DR RANDERA: Mrs Neuvhirwa, good afternoon.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Good afternoon.
DR RANDERA: Thank you for coming. Can you please introduce the person who’s with you.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: In the left hand is my husband. The, on the other, on my right is our Pastor.
DR RANDERA: Good afternoon to both of you and welcome. To help me is it okay if I call you Gladys.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: No, I won’t mind.
DR RANDERA: Thank you Gladys. Can you please stand to take the oath. If you can just repeat after me. I swear that the story I’m about to tell is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
TSHIMBILINI GLADYS NEUVHIRWA: (sworn states)
DR RANDERA: Thank you, Gladys. Ms Seroke !
MS SEROKE: Mama Tshimbilini, you’ve come to tell us about what happened on the fourteen of February 1993 concerning your brother. Could you just tell us briefly what happened on that day and why you are here to-day.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Thank you for being given the time. What happened on the Monday I was at home and I ate. Within a while I was feeling so tired and I go to sleep. When I was asleep I wake up again and then do the cookings and when I went to sleep again, and then while I asleep I was surprised to find a policeman coming knocking and then when he knocked my husband came and they said, is this the place of Machudo Neuvhirwa and they said we want to go with you to court and my husband refuses and said he can’t go to Sibasa and then I wake up where I was asleep. I find that policeman talking, forcing him to go with him and the policeman asked me to go with him to Sibasa and then I refused saying that I don’t know Sibasa since I was here at Messina and he forced us that we must go to Sibasa and we asked him why and he said we’ll hear why we are sent, called there at, in front that Sibasa.
From there, we stopped there and we were taken to a certain house there at Sibasa and then we were given a chair and then we sat down. While we were seated another policeman came in. He took me to the other office where there were three policewomen. There those policewomen asked me my full names. I told them that I’m Gladys Neuvhirwa. Then they said okay. I was then taken again to another bench. While I was seated another policeman came in and he took me to another office where there were White men. Others were sitting even on top of the table and I was given a chair to sit. While I was seated I was asked whether I know Machudo Neuvhirwa. Then I said, I know him. So they asked when he disappeared from you and then I said from Sunday, 6 o’clock and then they told us that Machudo was with someone and they went to them near a shop called camp and they said that Machudo climbed their store and I said, is it? They said, yes. And they said that there were people who were working for contract there. Then when Machudo was seeing those tractors, Machudo was disturbed and then he fell down and he died. And they asked my if there is anything that I can answer and I told them that what I can answer is this, that Machudo climbed the shop, I’m not sure and they said they will give me the evidences. They told me that Machudo now is dead, at half past one, in the afternoon and is dead. So, I was so tired and I was, because he can’t die without being ill and they told me that he died at half past one. When asking those policemen whether there is something that I can say, I told them that I’ve got something that I want to tell them. I, I said I, I’m asking them to give me a car to go and fetch the parents of this Robert. I went to the parents and then I take Jeremino Neuvhirwa and Lusino Neuvhirwa and then came back with them.
In arriving back on Tuesday, we were taken to another office where we were asked if we were parents of the deceased and then we said, yes and they said Machudo is dead because he climbed the shop and seeing the contractors coming next to him, he was disturbed and then he fell down and then the contractors brought him to a police station and then my father asked to see the constructors and then the police said you will see constructors during the trials. From now nothing is going on. One day while to hear what was happening in the post-morten, while we were asking what was happening because the trial is going nowhere, they said we must go and investigate what’s the case and send the police what’s happening. And then we refused because we thought things were not properly. The police were so angry with me that I never thought, I thought, I even thought that this is not a police station. While we were at home policeman, Mr Mathius Tjika came in and asked me if I have investigated the case and I asked them, is it true that I must investigate the case instead of you, the policeman?
MS SEROKE: Thank you Mama Tshimbilini. I would like to find out, when Machudo left on the fourteenth, where did you say he was going to?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Machudo left, saying that he’s going to the men’s hostel where they used to stay there. He used to eat food at home and then go to the nearby hostel. When he left he was going to the hostel.
MS SEROKE: Was he working at the, at the mine there?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: No, he was no longer working, the mine was closed.
MS SEROKE: Was he politically active?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: So as a boy I cannot deny because if there were marches he used to join the other people.
MS SEROKE: He took part in the marches as a member or just somebody who was just interested? A member of the political organization?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: I agree that he once participated in a certain march. That was the mine march in which he was still working there at the mine because that was a force for everyone who was in that mine.
MS SEROKE: Were you represented at the case? Did you open a police case against his death?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: The, the case, although I was not behind that case because I was not knowing the people to contact, I find that this elder man who was here at Messina, Mr Lerhule came and take, and took the statement and he contacted Mr Sergeant Ntai and Ntai came and took me and then I went there to Pietersberg and they asks, they told us the case was already over. The trialer had already been held.
MS SEROKE: And you say in your statement that your younger brother had internal injuries and also was bleeding on his head and, how did he sustain the internal injuries if he’s supposed to have fallen from the, from the roof of the shop into which he was breaking?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: That he was injured internally, it is then that if one is dead they go for a post-mortem and they found that his kidneys were injured inside his kidneys and while I was still there at Sibasa a certain policeman who said that these police are very scared now and when other police asked why, they said because of this person they killed inside the cell.
MS SEROKE: So, the police were overheard saying that they were scared that the man had died and he was killed in a cell?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Yes, it is because the police were talking about that because they were scared because of this person they killed inside the cell but I was not aware whether my brother’s dead or not.
MS SEROKE: .Were there any witnesses who could have proved, you know, that the police actually did killed this man?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: As to whether there was a witness in the cell.
MS SEROKE: Yes.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: There was no witness that was in the police cell. I knew that because of policeman, Mr Matika who came and took me and while we, I was there, they told me that they are calling me in connection with my brother, Machudo because I was not aware that Machudo was in police station. That I know that at about half past two when ma, policeman, Mr Matika came and took us.
MS SEROKE: Do you have the post-mortem reports?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, the boers who were there in possession of the papers.
DR RANDERA: Thank you, Ms Seroke. Mr Manthata !
MR MANTHATA: For how long had Machudo been a mine worker?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: I cannot give the, well it was a long time but I don’t know exactly, precisely how long it took.
MR MANTHATA: Up to the time when he got killed or he died, how long had he been out of work?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, he, well that was after the mine had closed down and he went to another firm.
MR MANTHATA: After the mine, after the mind had closed?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: About a year.
MR MANTHATA: And this other employment that he got, what was he doing at that, at that firm?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, I’ll only see him on an machinery section, greasing machines and other things. I can’t know exactly what it was all about.
MR MANTHATA: So you say that someone said that the police were scared because Machudo had died in the cell. Do you remember who said that?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: I’m not sure exactly because I didn’t even know the policeman. I only knew about the policeman in connection with Machudo’s issues.
MR MANTHATA: And this other policeman that you are referring to, is he still a policeman?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, the two of them, Matika and Masindi are still policemen.
MR MANTHATA: And you have never been with them even at this time, just to ask them coolly what is it they know about Machudo’s death?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Honestly, those were vicious people that one could never attempt asking because even if when I look at them, I am so frightened because I know they should have discussed this with me to tell me or to explain to me as to how it came about but they were so vicious and then they were threatening me. Instead of the police looking for the investigation, they asked me to do that.
MR MANTHATA : Because I’m asking that question because I thought you were saying there were two groups of the policemen, that is the Whites and the Blacks so I thought that perhaps the Black policemen could have been approachable, you know, for this kind of follow-up but now if I understand you well you are saying that all the policemen at that police station were of the same mind with regard to the death of Machudo?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Truly so.
MR MANTHATA: You say you, you didn’t engage a lawyer. Did I hear you well, or you did?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Sorry, could you repeat the question please?
MR MANTHATA: Did you ever engage a lawyer?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Yes. There was a lawyer a certain Ntai who was representing and he was the one who was dealing with this case because during the time when there had to be a trial, Mr Lerhule asked me to go to Pietersberg and it was explained to me that the trial was connected on such and such a day. We came back with Mr Lerhule and I was taken from home to the police station. On arriving there we went to one of his, where there was a prosecutor. Just before we, the trial time I was with Mr Ntai, Mr Ntai was cross-questioning somebody then although I couldn’t hear what they were talking about but Ntai subsequently told me that the trial is still on. Even up to now, I haven’t heard anything.
MR MANTHATA: Oh, the, the trial is still on and when was that, that is, how far back have you been in touch with Ntai? Is it a week? Is it a month? Is it a year?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, about two years now. Well, since his promotion he has never come to me. I mean before his promotion, since then he’s no longer contacting me or we are not contacting each other.
MR MANTHATA: Oh that’s Mr Ntai, he’s not contacting you?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Yes, he is no longer contacting me since he got promoted because he, before he told me that he left somebody to be responsible but then I don’t even no who is accountable for this case now.
MR MANTHATA: Have you ever been to Ntai’s former office of lawyers to find out who is running that office now?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: No, I haven’t there. I haven’t been to Pietersberg.
MR MANTHATA: Thank you.
DR RANDERA: Ma’am can I just try and clarify one thing here. There’s two stories. One is that Machudo could have been killed at the shop and the other one that he could have been killed in the police cell. Now this break-in that the police were talking about, where did that take place?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, the break-in, the involvement of break-in, we are told that he went up on top of the store. That was the police information and I asked the people who were working at the shop as to who broke the shop or how did it happen and they said they don’t know anything about it. So I was so confused because the police were telling me that he was on top of the store and he was disturbed and fell down.
DR RANDERA: So, the shop owners knew nothing about somebody on the roof and somebody who had fallen down?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Well, the shop owners seemingly didn’t know anything. He was just shocked to see the vans when the deceased was taken to the mortuary. He was just surprised to see the statement taking place and when I went to the van Matika was driving it, I only saw the contractors who were busy with this man as well. I still don’t even know the contractors who were there. I know that it could have been a collation between the police and the, the contractors.
DR RANDERA: I’m sorry, can you just clarify again what, how the contractors come into the story. Who are the contractors?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: The contractors are the people who were at the camp, who had their tents there. We, I learnt that they were staying in Zimbabwe. It was during the time when they were removing the big pipes which were responsible for isoling. Those people, after that the contractors, if I told they were having contact with me we could have understood clearly as to what happened. Masindi and Matika didn’t like me contacting the contractors. That is why when we were coming from Venda I saw, I realized that the contractors were no longer in that camp.
DR RANDERA: Was the shop in the camp?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: It was right in the location called Kambo, Oilchem.
DR RANDERA: How old was your brother when he died?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: I can’t remember so vividly. I don’t recall.
DR RANDERA: Did he have any children? Was he married?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: No.
DR RANDERA: Had your, had you brother been, ever been arrested by the police for any other political activity or any other activity before?
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Not at all. Not a single day. He never knew anything about the cell or prison.
DR RANDERA: Thank you, Mama Gladys. I have no further questions.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Thank you too.
DR RANDERA: We thank you to, for coming to-day and, and your husband. There’re so many of these stories that we hear of people who got killed by policemen and often there is no end to, to what actually took place. The answers are not there. Your statement is with the Truth Commission. We will attempt to find out if there, if it’s possible to do so, what happened to your brother and we’ll come back to you. Thank you very much for coming to-day.
MRS NEUVHIRWA: Thank you too.
