MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Our next witness today we are going to call is Lennox Sigwela. Lennox Sigwela is coming with Paul Haupt, the facilitator is going to be Glenda Wildschut. We will request that Mrs Mary Burton to swear Lennox in. Lennox Sigwela is still coming. Lennox is in a wheelchair, he is coming. So they are bringing him up on stage. We might have to bring the table forward a bit to allow some room for him. Thank you Elizabeth Cloete, for assisting with moving the table. Paul Haupt is the briefer coming up with Lennox Sigwela. Ms Glenda Wildschut is going to facilitate his testimony. Mary Burton is going to administer the oath.
I would just like to know, the gentleman who has come up with Lennox, who is the gentleman? Lennox's father.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Thank you, over to you, Mary Burton. There is a bit of some noise that is beginning to lift up. We will just request people to keep their voices down. Thank you.
MS BURTON: Mr Sigwela, are you going to be speaking in English or do you want to use the earphones?
MR SIGWELA: I am going to speak Xhosa.
MS BURTON: Can I make sure that you are hearing the translation in Xhosa? I am going to ask you then to make the oath.
LENNOX SIGWELA: (Duly sworn, states).
MS BURTON: Thank you.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Thank you, Ms Burton. Ms Wildschut.
MS WILDSCHUT: Afternoon, Lennox. I wonder, are you comfortable in your chair?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, I am comfortable, yes, thank you.
MS WILDSCHUT: You are going to tell us a story about what happened to you on the 9th of June 1986. Some time ago. You may go ahead and tell us about your story.
MR SIGWELA: Thank you. In 1986 I was a worker at Epping at Murray & Roberts. On that Monday I was not at work, I had gone to the X-ray check at Groote Schuur. Then from the hospital I went to the terminus. When I got to the terminus I heard that the Witdoeke were there. I had heard the previous day that the Witdoeke would come (indistinct). So I went from the terminus I went straight home. When I got home I noticed that there was some fire and my grandmother and an uncle and my aunts, they were not there. Their houses were there, but they were not there. The kids were there. So when I found my people at home, the people were busy taking their belongings away to New Crossroads, and I helped. I went for the first trip and we dismantled the houses and the others were already on fire. I loaded the household goods, my uncle, my father and other people from 7 took the other trip, went to the second trip. On the second trip the car was full and there was no space for me. So I was going, I remained, I was going to walk on foot. As I was walking, there was some angry shouts, the Witdoeke are there and they already are in site KTC and we ran with a number of comrades who were there and we went towards KTC, next to the (indistinct), to stop at (indistinct). There were two Hippos. They came very close to me. So I decided I am not going to run away, because they have come to stop this. So I stopped running and then I just walked. And then there was a tap and then I went to the tap to drink some water.
And then I noticed there was a Hippo that was open. I noticed that this Hippo was full of Witdoeke, who disembarked and they came directly to me. So I didn't go out of KTC. I went back and then they were shooting some things at the shacks to ignite them, fire. And as I was running the shacks surrounded me were burning, so I had to go back to them, so that if I could escape I could escape amongst them. But I tried and tried but it was all in vain. And the person who shot me was a white man who was inside the Hippo, he shot me here. I fell and when I fell it was for a couple of seconds and then I woke up and then I ran and then I was hacked and brought down by axes. Then they came and hacked me and they left me for dead, because when I fell, I fell on my back. As they were coming, one of them hit me with a sabre on my head, and then I turned and slept on my stomach and then they started hacking me and they thought I was dead.
So when I heard that there was no more noise and there was, I was no more dizzy I lifted my head and then I looked at the time. I found it was 20 past two. So I decided to get up. Then I did, I got up. When I got up I walked three steps, then I heard another whistle. Then they said there is that dog, he is still living. This old gentleman came back and to hack me again. Whilst they were hacking me, it so happened that in their Hippo there was a young man who knew me, who stayed in my area, who had been taken in. So when they came for me, they left him untied and he came and he lifted me and he ran away with me. I said don't leave me, these people, just leave me, these people are coming and there are two Hippos, they are going to injure us, you had better leave me and Tom said no, I am not going to leave you, I am going to run with you.
And then there was a car. I said stop the car, that's my uncle, it is one of the cars we are using to cart the household things from there. So the car stopped and they gave me a lift, but my uncle didn't recognise, he thought he was just helping someone. When we got to my house, my mother was standing on the door step and asked for me. Because - and no one answered him. And then I answered from the car and asked for water and I wanted for a pillow, because I was bleeding profusely now. Then I was supported by a pillow and they put in a pillow and they gave me the water. And then when they noticed, they said, one little girl said no, there is Sigwela. Then my mother came and my father came and then they were crying, and they said is it you? I said yes, I have been shot whilst I was drinking water.
My uncle started the car, took me to the day hospital. I was alert mentally, so I registered that bleeding. Then an ambulance was phoned and the ambulance took me to Groote Schuur. At the Groote Schuur Hospital I was admitted, they took me to the theatre for an operation. I think I came to at about 20 to nine. I was in a ward, lying on my back. But when I tried to speak I couldn't. There was some thing that I was using for breathing. Then my father and my uncle and my aunts came, but I couldn't answer them, but I could recognise them. They were asked not to talk to me because I was having a breath, and I was in a coma for two weeks. I wasn't speaking.
The third week I was transferred to Conradie. There I spent a week. After a week at Conradie I was taken to the theatre for removal of the bullets on the 24th. They took out the bullets,and then they took me back to the ICU for a month at ICU. I was then taken - my health retrogressed because I have got some cloth inside and then they will try and drained this cloth. They drained those cloths and then I got better. And then I was taken to a general ward, taken out of ICU, where I stayed for six months. This is at Conradie. I think I was discharged on the 4th of December, that same year, 1986, and then they took me home.
At home I stayed 1986, 1987, went to Conradie, because of some problems I used to have and I got a wheelchair. Then I would get for workshop. I still go for my check-ups to Conradie as I am sitting here.
At the same time what happened, I was the breadwinner
at home, because my father had lost his job at Goodwood. My mother was not very well. My brothers were dependent on me, they were starting outside, depending on me. So I was the supporter of the family for everything. They depended on me for everything. So after that when I got injured, things changed for the bad for my family and things got worse and worse at home. There was no progress in terms of help for food and it is still like that, until now. My parents at the moment depend on my grant and my mother's health grant, but everything is dependent on us, up to now, 1997.
MS WILDSCHUT: I just want to ask some questions to get some questions of clarification. You said you were working for Murray & Roberts. Were you ...
MR SIGWELA: Yes, I worked for Murray & Roberts.
MS WILDSCHUT: What type of work were you doing?
MR SIGWELA: I was a labourer, store boy, I was working in the stores as a labourer.
MS WILDSCHUT: Would you describe yourself as being a very active person at the time that you were shot that time?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, I was active, I would attend meetings.
MS WILDSCHUT: I mean physically active, you were a labourer, you were working and you were physically active?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, I was physically fit and active.
MS WILDSCHUT: You also then talked about your activity as an activist. Were you politically active?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, I was active in the liberation struggle.
MS WILDSCHUT: So which organisations did you belong to then?
MR SIGWELA: The organisation that existed at that time was UDF. I was involved in its activities before it was banned.
MS WILDSCHUT: So do you think that this attack on your home and your family's home was as a result of your activity in the UDF?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, it is so, because at some - there was a time when there was some conflict between the parents, the comrades and the parents were fighting and the parents were stopping us and our parents could not stop us, and the boers had meetings with parents who could not stop their children from participating in political activities.
MS WILDSCHUT: So the initial attack, the first attack on your house, you are saying, was as a result of your activity as a political activist?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, the other reason, there was some talk about my father was a councillor, when in fact he had never been a councillor. Because he was invited by some people to be a councillor and we as children convinced him not to be engaged in that, and we said he should not take part in any of those things, and we are the ones who take part in politics, he should just concentrate on his church, he must not take any activities. There was also some targeting of the councillors and I did hear that anyone who burns my house should expect that his house will also be burnt, because I told those people, saying that I would also go and buy their homes, because my father was never a councillor. So there was that kind of talk before my being shot. And that is why we had to try and evict my grandmother and others from Crossroads.
MS WILDSCHUT: So it is while you were busy evicting and helping to move your granny and the other members in your house, when this attack on you happened?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, that's when I got injured, that's when we were trying to cart some household things from my grandmother's place.
MS WILDSCHUT: Now you described seeing a police Hippo, one of these big police trucks and the people who got out of the Hippo, you were saying were Witdoeke. So were there Witdoeke and policemen inside the Hippo?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, there were some police amongst the Witdoeke, they were working together.
MS WILDSCHUT: So when they jumped out of the Hippo, the police shot at you and they jumped out and then came to attack you as well, the Witdoeke?
MR SIGWELA: The police came out, carrying their guns, and then I decided to run. Then they left me. Because I was in flames, because the shacks were burning. Then I, as I was coming back, I was shot by one policeman who was next to the door of the Casspir and then those Witdoeke were chasing me, and caught up with me.
MS WILDSCHUT: I am interested in the flames. How - so were there people shooting things from the Hippo that created a fire as well?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, there is something that they use to shoot at the shacks, and when it landed on the shack it would ignite some fire. So that is what they had done and that is why I couldn't go through, because this shacks, I was surrounded by this burning shacks and they were the only other people. So I had to go back and the only way I could escape is where they were. And I was shot by a policeman who was at the back of the Casspir. And then these Witdoeke came and hacked me.
MS WILDSCHUT: What type of weapons did they have, the Witdoeke?
MR SIGWELA: It was sabres, assegais, knobkieries, pangas, axes and sharp instruments, the so-called traditional weapons of the Xhosa.
MS WILDSCHUT: Yes, so it was all of those weapons that they had, that they used when they attacked you?
MR SIGWELA: All those are there. All those were weapons that were carried by this, and then each man had about four and they had some shawls which they were using to hide their faces.
MS WILDSCHUT: What happened to Bra Tom?
MR SIGWELA: When I got the lift, Bra Tom didn't get into the car with me, because as I had said, he had already been arrested. So he got a chance to run away. So once I was taken by the car, he disappeared and I don't know where he disappeared to and I don't see him any more these days.
MS WILDSCHUT: So he wasn't attacked at that time?
MR SIGWELA: He escaped because he was with them in the Hippo, but he found a chance to get out whilst they were coming to me. I don't know whether they didn't leave with someone to look after him or whether they didn't have time. When they saw that I was up again, they wanted to come and finish me, and that is when he got a chance to run away. And that's how he escaped and when he took me into the car, he disappeared and I have never seen him since. I don't see him. I think I last saw him in 1985. I don't see him very often.
MS WILDSCHUT: Lennox, let's talk a little bit about your injuries. You were shot in your neck, from behind.
MR SIGWELA: Yes.
MS WILDSCHUT: Did the doctors explain to you what kind of injuries you have?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, the doctors explained because I asked, the doctor explained my injuries. He said a bullet touched some nerve in the spinal chord. He said I will never be able to walk because the nervous system, the injury is such that you won't walk, because the injuries on the upper part of your nervous spinal chord, that he said, even if you could walk on that day, you will walk never with manner, but you will never be able to work because you will be weak. And he said you are lucky your arms are still working, because according to the injury, your arms should have been the first to be paralysed, you should be thankful that your arms are working, and then this arm was dislocated because it was hurt, and I didn't know how to use it, whilst I was in hospital. But they said it would go all right. And they stitched it, and when they looked at it at the X-ray, they found the injury would heal, but still it is weak, I can't push my wheelchair, sometimes it is painful. Even now that the doctor said it was very, very unlikely that I would walk, but it could take a very long time, and I would be weak.
MS WILDSCHUT: I notice that there is something wrong with your other leg as well. What happened to - are both your legs fine - what happened to your other leg?
MR SIGWELA: My other leg was amputated in October, last year. My legs were not injured, but there was a wound of a sharp instrument and then it was cleaned and stitched, but it seems as if something developed inside, inside that wound, and they couldn't band the leg and then I saw a lot on my knee and I was sent to day hospital at Guguletu. And when I asked them to - they told me they are going to treat me, but they couldn't. So I said I am losing weight because of this. So I had to go to Conradie Hospital. I was very sick and it was clear that the leg was beyond repair. So I talked to the doctor and then explained to him and I had a letter from another doctor at the day hospital. The doctor asked, so he admitted me for a while, took me to the X-ray, and they could see that damage was too far gone. But it was very painful. So about October they decided I should have it amputated and then I signed I agreed. I agreed. They asked me if I would minded. I said no. Then they amputated it in October last year. I am still under the treatment of that doctor, even now.
MS WILDSCHUT: Because I think your story tells us also that apart from the initial injury, many people like yourself struggle for many, many years with rehabilitation, and that for many years you struggled to, not only just to overcome the initial injury but also the consequences of that injury and you are just telling us a little bit about how difficult it is to get rehabilitation. Did you lay a claim and did you get any compensation or get any money as a result of your civil claim?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, there was some compensation, I got when there was that American journalist who was killed at Crossroads. I can't remember but it could have been 1992, but the lawyers from the Legal Aid tried to get something for me, and that helped a lot. I was already under the treatment of the hospital because of my health. So I still spent another year in hospital. I was in hospital up to 1992. Then there was some money from this lawyers. When that money came I was in hospital, then I was found the money from the lawyers in August, to tell me how much they gave me. They gave me an amount of 15 000.
MS WILDSCHUT: Lennox, do you know what your hospital fees cost, do you know more or less how much you had to pay the hospital for your operations and for your rehabilitation?
MR SIGWELA: The hospital used to send accounts, but I told them straight I was not going to pay the hospital because I was injured at the hands of the government officials. So I told them I wasn't going to pay a cent for that. So they still send those accounts. I just ignore them. I told them that I don't have money, because the cent that I got from the grant is just enough for me to buy clothes for myself. The hospital doesn't help me. I have to hire a car to go to the hospital to go back home, even the watch that I have I must buy myself. So I told the hospital that I was not, I would rather go to jail, but I will never, I will never, never, never pay them, I have told them that.
MS WILDSCHUT: Thank you very much. I don't have any more questions. I will hand over to the Chair. Thanks.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Thank you, Glenda. Anyone else? Piet Meiring?
PROF MEIRING: Lennox, only one question for the record. Are you married, do you have children to support?
MR SIGWELA: I am not married. I have not married, I have no children. I am only supporting the children at home, my sisters' and brothers'.
PROF MEIRING: Thank you very much.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Thank you Piet and thank you, Glenda.
Lennox, can you tell us briefly, how you feel now, how do you feel about coming here? When you think about what happened to you, how do you feel?
MR SIGWELA: It is not clear to whether, we are struggling, we are struggling. The children at my home are suffering for new school uniform, for clothes. That is why I will never, although I have accepted this, I will never, I will never forget what happened, because when I look at the way we are struggle at home, sometimes I feel like committing suicide. Then I decide against it, when I think of the people who depend on me.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Are you the eldest?
MR SIGWELA: Yes.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: So we understand how this should irritate you, because as the first-born you must be the one who is the supporter of the family. I just want to - unfortunately he was not sworn in. I would like to - could you swear him in.
MR SIGWELA: (Father of L Sigwela). (Duly sworn, states).
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: As people were talking about those days, it was to be described as a fight between comrades and adults, parents. You are a parent and here is your child next to you and you are also there. Can you just describe to us, just clearly, what exactly, what exactly, why is that it that it was said that parents and kids are fighting because this fight about - between parents and children, how did it start?
MR SIGWELA: Thank you. Thank you, Chairperson. I can start this way. As a resident at Crossroads, from 1974, and we moved in 1982, if I am not mistaken, to New Crossroads. As we had some leaders who was Mr Nongwasi and Mr Memani. When we moved from the stand there was already some conflict which caused people to stay away from their houses. So much so that that was the reason why if I do not move from Crossroads to the brick-built houses I may lose my life, because I was with linked with a committee with Mr Mbongwane which prevented people from going to the brick-built houses. Even when the first batch of residents to these houses and they were paying for water, I felt that if I didn't move from the shack it would be risky for my life. Because it was clear that we are not forced to pay for water. Because the houses at Crossroads were asked for by us and therefore we didn't think we should pay. And then we were moved to New Crossroads and then we got to New Crossroads, as parents we were split into two groups. There were some who were still loyal to Mr Mbongwane and that's where the conflict and division started. There were people who were saying we can't be loyal to Mbongwane any more, we must start afresh because we are in brick-built houses. Therefore we can't be loyal to those old instructions, and that is where the conflict started amongst the people who lived in New Crossroads. In 1983 when some people died, about eight or seven, if I am not mistaken, because of this conflict.
I am going to leave that. And then came this time for parents versus their children. And then it was reported that parents were attacking the kids or the kids attacking the parents. So went the rumour.
But it was clear, when you explained as a parent that you didn't support UDF, you were taken by the youth and some parents who were members of the youth, that you were a supporter of Mbongwane. It was not easy to support Mbongwane and not support it, and then I was confused at that stage because I didn't know which side I was to be on. The first patrol when we were taken out of our houses. Unfortunately I was not there. I had come back late from work and until the weekend, and then I was off during the weekend. I was forced there to be present in a patrol as a resident, because if you didn't join the patrol, you were identified as supporting a particular side. At that time UDF was represented in all, it combined all the townships in the Western Cape. There was no exception. Indeed, kids would come from all directions. What I noticed was that even here at New Crossroads, there is a committee which belonged to Mbongwane. So when I noticed the fights and I raised this with the parents, I asked how they felt towards this and some parents no, it is the kids. And so I was affected that because lots of men died in that fight, because they were being taken from the hospital as if they were being discharged, only to find that they were being brought back to be killed. I noticed that all the people who were committee members, they were not there. You would see just one when there was a break in the fighting. Indeed, a person who from the government was affected, I think Rev Mfenyana did mention this. When I left - the police, when the police left with this man, I asked is it true what this white person is saying. No one answered me.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: What did this white person say?
MR SIGWELA: This white man was saying be careful, the kids are coming. At that time the roads at KTC were closed to the house, and when these kids were chased, they would run into the shacks and then it would be easy for their fathers to be injured. And then they would come out and then disappear into the shacks at KTC. It was not easy for other parents to attack other parents' houses. That is when we as parents got injured. And then I said this is not right.
So much so, I faced Mgoba who was a big committee member of Mr Mbongwane, who used to - and like my son said, there was a rumour that I was a councillor. I asked this neighbour of mine how do you say we should join a fight, but you are not there. And then he said no, we are going to fetch support from Crossroads. I said how can you go to Crossroads, but you are chasing the kids, but you are not here. But we don't know what is the reason, and it is clear that the fight is between you and the kids. So why don't you explain to us what you are fighting about with these children so that we should know what the reason is. And apparently this was too difficult a question for him. So we clashed and then I withdrew, because he is the one who spread the rumour that I was a member of the council. So I decided to withdraw, because he was not answering me.
So he left, because, saying that he was going to call people. When he left I got a chance to say to other people. I say people, maybe people should kill me in my house. Because I can't take part in this fight, because I don't know what the reason is, I never had a quarrel with these people.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Just two things - sorry to interrupt you. Just two things to get clear. You said there is a white person who came that comrades are coming to attack you. I just want to make sure that you did say that. Is there a white person who came to tell you that the comrades were coming to attack you? Thank you.
MR SIGWELA: Thank you, lady. I don't want to say I was part of Mgonbwane's part, but everyone who was a parent and they were all collected to a meeting place and then came the police van. Mr Barnard spoke in a loud-speaker and said old men, be careful, the children are here.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: So it is Barnard who said that?
MR SIGWELA: Yes, and so he left. When he left he went to the kids and said be careful, your fathers are coming. They prepared. That's what I heard. I don't know if it was like that.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Now the second question I want to have clarified. People - you said people who were in the committee members, people who were leaders, when there was a fight they would disappear. Was this very frequent?
MR SIGWELA: I noticed this when I moved to New Crossroads, that there were people who were not there. When after we have chased the kids, most of these leaders are not here, but they are the ones who took us out of the houses, but now, why is it that they run away? Are they the ones who are involved in this fight.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Thank you very much for your explanation. What you have said suggests - our work is (speaker's question not interpreted). We have to examine - our work is - is supported by police of the Witdoeke and there was a fomenting by police of the conflicts that existed in the area. Secondly the people who were leaders at that time after an attack, as you have said, the conflict was encouraged by police and you mentioned Barnard and the leaders would disappear. Thank you, daddy, and to you, Lennox, for coming. We are sorry because you have lost your - you have actually lost your eldest son. He is powerless, helpless to do anything to support the family, which makes him experience emotional pain. That is very painful, but thank you very much for coming. In spite of that you had the courage to come and explain what you have just explained. Thank you very much.
MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: At this point we are going to try and take a break for lunch. I just request that we should come back at exactly quarter to two. People who are responsible for our catering should please speed up things, because 13:45 we resume. Could you stand as the witnesses leave?
