hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1997-05-23 BALFOUR 1 JUDITH NHLAPO JB3483 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=54951&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/balfour/9balnhla.htm DR ALLY MRS NHLAPO Yes. DR ALLY MRS NHLAPO (sworn states) DR ALLY Thank you very much Mrs Nhlapo. Tom ? MR MANTHATA Mrs Nhlapo, relax and be with at home. Mrs Nhlapo, is Mr Nhlapo still alive ? MRS NHLAPO MR MANTHATA When did he die, Mrs Nhlapo ? MRS NHLAPO In 1990. MR MANTHATA Do you have children, Mrs Nhlapo ? MRS NHLAPO Yes, I do. MR MANTHATA What are they doing ? Are they school children or are they working ? MRS NHLAPO They are working. I do have grandchildren. TRANSLATOR The speaker is not quite audible. MR MANTHATA MRS NHLAPO MR MANTHATA You tell us in your statement that Mr Nhlapo was being forced or pressurized to resign from the Council. What form of pressure was being brought on Mr Nhlapo ? MRS NHLAPO They insisted that he should resign and leave his position as Councillor. After his resignation, they bombed our house. MR MANTHATA So he did resign ? MRS NHLAPO Yes, he did resign after they bombed our house. MR MANTHATA After bombing the house, what became of you and Mr Nhlapo ? MRS NHLAPO What do you mean ? MR MANTHATA What I mean is, where did you acquire a new house now that that house was destroyed ? MRS NHLAPO Only two room were destroyed where they threw the bomb. Only two rooms caught fire and were destroyed. MR MANTHATA Can you tell us the whole story. Just relax, Mrs Nhlapo and tell us the whole horror of a bomb house, the pressure for resignation and all that. MRS NHLAPO They first bombed our bedroom and my boy was sleeping in that room. I was still awake, in the kitchen. The boy woke up and furniture had caught fire already. MR MANTHATA So you remained in that house with some rooms destroyed and this is where you are still ? MRS NHLAPO MR MANTHATA How did Mr Nhlapo die ? MRS NHLAPO The kids are the ones who took him. He was in a Kombi and he died in that Kombi. MR MANTHATA An accident ? A car accident ? MRS NHLAPO It was not a car accident. MR MANTHATA What set the Kombi on fire ? MRS NHLAPO The Kombi was not set alight or was not on fire. As he was driving he lost control and there were teachers there. He was transporting the teachers and they managed to get control of the vehicle. They took him out of the car and put him on the ground. Thereafter they called the police. MR MANTHATA What was the post-mortem ? What did the post-mortem say the cause of death was ? MRS NHLAPO He died as a result of a heart attack. MR MANTHATA It is a pity. We are sorry for that. During this time when they were pressurizing Mr Nhlapo to resign, what did your children say ? What advice did the children give to you as family members, parents ? MRS NHLAPO You mean when they forced him to resign ? The kids also supported that and said he should go ahead and resign because the community is insisting. MR MANTHATA DR ALLY Mrs Nhlapo, in your statement you say that your son Aron knows quite a lot about this incident. Is that correct ? MRS NHLAPO Yes, he knows better because he witnessed when they first bombed the house. The first bedroom because I was in the kitchen and my son was in the bedroom. DR ALLY MRS NHLAPO DR ALLY