hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1996-06-27 PORT ELIZABETH 2 BANDLAKAZI J. BEKWA https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55314&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/hrvpe2/bekwa.htm ACTING CHAIRMAN: I'd like to make sure about your name. Are you Bandlakazi because your name is reflected as Bondlakazi are you Bekwa? MRS BEKWA Bekwa. ACTING CHAIRMAN Bekwa. We welcome you Mama. We'd like you to take an oath and Mr Xundu will lead you. REV XUNDU We welcome you Mrs Bekwa and you and your many people, we know that you had lost a loved one who is your son. At the time it was just something which was not taken seriously, but you can know that it is one of the heroes. Please stand to take an oath. BANDLAKAZI JANE BEKWA (sworn states) REV XUNDU Thank you very much. ACTING CHAIRMAN Reverend Xundu, Mama, will lead you. REV XUNDU Thank you Mr Chairperson. Mrs Bekwa, are you married and what is your clan name? MRS BEKWA I am a Zotwa, I was Mrs Bekwa. REV XUNDU The gentleman next to me is also having the same clan name with you? MRS BEKWA Lungi is my third born. REV XUNDU Among your sons? MRS BEKWA Four sons. REV XUNDU Thank you. I'd like you to give us a brief outline about Lundi. Please inform us what happened and why did it happen. PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 2 BJ BEKWA MRS BEKWA I would like to expand a bit about Lundi. Lundi was attending the school here in Port Elizabeth at the Methodist when she passed the standard, she went to Lowiso. He wanted to go to another school and I said he must wait and make an application. I asked him what courses would you like to follow, he said he doesn't want to be a teacher because I asked him if he wanted to be a teacher like me, he said he wanted to be a lawyer. But he said since it is late already for this year for tertiary education, I will have to make another application. He said he would be doing temporary jobs and then he got a job at City Treasure and Park Tower. That was the beginning of his harassment by the police. During the lunch he would be taken by the police and they would take him to Sanlam, they would request him to be an informer. He told me that he told them that he would rather die rather than be an informer. REV XUNDU Was he any member of any organisation? MRS BEKWA I didn't understand your question, would you repeat it please? REV XUNDU By this time, was he a member of any organisation? MRS BEKWA Yes, he was a member of the UDF. REV XUNDU I'd like to find out if he was a member of PEPCO? MRS BEKWA No, he was member of the United Democratic Front. Lundi would say I am unable to have my lunch peacefully because the Boers would come and take me to Sanlam and persuade me to be their informer. As I've said before, he used to say he would rather die. REV XUNDU Did he tell you who were the people who used to take him? PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 3 BJ BEKWA MRS BEKWA No, I do not know. He continued working there and he told me that it happened daily. I told him that it is your choice, if you prefer to betray your people, then you can do it, but if you feel that you will stand for the truth, then it is also your choice. He said I will never betray my people. He said he will rather loose the job because they always say they know that we are a big family, my mother is struggling so they would like me to be part of them. I used to inform them that I am making ends meet. REV XUNDU I'd like to disturb you a bit. I'd like us to be brief Mama. Okay, what happened? MRS BEKWA Yes, I am coming to that point. They used to say they would give him money and he used to say he won't take money which was dripping with blood. At the end of the year he received a letter which admitter him at Nqoya University. The Boers used to come with a white kombi and always wanted to take them along with them. He always refused to go with them. I made preparations for him so that he could go. He used to travel separately by plane because I knew that the police were always looking for him, so he never travelled by train because I was trying to protect him. REV XUNDU When did he go to the university? MRS BEKWA It was in 1982. He was in the faculty of (indistinct), 1982, it is when he was killed. REV XUNDU Did he also join any organisation there? MRS BEKWA I am not aware of any. The only thing that I know is that he was a member of the UDF as I have mentioned. Maybe at school his colleagues can state that he belonged to another one. PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 4 BJ BEKWA REV XUNDU Can we just get more information about how did he get injured? MRS BEKWA Mpomelelo Faku was the one who gave me a programme. I can give you the programme, because that is where everything is reflected. On the whole it is the Inkatha which killed him because Inkatha wanted to hold a meeting there at school, but the children refused, so the quarrel started. REV XUNDU What did they want to do there, why did Inkatha want to go there? MRS BEKWA I think it was the memorial of King Qetwalo. REV XUNDU So were the students attacked because of their refusal to accommodate the Inkatha? MRS BEKWA Yes. Some of the children ran away. Some of the children were attacked whilst they were going to the lectures or to the library. REV XUNDU Did this happen during the night? MRS BEKWA I am not quite sure because I was not there. That is why I say I have the record and documents to that. REV XUNDU How many children died? MRS BEKWA About five died. Lundi was amongst them. I think the others were from Piet Retief, the other one was from Durban, the other one was from Bushbuckridge. REV XUNDU Were you informed by the university about what happened to your son? MRS BEKWA I came to know about this when it was broadcast over the radio. Mr Zwoka came, who is the reverend and I asked him whether he knew anything about my son because I was shocked to see him. He confirmed that it was my son who had been killed. I said I was going to Durban to see my child. Reverend PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 5 BJ BEKWA Zwoka said I shouldn't want to go, he said one of my children should go, so I had a son who is Zondelelo, who was also a victim of the apartheid, who was pushed out of the train and then he was then amputated, both his legs were amputated. Zondelelo was a militant. He went to the university and he could find a few belongings. His books were lost. REV XUNDU: I'd like to find out Mama, did the university authorities inform you that your son had died in that conflict? MRS BEKWA I received a letter from Incabinde, it was after Zondelelo had already been there. He said he was sympathising and sending condolences about my son's death. REV XUNDU Was there any inquests or was a post-mortem done? MRS BEKWA I wrote a letter to Incabinde, trying to find out about the circumstances which led to my son's death. He responded by saying he was never informed about an inquest, he advised me to write a letter to the Magistrate, he is the one who might be able to give me details about the arrangements of the post-mortem. I didn't get anything from any of the people to whom I was sent, nobody gave my any information and why were they killed, and how were they killed. The only thing that I know is that it was said the Inkatha, the police and the Defence Force from Durban was responsible for this death. REV XUNDU Was Incabinde a rector at the time? MRS BEKWA Yes, he was a rector at the time. REV XUNDU Who is the Chancellor presently? MRS BEKWA Do you mean at that time? It is the one person who is at KwaZulu, the one whom I hate, it is Gatsha, PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 6 BJ BEKWA because he is mentioned. REV XUNDU Who is this gentlemen from KwaZulu? MRS BEKWA It is Buthelezi. REVD XUNDU Okay. Were there any lawyers who assisted you to make some investigations? MRS BEKWA I contacted Incabinde because I wanted him to give me more details. He did nothing else but send me from one office to another, that's why I didn't get any information. I continued to make enquiries, but I didn't get any information. I was surprised because I sent my son for education, but he came back as a corpse. But I was glad because he died in the institution in which I have sent him. REV XUNDU Was there any lawyers that you went to? MRS BEKWA No, the lawyer who was always handling our cases, the lawyer Mcenge, also died and his wife also died. REV XUNDU: The child was brought in, was he transferred to your place? MRS BEKWA Yes, he was put in a coffin which was a coffin for paupers. All the students were there and everybody gave support. I had to go to the shops to buy some food for the students who were filling my place because they were coming to support me. They didn't even want to go anywhere because they said they wanted to come to my place. They didn't mind that my house was very small. They said they didn't want to go to anybody's place, but my place. We were assisted by the neighbours for everything which was required at the time. REV XUNDU I have another question for you Mama. What would you like the Commission to do if it was capable? MRS BEKWA I know Lundi was going to be a breadwinner, PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 7 BJ BEKWA because before he left he said to me, Mama, as I can see that you are struggling so that I can be educated, I will take over when I finish school. Your grandchildren will never struggle and all my relatives will not struggle, because I will try my best so that they can continue their education. And he was prepared to build me a house because he was very proud of himself, he was certain that he was going to a successful lawyer, he stated that wherever I would go, I would never suffer. I will give you monthly support, financial support of R5 000-00. REV XUNDU Mama, what would you like the Commission to do? What is your wish? MRS BEKWA I cannot hear properly. REV XUNDU What is your wish? MRS BEKWA I'd like the Commission to make investigations about what happened at the university. There are many students who state that they were there. Mr Brian Dlebe was supposed to be here, he had promised to come and give support and add some information. Unfortunately his father has died so he has to make funeral arrangements for him. Xolisle Nana is the other one who is prepared to give evidence, because they were his friends, they know what happened. There are some girls who were also prepared to come. I'd like you to make contact with those people, they might give you more information because I was not there, but most of the information they might be having, I can also give you some facts that I documented, so that you can go on with your investigations. REV XUNDU Were there any problems during the funeral? PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 8 BJ BEKWA MRS BEKWA Yes, the police would come and hit the people, trying to disperse them from the funeral. They wanted to take the corpse. There was a huge crowd of people which was dispersed by the police, I think it is because my son was the first student to be killed by the police, it was such a huge crowd which attended the funeral. Many of them wanted to make a speech because Lundi was popular amongst them and he was also a comrade. REV XUNDU Was Xolisle Jack the Xolisle that you're talking about? MRS BEKWA Yes, the Xolisle that I say he was also a friend to my son, is Xolisle Jack. REV XUNDU Would you like to say anything more than what you've said? MRS BEKWA As Lundi died in October, he was about to get married in December. As he was about to get married, I had already bought a car so that when he, after the marriage they should go to their honeymoon. Nunkeleko died, she was the fiance. She also died. They were buried together. REV XUNDU Thank you very much. I will hand over to the Chairperson, maybe some of the Commissioners would like to ask you some questions. ACTING CHAIRMAN Thank you Reverend Xundu. Any questions? Revd Finca? MR FINCA Thank you very much Mr Chairperson. I would like to ask a few questions to the witness. I'd like to know the role of the university of Mqoya. I think there are some issues that it might have handled, so we'd like to know whether they had any responsibility that they had taken when your son died. I want to find out did I get it right when PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 9 BJ BEKWA your son died, you read this, it was on papers and the university never informed you because we believe the institution was supposed to have informed you about his death. MRS BEKWA Nobody informed me. Revd Zonka is the person who came to me. Incabinde who is the rector of the university at the time, he wrote me a letter later on after my son had already been there, the one who was surviving the deceased. MR FINCA When you went to fetch your son, did the university provide any transport so that your son should be brought along in a dignified manner? MRS BEKWA He was brought along in the kombi of the university. I requested the person to go because I was trying to protect him, because I was afraid that the children or the youth would be angry and could come and assault the person who is driving the ... MR FINCA (tape starts) ... give a speech so that you can get information about the death of your child? MRS BEKWA No, nothing of the sort did happen. The only thing that happened is during the memorial service, Mpomelelo Faku was the one who was addressing people, informing them about what happened, that is where I got the information. MR FINCA Was there any inquest made by the university with regard to your son's death, did they inform you or contact you to state what happened? MR BEKWA No, nothing. I believe that they were happy about the incident. I repeat, I'd like the investigations to be made so that this should never happen again. It is painful to send your child for tertiary education and then he comes PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 10 BJ BEKWA back as a corpse. They used to say he is a Xhosa and they would be harassed by the other students. But they used to continue studying although they were having racism amongst themselves. The Sotho's, the Zulu's and the Xhosa's. I was surprised why could they accommodate other racial groups, yet they knew that they wanted only the Zulu's to be in that university. I am having a problem because my children have not been educated, because my son was prepared to take over from me. I have this child who was thrown from the train, the window of a train and his legs were amputated. Lundi was prepared to support my children and the whole family. ACTING CHAIRMAN We would like to thank you Mama Bekwa for your evidence. We all share your pain as the South Africans, it was very painful to hear what happened at the university when those five children died at the University of Zululand. It was suspected that they were killed by the Inkatha group members and they were killed during the day when there was an occasion. A day which was supposed to have been regarded as the day to rejoice as it was the graduation ceremony for those who have succeeded. Unfortunately the university turned into a battlefield as the students were attacked by the armed group of people when they were unarmed. He is not the only one, Professor Marupati who is University of South Africa, has also a story to tell because his son died during that incident. He is now stationed there at Pretoria, I can remember him as one of the people who suffered also in the same way as you have suffered. PORT ELIZABETH HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 11 We have a branch of the Commission, I am certain that the investigators and the people who are researchers will try to communicate with those who are in Natal and give them Lundi's name so that we can get clarity of what really happened that day. We will try to consider your request, I would not say we will meet your son's wishes and needs, especially for - the promise to support you financially and give you R5 000-00 a month, I am certain that you understand that you are not the only one and there are so many people, because we are going all over the country and there might be more wishes. At times we should like it when the people realise it that some of their needs and demands may not be met. MRS BEKWA I'd like to find out if that incident cannot be televised, because I have never seen what happened. That is my request. Maybe when I see on TV and watch it, there might be some people whom you could identify who would be on the TV. CHAIRMAN As I've said before Mama, we will try to make contact with some of the journalists, there might be some footages of the incident, maybe they could assist us. Probably you'd be able to get some assistance in that regard. Thank you.