PART FOUR

THE DEATHS IN THE MMABATHO/MAFIKENG AREA: A DETAILED SETTING OUT OF THE EVIDENCE IN REGARD THERETO

	1.	DUPLICATE OR SIMILAR NAMES

A list of the twelve names which are duplicates of or similar to those who were alleged to have died in the violence during 10 and 11 March 1994 is set out in Part Three, paragraph 1 above.

	2.	NON-EXISTENT PERSONS

2.1 In regard to the persons whose names were supplied to the Commission as having died but who were found on investigation to be non-existent, the facts are as follows.

2.2 Names of persons who allegedly had died during the period in question were obtained by the Investigation Team from a number of sources. These included a list of names compiled by Lawyers for Human Rights, a list which appeared in the issue of a local newspaper, The Mail, of 25 March 1994 ("the newspaper"), and lists contained in certain manuscripts and theses dealing with the unrest compiled by students of the University of the North West (previously the University of Bophuthatswana). A number of the names on the above-named lists were, however, found not to have existed.

2.3 One such was the deceased L BATSWANA (Case No 2). His name, as one of those who died during the said period, appeared in the thesis of Pearl Lerato Lekgoane titled "Casualties, Death List from Relatives"as "L Batswana, Tshidilamolomo, Montshiwa Stadt". Nobody could, however, be found who could identify L Batswana nor could such person be traced at either Tshidilamolomo or Montshiwa Stadt. There was also no record of such a deceased person at any mortuary. In a written statement supplied to the Commission, Pearl Lekgoane said that she had obtained the list of names in her paper from the Lawyers for Human Rights. A representative of Lawyers for Human Rights, Ms Elaine Zodwa, stated that in March 1994 she was in its employ. A large number of people who were injured or whose family members, relatives or friends were killed in the unrest during the period in question came to the offices of Lawyers for Human Rights to complain about their injuries or the deaths. She and Mr Bailey Mahlakoleng compiled a list of dead or wounded from this information. The name "L Batswana"does not appear on that list. Ms Zodwa could not explain how the name came to be on Pearl Lekgoane's list. From all the facts it would appear that there was no such person as "L Batswana" who died at that time.

2.4 One name which appeared in the newspaper was that of OBAKENG MOLOPE (Case No 31). No such name exists on the Lawyers for Human Rights list. Despite all efforts by the Investigating Team no trace could be found of this person. Similarly there is the name FRANK ZOZA (Case No 60) which appears on the Lawyers for Human Rights list as "Frank Zoza (Tshepong Hospital)". Ms Zodwa could give no details as to how it appeared on the list and, once again, despite intensive efforts by the Investigating Team including extensive enquiries at Tshepong Hospital, no trace could be found of this person.

2.5 A name of a person who appeared under the list of deceased persons in the thesis of Pearl Lekgoane was that of JEREMIA SETSHWANA (Case No 50). His name appears on the Lawyers for Human Rights list but not as one of the deceased. He complained to the Lawyers for Human Rights that while on his way home from work he had been assaulted by members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. The inclusion of his name amongst those of the deceased in Pearl Lekgoane's list was clearly an error on the part of whoever compiled that list.

2.6 So is the inclusion of the name Anna Bereng in the list of deceased persons. She was, according to the Lawyers for Human Rights, reported to them as having died "by her sister, Betty Bereng". This is an error. Anna Bereng is alive and well. She gave a sworn statement to the Commission to the effect that her married name is "Bereng". Her maiden name was "Mothobi". She has no sister named "Betty Bereng"nor has she a sister-in-law of that name. Her own sister, Eslita Galetlale Mothobi, was, however, shot dead at the time in question. Her death is fully described later (See Case No 37).

2.7 In addition to all the Foregoing, Captain van Gent testified that the register in the office of the Administrator of Birds and Deaths of the Department of Internal Affairs had been examined and no trace could be found of the persons L Batswana, Obakeng Molope, or Frank Zoza. Articles placed in newspapers asking people who may know of such persons to contact the Commission had also produced no result. The Commission concludes therefore that such persons are non-existent and the inclusion of their names
in any lists of persons who died at the time in question is erroneous.

	3.	DEATHS NOT RELATED TO THE VIOLENCE

3.1 A number of deaths that were reported as having occurred during the period 10 and 11 March 1994 fall outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission in that they either did not occur during that period and/or were not related to the violence at that time.

3.2 A deceased whose death was reported to the Commission for investigation was MONNAPULA PIET BAKGOENG (Case No 1). Although another similar name occurs in the source of the reports it is clear that it refers to the said Bakgoeng. Bakgoeng was a pedestrian who was injured in a motor collision on the Vryburg-Lichtenburg road on 5 March 1994 with a vehicle owned by one Alfred Mvula. He died of his injuries on 6 March 19'34. Mvula was subsequently prosecuted on a charge of culpable homicide but such charge was withdrawn owing to a lack of evidence. An exculpatory statement by Mvula was submitted to the Commission. It is quite clear that this death falls outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission.

3.3 Two other such were the two deceased JUSTICE PETRUS KADI AND SHADRACK BENNET KADI (Cases No 10 and 11) whose burnt and charred bodies were found aver an attack on their home in Moshana Village in the Lehurutshe District near Zeerust, and some 120 km or more from the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area, on 17 March 1994. Although Bennet Kadi was a member of Parliament in the former Bophuthatswana Parliament, the attack, according to his daughter, did not appear to be politically motivated. She could not advance any reason for it. Certain suspects had been arrested
but charges against them had been withdrawn by the Attorney-General. The matter is, however, still under investigation as an inquest has yet to be held.

Those deaths were not related to the violence of 10 and 11 March 1994. They, too, therefore fall outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission.

	3.4(a)	Other deaths that were reported to the Commission but which were

found to fall outside its Terms of Reference were those of the
deceased McDONALD MOGOMUTSI MATEBELE (Case No 19),
a 19 year old youth of Zone 3 Itsoseng; THEBEITSILE JACOB
MBABA (Case No 20), a 38-year old taxi driver of Bodibe Village,
Ditsobotla, and JOSEPH MOKGWATLHENG (Case No 29), a 27
year old man of GG Location, Tlhabane.

	(b)	The evidence in regard to the death of MATEBELE (Case No 19) is

that during the unrest, persons who were unqualified to do so were
seizing vehicles for fun and driving them, often losing control of
them while doing so. On 1 1 March 1994 Matebele was riding on the
mudguard of a frontloader driven unauthorisedly by one Othosite
Johannes Motsebe when he slipped off the mudguard and fell under
the wheels of the frontloader. He suffered a crushed skull and a
bruised chest wall, right shoulder and right forehead. As part of the
bruising of the chest wall, he also suffered a ruptured heart. He died
from his injuries. The question of whether there is any criminal
liability on the part of Motsebe is under investigation by the police.

The circumstances of Matebele's death fall outside the ambit of the Commission's inquiry.

(c) MBABA (Case No 20) was shot and killed on 8 March 1994 at Setlopo Village, Mafikeng, during an armed robbery of the taxi he was driving, a Toyota minibus. His assailants are unknown. This is a criminal matter that also does not fall within the Commission's Terms of Reference.

	(d)	MOKGWATLHENG (Case No 29) was killed in a shoot-out with
Bophuthatswana Police Officers who were attempting to arrest him
as being a suspect who had thrown a petrol bomb at an armoured
vehicle of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. He allegedly seized
one of the police officer's firearms and in a resultant fracas with the
police was shot and killed. An inquest was held before the
Magistrate at Tlhabane, near Rustenburg, who, on 10 November
1995, found that "Nobody is criminally responsible for the death of
the deceased". The circumstances of MOKGWATLHENG'S death
do not fall within the scope of the Commission's inquiry and his
death is therefore outside the ambit of the Commission's Terms of
Reference.

3.5
Also falling outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission were the deaths of JOHN LINDI NDIKANDIKA (Case No 41), PHILLIP OUPA NTSONDA (Case No 44) and THAPELO DANIEL OEPENG (Case No 45). These names appeared in lists of those allegedly killed during the unrest at the time in question. Ndikandika, (Case No 41) was stabbed to death in January 1996. His death is clearly not related to the violence in question. NTSONDA, (Case No 44), died, according to the testimony of Inspector F Lebone,when he was electrocuted while he was trying to couple electric wires from his house to overhead cables. An inquest into his death at which these facts were recorded has been held. OEPENG (Case No 45) committed suicide on 16 March 1995 while serving with the South African Defence Force in Durban. His death is clearly not related to the violence in question.

3.6 Another such death is that of MARTHA MOGAPI (Case No 25). Her name was reported to the Commission as one of those who had been killed during the period and as a result of the violence in question. It appears among a list of people allegedly so killed compiled by one of the students of the former University of Bophuthatswana and annexed to his thesis.

All efforts to trace such a person who was killed during the violence in question proved unsuccessful. However, the records of the Victoria Hospital in Mafikeng reflect the name of one Cornelius Mohapi or Moagi who was treated at the time for a cut on his leg. They also reflect the name of a Martha Mogapi who died on 10 March 1994 of natural causes after being admitted to hospital on 9 March 1994 suffering from "diabetes pneumonia TB"and from which she died.

Her name also appears in the mortuary register of the hospital as having died from the same cause. It is in the Commission's view, clear that the inclusion of the name of Martha Mogapi as a person who was killed as a result of the violence in question is erroneous and that she in fact died of natural causes. Her death, too, accordingly falls outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission.

3.7 Another death not related to the unrest that was reported to the Commission was that of PHILLION SEVALO (Case No 52). Detective Sergeant Mapoga of Itsoseng said that the deceased had died of a stab wound in the heart. He, as the officer investigating the matter, had been unable to trace the person who had stabbed the deceased. His investigations were still proceeding but the occurrence was not related to the unrest. It accordingly fell outside the Commission's Terms of Reference.

4. INABILITY TO IDENTIFY DECEASED

The Commission was unable to establish the identity of one body, (Case No 61). Captain Lucky Mooketsi of the South African Police Services at Itsoseng testified that on 10 March 1994, shops were looted in a shopping complex in Itsoseng, known as the Itsoseng Forum. During the looting the shopping complex was burnt down. Two bodies were later found in the remains of the complex. One was Lebogang Maria Molefe, whose body was identified by relatives. The other was that of an unknown male whose body has never been identified. All efforts to do so had been unsuccessful. Both Maria Molefe and the unknown male had suffered extensive burn wounds. A post-mortem revealed that they had both died as a result of such wounds. Captain Mooketsi stated that it could not be established who was responsible for the burning down of the complex.

PERSONS REPORTED DEAD WHO ARE STILL ALIVE

As set out in Part Three, paragraph 5 above, four people who were reported as having died during the period in question are still alive. They are ANNA SEITISO BERENG (Case No 3) whose alleged death was erroneously reported to the Lawyers for Human Rights, I Sebogodi (Case No 48) and N Molotsi (Case No 32) whose alleged deaths are clearly a typographical error and JEREMIAH SETSHWANA, who reported to the Lawyers for Human Rights that he had been assaulted by members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. The Commission is accordingly not concerned with either of these four persons.

6. CASES WHERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THE DECEASED HAD DIED COULD NOT BE DETERMINED

6.1 The three cases are

Case No 18: Lebogang Brown Manyeneng
Case No 21: Precious Kgalalelo Mocwadira
Case No 49:Leinalelentle Goodman Selabe

In these cases as in many of the cases set out in Paragraph 7 below the postmortem examinations were mostly performed by Dr Manmohan Reddy Rawla, a former forensic pathologist and senior medical officer of Bophelong Hospital, Mmabatho. Dr Human Smeer Wentzel, the district surgeon of Klerksdorp; Dr Mariette Hurst, a former forensic pathologist specialist of Diepkloof; Dr Herma Gretha Marie Rabie, a forensic pathologist specialist of Diepkloof; Dr Pieter Cronje Scott, the district surgeon of Mafikeng; Dr William Been, a pathologist and principal medical officer of Phokeng, Rustenburg; Dr Petrus Hendrik Potgieter, the district surgeon of Klerksdorp; and Dr Daniel Sarel Hendrik van Aswegen, the district surgeon of Zeerust, also performed post-mortem examinations. On request by the Lawyers for Human Rights Dr Dawood Ismael Botha, a medical practitioner at Lichtenburg assisted Dr M R Ravula in 10 postmortem examinations and agreed with the findings thereof.

The evidence in respect of each of these cases was the following:

6.2 CASE NO 18: LEBOGANG BROWN MANYENENG

The evidence in this case was that the deceased an adult, male, aged 46 years, was working as a concrete mixer driver for a building firm, Robcon, at Ottosdal when he had to return home on 11 March 1994 to Mafikeng as there had been a death in his family. The foreman of the firm, one Pieterson, who testified in this case drove him from Ottosdal to Mafikeng where the deceased asked to be dropped at the taxi rank near the Mafikeng railway station. Although there was the sound of shooting in the town, said Pieterson, there was no shooting at the taxi rank. Because of the shooting, however, Pieterson offered to drive the deceased home but the latter declined as he had to make some purchases before going home. Pieterson never saw him alive again, hearing later that he had been shot. The deceased's brother said that the deceased was expected home on 11 March 1994. When he did not arrive, the broker started a search for him and more than a week later found the body of the deceased at the Bophelong Hospital Mortuary. A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage due to multiple injuries consequent to gunshot". The brother said he did not know how the deceased was shot or where his body was found. Exhaustive investigations by the Investigating Team disclosed no witnesses or any information as to how the death of the deceased was caused. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is LEBOGANG BROWN MANYENENG, an adult, male, aged 46 years.

(b) the circumstances or the date of the death cannot be established.

(c) the cause of the death was "shock and haemorrhage due to multiple injuries due to gunshot".

(d) the Commission is accordingly enable to determine if the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person.

6.3 CASE NO 21: PRECIOUS KGALALELO MOCWADIRA

The evidence in this case was that the deceased an adult, female, aged 24 years, had lived in Klerksdorp but according to a cousin, Simon Mogakwe, had unexpectedly left home there and moved to Stilfontein. From there she had apparently moved to Mafikeng. No one in the family, said Mogakwe, knew that she had done so or why she had done so. Mogakwe heard that the deceased was a victim of the unrest in Mrnabatho/Mafikeng and that she had been moved from Mafikeng to the Hospital in Klerksdorp. He identified the body at the mortuary there. He saw the deceased had a wound on the back of her head. She had no bullet wounds. The post-mortem report states that there was a posterior laceration of the skull with intercranial bleeding. This was the only injury. The cause of death is given as a "head injury with massive intercranial bleeding". Mogakwe said that he had no idea how she had sustained her injury. Again, exhaustive inquiries by the Investigating Team were completely fruitless. Nobody had been found who could say why she was in Mafikeng or when or how she sustained her fatal injury. She died in Klerksdorp Hospital on 17 March 1994. No persons responded to a newspaper article either requesting anyone who knew of her to provide information to the Commission. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is PRECIOUS KGALELO MOCWADIRA, an adult, female, aged 24 years.

(b) the circumstances of the death cannot be established but she died on 17 March 1994 in Klerksdorp Hospital.

(c) the cause of the death was "head injury with massive intercranial bleeding".

(d) the Commission is accordingly unable to determine if the death was brought about by any act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person.

6.4 CASE NO 49: LEINALELENTLE GOODMAN SELABE

In this case the younger brother of the deceased, Tidimalo Frederick Selabe testified that the deceased, an adult, male, aged 50 years (identity number 4306050101406), worked at the Blue Circle Cement Company at Lichtenburg. He left for work there on Monday, 6 March 1994. He did not return home, as he usually did, the next weekend. On Sunday, 12 March 1994 the witness reported to a relative, who was a police officer, that the deceased was missing. Enquiries were made and the body of the deceased was found in the Saffas Mortuary on 22 March 1994. The witness was later told by another police officer, one Gopane that he had picked up the body of the deceased near the TTA. A post-mortem examination revealed that the deceased had died of a gunshot wound involving lungs and the vertebrae. Dr Ravula, who performed the post-mortem examination said that the fatal injuries were caused by one bullet. Death would have been instantaneous. Again, despite extensive investigations by the Investigating Team, no information could be found as to how or by whom the deceased had been shot. The Commission therefore finds that 

(a) the identity of the deceased is LEINALELENTLE GOODMAN SELABE, an adult, male, aged 50 years (identity number 4306050101406).

(b) the circumstances and date of death cannot be established.

(c) the cause of the death was "a gunshot wound involving the lungs and vertebrae".

(d) the Commission can accordingly not determine if the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person.

7. THE REMAINING DEATHS

7.1 The Commission hereinafter sets out in detail the evidence in regard to and its conclusions in respect of the remaining deaths.

7.2 CASE NO 4: LOBISA IRENE DIGWAMAJE

In this case the evidence was that the deceased an adult, female, aged 40 years, was shot and killed by members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. That evidence showed that on 10 March 1994 at about 18:30, the deceased was a passenger, with other members of her family, in a car driven by her brother, Lucas Digwamaje, from Dibate Village to Bokone Village when they were stopped near the bridge leading into Mafikeng by a party of persons identified by the witnesses as members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. Lucas Digwamaje, his wife, Susan Digwamaje, and his sister, Florence Digwamaje, all testified to being stopped and ordered out of their car by a number of persons some of whom were in the uniform of the Bophuthatswana Police Force and others in civilian clothes. From their association with those in uniform it was obvious to the witnesses that the latter were also members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. Most of them were armed with what the witnesses described as "long rifles". The witnesses were ordered to sit on the roadside next to their car. While there, a Caspir, which Lucas Digwamaje described as a Police Caspir, approached from the direction of Mafikeng and stopped opposite their car. Persons, who according to Lucas Digwamaje also spoke in Afrikaans, emerged from the vehicle. He could not see if they were clad in uniform or what such uniform was but both Susan and Florence Digwamaje said the men, some of whom were white and some black, were dressed in the uniform of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. The witnesses testified that almost immediately after their arrival on the scene a large number of shots were fired in the direction of the witnesses both by the men from the Caspir and by the original party which had stopped their car. It would appear that either just prior to or during the shooting the deceased crawled from where she had been sitting in the direction of a large peppercorn tree situated in the near vicinity. Certain taxis had also been stopped by the police and their passengers were ordered to join the Digwamaje family where they were sitting.

Following the shooting those passengers and the Digwamaje family members, save for Lucas, who had made his escape in his car, and the deceased, were ordered into the premises of the TTA where they were subjected to insults and were also assaulted by some of members of the police group who were there present. The latter later let all the persons go. The deceased, however, did not return home that night. Her body, which contained five gunshot wounds, was found by Lucas and Florence Digwamaje under the large peppercorn tree the following morning. The post-mortem report on her gives the cause of death as "shock and haemorrhage consequent to multiple firearm pellet injuries involving lung and brain". The witnesses all stated that the shots fired by the police were fired in their direction which was also the direction of the peppercorn tree to which the deceased was seen crawling. There was also evidence that many members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force were armed with shotguns, which fired pellets. The probabilities are accordingly overwhelming that the deceased died as a result of being shot by members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. None of the witnesses, however, knew or could recognise any members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force who had either stopped their car or ordered them out of it or any of those who were in the Caspir, nor were the witnesses able to identify any of them. Despite intensive investigations no police records could be found as to which members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force were involved in this incident nor could any witnesses be found who could testify thereto. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is LOBISA IRENE DIGWAMAJE, an adult, female, aged 40 years.

(b) the circumstances of her death are that the deceased was shot whilst fleeing from members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force at a roadblock near TTA on 10 March 1994 by unknown members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force.

(c) the cause of the death was "shock and haemorrhage consequent to multiple firearm pellet injuries involving lung and brain".

(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of a member or members of Me Bophuthatswana Police Force, whose identity however, can not be established.

7.3 CASE NO 5:

JOHN KGOSI DISEKO

In this case, it was originally thought that it fell into the category of those where the witnesses could only testify as to what others had told them including, in some instances, the victims of the shooting. The deceased's mother, Elizabeth Moloto, testified that on 10 March 1994 at about 14:45 the deceased left his home in Itsoseng to go to Mafikeng. At between 16:30 and 17:00 she received a telephone call from the Victoria Hospital in Mafikeng that her son, an adult, male, aged 24 years, was in hospital. He had been shot. He was later transported from the hospital to Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp, where he died on 26 April 1994. He died from sepsis of his wound, which was a gunshot wound in the stomach, and circulatory collapse. Mrs Moloto said she visited her son while he was in hospital. He told her he had been shot at the Market Square, Mafikeng, by a white man in khaki clothing while he was rendering assistance to a woman who had also been shot. He did not say where the man who shot him was at the time of shooting nor could he give any description of his assailant or identify him in any manner. The deceased made a similar statement to a friend who also visited him in hospital, one Paul Mokwele. The deceased was the chairperson of the African National Congress Youth League in Itsoseng of which Mokwele was a member. The deceased told Mokwele that he had been shot by a white person while assisting a woman who had also been shot. He could give no description of that person whatsoever nor any detail as to where the person was when he fired the shot at him. He could also give no description or any details of the woman The doctor who performed the post-mortem examination, Dr H Wentzel, testified that a gunshot wound that had penetrated the internal organs and particularly the pancreas, as this one had, could result in septicaemia.This was a common phenomenon in this type of gunshot wound and frequently resulted in the death of the victim. This opinion coincided with that of a Dr le Roux who treated the deceased at the Tshepong Hospital. Dr le Roux testified that unless a gunshot of the type in this case was surgically treated within six hours, septicaemia was usually the result, more open than not with fatal consequences. When the deceased was admitted to Tshepong Hospital on 12 March 1994, he had already had an exploratory laparotomy or surgical examination of the abdomen. He could, however, not say where or when this had taken place. On the next day another laparotomy was performed by a specialist surgeon. Two holes were found in the intestines and one in the duodenum. These were surgically treated. However, despite intensive treatment, sepsis set in and although this was also immediately and intensively treated, it affected other organs such as the kidneys and the deceased's heart and on 26 April 1994 he died. The medical evidence was that no blame could be attached to the hospital or its staff. Everything possible was done to save him but to no avail. The cause of death, said both Dr Wentzel and Dr le Roux, was the gunshot wound in the stomach. Had the matter rested there, the deceased's assailants would have been unknown. However, it did not. Paul Mokwele had misgivings about the description given to him by the deceased as to where and when he had been shot. Mokwele felt that the deceased had no need, or business, to have been at the Market Square in Mafikeng. He discussed his misgivings with the Investigating Team, in particular with Detective Sergeant Markus Ferreira. The latter decided to show Mokwele certain videos in the possession of the Investigating Team. One of them depicted scenes of rioters busy looting from shops at Mega City and one scene is that of a looter in a white short-sleeve shirt and light coloured jeans kicking in a shop window prior to looting goods from it. The scenes in Mega City also depict members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force firing at looters inside Mega City. Sergeant Ferreira testified that the weapons they were using were 37 mm "stoppers" which fire rubber bullets and teargas. They are unable to fire ordinary bullets. The video shows teargas being fired from the weapons. Thereafter follows a scene where the same man as was seen kicking in the shop window is seen running outside the Mega City Shopping Complex. He is dressed, as in the earlier scene, in a white short sleeve shirt and light coloured jeans on which an insignia can be seen on the right-hand back pocket. The video shows him bending to pick up a stone. As he does so, he is seen to grab at his stomach and pitch forward on to the ground. His face is visible and can be recognised by somebody who knew him well. The video then shows him being picked up by other persons in the vicinity who carried him to a van into which he was placed. While being so carried his face is clearly visible. Mokwele unhesitantly recognised the person as the deceased Diseko. Mokwele then testified before the Commission that he recognised Diseko from the video. He knew the deceased extremely well. They had been friends since 1985 and had attended school together. In addition, Diseko's mother had given him the pair of jeans he had been wearing on the day he was shot. Mokwele produced the jeans before the Commission. They were light coloured, matching the colour of those in the video scenes and they bore the insignia of Pierre Cardin clothing on the right back pocket. The Commission has no doubt that Mokwele's recognition of the deceased as John Kgosi Diseko is accurate. Quite apart from the jeans, Diseko's face is recognizable in the video scenes by anybody who knew him well, as Mokwele did. Diseko also was shot in the stomach, as the video depicts. Furthermore, Mokwele would have had no reason or motive to testify to the Commission that the person depicted in the video scenes was the deceased Diseko, other than a desire to wish to be helpful to the Commission. He would have had no reason to want to say that his great friend had been shot at MegaCity, as the video shows, if in fact he had been shot at the Market Square in Mafikeng, as Diseko had told his mother and Mokwele while he was in hospital. The probabilities would seem to be that he had made up that story in order not to divulge that he had been shot while looting shops at Mega City. Mokwele's identification of Diseko was also confirmed by the latter's brother-in-law, Petrous Mosina. The Investigation Team had a series of four still photographs made from the video by the police forensic laboratory and showed them to Mosina, who, as Diseko's brother-in-law, knew him very well. At least two of the photographs show Diseko's face clearly and Mosina unhesitantly identified him from the photographs. The photographs depict Diseko bending down, then lying on his stomach after having been shot with his face tuned to the camera while the last one shows him being carried to a van. The video scenes and the still photographs do not, however, show who had fired the shot and struck the deceased in the stomach. Nor could any witness be found who could testify to having seen who shot the deceased.

The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is JOHN KGOSI DISEKO, an adult, male, aged 24 years.

(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot while participating in the looting at Mega City on 10 March 1994 by someone whose identity cannot at this stage be ascertained.

(c) the cause of the death was sepsis of his wound which was a gunshot wound in the stomach, and circulatory collapse and died on 26 April 1994.

(d) the Commission cannot determine if the death was brought about by an act or omission primofacie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person.

7.4 CASE NO 6:NICOLAAS JOHANNES FOURIE

CASE NO 55: JACOB STEPHANUS UYS

CASE NO 59:ALWYN WOLFAARDT

These three cases are those of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members whose deaths at the hands of a Bophuthatswana policeman were seen on TV news services throughout the world.

The policeman concerned, Constable Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe, of the South African Police Services, who in March 1994 was a constable in the Bophuthatswana Police Force, admitted to the Commission that he had shot and killed the three men.

The evidence in regard to their deaths was the following:

As set out in the section of this Report on the background to the events of 11 March 1994 a large contingent of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members had entered the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area during the afternoon and night of Thursday, 10 March 1994 and had later joined members of the Afrikaner Volksfront at the Air Force Base at Mmabatho. Members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging in their vehicles, which were mainly bakkies but of which there were also sedan motor cars, had started leaving the Base at about noon on 11 March 1994 on their way out of the Mrnabatho/Mafikeng area and then out of Bophuthatswana. As also set out in the section on the background, instead of leaving via the route around Mmabatho as they had been instructed and had undertaken to do, the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members drove through the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area on their way out of it.

Their route took them along the Vryburg-Mafikeng road, between the residential villages adjacent to it, past the TTA and over the railway bridge at the entrance to Mafikeng. The story of what happened to the three deceased who were in a blue Mercedes-Benz motor car as part of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging group leaving the area is told in the evidence of Lance-Corporal Andy de Koker and Lieutenant Jafta Dikobe of the former Bophuthatswana Defence Force, Sergeant Phaladi Benjamin Mokgoko of the former Bophuthatswana Police Force and in the statement of Constable Menyatsoe.

Lance-Corporal De Koker testified that on 1 1 March 1994 he was part of a section of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force which was doing patrol duties in a Mamba under Lieutenant Dikobe. At about noon they were told over the radio of a congregating of a large crowd of people at TTA.They were instructed to block off the road so as to prevent the people from entering Mafikeng. Lieutenant Dikobe tried unsuccessfully to get the people to disperse. Sporadic firing could be heard. Lance-Corporal De Koker said they then saw a convoy of eight to ten civilian vehicles consisting of bakkies, combis and motor cars with their headlights on moving towards them. On the vehicles were Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members wearing their insignia. Some of the crowd of people started throwing stones at the convoy but they were too far away to do any damage to the vehicles although some of the stones hit the vehicles. The convoy continued moving forward with the intention of crossing the bridge. As they did so the men on the vehicles opened fire on the crowd.

Lance-Corporal De Koker said he was armed and began firing back at the convoy whose members were shooting at him and his companions although they were in uniform. Several of the crowd were hit. One man was shot in the thigh and Lance-Corporal De Koker and two of his companions helped him into a combi where they found another man who had been shot in the back and was seriously wounded. Shots were being exchanged between their Mamba and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members. While helping the injured man, said Lance-Corporal De Koker, he saw a blue Mercedes car out of the convoy coming to a stop. The driver, a large bearded white man, got out of the car with his hands raised. He said "Don't shoot". He saw the driver walking round the car and going to lie on the ground on the passenger's side. This was obviously the deceased Wolfaardt who was a large bearded man. Lance-Corporal De Koker said he saw one other of the occupants of the car, also a white man lying propped up against the left rear wheel. This was obviously the deceased Uys who was in the position when he was shot. Another white man was lying leaning forward in the front seat clutching his chest. This man later came to be lying next to the car. This was obviously the deceased Fourie. There were a lot of media people present with video and still cameras photographing the scene. Colonel Marx of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force arrived on the scene but left immediately to call an ambulance. It was then that two Bophuthatswana Police Force policemen in uniform, one a Sergeant, who was not armed and the other armed with a rifle came on the scene. The latter appeared very upset and aggressive. He said that the white men did not deserve to live because they had killed children and other people. Lance-Corporal De Koker said he then heard shots being fired. The Sergeant tried to stop the other policeman who then pointed his rifle at the Sergeant before again turning to the three men. From about a metre away from them he shot each in the head. The Sergeant asked the other policeman what he was trying to do. Lance-Corporal De Koker said he did not hear the reply. He could not remember exactly what happened to the two policemen. Colonel Marx returned to the scene and ordered them to withdraw from it as a white police officer in a white bakkie had arrived there by then. Lance-Corporal De Koker said it would be very difficult for him to identify the policeman who shot the men. He said the crowd had egged on the policeman to shoot. The videos of the incident which the Commission was shown over and over confirmed Lance-Corporal De Koker's testimony. On one of the videos members of the crowd there can be clearly heard saying "Kill them, man; kill them, man". He said that the policeman fired six shots altogether. The men had lain outside their car for 15 to 20 minutes before they were shot.

Lieutenant Dikobe, who corroborated Lance-Corporal De Koker on all material aspects, said the "right-wingers" in the convoy had shot at random at the crowd. The Bophuthatswana Defence Force members shot back to protect both themselves and the crowd of civilians there. Lieutenant Dikobe said he saw the bearded man get out of the blue Mercedes and being ordered to lie down by one of his, Lieutenant Dikobe's, soldiers. The man kept on saying that the man lying next to the car was injured and needed help. Colonel Marx who came on the scene then left to try and get an ambulance. It was then that the policemen, one a Sergeant, dressed in Bophuthatswana Police Force uniforms arrived. The one who was armed with a rifle asked the men "What are you doing here, what do AWB want in Mmabatho?" He then first shot the injured man. The Sergeant tried to stop him but he pointed his rifle at the Sergeant before going up to the other two men and shooting them both at close range, the last one being the bearded man. Lieutenant Dikobe said he could not remember what happened after the shooting but he did not see the policemen again. He would not, he said, be able to identify the policemen. He saw them only once and that was three years ago.

The pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination on the deceased Fourie and Uys, Dr Herma Rabie, said Fourie had bullet wounds of the head and neck. The first wound had gone through the brain, the second through the spinal cord. Death would have been instantaneous. Uys had also been shot twice. One had gone through his chest, the other had entered at the bridge of the nose, penetrated the head and exited at the back of the neck. Both wounds would have been fatal. Dr Mariette Hurst, the pathologist who performed the post-mortem examination on the bearded deceased, Wolfaardt, said he had died of cranio-cerebral injuries caused by having been shot in the head from behind. He would also have died instantaneously.

Originally the policeman alleged to have shot the men was one Serge Phillemon Nare of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. He was identified as the shooter by Inspector Mokgoko. Inspector Mokgoko was also the only person to identify Sergeant Nare. As a result Sergeant Nare was charged with the murder of the three men. His prosecution was, however, suspend by the Attorney-General pending the investigation of the deaths by Commission and its Report in regard thereto.

Inspector Mokgoko's evidence was that in March 1994 he was a sergeant in the Security Branch of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. On 11 March 1994 he was on duty at a 4-way stop near the TTA. At about 13:00 a crowd of people had congregated near the TTA when a Bophuthatswana Police Force Nyala vehicle came from the Vryburg direction along the Vryburg-Mafikeng road. Someone on the Nyala said "the Boers were appearing from the direction of Vryburg busy shooting at people". At that stage there were military Nyalas facing in the direction of Vryburg. It was then that the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging convoy appeared from the Vryburg direction. The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members opened fire on the people, the Bophuthatswana Defence and Police Force. The Bophuthatswana Defence and Police Force returned their fire. In the convoy was an old blue Mercedes Benz car. One of the passengers in the front seat was shooting at the people. The car was shot several times and came to a stop at the side of the road near the 4-way stop. The man who had been doing the shooting had been shot and was lying with his head on the dashboard. After the car had stopped members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force went to it and took the man out and laid him next to the car. Two other men, one bearded and one not, also emerged from the car and lay on the ground next to the car, the clean shaven man being propped up against the left rear wheel. People started flocking to the vehicle. These included media personnel and Bophuthatswana Defence Force members. Inspector Mokgoko said he told other policemen who were present with him to disarm the men. He then searched them as well as the vehicle. In it they found two pistols, a shotgun and ammunition. Sergeant Kgaswana, one of the policemen with him, handed the arms and ammunition to him. Inspector Mokgoko said he took control of the scene. He spoke to the men on the ground, telling them he was going to take their firearms. He also asked them what they wanted in that area of Mmabatho and where they were from. They said that their officers had sent them to Mmabatho but that they did not know what their duties were. He spoke to both Uys and Wolfaardt. Uys said they came from different places. Wolfaardt said he came from Naboomspruit. A Lieutenant from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force arrived at that stage and told Inspector Mokgoko and the other policemen that they could leave as the Bophuthatswana Defence Force were taking over control at the scene. Inspector Mokgoko said he went to his office in the TTA and locked the arms and ammunition in a safe. He then went back to a small gate leading out of the TTA premises.

At that juncture a police constable in Bophuthatswana Police Force uniform appeared going in the direction of the three white men. He had no firearm with him. Inspector Mokgoko said the constable "threatened to kill those Boers who were lying there on the ground. He said to them that if he feels like it he can do away with them within a second."  The policeman was in a very aggressive mood and "if he had had a weapon with him he could have killed those people". Inspector Mokgoko said he then went up to the Constable and took him away to behind the media personnel who were taking pictures, in order to try to calm him down. The Constable said to him "that we are leaving people who have been killing our people, now who are the people who are going to protect our people?". He knew the Constable. He was one Constable Gaobepe. Inspector Mokgoko said that as he was taking Constable Gaobepe away, another policeman approached from the opposite direction to which they were going. This man, who was wearing a green Bophuthatswana Police Force uniform, was armed with a R4 rifle. He said "these men nearly shot me", referring to the men lying on the ground. Inspector Mokgoko said the policeman went right up to the men. He did not know if he said anything to them but the next moment, said Inspector Mokgoko, he saw the policeman shooting at two of them. The policeman then simply walked away from the scene. He still had his rifle with him. Inspector Mokgoko said that it was not true, as Lance-Corporal De Koker and Lieutenant Dikobe had testified, that anybody had tried to stop him. Nobody had done so. There was a sergeant of the Bophuthatswana Police Force on the scene but he had not tried to stop the policeman nor had the latter pointed his rifle at the sergeant. The sergeant had walked towards the pressmen with his arms raised. Inspector Mokgoko said that he was shown a picture of the policeman shooting the men which appeared in the issue of the newspaper "Beeld" of 15 March 1994. He identified the policeman as Sergeant Nare. He had known him before the shooting, Sergeant Nare having come to TTA for courses and operational duties, although he did not then know his name. Inspector Mokgoko said he was about nine to ten paces from Sergeant Nare when he was doing the shooting. He later also identified him at an identification parade that was held on 2 November 1994. Inspector Mokgoko said Uys was shot first and then Wolfaardt. He did not see Fourie being shot. He thought Fourie was already dead when he was lying next to the car. Inspector Mokgoko said that neither he nor any of the other policemen had tried to arrest Sergeant Nare because of his aggressiveness and the fact that he was armed while he, Inspector Mokgoko, was not. 

Inspector Mokgoko's evidence was in the light of events subsequent to his giving it, clearly inaccurate and incorrect as was his identification of Sergeant Nare as the man who shot the deceased. Inspector Mokgoko's evidence as set out above was that there were two policemen involved at the scene with the men lying on the ground: one being Constable Gaobepe whom he had led away from the scene and the other being Sergeant Nare who had shot the men. He, however, made a sworn affidavit on 15 March 1994. In it he said the following: 

"Between the press people was a Bophuthatswana Policeman who was also interrogating these two white men. This policeman said to the two Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members that it will only take him one second to kill them. I took this Policeman from the scene to try to calm him. This policeman then cocked his weapon and ran to the scene. He shot the two white men who were still alive in front of my eyes. I noticed that the two men were dead. This policeman (suspect) then moved inside the Police Headquarters.

I know this policeman by sight but I do not know his name."

It is quite clear from this statement that Inspector Mokgoko was speaking of only one policeman. At no stage in it did he speak of two.

Inspector Mokgoko said the person who took the statement viz. Colonel du Toit could not have understood the sequence of the events that took place. He said that when he made his statement to Colonel du Toit he had talked about two police officers.

Inspector Mokgoko also made a second sworn statement on 30 November 1994 in which he said the following:

"I do not know who is the sergeant who tried to stop the suspect and I do not know where he was working." (emphasis added)

It will be recalled that Inspector Mokgoko said in his testimony that nobody had tried to stop the suspect. His second statement accordingly also differs from his testimony before the Commission.

Colonel Christiaan du Toit, the station commander at Mafikeng in the South African Police Services who was, during March 1994, attached to the detective branch of the Bophuthatswana Police Force, said he visited the scene of the shooting on 11 March 1994 but by the time he got there most of the people had already left. On 14 March 1994 he received instructions from the Commissioner of the Bophuthatswana Police Force, General Seleke, to investigate the case. He took down Inspector Mokgoko's statement. They spoke English, which Inspector Mokgoko speaks well. They communicated easily. It requires to be recorded that although he started giving his evidence before the Commission in Setswana, Inspector Mokgoko changed to English after only a few questions and was quite at home in English during all the rest of his testimony. Colonel du Toit said he had faithfully written down what Inspector Mokgoko had said to him. At no time had Inspector Mokgoko spoken of two policemen nor had he mentioned Constable Gaobepe's name to him. He had first heard of the latter during Inspector Mokgoko's evidence before the Commission. Colonel du Toit said the only person who could positively identify Sergeant Nare was Inspector Mokgoko. Inspector Mokgoko had not initially known Sergeant Nare's name. Colonel du Toit said he got that from a police informer. The other policemen who were with Inspector Mokgoko on the scene could not at all identify the person who had shot the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging men. He said that investigating the matter had been a nightmare. Apart from Inspector Mokgoko he had no co-operation from anyone and had even had death threats made against him. He had tried to establish the identity of the police sergeant seen on the scene on the video and still photographs of the incident but had been quite unable to do so.

Inspector Mokgoko's evidence on its own, therefore, was entirely unreliable.

Sergeant Nare at all times had protested his innocence. Asked by Colonel du Toit, who at first regarded him as a witness rather than a suspect, if he would be prepared to make a statement, Sergeant Nare said he would. In that statement, which is dated 14 April 1994, Sergeant Nare said:

"I am a sergeant in the Bophuthatswana Police stationed at Mogwase.

On the 11th of March 1994 between 11:00and 12:00 I was at Police Headquarters, Mafikeng.

Lt. Col Ramatlape came to me and asked me to accompany him and Major Mokhethi to town to look for Major Hosking.

After a while we came back. At the 4 way stopstreet at Police headquarters I saw that a lot of policemen civilians and members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force were gathered there.

On the right-hand side of the road facing Mafikeng I saw a blue Mercedes-Benz parked on the side of the road.

On the left-hand side of this vehicle I saw three white men dressed in "khaki"clothes lying on the sand. I could see that the one was dead. One was lying against the led rear wheel of the car and the other one was lying on his stomach. The two men who were still alive were talking to the press.

Lt. Col Ramatlape was on the scene with me. After a while I left the scene in He presence of Lt. Col Ramatlape. Major Mokhethi was also present on the scene. I was armed with an R4 rifle.

I left the scene in the presence of Lt. Col. Ramatlape and Major Mokhethi.

When I left the scene the two white men were still alive.

I am prepared to stand on a identification parade to prove my innocence."

An identification parade was held in November l 994, some seven months after the incident. Again, only Inspector Mokgoko identified Sergeant Nare. Apart from one aspect, Sergeant Nare's statement was by and large confirmed by Colonel Ramatlape. Colonel Ramatlape testified that on the morning of 11 March 1994 he and Major Mokhethi had gone from TTA into Mafikeng to look for Captain Hosking. They took Sergeant Nare, who was then a sergeant in the Bophuthatswana Police Force and who was armed with an R4 rifle, with them to act as protection for them. Sergeant Nare was in uniform. They could not find Captain Hosking and had returned to TTA. Neither he nor Major Mokhethi had gone to the scene of the shooting and although the latter said that he saw the blue Mercedes car standing at the side of the road, he, Colonel Ramatlape had not seen the car as he was the driver of the vehicle in which they had travelled and he was concentrating on his driving because of the big crowd of people there. It was "absolutely wrong" that he was with Sergeant Nare at the scene, as Sergeant Nare had said in his statement. This apart, however, Sergeant Nare's version of his participation in events remained consistent.

Before the Commission, Sergeant Nare chose not to give evidence, as, of course, it was his right to do, but volunteered to make an unsworn statement. This is what he said:

"Segoba Philemon Nare states: I am a Sergeant in the South African Police stationed at Mogwase.

My attorney Julian Meltz has advised me that in the light of the fact that I am to be charged for the murder of the three AWB men that I not give evidence at this hearing. I came to this Commission with the intention of clearing my name and providing the Commission with all the detail to prove my innocence. Due to the pending murder charges and based on the legal advise (sic) given I regret I am unable to do so.

On the 11th of March 1994 between 11:00 and 12:00 I was at Police Headquarters at Mafikeng. During such time Lt. Col Ramatlape and Major Mokhethi requested that I accompany them to town to locate Major Hosking and Bezuidenhout. We travelled in the motor vehicle of Lt. Col Ramatlape.

On our return and at the four way stop street at Police Headquarters I saw a gathering of people. I got out of the motor vehicle and walked to the gathering. Lt. Col Ramatlape and Major Mokhethi were at that stage still in the motor vehicle. As I approached the gathering I saw on the right hand side of the road facing Mafikeng a blue Mercedes Benz parked on the side of the road. On the left hand side of this vehicle I saw three white men dressed in "khaki" clothes lying on the ground. I could see that the one white person was dead. The two men who were still alive were talking to the press. There were also certain Bophuthatswana Policemen and Bophuthatswana Defence Force members on the scene. I left the scene and went back to Police Headquarters. When I left the scene the two white men were still alive.

I confirm that I was armed with an R4 rifle and was dressed in the uniform of the Bophuthatswana Police indicating my rank as Sergeant. I confirm that during 1990 I was appointed to the rank of Sergeant and held such rank at the relevant time.

I heard the statement of Mrs Uys and the trauma caused to her and her family. My deepest sympathy is extended to her and her family and to all those who lost loved ones during the events of 11March 1994. I too have been severely traumatised due to the wrong and mistaken identification by one person and have been labelled a cold blooded killer. I am married with a child of six and both my wife and child have suffered greatly as a result hereof. I deny that I killed the AWB members and am grateful of this opportunity given to me by the Commission to present this statement."


Sergeant Nare's reference to the statement of Mrs Uys is to a statement made to the Commission by Mrs Amelia Sandra Uys, the widow of the deceased Uys, as to the trauma she and her children had suffered as a result of the shooting of her husband.

It must further be recorded that although the leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, Mr Eugene Terre'Blanche and three of its senior members made unsworn statements to the Commission, there was no evidence given under oath which could be tested by appropriate questioning by any member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging as to this incident and the Commission therefore had before it only the evidence of Lance-Corporal De Koker and Lieutenant Dikobe, both of whom the Commission finds to be reliable witnesses.

It is clear to the Commission that the deceased Uys, Wolfaardt and Fourie were occupants in the blue Mercedes car when it was part of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging convoy departing from Bophuthatswana via the Vryburg-Mafikeng road on 11 March 1994. It is also clear that the convoy was involved in an exchange of fire with members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force near the railway bridge at the entrance to Mafikeng. From the evidence of the shooting of civilians prior to the convoy's reaching that spot the Commission finds that it is probable that those on the vehicles in the convoy had started the shooting, no doubt provoked by the stones thrown at them, prior to the Bophuthatswana Defence Force personnel's retaliation in defence of themselves and the civilians there present. It also finds that the passenger in the front seat of the car who, because Wolfaardt was the driver and Uys was in the rear seat (as shown on the videos), was Fourie, fired with a firearm from the car during the skirmish, in which the car was repeatedly hit by fire from the Bophuthatswana Defence Force. Colonel du Toit testified that four spent shotgun cartridges were found inside the blue Mercedes car showing that shots had been fired from within the car. If finds further that Fourie was hit by such gunfire and was probably dead by the time the car had come to a stop or shortly thereafter. In view of the fact that it cannot be said with certainty that the Bophuthatswana Defence Force had started the firing but that the contrary would seem to be the probability viz. that the Bophuthatswana Defence Force fired in defence of themselves and the civilian crowd there present and that, in any event, it cannot be determined who fired the fatal shot or shots, the Commission is unable to find that Fourie's death was brought about by any act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person (or persons).

In the case of Uys and Wolfaardt it is undisputed that they were both shot in the head with a R4 rifle by a member of the former Bophuthatswana Police Force while lying defenceless next to the Mercedes car. Up to the sitting of the Commission their assailant had been identified as Sergeant Nare. He was, however, identified only by Inspector Mokgoko, whose evidence is completely unreliable and his identification of Sergeant Care, in the light of what follows, inaccurate and incorrect.

Pursuant to the mentioning by Inspector Mokgoko in his evidence of Constable Gaobepe, the Investigating Team, led by Captain van Gent, interviewed the latter. Apart from contesting the version of events as testified to by Inspector Mokgoko, Constable Gaobepe was able to direct the Investigating Team to the sergeant seen in the picture in the "Beeld" newspaper who, in turn, directed them to Constable Menyatsoe. They interviewed the latter at Thaba'Nchu where he is stationed. The following day he contacted Lawyers for Human Rights in Mmabatho seeking legal advice and assistance and on 6 May 1997, assisted by Advocate T Bokaba, instructed by Mr Ramphele of Lawyers for Human Rights, Constable Menyatsoe appeared before the Commission and made the following sworn statement:

"I, Bernstein Ontlametse Menyatsoe state the following:
1.
I am a police officer in the South African Police Service (SAPS), holding the rank of Constable since 1991.
2.
In order to assist the Commission in its objectives as outlined in the terms of reference, I wish to set out the background, circumstances and the events that occurred during the uprising in the Former Bophuthatswana and more specifically, my role during that period.
3.
During that period my duties involved the guarding of General Seleke's residence.
4
On the 10th March 1994 at about 22h00 I was sleeping at my place, when my neighbour who was in the Bop Defence Force came to my place. He informed me about the presence of the armed AWB members at the Bophuthatswana Air Force Base. He said they had virtually taken over from the regular Bophuthatswana army. He informed me that the mere presence of the AWB was not acceptable to the black Bop Defence Force members.
5.
The following morning at about 8h00 I reported for duty at the Police Headquarters (TTA). When I arrived at work I was issued with an R4 rifle. We were informed not to leave the camp. One of the senior officials instructed us to guard the TTA as it could be attacked by the right-wingers.
6.
Around midday I went to the kitchen to have my lunch. As I was having lunch with colleagues I heard gun shots fired from outside the building. The shooting was continuous and I became worried about my safety. We then decided to go outside to see what was happening.
7.
As we were leaving the kitchen the shooting was continuing. I saw a bakkie full of white khaki-clad men driving pass the TTA gate. I heard a shot coming from the direction of the bakkie and a bullet struck next to my boot.
8.
I dived to the ground and rolled towards the parameter wall. When I reached the wall I stayed for sometime. I then heard people who were trying to force open the gates. They managed to open these gates. They approached me demanding protection failing which I surrender my R4 rifle to them so that they should protect themselves.
9.
I refused to hand over the rifle as it is against the rules of the police force. I chose to protect them from this attack myself in order to avert further disorder and chaos. I consider giving arms to members of the public and irreprehensible (sic).
10.
I ended up on the other side of the road from TTA. I heard gunshots from a blue Mercedes Benz that was travelling from Vryburg towards Mafikeng. When the Mercedes Benz drove pass (sic) where I was lying the people in the Mercedes started directing shots at me. I heard a man screaming that he had been shot. He was bleeding from the knee. 
11.
I took an aim at the Mercedes Benz and fired several shots. The Mercedes Benz stopped a distance away. As I was moving towards the Mercedes I saw a woman lying on the ground bleeding from the stomach. 
12.
I approached the occupants of the Mercedes and fired shots at them. I immediately left the scene. I went back to TTA and met one white officer who said I had done a good job.
13.
During this period what I perceived to be a state of war was prevailing. I was enraged by the attempts on my life and the indiscriminate shooting of the defenceless and innocent members of the public. It appeared to me that the only crime committed by members of the public was to seek to make their own decision regarding participation in the forthcoming elections. I felt obliged, as a policeman, to stop the carnage that appeared to be continuing with impunity. The prevailing circumstances were of such a pressing nature that I considered it my duty to do everything in my power to ensure complete stop to the killings.
14.
My actions on the 11th of March 1994 should not just be seen through the lens of the camera that focussed on the dramatic moment showing a black policeman firing at three khaki-clad swastika bearing white men. We should bear in mind that during this period more than 40 people had died and many were injured.
15.
I have been condemned as a murderer by some, whilst many others have regarded me as a hero. I see myself as an ordinary policeman who obliged when duty called to defend human life, dignity and prevent anarchy."

Advocate Bokaba, in elaboration of paragraph 13 of Constable Menyatsoe's statement told the Commission that it was his client's instructions that he admitted that:-

(i) he shot the three white members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging who were lying outside the Mercedes Benz motor car;

(ii) it was he and not Sergeant Nare who shot the men; and

(iii) he was responsible for killing the three men.

Advocate Bokaba informed the Commission that Constable Menyatsoe intended applying to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty for his part in the killing of the three deceased.

The Commission therefore finds that the identification of Sergeant Nare as the person who shot the three deceased is incorrect and that he is innocent of any offence regarding them. The prosecution of him should accordingly be withdrawn forthwith.

In the cases of Case No 6, Nicolaas Johannes Fourier Case No 55, Jacob Stephanus Uys and Case No 59, Alwyn Wolfaardt the Commission therefore finds that

7.4.1 In the CASE NO 6, NICOLAAS JOHANNES FOURIE

(a) the identity of the deceased is NICOLAAS JOHANNES FOURIE an
adult, male, aged 40 years.

(b) the circumstances of the death is that the deceased was probably killed when he was a passenger in a car which was part of a convoy of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging vehicles that was involved in a skirmish with members of the Bophuthatswana Defence and Police Force on 11 March 1994.

(c) the cause of the death was bullet wounds of the head and neck involving the brain and spinal cord.

(d) as the deceased was probably shot and killed during the skirmish in which he had fired at people and had his shots returned, the Commission is of the view that there was no act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence the part of any person.

7.4.2 In the CASE NO 55, JACOB STEPHANUS UYS

(a) the identity of the deceased is JACOB STEPHANUS UYS an adult, male, aged 33 years (identity number 6004175154083).

(b) the circumstances of his death are that he was shot and killed by Constable Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe on 1 1 March 1994 while lying wounded next to a Mercedes Benz car which had been involved in a skirmish with members of the Bophuthatswana Defence and Police Force and in which the deceased had been a passenger.

(c) the cause of the death was bullet wounds to the chest and the head.

(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie amounting to an offence on the part of Constable Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe.

7.4.3 In the CASE NO 59, ALWYN WOLFAARDT

(a) the identity of the deceased is ALWYN WOLFAARDT an adult, male, aged 43 years (identity number 49121 15177000).

(b)the circumstances of his death are that he was shot and killed by Constable Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe on 1 1 March 1994 while lying wounded next to a Mercedes Benz car which had been involved in a skirmish with members of the Bophuthatswana Defence and Police Force and in which the deceased had been a passenger. (c)The cause of death was cranio-cerebral injuries caused by having been shot in the head.

(d) the death was brought about by an act primofacie amounting to an offence on the part of Constable Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe.

7.5 CASE NO 9: FRANCOIS WILLEM JANSEN VAN RENSBURG

As set out in the section of the Report on the background to the events of 11 March 1994 and the summary of the major events of that day, members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and of the Afrikaner Volksfront entered Mmabatho during the night of Thursday, 10 March 1994 and the early hours of the morning of 1 1 March 1994. The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging left Mafikeng unescorted at between about noon and 13:00 on 1 1 March 1994 while a convoy of Afrikaner Volksfront members was escorted by a convoy of the South African Defence Force from the Air Force Base to the Bophuthatswana boundary late on the afternoon of 11 March 1994. Part of this convoy of Afrikaner Volksfront members was shot at in an ambush in Voortrekker Road and three of the members were wounded in the skirmish. One of those was the deceased FRANCOIS WILLEM JANSEN VAN RENSBURG, an adult, male, aged 36 years (identity number 5709125096082), who died later that evening from his wounds. How he met his death appears from the evidence of Major Christiaan Jacobus Serfontein, Dr J J van der Merwe and Sister (Captain) A C M Klopper.

Major Serfontein of the South African Defence Force testified that on
10 March 1994 he was a member of one of a number of South African
Defence Force units stationed at Klippan in the then Western Transvaal.
Klippan was situated in one of those areas which had been declared an
unrest area.

On 10 March 1994 it became known that there was Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging activity in the area and that members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging were converging on Mmabatho. It also became known that Afrikaner Volksfront members were proceeding to Mmabatho ostensible to stabilise the situation there. On the morning of 11 March 1994, his unit, consisting of about 100 men, moved into Mafikeng to the South African Embassy. They passed Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging bakkies on the way. Some of these tried to force their way in between the South African Defence Force convoy vehicles, others just stood parked alongside the road. At about 16:00 of that day his unit received instructions to occupy the Bophuthatswana Defence Force Headquarters and also the Air Force Base and to escort the right-wingers from the Air Force Base and out of Mafikeng. At the Air Force Base he met Colonel Burger of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force and one Lennert Venendal of the Afrikaner Volksbront. Other Afrikaner Volksfront leaders such as General Constand Viljoen and Colonel Jan Breytenbach were also present. There were no Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leaders there. There was a large group of men clad in khaki, said Major Serfontein, whom his unit would assist in escorting out of Bophuthatswana. He told them that he would order four Caspirs to lead the way with three more Caspirs to bring up the rear. The Afrikaner Volksfront vehicles, which numbered about 80 bakkies, would be in between. The Afrikaner Volksfront members were armed with R1 and R4 rifles. He told them that he would accept no responsibility for any of their activities. The convoy which was, he thought, the last to leave the Base, travelled without incident from the Air Force Base to the Mmabatho Sun Hotel and then turned right into Voortrekker Road.

Off to the right hand or western side of Voortrekker Road there was at that time a disused Air Force Base with an old runway and an old hanger. These were separated from Voortrekker Road by a low wall, about one metre high. As the convoy moved along Voortrekker Road and past this wall, the convoy came under fire from behind the wall. People in the convoy jumped from their bakkies and sought shelter on the eastern side of the road. Major Serfontein said he saw that tracer bullets were being fired at the right wingers. It was not automatic fire, rather the firing came from a number of weapons. From the fact that tracer bullets were used, which were not available to the civilian population, he concluded that the firing came from military personnel. The right-wingers returned the fire, which then stopped. They then returned to their vehicles. The incident lasted about two minutes. Major Serfontein said that three of the Afrikaner Volksfront members were wounded, one through the hip, one through his shoulder blades and the deceased was shot through his jaw. The others were not seriously wounded, the deceased was. He was bleeding badly. He was transported to Klippan where there was a medical unit. He was still conscious at that stage but could not speak or walk by himself. Referred to a statement that the deceased had walked unaided to the Caspir, Major Serfontein said that it was inaccurate. He could not have done so.

Dr van der Merwe said that on 11 March 1994 he was a medical officer with the rank of Captain in the South African Defence Force at Klippan. There was a field medical unit there. That evening the deceased was brought in with a gunshot wound that had entered his jaw in front of the right ear and exited under the jaw on the left hand side. He was placed in the sick bay. The deceased could breath unaided but could not communicate or speak. He did not move or react to the doctors and Dr van der Merwe made the assumption that he was unconscious. He and a senior medical officer, Dr D P Dijkstra, got the bleeding under control. However, the deceased required surgical treatment which it was not possible to carry out at Klippan. There was only what could be described as a casualty station there. There was no operating theatre and no blood supplies. It was accordingly necessary to transport him by helicopter to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria. He was carried on a stretcher from the sick bay to the helicopter. Dr van der Merwe said that before the deceased was loaded into the helicopter, he asked the deceased if he could hear him (Dr van der Merwe) and if he was comfortable. The deceased nodded but he could not speak. He could certainly not walk. Dr Dijkstra and Sister Klopper also boarded the helicopter to accompany the deceased to hospital. While the helicopter's motors were increasing speed prior to take off, the vibration in the helicopter increased. Before the helicopter took off, the deceased began bleeding badly again from the wound in his neck. Dr Dijkstra asked the pilot not to take off and the deceased was then carried once more on a stretcher from the helicopter to the sick bay. Blood was sucked from his throat and other resuscitative measures applied. No fewer than six doctors were involved in treating the deceased. The deceased was comatose. He was placed on a ventilator. The wound and the bleeding were brought under control. However, later during the night the deceased suddenly developed a cardiac arrest and despite all attempts at resuscitation by the six doctors, including heart massage, he died at about 00:30 on 12 March 1994. Sister Klopper, then a Captain in the South African Defence Force, and Dr Dijkstra corroborated Dr van der Merwe's testimony in all respects.

In the document "Vuur en Verraad" the author, Arthur Kemp, refers to "the mysterious death" of the deceased. He says:

"Die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag het hom met die Caspir na die Klippan-Hospitaal geneem. Die dokter het vdkt Francois (the deceased) gestabiliseer om met 'n helikopter na die HF Verwoerd Hospitaal of 1 Militere Hospitaal geneem te word.

Vdkt Francois het geen ander hulp aanvaar nie. Hy het oral rondgestap en sy duim vir sy makkers gewys om aan te dui dat hy reg is. Toe hy in die helikopter inklim, het hulle aan horn gese dat hulle sy vrou sal laat weet en hy het weer sy duim gewys. Hulle het opgestyg met hom en 'n rukkie later met sy lyk teruggekom."

It is clear in the view of the Commission that this account of what happened is, in the light of all the evidence which is not contradicted in any way, completely inaccurate. The deceased was totally unable to walk or to lift his thumb to anyone. Moreover, the helicopter never took off nor did the deceased die while in it. He died while undergoing treatment in the field hospital at Klippan.

The Commission finds that the deceased died as a result of a gunshot wound through the jaw, the cause of death being given by Dr Mariette Hurst, who performed the post-mortem examination as "Gunshot wound of oral cavity and pharynx, aspiration of blood", which wound was sustained when a convoy in which the deceased was travelling was ambushed and fired on, probably by mutinying members of the Bophuthatswana Police or Defence Force. The Commission is unable to establish from which of these forces the members came or who such members were or who fired the shot that fatally wounded the deceased. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is FRANCOIS WILLEM JANSEN VAN RENSBURG an adult, male, aged 36 years (identity number 5709125096082).

(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot on 11 March 1994 by an unidentified member or members of the Bophuthatswana Police or Defence Force while a passenger in a convoy of Afrikaner VolksFront vehicles on their way out of Bophuthatswana.

(c) the cause of the death is a "gunshot wound of the oral cavity and pharynx with aspiration of blood".

(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving amounting to an offence on the part of an unknown member members of the Bophuthatswana Defence or Police Force.

7.6 CASE NO 13: LESEGO ROSINAH KHUDUGE

The deceased in this case appears to have been a looter who was shot at a near Mega City by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force.

The mother of this girl, who was aged 15 years when she died, Lydia Mosito, testified that the deceased and a nephew of hers, Rramogomotsi John Mosito, asked her permission to go to Mega City on 10 March 1994 She refused. However, they went anyway. Later Rrarnogomotsi returned to say that everything at Mega City was topsy-turvy. There were man' people there and shots were being fired. He did not say who was doing the shooting. The deceased did not return with him. She found the body of the deceased the following day at the Victoria Hospital Mortuary. The deceased had died of a bullet wound. The post-mortem examination revealed that the deceased had been shot from the front and the side. Ravula said the fatal wound could have been caused by one bullet Rramogomotsi Mosito, a 19 year old standard 9 scholar, said that on 10 March 1994 he and his cousin, the deceased, left his aunt's house at about 18:00 to go to Mega City where, so they had been told, goods could be taken free. They found a crowd of people looting the shops there and they too took some goods. Part of the building was on fire and there was smoke throughout that part of the building where they were. He suggested to the deceased that they should go home. They were, however, stopped by police who told them to place the goods they had taken on the floor in the passage near the Standard Bank in Mega City. The police were in uniform and some were wearing teargas masks. These were members of the Bophuthatswana Police. The police escorted them to the exit near CNA. Some of the police were shooting at the looters. Rramogomotsi said he and the deceased started running away. She ran one way and he another. He called to her but got no reply. He then ran home where his mother said he should go back to Mega City to look for the deceased. As he got near to it, however, he became nervous as the Bophuthatswana Police, whom he identified by their uniforms, were firing shots. Some were firing teargas and others were firing bullets at those who were running away. He did not find the deceased. He could not say who had shot the deceased.

The Commission finds in this case that the deceased died from a bullet wound and that she was probably shot in the vicinity of Mega City by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force whose identity cannot, however, be established. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is LESEGO ROSINAH KHUDUGE, a female, aged 15 years.

(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot on 10 March 1994 probably at Mega City by an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force.

(c) the cause of the death was a bullet 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 Bophuthatswana Police Force.

7.7 CASE NO 14: WILHEMINA NNUNU KGWADINYANE

This case originally appeared to be clear and uncomplicated. It seemed the deceased, a young woman, aged 22 years, of Thutlwane Stat, had been shot near the garage known as Uncle Barneys by a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging from a convoy of vehicles travelling along the Vryburg-Mafikeng road. This was because of the evidence of one Jacob Bankies who said he had identified her body where it lay next to the said road. He said he knew the deceased well. That evidence later, however appeared to be unreliable in that the body of the deceased was not found where Bankies said that the deceased had fallen but in front of a furniture store in the heart of Mafikeng some 3 km away from where Bankies said he had found her.

Bankies stated that on 10 March 1994 at about 16:00 he was going homewards from Mafikeng along the Mafikeng-Vryburg road when he heard the sound of gunshots and saw a convoy of motor cars, from which the shots seemed to be coming, travelling from Mafikeng in his direction. He was then crossing the bridge over the railway line. He ran in the direction of the junction of the Vryburg Road and the Lucas Mangope Highway. When he got near that junction the convoy overtook him. There were about five motor cars in which white men in khaki clothing were travelling. These men were shooting at random and indiscriminately at people along the roadside. He hid behind some bushes to avoid being shot. When the convoy had passed him, it turned into Lucas Mangope Highway and travelled in the direction of Mega City. He continued to hear shots being fired from the cars. He then saw two women lying near where he was at the roadside about 2 metre from the tarred portion. He went to look at them and saw that both were dead. He did not know the identity of one of them but, as stated, he knew the other. She was the deceased, Wilhemina Kgwadinyane. There was a bullet wound in the back of her head. Her face was covered in blood. It was quite clear, said Bankies, that she had been shot by one of the persons in the convoy. Those persons were the only ones doing any shooting at the time. Although he did not see the two women before they were shot, from the position where he found them after they were shot, they must have been walking close to the tarred surface of the roadway and a very short distance from the convoy which was travelling along the tarred surface. It was then still broad daylight on a clear day, the sun having not yet gone down. The two women were still lying dead where they had fallen when he ran away to seek refuge at a friend's house. He saw, however, two ambulances picking up the bodies and taking them in the direction of the Bophelong Hospital. The mother of the deceased, Ruth Moshoete, identified the body of her daughter at the mortuary there the next day i.e on Friday, 11 March 1994. Neither Bankies nor the mother were, however, sure of the dates. The mother said she saw a gunshot wound at the back of her daughter's head. Her daughter's forehead had been shot away completely.

A photograph of the deceased taken at the post-mortem examination shows that the deceased's forehead was indeed completely shot away. The pathologist who performed the examination, Dr William Been, said the with a wound of that sort, death would have been instantaneous. He thought that having regard to the damage to the deceased's forehead and he brain, the weapon used was probably a shotgun.

So far so good then until a photograph of a body lying in front of a shop is Mafikeng was extracted from a video of bodies seen in the streets o Mafikeng during the period in question. The photograph was blown up and enlarged.

It shows a body of a woman dressed in a white skirt with a black top, which is either a blouse or a type of jersey known as a "skipper", and wearing a pair of black shoes lying on the pavement with a very large stream of blood running from her forehead. This body was also seen by Brigadier McDuling and Brigadier Wessels of the South African Police who testified before the Commission. They both said it was lying on the pavement in front of; furniture store in central Mafikeng.

The picture of this body was shown to a sister of the deceased, Gloria Kgwadinyane, who immediately identified it as that of her sister, The deceased, from the clothing the deceased had worn on the day she was killed and from the woman's build.

The large stream of blood emanating from He head of the deceased depicted in the picture is consistent with the massive head wound suffered by the deceased.

The Commission accordingly finds that it cannot rely on the evidence of Bankies as to how the deceased met her death. The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is WILHELMINA NNUNU KGWADINYANE, an adult, female, aged 22 years.

(b) the circumstances of the death are that she was shot by an unknown person in Central Mafikeng on 11 March 1994.

(c) the cause of the death is a "massive head injury caused by a bullet wound".

(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence by an unknown person.

7.8 CASE NO 15:

MATSHEDISO SYLVIA LEINANA

The deceased in this case was obviously shot by members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. A 32-year old woman of Tlhabologo, she died of a gunshot wound in the chest on 11 March 1994.

The circumstances of her death were described by two eyewitnesses, Mrs Constance Kutoane and Ms Jane Moloi. Mrs Kutoane testified that at about 13:00 on 11 March 1994 she and the deceased were walking towards Mmabatho from Mafikeng. Shortly after passing the TTA offices a police vehicle drove past and via a loudspeaker said "People run into your houses because the 'Boere of Terre'Blanche' are coming along from Mmabatho and are shooting". She and the deceased and the others who were there thereupon ran into an adjacent village. The vehicles in which she saw white men dressed in khaki shorts and shirts travelling, some of the men with balaclavas over their faces, also turned into the streets of the village. She and the deceased and others tried to get into a large house but the inhabitants had locked their doors. They then took refuge in a mud house next door to the large house. She then heard shots being fired. When the shooting ceased the deceased said "I want to see the boys of Terre'Blanche'. The deceased went to the door of the house and peeped out. She said "There they are". The deceased then stood just outside the door. Mrs Kutoane said she too emerged from the house and stood behind the deceased. The were looking in the direction of the tarred road from Vryburg to Mafikeng. At that stage the Bophuthatswana Police, in what Mrs Kutoane described as "Hippos", were engaged in a pitched gun battle with the whites. The latter were firing at the police, who in turn were returning the fire of the whites. While watching this shooting, Mrs Kutoane said she heard The deceased cry out and then fall to the ground. A shot had been fired from behind them which had missed her but had struck the deceased in the left side of her back. This shot had apparently come from the direction of a road running behind the house next to which they were standing. Mrs Kutoane said that when the deceased cried out she, Mrs Kutoane, looked around and saw the barrel of a rifle protruding from the rear window of a vehicle the she said "whizzed past"on the road. Later some young men who were also at the scene told her that the shot had come from a silver coloured Mercedes-Benz motor car. Mrs Kutoane said she rendered assistance to the deceased and was able to get a passing motorist to take the deceased to hospital. The deceased died on the way there. At a post-mortem examination the cause of death was determined as "shock and haemorrhage due to laceration of left lung due to firearm injury". Dr Ravula who did the examination said the deceased had been shot from the back. It was one bullet wound only. Mrs Kutoane said that the only shooting in the village had come from the vehicles in which the white men were travelling. The police had not entered the village. The police had engaged the whites in battle further down the road towards Mafikeng. They could not have fired the shot that killed the deceased. They appeared to be trying to stop the whites from proceeding further along the road and from entering Mafikeng. She said she saw no soldiers or members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force or any military vehicles there. Only the police, she said, were engaged in the gun battle with the whites. She later picked up a bullet on the floor which she kept for a while but had since lost. Ms Maloi's evidence was corroborative of Mrs Kutoane's testimony in all material respects.

The Commission therefore finds that

(a) the identity of the deceased is MATSHEDISA SYLVIA LEINANA, an adult, female, aged 32 years (identity number 6201105100604).

(b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased died of a gunshot wound inflicted on 11 March 1994 by an Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member whose identity cannot be established.

(c) the cause of the death is "shock and haemorrhage due to laceration of left lung due to firearm injury".

(d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving amounting to an offence on the part of an unidentified Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member.

7.9 CASE NO 17: RIVIES (OR REEVES) LESIGE

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 we! 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".

Korolosi's allegations became even more suspect in the light of certain other facts. Colonel Burger, who had been the deceased's commanding officer said that the deceased did not work in the Logistics Section of the Air Force but in the Personnel Section. These were entirely separate sections. The deceased, moreover, would have had nothing to do with the purchase of aeroplanes or the payment for them. These were matters which would have been the concern of officers far senior to the deceased, who was a lieutenant. Cheques were also not made out by the Defence Force but by the Treasury.

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.
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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.

7.10 CASE NO 22: GAOBOLELWE LEINIE MOENG

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.

7.11 CASE NO 24: NTHUDI ISAAC MOKGALAPA

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.

7.12 CASE NO 26: TEBOGO LAWRENCE MOKAATSELA

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.

7.13 CASE NO 27: KEBONEMOTSE JOEL MOKALENG

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.

7.14 CASE NO 28:	OARABELE JOSEPH MOKGOSANA

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.

7.15 CASE NO 30: LEBOGANG MARIA MOLEFE

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.

7.16 CASE NO 37: ESLITA GALETLALE MOTHOBI

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.

7.17 CASE NO 38: KEHENTSE ANNA NAKEDI

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.

7.18 CASE NO 40: JOHN NZIMENI NDAKANA

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.

7.19 CASE NO 42: MANDLA ELLIOT NGWENYA

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.

7.20 CASE NO 46: PETRUS NYEMBANE SAUL

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. Dr Dawood Botha, who assisted Dr Ravula with some of the post-mortems, said he could not remember this case at all. All the cases he dealt with were persons who had died of gunshot wounds. He said, however, that with the number of cases they had to deal with at the time and the speed at which they had to work, it was possible that a stab wound and a bullet wound could have been confused. The diagnosis of a pathologist, he said, could well be subject to error.

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.

7.21 CASE NO 47: MATOTA PETRUS SEBAETSE

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.

7.22 CASE NO 48: ISAAC SEGOLODI

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.

7.23 CASE NO 51: LAWRENCE SELEHO SEUPE

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.

7.24 CASE NO 54: POGISHO HENDRICK TSETSE

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".

7.25 CASE NO 56: FRANK VANYAZA

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.

7.26 CASE NO 57: FRANCOIS ALWYN VENTER

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 metre 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.

7.27 CASE NO 58: MANDLA PIET VILAKAZI

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.