&#9;TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

&#9;UWC HEARING - DAY 2 - TUESDAY 6 AUGUST 1996



CASE NO:&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;CT/00827

VICTIM:&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;KULEKILE SIMON KEWUTE

NATURE OF VIOLENCE:&#9;&#9;ATTEMPTED MURDER

TESTIMONY FROM:&#9;&#9;KULEKILE SIMON KEWUTE



COMMISSIONER: ... thank you very much. Okay you can just indicate when you can hear and we can proceed, is that all right? Thank you very much, welcome to both of you, both will give evidence Ms Kewute will corroborate briefly what you are saying. So I am going to ask both of you to stand so that both of you can take the oath.

KULEKILE SIMON KEWUTE&#9;&#9;Duly sworn states

AUDREY NONATHI KEWUTE&#9;&#9;Duly sworn states

COMMISSIONER: Thank you very much you may be seated, Mary Burton will assist you and I hand over to her.

KULLEKILE SIMON KEWUTE:

MS BURTON: Thank you, hello Mr Kewute I am sorry that you've had a long wait, it's been a long day for you. And I know you want to get home to your baby, so we will move as quickly as we can. Before I ask you to tell us what happened to you, I just want to remind all of ourselves that over the past two days we've heard several stories about things that happened in Khayelitsha. Earlier on we heard about things that happened in 1990, yesterday we heard about the story that Ms Chakatha came to tell us and then earlier today we heard from Ms Piliso and Mr Ndevu about the killing of Mr Sibulelo Piliso and the injury to Mr Ndevu. Now we going to hear from you about something that happened in 1991. And it just shows the ongoing conflict that has been happening in parts of Khayelitsha. What happened to you, happened one month before the tragic killing of the five members of the Mr Solomon Tshuku's family. And so we - we want to your story into that whole context of what was happening, partly leadership struggles, party struggles over housing and development. So please now tell us Mr Kewute what happened to you on the 9th of July in 1991. --- Thank you very much, on the 6th of July 1991 I was in Site C, at Site C. I met Tyhaili and [indistinct] when I asked them comrades what are you doing here. The comrades said to me there are people in the hall, I asked them why are you here, they said not ask, we not suppose to be there. I said okay please accompany me to go home. On the way home, they told me that they are no longer part of the Civic. They are going to be working the - the D Site in Site C the following week and they are going to hit the Civic Committees. I said to them you must just tell me that you are going to kill me as [indistinct] because I am the chairperson of the Civic here. All the committees that are here, and the committees that are here, they never responded to that. I asked them if they were going to kill me and if they were going to kill me, and they are telling me, why don't they kill me then at that time. They didn't give me a clear indication of what was happening. At home I decided to take them out my wife was there already. These people are not in - are not the people that I know, they were not the people that I knew. I decided to go back home to sleep. I woke up in the morning, I went to work, it was on a Monday. I came back again, I went to bed, when I came back, I told my wife just before I could sleep, I said I must just first go to the meeting and check who is there, she said to me you mustn't stay there long because I don't feel quite well. I said no I won't be long, I'll be back soon. I came back, she was sleeping on the bed. I could see that she was not well, while we were still sleeping we heard a knock at the door. They said open up we are police. When I was about to respond she said to me, she asked them who are you, they said we are police. While we were still listening to this police knocking at the door, they were throwing stones at the windows. We heard another stone again, when we tried to get under the bed, we could hear that there is something like a steel bar on top of my bed. There were demolishing the - the bungalow, my shack. I became very angry, I said to my wife stop crying, if I was - if I am laying I am going to die, but if I am stand for the truth we are not going to die, I am going to open this door. I went to open the door, when I opened the door, there is someone who is holding something, I hold the door, they pushed the door, one person came in with something in his hand. I decided to - to hold this gun, we - I struggled. I couldn't move because I was not wearing anything, because I was just from under the blankets. I pressed this riffle down he wanted to hit me on the head, I pressed this gun, he shot. I counted one - I counted two - I counted three, I counted four. I hit the door with my right hand - with my right hand, I crawled to the bedroom. I could feel that something is burning inside my stomach. I went - I decided to go under the bed, I wanted to look at them and see who are these people. The other one was outside and the other one came out of the house and he asked if this man is dead. The other one said this yes he is dead and he said no take this R4 and finish him up and the other hand said no he is already dead. He said okay we can go. Tyhali went out with this R4 on his shoulders and he jumped the fence in front of the house and the other one decided to take another direction towards the toilet. What I did I remembered that there was a child who was sleeping next to the bed, next to the wardrobe. I dragged the child, I went out, I was holding my stomach. I couldn't stand up straight, I walked around the house and I went to December's place, when I arrived there, I said December please help me take that child. He asked where is the child, I said the child is in the house, he said you afraid to get in there, I said no there is nothing wrong the people are gone already. We heard the gunshots from the other side in the house of another comrade. They were killing other people there, there are two young men who died on that particular day. And now they were rushing to the police station where they - I asked myself - the police came, they called the ambulance. When I wanted to go to the ambulance they said no here is a stretcher we are going to take you with the stretcher, I said it's fine. They took me with a stretcher to the car. They checked my temperature, the drivers of the ambulance, they said no I can still go to the hospital. When we went to the hospital, when I was in the hospital, my wife went to Site B to make a statement. He finished the statement, when I woke up in the hospital the following day I tried to phone Claremont where I was working. I wanted them to take my wife because I thought that they - if they see that I - they could realize that I was still alive they are going to kill my wife. Only to find that even my wife already fled. My bosses took my wife and give her a place to stay. When she came to me to see me in the hospital, she told me that she is - she was staying in Constantia. I said thanks God because she was still alive. We lost some of our properties during that time. While I was still in hospital the Matron called me and Matron said to me there are police who would like to see you. I asked at what time they said we have a one o'clock appointment. I asked them why should this happen during the night, I refused to see them. I refused to see them during that time. They came back the following day, I said to the Matron I'll go there because you are the one who saying so, but I don't like this appointment which is going to be during the night. They arrived in the night. I think it was something to two. I don't even know whether I [indistinct] myself by greeting the rooikop, they asked me if I knew the people. I said I don't even know those people, because what I think about now is that if I can admit that I know them, they can even shoot, they could shoot me in front of the Matron and the Matron will do nothing - the Matron will just run away. That is why I said I don't even know the people.

&#9;Thank you me Kewute, but you - you did know some of the people who attacked you, didn't you? --- Tyhali was amongst them, he is the one who was holding an R4 riffle, he is the one that I met on the Civic.

&#9;And later on did you tell anybody about what had happened? --- Steven Lewis the one that I requested that he must go and check at Site B what was happening, who was a lawyer for the Human Rights in Athlone, he said to me I must go to the Civic with the ANC. I gave them the report although I had already given them another report. They said they are going to investigate about my case. Till today I never heard anything from them.

&#9;So there was no further investigation into your case? --- Do you mean myself, there was no investigation, there was nothing, it was quite since then. Another lawyer whom I told about this, it was in Retreat Mr Human. He said to me we must check, I must - I must first check where this people stay, it was quite, the people were around, the people are still around but you don't know where do they stay.

&#9;Earlier on you said that the people you met on the 6th of July were not like you use to know them, did you mean that they had changed in some way? --- The way they were talking, the manner in which they were talking they were disassociating themselves from the activities that we use to do. So they use to be part of the same Civics that you were part of? --- Yes.

&#9;And then they didn't remain within that organization? --- They were members, they use to be members of the Civic.

&#9;And then they went out? --- It - I last saw them when they went there to attack me, they left Site C on those day, they are no longer staying there now.

&#9;And you where are you staying now? --- I don't have a place to stay at the moment. Not unless my wife get a room to stay there, if they refuse me to go to that particular room, I would sleep outside as long as my wife and the child are accommodated somewhere.

&#9;So you - you were physical injured when you were shot, but you also lost a big part of your life through this? --- Yes I suffered a lot I even lost my job because my bosses are afraid because they don't know the reason of my attack. Even - even a place where I - I use to have my temporal - my peace jobs, they are afraid of me. 

&#9;Is there something that you hope will come from your telling your story to the Truth Commission. --- There is nothing, I am just like a person - I don't even know who many were those people because the house was surrounded. From the Truth Commission I would request some security of some sort if it's possible and my children.

&#9;Thank you Mr Kewute. I would just like to see if your wife want's to add anything to your story.

AUDREY NONATHI KEWUTE: 

--- Thank you I have nothing much to say besides the fact that I am asking for the Truth Commission to try and communicate with [indistinct] and Tyhali to come forward so that they must try and explain the reason why they shot my husband. What was wrong, him and the others who was shot on that particular day, I would like to see them coming forward so that we must hear. Because what is that they were - they were fighting was only ANC, they were just fighting ANC people. They were sucessful, but with my husband they were not successful. Even those who are relatives of those, they must just hear the explanation why their people had died. Thank you very much.

MS BURTON: Thank you Ms Kewute. I don't have anymore questions.

CHAIRPERSON: Any further questions, yes all right you say your piece and then for once I should have the last word. 

MS BURTON: Thank you very much for coming Mr and Ms Kewute. You have lived in a part of Cape Town that has had many-many conflicts and many people have tried to bring peace to Site C. I'd like to say that maybe this must be the beginning of yet another attempt to help the people in the area to accept that they may have political differences but that violence is not the way to resolve those differences. And maybe in this week when we celebrate National Women's Day, we should make a challenge to the women of Khayelitsha to show their strength and their leadership and help to bring peace and development to the area. I don't know if there is anything that you would like to say before the Chairperson closes the interview.

KULEKILE SIMON KUWETE:

--- No I've got nothing to say, I am pausing.

CHAIRPERSON: We thank both of you for coming here today. We also feel the pain that you endured. When you were actually standing for truth, but there were those who disliked what you were actually doing, and therefore thank you that today here we are now we have our own liberation of our own choice. And you have had a great contribution which had made it to be possible for us to reach this stage. Therefore we are going to try to see that the request you posed, the request that comes from your wife, will be taken [indistinct] of, therefore we thank you. --- Thank you to you Reverent.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much ladies and gentleman for your presence here, you have heard some astounding stories and we hope that as you return home and you carry - carry these in your hearts that perhaps you are able according to your different faith traditions, to incorporate all of that into your praying, praying for the people who were testifying and praying for our country that so much - so much of this pain and anguish might be transformed as it contributes to the growing together of our people and the reconciliation of those who for so long, have been alienated from one another, torn apart. Because actually all of us in South Africa are wounded, all of us need healing, all of us. Some perhaps are wounded in a way that is very spectacular and obvious and we have seen some of that here. But each one of us needs healing and we can make a contribution, you can make a contribution sometimes in an act of reconciliation in your immediate environment. Perhaps you have quarreled with your loved one. Maybe you can find the grace to say I am sorry and that a healing can happen there which in a very strange way makes a contribution to the healing of our land. Please stand, we wait for the witnesses and their friends to - we adjourn until tomorrow nine o'clock, and will you very kindly leave the headphones on the seats, thank you.





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