MR BORAINE: We have one remaining witness from yesterday. I call Nomathamsanqa Melia Williams. We ask her please to come to the witness stand. Could we put the earphones on please. Could we just make sure you can hear my voice and the translation. Can you hear at all through the earphones. Okay. Can you speak up a bit.
MRS WILLIAMS: All right.
MR BORAINE: You are Mrs Williams.
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes.
MR BORAINE: We want to welcome you very warmly to the Commission today. To say as I said to Mrs Tshanga that we are grateful for your patience and we are sorry that we were not able to complete the roster yesterday, we had a very long day and we are very grateful that you have come today as well.
Mrs Williams you are here to talk about what happened to your husband Zolile Bonisile Vumazonke, is that correct?
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes, that is so.
MR BORAINE: It is a very sad story of what happened in many townships during the height of the conflict when people were necklaced and this is the experience you have had and you have come to tell us about it.
Ms Tiny Maya is going to lead you in a moment, but first I would ask you to please stand to take the oath.
NOMATHAMSANQA MELIA WILLIAMS: (sworn states)
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MR BORAINE: Thank you very much. Mrs Williams before I hand you over to my colleague, could I say I am sure you must be very nervous and that is very understandable, but it would help us if you could get as close to the microphone as possible and if you could speak with quite a loud voice so that everybody can hear. Thank you.
MS MAYA: Thank you Dr Boraine. Can you confirm that your names are Nomathamsanqa Melia Williams, at 48 Katsha Street, in (indistinct), Uitenhage?
MRS WILLIAMS: That is so. That is so.
MS MAYA: According to the statement in front of the Commission we realise that you are going to be talking about your husband, late husband, Gerald Zolile Bonisile Vumazonke, who was killed in Uitenhage. Tell us who was Zolile, how was he connected with community organisations as well as political organisations and then we can hear your story.
MRS WILLIAMS: Gerald Vumazonke, he was a UDF member. He was a member of (indistinct) in the street committees and he was whenever something had happened in the street, he would be of assistance.
MS MAYA: Anything else you want to say about his membership to organisations? Anything you want to add about his involvement with community organisations?
MRS WILLIAMS: No there is nothing else that I would like to add.
MS MAYA: Can we come to the 11th of January 1987, tell us what happened?
MRS WILLIAMS: On the 11th, Vumazonke was asked by his sister to go to PE, he was going to a funeral in PE. He went to a funeral in Port Elizabeth, I don't know which
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funeral and whose funeral.
MS MAYA: And who is his sister?
MRS WILLIAMS: That is Nomazi Vumazonke, that's the one who asked him to go to PE.
MS MAYA: Why do you say that she persuaded him, she influenced him to go?
MRS WILLIAMS: They didn't go together. He went alone. The reason I put it that way is because when I think of this, I became unable to talk, but I am trying to summon courage so that I can give my statement because I also want to hear an explanation about his death.
I want to give this statement because his case was not followed up to the end. He went to Port Elizabeth alone, he went alone.
And his sister had already gone by taxi and at the funeral he was late. People had already gone to the cemetery and they went, they spent some time at the funeral and whilst at the funeral, a car came according to a report. The car came, I don't know anything about this car. I wasn't there, I was - I remained in Uitenhage and this people asked and said to him, we just want to ask something very quickly so he went to these people and whilst he was listening to these people, a quarrel developed, he didn't want to get into their car.
And they forced him into the car and they left. After they had left, this is how the report goes, people had already come back from the cemetery. These people asked whatever they asked him and they burnt him. They set him alight, poured petrol on him.
MS MAYA: Who told you this story?
MRS WILLIAMS: That is his sister. His sister told me the
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story.
MS MAYA: Was his sister there when he was being taken?
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes, she was.
MS MAYA: Who did she say these people were, did she know them?
MRS WILLIAMS: According to my sister-in-law's report she told me the story long, after a long time when I asked for an explanation. He was not very, very clear and vocal about this report.
MS MAYA: So how long after they left, how long did it take before you saw her again?
MRS WILLIAMS: ; They came back on Saturday late and she did not give me the report about my husband. I waited and waited, I was waiting for her to knock and then there was a knock, but no one came in and no one ever came and she left. I did hear the car stopping at her home and then they were from the funeral.
And she went out because she was staying at - she stayed at her place the following day. I got up, I thought she would come and give a report to tell me how it went and then on Sunday, during the day, I went to her to ask her about her brother.
The explanation she gave was that he was taken by some dirty and sloppy boys who went to burn him.
MS MAYA: Did you get this report because you went to check, to find out what happened from your sister-in-law?
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes, that is so.
MS MAYA: So that is what she told you?
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes.
MS MAYA: What did you do when you were told this?
MRS WILLIAMS: When she told me this, on the third day
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because that was now Tuesday, a neighbour came and told me that, that was after some days, that Zolile left why don't you go and look for him. I said I don't have money because the person who went with him, doesn't give me any clear directions. Then at that stage his sister came and then she said, let's go sister.
Even if we are walking, just to look for him at Church Street in Uitenhage.
MS MAYA: Which sister, which sister is this?
MRS WILLIAMS: It is the younger sister. It is not the one who went to the funeral with him, because that one is married. She is married at that street.
MS MAYA: Were they in good terms with the sister?
MRS WILLIAMS: They did quarrel before.
MS MAYA: Was she also a member of the organisation, the sister?
MRS WILLIAMS: I don't know. She belonged to the same organisation.
MS MAYA: Did you go to the police station?
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes, when I went to tell them that I was going to Church Street in Uitenhage, she said no, I shouldn't go, I must wait for her. On Tuesday when I went to explain to her on Monday, so we went to Church Street on Tuesday, both of us and then at Church Street we gave the statement and then we were told that we couldn't go and look for him there.
We should go back to PE, so we took a taxi to Port Elizabeth. When we came to PE, we went to the mortuary and we told them that we were looking for someone, for my husband who had left and didn't come back.
MS MAYA: Did you get any directions?
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MRS WILLIAMS: So they opened the barracks for us and we looked and we found him there.
MS MAYA: What did he look like?
MRS WILLIAMS: He was burnt.
MS MAYA: Was he still recognisable?
MRS WILLIAMS: Yes, his hand was lifted and the leg didn't get burnt, it was not burnt. So I asked my sister were you asking him to come to Port Elizabeth to bring him to this, she said no, he has been damaged, he has been injured and thereafter there was talking next to this coloured and this coloured asked if I was the husband and I said, no tell him, don't hide anything.
If this is the wife, then I went again because I was shocked, I wasn't sure if it was him so I went again, I looked at him and I satisfied myself that it was him. So we went back to where we were given the report where we found him.
And then they said we should wait the van is coming from Uitenhage. We waited for two hours and then she said we should go. I said where to, because we have been asked to wait for the police here and then she said, no let's go and buy apples. I said no we can't go and buy apples, we can't waste time on apples, things are bad now. It is a sad moment and she was now crying, she was the one who was crying and I was trying to comfort her.
So we left, went out the gate and told the watchman at the gate that we are going to buy apples and then we went to buy the apples. We didn't buy the apples and then that's how we left, because we had to go and give a statement.
MS MAYA: So you left before the police came? You didn't get any instructions from the police or anything?
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MRS WILLIAMS: Yes, that is so.
MS MAYA: Was any investigation made about the death or your husband?
MRS WILLIAMS: No.
MS MAYA: Does that mean no one was ever charged for his death?
MRS WILLIAMS: We were once called after two years.
MS MAYA: What did they say?
MRS WILLIAMS: When we were called after two years, we were called about reports that have been coming which my sister didn't pass on to us and I just got from one lady and we went with my sister, she went first, when we got there, they were already coming back, they were at the stop, at the bus stop.
She didn't explain, didn't give me any explanation and her brother was crying. I couldn't get any clear explanation about the case so she took my child and said she will do everything for her, for my child.
MS MAYA: But you say you were getting request to come to the police but she wouldn't give her to you?
MRS WILLIAMS: I said no her, at her home, but she wouldn't pass them to us, but this third one, I got from another lady from her family.
MS MAYA: When they came from court did they tell you that there was someone who was charged for the death of your husband?
MRS WILLIAMS: No, they didn't give my any report.
MS MAYA: What happened eventually? How did you know what happened, did you know anything about the death of your husband?
MRS WILLIAMS: No, I know nothing up to today.
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MS MAYA: So by coming here you have an aim or a request about what you would like the Commission to do for you?
MRS WILLIAM: Yes, yes. I need, I would like the Commission to find out for me what happened, how he died because it is said that there was a fight and some damage was done to the chest and when I asked my sister-in-law to take me to PE so that I could get a report, she didn't, she refused.
MS MAYA: And do you know where his sister stays, do you have her address? Thank you Mrs Williams, I am going to hand you over again to the Chairperson, maybe my colleagues here would like to ask some questions. Thank you.
REVD TUTU: Thank you, Mrs Williams. I first want to express our gratitude to you and I would like to comfort you and tell you that we share the pain. We share the pain with you and we have been listening to all these sad stories.
You are too young to be a widow, but there are very many people who have had the same experiences as you and as I am looking, I think indeed what we didn't notice that our ladies who were not recognised as the real heroines because you are the ones who are in the majority who come and give their stories here, we as men, I think we should take our hats off for you because of you, because the freedom that we've got eventually, many a time, it is true that it is because of the hard work of men, but I can see the majority, and the majority of us can see that the contribution of women is very very great.
We thank you for that. Thank you to you to, thank you very much.
