Part Four, Section 7 Continued

A case which took up more of the Commission's time than any other was the death of the deceased Rivies or Reeves Lesige. This was due to the fact that a host of rumours as to the cause of his death were conveyed to members of his family. These in turn were reported to the Commission. All were thoroughly investigated by the Commission who heard and called a large number of witnesses in regard to them. All the rumours proved to be without foundation and unsubstantiated. The investigations which were intensively carried out by members of the Investigating Team were also made extremely difficult by the fact that they had to be carried out some three years after the occurrence when memories of witnesses had become dimmed and vague, and that certain witnesses were clearly being deliberately untruthful. These factors contributed to more confusion than should have been the case.

The essential undisputed facts in regard to the deceased's death are these:

At the time of his death the deceased an adult, male, aged 35 years, was lieutenant in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. He had risen through the ranks from being a corporal in 1986 to a lieutenant in 1994. He was a personnel administrative officer in the Air Force branch of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force until the beginning of 1994 when he was transferred to the Bophuthatswana Defence Force headquarters where he was attached to the Medical Corps at the time of his death. He had served under Colonel Petrus Burger from 1986 to 1994 who described him as an efficient officer.. He said he liked the deceased. His widow, Mrs Naomi Lesige, handed to the Commission a number of commendations from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force which indicated that not only was the deceased regarded as a capable member of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force but also that he was popular in his work environment. From them it seems clear that there is no indication that the deceased and his senior officers had any problems.

It would seem, however, that the deceased was a person who drank fairly heavily. A lot of evidence to this effect emerged during the hearing.

The body of the deceased was found at or near Mega City on 12 March 1994. Exactly where it was found is not clear. Sergeant Jonathan Phiri testified that he was in a mortuary van on 12 March 1994 patrolling at Mega City to look for bodies there. A member of the South African Defence Force pointed out the deceased's body to him. It was Iying inside the shopping complex near Clicks Stores, said Sergeant Phiri. It was Iying on some steps. The deceased's clothes were dry and showed no signs of burning. This evidence of Sergeant Phiri is, however, probably not accurate. The manager of Clicks Stores at Mega City said that during the looting at Mega City a portion of the building was burnt down and part of the roof collapsed near Clicks Stores. It is common cause that part of Mega City was in fact burnt down. In Clicks he found a body Iying in the store. A video film, from which a photograph had been made, depicted the body.

It is common cause that the body shown on the film and photograph is not that of the deceased. An inspection was held by the Commission. No steps were seen in or outside of Clicks. The only steps were moveable stepladders used in the Clicks storeroom to remove goods off the shelves there. Although there is no certainty as to where exactly the deceased's body was picked up it seems clear that it was found in or near Mega City and that it is probable that it was found in that portion that was burnt down. This appears from the evidence of what was found by Dr Peter Scott who performed the post-mortem examination on the deceased on 16 March 1994. He found that the deceased had died of asphyxia caused by the inhalation of smoke. The body of the deceased had "burns and bruises with swelling". These he considered had been caused after death. In his view the deceased had been asphyxiated and the other injuries had thereafter been sustained as a result of his having been near the burnt out and collapsed part of the building. Asphyxiation would have been accelerated by the effects of alcohol. He did not think the deceased had been struck by a brick or baton or stick or similar blunt instrument as there was no laceration which he would have expected to be the case had any of these items been used to strike the deceased.

It is the bruises which gave rise to a lot of the problems in this case. They arose because the deceased's widow, Mrs Naomi Lesige, said that a Bophuthatswana Defence Force member, named Moses Korolosi, had told her after her husband's death that he had been killed by some white men in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force at a farm named Aslaagte outside Mafikeng, which farm was used by the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. Her husband had not been stationed there. She said she wrote to her Member of Parliament about these allegations as a result of which certain police officers viz. Colonel Segone and Superintendent Maki had seen her in connection with the matter.

Mrs Lesige took an active role in the Commission's investigations into her husband's death, questioning witnesses, searching for and bringing forward others to testify. Her assistance to the Commission is appreciated.

She told the Commission that apart from Korolosi, her sister-in-law, Mrs Keitumese Kraai, had telephoned her in August 1996 to say that a police sergeant, one Mmutle, had told her that the deceased had been killed by his senior officers, who belonged to the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, at Aslaagte and that Sergeant Mmutle had said that she should seek legal advice. The investigations into her husband's death, he said, were being conducted by white people and as her husband had been killed by whites, she would get nowhere without a legal adviser. Sergeant Mmutle said he had been to Lawyers for Human Rights and had also been in contact with Minister Sidney Mafumadi. Mrs Lesige said she was in danger of her life having been threatened by her parents-in-law who said she had killed her husband. She said her husband had been previously assaulted on 22 February 1994 but he did not tell her who his assailant was. He also refused to report the matter to the police.

Mrs Lesige said that on Friday, 11 March 1994 the deceased was sleeping on a sofa at home at about 11:30 to 12:00. She told him to go and sleep in the bedroom. He went into the bedroom. She went outside to look at the many motor vehicles that were moving up and down the road outside and when she went back into the house he was not there. This was about noon. She next heard of his death on Sunday, 13 March 1994 and identified his body at the mortuary. She was told that he had been seen leaving the house with three ladies and a man. She traced these people and asked them about the deceased but they could tell her nothing as they were drunk.

Mrs Kraai testified that Sergeant Mmutle had telephoned her to say that he had information about the death of the deceased and that he had been killed at Aslaagte. There was a suspicion, said Sergeant Mmutle, that he had been killed by his white superior officers. Sergeant Mmutle said he had been one of the Investigation Team of the Commission but he had been expelled because he was delving too deeply into the Lesige matter. It must be recorded that Sergeant Mmutle was one of the original Investigation Team under Captain Kgoro. He was taken off the team for reasons entirely unconnected with any investigation but which had to do with police disciplinary procedures. Sergeant Mmutle told her that they would not get a fair deal from the Commission, whose top structure was white. Mrs Kraai said that Sergeant Mmutle told her that he had got his information from a typist who was typing all the Commission's documents. Mrs Kraai said that Sergeant Mmutle volunteered to meet her. They met in Mafikeng. Sergeant Mmutle had photocopies of two Defence Force cheques with him. One cheque was for R30 000; she did not know what He other was for. He said "These cheques know where your brother is." He said that "my brother (ie the deceased) knew too much", the suggestion being that his death was linked to financial irregularities about which he "knew too much".

Senior Superintendent Segone said that Mrs Lesige had complained to the North West Member of the Executive Council for Security that the Police Murder and Robbery Unit were not investigating her husband's death properly. He went to see her and was told of the allegations by Moses Korolosi who had been in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force but had been fired from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force some time before March 1994. Superintendent Segone said he went to see Korolosi who said that while in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force he had worked with the deceased who was in the Logistics Section. It was the deceased's function to order aeroplanes from overseas for the Bophuthatswana Defence Force and to cause payment to be made for them with Government cheques. The aeroplanes had, however, not arrived, the senior officers having used the money for their own purposes. Korolosi said this was the cause of the deceased's death he having been killed because the senior officers were afraid that the deceased would tell this Commission about the irregularities.

Superintendent Segone said he pointed out to Korolosi that this could not be the case as the deceased was already dead in March 1994 and this Commission was only appointed in May 1996. Korolosi had no reply to this. Korolosi also said the deceased had been killed at Aslaagte while some white senior officers were holding a braaivleis there. Korolosi said that he was told this by someone when, after the downfall of Bophuthatswana, he had gone to Mmabatho to apply for reinstatement in the Defence Force. He refused to give Superintendent Segone the name of the person or to make a statement as he was "afraid he would be killed". Superintendent Segone said that he and Captain Van Gent of the Investigating Team had gone to see Korolosi again on 23 August 1996. He repeated his earlier allegations but again refused to make a statement as he said he might be killed. Korolosi, said Superintendent Segone, was vague and could provide no concrete facts. He appeared to be very dissatisfies with his dismissal. He had in his possession a "hit list" containing the names of a number of his senior officers who he said "should be eliminated".

As to the allegation that the deceased had been killed at Aslaagte, both Colonel Burger and Brigadier Jordaan testified that the latter had occupied a house at Aslaagte in March 1994. This house had formerly been an officer's mess for white officers. When that was so braaivleis functions would have been held there, but from 1993 the house had been converted to a private dwelling in which Brigadier Jordaan lived. No braaivleis function had been held there around about the time of the deceased's death, a fact also testified to by Inspector Joseph Mziwakhe, who was staying at Aslaagte in barracks there in the week of 7 to 13 March 1994. Korolosi was brought before the Commission to testify. He said that from 1977 to 1991 he had been a sergeant in the Logistics Section of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force at He Air Force Base. He knew the deceased, who worked in the Personnel Section, socially. Korolosi said that he, Korolosi, was dismissed in 1991 because he was laying to stop corruption in regard to the payment of foreign allowances. He got his information in this regard from the deceased. He had told the Special Branch of the Bophuthatswana Police about this and that had led to his dismissal. Korolosi admitted being in possession of his "hit list", which contained the names of officers who, he said, had been concerned with his dismissal.

He said his dismissal had been recommended by a Suitability Board. He said that he had complained to the Ombudsman early in 1992 about the corruption that was going on in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. He also told the National Intelligence Agency about it. Senior Officers were stealing money through the use of foreign allowances. Leather jackets and other equipment were also being stolen. (It must be recorded that Colonel Burger told the Commission that leather jackets had on one occasion been stolen and an engine on another. Both these thefts had been the subject of an internal investigation.) Korolosi said seven aeroplanes were bought from Switzerland by the Bophuthatswana Government but only three arrived. Four were given to South Africa. Cross-examined by Advocate Bester for the Defence Force, Korolosi said he had no facts to substantiate his allegations. He said the deceased was helping him to fight corruption and to hit back at his seniors to fight his "unfair dismissal". The deceased gave nobody else the information he gave him. It was that information, said Korolosi, that led to his death. He had, however, never seen the deceased after 1993. He had no facts to substantiate his allegations. Korolosi said he did not know how the deceased had died. He denied telling Superintendent Segone that he had heard of his death when he tried to get reinstated in the. Bophutatswana Defence Force. He also knew noting about the decease having been killed at a braaivleis.

Korolosi was clearly an untruthful witness. Obviously aggrieved by having been dismissed from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force he was equally obviously making wild allegations about the deceased's death to try to implicate those senior officers who he felt had been concerned with hi dismissal.

Sergeant Mmutle was also called to testify. The Commission was informed that he had also complained to someone in the office of the Premier of North West Province, Mr Popo Molefe, that the death of the deceased was not being properly investigated by the Commission or its Investigating Team. Sergeant Mmutle denied this. He also flatly denied ever having telephoned Mrs Kraai, or that he had met her in Mafikeng as she had said he did, or that he ever told her that he had got the information about the death of the deceased from a document he had read which a typist had been typing or that he had ever shown her any cheques. He told the Commission that he had no information in respect of the death of the deceased Sergeant Mmutle's evidence therefore did not assist the Commission whatsoever.

Several most important witnesses were, however, discovered who did she, some light on the deceased's death. Two women, Aloudia Ketela and Pretty Brewin, testified that on the afternoon of Friday 11 March 1994 they had driven to a house in Unit 8, Mmabatho. They had found the deceased there. He appeared to have taken liquor. He asked to be driven to his house so as to give them a drink there. They did so but found nobody at home. They returned to Unit 8 and that was the last they saw of the deceased, who they said had just disappeared. Canny Tsatsimpe who was a clerk at the Mafikeng branch of Standard Bank in March 1994, said she knew the deceased and his wife well. Her husband was also in the Air Force. In the late afternoon of Friday, 11 March 1994 she was on her way from Montshiwa to Unit 8 along one of the main streets in Mmabatho that runs near to Mega City.

She saw the deceased with a cloth ("doek") covering his head, sitting on the pavement with one Lieutenant Paul (Scott) Motjale, whom she also knew well. He was dressed in a tracksuit. The deceased had obviously drunk a lot. He had a bottle of brandy with him that was more than half empty. She said she offered to take him home but he refused. She could not force him to accompany her and she left him. Her intention was to walk him home. He was very drunk. Lieutenant Motjale was not as drunk as the deceased but he had also clearly drunk a lot. Mrs Tsatsimpe said she asked the deceased what he was doing there and he said they "were enjoying their drinks". She asked him if they had looted their liquor, which the deceased appeared to be drinking from the bottle as there were no glasses there, and he replied "No sister, we have not looted the liquor, we bought it".

She said she then said to him "as you have already consumed enough why don't we go home" to which he had replied "Now look here sister, we want to finish this liquor and we'll go home then". She said that if Lieutenant Motjale said he had not seen the deceased that week he would not be telling the truth. She had definitely seen him with the deceased on the Friday afternoon. She made this statement because Lieutenant Motjale had earlier testified that he knew the deceased, with whom he drank at a shebeen on occasion. He had not seen the deceased during the week of 7 to 12 March 1994 but he heard on 12 March that the deceased was a person who had died during the rioting "from suffocation from gases". He also heard that during the day of the rioting that the deceased had alone drunk a bottle of brandy and that this could have contributed to his death. He could not remember who had told him this.

Lieutenant Motjale was recalled after Mrs Tsatsimpe had given her evidence. He said he could not remember having been with the deceased on Friday, 11 March 1994. He was asked by Commissioner Gura if it was possible that he was with the deceased but that he had forgotten. He replies "that possibility does exist". Asked about why he had not made further enquiries when he was told that the deceased had drunk a bottle of brand Lieutenant Motjale said "We soldiers crack jokes. I did not take it seriously". Asked how he could joke about such a serious incident, he replied "I won't answer that. You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink". He said he was also told that the deceased had drunk the brandy from the bottle but could also not remember who had told him that. This was, of course, what Mrs Tsatsimpe had said that she had actually seen.

It was quite clear to the Commission that Lieutenant Motjale was not telling the Commission all he knew about the deceased and what had occurred on Friday, 11 March 1994. Mrs Tsatsimpe made a good impression as a witness and the Commission accepts her evidence entirely. It is clear from her testimony and that of the other two women that the deceased was very drunk and had probably gone in his drunken state into MegaCity where he had been overcome by the smoke there and had died from asphyxiation as a result, suffering his other injuries when part of the building collapsed. The cause of death viz. asphyxiation, is entirely inconsistent with his having met his death at a braaivleis or as a result of any action by his senior officers.

The evidence of Korolosi is completely unreliable as is that of Sergeant Mmutle and the Commission can find no substantiation of their allegation as to how or why the deceased met his death. Any suggestion that he was murdered and his body dumped at MegaCity is negated by the post-mortem findings that the injuries he had were sustained after his death. He could also not have died of asphyxiation if he had already been dead when he absorbed the smoke. Lieutenant Motjale's story that the deceased had died of "suffocation from gases" was told on 12 March 1994 some four days before Dr Scott's finding on 16 March 1994 of death due to asphyxiation. That the Commission's finding is highly probable is borne out by this significant piece of evidence.

The Magistrate of Mmabatho held an inquest in terms of the Inquest Act No 58 of 1959 on 24 October 1994 into the death of the deceased and found:

(a) the identity of the deceased is RIVIES LESIGE, a Tswana male, 36 years;
(b) death occurred between 11 - 13 March 1994;
(c) death was caused by asphyxia, burns and bruises;
(d) death was not brought about by any act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any one.

Despite the intensive and exhaustive investigations by the Investigating Team and the viva voce evidence of a large number of witnesses, Commission has not been able to find anything that could alter findings.

The Commission accordingly also finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is RIVIES LESIGE, a Tswana male 36 years;
(b) the death occurred between 11 - 13 March 1994;
(c) the death was caused by asphyxia, burns and bruises;
(d) the death was not brought about by any act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any one.

The deceased an adult, female, aged 32 years, in this case was yet another victim of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. She was shot on 11 March 1994. Her sister, INAH MOENG, described to the Commission how she had met her death.

Inah Moeng testified that she and the deceased were sitting in front of a house known as Muller's Hostel in the village of Ramotsadi. The Vryburg-Mafikeng road runs between that village and Montshiwa Stat where the deceased Matshediso Sylvia Leinana (Case No 15) was shot also on 11 March 1994. The house in front of which they were sitting lies to the north of the Vryburg-Mafikeng road and is situated about 200 metres from that road. A number of other inhabitants were also sitting outside the house. While sitting there they heard gunshots coming from the direction of the road and saw a number of what Inah Moeng called "vans", but which from her description were bakkies, heading in the Mafikeng direction.

She saw white men dressed in khaki clothing on the vehicles. They were firing shots in the direction of the hostel inmates who ran for cover into their rooms. She and the deceased did so as well. As the deceased, who was behind her, turned to close the door of their room she was struck by a bullet and fell in the doorway.

Although many shots were fired in various directions, only one shot was fired directly at her and the deceased. It was this shot that hit the deceased. The bullet struck the deceased in the chest. She died from the wound later. Apart from the whites on the bakkies no other people were present on the road. There were no police or army personnel. Inah Moeng said she was satisfied that her sister was shot by one of the white men on the bakkies. She did not, however, see who had fired the fatal shot and she could not identify any of the whites other then saying that they were dressed in khaki clothing. Although she stated that the incident occurred at about 11:00, in an earlier statement to Sergeant Ferreira of the Investigating Team, she said it happened "in the afternoon". The evidence as to the shooting of Sylvia Leinana was that it occurred at about 13:00. It is therefore probable that the deceased Moeng and the deceased Leinana were both shot by members of the same convoy. The Investigating Team were unable to trace any of the other people who were resident at the hostel at the time, it being a place where people resided for a few days at a time before moving elsewhere. The cause of death, as reflected in the post-mortem report, was "shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot involved left lung". Dr Rawla, who conducted the post-mortem examination, said there was only one gunshot wound. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is GAOBOLELWE LEINIE MOENG an adult, female, aged 32 years.
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died from a gunshot wound inflicted on 11 March 1994 by an Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member whose identity cannot be established.
(c) the cause of the death was "shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot wound involving the left lung".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member.

In this case the deceased an adult, male, aged 49 years, also died as a result of a gunshot wound on 11 March 1994. It is, however, another case where the identity of whoever fired the shot which killed the deceased could not be established.

The facts are that on 11 March 1994 at about 16:30 Mokgalapa was one of 12 workers being transported from the Phelps Mine at Zeerust to their homes in Mafikeng in a company combi, driven by one Nelson Kadiaka. Kadiaka testified that he stopped at a four-way stop in Shippard Street, Mafikeng. This stop is near the Mafikeng High School which was on his right-hand side and in front of which there are some trees lining the pavement. After stopping he pulled forward into his left-hand lane when three shots were fired at his vehicle from his right-hand side. One of these, which travelled from his right-hand side towards his left-hand side, penetrated the windscreen of his vehicle and struck two of his passengers sitting on his left on the front seat next to him. The man immediately next to him, one Benjamin Gopane, was struck in the shoulder. The bullet then struck Mokgalapa in the chest causing a wound from which he died shortly afterwards.

Kadiaka said he did not see where the shots came from nor did he see anyone fire the shots. He saw no vehicle at the scene either from which the shots could have been fired. Gopane's testimony was the same as that of Kadiaka. He said he was struck in the shoulder. The deceased next to him was struck in the chest and slumped forward on to him. He, too, however, saw nobody who might have fired the shots nor any vehicles present at the scene from where the shots might have come. He concluded that they must have come from the trees on the pavement but he saw nobody in the trees. Kadiaka said that none of the other passengers could say either who had fired the shots or from where they came.

Following the shooting he sped off along the road to Lichtenburg where near Rooigrond he found some members of the South African Defence Force standing next to three military vehicles and an ambulance. He asked them for assistance for Mokgalapa but they said that the latter was already dead. According to Gopane they also said they were waiting for a call for them to go into Mafikeng. Kadiaka said he then drove to Ottoshoop where he reported the incident to the police there. They advised him to take the deceased and the injured Gopane to the hospital at Zeerust.

The deceased's body was later taken to a funeral parlour in Zeerust where it was identified by a relative there. A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be "hipovolemiese skok" as a result of a gunshot wound of the chest which ruptured a lung and the liver of the deceased.

At an examination of the combi a bullet hole was found which penetrated the body of the vehicle just below the windscreen and went on to penetrate the front seat. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is NTHUDI ISAAC MOKGALAPA an adult, male, aged 49 years (identity number 4406120101003).
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot of 11 March 1994 while travelling as a passenger in a combi in Mafikeng by a person whose identity cannot be established.
(c) The cause of the death was "hipovolemic shock as result of a gunshot wound of the chest which ruptured a lung and the liver".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified person.

This appeared at first to be another case where the deceased, an adult, male aged 21 years, was probably shot by members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. Later evidence, however, cast some doubt on the reliability of the evidence of the main witness. The deceased's body was found by a police officer at about 08:00 on Friday, 11 March 1994 lying in a graveyard next to Mega City. The body, which had a head wound above the right ear, appeared to have been lying there for some time.

The main witness called, Steven Sentshegeng, said he and the deceased were working during March 1994 as labourers for a subcontractor known to him only as "Tom, on a building being built for the Mmabatho Arts Council. They also lived together. On Thursday, 10 March 1994 at about 17:00 they were going home after work. As they got near the graveyard they realised that there was unrest in the area. People were looting at MegaCity and white people in khaki clothing were shooting from the backs of vehicles "at random at anyone who came in their sight". He and the deceased split up at the cemetery. Shots were being fired in their direction from He vehicles which Sentshegeng described as "high vehicles similar to police vehicles". He ran home. He did not see the deceased again that evening but heard the next day that he was dead and that his body had been found in the cemetery. The deceased's mother, Mrs Julia Mokaatsela said she was told of her son's death on Saturday, 12 March 1994. She identified his body at the Barolong Funeral Parlour. A post-mortem examination performed by Dr Ravula showed that the deceased had died as a result of a head wound caused by pellets from a shotgun which pellets had penetrated the brain.

The reliability of Sentshegeng's evidence, however, became somewhat suspect when at a later stage of the Commission's proceedings, the subcontractor, Thomas David Steytler, gave evidence. He said he had employed a number of casual labourers at the building in question. By reason of the unrest in the area, he had done no work on the building from 9 to 13 March 1994. The building was situated near the University of the North West (previously the University of Bophuthatswana) and from 7 March 1994 there were student demonstrations and teargas was used which spread to where they were working causing them to have to stop their activities. By 9 March 1994 it had become impossible to work and he had closed down his operations, only resuming them on 13 March 1994. Sentshegeng and the deceased would not therefore have worked on 10 March 1994 as the former had said they did. The possibility accordingly exists that Sentshegeng and the deceased were among the looters at MegaCity and that Sentshegeng did not want to admit to this fact. No positive finding can, in the light of the unreliability of Sentshegeng's evidence, be made, however, as to who shot the deceased. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is TEBOGO LAWRENCE MOKAATSELA, an adult, male, aged 21 years (identity number 73010220109906).
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died from wounds sustained by being shot by a shotgun on 10 March 1994 in a cemetery near MegaCity by an unknown assailant.
(c) the cause of the death was "a head wound (cranio-cerebral injury) caused by pellets from a shotgun which pellets penetrated the brain".
(d) the Commission is unable to determine if the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence the part of any person.

The deceased an adult, male, aged 25 years, in this case was shot by a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

How he was shot was described by a cousin of his, Mpho Nicolaas Thulo. Thulo said that on 11 March 1994, some time after 12 noon, he and the deceased went to Mafikeng from Disaneng Stat, Mmabatho, to buy milk. They were able to get a lift on the back of a light delivery van or bakkie. At TTA and near the bridge at the entrance to Mafikeng the bakkie was stopped by soldiers of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force who were in "Hippos" on the bridge. The latter were stopping people from entering Mafikeng including a party of between 80 - 200 marchers who were marching in the direction of Mafikeng. While the bakkie on which they were travelling was standing stopped near the TTA, Thulo said "there appeared the whites of Terre'Blanche". He was standing near a tree where he had gone to urinate when he saw a convoy of "more than 12" bakkies proceeding towards the bridge in the direction of Mafikeng. The back of every bakkie was full of white males wearing khaki shorts, shirts and caps. They were all armed with "long rifles".

Thulo said that when the convoy was about 200 - 300 metres from them the men on the backs of the bakkies opened fire on them. He saw the deceased who was at that stage still standing on the back of the bakkie in which they had been given a lift, being shot and falling from the bakkie to the ground. Thulo said that when he saw that the deceased had been shot and was bleeding from a chest wound he started running away. Up to then the soldiers had not fired any shots "at the Terre'Blanche's people". He could not say what happened after that as he had run away by that time. While running away, however, he heard the sound of shots being fired. He could not say if it was the soldiers who we shooting or not. The deceased, said Thulo, was shot from a distance of about 100 metres. The shooting was completely unprovoked. The deceased was carrying nothing with him and was merely standing on the back of the bakkie, minding his own business. Thulo said he could not identify who had shot the deceased nor, indeed, anybody who had shot at them. He did not see that anybody other than the deceased had been shot.

Dr Ravula who conducted a post-mortem examination on the deceased said that he had died from a bullet wound. He had been shot in the chest from his left front side, the bullet having lacerated his left lung. Death world have been instantaneous.

In the light of evidence of the numerous other persons who were shot by members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging from the vehicles in the convoy in which they were proceeding along the Vryburg-Mafikeng roar and in the light of the direct and unchallenged testimony of Thulo, who impressed the Commission as a reliable and truthful witness, The Commission therefore finds that:

(a) the identity of the deceased is KEBONEMOTSE JOEL MOKALENG, an adult, male, aged 25 years (identity number 6806100100509).
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died from a gunshot wound inflicted by a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging on 11 March 1994 whose identity can, however, not be determined.
(c) the cause of the death was "shock and haemorrhage due to laceration of the left lung consequent upon to a gunshot wound".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

In this case the deceased an adult, male, aged 24 years, was shot dead on Friday, 11 March 1994 by a white man travelling in a red Toyota bakkie while the deceased was walking in Station Road, Mafikeng.

How he was shot was described by two of his companions on that day viz. Eliot Tlalang, a 22 year old B.Com University student and another young man, Bridgley Motshabi. Tlalang said he, Bridgley and the deceased were going from Montshiwa Township to Lomanyaneng Township via Mafikeng at between 15:00 and 16:00 on 11 March 1994. While walking in Station Road, Mafikeng, they became aware of a red Toyota bakkie coming up from behind them in Station Road, travelling fast. Tlalang said there were two white men in the front seat of the bakkie. He heard the sound of a shot being fired and the three of them started running. He took a different direction to the others. As he was running he heard further shots. He ran home and later heard that the deceased had been shot. Tlalang could give neither a description of the men in the bakkie other than to say they were white, nor of the bakkie other than to say it was a red Toyota bakkie. Hr did not note the registration number.

Bridgley Motshabi testified that Tlalang and the deceased were walking in Station Road. They turned into an alleyway off Station Road. As they did so a red Toyota Hillux bakkie came from behind them with two white men in the front of it. The man on the passenger's side had a pistol with which he was shooting at random at people in the vicinity. The deceased was one of them. He fell on the pavement in front of a furniture shop known as the Wanda Furniture Shop. Motshabi said he ran for cover and hid in a doorway. When he came out of hiding the red Toyota had disappeared. He then saw members of Bophuthatswana Defence Force entering Mafikeng. They told him and other people there that it was safer for them to get out of town. On his way home he met Sydney Mothusi, a cousin of the deceased, to whom he reported that the deceased had been shot. He, Mothusi and Mothusi's brother, Robert Mothusi, went back to Mafikeng where they found the deceased's body still lying on the pavement in front of the furniture shop. Motshabi said there were four other bodies also lying on the pavement. There were a number of Police or Defence Force personnel present at scene. He helped Mothusi to remove the body of the deceased. He did know what happened to the other bodies. Motshabi, too, could give no description of the two persons in the red bakkie other than to say that they were white and bareheaded. He could not describe their clothing either. He also had not noted the registration number of the bakkie.

Sydney Mothusi said that following Motshabi's report to him, he and his brother, with Motshabi, went to Mafikeng where they found the body of the deceased on the pavement in front of the Wanda Furniture Shop. He was dead. There were members of the South African Defence force present under an officer who was giving commands to the others. Mothusi said he tried to talk to the officer but the latter was too busy with his men. He and the others with him then put the body of the deceased into a van in which they had driven into Mafikeng and took it to the Batswana Funeral Parlour. He saw no other soldiers in Mafikeng nor any police. Mothusi said that on the next day he was sent home from work as the situation was dangerous.

On his way home at between 09:00 and 10:00 he saw numbers of white men sitting on the back of vehicles parked in Voortrekker Road, Mafikeng, facing in the direction of the Mmabatho Sun Hotel. They were dressed in khaki clothes and caps and were armed with shotguns which they were holding but not using. He saw no police or army personnel at all on that day. A postmortem examination performed by Dr Ravula showed that the cause of the deceased's death was "haemorrhage and shock due to laceration of the liver and head due to gunshot wound". Dr Ravula said there were three separate bullet wounds. The deceased must therefore have been shot three times. One of the wounds was from the back. Death would have been instantaneous.

In their evidence both Tlalang and Motshabi said that as they walked past a shop known as Bond's Outfitters in Station Road they saw an Indian man with a pistol guarding his shop. The Commission felt that if this man could be traced he may have been able to assist the Commission in trying to identity man who had shot the deceased. Both Tlalang and Motshabi felt that the man must have seen the two men in the red Toyota bakkie. Despite intensive investigations, however, the man could not be traced. Those investigations were carried out not only by the Investigating Team but also by the attorney representing the African National Congress. The latter and the members of the Investigating Team found that several Indian shopkeepers probably had guarded their premises at the time but nobody would admit to having done so or was prepared to give any information. Their attitude was one of "Let bygones be bygones". The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is OARABELE JOSEPH MOKGOSANA, an adult, male, aged 24 years.
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased, a pedestrian died on 11 March 1994 in Station Road in Mafikeng, as a result of gunshot wounds inflicted by a white male whose identity cannot now be established.
(c) the cause of the death was "haemorrhage and shock due to laceration of the liver and head due to a gunshot wound".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified white male.

In this case the deceased's badly burnt body was found among the burnt-out ruins of a shopping complex at Itsoseng known as the Itsoseng Forum. Itsoseng lies on the border of the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area some 51 km from Mafikeng. Inspector Francis Lebone, who was the officer Itsoseng who investigated the death, gave evidence. His evidence was also given at an inquest which was held by the Magistrate of Itsoseng on 12 August 1994 (Inquest No 21/94) who found that the deceased a female child, aged 14 years, died on 11 March 1994 of burn injuries and that no one could be held liable for her death.

Inspector Lebone testified that Itsoseng Forum was looted by the inhabitants of Itsoseng on the night of 10 March 1994 and that it was burnt down during the looting. At the time there was unrest in Itsoseng similar to that experienced in Mmabatho/Mafikeng. Inspector Lebone said he did not know the cause of the unrest. The Forum was completely burnt down and several people died when they were obviously trapped in the fire in the complex. It had not been possible to find out who had started the fire or how it had started. Inspector Lebone said he had not been able to find any witnesses at all. The deceased's body was identified by her father, Martin Molefe.

It will be recalled that in regard to Case No 61, an unidentified male, who was also burnt to death in the fire at the Itsoseng Forum, Captain Lucky Mooketsi of the South African Police Services at Itsoseng gave evidence similar to that of Inspector Lebone. He, too, had been unable to establish who had been responsible for burning down the complex. The Commissin therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is LEBOGANG MARIA MOLEFE female child, aged 14 years.
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died from burns sustained in a fire at Itsoseng Forum, Itsoseng on the night of 10 March 1994. It is unable to determine who was responsible for starting the fire.
(c) the cause of the death was burn injuries.
(d) no act or omission prima facie amounting to an offence on the part of any person (or persons) can be established.

The deceased a female, aged 19 years, in this case died of a gunshot wound but it has not been possible to determine how or where or by whom she we shot.

Her sister, Anna Bereng, testified that the deceased left her, Mrs Bereng's house at about 18:05 on Thursday, 10 March 1994. Mrs Bereng did not see her alive again. Edward Mogwera who lived with the deceased testified that he told the deceased on that Thursday to go to her sister and wait for him there as there was unrest in the village where they lived. On arrival at the house of her sister, Anna Bereng, he found that the deceased was not there but had gone "to the noises" i.e to where the rioting was taking place. Mogwera went to look for her but did not find her. Some days later he went to the Victoria Hospital at Mafikeng where he was referred to the Saffas Mortuary. He found the body of the deceased there. A post-mortem examination showed that she had died from a gunshot wound. Mogwera said he had no information as to how or where she was shot.

At the Victoria Hospital he spoke to three black nurses one of whom said that the deceased and others had been raped by white men at MegaCity and shot there. The Investigating Team, despite intensive investigations, could find no substance in these allegations. Indeed, one of the Nursing Sisters who was on duty at the hospital that evening, Sister Gertruida Olivier, remembered the deceased being brought into the hospital. She had a bullet wound in the upper leg which had severed the femoral artery causing extensive loss of blood. The deceased lost consciousness from the loss of blood shortly after arrival at the hospital. No surgeon was present to suture the wound nor was there any blood available for a transfusion but Sister Olivier said that the deceased would in any event have died as her major organs such as her liver and kidneys were in failure due to the loss of blood.

The deceased could not talk and could therefore not have reported being raped. She was, moreover, neatly dressed and her clothing, including her underclothing, was not disturbed. There were no signs whatsoever of her having being raped. These facts were corroborated by a receptionist at the hospital that evening, Mrs Duduetsang Padima, who remembered the deceased being wheeled into the hospital from outside. The deceased could only mumble her name to Mrs Padima before losing consciousness. Mrs Padima recorded the name later. The deceased's clothing was neat and undisturbed. The deceased died within 15 - 20 minutes of admission to hospital. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is ESLITA GALETLALE MOTHOBI, a female, aged 19 years.
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot by an unknown assailant on 10 March 1994 and probably at MegaCity from where she was taken to hospital where she died shortly after admission and that there is no proof of the allegation that she had been raped, which was clearly based on an unsubstantiated and hearsay statement.
(c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound severing the femoral artery.
(d) the Commission is unable to determine whether the death was brought about by any act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person.

The deceased an adult, female, aged 50 years, in this case was another victim of the shooting of the civilian population by members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging in a convoy on the Vryburg-Mafikeng Road at between noon and 13:00 on l 1 March 1994.

The evidence in this case was the following. Sophie Mogale said she lived at 273 DP Kgotleng Street, Montshiwa in the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area. Her aunt, the deceased, and her family at 277 DP Kgotleng Street. On 11 March 1994 at between 12:30 and 13:00 the deceased was standing under a tree across the street from the side on which their houses were situated. Mrs Mogale said she was in the street in front of the houses. At that stage a young boy came and told them that "the AWB" were approaching. She went into the yard in front of No 277 when white men in khaki clothes, most of whom were wearing "masks" which, it appeared, were balaclavas over their heads and faces, travelling in bakkies, came along DP Kgotleng Street. She saw two bakkies, one a beige coloured Isuzu bakkie, the other one red in colour. These whites had "long firearms" and also short handguns which they were firing at people at the side of the road. The deceased was shot by them.

Mrs Mogale said she ran to help her aunt. The whites stopped shooting but pointed their firearms at her and also swore at her. The deceased was still alive but died on the way to hospital. Mrs Mogale said there was a crowd of marchers going in the direction of Mafikeng. The boy who had warned them of the approach of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members ran ahead to warn the marchers who then dispersed. People in her vicinity had run for shelter when the shooting had started. She saw a boy being shot in the leg. Some of those running for shelter had run into an area where a number of small business are situated, known as the BNDC area. The whites had followed those people into that area.

Mrs Mogale's testimony was corroborated by a nephew of the deceased, Johannes Nakedi. He confirmed that the deceased was standing under the tree mentioned by Mrs Mogale when she was shot. Four bakkies had come along DP Kgotleng Street, with whites wearing khaki clothes and balaclavas on them. One was a 4 X 4 vehicle and one an Isuzu bakkie. It was from the latter that the shot that struck the deceased was fired. The vehicle had turned into a road off DP Kgotleng Street to get closer to the deceased before she was shot. Nakedi said that two of the bakkies followed people who were running away into the BNDC area. Nakedi said the despite the danger of their also being shot, they had gone to help the deceased.

Before the deceased was shot, a green vehicle of the Bophuthatswana Police Force came along and those on it told the people there to go into their houses as they were fighting with "the Boers" who were "killing people with guns". It was later put to Nakedi that this vehicle actually belonged to the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. In this regard it must be recorded that the deceased's sister, Dorkas Nakedi also gave evidence. She said "police officers" had warned them to go into the houses. However, in a statement made on 22 August 1996 she said that soldiers of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force had issued the warning.

In corroboration of the evidence that the whites' vehicles had pursued people into the BNDC area, two witnesses were called from a small business there known as "Furncraft". Thapelo Martins Motsumi, a labourer employed there, said that on the morning in question, after loading some cabinets on to a light delivery van belonging to his firm, he went to open a gate opening from the firm's yard to the street outside when someone shouted "Here come the AWBs". A yellow Nissan bakkie and a Toyota Hilux Landcruiser came past. He started running. He then heard shots and felt he had been hit in the back and left arm. He crawled into a room where some ladies were sewing clothes. A hail of bullets was fired from the Hilux into the room.

Motsumi said that his employer, one Davids, in trying to drive the firm's vehicle away, knocked down one of his, Motsumi's, fellow workers. The people on the bakkie and Hilux were whites in khaki clothing. They had "long rifles" with which they were shooting. One of the whites got out of the Hilux and pointed his rifle at the man who had been knocked down and said in Afrikaans "Let me finish him off,'. Davids then said to him "Why are you killing my workers?". The men did not threaten him. Davids, said Motsumi, is a light skinned Coloured man "more or less the colour of those men". Motsumi said the bullet was removed from his left arm but the one in his spine was still there. An operation to remove it would cost about R10 000, which he did not have. He asked the Commission to compensate him for his wounds.

Abraham Davids, the owner of "Furncraft" said whites in khaki clothing with long guns and hunting rifles had fired from a Toyota vehicle at his light delivery van which he was driving out of the yard of his premises. It went out of control and knocked down one of his workers. One of the whites jumped out of their vehicle and ran round his, Davids's, vehicle in order to shoot his worker. Davids said he then asked the man, who was bearded, why they were shooting "our people". The man swung round and pointed his firearm, a hunting rifle, at him. Davids said he thought his last moment had come as from the expression in the man's eyes, he felt that the man was going to kill him. The man, however, lowered his gun and said to the others on the vehicle "Kom laat ons die ander Kaffertjies gaan skiet". They then drove off and fired at people who were at a nearby filling station. Davids said he got the impression that they were out "on a hunting expedition". The man who had threatened him was one of five or six on the back of the vehicle. He had climbed down from the vehicle. Davids said he would never forget the man's face as he thought the man was going to kill him. That night he had watched the news service on television and had seen the shooting of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging men. He had recognised one of the men - the bearded Alwyn Wolfaardt - as the bearded man who had threatened to shoot him. He had no doubt that Wolfaardt was that man.

A post-mortem examination conducted on the deceased by Dr Ravula, established the cause of death as "shock and haemorrhage consequent to firearm pellet injuries over breasts, thighs and legs". The wounds, sad' Dr Ravula, were caused by a shotgun and extended from the waist down to the knees. The deceased was shot from the front. It could have been only one shot. She would have died shortly after being shot. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is KEHENTSE ANNA NAKEDI, female, aged 50 years.
(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died as a result of wounds caused when she was shot on 11 March 1994 in Montshiwa by a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging whose identity cannot be established.
(c) the cause of the death was "shock and haemorrhage consequent ups firearm pellet injuries over breasts, thighs and legs".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

The Commission was unable to find in this case how the deceased met his death. The relevant evidence is the following: His brother, Petrus Ndakana, testified that the deceased an adult, male, aged 36 years, left home on Wednesday, 9 March 1994. He did not say where he was going. He did not return and on the following day he started looking for him. He found the body of the deceased at the mortuary on Saturday, 12 March 1994. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem examination, Dr Ravula, was unable immediately to ascertain the cause of death and sent certain of the viscera of the deceased for forensic analysis. Dr Ravula subsequently was of opinion that the death of the deceased was due to inhaling smoke in an area where burning had taken place. Despite widespread and intensive investigations, the Investigating Team was unable to ascertain where the deceased's body had been found or how the body had reached the mortuary or how the deceased had met his death. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is JOHN NZIMENI NDAKANA, an adult, male, aged 36 years.
(b, c and d) it cannot be established how or where the deceased met his death although he may have died from inhaling smoke at a place or in an area where burning had occurred. No act omission prima facie amounting to an offence on the part any person (or persons) can be established.

During the evening and night of Thursday - Friday morning, 10 - 11 March 1994, the deceased and his friends were with others at the house of Petunia Maki Mosupi at No 210 Masupha Street, Montshiwa where they celebrated the downfall of President Mangope and the victory of the African Nation Congress. Some drank liquor and others drank cooldrinks. Amongst the friends of the deceased were Elliot Rapholo Matunda, Themba Moloanta, Christopher Nojila and Wandile Lejaga.

On Friday morning, 11 March 1994 at about 06:00 the deceased, his friends and others were sitting under a Kareeboom in front often house near to the gate to Masupha where they were celebrating. A police vehicle (either a Caspir or a Mamba) stopped at the gate to 210 Masupha Street. According to Themba Moloantoa the police seemed friendly and the men with the deceased stood up and said that the Mangope Regime had fallen and the they were celebrating. The police - some clad in the Bophuthatswana Poll uniform and others in private clothes - then opened fire with rifles on those under the tree. The men under the tree ran in all directions. The police armed with pistols and rifles fired at random at those who fled. They also broke window panes and damaged the door of the house. They were about eight policemen and one of them was Mojaki Lechuti. The deceased was struck down and he fell in the yard. Christopher Nojila was struck near the toilet and Wandile Lejaga was wounded in the leg. The deceased died while being transported to hospital.

According to Dr Ravula the deceased died of "Shock and haemorrhage as a result of firearm injury involving spleen, left lung and left kidney". The deceased was shot by a shotgun and there were a lot of entry and exit wounds over his left arm, five entry wounds on the left side of which three entered the chest and penetrated the ribs, left lung, spleen and left kidney. Bone fragments were found in the chest. The deceased was probably struck by one shot but it could have been two and death would have been instantaneous.

The police moved around to Kemonosi Street with their Caspir and arrested both Themba and Elliot and loaded them into the Caspir. They also found one Ntsokolo in the Caspir. In the Caspir the policeman Lechuti and two other police officers assaulted them (according to Themba) with the butts of their rifles. During the assault they accused them of knowing who burned down the Leah Mangope Creche. They were transported to the Police Head Quarters (known as TTA) where they were left in the Caspir. All the police officers left. About an hour later they were told by other police officers to leave and they left.

Mojaki Lechuti was prosecuted in the Mmabatho Regional Court for the murder of the deceased and the attempted murder of Wandile Lejaga and Christopher Nojila. At the trial both Wandile and Christopher identified the accused as one of the policeman who shot them. Both indicated that they knew the accused and Christopher indicated that he used to work for the accused and his father. According to both the accused had a gas mask over his face which he removed at some stage. The evidence of Themba Moloantoa was not presented at the trial but was presented to the Commission. Themba indicated that he knew the accused (Mojaki Lechuti) from his father's shop which he had frequented. He identified the accused as one of those who were part of the police in the Caspir who shot at them. He could not say that the accused shot the deceased. He also identified the accused who assaulted them in the Caspir. The hat and "gas mask" were later identified by this witness and turned out to be one of the hats with a plastic covering which are used by riot squads. As the plastic is a see-through covering of the face, it is possible to identify a person even if he covers his face therewith. Anyone who knows the person would be in a better position to identify such person.

At the trial the accused Lechuti's defence was an alibi. The Magistrate acquitted Lechuti and found that the State had not proved his identity beyond a reasonable doubt. Notwithstanding the contradictory evidence it would seem, however, on the evidence before the Commission that Lechuti and policemen unknown were responsible for the death of the deceased.

The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is MANDLA ELLIOT NGWENYA, an adult, male, aged 26 years.
(b) the circumstances of the death are that on Friday, 11th March 1994 at about 06:00 the deceased was shot and killed by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force at 210 Masupha Street, Montshiwa. Mojaki Dubritious Lechuti was one of the Bophuthatswana Police Force members who fired at the deceased and others at the abovementioned house.
(c) the cause of the death was "Shock and haemorrhage as result of firearm injury involving spleen, left lung and left kidney".
(d) although Lechuti was prosecuted for the murder of the deceased and subsequently acquitted, the Commission is of the view that the death of the deceased was brought about by an act prima facie amounting to an offence on the part of Lechuti or an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force.

The deceased an adult, male, aged 33 years, in this case was, on the evidence of a taxi driver who was conveying him at the time, shot by white men in a street in Mafikeng at about 16:00 on Friday, 11 March 1994. The case seemed like one of the many such cases where the identity of the person who shot him could not be established. It, however, presented the Commission with a serious problem due to the post-mortem finding by Dr Ravula who performed it, that the deceased had died as a result of a stab wound to the heart.

Petrous Matlhola said in March 1994 he owned a white Nissan Combi Bus which he used as a taxi. He drove people from Rustenburg to Mafikeng. On Friday, 11 March 1994 he had a full load of passengers. The deceased sat in the front seat immediately next to him. As he entered Mafikeng he encountered three vehicles travelling in the opposite direction in Shippard Street. He saw that people in the vehicles were pointing firearms out of the windows. They shot at his taxi shattering his windscreen. Those in the front vehicle had what Matlhola described as "short firearms". The other in the latter two vehicles had "long firearms". He could see that they were white people but he could not see how they were dressed. He immediately stopped. The deceased slumped on to him. The others jumped out of his vehicle and he called to them "Hey, you are leaving me alone".

He found some soldiers who escorted him to Bapholong Hospital but it was closed They then escorted him back to the Victoria Hospital in Mafikeng where he was told that the deceased was dead. He said he did not know the deceased but found out his name from his identity document that he had on him. He went on Saturday, 12 March 1994 to tell the deceased's mother about his death.

She called a cousin of the deceased, Solomon Mangengenene, to also hear the news. Mangengenene said that he was called to the home of the deceased's mother. Matlhola told them that at about 16:00 the previous day, the deceased had been shot by white persons while a passenger in his taxi The deceased worked at a mine in Rustenburg and Matlhola was transporting him from the mine to Mafikeng. Matlhola showed him two holes where bullets had hit the taxi. He asked Matlhola how the bullets came to be where they were when the shots had allegedly been fired from vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. Matlhola said the bullets had passed through the right front windows and then through the left front door. Mangengenene said he identified the body of the deceased at the hospital.

On 17 March 1994 he was present when Dr Ravula performed the postmortem examination. He said the deceased had been stabbed. Mangengenene said he was not satisfied and asked that another doctor should look at the body. A second doctor confirmed Dr Ravula's view. He reported the matter to the Murder and Robbery Unit but nothing had been done by them. The deceased was found to have about R1000 tucked in his sock when his body was undressed. In his evidence, Dr Ravula confirmed his finding of a stab wound. He said the body had also been seen by Dr William Been. The latter also gave evidence and testified that he had no recollection of Dr Ravula's having discussed the case with him or having looked at the body, although he may have done so.

Matlhola said that nobody stabbed the deceased. He could only have been stabbed in his taxi and if he had been, he would have seen it. Another passenger in the taxi, Bonang Adelaide Mosiane, said she saw the shooting and the deceased being shot. He was bleeding from the chest. She and the others jumped out of the taxi to run away and the driver said they were leaving him alone with a man about to die. Some soldiers arrived on the scene and they told them they had heard the sound of shots being fired but could not say who had fired them. Mosiane said they told the soldiers the deceased had been shot. She had no doubt that he was shot.

There was also the evidence of a witness Milton John Solomons, who in March 1994 was a Staff Sergeant in the Bophuthatswana Defence force. He said that at about 17:00 on 11 March 1994 he with his wife was driving home from work at the Molopo Base when he saw a taxi that had stopped. It was a white comb). He went over to the taxi and found a man lying slumped face down on the dashboard. The man was in the middle of the front seat. He lifted up the man and saw blood coming from his chest. To Solomons it appeared to be coming from a bullet wound caused by a 9mm pistol or a .38 revolver. Neither he nor his wife who was a nursing sister could feel any pulse. The driver of the taxi who was standing next to it appeared confused and frightened. Solomons said he asked the taxi driver to take the man to hospital but he said he was afraid to do so unaccompanied. Solomons said he then went with the driver to the Victoria Hospital where they dropped the deceased. Solomons said he saw a bullet hole at the top of the windscreen where the rubber surround holds the windscreen in position. It is clear that the man about whom Solomons was testifying was the deceased.

The Commission finds it probable that Dr Ravula may, in the circumstances prevailing, have erred in his finding. The other evidence is overwhelming that the deceased was shot. There is no evidence, other than the postmortem finding, that he was stabbed.

The Commission therefore finds that

(i) the identity of the deceased is PETRUS NYEMBANE SAUL, an adult, male, aged 33 years (identity number 6003190100158).
(ii) the circumstances of the death are that he was shot by unknown white men while travelling in a taxi in Mafikeng on 11 March 1994.
(iii) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the chest.
(iv) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of a person or persons but whose identity the Commission is unable to determine.

In this case, although the police suspected that the deceased's death was due to his having been shot, it could not be proved that this was the position. His death was probably due to other causes. The evidence was that on Thursday, 10 March 1994 at about 20:30 Detective Sergeant Joseph Makoni of the South African Police at Mafikeng found the body of the deceased an adult, male, aged 30 years, lying dead next to a road in the Industrial Area. He was lying on his back and had an apparently fractured skull. A portion of his brain was lying on the tarred road. Blood was all over his head. It was his only injury. It seemed to Sergeant Makoni as if the deceased had been struck by a motor vehicle. Where the body was found was at an area far removed from where the unrest was. The police officer who investigated the occurrence, Detective Sergeant Gopolang Ramakatsa, said he felt the deceased had been shot as he had no injuries other than the head injury. He would have expected other injuries if the deceased had been struck by a motor vehicle. Sergeant Ramakatsa said he was merely speculating as he had seen members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging with firearms driving through the town. It would seem, however, that these speculations are unfounded as Dr Ravula, who conducted the post-mortem examination on the deceased found that the death was due to a head injury (cranio-cerebral injury) caused by a blunt force. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is MATOTA PETRUS SEBAETSE, an adult, male, aged 30 years.
(b&d) the Commission is accordingly unable to determine how or in what circumstances the deceased met his death.
(c) the cause of the death was cranio-cerebral (head) injury caused by blunt force.

It will be recalled that this person was reported as one of the deceased I SEBOGODI. The latter name was, however, a typographical error. the. person's correct name is Segolodi. He is not deceased. Segolodi is still alive although he was wounded at the time in question. How he was shot was described by Gnigsing Alpheus Shupinyaneng who in March 1994 was a member of the Bophuthatswana Central Intelligence Service. He said the on the afternoon of 10 March 1994 he and several others were helping a friend, one Kgaile, to move furniture from his house. At about 19:00 Kgaile drove these persons home in a bakkie. Shupinyaneng was on the back with about two others. There were no street lights on but shops in Mafikeng were lit up.

They went down a road which runs between the Standard Bank on the right-hand side and a cafe or restaurant which was situated on the left at the time. At a traffic light there he saw a group of white men who were all armed with pump-action rifles or shotguns. He saw "more than seven of them". Three were dressed in the uniform of the Bophuthatswana Police. Two had Sergeant's stripes on their arms. He did not see the rank of the other. All wore ordinary police caps. The other men were dressed in khaki clothing. Some were in front of the cafe on the left and others were on the right between the Standard Bank and the nearby Bophuthatswana Building Society's premises. As they approached the traffic lights, said Shupinyaneng, one of the group whistled. This was apparently a sign for them to start shooting. The men shot at their vehicle and at them. All were struck, Kgaile being hit in the elbow and he in the right hand and arm. He also had two pellets in his head and forehead. They sped off and a short distance away met a Caspir with Bophuthatswana Defence Force personnel from whom they sought help. The latter said they could not help them as they had things to attend to in town.

They then went to the Victoria Hospital. Shupinyaneng said that although he and one of the other men were armed with 9rnm CZ pistols, the attack on them came so unexpectedly that they had no opportunity to use their weapons. The attack was unprovoked. The shooting was indiscriminate. He could not identify any of the white men. Although Shupinyaneng said he did not know Segolodi or if he was one of those on the back of the bakkie with him it appeared from a statement of O T Sello, which was before the Commission, that Segolodi was indeed on the bakkie and was one of those who was shot. Sello's statement, however, to some extent contradicted Shupinyaneng.

Although he agreed with most the latter's version, Sello put the time of the attack at about 21:00 (Shupinyaneng gave it at about 19:10). Sello also said it was too dark to make out who the attackers were or what they were wearing. He said, however, that some had on army helmets. It seems clear that Segolodi was shot on 10 March 1994 in the early evening by someone whose identity cannot be ascertained.

As he was not one of the deceased, however, this case falls outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission.

In this case the deceased died of wounds suffered by him when he was shot by a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. The evidence was the following. Johannes Mokoma testified that he and the deceased worked together as medical technologists at Bophelong Hospital. At about 11:00 on the morning of 11 March 1994 he and the deceased were together at the corner of Voortrekker Road and Shippard Street, Mafikeng in the vicinity of the Total Garage situated on the northeast corner of the intersection of the two streets. As they got nearer to the garage a convoy of open bakkies and lorries came along Voortrekker Road. Some turned in the direction of Zeerust and some continued in the direction of Lichtenburg. There were a lot of white people standing on the back of the vehicles. These people were dressed in khaki clothes. They were armed, most carrying "long" firearms. He saw that a number of them were wearing the insignia of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging on the upper arms of the sleeves of their shirts.

As the vehicles drove past, these people started shooting at the people at the garage who ran for cover behind the vehicles parked there. The deceased hid behind a petrol pump. While so hiding the deceased said he had been shot. Mokoma said the deceased showed him the wound which was in his leg. He could not remember in what leg it was but it was between the ankle and the knee. A number of shots were fired by the whites at the five or so people at the garage. Mokoma said he ran away to take shelter behind the buildings at the back of the garage leaving the deceased, whom he thought was safe, where he was. Mokoma said he did not note or memorise the registration numbers of any of the vehicles in the convoy. He did not see the deceased being taken to hospital but visited him there two or three weeks afterwards. His leg was swollen. Mokoma said he and the others at the garage were peacefully going about their business when the whites just shot at them.

Another eyewitness was Ernest Lekhobe. He said he was walking along Voortrekker Road at about 11:00 to 11:15 on 11 March 1994 when he saw the deceased at the Total Garage. They greeted one another. As he passed the deceased he saw "Boer vehicles" i.e bakkies and lorries. The backs of the vehicles were hill of whites, some standing, some sitting, dressed in khaki clothes and armed with firearms, some "long", some "short". One of the vehicles in the convoy was a red Mazda "Drifter". A number of whites were on the back of this vehicle. One of them stood up and using a pistol, shot him, Lekhobe, in the leg. He was hit in the right ankle. The man was about 1,5 metres tall, lean and wearing a brownish beard. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt and Lekhobe said he saw Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging insignia on both sleeves of his shirt. He said he would recognise the man. He would not recognise any of the others. He did not get the registration numbers of any of the vehicles or of the Drifter.

Lekhobe said that after being shot, he ran behind a wall to hide, where he collapsed. He then heard other shots being fired. He was helped by a lady who asked a passing motorist to take him to hospital. He was later transferred to Tshepong Hospital where he met the deceased who told him he had also been shot at the filling station. Lekhobe said he was walking along the road hurrying to work and peacefully minding his own business when he was shot. The whites were simply driving along shooting at random at people walking along the street.

The deceased's mother, Mrs Catherine Seupe, said the deceased was 26 years old when he died. She visited him while he was in Tshepong Hospital. His leg was swollen and reddish in colour. He was in hospital for about a month. After his discharge his leg continued to trouble him. On Monday, 25 July 1994 the deceased felt ill and went to the hospital in Kuruman where they were then living. After attending to him the hospital authorities sent him home but on the Tuesday his condition deteriorated and he went back to the hospital where they admitted him. He was complaining of pain in his leg which he said had gone numb. He was seriously ill. His condition continued to deteriorate and he died on Wednesday, 27 July 1994.

No post-mortem examination was held but a death certificate was issued the cause of death being described as hypoglycaemia and septicaemia as a result of a bullet wound that had become septic. No medical evidence was available in this case as to the cause of the septicaemia but the evidence in Case No 5 (KGOSI DISEKO) (See paragraph 7.3 above) was that septicaemia was a frequent sequela of a gunshot wound. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is LAWRENCE SELEHO SEUPE, an adult, male, aged 26 years (identity number 6807070102201).
(b) the circumstances of the death are that he was shot on 11 March 1994 in Mafikeng by an unidentified member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and died on 27 July 1994 of the wounds sustained.
(c) the cause of the death was "hypoglycaemia and septicaemia as result of a bullet wound that had become septic".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

This case is another instance where it could not be determined how or by whom the deceased was shot. The evidence was as follows. The deceased's mother, Mrs Sinah Tsetse, said the deceased, who was 18 years old at the time, left home on Thursday, 10 March 1994 with two friends, John Sithole and one Bojosi. He said "the Boers" were at Mega City and that they should go and see "those Boers". She did not again see him alive. His body was subsequently found at the Victoria Hospital Mortuary where it was identified by an uncle of his. John Sithole said he and the deceased had been drinking at the letters house at Motlhabeng Stat when they decided to go to Mega City, where looting was in progress, to steal trousers.

While walking towards Mega City a young boy told them that "Boers" were shooting at people at Mega City and that they should turn back. Sithole said he decided to turn back but the deceased, with Bojosi and others, went on He did not know how the deceased came to be shot. Dr Ravula who did the post-mortem examination on the deceased, said the deceased had died from a bullet wound. He had been shot from the back, the bullet entering the back of the neck and exiting via the floor of the mouth and upper jaw, through the tip of the nose. It had severed the spinal cord.

Despite all efforts by Inspector Oupa Rakhudu of the Investigating Team, Bojosi could not be found. Inspector Rakhudu, however, was referred to one Tumi Mogwera who said he knew the man with whom the deceased was at the time of his death. The latter was active in politics and had attended African National Congress meetings. He had, however, disappeared in 1995. All efforts by Inspector Rakhudu to trace this person were unsuccessful. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is POGISHO HENDRICK TSETSE, a male, aged 18 years.
(b&d) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died as a result of a gunshot wound, probably sustained on Thursday, 10 March 1994, at or near Mega City, but the circumstances in which he was shot cannot be established.
(c) the cause of the death was "a bullet wound severing the spinal cord".

Radebe Ishmael Choane,a police officer in the Bophuthatswana Police at the time was charged in the Regional Court, Mmabatho (Case no RC 798/94) with the murder of Frank Vanyaza, an adult, male, aged 42 years. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment wholly suspended on certain conditions. The Court accepted the evidence of the State witnesses Mirriam Nkwoteni and Beauty Motsa.

According to these witnesses four people came to 1214 Unit 7, Mmabatho on 14 March 1994. They wanted beers. They were given six beers and left refusing to pay for them. When the owner of the house, Beauty Motsa, returned the matter was reported to her. Beauty, accompanied by the deceased and others, went to a certain house where they found the four people of whom was one Mick. Mick confirmed that he was at her house and took the beer. She asked Mick to pay for the beer but a woman in the yard said that no beer would be paid for. It would seem there was an argument between Beauty and Mick. The accused intervened and said that they must get out of his yard. The accused produced a firearm (his service revolver) and said he would shoot. Shortly thereafter he shot the deceased at close range in the head. The deceased was unarmed when he was shot.

This is purely a criminal matter which was adequately dealt with by a Court of Law. It is clear from the facts that this case does not fall within the terms of reference of the Commission.

The deceased an adult, male, aged 54 years, in this case died from bullet wounds. He was a member of a contingent of Afrikaner Volksfront members who were busy leaving the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area when they were fired on, probably by members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force He was struck by some 13 or 14 bullets.

The story of how the deceased met his death was told by his son, Jan Venter, and one "Henk" Vorster, who were both members of the same contingent. The further evidence as to who had probably caused the death was given by a colonel and two other members of the South African Defence Force.

Jan Venter said he and his father, the deceased, came from Hartswater. They were both members of the Afrikaner Volksfront and had previously been members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. On 10 March 1994 at between 10:00 and 11:00 his father received a fax requesting them to join an Afrikaner Volksfront contingent "to stabilise Mmabatho". They had to be at Mmabatho at 17:00 and would receive further instructions there. A convoy of about 10 vehicles with about 30 men in them travelled from Hartswater to Mrnabatho arriving at the Air Force Base there at about 16:30. They were dressed in khaki clothing without any insignia. Most of them were armed with handguns although some had shotguns. His father had an R1 rifle. At the Air Force Base Colonel Breytenbach, a member of the Afrikaner Volksfront, was in command. Afrikaner Volksfront, Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and Bophuthatswana Defence Force members mingled with one another.

On Friday, 11 March 1994 a large number of R4 rifles were issued by officers of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force to Afrikaner Volksfront members. Their contingent from Hartswater did not, however, get any as supplies had run out by the time their turn came to receive them. Vehicles were during that day constantly entering and going out of the Base but their group, whose leader was Henk Vorster, never left the Base. Later that day i.e 11 March 1994, they were told that members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force had shot Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members and that they should prepare to leave for home. The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members had left before them. Their convoy was escorted by members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force in what he thought were Nyalas. Their contingent i.e the one from Hartswater was among the last to leave.

They travelled along a dirt road until they reached the tarred road leading from the Military Base to Mafikeng. Over the radio they heard that one of their vehicles had broken down. Another vehicle was sent to help those in it. Along the road near the Military Base there was a convoy of South African Defence Force Caspirs and other vehicles, some in the colours of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. Their contingent turned on to a dirt road, known as the Tsetse Road and stopped to wait for the vehicle that had broken down to join them. It was starting to get dark by then.

When they had travelled just a few metres along the Tsetse Road, said Venter, he heard automatic rifle fire. His father was travelling in the front seat of one of the bakkies. He was on the back of another. He jumped from the back of the bakkie in which he had been travelling to find cover as they were a good target. As he did so, their vehicles drove off leaving him there. He crept into the long grass next to the road to hide. He found another white man, who was not a member of their group, also hiding in the grass and the two of them crept to a tree nearby to wait. The firing had stopped by then. A vehicle returned to look for them. He and the other man came out of hiding to be picked up. Someone then said to him "Mnr Venter, jou pa is geskiet.". He did not see his father's body or help to pick it up. Venter said that the shooting had come from some of the large vehicles in the South African Defence Force convoy.

Hendrick (Henk) Vorster said he was the leader of the Hartswater contingent of the Afrikaner Volksfront that had gone to Mmabatho. He was armed with a pistol and a shotgun and was issued with an R4 rifle at the Air Force Base. Their group had waited all day on Friday, 11 March 1994 at the Base. Late that day it was decided that they should return home as they heard that members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force who were antagonistic to the right-wingers were intending to attack the Base. They were supplied with a map of how to get out of Bophuthatswana without having to go through Mmabatho. They drove on a dirt road until they reached the tarred road from the Military Base to Mafikeng. Vorster said that he was told over the radio that one of the Afrikaner Volksfront members in their group had been shot and wounded. On the tarred road on the left hand side going towards the Military Base was a large convoy of military vehicles of the South African Defence Force. He asked an officer standing at one of the military vehicles known as a "Ratel" in the convoy to help them to find the wounded man. This officer was not cooperative.

Their convoy then turned and headed South. A number of South African Defence Force vehicles known as "Vlermuise" followed them. These are small low vehicles. Their convoy turned into the Tsetse Road and stopped. Some vehicles parked next to his, others behind him. He started walking towards the tarred road behind them, telling a man who asked him why they had stopped that they were waiting for the wounded man. At that moment a volley of shots was fired at them. Vorster said he shouted "withdraw". He started firing back towards those who were shooting at them, with the R4 rifle with which he had been issued earlier, Vorster said the shooting was coming from the men on the "Vlermuise". There was such a volley of fire that it obviously came from more than one man. It also sounded as if it was automatic fire. About three of the "Vlermuise" were passing at the time. Vorster said he fired two or three shots before running to his bakkie. He was anxious to get his men out of danger. He dropped his rifle and led it there not bothering to pick it up.

Vorster said that when, before the shooting, he had walked towards the tarred road he had seen the deceased standing urinating next to the wire fence running alongside the road. His R1 rifle was leaning against the fence. When they all drove away he did not realise that the deceased was not with them. A kilometre or two later they stopped. He learnt that Jan Venter had been left behind and sent the bakkie in which Venter had been travelling earlier and which was driven by one Nico Groenewald, back to fetch him. It was then that Groenewald found the deceased lying in the grass between the dirt road and the fence running alongside it. Groenewald said that he could not see that the deceased had been shot. He was dead when he was later picked up. Vorster said that while some of the men in the "Vlermuise" wore helmets some wore green berets. They were clad in green uniforms. Nobody from their group had gone to the South African Defence Force convoy to ask for help after the shooting. They had got into their bakkies and hurried away. Vorster said he could not agree with Jan Venter that the shooting had come from the large parked vehicles in the South African Defence Force convoy.

Groenewald also testified. He said that after stopping in Tsetse Road he did not get out of his bakkie. He had heard the shooting which was earsplitting and seen bullets hitting the road in front of his vehicle. He did not know where the shooting came from. He had driven away as fast as he could. After stopping some distance away he found that Jan Venter, who had previously been on his bakkie, was no longer there. He had driven back to the scene to find him. Venter and a stranger then came out of a nearby field and he picked them up.

A post-mortem examination conducted by Dr Mariette Hurst revealed that the deceased had died of multiple gunshot wounds. There were some 13 or 14 in all extending from head to foot. Dr Hurst said the shots could have come from more than one direction as there were entrance and exit bullet wounds on both sides of the body. They could also have come from an automatic weapon. It was, however, possible that the shots could have come from only one side and that when the deceased was first struck and if he was then standing up, he could have been swung around by the impact of the shots on his body. From the course of the bullet wounds in the back which was an upward one, she felt it was probable that the deceased could have been standing when he was first struck.

Colonel Julius Engelbrecht said he was in charge of a unit known as 451 Parachute Battalion that was sent to Mmabatho to protect the South African Embassy there. They crossed the Bophuthatswana border at about 04:00 on 11 March 1994 and arrived at the Embassy at about 06:00. At about 16:30 to 17:00 that day they were ordered to go to the Bophuthatswana Defence Force Military Base to protect it. A convoy of nineteen vehicles proceeded towards the Base and parked on the left of the road from Mafikeng to the Base facing towards the Base. The first vehicle, a "Ratel",was about 20 metre from the entrance gate to the Base. The convoy stretched back to, at the most, 200 metres along the road. It consisted of the "Ratel", nine Caspirs, a military ambulance and eight "Vlermuise". These were manned by men of his unit. While standing there people in two bakkies approached him and asked him to accompany them to find one of their members whose vehicle was reported missing on the road between the Base and Ramatlhabama. He detailed four "Vlermuise" to go and see what they could find. They later returned saying that they had found no vehicles but had found a pistol. These "Vlermuise" then turned and resumed their positions in the convoy.

Almost immediately afterwards he heard the sound of intensive shooting coming from the Mafikeng direction. He could not see who was responsible for the shooting, which he described as a "heavy contact". He asked his men to look and see what had happened and report to him but they too said they had been unable to see what had occurred. Shortly after the shooting had stopped some bakkies with people in them whom he assumed were right-wingers came and asked if the South African Defence Force members would escort them out of the area because, they said, "Vandag gaan die kaffers ons vrek skiet". Colonel Engelbrecht said he detailed the same four "Vermuise" to escort the convoy of vehicles of the right-wingers out of the area and on to the road to the South African border, which they did. Colonel Engelbrecht said none of his "Vermuise" were in the area near the Tsetse Road when the contact occurred but were all standing parked in his convoy. No one from the "Vermuise" had fired any shots. They had to account for any ammunition issued to them which they had used. All of them returned all their ammunition. None had been used by any member of his unit. All the men in the "Vlermuise" had worn helmets that day. None had worn a beret. The berets of his unit were in any event, not green but maroon, a fact of which his unit was proud.

Colonel Engelbrecht said that while his convoy was parked there, a member of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force started firing his automatic weapon. He shot at right angles to the tarred road and did not hit any persons or vehicles. He just shot wildly into the veld.

Two of the men from the "Vlermuise", one the commander of one of the vehicles, also gave evidence. They were Sergeant-Major Mesack Eharowa and Staff Sergeant Peter Monareng. They both testified that four of the "Vlermuise" were detailed to travel in the direction of Botswana to find a missing right-wing vehicle. No such vehicle was found but a pistol was picked up. Shortly after the return of these "Vlermuise" the intensive shooting of the contact occurred. All of the "Vlermuise" were parked in the convoy at the time. None of them was anywhere near Tsetse Road. Immediately after the shooting, however, said both witnesses, a military vehicle known as a "Mamba" of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force came from the direction of the shooting at high speed and entered the Military Base. Sergeant-major Erahowa said it was not true that shots had been fired from the Caspirs in the convoy. No shots had been fired from any of the "Vlermuise". All the ammunition issued to them had been returned unused. All the men on the "Vlermuise" had worn helmets. None had worn a beret and certainly none would have worn a green beret. Their berets were maroon. Asked if he would ever have worn a green beret, Staff Sergeant Monareng replied "Never, I worked very hard for that (maroon) beret.". He was proud of his unit. Shortly after contact, so both witnesses testified, certain whites in their vehicles asked Colonel Engelbrecht for help to get out of the area as they were being shot at. The same four "Vermuise" of one of which Staff Sergeant Monareng was the driver, were instructed to escort the right-wing convoy out of the area which they did, taking it on to the road to Zeerust towards the South African border. The right-wingers waved their appreciation to them as the "Vlermuise" left them.

It must also be recorded that a lecturer at the former University of Bophuthatswana, Mr Derek Forbes, who is an amateur photographer, was on the scene to photograph the South African Defence Force convoy and the events that occurred while the convoy was at the Military Base. His photographs were made available to the Commission. They depict, in some of them, the comings and goings of the "Vlermuise". It is to be noted that none of the men in the "Vlermuise" in the pictures are wearing berets. All are wearing helmets. Mr Forbes said he, too, while standing near the Base, had heard a burst of gunfire from the Mafikeng direction. He had also, however, not been able to see what had occurred but a German television cameraman had zoomed in on the scene through the zoom lens of his camera and had said that "it was a Bophuthatswana Police vehicle which had engaged the right-wingers in an exchange of fire".

Two of Mr Forbes's photographs show a Bophuthatswana Defence Force vehicle entering the Base. In one a Military Policeman is seen ushering in a Bophuthatswana Defence Force "Mamba" and talking to the driver. Mr Forbes said:

"Soon after armoured vehicles of Bophuthatswana returned and entered the Base. The Bophuthatswana Military Policeman had an exchange of words with one of the drivers of the returning vehicles. I thought to myself that judging from his actions he appeared to be complaining about the shooting that took place".

In the view of the Commission neither the account of Venter nor that of Vorster as to who had shot at them and therefore also at the deceased can be regarded as being accurate. This is understandable having regard to the traumatic and confused circumstances at the time. Their accounts also differ markedly. Venter makes no mention of any "Vlermuise" or of the firing having come from vehicles of that sort. He said the firing came from the "Pantser voertuie" or Caspirs in the convoy. Apart from the direct evidence of Colonel Engelbrecht and of Sergeant-Major Eharowa that this did not happen, the Commission held an inspection in loco and at that inspection there was pointed out the place where the end of the convoy in the Mafikeng direction was.

It seemed to the Commission that it was highly unlikely that shots could have been fired from there to the place where the deceased was struck. Vorster did not agree that that was where the firing had come from. He said it came from the "Vlermuise". Again there is the direct evidence not only of Colonel Engelbrecht but also of the men in the "Vlermuise" that at no time when the firing occurred were any of their "Vlermuise" anywhere in the vicinity of Tsetse Road. Both impressed the Commission as reliable and truthful witnesses, particularly Sergeant-Major Eharowa. Moreover, the men in the "Vlermuise" had all come from Phalaborwa and had entered Mafikeng for the first time that day. They were deployed at the South African Embassy and nowhere else. They would not have been as aware, as members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force were, of the disastrous presence of right-wingers, particularly the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, in the area.

Many of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force were in a virtual state of mutiny and obviously undisciplined at the time. Some of them were clearly "trigger happy" as is evident from the undisciplined firing of his automatic rifle by the Bophuthatswana Defence Force soldier near the Military Base that afternoon. Another convoy of right-wingers had been fired on (this is the ambush incident in which Francois Willem Jansen van Rensburg (Case No 9) was shot). Moreover the men in the "Vlermuise"were all members of a well-trained, highly disciplined unit. It is, in the Commission's view, highly unlikely that they would, without any provocation or reason for doing so, have disregarded their training and discipline and opened fire on innocent civilians with whom they would have had no dispute. Vorster's evidence that these men were wearing green berets is also clearly inaccurate. Their unit's berets were maroon, a fact in which they took pride. That they would had green berets in their possession, let alone have worn them, is therefore most unlikely.

On the other hand there is the positive and direct evidence of Sergeant-Major Eharowa and Staff Sergeant Monareng that a "Mamba"of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force was seen travelling at high speed from the direction of where the shooting had occurred towards the Base which it also entered at speed, provoking a reaction from the Military Policeman on point duty there. According to Forbes the latter appeared to be "complaining about the shooting that took place". His complaints were directed at the driver of a "Mamba". There was also the evidence of Forbes that a television cameraman next to him said that it was a Bophuthatswana Police Force vehicle which had engaged the right-wingers in an exchange of fire. The cameraman probably confused a Bophuthatswana Police Force vehicle with a Bophuthatswana Defence Force vehicle.

There is further evidence by General Turner that members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force who wore green berets were the infantry men and that it was the infantry that used "Mambas". It is not improbable that what Venter in the heat and confusion of the shooting thought was a Caspir from which the firing had come was actually a "Mamba". The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is FRANCOIS ALWYN VENTER, an adult, male, aged 54 years (identity number 4002135038000).
(b) the circumstances of the death are that, on the probabilities, the deceased died from multiple wounds sustained when he was shot by an automatic weapon fired by an unidentified member or members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force travelling in an armoured vehicle of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force along the Mafikeng-Ramatlhabarna Road on 11 March 1994.
(c) the cause of the death was "multiple gunshot wounds".
(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified member or members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force.

On Thursday, 10 March 1994 the deceased a male, aged 14 years, and Taulo Joel Moatlhodi another child accompanied a lady to the Bodibe/Itsoseng crossing where she boarded a taxi. A group of people were toy-toying in the road and dragged a car wreck into the road, blocking the road. The police arrived and ordered the people to remove the barricade. They responded by throwing stones at the police. The police started shooting at the crowd. The two children were chased and fired at by the police. The deceased, was shot from behind with a shotgun. Four police officers were seen at the scene and they dragged the injured deceased to the shade of a tree where they left him. The deceased died a little later at the place where he was left.

On 18 March 1994 a post-mortem was held on the body of the deceased by Dr Been. The cause of death was "Right Haemothorax". The deceased had 6 gunshot wounds: (1) 2 right scapula (2) 1 posterior lateral buttock (3) 1 posterior right thigh (4) 2 left buttock. One was a penetrating wound through the right chest wall, puncturing the right lung which collapsed. Extensive mediastinal bruising was present. Pellets were removed from the body.

A formal inquest (No 6/1996) was held by the Magistrate Itsoseng into the death of the deceased. He found on 8 November 1996 that:

(a) the deceased was Piet Vilakazi, a male, 14 years old.
(b) the deceased died on 10 March 1994.
(c) the cause of deceased's death was gunshot wounds.
(d) the death of the deceased was brought about by an act or omission involving or amounting to an offence on the part of police officers Constable William Mojolwane, Constable Alfred Mogaetsho Constable Diteko Martin Gaorabelwe and Constable Tutubalang.

As the relevant evidence in the matter was adduced before the Magistrate Itsoseng, no further evidence was heard by the Commission. From evidence at the Inquest it is clear that the deceased died during the violence in Bophuthatswana on 10 March 1994. The Commission is in agreement with the findings of the Magistrate. The matter has been referred by the Magistrate to the Attorney-General for his decision.