MR LEWIN: Ladies and gentlemen it has been a long day but I would like to ask you all for forbearance and patience please. We have one important further witness to hear and that is Bongni Paris Mkhize. I ask him please to come forward. Mr Mkhize, can you hear me through the headphones.
MR MKHIZE: Yes, I can hear you.
MR LEWIN: Thanks very much. I’d like to welcome you here and to thank you for coming to join us. We missed you yesterday and we’re very pleased that you’ve caught up with us to-day. Thank you very much for that. Before you tell us your testimony I would ask Doctor Ally please to swear you in so that you can take the oath.
DR ALLY: Could you please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you are going to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
MR MKHIZE: (sworn states)
DR ALLY: Thank you.
MR LEWIN: Thank you very much and I will ask Doctor Randera please to lead you in your evidence.
DR RANDERA: Bongani, good afternoon. Welcome. Bongani, we are moving away completely from what happened in Wesselton and in Kwadela. We’re moving to another part of our history in a sense, the history of forced removals and you as a young man becoming caught up as a victim because of the involvement of your father. I know you’re not coming to talk about your father but I would like to make that point. Your father, as most people in this community would know and many parts of our country was a fighter for rural people and particularly for the community of Driefontein. I have had the pleasure of going to your community many times myself so I know where Driefontein is. It was after the death of your father that I started becoming involved there. Your father in fact died two months after what happened to you. You were a young man as I said at that time. Schooling in Swaziland, coming back to visit your family and I want you please to now take us through what happened to you February 1983 and in a sense what we’re going to be learning is how what appears to be just an attack on you by police officers, turns out to be much bigger than that. So I give you your time, please be relaxed. There’s nothing to be frightened of. Tell us what happened to you.
MR MKHIZE: It was on the twelfth of February, on a Saturday. I came from Swaziland and I came to visit my parents. Just when I got off the bus, there was an Indian area as well as a Boer area and I had gone to take a bus in the Indian area and I saw an E20 or Hi-Ace in which there was a person who was calling me, using a hand gesture. When I got there, I saw eight men and showed me some identification. They were policemen. They wanted to search me because I had a handbag as well as a paper bag. They searched through and they saw my written standard seven report from St. Joseph’s School. Previously a teacher had been kidnapped from my school and he was brought to Piet Retief. He was kidnapped from Swaziland and brought to South Africa. They asked whether I knew that person and I told them that I knew him. They asked me what relationship I had with him. I told them that it was a student teacher relationship. They asked me what subject he was teaching me and they also asked me my surname. I told them that I was from the Mkhize family and they asked me whether I knew Soul Mkhize. I said yes, he’s my father and they said Soul Mkhize thought that he was a clever man and at that time they were taking all the contents of my bag as well as the paper bag and pouring it onto the floor of the car. They stated getting into the car. We drove and went to Supermac in Piet Retief and one policeman got out of the car and went to buy some liquor as well as meat. I think they bought about forty eight cans of beer. At that time I had been made to lie flat on the back seat of the car and one policeman went across the street and went to taxi drivers and spoke to a certain person. There was a White man as well as a Black person. Then he came back and we followed that E20 or High Ace which had two occupants. It proceeded to the Piet Retief Hospital. They asked me about three places in Swaziland, Ngwenia Park, Two Sticks as well as Fairview. These places are quite near the Manzini town and I was staying at Ngwenia Park. They asked me about these three areas and asked whether I knew the whereabouts of ANC members who were staying around that area. I told them that I had no knowledge thereof. They said I thought I was like my father who thought that he was brilliant. They proceeded to the Piet Retief Hospital. They parked the car near a forest and started assaulting me severely and they made me lie flat on the ground. One of the Boers from the E20 got into the car and reversed and just when he was about to land on me, they made him stop the car and said they should give me a chance to speak the truth and to tell them information about my father’s involvement in politics. I told them that I knew nothing. They said they didn’t believe that I was a student in Swaziland, there was something else that I was doing in Swaziland besides being a student. They assaulted me even further at that point. They did not believe anything that I was telling them. They took me to the Kombi and took me to a certain scrap yard and said I should undress. There were switches on the wall. They pressed one switch and I saw a wire protruding from the wall. They pressed another one and I saw a hole. They said I must put my head in that hole and my neck was held in that hole. They started assaulting me and electrocuting me. I was naked at that time. They got my head out of that hole. They took a cutting torch and said I should stand just like Jesus when he was being crucified on the cross and they switched the cutting torch on and they burnt my chest. At the time that they were burning my chest, one White man was strangling me with my own shirt and the other one was kicking me, others were hitting me and assaulting me further whilst the other one was burning me with this cutting torch. They took me to the Piet Retief police station. At about three o’clock on Sunday, they release me and said I should go back home.
DR RANDERA: Bongani, tell us what happened to you after that. Did you go to the hospital ? What injuries were left with ?
MR MKHIZE: When I got home I got my father who was still there. He took me the following morning, that is on Monday, to submit a statement in Piet Retief. I never actually went to the hospital. I was actually scorched by the burning torch but I didn’t sustain any serious injuries. I think they were just torturing me to try and get some information from me.
DR RANDERA: I see that you’ve lost an eye. Was this related to what happened to you that time ?
MR MKHIZE: No, I had a marble eye at that time and the marble time came out at this stage but I had been injured in a car accident before. I lost the marble eye after the incident. I lost money as well as a watch in the forest where they were beating me up.
DR RANDERA: Bongani, how old were you at the time ? You say you were a standard seven student. How old were you ?
MR MKHIZE: I don’t remember quite well but I was fairly young. I think I was eighteen years old. I was seventeen years old but I’m not very positive.
DR RANDERA: You said you went to the Piet Retief police station with your father. What was the response of the police at the time ? I understand there were a few subsequent visits as well.
MR MKHIZE: I was with my father and we requested to see the Station Commander of the Piet Retief police station. I don’t remember his surname. We reported to him. My father spoke to him at length and told him that he should see to it that the matter proceeds further and that I should not be tortured or asked any funny questions. I submitted the statement and my father left me with the Station Commander and told him what happened to me. Even the police were there. When I came to submit the statement on the Monday, we got the police who had attacked me before and they drove to my place and they got my mother at my place. They said they’d come to drop off my clothes because I had left them in a taxi that was from Swaziland. My mother took a list of the things that they had brought and asked them who they were but refused to identify themselves. She, however took down their number plates.
DR RANDERA: Now, the police that you identified, the statement that you made, no court case was ever held. Am I right in believing that ?
MR MKHIZE: No, nothing came out of the case. I was never called to court.
DR RANDERA: You did, or your mother subsequently did take civil proceedings against the Minister of Police at the time. What was the outcome at the time ?
MR MKHIZE: I know absolutely nothing. I submitted a statement to the Station Commander and I went for an identification parade. They only brought two policemen but all in all there were ten and the two that they brought were not involved. One of them was just asking me questions as to where I lived in Swaziland and whether I had a permit, residence permit in Swaziland and he wanted me to tell him at length what I was doing in Swaziland but he never laid a hand on me. He never assaulted me. I pointed the two out but they didn’t assault me. That was the end of the matter. It never proceeded any further. I even pointed out the forest where they assaulted me and when we got there we found out that the forest was no longer there but there were farms there or gardens. That was the end of the matter.
DR RANDERA: Bongani, I have a document with me which shows that your lawyers actually did sue for civil damages. You may not know this. The Ministry did take responsibility whereas your lawyers were asking or a certain amount of money. They didn’t fulfill although they accepted responsibility, they did not pay the sum that was being demanded. They paid a much lesser sum. Did you know about that ?
MR MKHIZE: No, I have no knowledge thereof.
DR RANDERA: Bongani, in your statement you also say that Nofumela and Coetzee were part of the group that took you out of the taxi and then subsequently were involved in your torture. How did you come to find that out ?
MR MKHIZE: I discovered that when I read from the Sowetan when Nofumela was testifying to the effect that they abducted me and he described the torture in detail. He even mentioned my name. That’s how I came to know that Nofumela was one of them and that’s how I came to know that this White policeman who was taking me out of the cell on Sunday and told me to pick up my clothes and he asked me whether I knew him. I told him that I did not know him. He told me his name but I do not recall what he said but I remember that his surname was Coetzee. He asked me when and where were we going to meet. I told him that we were going to meet in heaven because I saw no reason for him and me to meet.
DR RANDERA: Did you see photographs of Coetzee also at the time because as I understand it, Nofumela, and if I can just inform everybody, you’re referring to Almond Nofumela who was part of the Vlakplaas unit and so was Dirk Coetzee. Dirk Coetzee did not apply for amnesty for your torture. Are you sure it was Dirk Coetzee. Can I just add another point here please and you may be completely and absolutely right, as we understand it again Dirk Coetzee left the Vlakplaas unit in around 1982. That was the time that he was beginning to break from that unit. As you know he subsequently gave a lot of evidence to the Harms Commission. I’m just wanting to ask you whether you are sure that it was Dirk Coetzee who was involved in your torture ?
MR MKHIZE: According to what he said to me I have forgotten the first name but I am sure about the surname. He said his surname is Coetzee. Nofumela is the one that I’m very positive about because he described the torture in detail. That made me positive because anyone who didn’t torture me wouldn’t have known how I was tortured.
DR RANDERA: Bongani, my last question to you. After the torture were you able and also as I said earlier on, your father died two months, not much longer, two months after this horrific incident you were involved in. Two months later he was shot. Were you ever able to finish your schooling ? Tell us what has happened to you subsequently, as a person.
MR MKHIZE: I wasn’t able to continue with my education. I had to stay at home and look after my mother. I didn’t get any support or any financial means to further my education and I do get some temporary jobs from time to time but it’s nothing solid that I can hold on to. So I just survive on peace jobs. I never went back to school thereafter.
DR RANDERA: And your mother, what’s happened to her ?
MR MKHIZE: My mother got a job at Gigi and she’s working at Nelspruit.
DR RANDERA: Thank you, Bongani.
MR LEWIN: Tom Manthata ?
MR MANTHATA: Bongani, would you say that the police stopped harassing you after making that statement ?
MR MKHIZE: No, they never harassed me thereafter.
MR MANTHATA: Thereafter, were you staying at home with the family ?
MR MKHIZE: Yes, I was. I was staying at Driefontein.
MR MANTHATA: Where you part and parcel of the Driefontein Commission that was resisting resettlement of removal ?
MR MKHIZE: It’s my father who was resisting the removal and he was actually spearheading the movement against the removal of the people.
MR MANTHATA: My question is not whether you were a leader but whether you were in that community and part of the community that was resisting to be removed.
MR MKHIZE: Yes, I could say that.
MR MANTHATA: Would I say you were at the gathering where you were confronted by the police to disperse ?
MR MKHIZE: No, the only meeting that I went to was when my father died. That’s when a Boer or a policeman came and said we should disperse because it was an illegal gathering and my father told him that he had convened the meeting and that he should not disperse the people. That’s when the policemen started assaulting my father. He hit him with a fist and when the people tried to intervene, my father told them to stop and the White policeman went and took out a gun. He shot my father. That’s when my father died.
MR MANTHATA: That’s the gathering I’m referring to ............... Thereafter, the death of your father remained on most, the problem first and foremost to the family. Am I correct ?
MR MKHIZE: Yes, it posed a problem because we do not know why my father was killed. There was absolutely no reason. We don’t know why he was shot. It’s still a mystery, even to-day we haven’t got answers to our questions.
MR MANTHATA: Where you the eldest son in the family ?
MR MKHIZE: Yes.
MR MANTHATA: Which means, as you put it, it’s still a problem right now. It’s more on your shoulders.
MR MKHIZE: That is true.
MR MANTHATA: At community level, what became the rule of your family after the death of your father ?
MR MKHIZE: My mother is the one who was attending meetings and she was also talking on behalf of the community of Driefontein. I could say she was a leader of the community of Driefontein.
MR MANTHATA: If I heard you well Paris, it seems most of the people who were torturing you even trying to overrun you by car, were Whites ?
MR MKHIZE: There was only one White policeman, the rest were Black.
MR MANTHATA: The rest were Black. I don’t whether at that time you had any idea of the whole concept of removing Driefotein community, Tygerkrans and the lot and the lot, that it reflected a grave and great division between the Blacks in the are of Driefontein and the White farming communities in the Eastern Transvaal. Am I correct to say that ?
MR MKHIZE: Yes, I could say that is true.
MR MANTHATA: What are the prospects now ? Are there any prospects now, perhaps one would say, how are the relations to-day between the White farming community or what can we call it, yes, we’ll still call it the Eastern whatever you call it and the Black communities that were not removed as it was the desire of the Government then ?
MR MKHIZE: It’s not like before. I think the situation has calmed down a bit. At times we have meetings with the farmers and we do share their views with them especially with regard to the grazing of the cattle. We are able to go to the farmer, negotiate with him then they sell us some lucerne and some feeding grass. I could say the relationship is becoming homogeneous. The situation is better.
MR MANTHATA: This has happened without necessarily a formal gathering which could have been at the core a gathering for reconciliation. It just happens naturally. Do you understand it to be sensible ?
MR MKHIZE: We came together as the community because we were having a problem with regard to the grazing fields and we didn’t have fire wood so we decided to approach them so that we could buy firewood from them as well as cattle feed. We as the community came together and we approached them in order to improve the relations between the two opposite groups.
MR MANTHATA: Thank you, Paris. No further questions.
MR LEWIN: Bongani Mkhize, I’d like to thank you very much for coming. You’ve told us of what happened to you. The way in which you were brutally inhumanely beaten and tortured. I think your story gives a very cruel twist to the old saying about the sins of the father being visited on the children but I mean your father will always be a hero of Mpumulanga ....... us to-day and to tell the story. May I wish you strength in yourself and strength in your own life. That is what we can wish you and the strong belief in yourself. You come from a very proud tradition and we’re very pleased that you could come. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen before asking Reverend Kumalo to actually close our session here in Ermelo. I would just like to say thank you very much to you for having been here and I have some special words of thanks that I would like to say on behalf of those of us here on the panel and in the Commission.
As you can see there’s a great deal of work that has gone in to making this session possible, these hearings possible. In particular it is the people of Ermelo and the local authorities through Mayor Madonsela who has made this possible. I’d like to thank particularly the Mayor and his staff, the Town Clerk and the people who have helped set this up, the caterers, everybody else who has made this possible. It’s been a privilege for us to be here and we’re very pleased that we have been able to be here.
The other people who you must realize, have actually made it possible too are our contacts on the ground who over the past months, not just weeks, over the past months have been working very very hard. I think particularly of Reverend Nkosi. Thank you very much Sir, for your help there. I think particularly of Reverend Kumalo as well. I think of the briefers whom we have seen to-day in their task and I think of the statement takers who helped. All of them please we can’t name everybody by name but thank you very much for that assistance.
Could I say a word there about statement taking. This gives you some idea of what is possible through statements. What we would appeal to is that other people come forward. We have heard and we have a large number of statements but I think that what has been shown to-day where we’ve been talking quite specifically and we’ve been hearing quite specifically about a conflict. A conflict which involves, if you like, two sides or possibly several protagonists, antagonists. We have heard statements, we have heard testimony from people if you like, from only one side. The work of the Commission is all-encompassing. What we are trying to do by way of starting the process of Reconciliation is to bring out the stories of all people from all sides. I think what we would appeal to very strongly, appeal to the community and appeal to everybody else from within this community and in a wide area, amongst all your contacts. Whatever can be done to get more statements from more of the antagonists. We need the full picture, we need the complete picture. If it is possible and there’s plenty of time still, there’s not that much time but people do have some time to come forward and make statements and we would appeal to people to please come forward. Let us have statements from the whole community not just the one part of the community.
I’d also in thanking people as well, like to mention a special word of thank to the SAPS, to Superintendent Beukman and his men and those who have been with us from Piet Retief as well and you will go on to Balfour with us, thank them for keeping us safe. It’s nice to be able work in that sort of relationship now, isn’t it. I’d like to thank the media particularly for their assistance. I’d like to thank the Commission staff, Truth and Reconciliation staff who also have made this possible. Half of whom are now already in Balfour preparing for our hearing there to-morrow and as I said in the beginning I would like particularly to thank those of you who have been here to-day, who have sat so patiently and quietly and have listened. I’m sure that you feel as enriched as we do by the experience of the hearing. Finally, the most important people whom we have listened to to-day, the witnesses. This has been their day. They are the people whom we must thank from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you very very much for your testimony, for coming forward in the way that you have. Thank you very much. Now I’d ask Reverend Kumalo to say a few words and close this hearing in Ermelo.
Hearing closes with a hymn and a prayer.
