hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1996-02-10 CRADOCK 2 ERIC NJOBO https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55016&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/cradock/njobo.htm REVD FINCA: We will now call upon Eric Njobo to come forward please. We welcome you Mr Eric Njobo and we thank you for coming here today. I will hand over to Reverend Xundu to help you to take an oath after that I will ask Tiny Maya to lead you with questions on behalf of the Commission. REVD XUNDU Thank you Mr Chairman. ERIC NJOBO (sworn states) REVD XUNDU Thank you. He has been sworn in properly Mr Chairman. MS MAYA Thank you Mr Chairman. I greet you Mr Njobo. In your statement in front of us, we see that you are going to tell us about your son, Andile Alfred Plaatjie, who was killed in 1986. Can you please explain to us who was Andile? MR NJOBO Andile is my son in this way - I married his mother, I am his step-father. MS MAYA Thank you sir. How old was Andile at the time of his death? MR NJOBO He was 25 years old. MS MAYA Was he working at the time? MR NJOBO Yes, he was working. MS MAYA Did he have a family? MR NJOBO No, he did not have a family? MS MAYA Did he have any children? CRADOCK HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 2 E NJOBO MR NJOBO No, he did not have any children. MS MAYA In the community, what was he doing? MR NJOBO He was working. MS MAYA Was he a member of any community organisations or political organisations? MR NJOBO Yes. MS MAYA At the time of his killing, do you know what was happening? MR NJOBO No, I don't know, because I was sleeping in my house. Monde came, Monde Nanxi came in the morning. He told me to go to his home with him. We went there, when we arrived there, I saw my son sleeping in bed and I asked if he was dead there, he was stabbed in the stomach. I asked what had happened and Monde told me they were coming from the night vigil and the police came, but Monde ran away and he ran to the neighbours house. I found my son in Monde's home and Monde told me that they were being chased by the police the previous night. MS MAYA In other words Monde saw who these people were? MR NJOBO Yes, Monde knows everything. MS MAYA According to your knowledge, did Monde identify any police? MR NJOBO Monde is right here inn this room, he can explain that. MS MAYA Maybe we can talk to Monde after we had spoken to you. At this time, what was the situation in the community? MR NJOBO Things were very bad in the community because police were all over and we were tear gassed all the time. MS MAYA: You said that you found Andile sleeping in the bed and his intestines protruded from his stomach? Can you please explain that? CRADOCK HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 3 E NJOBO MR NJOBO He was stabbed and I could see his intestines. MS MAYA According to your knowledge, at that time the police used to stab people? MR NJOBO No, this did not happen frequently but at that night, it was Monde and the other one who was stabbed by the police. MS MAYA Was this other guy also stabbed by the police? MR NJOBO Yes, he was stabbed by the police. MS MAYA According to your knowledge, was there any inquest done concerning this incident? MR NJOBO Yes, we went to the police to lay a charge against them, but they told us they will contact us, but up until today, they did not. MS MAYA Did you go to any attorneys? MR NJOBO No, we did not contact any attorneys. MS MAYA Is there any reason for that? MR NJOBO No, but we were confused at that time. MS MAYA Do you have any other thing you want to say about Andile and this incident? MR NJOBO Andile was coming from his work at night, he was working for me, he was supporting me. He was supporting myself and his mother. MS MAYA In other words, you lost a person who was supporting you? MR NJOBO Yes, I lost a person who was supporting me. MS MAYA What is your request sir, to this Commission? MR NJOBO My request to this Commission is that up until today, I don't know who killed my son. The police just told me they will contact me later. My request is that I want the Commission to investigate who killed my son. CRADOCK HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 4 E NJOBO MS MAYA Is there any other thing you want to say to this Commission? MR NJOBO Yes, I lost my wife because of this. MS MAYA When did your wife die? MR NJOBO My wife died after this incident, because she was sick all the time. She died two months after this incident. MS MAYA Thank you. I will hand over to the Chairperson, maybe you will be asked some questions. REVD FINCA June Crichton? MS CRICHTON Mr Njobo, can you hear me? MR NJOBO Yes, I can hear you. MS CRICHTON The night vigil, can you tell me first of all who the night vigil was for, who had died? MR NJOBO It was Ngalo, it was Ngalo. MS CRICHTON The night vigils that you had, there must have been many of them at that time, was there a lot of harassment by the police at those vigils? MR NJOBO Yes, they were harassing people because when they attended night vigils, police used to harass and assault them. MS CRICHTON Did they try to disrupt the proceedings and get people away from the vigil? MR NJOBO Yes, they used to go to the night vigils and disrupt everything. MS CRICHTON There was clearly no respect for people who had died? My second question to you is, did you receive a Death Certificate at all? MR NJOBO Yes, I received a Death Certificate. MS CRICHTON What did it state as the cause of death? MR NJOBO The Death Certificate stated that they are still investigating. I was told that they were still CRADOCK HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 5 E NJOBO investigating and they will contact me. REVD FINCA Mr Njobo, you said that Ngalo was the soldier of Umkhonto We Sizwe. Do you remember his first name? MR NJOBO Yes, I do. I think it was Maganda, but I am not sure. REVD FINCA According to your knowledge, your son was he the only one that was killed that night, or who was injured that night? MR NJOBO There is another one who was stabbed the same night. REVD FINCA Was he from the night vigil? MR NJOBO I am not sure, but he was also stabbed that night. REVD FINCA At the time of your son's death, was he involved in the organisations? MR NJOBO He was a member of CRADORA at the time. REVD FINCA Thank you Mr Eric Njobo. We remember these sad days. The days that the Umkhonto We Sizwe members were killed. We also remember that the people who were in power at that time, refused permission for others to go to these kinds of funerals and people were afraid, even ministers were afraid to attend such funerals. They were afraid to go to give support to the families and the families were supposed to bury these people alone. We think that as you have presented your testimony, your son went to the night vigil to try and comfort the families of the soldier. We will come back to you and to the guy you have mentioned, Monde, who was present when these things happened. Our investigating team will come back to you to get those details so that we can have some more information from you and from Monde. Thank you.