hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-06-11 KIMBERLEY 2 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55379&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/kimber/ct00653a.htm CASE NO: CT/00653 VICTIM: IZAKIEL MOKONE VIOLATION: KILLED BY HAND GRENADE DURING MARCH TESTIMONY BY: NKOSINATHI NKOHLA MS SOOKA Nkosinathi will you please stand. Advocate Potgieter will administer the oath. NKOSINATHI NKOHLA Duly sworn states ADV POTGIETER Thank you very much, you may be seated. ADV NTSEBEZA Now I believe that you have already been sworn in - you are Nkosinathi. MR NKOHLA Yes. ADV NTSEBEZA Okay we may start - I think you have heard what has been said. MR NKOHLA Yes it is so. ADV NTSEBEZA MR NKOHLA I was born and bred here in Kimberley, I attended school at Singesa Lower Primary. I started schooling at Singesa and I went to the Singesa High School. In 1985 I was in Standard 5 at the time - I started to be engaged with the Galeshewe Youth Organisation. During that time my involvement was to go to Warrington where I was organising and I was trying to [indistinct] our students and some of those who were not yet [indistinct] There was a time when the Comrades realised that I was arrested again I was called in before the vigil and I was requested to apologise. At that time I had to attend night schools or adult education, I was having conscience, there were times when I was very affected by what had happened to me. I went to Kuruman - this was the former Bophuthatswana - I got employed there in one on the mines, but it was a temporary job. I was discharged and I went back and I stayed unemployed. When I got the opportunity then we started to form the youth structures in my area and the surrounding areas. One of our Comrades was released he is now the Premier presently. We wanted to get some material so that we can continue with formation of structures. Mr Mani said we must come here in Kimberley so that we can get what we wanted and then that is when we started organising. I was more involved and I tried to show that I am a staunch member and I was trying to fight what was done by the police. The Security Branch were treating the people so badly so we felt that it is the time that we should do something about all that was happening during this period. The other day when we were at Kuruman whilst we were organising to form a branch of the South African Communist Party, I had direct contact with the office here in Kimberley. At the end I worked voluntarily for the organisation and I was fully occupied in distribution of pamphlets in the office of the SACP. At that period I was then arrested. ADV NTSEBEZA MR NKOHLA So I did go so that I can give them details and the position about the party. So we were told not to say much because this was the meeting of the NUM and then we were given an opportunity to state the date when we are going to say much about the SACP, then we all agreed that it is so. ADV NTSEBEZA MR NKOHLA I came back to Kimberley on the 27th and 28th. Comrade Mzambo was supposed to meet me so that we can go to the conference in Johannesburg - so that we can campaign against the Bophuthatswana Government. So it was between the 27th and 28th May 1993. ADV NTSEBEZA Can you tell us, are you aware that this had already happened when you came back? MR NKOHLA Yes I am aware. ADV NTSEBEZA Then what happened, why were you arrested? MR NKOHLA Then I had already heard about the hand grenade which was thrown in but I did not know the details of what happened. MS SOOKA ADV NTSEBEZA MR NKOHLA After the message was delivered, I think it was in the afternoon at five, we went together with Chris and I peeped through the window. I met Chris and we saw someone outside the office - he asked - we asked each other how this person had been here and then nobody knew about it. During that period we went out and we went to buy some food with Chris and then we travelled to the meeting. On our way I said to Chris, You know I have organised and recruited a lot of people in Bophuthatswana and I am so tired - how about going back so that we can just get feedback from those who had attended the meeting so that we can continue with the decision taken. We agreed to go back and on our way we met Terror. This person grabbed me at the back - they took me to the City Hall. When I asked him why were they arresting me he said I was the suspect. When we got there the doctor asked me how do I feel. I explained that I had no problems. I was locked up at Barkley West and then I was taken again the following day by the police. Again I was interrogated, and I kept on giving the same answer because I had this background of the organiser, they wanted to use me. So they said they knew that my home will be burned. I decided then to agree that I really took the hand grenade and threw it among the marchers. They said I must go and be a State witness and even give information of who were the other people who were in my accompaniment when the bomb was thrown. They said they were going to protect me and they promised me an amount of R10, 000 [the witness is crying] ADV NTSEBEZA MR NKOHLA They also asked how many were we, I said we were six and I formulated a story so that I can be saved from their oppression. Van der Kolf came after I have agreed to their story and then they said they were going to take photos at Trust Bank George Street where this all took place. There were some witnesses who came from Sishel. They brought everyone, but at the end some of the Comrades stood by me and they insisted that I cannot do such a thing. They said they knew me very well and I was working with them. You all know then what was said by the previous speaker and during the day of the march I was not at Kimberley. Everybody should know that I was not there, I came very late towards the end of the month and I did not know about what happened. ADV NTSEBEZA Now that - were - did the police at any stage - did they state anything to you about Smiles? MR NKOHLA ADV NTSEBEZA MR NKOHLA And I believed that the Court would be able to prove what is the truth and what was not the truth. But in the end the Court did not do as we expected - instead they took lies and made their verdict upon the lies which were presented there. At the end I gave up the hunger strike to use it as a weapon and decided to eat again. I feel very bad about what happened. The people who made me suffer a lot and who affected me emotionally and psychologically it is the police and it is because they used me and the way in which they treated me it was not accepted. Because I had apologised to the community from two - three weeks they arrested me again and they assaulted me, tortured me in the prison and they said I must choose between themselves and the ANC. So my choice was clear that I wanted to be with my people and I wanted to be with the people that I have been working with, with confidence. They released me at a later stage but they did not like what I had said to them because after a few days again they came back and then they wanted to take me again to the same situation in which I was - they wanted to use me again - I know it is painful for those who have suffered along. I was forced to avoid going to the other people, I was also forced to move around some people. I then used dagga to try to sort my problems out. I wanted to regain myself and I wanted to go to be involved in the movement again but the police kept on visiting me and tried to give an impression that I was still working with them. The police will never like anybody - they lack humanity, they are everything that you can think of which is very negative and horrible. They destroyed my life, even today I am trying to gain my previous self, but I am unable to do so. I cannot get the peace of mind irrespective of whatever I do - what they did to me keeps coming on again. When I think of what they did to me for something which I did not even do. I begin to realise how cruel the police could be. I was worried because they wanted me to act against the people who were innocent. They wanted me to say and accuse people who were innocent just because they wanted me - they knew that I would be fond - I am fond of money and I might be influenced and tempted by the money. So they used it to use me against my people. And they could have left me alone so that I could join my people. I can just explain and say the other parents who could have felt negative towards me, they might have had a negative attitude towards me because of what I did. I just pray God and praise him for the fact that I am still alive. I do not believe that I will ever act against anybody and I will never witness against any person and give false information about anybody. ADV NTSEBEZA The Commission would like to know what you would like to have or what type of assistance you would like to have or what type of assistance you would like them to give you? MR NKOHLA For the first - firstly I can say I would like them to take us and put us on firm ground and try to make us lead a normal life like anyone else who would like to be out of prison and live freely. When I refused to be a State witness they stopped giving me the proper attention that I deserved. I never went to the doctor again because I was supposed to undergo an operation but the police never took me there again. When my appointment card was asked from them they said that they did not know that I was supposed to go back to hospital. They even denied that I had ever been to the X-ray. After the time when we were on a hunger strike, I was also sent to the hospital again and I underwent an operation three times and I was told that my bladder was still not well. I would like to get some medical attention so that I can be normal again. I would like to progress with my studies. ADV NTSEBEZA [indistinct] as having interrogated you in detention, do you still remember their names? MR NKOHLA Yes. ADV NTSEBEZA Can you mention them? MR NKOHLA ADV NTSEBEZA [indistinct] MS SOOKA We have heard both of you and we hope that as we get more evidence on the matter that we will be able to help you. We have taken note of both of your requests and we will see what we can do. Thank you very much for coming forward, both of you.