooms. She just went under the bed. Thereafter she started screaming. Then a neighbour who heard the shots and the people around the street who saw the guy was running... The neighbour went straight to my aunt's house and by that time I was at my aunt's place, which was eight houses away.
The neighbour came to report that I had been killed, only to find me sitting in the dining room. Then from there we went to the house to find that my wife was lying down in the kitchen full of blood, already dead.
Then we reported the matter to the police. The police investigated the case. The person who was responsible for investigating the case was a certain detective Mashego, who told us that once we get any information we must come back to them then they will arrest the person and then my sister will come to do an identification parade.
Then when she is gone she would be protected she would be put under a one way glass, where you could see the people and those people could not see you.
Then I got information from my neighbours, from a lady called Vulazani James, who happened to know the guy who killed my wife. The guy was staying in the hostel and after the incident used to come and sit with some of the people in the township and other IFP members where they drank together. The guy boasting that they killed the wrong person. They are still coming back. The person that they wanted to kill was me, was myself.
The name of the person who told me the information, the name of the guy is Mosa Reginald Hlangwane, of Block 7, Room 448, Wattville Hostel. That guy was working at Eclipse as a welder at that time. And that guy was known as a gunman for the IFP.
The reason for attacking my house was that Tentown was a strategic area for the IFP. Most of the leadership of the IFP by that time was around Tentown section. So, it was the area where they could hide their guns, because the hostels was not a safe place. All the time police were taking their guns, attacking them and take their guns.
So it was a strategic area for them. So they wanted to remove all the ANC first in Tentown. Point number two was to eliminate the leadership of the ANC in the township. The third one - I am known as a Zulu, why a Zulu join Xhosas? - because I am a Zulu I was supposed to join them, no to choose the political organisation that I like.
Those are the reasons that was given by the person who is supposed to give information to the Truth Commission, but any moment, she has been threatened twice by the Chairman of the IFP, Shadrack Zwane, that if ever she dared talk she is going to be killed.
What I find frustrating at this point in time is that Investigating Officer, Mr Mashego, passed the docket to a certain detective, Mr Watson, who was stationed in Daveyton, who was responsible for investigating those dockets at the time, and I have spoken to Mr Watson many times trying to find the docket.
First, he told me in 1995, he did not know where the docket was. Then I told him that I intend opening the case, taking the matter to the Truth Commission. Then after taking my statement to the Truth Commission then I spoke to him again last year in April, trying to get the docket with all the information that I had written before.
What is frustrating is, that even now, no one can tell where the docket is. He told me last week that the docket was taken by a certain Mr Blake in Tembisa to investigate the matter further, a certain Mr Blake who had died and nobody knows where he left the docket.
My question was, if a policemen dies don't they have a system or a record where they record that so and so has taken a file and so and so must take the file now because this one has died.
Then what he told me last week, because I keep on insisting and worrying him, he told me that I must go to a certain Mr Capt Knoetze in Tembisa who was in charge of those guys who were investigating the case. Then I told him that Mr Knoetze... The person I know is you. You have to take the responsibility to find out where the file is and because I need more information from that file and the Truth Commission wants to investigate.
So he just gave me the phone number and said I must contact the certain Mr Knoetze who is at Tembisa Police Station and forget about him. The phone number he gave me is 975 8000.
I was legally married to Lindiwe who died and left a son by the name of Sizwe Mbambo, who was 11 months at that point in time. Sizwe was not staying with us. Sizwe was staying with my in-laws in Durban, in Ntizuma.
The reason for Sizwe to stay with the in-laws was that it was convenient for us since Lindiwe was completing her studies at Medunsa, so the child was still staying with my in-laws.
So after completing in July 1991, she got a job to work at Matadeni Hospital. She died after three months after she started working.
Since that incident my in-laws refused me seeing the child. My in-laws both are also IFP members. From the day we reported that Lindiwe died they never came to me, instead they just told me that, you and your ANC have slaughtered your sheep. Eat. After eating, bring back our bones. That is all I got from them.
So the problem I have, is I do not have access to my child, since 1993. Before 1993 I used to go and visit my child, but I would meet an angry family who would ask me questions like, you are happy to come and see yours, where is our child?
So the last incidence where I went to Ntizuma to my child was in 1993, where I was nearly killed in the house. Fortunately, thank God, I asked the police from Kwamashu Police Station to accompany me. Those are the people who saved me, because that was the day I was going to be killed by the family and the IFP from the hostels in Kwamashu.
My in-laws are holding me responsible for the death of my wife, just because I am an ANC and they are IFP and before I got married they were once attacked by the ANC youth in Kwamashu. So they hated ANC.
So, I would like the Truth Commission to help me in
this regard. I think a public hearing might clear my name from the communities, first in Wattville, the communities in Durban who were first to start this information and also it would clear my name also within my in-laws and my family, because once they are clear, that we are told that the person who killed my wife was another IFP member who intended to kill me because I was not in the house. They just shot randomly, because they know definitely we are going feel it even if you are not there. Once they kill your loved one, definitely you cannot say they have not killed you.
And another point that I want to state here in front of the public is that I am a man who believes in peace. I would like to reconcile with my in-laws. I am prepared to forgive the perpetrators, providing they come forward and tell their side of the story, what they did, especially the Hlangwane guy who sent him to do that.
And also if he could apologise to my in-laws who are IFP, like him. Maybe in that way I will be able to see my child.
One of the information that I had from the lady that I mentioned before is that the perpetrator was sent by the Chairman of the IFP Youth in Wattville by the name of Chadrack Zwane and a certain Mr Buthelezi, who was also staying in Tentown, who was an IFP official. Those were the people who sent him to kill me.
The eye witnesses who saw the guy after shooting because it was about eight o'clock and people were still moving in the streets, so they saw the gunman jumping the fence and went to Corner Street where the Chairman, Mr Chadrack Zwane was renting a room. Then the gunman left
the gun there and after that he went to the hostel.
That is the information that I have. Thank you Mr Chairman.
DR RANDERA: Mr Mbambo thank you very much. I just want to ask a few questions and then I will hand over to the Chairperson.
You said that prior to your wife being killed, the branch that you belonged to or the Executive Committee, I cannot remember, had been given notice that you may be attacked from the Intelligence Unit of the ANC. Is it possible to give us the names of the people who gave you this information?
MR MBAMBO: The Chairman of the ANC was the person who received the information, that he told us in a meeting that, guys this is our last meeting here in the ANC office. So, the information came from Intelligence that there are people who are monitoring us, so we have got to change our venue from the ANC office which is not far from the hostel to the houses, now to our houses in the township. That was the reason why we had to change.
DR RANDERA: You have mentioned the names of several people who you alleged are the perpetrators. Now is this based purely on what this lady told you or did your sister also recognised these people? Because she was in the kitchen at the time, I remember you saying.
MR MBAMBO: The information that I gave to you is purely from the lady who felt guilty after these people were boasting in a certain house where they used to drink. So she came to tell me.
And another reason was that they were still coming back. She told me that. Now, the first thing is to
leave your house. Move away, because they are still coming back. They were looking for you.
DR RANDERA: My last question Sir is, you said just now and in your statement that a public hearing will clear your name with the community of Wattville, people in Kwamashu as well as your in-laws. Can you just clarify that for me. Is there some misconception, even within the community of Wattville about what happened to your wife?
MR MBAMBO: Ja, the reason I am saying that, is that after my wife had died my in-laws in Durban had this idea. They held me responsible as an ANC. So, they were blaming me as an ANC that I could attributed something towards the death of my wife. So I want that to come clear that after the information that we got it was the IFP who killed her, their child.
So, they spread information, because I happened to go and bury my wife in Durban, so everybody who was there, were informed about me killing my wife.
I do not see how you can kill your loved one without any .....
DR RANDERA: Thank you very much. I have no other questions.
MS SEROKE: Mr Mbambo, was your wife also affiliated to the ANC, like you?
MR MBAMBO: I do not know about my wife, once she was a student. As I mentioned she was just three months at work, after completing her degree. She was a member of the Sasco at Medunsa.
MS SEROKE: Did her parents know about that affiliation?
MR MBAMBO: No, her parents did not know that she was a Sasco member, who I suppose she is, I mean, affiliated to
ANC. They did not know that, because they were surprised when I arranged everything according to our tradition as ANC. They wanted it to be done in their own IFP way.
MS SEROKE: This Mvulasana who was the girl friend of Mosa Hlangwane, where is she now?
MR MBAMBO: She is still around the township.
MS SEROKE: Here in Wattville?
MR MBAMBO: Ja, but she is... I got information from Mr Killian who is the Investigating Officer in this case that he has been trying to get hold of her but she is not prepared to come to you. After, as I have said, she was threatened twice.
MS SEROKE: Did she herself say she was threatened or ...
MR MBAMBO: She phoned me. She wanted to see me. She said Mr Zwane came twice to her house and she was changing places now, because she was not safe. Mr Zwane told her that if she comes to the Truth Commission, something like, I am going to do to you.
MS SEROKE: How old is Sizwe, your son, now?
MR MBAMBO: Sizwe is six years. He is supposed to be at school this year.
MS SEROKE: Do you have any connection, either by letter or telephone.
MR MBAMBO: Since 1993 nothing, no information. I do not know whether she is still alive, they are still alive or not.
MS SEROKE: Have you ever tried to have a legal case against your in-laws for keeping your son against your will?
MR MBAMBO: I have opened a case in Durban and the lawyers wanted R3 000. That was in 1994. Then I have
paid about R1 500. Then in 1995 I lost the job. Since then I am not employed. So I cannot afford to pay an advocate R3 000. (End of tape.)
... with my wife. So we got that child. So I do not know why I have to pay.
MS SEROKE: Have you tried the Legal Aid Board?
MR MBAMBO: No, after the Truth Commission, after I have heard about the Truth Commission I said, I will take everything to the Truth Commission. Maybe the Truth Commission could help me somehow so that I can get my child, because I have got high goals with that child. It is the only boy I have.
MS SEROKE: Have you since remarried?
MR MBAMBO: Ja, I am married now.
MS SEROKE: Do you have any children?
MR MBAMBO: Yes. I have got two girls.
MS SEROKE: Thank you.
MR LEWIN: Thanks Joyce. Russell?
DR ALLY: Mr Mbambo, just to come back to what Ms Seroke just asked you now. I think you need to actually understand that some of the issues you raised are issues which have legal implications.
With regard to the investigation into the killing of your wife, certainly that is something which the Commission is pursuing and as you yourself mentioned, Fanie ..., one of our Investigators, is trying to get as much information on the case as possible and to follow up on the leads which are provided in your statement.
But with regard to your son, I mean, I would actually urge that you do seek proper legal advice because that is not something that is necessarily in the legal ambit of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Certainly if the parties involved in this very very sad and tragic affair want the Truth Commission to facilitate some kind of reconciliation or to facilitate counselling or assist in that way then that is something that the Truth Commission, and in particular the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee can look at.
But as to the question of your son and the question of access that is really a legal matter and therefore I just want to reinforce what my colleague has actually said that we would strongly urge that you do get legal advice. I understand your financial situation but there are agencies, there is the... There are legal aid clinics, there is one actually in Germiston and if you want to later, I can give you the telephone number of the Legal Aid Clinic in Germiston and there are places like the University of the Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University, where there are legal aid clinics, because as you say you are the father, that the child was born in wedlock and therefore you do have certain rights, which the courts will uphold.
So I would urge that you actually pursue that and if there are other matters, around counselling or reconciliation where the Commission can play a role then certainly the Commission would look at that.
Thank you.
MR LEWIN: Mr Mbambo I would like to ask, do you have anything further that you would like to say?
MR MBAMBO: I have got nothing.
MR LEWIN: Just to follow up what my colleagues have said, I think the, I mean you described in great detail to us the personal horror that you have suffered, both with your wife's execution and now in being kept away from your child, and I think what strikes there is that your own personal problems reflect a national problem which is still with us and which we are still struggling with, particularly in this area. So we sympathise very much with you. As Russell said we will continue with the investigation as far as possible into her assassination, her murder and see what else we can do to assist you.
We would like to thank you very much for coming. Thank you.
