hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1996-07-23 QUEENSTOWN 2 NOPIPI NOHOMBILE DYWASHU QUEENSTOWN https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55835&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/qtown/dywashu.htm NOPIPI NOHOMBILE DYWASHU: (sworn states) REVD FINCA Welcome Ma'am, and we now hand you over to Revd Xundu who will lead you in your evidence. REVD XUNDU Hallo Ma'am. NN DYWASHU Good day. REVD XUNDU Please come closer to the microphone. What is your clan name and into which clan are you married? NN DYWASHU I am Maphuqwana, I am Maphuqwana, married to (indistinct). REVD XUNDU Do you have any children there? NN DYWASHU Yes, I do. REVD XUNDU How many children do you have? NN DYWASHU There are 7. REVD XUNDU You have come to give evidence in connection with the death of Tembole Mvolani. Just tell me in the village, what was Mvolani a member of? NN DYWASHU He was a member of the ANC. REVD XUNDU Was there any other organisation there? NN DYWASHU There were two organisations. There were the ANC and the ADM. REVD XUNDU And there was conflict between these two organisations? NN DYWASHU Yes, from what I could see, they could not get along. REVD XUNDU Tell us the story about the death of your QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 2 NN DYWASHU husband, when he was seen, found by a shop owner, what had happened? NN DYWASHU This is what happened. I last saw him on the 26th and he was going towards Tendergate. I then slept. When I woke up the next morning ... REVD XUNDU Was he on his way to a meeting or was he on other business? NN DYWASHU ; No, he was on other business. When I woke up the following day, I saw people arriving and this shop owner as well, and I could see that he had gathered these people all night. This man said at approximately 8 o'clock, he saw a police van arriving at his place with this man inside, my husband now. The police had said that they had found him along the way and that he should please identify him. The policeman opened the van and he looked at my husband and said that he knows him and that it is someone that lives not too far from there and he wanted to know what the matter was. The policeman said no, we don't know, we just saw him, by the side of the road, just laying there. When we looked, he seemed like someone that had been injured and we tried to get help for him at the hospital. I then said, well fine, let us go to another man from the Hicqa clan and he didn't see him either. And then they went to this man. This man looked at him and recognised him and also asked what the matter was and the police explained how they had found him and said that they are going to take him for help because it is possible that he might, you know, he might be attended to. QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 3 NN DYWASHU REVD XUNDU Did the policeman say that they were taking him to the mortuary? NN DYWASHU No, they said they were taking him for help, that it is possible that he could be helped because he had been injured. REVD XUNDU When he was seen by the shop owner, was he still alive? NN DYWASHU He said when he looked at him, he could see that he was not alive any more, but the policemen were saying that they were taking him for help, maybe he'd get better. REVD XUNDU Was your husband in any position in the ANC, was he a Chairman or anything? NN DYWASHU No, he was not anything. He was not an office bearer, he was merely a supporter of the ANC. REVD XUNDU They then took him to the mortuary and then the policemen arrived at your place at some other stage and said that they had arrested the people responsible? NN DYWASHU The policemen came in the morning and said that they had found the murderers. REVD XUNDU Were these people that you knew? Did you recognise the names? NN DYWASHU Excuse me? REVD XUNDU Did you know the names of these people? Who were they? NN DYWASHU Their names were Matutsu Mvula, Maquzinani, Mrola, Job Mrola, Kumbelekaya Metusi, Xilu Saule. REVD XUNDU Lumko? Which Lumko? NN DYWASHU I am not sure which one. I don't really know which one it was and I can't even recognise him if I were to see him. QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 4 NN DYWASHU REVD XUNDU Did you know these people to be members of the ANC or the ADM? NN DYWASHU They were all members of the ADM. REVD XUNDU All these people? NN DYWASHU Yes. REVD XUNDU When they had appeared in court, what happened? NN DYWASHU The police came back to tell us that we just want to inform you that these people have been released. One of them had phoned Gqozo and Gqozo had instructed that they be released and be given their sticks and go and do their work, and they were then released. REVD XUNDU The one by the name of Nkoliseko Mrola, what was his role in all this? NN DYWASHU Nkoliseko Mrola was the one that had given the names of the others. REVD XUNDU Is he the one who disappeared? NN DYWASHU Yes, the one that up to this day we don't know where he is. Maqwalo is the one taken by Nkoliseko Mrola and he then called the people and they caught him and he told them everything and Nkoliseko said that now I was told to bring him from the graveyard there at the bottom. They wanted to know what were you going to do with him and he said, no we are going to kill him and then Nkoliseko disappeared because he realised that these people were after him. We were informed that attorneys had taken him to Bisho and that was the last I heard about Mrola. REVD XUNDU That Mrola said that these six people were responsible for your husband's death? NN DYWASHU Yes. QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 5 NN DYWASHU REVD XUNDU After your husband's death, was there any trial or inquest into the cause of his death? NN DYWASHU I beg your pardon? REVD XUNDU Was your husband taken to hospital and was the Doctor able to say what the cause of his death was? NN DYWASHU Yes, 8 bullet wounds were seen on his body in the front and in his neck, there was an assegai wound, the ninth wound. REVD XUNDU Did the trial then not proceed because of an order from Gqozo? NN DYWASHU ; No, nothing came of it, the police came back to my house and said that they were sent by the Government to tell me that the case is going to be conducted in Bisho, but the day on which it is going to be conducted, I must wait that they will come and fetch me. Up until today, I am still waiting. REVD XUNDU Was you husband working? NN DYWASHU He was not working. No he was not working, he was someone who was doing his own thing. He was a livestock farmer, he used to tend to his own livestock. REVD XUNDU Is there anything that you would like to ask the Commission to do for you? Any way in which the Commission can be of assistance to you? NN DYWASHU I would like the Commission to assist me in commemorating his death. I'd like the Commission to be of assistance to me in commemorating his death in the traditional manner, a tombstone. REVD XUNDU A tombstone? What else Ma'am? NN DYWASHU Since my husband's death I am battling at home. QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 6 NN DYWASHU REVD XUNDU How was your health affected by this? NN DYWASHU I have never been healthy, I am still under a Doctor's care ever since then. REVD XUNDU What is the main problem? NN DYWASHU I suffer from short breath. REVD XUNDU Do you receive any pension? NN DYWASHU Yes, I do. REVD XUNDU How much do you, oh, you receive a pension? NN DYWASHU Yes. REVD XUNDU How many children do you have? NN DYWASHU I have 7 children. I gave birth to 7 children, 3 are still at school. REVD XUNDU What are their names? NN DYWASHU Mqweqwe is in standard 6. Mpoqwana. REVD XUNDU What standard is Mpoqwana? NN DYWASHU He is in standard 1 and then Boqelani is in standard 2. REVD XUNDU Thank you very much. Back to you Mr Chairman. REVD FINCA Nohombile, I do not think you know the way in which you people touch us. After having gone through such suffering, and when asked what the Commission can do for you, you merely ask for tombstones. That touches us very deeply to see the manner in which your thoughts are so humble. In stead of asking for a lot of things from the Government you merely ask that tombstones be put on your loved ones' graves. Whenever I hear that request, I am so deeply touched, because it is a request from very humble people. We thank you for your evidence and thank you also for the love that you have shown towards your husband even QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE 7 though he is no longer with you through your request to the Commission on behalf of yourself and your children. I also want to reiterate once more that there is nothing that the Commission can do on its own, we cannot make any final decisions on our own, but we rather have to make submissions to the President who will then in consultation with the Cabinet, reach a final decision. But I would like you to know that we have heard, we have taken cognisance of what you have said and we thank you for coming forward and we will now like to thank you and ask you to take your seat. Thank you.