CHAIRPERSON: We would like Luphondwana Noqgili Vuyelwa to take the stand to give evidence. Before I let you take the oath, some of the people we should just express have lost their children, the others their partners, their parents, their husband you are here today to give evidence because your husband disappeared without any trace and he was ultimately discovered to have been murdered.
As you state here in the story you give us the information that your husband was a member of the African National Congress, we know that so many people just like him, you have paid a big price. We know that's what happened about your husband when you gave your evidence you did not doubt, you were not complained, you didn't even complain about his struggle that he was involved in, the only thing that you would like to know is what happened to your husband because your husband was involved in the struggle he could be living today.
We know that without your assistance and your support we should salute you for that because we couldn't have been able to continue with the struggle were it not assistance and support. Today we are liberated because of their role that they have played. We would like you to stand up and take an oath.
NOQGILI VUYELWA LUPHONDWANA: (sworn states).
I hand over back to you Mr Sandi.
MR SANDI: Let me greet you Mrs Luphondwana. I am going to lead you in this manner. Firstly, I will request you to give us information about your husband Rex Dingaan Luphondwana. Please briefly explain to us and give us the background about him, in other word, I would like to know about his participation, his involvement and whatever he engaged himself in, what was it, what were his interests, what was his role and I would also like to know were there any conflicts which he encountered with the previous government and the authorities at the time. Thereafter I would like to get into details about what you are here about. Then I would like you to start. Could you please explain to us about who Rex was.
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Rex Luphondwana was born ...(indistinct) and he was brought up there and then he went to Loveday to attend school but he was expelled and then he completed matric at Newell and then thereafter he was a student at Fort Hare University.
In 1963 whilst he was still a student at Fort Hare he was arrested for sabotage. He was charged for five years under the Sabotage Act and then he went to Robben Island to serve the sentence for five years. After his release he was under house arrest for six years for being a member of an unlawful organisation and then he was stationed at Cradock. After that he was starting with UNISA and then he came a graduate who has passed a Law Degree and then there was a problem to get him registered for Articles and then he came here in the Transkei. Matabese was the relative and then he was the one who assisted him to serve the Articles. He then joined Mr Nchika. During this period he was already a member of the ANC.
When I met him in 1978 we then got married in 1979. We had two children, Mtimkulu and Ncumisa. He was always a lawyer who defended political cases, I cannot count them because I can think I can make sure the one involved Chief Sabata, he defended Chief Sabata when the Chiefs here were against Sabata. They were very close together and then he would say he is a servant to the Chief. At times they would come together at night and then you would find that they were slightly under the influence and they were enjoying themselves. They would continue and talk for hours on end and then they would leave the place at times and then even when he was in Lesotho, when he is called by the Chief, he would request me to accompany him to the Chief Sabata's place in Lesotho. There were these people like Mr Kati, Steve Traykay and some others and the would go to Umtulugwenche. He had to go in and out the country and visit the Chief in Lesotho.
MR SANDI: As your husband was a lawyer at the time, and we also know that there were so many things that were happening, the atrocities, the brutality ....(tape ends)...
...had he ever been in conflict with the State due to his involvement at the defence?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: I cannot say there was conflict because this was not directly aimed at him, but the only thing that we could learn, hear that, there were questions from the State and this was just rumours. It would be just said as a joke that he is asked who is this Luphondwana who thinks he is very clever.
MR SANDI: Before we can get into details about the 8th April 1994 we can remember that your husband was murdered - in a car accident and this is suspicious. I think we should come closer to the date of 6th April 1994 before his death. What happened during this day? Did he tell you what was he planning to do, was he planning to go to ...(indistinct) for the weekend?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes, during the weekend on which he died, he said to me on Thursday, "I am supposed to go to Cradock tomorrow because there is a very important issue that I have to attend to". I didn't probe because I knew there were so many urgent issues that he has to take or give attention to, even now because there was usually such things, so I just agreed that he should go. I requested that he should take me home because I was a bit ill, so he took me along and took me to the family. The following day on the Saturday, which was the 7th, Professor Manganyi was his best friend paid a surprise visit because he didn't inform, this was unexpected and then I said he should be accommodated. We made preparations to accommodate him because we loved him also and then they were visiting Bikitsha for the afternoon and then they wanted to spend the afternoon with this Boy Bikitsha at Norwood. We had a very good time together and then Manganyi and my husband spent the afternoon together. They used to call each other brother-in-law because they were very close and the other thing, one of them Manganyi was married to the person with the same clan name as him. I was not fetched from home although my husband had returned from where he went to. This I didn't question or query because I knew that when he was with his friends then I would just tolerate that he should enjoy himself with them. Again then when he didn't turn up the following day, it was drizzling, I didn't question again because I knew that he might have been spending a good time with his friends. I phoned again and said to my helper that she should go to the room and request that my husband should phone me and then when he came back he said - "no, there is a visitor, Rex is not there". "Where is he", she said "no, I don't know" and then I said no, "go to Noel where he has put up for the night" and then he called him to the telephone. Like any other woman I was a bit jealous, I wanted to be able to state that I was a bit concerned. My husband never used to going out and sleep overnight away from home, although he was not an angel, I can't say he was an angel but he respected his family. You know when this happened they exchanged views and they would go and get girlfriends for each other and this was just as expected and accepted by me as a joke. I also asked Noel, where is my husband, he said he doesn't know. I insisted that he must go and fetch him where he left my husband. This continued for quite a long time we were arguing over the telephone and he just said, "just leave me alone, I don't know where your husband is", then this continued then at the end he would just drop the telephone. I kept on phoning alternating between the home and the office for the whole day I was doing this. At quarter past nine in the morning I was at home. Dr Mngqibisa came to our place and he asked "Where is Noqgili", because Noqgili is me and then I jumped thinking that it was my husband. When I looked out it was Mr Mngqibisa and then I asked he what are you here for. He said "you are my patient". I said you are a Doctor but I asked you what do you want. At the end I informed him that I am very angry and then he asked "why are you angry", I said "do you know we are looking for him, I have been phoning the home and also at work, I am just asking myself what is happening, because I don't like people who are irresponsible", and then Dr. Mngqibisa said, "I've come for that". "What is it?". It was reported that between ten and eleven he was discovered. Then my first reaction was that I was surprised why was I not informed of what happened and then I made inquiries to find out whether he was hospitalised and then they said "No".
MR SANDI: Can I take you back, Mrs Luphondwana. Dr Mngqibisa who came to your place, came whilst you were still looking for your husband, is he the doctor the family doctor or was he just the doctor for you only? Do you have any link besides the fact that he was the family doctor?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: He was the family doctor both at my original place and also here at my place of marriage and then when anything happens then he would be called. Dr Mngqibisa informed me that when I asked if my husband was hospitalised after the accident he said "No, he is late". I was shocked and I wanted to know what happened and then it was said it was a stationary bus which was next to the road. It was said to me it was a bus which had a trailer. Even in papers it was reported as a bus which had a trailer and then it was next to the road, it was stationary there and then he is alleged to have bumped the bus. Then during this period the people who were coming and bringing condolences and then it was said this they learnt that there is a prominent lawyer who was involved in an accident. It was parked, the full story was said on the radio. We spent quite a long time ...(intervention)
MR SANDI: Can I just ask which radio was this that broadcasted because there were many radio stations?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: For the whole day it was broadcast all over and every radio station it was broadcast. Before we could even inform our in-laws telephonically, they could phone us and they were surprised why should we keep quiet after all this. Because they were surprised how could they hear over the radio that their son was deceased. They were not aware that we were also not informed. The other thing that I am thinking is that even the police were supposed to have come and informed us because we believed that it was their duty to do so when there is a car accident.
Rex Luphondwana was very popular, and he was known, he was a known figure and a prominent figure here and even the police knew him, but I can just say maybe it's because he was controversial. It was only Monday when this took on, there were prayers, people giving support, condolences and everything but we were surprised why were we not informed between ten and eleven because we learnt only the following day at past nine. On Tuesday we were informed that there were belongings which were brought in here in my place. It was very strange because there were no indications of any struggle, there were no indications of any accident because the clothes were in tact, there was not even blood on the clothes and then I went with Mrs Tshlali, the late Mrs Boltina who was my neighbour, Mrs Bikitsha and my sisters we went to the mortuary. When we got there I could see that he was injured, he was maimed.
MR SANDI: Can I just disturb you. Did you say the belongings were brought in at home? Who brought the clothes and who washed the clothes?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: We are still asking ourselves today, because we do not know who brought the clothes at home but they were washed by Smoli and the helper. Can I go on?
MR SANDI: Yes, you may proceed.
MRS LUPHONDWANA: We went to the mortuary and when we got there he was injured. On the forehead, - I will use the medical terms now, the lower jaw was twisted and he had a depression on the forehead everything was crushed and the ribs squashed every bone in the body was crushed. We went to see the car at the scene of the accident. Usually we used to travel together and the people were saying, you could have died both of you if you were with your husband, because we always used to travel together. We were making funeral arrangements, we were depressed and we were also disappointed with all that happened. On the day of the funeral, we had made all the arrangements, if you can see the programme, even today, there was now clear indication of what really happened, nobody ever came to us to really state what really happened.
MR SANDI: Can I take you back again and disturb you. Do you say the car was bumped on the left, the side which is the passenger's seat? I would like to know did you suspect that probably there is a foul - that you are suspecting, did you take photo's?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: No, we didn't. We couldn't be suspicious because it was said it was the bus, naturally we thought there were people on the bus and we didn't think anything about the foul that could have happened. Then we proceeded with the funeral. When we were continuing with the funeral there were just Boers all over the place, there were colleagues who were afraid - his colleagues were afraid to come and everybody disappeared, everybody who was on the programme didn't come. Nobody turned up, Moniwa was the MC and then I felt very bad because that person apparently we realised later on that he was a Security Officer because he was the one who took over as the Master of Ceremonies because the people didn't turn up because they were afraid of the Security Officers. After the funeral you could hear all the rumours, there were some of the people who said "that whore, that whore who is his wife has killed him", the others said "I bewitched my husband" and then I said I will build a wall around myself. I didn't want anybody and my personality changed at the time, I was a very humble person but from the day when the people were just saying bad things about me, made me to realise that you couldn't trust anybody. Some of the people would come to me as friends but I would be knowing what the people have said about me in my absence at my back. Most of the people became back-biters and I had no friends at the time, but this I could take it as something which is petty, I cannot just delve much on it. In 1992, I was following this Goniwe case, Luphondwana and the Goniwe's were the people who were very close to each other and I believe that when he was going to Cradock I suspect he was going to them.
MR SANDI: Can I just disturb you, I don't want to take you off from what you were saying now. Was there any inquest about your husband's death?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes.
MR SANDI: What were the results?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes, thank you for reminding me about that. I had a lawyer, a Mr Makiwane, he phoned me the other day to say that he would like me to go to the Court because there is going to be an inquest. I didn't want to go there because I was afraid. After what I saw at the mortuary, I am a person who is very sensitive but you can't understand because I am able to keep up a face I always run away with myself because I have this defence mechanism to avoid issues which may disturb me. So this day, my father and my brother-in-law they went. It was said no other person could be blamed for the accident except my husband.
MR SANDI: Can you state whether you had any information from the 8th April 1984. 1985 up to now did you hear anything maybe that makes you suspect that there might be foul play? Could you please try to remember what can you think that can make you believe this was not an accident?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: In 1992 when I was just following the Goniwe case, on the 20th May 1992, there was an article on paper which was published. It was said there was confirmation by the Hammer Unit. Somebody phoned the Daily Despatch and it was said that there was a group of the Hammer Unit which was in the Eastern Cape which started in 1993 which was trained by the Selous Scouts. It was said they were trained in the Wild Coast here in the Transkei. This anonymous caller said they were behind the assassinations. They said they operated in Umtata in 1984. I was very shocked to learn about this. .... (inaudible) Security Director, Mr Peter Bezuidenhout said " ...(indistinct)", then I was surprised to learn and I was shocked because they talked about somebody who died mysteriously in Umtata and I could not think of anybody else but my husband, because I had a suspicion that this husband was taken from the bed because it is said in the paper "verified snatch" and then I could remember that my husband just disappeared from the bed and then I went home. I wrote this article to them and I asked them about their opinion concerning this what we are reading. We tried to interpret every detail and then they asked me "why do you say so" and then I said, "these are my suspicions". My father said I must call my brother who is just after me. He is a lawyer and then I explained my suspicions to him. My father asked me, "what are we going to do" and then he said we must got to Court to find out about the inquest report. I bought the inquest record and fortunately we got it and then I took a copy back home. We started this in detail.
MR SANDI: Do you have that copy of the inquest report? Can you give this to the Commission so that when the Commission tries to investigate they have some details from the report?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: The copy that I've got here is not quite clear, but I've got it. When I come out I think we can make a clearer copy.
MR SANDI: Do you have anything maybe, the cuttings, the newspaper cuttings or documents that can assist us?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes, I have. I've got these news articles that I am talking about, about the 20th - Daily Despatch of May 1992, again on the Sunday Times the same week somebody was talking about this Hammer Unit and this one also confessed to say they were in the Eastern Cape, they were killing people and they were assaulting people and they would say they would go to the extent of just hitting everybody on the road and even assault people in cars and then the other thing that made me suspicious about this Selous Scouts is that my husband hated the Selous Scouts. If you can remember the legal system would go to the Courts and the Magistrates were those Rhodesians. He would go mad and would like to know what do you want here because you are killing people in Rhodesia and you come here, and he would just come and have outbursts. Even if he meets them at the hotel, wherever he meets them, he would just lose his temper and would just insult or just shout at them. I was suspicious then because it was said they were the people who were training these Hammer Scouts and people who were in the Hammer Unit. So because he had this conflict with them because he used to always pester them, wanting to know what do they want here in South Africa, and then I suspected that they might have been involved.
MR SANDI: Are there anythings that you can say they are supporting your suspicions? Do you have anything that makes your family to be suspicious?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes, there are so many things. When I read this inquest record, I could see that the statements given by the witnesses were contradictory to one another. The position of the car at the time, the scene of the accident, injuries, everything was just contradictory, even the post-mortem report. I didn't want to be hurt and I knew in what condition I found him when I went to the mortuary, but I said I must read the post mortem report. It was said there was nothing abnormal detected, but there was such glaring injuries on the head, I was shocked.
MR SANDI: Can you believe this about this content which is contained by the post mortem report and the Court inquest because the investigation you need will be trying to get as much information as possible and we would look into these details and compare them? Do you have anything there at home that make you to be suspicious of what might lead you to believe that your husband was murdered?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: The people who gave statements made me suspicious.
MR SANDI: I think some of the things can be handed over to the Investigation Unit.
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes, I agree with you, you should please do so.
MR SANDI: Do you have any details or anything that is left out?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: No, I think I don't have anything to say further.
MR SANDI: Thank you very much Mrs Luphondwana for your evidence.
CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Lupondwana, you said Rex was a person who was in Cradock, he was together and was growing up with Matthew Goniwe and the others. This Matthew Goniwe is it the one who was also murdered suspiciously, the one of the Cradock Four?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes he is one of them.
CHAIRPERSON: In the struggle what do you know about Rex's contribution?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: What I know is, he served five years in Robben Island and when he was released he was under house arrest. He stated and gave information that he was recruiting ... (inaudible) trying his best to make the people realise what we were heading for. I was teaching them about the goals of the Organisation.
CHAIRPERSON: When he planned to go to Cradock what do you think was the purpose of his visit? Do you think he was involved in the struggle?
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Yes, he never stopped, I believe that he was still taking forward the Movements idealogies. When he used to go to Lesotho you would know that the was going here and from place to place. He was very busy because I knew what he was doing is in Lesotho was the ideologies of the ANC so that is why I didn't probe when he didn't tell me what he was doing there. Thank you very much.
CHAIRPERSON: From the Commission I would like to thank you in a very special way, sharing that traumatic memory surrounding your husbands mysterious death. You are a symbol of many women in this country whose testimonies will never die. You mentioned that following the death of your husband you were traumatised even by some people whom you trusted. We hope this experience of breaking the silence before the Commission is the beginning of re-healing and recovery. We hope you will confidently share with other women, educate and enlighten about the experience of losing your beloved one in a mysterious manner and you have left a challenge with this Commission to work hard and assist the Community of women of this Country who are living with a similar experience of not knowing what happened to their dear fathers and husbands. Thank you.
MRS LUPHONDWANA: Before you close up, I would like to thank the Commission because I have got this opportunity today, I've been knocking at different doors trying to have the case of my husband to be opened, because I was disputing what is here. We call Dume - because he is Dumisane Ntsebeza, he is my lawyer, I would go this way and that way and he would try and prohibit me saying "you are going to get injured, you will be in trouble because you are facing Boers who are dangerous." I want to thank all the people who supported me during my painful experiences. Thank you very much.
