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
I’d like you to give us some details, just a briefing of who are we talking to, who is this Nkosinathi - where have you worked - have you ever attended school and please give us your background up to the day when you were arrested because as I hear from Sipho’s statement you were also involved as far as the police are concerned. Can you please give us a few details.
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]
The following year I received a report that I was supposed to go to Standard 6 but I received a letter to say I mustn’t come back to school. This prevented me to be admitted in any other school. As the time went on I was arrested. The police arrested me and they assaulted me. I couldn’t tolerate their assaults. They wanted to influence me against the gentlemen who has just spoken.
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.
During that period I met the Bophuthatswana Youth and he wanted to form some organisation. I was anxious all the time, I couldn’t breath freely and I didn’t have to think alone, I was always afraid because the police have taken me away from the people that I loved and because they have tortured me in prison.
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
Let’s come to the day when this happened in Kimberley, we are talking about the day end of Tape 3, side A … going and when did you come back?
MR NKOHLA
I can’t remember when I left Kimberley - but I can say it was about the 20th or the 22nd - I was on my way - if I can remember very well it was between the 4th and 5th there was a conference at NUM - here of the NUM - I was travelling with the NUM organiser so I was on my way to that conference. I was given an opportunity to state what is the position of the party.
And then I was asked when am I coming back - so I stated that I will be coming back in May between the 20th or 22nd. From there I went to Kuruman and I put up for the night at my sister’s place - I met the Comrade Tembeka - I got a lift to go to Sishel - I got a lift from a person that I know and this person went to deliver something - some goods in a garage. I gave him the direction because he was not quite familiar with the area from the place where we were it was about a meter - a kilometre from Sishel. We agreed to meet at that point because he was not supposed to come there in my presence.
After delivering his goods at the garage, he had to go to the supermarket then I had to go and go to Velaphi’s place and that is where I was accommodated. I put up for the night again and we left the following day where we went to the soccer fields. There was a game playing - there were some sections which were playing. After the game we went back to Velaphi’s place. We didn’t stay long when Velaphi knocked from work I think it was between 5 and 6 and then during - at 6 o’clock we were supposed to go to a general meeting and everybody expected me that I should be there.
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.
On the third day I spent another day at Velaphi’s place. Again on this third day now we went to the hall I addressed a meeting during that period when we wanted to form an interim structure so that it can take off - the work off the ground. There was someone by the name of Mali - because he said he would not be able to participate in the meeting.
ADV NTSEBEZA
I just wanted to know when did you come back if you don’t mind just tell me when did you come back to Kimberley.
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
You know, when Comrade Mzambo told me about the conference I went to the library to obtain some of the books. I went to the hair salon to Sashi’s place and then because I didn’t have money he said he cannot pay me or groom me for free because he doesn’t take credit.
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
[indistinct] allow some members of the crowd outside to come in - so we will break for a few minutes - please don’t leave your seats - it’s simply to accommodate those people who want to enter the hall.
ADV NTSEBEZA
Now, let’s - let’s go back to what you were saying there Mr Nkohla. We are at a stage where you are back in Kimberley and you are actually preparing to attend a meeting in Johannesburg which was going to be around the 29th May 1993. If you could carry on from there on.
MR NKOHLA
When we came back from Johannesburg I learned about what had happened but I didn’t get much details about what happened. I was here locally in Kimberley. On the 21st June 1993 it was on a Monday very early in the morning I was from the office of the party - I was busy working in the office and I was in the company of Chris Mandela. There was a comrade who came in who said we have to attend a meeting urgently in the offices.
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.
I gave Chris the books and I went together with the police in the office. There is a boer called Starke and I was handed over to him and he asked me where was I when this happened. I said I was at Sishel. He said I mustn’t speak nonsense here because they know that I was there on the day of the march. I insisted that I was not there, I was in another place but they kept on pressurising me and then took me to the District Surgeon.
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.
At the time I insisted that I don’t know nothing about what they were talking about. They said if I don’t co-operate with them they will take the reports that I gave them and they are going to use them against me. They also said they would take these and publicise and scatter them around using the helicopter and they would make as if I was working with the police then the pamphlets would contain the messages that I was apologising because I have been working with them.
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
Okay - it’s okay just take your time. It’s all right just take your time so that you can recover okay.
MR NKOHLA
The people that used to be my friends ostracised me because the boers gave the impression that I was working for them and it appeared as if I got paid and this spoiled my future because I didn’t have friends. The boers tried to make things difficult for me.
I couldn’t do anything about the situation - I was unable to stop them from using me. I couldn’t resist what they were doing because they were pressurising me. I was worried because I knew about my background and the Comrades had nothing against me because I informed them about what happened to me.
This affected me so much I have never been the same person again. I am unable to move freely and the police wanted to continue using me against my people. It was painful to be a State witness for something that you didn’t know about. I had to witness against the people who didn’t do anything against anybody. I had to admit that I saw people who took the grenade, those [indistinct] and his colleagues, they were the people who capitalised over all what happened and then they insisted that I was their informer.
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.
They alleged that we got training so we had to agree that we had got training from that area. They also wanted to know who were responsible for all - some of the things that they talked about and I didn’t know what they were talking about. But I did agree and admitted that I knew everything they were talking about.
After we did these point outs they asked me - Erasmus and Rossouw asked me if I was prepared to be a State witness, I said no. They then decided to charge me. They took me to Transvaal Road and Rossouw came and said they were going to charge me because I didn’t want to work with them.
It is then that they started to be against me. Then - it’s then when I met Sipho in the court. All the statements I have given I was trying to accuse Sipho for something that I didn’t know. When we got there in court they told me about their alibi.
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
The police did not mention anything about Smiles during the interrogation, but it came out during the court proceedings when one of the questions were asked, Thembinkosi was asked about this Smiles and he was asked what would he say if Smiles admitted to have committed the offence and then he insisted that it’s Sipho and myself who threw the bomb.
ADV NTSEBEZA
Now just the last point. I would just like to ask you a question. How do you feel when you admit about something that you have never done and somebody has to serve a jail sentence for something that he didn’t do?
MR NKOHLA
You know the things happened in such a way that they were - you didn’t have any alternative. In the beginning I had confidence in the court of law and believed that they would do whatever they could to prove that what the police were saying was not in line with what had happened.
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.
There was a pending appeal and they refused and turned it down and they said it would be difficult to accept the appeal. You know when this happened it was possible for me now to decide on getting involved in the hunger strike. But we didn’t get the appeal besides what we had done.
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.
But I can see I was fortunate because I am still alive today and there are still the comrades who are still prepared to accept me as one of theirs. The police always liked it when there is always chaos amongst us they didn’t want peace, they wanted us to fight each other. I am so hurt about what happened. It is beyond expression.
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.
For all these years I have been suffering - I don’t even know how I am going to survive. I failed school, I was ashamed, I was embarrassed, I felt disgraceful and I could not do anything to prevent what was happening to me. I think I would like to have some freedom inside me but the boers and the police prevented me from gaining that freedom and they took it so negatively and so horribly by wanting me and influencing me to act against my people.
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.
The other thing that we would like to have is that the Commission should try to assist me so that I can continue with my studies because I stopped attending school due to all this which happened to me. My parents don’t have money to take me further and lastly the other assistance which I would like to have is that I would like them to - I had a problem because I was affected - my bladder was affected - I couldn’t urinate properly and I was taken to the hospital and it was discovered that my bladder was blocked.
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
Yes, I remember Terror Kapanda, - Erasmus - Rossouw - Van der Kolf - Starke but there were so many of them. Some of them - others were Xngongisi and Squirt but - because when they come to interrogate you they come as a lot of people, they don’t come one by one so you get confused at times and you don’t know all of them.
ADV NTSEBEZA
[indistinct]
MS SOOKA
Thank you both of you for coming to give your testimony. I think with each hearing we begin to realise that we haven’t heard all the stories. As each witness testifies, we become increasingly conscious of the fact that the picture out there was even worse than we believed.
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.
