TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 5

Subsection 46

289 In Colesberg, a selective consumer boycott in 1985 cost the life of Ms Nombulelo Dilato [CT00506], who was married to policeman Mr Stanford Thembile Dilato [CT00390]. A group monitoring the boycott in Colesberg saw Ms Dilato buying meat. She was confronted and her meat was taken from her and trampled. She laid charges with the police, who began searching for those responsible. These events served to identify Ms Dilato as a police informer in the eyes of the community, although she had been a supporter of community organisations until then. When the Dilato home was stoned, police began a constant guard on Ms Dilato, escorting her to and from work and stationing Hippos (armoured personnel carriers) outside the house. This police protection ironically served to seal her fate. On 2 October 1985 she was caught by a small group of youths, assaulted and set alight, and her home was burnt the same day. When she subsequently died in hospital, community hostility made it impossible for the Dilato family to bury the victim in Colesberg. Mr Tembile Falati, Mr Zolile Silwane, Mr Thabo Gusha, Mr Pingdyaan Kelem, Mr Titsha Mhlakulo and Mr Tifo Paul Setlaba were charged with murder. Setlaba was sentenced to death (later commuted) while others received long prison sentences.

290 In Bongolethu, Oudtshoorn, Mr Patrick Marenene [CT00560], one of two remaining community councillors was attacked in November 1985. Youths took all his furniture, clothing and other household contents outside and burnt them along with his vehicle. Marenene fled, returning two days later to see what had happened to his children. He was chased by a group of youths in Bongolethu and fled, firing shots, but was caught and killed in Bridgeton, half a kilometre away. He was stoned and a burning tyre was placed on his shoulders.

291 A mass swoop by the security forces on Bongolethu township followed this killing. Hundreds of residents were arrested in a dawn raid on 29 November 1985 and assembled in rows on the soccer field. Masked individuals selected a group of less than a hundred, who were then transferred to the Oudtshoorn police station and locked into the police station tennis courts. They were then taken in large groups for an ‘identity parade’, for which they had to stand outside the police building while individuals behind windows on the third floor picked out certain individuals. About twenty people were then charged with the murder.⁴⁰ Three people were sentenced to death: Mr Patrick Manginda, Mr Desmond Majola and Mr Dickson Madikane.⁴¹ Three others were given long prison sentences.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE OCCURRENCE OF NECKLACING IN THE WESTERN CAPE REGION BETWEEN 1985 AND 1989 WAS AN EXPRESSION OF THE RAGE OF PEOPLE TOWARDS OPPONENTS, PERCEIVED COLLABORATORS OR REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE. THE COMMISSION NOTES THAT THIS METHOD OF KILLING PEOPLE WAS USED BY VARIOUS GROUPS WITH DIFFERENT POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS. NEVERTHELESS, IT BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH SUPPORTERS OF THE UDF, AND THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE UDF LEADERSHIP COULD AND SHOULD HAVE ACTED MORE VIGOROUSLY TO INDICATE THEIR DISAPPROVAL AND REJECTION.

292 Hanover in the northern Karoo region experienced violent divisions between so-called ‘collaborators’ and community organisations. A 1985 campaign against the councillors, in which several homes were destroyed, forced the councillors and their associates to flee the township. They settled in army tents close to the police station. This settlement became known as ‘Ezitenteni’ and housed up to one hundred people.

293 Tension and conflict between the groups resulted in the killing of Mr Alfred Thozamile Nkumbi, a relative of the mayor. Residents attacked him at his house in Kwezi on 24 December while he was under police escort. It appears that his escorts left the scene. Mr Nkumbi and family members tried to flee towards Ezitenteni but were caught. Mr Nkumbi was stoned and stabbed to death and his brother William Thamsanqa Nkumbi [CT00379] and other family members were stabbed.

294 A group of approximately nine people were charged, most found guilty and were convicted in 1988 of murder and public violence. Four of them were sentenced to death, namely: Mr Samson Booysen, Mr Vusumzi Jack, Mr Mxolisi Ncaphayi and Mr Bennet Sonamzi. One of the accused, Mr Elliot Sindezama Siyoko [CT00380] alleges that he was tortured while in custody. Mr Samson Booysen insists that he was not even in Hanover that day. The death sentences were later commuted.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT THE TRAGIC SPIRAL OF HOSTILITY, KILLINGS AND RETALIATION, ILLUSTRATED IN HANOVER AND REPEATED IN MANY OTHER COUNTRY TOWNS, HAS LEFT A LEGACY OF ANGER AND BITTERNESS WHICH REQUIRES ON-GOING CONCERN. THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS THAT PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES, NGOS AND FAITH-BASED ORGANISATIONS SHOULD TAKE INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE RECONCILIATION AND REHABILITATION.

295 In Victoria West conflict developed between ‘collaborators’ and ‘activists’ that escalated into violence. In March 1985 most of the community council resigned due to community pressure. In April a black policeman’s house was attacked. Eleven people were arrested and later charged with arson. On 25 May youths set alight three houses. Ms Emily Manong was trapped inside the burning house, but managed to escape. Mr Daniel Manong described the first attack.

After the police shot the tear gas the gas covered the entire town. And then they [the crowd] came to the house where my mother lived – a lot of them came there. They came with lamp oil, and petrol bombs. And they came and they broke the windows, they tried to burn the house inside with people inside … Through God’s grace we could manage to get people out eventually. And they could run away. My mother was taken away half a kilometre out of the town. They’ve taken her to a camp where soldiers use to come and visit and stayed around.

296 On 26 May, local police with support from surrounding towns and local farmers as reservists launched a mass raid on the township and detained seventy-three youths, the majority between the ages of twelve and seventeen. During the arson trial of the eleven youths the former vice-chairperson of the community council, Mr Enoch Manong, testified in court, that he had been abused and threatened with death by the accused. This was the background to the second attack on the Manong home. Daniel Manong described the death of his mother:

She came back the 4 December, it was on a Wednesday and they came to look for the old woman again. Patrick came threw the window, opened the door and once again they threw petrol bombs at the house and they burned her, my mother, for the second time and this was more serious. When we came to the hospital I realised she was not going to make it … She died on the Saturday the 7th.