hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-04-24 HEIDERVELD 3 CT/00107 GINANA VELLEM [brother] NOMPUTUMO MELANE [sister], PATRICIA GLEPU KILLING https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55168&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/heide/ct00107.htm DR BORAINE The next witness before the Commission is Thelma Melane, I would ask her to come forward please. Ms Melane can you hear me all right. MS MELANE Yes sir. DR BORAINE You can hear me, and you can hear the translation all right. MS MELANE Yes sir. DR BORAINE Good, thank you very much. First let met welcome you very warmly to the Commission this afternoon. I am going to ask you a few questions to help you tell the story that you have brought with you and which you have carried in your heart and mind since 1984. But before that, I have to ask you to take the oath. So if you will please stand. NOMPUTUMO THELMA MELANE Duly sworn states DR BORAINE Please sit down. Ms Melane you have somebody with you - next to you. MS MELANE Yes there is, she is a woman who was there at the time when my brother was killed. She is a witness, she is an eye witness when my brother was shot. DR BORAINE Can you tell me her name please. MS MELANE Her name is Priscila - Patricia Glepu. DR BORAINE And you want her to give evidence as well today. MS MELANE Yes I would like her to make her statement as well. DR BORAINE MS MELANE She is Patricia Glepu. DR BORAINE [indistinct] Glepu - Ms Glepu. I am going to ask you Ms Glepu can you hear me, Ms Glepu you are also going to speak today, so I also have to ask you to take the oath, so if you will please stand. PATRICIA GLEPU Duly sworn states DR BORAINE Thank you. Ms Melane you are going to tell us about your brother and what happened to him but before you do that, perhaps you could tell us just a little bit about yourself and about your family and where you come from and who you are just so that we can get to know you. MS MELANE DR BORAINE MS MELANE I have a father and a mother and brothers and a sister. And a husband and children. DR BORAINE MS MELANE He was Ginana Vellem. DR BORAINE So you had a very distressing experience which started on the 19th of February 1984. It was a Sunday afternoon, can you tell us what happened please. MS MELANE Yes I am going to tell you. It was on a Sunday afternoon when my brother was shot, that time I was living at Langa. I was fetched by my sister-in-law he was his - with her husband, they told me that I am being wanted at home. I was quite shocked to see them. So when my father came in, the neighbours had already taken my brother to the police station, so my father followed to the police station. When he got there, he found that my brother was on - on a chair, on a bench. He held his hand, my father could see that he was already dead. He closed his eyes and then my father fainted right there in the police station. DR BORAINE Thank you for telling us that story, could I - before you go on, could I take you back just a few steps so that we can make absolutely sure that we understand, are you all right. MS MELANE Yes I am all right. DR BORAINE How old was your - your brother Ginana. MS MELANE He was 17 years old. DR BORAINE 17 Years old, what was the name of the man who grabbed him and shot him. MS MELANE According to The Times on the 20th of February 1984, it was Sergeant Faku who was being attacked by a gangster shot these people who were attacking him. The people who were now running away from him, so according to The Times he was defending himself from gangsters and according to The Times this policeman shot these people at the back which we both know that it is not true, because my brother was shot on the chest. My father went to Court several times, going to Court in connection with this case. The lawyer in charge of this case who was with my father told my father that - this case was going to be transferred to the Supreme Court. Now you must wait, now my father waited, and nobody came back to him again with any report. He was also promised that after he has buried his son he was going to get compensation from the police. But he never got anything. My father left to the rural areas, we use to live in Cape Town but because of this my father decided to go and leave Cape Town because living in Cape Town was just too painful for him. After that my mother was ill, nothing was all right at home since then. DR BORAINE MS MELANE DR BORAINE MS MELANE He was wearing plain clothes not police clothes. DR BORAINE What was the condition of Sergeant Faku, I mean why - why do you think he acted in the way he did. MS MELANE DR BORAINE Now when the police van arrived obviously there was another policeman in the van, did he say anything to Sergeant Faku, did he ask him what was happening or did he make any statement? MS MELANE DR BORAINE Your brother was badly injured and he was still alive when they took him to the police station. MS MELANE When my brother was taken to the police station he was still gasping. Now at the police station nobody took care of him they simply ignored him and my father - but when my father got there, he was already dead and he closed his eyes. DR BORAINE So he died [indistinct] police station on the bench. MS MELANE Yes he died on the bench in the police station. DR BORAINE Thank you, now when you said to us that you - your father hired an attorney, can you remember the name of the attorney, the lawyer. MS MELANE DR BORAINE I am sure your father may remember the name of the attorney, would you like us to try and find out more details as to exactly why the case did not proceed. MS MELANE Yes I would appreciate this. DR BORAINE Now I am nearly finished with the questions, you said that the police offered to pay compensation, did you mean that they offered to pay for the funeral expenses. MS MELANE Yes they said they were going to pay for the funeral expenses. DR BORAINE Was it usual for the police to pay for the funeral expenses of someone who had been shot? MS MELANE DR BORAINE And then they paid you later or did they not pay you? MS MELANE We never got a cent. My father paid all the expenses himself. DR BORAINE Thank you I am not going to ask you anymore questions at this stage but my colleagues may wish to, so I am going to hand over to the Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Thank you very much, any further questions, yes Pumla Gobodo. MS GOBODO Thank you sir, I just want to find out why were these two children being chased by this police, Mr Faku. MS MELANE MS GOBODO Perhaps Ms Glepu next to you would know. MS MELANE Oh! perhaps he will know because she was there. MS GOBODO Thank you. DR BORAINE MS MELANE It was outside the spaza shop, he had already had his - the goods in his hands. It was in the streets, he fell in the street. The following day on a Monday I remember these details just one by one, on a Monday Mr Faku was there as well in the car. He covered his face. There were photographers these people were telling us that they are here to make - to take photographs of all the things that happened. They wanted to take photographs of the spot where the second bullet went through they took that and they took it with them. DR BORAINE And just one final question then at this stage. You said that your - your brother who was very-very badly injured and had been shot was taken to the police station. Can you remember who took him there? MS MELANE DR BORAINE [indistinct] we know that, thank you very much, I am now going to ask Ms Glepu if I could [indistinct] for a short while. MS BURTON Alex I am sorry may I interrupt I do have a question after all. CHAIRPERSON Yes let me say - Mary Burton yes. MS BURTON Thank you very much. Ms Melane I just want to ask you questions to try and help us when we try to follow up the details of the case so that we can put the story straight. Could we ask you the name of your father. MS MELANE His is Jackson Vellem. MS BURTON Jackson Vellem, now how do you spell that? MS MELANE V E L L E M. MS BURTON MS MELANE Yes. MS BURTON MS MELANE DR BORAINE MS GLEPU Yes. DR BORAINE Ms Glepu you can remember or can you remember what happened when Ginana was shot? And if so take your time and tell us in your own words what you saw. MS GLEPU Yes I am listening. DR BORAINE Now I am going to listen and you can tell me what you saw. MS GLEPU We were in the house at no 15, 81 I saw my door opening, we were watching TV, two boys rushed in. I got up and I saw a man coming in as well and I told him that I - no the kids have passed through. And I saw the kids passing - jumping the gate at no 11 at the back, at the backyard. DR BORAINE MS GLEPU Yes I know him. DR BORAINE And you say that you - he was not dressed as a policeman. MS GLEPU DR BORAINE And you know his name. MS GLEPU Yes I know his name, his name is Faku. DR BORAINE [indistinct] MS GLEPU Yes he is. DR BORAINE When you saw Ginana, did he have a gun in his hand? MS GLEPU DR BORAINE So it was the only the policeman who had a gun in his hand. MS GLEPU Yes it was only the policeman. DR BORAINE CHAIRPERSON Any [intervention] MS BURTON Ms Glepu did you know Sergeant Faku yourself or did you see in the newspaper that, that was his name. MS GLEPU I only saw it in the newspapers that it was him and I also saw him in Court as I was the first witness in the Court at Wynberg. MS BURTON [indistinct] - so you recognised him in Court as the man who had shot Ginana. MS GLEPU I recognised him immediately. DR BORAINE I want to return to Ms Melane please if I may and thank you very-very much indeed. DR BORAINE Ms Melane tell us just a little bit about your brother he was 17 years old, was he active in politics, was he a member of a party, was he working for any party, tell us about him. MS MELANE Ginana was still at school. He was not involved in any organisations. DR BORAINE [indistinct] in - in school politics? MS MELANE DR BORAINE Last question I have for you is Ms Glepu mentioned that she was a witness in a Court case in Wynberg, and that she recognised Sergeant Faku as the man who shot your brother. Did you attend the Court case as well? MS MELANE DR BORAINE MS MELANE DR BORAINE MS MELANE He was quite helpful around there - around the home. I am already grateful to be able to tell everyone about this, because this is something that has been [indistinct] at me, especially the fact that it was just disappeared and nobody talked about it again. DR BORAINE Is there anything at all? MS MELANE No there is none. DR BORAINE CHAIRPERSON Thank you very much to you sister and your mamma for coming here to be the witnesses. We also are grateful to have you here. And now we are - we are hoping that you will get something to heal you. Thank you.