hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-10-07 KAROO 1 CT/00555/KAR SIZAKELE MBEKUSHE MINA MBEKUSHE SHOT AND KILLED BY POLICE https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55342&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/karoo/ct00555.htm MS BURTON Michelle - Michelle you can take them - shame the [indistinct] things. We call our next witness to the stage, Ms Mina Wana-Mbekushe. ADV POTGIETER Do you want the prisoner with her on the stage [indistinct] MS BURTON Can you hear me all right. MINA MBEKUSHE Yes I can hear you. MS BURTON Please could you stand then to take the oath. MINA MBEKUSHE Duly sworn states MS BURTON Thank you - you are very welcome here today and your son who is here to support you - is that right. And your - your evidence - your testimony to us today is going to be facilitated my Ms Seroke. MS SEROKE A good morning Ms Minah we welcome you and your son here today and we would like you shortly to tell us what happened on this day of 14th of December 1989. MS MBEKUSHE I would like to start to begin where I first suffered. In 1986 I was arrested. I was detained and when I was - when I came out of prison, I came out of prison in 1986 and I was arrested again and before I went out of prison, they took my clothes outside the house and people took everything I had. When I came out of prison I stayed with other people, because my furniture was taken out of my house. I asked other children who were around to go out - and to go out and find a car. When we arrived at the doctor in front of the OK, the doctor told us he was already dead and we have to take him to the hospital. We took him to the hospital and we came back. When I asked who shot my son, they said it was Ketile. MS SEROKE Please be strong and take your time - and take your time. We will wait for you. MS MBEKUSHE I was not sure exactly who shot my son. Between Ketile - between Ketile and Thabo - I was not sure exactly who shot my son, but only the comrades who were together with my son were arrested. When I came out of prison, I did not get any employment, even now I am not working. MS SEROKE So now you are telling us that when this was happening in 1989, you have been in prison, you were in prison in 1986 - why were you arrested at that time? MS MBEKUSHE It was due to the state of emergency - they said that we were terrorists. MS SEROKE After they arrested you, why did they took your furniture outside your house? MS MBEKUSHE When we were in struggle, we boycotted the Rand. They took me to prison and then they took my furniture out of my house when I was in prison. MS SEROKE In other words this was done because you boycotted the Rand and you were not there. What happened to your children when these police took your furniture out of the house. MS MBEKUSHE They all wanted to arrest me and my children. MS SEROKE This Ketile and Thabo who are said to have shot your son - what, who are they and what are they doing? MS MBEKUSHE They were the [indistinct] at that time. MS SEROKE Why did they say they shot your son? MS MBEKUSHE They did not appear in court and they did not explain why they shot my son. MS SEROKE Sizakele and other youths - were they throwing stones in the houses, because Ketile and Thabo are said that they shot Sizakele because he was part of the people who threw stones. MS MBEKUSHE MS SEROKE Was there - there was an inquest and a post-mortem was done and it was done - that he was shot in the stomach, but the Magistrate said that there was no one to be blamed, there was no one responsible for his death. But is clear that Ketile and Thabo were the ones who shot your son. Who is supporting you at home at the present moment. MS MBEKUSHE I am working at the office at the present moment and I am getting a salary. MS SEROKE Do you have any other children who are still at school. MS MBEKUSHE Yes, I do. MS SEROKE How many are there? MS MBEKUSHE There are five. One of them is in Cape Town and the other one just returned and the other one is in Kimberly and the two are here in Secondary. MS SEROKE Can you still remember in which standard are they. MS MBEKUSHE The two - the two oldest are in Cape Town in the university. The one is Mabute Mbekushe. The other is in Kimberley. The other one is in standard nine. And the other one is in standard seven. MS SEROKE Who is helping you in educating your children. MS MBEKUSHE MS SEROKE You say here you had a attorney Moosa. Is he the one who was helping you in the case of Sizakele? Is this lawyer still around. MS MBEKUSHE Yes, he is. MS BURTON Ms Mbekushe thank you for coming to tell us about what happened to your son Sizakele. MS BURTON SPEAKS TO MR ROTHO AND THEN CONTINUES TO SPEAK TO MS MBEKUSHE Ms Mbekushe is there anything else that you would like to say. MR ROTHO MS BURTON No I am asking Ms Mbekushe if she wants to add anything. MS MBEKUSHE MS BURTON MS MBEKUSHE Yes, I was a member. I am still a member of a political organisation, the ANC. MS BURTON We thank you both all very much for coming today, for being with us and helping us understand the truth of what happened in De Aar, thank you.