PART SIX 1. THE DEATHS THAT OCCURRED IN THE AREAS OF THE FORMER BOPHUTHATSWANA OTHER THAN THE MMABATHO/MAFIKENG AREA 1.1 The Commission turns then to consider those deaths. As in the case of those killed in the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area, the Commission has set out a list of the names of all the deceased, save in the case of those who were not, or could not be, identified and allocated a case number to each one. To distinguish them from the deaths in the Mmabatho/Mafikeng area, the Commission has enumerated those whose deaths fell outside the Commission's terms of reference as C 1 to C40 (in Annexure C hereto) and enumerated the others whose deaths were investigated as B1 to B52 (Annexure B hereto). 1.2 In all instances post-mortem examinations were carried out on the bodies of the deceased. Some of these were performed by Dr C G Fosseus and Dr Percival Dubasi, forensic pathologists, with the latter currently a lecturer in forensic medicine at Medunsa University. Most of them, however, were performed by Dr Francis Kariuki, a forensic pathologist at Ga-Rankuwa Hospital. Dr A J Coetzee, the district surgeon of Vryburg, Dr N J Reddy, the senior medical officer of Lehurutshe and Dr E G Amlima with Dr W J Geyer, senior medical officers of Kudumane, also performed post-mortem examinations. 1.3 The Commission also had the benefit of the evidence of a ballistics expert of the South African Police, Captain Theunis Brits, who, from the wounds found at the post-mortem examinations and from pellets, spent bullets and fragments of such pellets and bullets found in certain of the bodies during the post-mortem examinations, was able to express opinions as to the types of weapons used to fire the shots causing the wounds in question, the number of shots fired, and the distance at which the shots were probably fired. 2. DEATHS WHERE THE DECEASED WAS NOT OR COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED CASES NO B39 - B48 The evidence was that on 11 March 1994 the Central City Complex was completely burnt down and that as a result part of the roof burnt and collapsed. Detective Sergeant Andrew Molokoane, who is employed at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary testified that on 15 March 1994 he and Constable Raymond Tapi went to Cental City where bodies were pointed out to them under the rubble of the burnt collapsed roof. All the bodies were decomposed and burnt beyond recognition. They took them to the Mortuary. Inspector Ramoa Mokgoko also collected the remains of some four bodies there on 25 March 1994. Dr Percival Dubasi, who conducted post-mortem examinations on the bodies, testified that the bodies were burnt and charred to such an extent that he could not determine the cause of death in each case nor, having been burnt beyond recognition, were they capable of identification not even by fingerprinting (their hands having been burnt away) nor by DNA finger-printing by reason of the extent of the charring. From fragments of broken bones and small pieces of unburnt clothing he could determine that in cases B39 to B44 the bodies were those of male adults and in cases no B45, 46, 47 and 48 the bodies were those of four male children. Both Sergeant Molokoane and Inspector Mokgoko testified that they gave every assistance to those who came to the Mortuary to attempt to identify the bodies. Up to five families a day came there but despite their giving these families all the help they could, none of the bodies could be identified. No findings as required by the Commission's Terms of Reference can therefore be made. 3. DEATH WHERE TO DECEASED WAS IDENTIFIED ALTHOUGH SEVERELY BURNT CASE NO B7: WATKINS LEBETHE The body of this deceased was also found under the rubble of the collapsed roof at Central City Complex. It too had been severely burnt and was decomposed. It was, however, identified as the body of Watkins Lebethe from a fragment of a T-shirt he had been wearing. Dr Francis Kariuki who conducted the post-mortem found the cause of death to be "severe burns". The concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood was low, leading Dr Karinki to the opinion that the deceased had probably died before being burnt and buried under the rubble of the collapsed and burnt roof. The Magistrate of Odi held an inquest in terms of the Inquest Act, No 58 of 1959 on 16 July 1996 into the death of the deceased and found (a) the identity of the deceased is Watkins Lebethe, aged 30 years. (b) the date of death is 15 March 1994. (c) the cause of the death was "severe burns - charred". (d) as to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the post of any person, the Magistrate found "undetermined". There is no evidence to support the finding that the date of death was on 15 March 1994. The body of the deceased was found on 15 March 1994. The date of death is therefore obviously an error and should be recorded as undetermined. Otherwise, the Commission agrees with the above finding. The Investigating Team found no witnesses to the incident. 4. THE REMAINING DEATHS 4.1 CASE NO B1: AUBREY BAKANE Due to the lapse of time between the violence in the former Bophuthatswana in the week of 7 to 14 March 1994 and the appointment in 1996 of the Commission and the carrying out of its subsequent activities and proceedings many witnesses had disappeared and in the case of several of the deaths nobody who could testify to the circumstances in which the deceased had died could, despite diligent and exhaustive investigation by the Investigation Team, be traced. That occurred in this case. This deceased died as a result of a shotgun wound to the head. He was apparently taken to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital but the hospital file in regard to him has disappeared without trace. His body was later found at Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary where according to the Mortuary records it was identified by one Lydia Bakane. Strenuous efforts to trace the latter including interviewing people in Koppies and in Odi Prison had proved unsuccessful. A press report asking for anyone knowing her whereabouts to contact the Investigating Team had also borne no fruit. No one who could say how the deceased had been shot could be found nor could anyone say where the body had been found. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is AUBREY BAKANE, a male, aged 17 years. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be established. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the head. (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. 4.2 CASE NO B2: SOLLY SOLOMON BALOYI AND CASE NO B28: SELLO ALFRED NONYANE The facts in these two cases are the same. Both the deceased were shot by white men who probably were policemen, although it was not possible to establish with certainty who they were. Jacob Ntshudisane (for ease I shall refer to him as Jacob) said he and the two deceased were friends. At about 16:00 on 11 March 1994 he said he was on his way on foot from Hammanskloof to Temba when the two deceased who were in Baloyi's car, a Datsun Pulsar, picked him up. Because of the looting around the Checkers Complex in Temba, some of the streets in the area had been barricaded. They accordingly drove into one of the residential areas to find a way round to get to Makapanstadt. Baloyi was a hawker and there were some of his goods in the car. Baloyi drove and he and Jacob sat in the front seat with Nonyane in the back. As they were turning into a street in the Temba residential area a vehicle followed them. Shots were fired from this vehicle hitting the tyres of their car causing it to stop. The vehicle was a white 4 X 4 bakkie without a canopy. Jacob said he saw two white men in the cab of this vehicle. No one was in the back. Jacob said he and the deceased sat in their car for a while. The other vehicle was about 30 to 40 paces behind them. Baloyi got out first and started moving from the driver's side past the front of their car, with his back to the other vehicle. He was shot in the back by the whites who were firing from out of the windows of their vehicle. Nonyane then also got out of their car and also set off away from the whites' vehicle. He too was shot in the back. Jacob said he was then left alone in the car. He opened the car door near to him and was shot in the hand by a shotgun pellet. He closed the door. After a while he decided to surrender and emerged from the car with his arms raised. As he did so he was shot in the stomach and lower part of the chest. He lost consciousness. He came to in Ga-Rankuwa Hospital. Jacob said the whites were not in uniform. He could not identify them in any way. There was nothing to show that the vehicle was a police vehicle. It had a computer registration number which he could not remember. Daniel Boiyane, who lives in the residential area in question said he and a friend, Dineo Mokone, were walking home at about 16:30 on Friday, 11 March 1994 when a Datsun Pulsar car, in which there were three black men, passed them followed by a white bakkie. Shots were fired at the car from the bakkie. He and Dineo split up and ran for cover in different directions. He ran into a house there and peeped out of the windows. He saw two white men in the bakkie, shooting out of the windows of the latter. He saw one of the occupants of the car get out and fall, shot, to the ground. He was worried about Dineo and went to look for her. She said she had been shot in the right side. He was concerned about getting her to hospital and although he saw the men lying near to their car, he did not attend to them. He wrote down the registration number of the bakkie and kept it for some time but while tidying up recently had thrown away the paper on which the number was written. He could not now remember the number in its entirely but remembered that the last letter in the number was an "H". Eveline Shakwane said that Dineo Mokone was her daughter. Dineo also had a sister, Mavis. On 11 March 1994 she was at home in the afternoon. It was chaotic in the area around Checkers. She said that she saw a white Datsun Pulsar with three black men inside being chased by a white bakkie without a canopy in which there were two white men. One was driving and one was leaning out of the passenger window shooting at the Pulsar with a "long gun". The Pulsar came to a stop, its tyre having been shot. One of the men in the Pulsar got out and started to run away. He was shot by the white man. Another got out and surrendered with his arms raised. He too was shot. At that stage Dineo and Mavis, who had been out away from home, returned. Mavis told her that Dineo had been shot. Mrs Shakwane said she checked this and found that Dineo had been shot in the back. Shortly afterwards members of the Bophuthatswana Police arrived in two vehicles and picked up the men who had been shot. The whites, who were in civilian clothes, were then still on the scene. They had looked at the bodies before the Bophuthatswana Police arrived. The latter were in uniform. One of the vehicles appeared to be a mortuary van. Mrs Shakwane said she could not say if the whites and the Bophuthatswana Police had spoken to one another as she was then busy attending to Dineo. The latter's wound was a serious one, requiring her to go to hospital. She had by now completely recovered. A post-mortem examination performed by Dr Kariuki showed that the deceased Baloyi had died from shotgun wounds to the buttock, pelvis and abdomen, fired from behind him. The deceased Nonyane died from multiple shotgun wounds to his chest, back of the neck and left arm penetrating the chest and collapsing the lungs. The doctor removed ten shotgun pellets from the left arm, four from the chest and four from the back of the neck. He felt - and Captain Brits agreed with him - that two blasts from the shotgun had been fired at Nonyane. The police found the Datsun at the scene with the bodies of the two deceased lying near it. There were pellet marks on the boot of the car and holes on the sides of it. Sergeant Isaac Mokgokolo who attended at the scene, said the people there "were fighting us". They were shouting that "these whites are just shooting us" and "fighting" with him and colleague because they were policemen. They thought the whites were policemen. It seems likely that the whites were police and that they followed the Datsun and shot at it because they saw the goods in the car and thought that the men in the car had got them by looting and were looters. This assumption seems all the more likely in the light of the evidence of Mrs Shakwane that they were still on the scene when the Bophuthatswana Police arrived to pick up the bodies, having made no attempt to get away. The Bophuthatswana Police, too, appeared to have done nothing about arresting them. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased are (i) SOLLY SOLOMON BALOYI, an adult, male, aged 24 years. (ii) SELLO ALFRED NONYANE, an adult, male, aged 27 years. (b) the circumstances of their deaths are that they were shot in the back when moving away from their car which had been stopped by being fired on by two white men from a white 4 X 4 bakkie which had followed their car. The deceased were shot by the two white men, whose identity cannot be established but who were probably policemen and who must have thought that the deceased were looters. (c) the cause of the death was (i) in the case of SOLLY SOLOMON BALOYI, shotgun wounds to the buttock, pelvis and abdomen; and (ii) in the case of SELLO ALFRED NONYANE, shotgun wounds to the chest with bleeding into the chest. (d) the deaths were brought about by an act or acts prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of two unknown white persons, who were probably policemen but whose identity cannot now be established. 4.3 CASE NO B3: SIMON BANDA The deceased in this case was shot at Central City Complex during the rioting there. Oupa Samuel Makameta testified that on Friday, 11 March 1994 he and the deceased went in the fattens car to Central City. They had a hawker's stall there and having heard that there was looting in progress at the Complex they wanted to find out if their stall was damaged. They parked the car at the stall and went to the Complex, splitting up to go to separate entrances. Police of the Bophuthatswana Police Force were firing teargas at the looters. Makameta said he went back to the car. While it was parked there a woman, Thoko Skhosana, whom they knew, wanted to put some looted goods into the car. While waiting for the deceased to return, said Makameta, he saw white policemen shooting at the crowd, firing live ammunition. He ran away. While running he saw a man being shot in the thigh. He (Makameta) was also struck by a rubber bullet. The deceased did not return to his car and Thoko told him that the deceased had been shot inside the Complex. He took a taxi home. The white policemen who were shooting at the crowd were wearing the blue uniform of the South African Police. Other whites who were also shooting were dressed in civilian clothes and some in brown uniforms. He thought the latter were soldiers. They were also wearing helmets with visors. The Bophuthatswana Police, who were all blacks, only fired teargas. Makameta said he heard later that the deceased's body was found near the Pick 'n Pay Shop in the Complex. He did not know where or by whom the deceased had been shot. A postmortem examination by Dr Kariuki revealed that the deceased died as a result of a bullet wound to the head. Only one shot caused the wound. It had probably been fired, according to Captain Brits, from a high-velocity firearm (an R4 or R5 or LM4 of LMS rifle) from a distance. This type of firearm was used by members of the Security Forces. Private security firms also used them. The latter used Vektors, which are similar to R4 and RS and LM4 and LMS rifles, as well. There is no evidence of any South African Police having been at the complex at the time or any white soldiers. Makameta may have therefore confused Security Firm members with Police or Defence Force members. Whatever the position, there is complete uncertainty as to who shot the deceased. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is SIMON BANDA, an adult, male, aged 36 years. (b) the circumstances of his death are that he was probably shot by an unknown person while in Central City Complex during the looting there. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the head. (d) the Commission is unable to determine if the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person. 4.4 CASE NO B4: SELLO VICTOR DLALE This is another case where the deceased was shot while looting at Central City Complex but where it is not known how, where or by whom he was shot. Oupa John Mogwebi, a cousin of the deceased, testified that he and the deceased went to Central City to loot arriving there at about 06:30 to join a large crowd of looters. Members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force were firing teargas at the crowd and members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force were using batons and teargas to keep the crowds away from the Complex. He and the deceased became separated when the teargas was fired and he went home. He heard later that the deceased had been shot. He could not say where, how or by whom he had been shot. The deceased's body was subsequently identified at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary by another cousin of his, Lettah Diale, a police sergeant employed at the Mortuary. She also identified him from a newspaper photograph showing him lying with a wound to his head next to a road near the Central City Complex that is seen burning in the background. The post-mortem report is that the deceased died from a head injury due to a gunshot wound causing the deceased's head to explode. This "exploded head" injury, said Captain Brits, was typical of a shot from a high velocity firearm such as an R4 of R5 rifle. The Commission could also in this case not determine the circumstances in which the deceased had been shot. It finds accordingly that (a) the identity of the deceased is SELLO VICTOR DIALE, a male, aged 18 years. (b) the circumstances of his death are that he was probably shot during the looting at Central City Complex, Mabopane but the Commission is unable to determine where, how, or by whom he was shot. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the head. (d) the Commission is unable to determine whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person. 4.5 CASE NO B5: LUCKY SILAS HLENGANE In this case, too, the circumstances in which the deceased was shot cannot be determined. The post-mortem report shows that he died as a result of gunshot wounds to his chest from the back. Three such wounds were found on the deceased's back, perforating his lungs and rupturing his diaphragm. Captain Brits concluded from experiments conducted by him that these had been caused by a shot from a shotgun using SSG pellets, which are large pellets, at a distance of about 50 metre. The deceased's mother who identified the body of her son who was 22 at the time, at Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary said he left home at about 04:40 on Friday, 11 March 1994. He did not say where he was going. He did not return home. She searched for him for about two weeks before finding his body at the Mortuary on 24 March 1994. Police evidence was that the deceased's body was one of those found and picked up at Central City and taken to the Mortuary. Nobody could be found who could say where, how or by whom he had been shot. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is LUCKY SILAS HLENGANE, an adult, male, aged 22 years. (b) that the circumstances of his death are that he was probably shot in the back during the looting at Central City Complex and probably by a shotgun at a distance of about 50 metre but the Commission is unable to determine where, how or by whom he was so shot. (c) the cause of the death is gunshot wounds to his chest from the back. (d) the Commission is unable to determine whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person. 4.6 CASE NO B6: MESHACK SIPHO HLONGWANE In this case too nobody could be found who could say where or by whom or in what circumstances the deceased had been shot. The post-mortem report showed that the deceased had been shot. He had suffered a compound fracture of the right lower leg caused by a blast from a shotgun, many shotgun pellets being found in the inner aspect of the right thigh. The cause of death, according to Dr Karinki, was blood loss due to a shotgun wound to the right lower leg. Captain Brits agreed that the wound was caused by one shot from a shotgun using SSG pellets at a distance of more than 10 metres. The deceased's name was obtained from the Mortuary register but it was impossible to find who had identified the body. The register showed that he had been given a pauper's burial. The records of the Department of Internal Affairs showed that a person with the deceased's name was still alive but an official said that the documentary evidence of his death may not have yet reached the Department. Nobody had identified the body. No one could be found to say where the body had been picked up and taken to the mortuary nor could anyone be found, despite exhaustive enquiries by the Investigating Team, who could say where or by whom or in what circumstances the deceased had been shot. The Commission therefore finds that (a) although the name MESHACK SIPHO HLONGWANE is attributed to the deceased, his identity cannot be established with certainty except that the deceased is an adult, male. (b) the circumstances of the death cannot be established. (c) the cause of the death was blood loss due to a shotgun wound to the right lower leg. (d) it cannot be determined 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. 4.7 CASE NO B8: PHILLIP SEAREFELE LEDWABA The deceased in this case was killed during the looting of "Uncle Nats". The post-mortem revealed that he had been shot on the left-side under the armpit and in the head by somebody with a shotgun and that he also had a severe head injury caused by a blunt instrument. How he came to sustain these injuries could not be established because, although the main road from Ga-Rankuwa to Brits, known then as Mangope Highway, runs alongside the place where "Uncle Nats" was situated and members of the Bophuthatswana Police and Defence Force were patrolling along that road, there is no evidence of any shooting by anyone at the scene where the deceased's body was found, which was in a road running between the house of the owner of "Uncle Nats" and the latter shopping complex there. Dr Kariuki who performed the post-mortem said that it appeared that the deceased had been shot by a shotgun at close range, an opinion concurred in by Captain Brits. Shotgun pellets were found in the body. The cause of dead was determined as "multiple injuries due to shotgun wounds to head and chest with superadded blunt trauma". Dr Kariuki did not feel that the head injury had been caused by a brick having been thrown at the deceased as there were no lacerations of the skin. It seemed rather that he had been struck by a blunt instrument. He could not say which had occurred first; the hitting with a blunt instrument or the shooting. A friend of the deceased, Lucky Mashaba, told how he had met the deceased while people were looting the shopping complex at "Uncle Nats". He saw no Police or Army personnel or any security guards. He, the deceased and others went to Ga-Rankuwa to loot there. When they got there they heard shots being fired and decided to turn back. They passed a shebeen where they bought some beers and then went back home. To get there they had to pass between the "Uncle Nats" house and shopping complex. Both of these were burning and people were also looting from both. The situation was chaotic. Mashaba said he decided to go on home. The deceased, however, chose to remain at the scene. Mashaba said the deceased was standing watching the looters when he left the deceased. The next day he heard that the deceased had died. Mashaba said that when he left the deceased he saw no Police or Army personnel. It was, however, dark. There was a great deal of smoke and visibility was extremely poor. The deceased was not highly under the influence but earlier the deceased and his friends had drunk some of the liquor they had taken from the shops. A blood sample taken from the deceased at the post-mortem showed that he had a small amount of alcohol in his blood (0,07%), which is less than the legal limit of 0,08%. The Commission accordingly finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is FILLIP SEAREFELE LEDWABA, an adult, male, aged 28 years. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be determined but he appears to have been shot with a shotgun at close range and struck over the head with a blunt instrument during the looting at the "Uncle Nats" shopping complex but the Commission is unable to determine who did so. (c) the cause of the death was "multiple injuries due to shotgun wounds to head and chest with superadded blunt trauma". (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. 4.8 CASE NO B9: MOLEKO THOMAS LEKGETHO The deceased in this case was shot by a security guard, who was protecting the goods in a store, while the deceased and a number of others were trying to loot the goods and attacked the guard in order to do so. How the deceased came to be shot was described by the security guard, Lucas Mofokeng. He said that in March 1994 he was employed by Hammanskraal Security of Babelegi. On Friday, 11 March 1994 he was on duty at the Checkers (or Temba) Complex as a guard at Sales House, a store in the Complex. People had earlier that afternoon looted at the shop but had run away when security guards had arrived there at about 19:00. The glass door to the shop had been broken. He was instructed by a superior of his to stay in the shop as an armed guard. He was armed with a pump-action shotgun, for which he was given a packet of cartridges. He had a casual guard, William Modiba, with him. During the night a large group of women and children came bursting into the shop. He fired a number of shots in the air into the ceiling and the people withdrew. In the early hours of the morning at about 04:00, said Mofokeng, he and Modiba were sitting in the dark at the back of the shop when a group of people entered it. There were about eight males and two females in the group. Someone in the group said they knew where the guards were hiding. Mofokeng said the deceased was the leading person in the group. He was holding a plastic bottle of methylated spirits. He advanced into the shop while the others were still at the door. It looked as if the others were waiting for the deceased to attack him and that they would then enter the shop and steal the goods. The deceased was running towards him with the bottle in his hand in an aggressive manner. Mofokeng said he had no chance to fire a warning shot as the deceased was coming straight towards him. When the deceased was about 4 paces from him, said Mofokeng, he shot him with one blast from his shotgun. The deceased fell where he had been shot. He covered the deceased's body with some clothes. The bottle fell to the floor. The brother of the deceased, William Lekgetho, said that after watching the news on television at 18:30 on Thursday, 10 March 1994, in which they saw people in the Mmabatho area celebrating the fall of the Mangope government and looting the shops there, he and the deceased, who was 26 years old, wanted to go to the Checkers Complex where they could hear people whistling and singing. Sounds of gunshots could also be heard. Their father, Jockey Lekgetho, told them they could not go there as it was too dangerous. In the early hours of Friday, 11 March 1994 he and the deceased decided to disobey their father's orders and go to the Complex. They wanted to go to the side of it where there were lights but they were warned by people not to go there as shots were being fired. Somewhere in the dark he and the deceased split up. Later he heard a shot and then heard someone scream. He recognised the voice as that of his brother. He wanted to go and check if it was but was warned not to go near as he might get shot. He went home. He was very worried and was talking to himself when his parents heard him and asked what had happened. He told them he suspected that his brother had been shot. The deceased was later found dead at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary. The deceased's father, Jockey Lekgetho, said William told him they had gone into Sales House. The security officers were hiding behind the counter. William said there was a group of people. The deceased was at the front of them. As they moved in the security guards started firing and the deceased was hit. The whole group then scattered. Jockey Lekgetho said he went to the shop and saw blood on the floor. From the amount of blood he thought the deceased had only been shot in the foot or the leg but he later went to look for the deceased and found him at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary. A post-mortem examination by Dr Kariuki revealed that the deceased had a shotgun wound to the right side of the body, 16 pellets having perforated the intestines, liver, spleen and aorta. There was also a collapsed lung. Dr Kariuki was of opinion, with which Captain Brits agreed, that there was just one blast from the shotgun and that the shot had been fired from close range (three to four metre according to Captain Brits). Death would have been instantaneous. Inspector Sello Sebidi said he was called to Sales House in the Checkers Complex where he found Mofokeng who told him there was a body inside the shop "that I have shot". Mofokeng who was "very much upset" and visibly shaking, said the people had been trying to attack him using a petrol bomb. Inspector Sebidi said he did not find a bottle of methylated spirits in the shop but the shop was in a mess with clothes scattered about and the bottle may have been hidden under them. Mofokeng impressed the Commission as an honest and truthful witness. His version of what occurred is also corroborated by the accounts given by the other witnesses, particularly those of the deceased's father and of Inspector Sebidi. The Commission accordingly finds that when the deceased was shot by Mofokeng, the latter was acting in self-defence during an attack on him in which the deceased had a bottle with him which Mofokeng believed was a petrol bomb. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is MOLEKO THOMAS LEKGETHO, an adult, male, aged 29 years. (b) the circumstances of the death were that the deceased was shot in the early hours of Friday, 11 March 1994 by one blast from a shotgun fired at close range by a security officer, Lucas Mofokeng, who was acting in self-defence when he was attacked by a group of people led by the deceased who was carrying a bottle of methylated spirits which Mofokeng believed was a petrol bomb. (c) the cause of the death was a shotgun wound to the chest and abdomen. (d) the death was brought about by an act of Lucas Mofokeng which does not prima facie amount to an offence on his part. 4.9 CASE NO B11: SAMUEL LEKUBU This case is similar to the last. The deceased's son, Godfrey Lekubu, said he saw his father at about 10:00 on Friday, it March 1994 at Rietgat railway station on the South African side at a time when people were coming from nearby Central City Complex with looted goods. He heard shots being fired from around the station. His father, the deceased, told him that with the chaotic conditions there at the time it was not safe and told Godfrey, who was 21, to go home. When he left, said Godfrey, the deceased was standing talking to some friends. Later that afternoon the police arrived at their house and told him that the deceased had been shot and was dead. The deceased's body was found at Clinic III, a hospital about 2 km from Central City, where it appears to have been taken after he was shot. Nobody could be found who could say where, how, or by whom he had been shot. The post-mortem report shows that he died as a result of a shotgun wound to the chest fired at short range causing instantaneous death. Captain Brits concluded that it was fired from closer than 5 metre. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is SAMUEL LEKUBU, an adult, male, aged 41 years. (b) the circumstances of his death are unknown save that he was shot by a shotgun at short range but it is not known where, how or by whom. (c) the cause of the death is a shotgun wound to the chest. (d) the Commission is unable to determine whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person. 4.10 CASE NO B12: ERICK ZANAVO MAHLANGU In this case there had been an eyewitness to the event in which the deceased was shot, one Christopher Mahlangu, but by the time the Commission sat the witness had disappeared without trace and despite diligent search and a press report to which no response was forthcoming, he could not be found. The deceased's body was allegedly identified by one Jane Mahlangu. An address was given viz 1650 Mahlangu Stand at which she could be found. A person known as Jane was found there but she said she had not identified the body nor could she have done so as she was a patient in the HE Verwoerd Hospital in Pretoria at the time. An address given for the Jane Mahlangu who is alleged to have identified the body at which she could be found was given as 717 President Steyn Street where the Excelsior Mini Market is situated. The owner of the latter said that a Jane Mahlangu had worked there but had left in 1995 and her present whereabouts were unknown. All efforts to trace Jane Mahlangu and Christopher Mahlangu, including the placing of a press report, proved fruitless and unsuccessful. The post-mortem examination showed that the deceased had died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest entering through the left lower back and exiting through the front of the left chest, perforating the left lung, liver and also the right lung. Detective Sergeant Samuel Sebola of the South African Police at Rietgat said that on 11 March 1994 he was called to Clinic III to pick up the body of a male there who had a wound in the chest. He was identified to Sebola by his brother, Christopher Mahlangu. Sebola said he took a statement from the latter at the Clinic. He wrote it down as it was told to him. Christopher Mahlangu signed and attested it before him as a Commissioner of Oaths after it had been read back to him. In his statement he said the following: "On Friday 1994-03-11 at about 04:00 I was with my elder brother Eric Mahlangu. We were from my sister Jane Mahlangu who is residing at Malatji Stand just behind Central City. There was a taxi which was parked on the tar road and behind the taxi there was a Bophuthatswana Police van. After crossing the tar road an unknown policeman came out of the police vehicle and a fire-arm was in his hand. The policeman was in full uniform. He stopped in the middle of the tar road and pointed a fire-arm at us. We were about to run away and suddenly a shot was fired. 1 then ran away and when I look at the back I saw the deceased falling on the ground. I hide myself on the grass and the policeman who shot at us went to where my brother fell. The policeman stopped to where at the point my brother fell, kicked him and said that he was not through with my brother, and he went back to the van and drove away. 1 went to the deceased and found that he was shot. I then went back to my sister's house and explained to her what happened. From my sister I went to home and explained to my mother that Eric was shot. My mother organised a transport and myself, my sister and the driver took the deceased to Clinic III Block BE Soshanguve. The suspect is a member of the Bophuthatswana Police. I don't know the suspect and I cannot identify him. Two black males who were walking behind us before the shooting told me that they know the suspect very well. They are Themba and Masoja but I don't know their residential house numbers but their houses are known. That is all what I can say." All attempts by the Investigating Team to trace either Themba or Masoja also proved unsuccessful. While it would appear therefore from the statement that the deceased died as a result of being shot by a policeman of the Bophuthatswana Police, the statement of Christopher Mahlangu could not be confirmed in evidence before the Commission. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is ERICK ZANOVO MAHLANGU, an adult, male. (b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot on 11 March 1994 in the chest by an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the chest. (d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie amounting to an offence by an unidentified member of Me Bophuthatswana Police Force. 4.11 CASE NO B15: SIMONTONA MATHE This is yet another case where the Commission was unable to determine who had shot the deceased. The post-mortem examination performed by Dr Kariuki showed that the deceased had died of a gunshot wound to the head. There were the following entry wounds: one below the right eye and one above the left. Both Dr Kariuki and Captain Brits concluded that the deceased was probably shot from a distance by someone using a shotgun as there was no "exploded head" and the entry wounds were probably caused at the same time. The brother of the deceased, Johannes Mathe, said the deceased, who lived with him, left home on Friday, 11 March 1994 saying he was going to their sister Pauline to get some money to go to work. He later heard that the deceased had been shot. He identified the body at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary on 14 March 1994. Pauline Mathe said the deceased came to her house on 11 March 1994 at about 13:00 to borrow R5 to get to his work place to collect his wages. She later heard that he had been shot at Trala Park next to Molema Bottle Store and close to Central City and had been taken to Clinic III. When she got there she was told by the nursing staff that he had died. She did not know where or by whom he had been shot but near Trala Park she saw black people in camouflage uniforms firing shots. She could, however, not say who they were nor at who they were shooting nor what weapons they were using. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is SIMONTONA MATHE, an adult, male, aged 32 years. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be established save that he was shot by a shotgun. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the head. (d) the Commission is unable to determine whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person. 4.12 CASE NO B16: PAULO FERNANDO MAUNZE In this case too, no witnesses as to the death of the deceased could be found. This deceased had first been recorded in the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary register as "Unknown" and later as "Paul Maluleka" before being identified in Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary as Paulo Fernando Maunze by one Lucas Joao Macuacua, of Maputo, Mozambique, according to the register. All efforts to trace Macuacua had proved unsuccessful. The deceased's body was found on 11 March 1994 opposite a factory known as Penbro in Babelegi, an area where there was large scale looting. He had a massive wound to the head, which had exploded, eviscerating the brain. It was, according to Captain Brits, a classic example of an "exploded head" caused by a shot to the head from a high velocity rifle such as a R4 or R5. No witness could be traced or other facts found as to the circumstances in which, or by whom, the deceased had been shot. The Commission finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is PAULO FERNANDO MAUNZE, an adult, male. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be established. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the head. (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. 4.13 CASE NO B18: MORRIS MOKONE In this case too, no witnesses as to the death of the deceased could be found. This deceased's name was obtained from the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary register. A post-mortem examination was carried out on the body. The deceased died as a result of gunshot wounds to the back of the head, disrupting the base of the skull. There were two wounds entrance close to one another. Captain Brits was of the view that the wounds were probably caused by a shotgun using SSG pellets, two of which probably struck the head of the deceased simultaneous. It was unlikely that two wounds could have been caused by two separate shots with a rifle as it would have meant that the shots would have had to have been fired simultaneously because the first shot would have caused the deceased to drop immediately. A second shot would then not have caused an entrance wound as close to the first one as the two were in this instance. Moreover, a shot to the head with a high velocity firearm such as a rifle would probably have resulted in an "exploded head". This had not occurred. Furthermore there were no exit wounds which would invariably have been expected with a shot to the head with a rifle. According to the Mortuary register the deceased had been identified by one John Mokone. Sergeant Markus Ferreira of the Investigating Team who investigated cases B1, B6, B16 and the present one for the Commission testified that he went to a company known as "Sunnyway Bop" where John Mokone was alleged to have worked but he was not on their pay roll nor had other employees there heard of him. The deceased had, according to other documents, been buried by Masigo Funeral Parlour of Stinkwater at Ramotse Village at Moretele. The Funeral Parlour had no record of this. Sergeant Ferreira also attended a tribal meeting at the tribal offices at Ramotse where all the tribal chiefs were present. None of them knew of anyone by the name of Mokone who had been buried in their area. Sergeant Ferreira did, however, find the name of one Pieter Mokone who gave him an address of No. 1011, Temba, where an elderly lady said she had a son named Morris Mokone. The latter was, however, alive and well and living in the Free State. Sergeant Ferreira, as in the other cases, despite diligent search and intensive investigation, was unable to find anyone who could say where the deceased's body had been found, or where or by whom or in what circumstances he had been shot. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is MORRIS MOKONE, an adult, male, aged 30 years. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be established save that he was shot in the head, probably by a shotgun. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the head. (d) the Commission is 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. 4.14 CASE NO Bl9: LESIBA SAMUEL MOKONYANE This is another case where no witnesses could be found to testify as to how the deceased met his death. Mmatlala Anna Letlokwa said she had lived with the deceased as man and wife and had two children by him. On Friday, 11 March 1994 the deceased left home in the Temba area at about 10:00 with a friend with whom he worked. She did not know the friend's name or his present whereabouts nor would she able to recognise him. At about 16:00 she was told that the deceased had been shot at the Checkers Complex. She went to look for him there but could not found him. His body was later found at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary. She did not know how, where or by whom he had been shot. The people who told her he had been shot were foreigners living near them who had since moved away. She did not know who they were or where they are now. Despite extensive enquiries by the Investigating Team no witnesses could be found as to the circumstances of his death. A post-mortem examination by Dr Kariuki showed that the deceased had suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the left shoulder passing into the left anterior chest, perforating the aorta and collapsing the right lung. The entry wound was not round. Because of this, both Dr Kariuki and Captain Brits were of opinion that the wound had probably been caused when a bullet fired from a high velocity rifle had ricocheted, hitting the deceased. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is LESIBA SAMUEL MOKONYANE, an adult, male. (b) the circumstances of the death cannot be established, save that the deceased was shot on 11 March 1994. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the chest. (d) the Commission is unable 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. 4.15 CASE B21: RONNIE MOLOANTOA A number of deceased were shot at or near a bridge over a railway line at Babelegi and which is not far from a Checkers store that is situated there. One of these was the deceased in this case, a 28 year old man who normally lived in Pretoria but who in March 1994 was visiting his parents in Suurman Village near Babelegi. His mother, Mrs Martha Moloantoa, said that at about 11:00 on 11 March 1994 the deceased left home. At about 14:30 she heard that he had been shot near the above bridge and that he had hired a taxi to take him to the house of her sister-in-law. She went there and took the deceased, who was injured with a wound in the back, to a doctor who was not in. She then took him to Jubilee Hospital but it was closed as the personnel were on strike. She then decided to take him to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital but he died on the way there. Mrs Moloantoa said the deceased told her he had been shot by white men in uniform but he did not say if they were wearing police or army uniforms or those of a security firm. He was in pain and crying. The taxi driver told her he had found the injured deceased at the bridge. A post-mortem examination revealed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound of the left lower back which had lacerated the small and large intestines and the left kidney. The weapon causing it had been fired from the deceased's back. A flattened SSG pellet was found in the body. Captain Brits described how when a shotgun is fired some of the pellets fly off in directions other than that of the main group of pellets. These are knows as "flyers" . He was of the opinion, from the finding of the flattened SSG pellet, that the deceased had been hit by one of these "flyers". An interesting aspect of Mrs Moloantoa's evidence was her describing how she had seen white men on bakkies dressed in khaki clothing that day in Hammanskraal, a fact confirmed in the evidence of her sister-in-law Mrs Pauline Mathe. It is this evidence that the Commission has referred to earlier in its discussion as to the presence of members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging in the Ga-Rankuwa-Babelegi-Mabopane area. The Commission finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is RONNIE MOLOANTOA an adult, male, aged 28 years. (b) the circumstances of his death are that he was shot in the back on 11 March 1994 while on a bridge near Babelegi, ostensibly by white men in uniform but who or what they were cannot be established. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the lower back. (d) the Commission is unable to determine if the death was brought about by any act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of any person. 4.16 CASE NO B22: ESROM MOOMELA MONYEPAU This deceased was probably killed in a private dispute unrelated to the unrest in the areas under discussion. His father, Thomas Monyepau, said his son, 27 years old at the time, left his home at Mmakau Stadt at about noon on Friday, 11 March 1994. He never returned. His father found his body at the Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary on 21 March 1994. He heard that his son had died at Zone 16, Ga-Rankuwa which is about 4 km from Mmakau Stadt. Detective Inspector Tebedi Motshoane said that at about 08:15 on Saturday, 12 March 1994 he was called by residents in his area, which is Zone 16, to a spot where he found the body of a dead man lying on the grass on the side of a road there. The man was not known in the area and nobody could tell him who he was. The spot was off the beaten track and was some 7 to 8 km from the main road leading to the area and some 7 to 10 minutes drive from "Uncle Nats". There was no blood near the deceased and it seemed that he could have been carried to the spot and dumped there. A post-mortem examination showed that he had been shot in the right shoulder. Both lungs were collapsed. A bullet was found in the left armpit. This was identified by Captain Brits as a 9 mm bullet which had been fired by a Makarov pistol. Such a pistol was not used by any of the Security Forces but was occasionally found in the possession of private persons. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is ESROM MOOMELA MONYEPAU, an adult, male, aged 27 years. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be established and appear to be unrelated to the Commission's Terms of Reference. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound in the right shoulder. (d) the Commission is unable to determine if the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of any person. 4.17.1 CASE NO B23: SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG This is a case where the deceased was also shot at or near a bridge. This bridge is near the Ga-Rankuwa Shopping Complex. Helen Moremang, the mother of the deceased, said her son, who was then 21 years old, left home on Friday, 11 March 1994 at about 19:00 after watching the news on television. He did not say where he was going. At about 22:00 she received a telephone call to say he had been shot at Zone 4, which is near the bridge. She went there and found him injured. He had been shot in the left buttock. He also complained of a burning pain in his stomach. He was taken to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital where he was operated on. At about 04:30 she was told that he had died. A post-mortem examination showed that the deceased had died of a gunshot wound of the abdomen. He had been shot from behind by a high velocity weapon firing a 5.56 mm bullet, which was retrieved from the body. Mrs Moremang said the deceased told her that he was sitting on the bridge with one Meshack Sebai to get a better view of what was happening at the nearby OK Bazaars building when shots were fired at them from the direction of OK Bazaars. He and Sebai ran away but he was hit in the buttock and fell and was taken by some ladies to a house in Zone 4 where his mother found him. He did not know who had shot at him. Sebai said he and the deceased were walking to the Ga-Rankuwa Complex to loot. At the bridge on the way there they stood on some poles to see what was happening at the Complex when shooting started from the direction of OK Bazaars. People around them started running away and they did too. As they ran the deceased was shot from the back. Shots were being fired repeatedly at the people running away. The Complex was guarded by members of Counterforce Security Company and as he saw no police in the area, Sebai presumed it was those members who were shooting. It was, however, only a presumption. Where the deceased fell was about 250 metre from the Complex. 4.17.2 CASE NO B14: DOROTHY TEBOGO MASANGO This is another case where the deceased was shot at or near the bridge near the Ga-Rankuwa Shopping Complex. Rachel Moeletsi testified that she and the deceased were together in Zone 4 walking in the direction of OK Bazaars near the bridge there when shooting started in their direction. They started running away and the deceased fell. She ran on, others also running away told her that the deceased had been shot. The deceased's husband later arrived on the scene and confirmed that the deceased had been shot and was dead. Where she fell, as in the case of case B23 SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG, was about 250 metres from the Complex. Shots were, she said, being fired repeatedly from the direction of OK Bazaars but she did not see by whom they were fired. She, too, saw no police in the area. Dr Dubasi, who performed the post-mortem examination, found that the deceased had died from a single gunshot wound from a high velocity firearm that had entered the body of the deceased in the left spine, passing through the aorta, trachea and oesophagus to exit via the left clavicle. She had been shot from the back. Dr Dubasi thought she had been struck while in a stooping running position. In the cases of both CASE B23, SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG and CASE B14, DOROTHY TEBOGO MASANGO, the probable cause of their deaths emerged from the evidence of an employee of Counterforce Security Company, DEON GERBER, who was a watch commander in the firm. He said that the firm guarded premises in Babelegi, Temba and Ga-Rarankuwa, including the Ga-Rankuwa Shopping Complex. On Friday, 11 March 1994 at about 20:30 he was called to the Complex, being informed that there was a crowd of people who were about to loot the Complex. There were four guards on duty there at the time. He took about fifteen men with him in a bakkie to the Complex. The four guards were not armed. There were no police there at the time. When he arrived at the Complex, the crowd was already inside it. The guards were outside. There was also a crowd of between 100 and 200 people in front of the Complex. Some of the men win him were armed. The firm had an Armed Response Unit which also arrived on the scene. It was under the command of one Craig Blumenthal. Six members of the Unit were armed with a shotgun, LM4 rifles, and a B'nP 9 mm semi-automatic submachine gun. He, Gerber, was armed with one of these. It fired a 5,56 mm bullet. Blumenthal and one other man were armed with LM4 rifles. Gerber said he did not know any of the members of the Aimed Response Unit, other than Blumenthal, or what their names were. Gerber said a whole series of shots were fired into the air in an attempt to disperse the crowd but not directly at the crowd although they, the security guards, were being regularly fired on. They did not return the fire. The crowd were fairly aggressive but only verbally abused them. Only one stone was thrown at them. Gerber said he had heard the evidence before the Commission that people had been shot with 5,56 mm bullets. Shots had only been fired by members of the Counterforce Security firm. There were no police present at the time. Gerber said that although he had not done so, it was possible that members of the Armed Response Unit had fired at the crowd. At about 23:00 members of the Bophuthatswana Police began moving around the Complex and they then withdrew. There were no members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force there. Everything was chaotic and anyone who said they were there, could be confused. He had told nobody that the Bophuthatswana Defence Force was there. Captain Marius van Gent of the Investigating Team said he had made strenuous efforts to locate Craig Blumenthal. He had consulted the records of the Department of the Interior, and the Central Criminal Record Centre and had consulted the Pretoria Murder and Robbery Unit. He was told that Blumenthal had left the country for overseas. A warrant for his arrest awaited him in South Africa. He could also not trace any other members of the Armed Response Unit. Counterforce Security Company has since been liquidated and does not exist anymore. It would seem prima facie therefore, that on the probabilities both SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG and DOROTHY TEBOGO MASANGO were shot by members of the Armed Response Unit of Counterforce Security Company either on their own initiative or on the orders of Craig Blumenthal. The identity of those members could not be established by the Commission. In the cases of CASE B23, SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG and CASE B 14, DOROTHY TEBOGO MASANGO the Commission therefore finds that 1. In CASE B23, SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG (a) the identity of the deceased is SOKISE LUCAS MOREMANG an adult, male, aged 21 years (identity number 7302270100543). (b) the circumstances of the death were that the deceased was shot in the left buttock, the bullet penetrating his abdomen, by a single shot from a high velocity rifle firing 5,56 mm bullets, while running with a crowd of other people away from where shots were being fired in their direction from the direction of the OK Bars in the Ga-Rankuwa Complex, probably by a member or members of the Armed Response Unit of Counterforce Security Company. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound in the abdomen. (d) the death was brought about by an act or acts of unidentified members of the Armed Response Unit of the erstwhile Counterforce Security Company prima facie amounting to an offense on the part of those members or on the part of their commander, one Craig Blumenthal. 2. In the case of CASE B14, DOROTHY TEBOGO MASANGO (a) the identity of the deceased is DOROTHY TEBOGO MASANGO, an adult, female, aged 29 years. (b) the circumstances of the death were that the deceased was shot in the back by a single shot from a high velocity rifle firing 5.56 mm bullets, while running with a crowd of other people away from where shots were being fired in their direction from the direction of the OK Bazaars in the Ga-Rankuwa Complex, probably by a member or members of the Armed Response Unit of Counterforce Security Company. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound. (d) the death was brought about by an act or acts of unidentified members of the Armed Response Unit of the erstwhile Counterforce Security Company prima facie amounting to an offence on the part of those members or on the part of their commander, one Craig Blumenthal. 4.18 CASE NO B24: MARGARET SHOBI MOSHOBANE AND CASE NO B31: PHILLIP THANDUKWAZI PHAKATHI In both these cases nobody could say where, by whom or in what circumstances the deceased had met their deaths. The bodies of both deceased were found at about 09:30 on Friday, 11 March 1994 inside Central City by Inspector Phokie Moima, that of Phillip Phakathi being found inside the OK Bazaars store there. At the time members of the Internal Stability Unit of the South African Police were on hand, some of them were guarding looters who had been arrested. Nobody knew when or how or by whom the deceased had met their deaths. The deceased in CASE B24, MOSHOBANE, had a bullet wound through the mouth fracturing the lower jaw and pharynx. The cause of death, according to the post-mortem report was a "gunshot wound to the mouth and pharynx with head injury". Captain Brits concluded that it had been caused by a single bullet fired at a distance from a high velocity firearm. The deceased in Case No B3 1, Phakathi had been shot by a shotgun fired at short range from the back with wounds to the chest, lungs and neck, according to the post-mortem report of Dr Kariuki. Both bodies were later found at the mortuary and identified by relatives: Margaret Moshobane by her mother and Phillip Phakathi by his father. Both deceased appear to have been shot inside Central City while engaged in looting there. Nobody could be traced who could say in what circumstances or by whom they had been shot. The Commission therefore finds that 1. In CASE B24 MARGARET SHOBI MOSHOBANE (a) the identity of the deceased is MARGARET SHOBI MOSHOBANE, an adult, female, aged 26 years. (b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot by a high velocity firearm while inside Central City Complex, apparently while engaged in looting there. It cannot be established by whom the shot was fired. (c) the cause of the death was a "gunshot wound to the mouth and pharynx with head injury". (d) the Commission was unable 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. 2. In CASE B31 PH1LLIP THANDUKWAZI PHAKATHI (a) the identity of the deceased is PH1LLIP THANDUKWAZI PHAKATHI, an 18 year old male. (b) the circumstances of the death are that the deceased was shot by a shotgun fired at short range while inside OK Bakers in Central City Complex, apparently while engaged in looting. It cannot be established by whom the shot was fired. (c) the of the death was a gunshot wound to the chest, (d) the Commission was unable to determine if the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of any person. 4.19 CASE NO B25: SYDNEY JOEL MOTALE The deceased in this case was a Sergeant in the Bophuthatswana Police Force who was shot when a group of unknown men attacked the Police Post at Central City shortly after midnight on 9 March 1994. A Police Post was set up in Central City Complex at the time Me Complex was built. It was usually manned by two policemen. Other policemen were deployed at the commercial banks in the Complex. Inspector Mpho Thomas Thibedi, to whom reference has been made earlier in this Report, who was then a sergeant, was in charge of the Post during March 1994. The Post consisted of a charge office and an office of the Branch Commander, as well as some holding cells. Once night of 9 March 1994, Constable (now Sergeant) Pheneas Sonnyboy Tsoku and Constable (also now Sergeant) Letsetsi were on duty in the charge office portion of the Post. In the Branch Commander's Office were Sergeant Shadrack Botlhoko, then attached to the Murder and Robbery Unit at Loate Police Station, and the deceased. The deceased and Botlhoko were on stand-by and on call in case they were needed. They were asleep in the office.. What happened then was described by Tsoku and Botlheko. Tsoku said that at about 00:15 three men entered the office. One was wearing a balaclava cap. One of the men approached him and the other two went to He Branch Commander's office. Two of the men were armed: one with a revolver and one with a 9 mm pistol. One of the armed men pointed his firearm at him and Letsetsi and told them to lie down. At the same time, Tsoku said, he heard the sound of a shot from the office.. He dived under a table and then crawled out of the entrance door and ran to a security office in the Complex to ring the Loate Police and tell them that they had been attacked and to ask them to come to their assistance. While on his way to the of police and also while telephoning he heard further shots. Before escaping from the charge office he saw that the men had the police R4 rifles which were standing in the charge office. Tsoku said he returned to the Police Post where he found Botlhoko and Letsetsi where they had taken cover. The deceased was lying on his back on the floor of the office. Botlhoko said that he awoke from where he had been sleeping on three chairs in the Branch Commander's Office when he heard tables being moved and then shots being fired. He saw the deceased wrestling with an unknown assailant who had on a balaclava. Botlhoko said he was armed but as he got up from the chairs, his firearm fell between two of them. He went to the deceased's assistance but another man with a rifle entered the office. He struggled with the man and disarmed him of the rifle which, however, had no magazine and he could therefore not fire it. He hit the deceased's attacker over the head with the butt of the rifle. While struggling for the rifle, said Botlhoko, he heard shots being fired. The man he hit over the head did not fall down but pushed him and he, Botlhoko, fell under a counter. He heard two or three more shots being fired. Both attackers ran away. The deceased fell to the floor. Botlhoko said he then retrieved his own firearm from under the chairs and began firing randomly but the attackers had fled. He saw the face of his attacker and had made an identikit but none of the men was arrested. Sergeant Mpho Jeoffrey Oss said that at about 01:00 on 9 March 1994 he was called to the Central City Police Post. He found Botlhoko and Tsoku there. He also found the body of the deceased lying on his back on the floor. He had a chest wound. He was dead. Oss said he found six 9 mm empty cartridge cases, two 9 mm short live rounds and three bullet heads lying from one to twelve paces around the deceased. A post-mortem examination of the body revealed that the deceased had a bullet wound in the left front of the chest which had penetrated the lungs and liver and two bullet wounds in the right buttock. He also had bruising to his right wrist and ring finger. Two shots at least must have been fired, one from the front and one from behind the deceased, probably, according to Captain Brits from a 9 mm pistol. Death would have been instantaneous. The Branch Commander, Inspector Thibedi, said that on 11 March 1994 he decided to close the Central City Police Post because of the hostile mood of the crowds and because he only had two policemen on duty there. He was also influenced in his decision to close it because of the death of the deceased. In his view two policemen were not enough to man the post properly. Inspector Thibedi said he felt that if there had been extra manpower (a request for extra men prior to the death of the deceased had been refused) and the entrance to Central City had been controlled in the evenings, the incident leading to the death of the deceased could have been prevented. The Commission is unable to find, however, that this represented negligence on the part of any members of the Bophutatswana Police Force, as the attack on the Police Post, despite a request for extra men to man it, could not, in the Commission's view, have reasonably been foreseen. The failure to deploy extra men there did not amount to negligence. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is SYDNEY JOEL MOTALE, a Sergeant in the Bophuthatswana Police Force, an adult, male, aged 32 years. (b) the circumstances of his death were that he was shot in the chest with a 9 mm pistol when struggling with one of three unknown persons who had attacked the Central City Police Post shortly after midnight on 9 March 1994, his assailant being armed with a 9 mm pistol. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the left anterior chest with damage to lungs and liver. (d) the death was brought about by an act on the part of a person whose identity is unknown which prima facie amounts to an offense on the part of such person. There is no act or omission on the part of any other person prima facie involving or amounting to an offense.. 4.20 CASE NO B26: ALFRED PAKISO MOTAUNG The deceased in this case was apparently shot near the Central City Complex. On 11 March 1994 he was admitted to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital in the earlier part of the morning with a single gunshot wound to the buttock. He was examined by Dr Odisong Montwedi there. His condition was then satisfactory. Later, however, his condition deteriorated and he died at 16:15. The post-mortem examination, performed by Dr Dubasi, revealed that the gunshot wound had penetrated the deceased's abdomen. Fragments of a bullet were found in the body which Captain Brits identified as 5,56 cm bullets having come from a high velocity rifle such as an R4 or R5 rifle. The cause of death was determined as a "bullet wound of the abdomen". John Khumalo testified that the deceased worked at Nyongules Tavern belonging to Khumalo's family. He was middle aged. On 11 March 1994 at between 09:00 and 10:00 he and the deceased went to a dry cleaning depot near Mabopane railway station to collect some of the deceased's clothing. When they got there they found that the drycleaners had been broken into and its contents taken by looters. Shots were being fired from the direction of nearby Central City and people were running away. He did not see who was firing the shots. He and the deceased also ran and in so doing became separated. A short while later he saw people who had been shot being put into a combi to be taken to hospital. He saw that the deceased was one of them. The deceased was still alive. He asked the deceased where he had been. The deceased said he had been to Central City. He did not ask the deceased what had happened to him. The deceased was bleeding from his back and was in severe pain. He tried to go to the hospital with the deceased but the combi was overcrowded so he went home to tell the people there what had happened. He later heard that the deceased had died. Khumalo said that the people who were doing the shooting were blacks in civilian clothing. He also saw a green "Hippo" of the Bophuthatswana Police there. Those who were firing the shots were moving around Central City shooting looters trying to get into Central City. They appeared to be guarding the Complex. They were not firing teargas but live ammunition from pistols. He did, however, see one man on the "Hippo" holding a rifle although he did not see him firing it. Khumalo said that at the time he thought that the men were either part of the Police or were soldiers but he could not say with any assurance who they were or if they were members of security firms guarding the area. Having regard to the evidence of Andre Herbst, Inspector Van Vollenstee, Deon Gerber and other witnesses, the probabilities are that those who Khumalo saw shooting at the crowds of looters were members of the Bophuthatswana Police, who were, as many were on that day, dressed in civilian clothing. The Commission accordingly finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is ALFRED PAKISO MOTAUNG, an adult, male, aged 24 years (identity number 700103560089). (b) the circumstances of his death are that he was shot at Central City during the looting there, probably by a member or members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force in civilian clothes, suffering a gunshot wound from an R4 or R5 rifle to the buttock from which he subsequently died, the bullet having penetrated the abdomen. (c) the cause of the death was "a bullet wound of the abdomen". (d) the death was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of an unknown member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. 4.21 CASE NO B27: MADUMESHA PETRUS MPETE In this case the deceased died after being hit in the chest by a rubber bullet, allegedly fired by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force, Sergeant Jeremiah Mere. Sergeant Mere, however, denied that he did so. The circumstances in which the deceased came to be shot were described to the Commission by three witnesses, Boy Sithole, Billy Raseroka and David Dibakwane. Sithole said that he and the deceased and Raseroka and Dibakwane, together with other men, had been drinking at a tavern in the Temba area on Sunday morning, 13 March 1994. At about 14:00 they decided to go home. They were walking along the Temba-Babelegi main road, he and the deceased about 40 to 50 paces behind the rest of the group, when a white Isuzu Combi with a stripe along the side travelling from the other direction in which they were walking pulled up on the opposite side of the road next to them with a number of occupants in it. The driver, who had a gun in his right hand, fired shots into the air. He and the deceased started running away. At that stage one of the other men in the Combi got out of the vehicle with what Sithole said was a rifle in his hand and shot at them. The deceased was hit and fell. The deceased was about six paces from the Combi at the time. Sithole said he turned to help the deceased and saw the man outside the Combi get back into it. The Combi then drove away. Sithole said that the men in the Combi were black policemen. He saw clearly that the man who shot the deceased was dressed in camouflage uniform. He opened the deceased's shirt and found he had been hit on the left side of the chest below the nipple. There was a green mark there. There was no blood. The deceased was unconscious. Another Combi pulled up and assisted him to get the deceased home where Sithole laid him down under a tree. A short while later he realised that the deceased was dead. Sithole said he went to the police to report the matter. He found the same white Combi parked outside the police station with policemen sitting in it. Sithole said that as he walked past it he said "Guys, the man you shot is dead.". He did not know if the man who fired the shot was in the Combi. When he reported the incident, the policeman to whom he reported asked him "Are you sure he is dead?". Sithole said that when he replied "Yes" the policeman said "It does not matter; he is a dog.". Sithole said he did not know the policeman and would not recognise him again. He also would not recognise the man who shot the deceased or the driver of the Combi. He had, in fact, attended an identification parade on 6 October 1997 and had not been able to identify either of the men. He had pointed out the wrong person as the man he thought was the driver. Sithole said the police removed the body later that afternoon. A large number had arrived armed in six vehicles, including the Combi and had "come in a manner as if they were attacking". Sithole said that neither he nor the deceased nor any of the group ahead of them were carrrying anything in their hands and certainly not any looted goods. They had just been relaxing and drinking, a fact corroborated by an analysis of the deceased's blood showing a concentration of 0.30% which Dr Kanuki said would have made him highly intoxicated. Raseroka and Dibakwane also said that the Combi was a white one with a stripe along the side. The stripe, they said, was an orange one. When the Combi pulled up next to Sithole and the deceased and shots were fired from it, they were ahead of Sithole and the deceased by some distance. They both said they then ran away and did not see the shooting of the deceased. A post-mortem examination by Dr Kariuki revealed that the deceased had suffered an injury to his left chest in which three ribs had been fractured, his sternum bruised and his heart had been ruptured. Dr Kariuki said he found two circular "burn-like" marks on the chest. He thought that the injury could have been caused by a rubber bullet fired from a stopper gun at close range. Captain Brits's opinion was that as there were two circular marks, the injury could have been caused by a "baton" cartridge which contains two rubber balls fired from close range. It would seem likely that one or other of these projectiles caused the fatal injuries in this case. Sergeant Markus Ferreira of the Investigating Team, who investigated the case on behalf of the Commission, testified that his investigations brought him to Sergeant Mere, then of the Ga-Rankuwa Flying Squad. He interviewed Sergeant Mere and told him that it was alleged that he had shot the deceased. Sergeant Mere reacted by saying that he had heard that such allegations were being made against him and that he wondered why the Murder and Robbery Unit did not investigate the matter and report to the Attorney-General. Ferreira said he told Sergeant Mere that he could have legal representation and said he had taken both Sergeant Mere and the man who was said to have driven the Combi, Sergeant July Modise, to the offices of the attorney who had appeared for several policemen at the Commission, Mr Julian Meltz, where they had both made statements in which, while they admitted having been in a white Isuzu Combi with a black and orange stripe on its side on Sunday, 13 March 1994, they denied that any shots had been fired from it. They also said that the Special Branch of the Bophuthatswana Police also used a white Isuzu Combi with an orange stripe along its side. Sergeant Ferreira said that while on the way to Mr Meltz's office Sergeant Mere had said that he had not realised that he could kill a person with a rubber stopper and that he was trying to stop the men who were running away with stolen goods in order to search them. Sergeant Ferreira's evidence was corroborated by that of another member of the Investigating Team, Sergeant Jacob Moatshe. Sergeant Mere also gave evidence. He denied that he had said what was attributed to him by Sergeant Ferreira on the way to Mr Meltz's office and also said that Sergeant Ferreira was lying about what had occurred when he first interviewed him. He had, for example, said Sergeant Mere, not told him he could have legal representation. Sergeant Mere appeared to the Commission to be a singularly unconvincing witness who tried to raise a smokescreen of irrelevance to avoid directly dealing with the main issue viz. what if anything, he said on the way to Mr Meltz's office. His denial about being offered legal representation has little substance viewed against the fact that Sergeant Ferreira was the one who took him and Sergeant Modise to Mr Meltz. The Commission also called Sergeant Modise to testify as to what had happened in the car on the way there. Asked if Sergeant Mere had said what Sergeant Ferreira and Sergeant Moatshe said he did, Sergeant Modise said "I did not hear that". Pressed as to whether he meant by his answer that he did not hear the remarks or that the remarks were never made, Sergeant Modise simply repeated "I did not hear that". It was obvious to the Commission that on the one hand he did not want to be untruthful while on the other hand he did not want to let Sergeant Mere down and therefore resorted to the lame reply "I did not hear that". The Commission accepts the evidence of Sergeant Ferreira and Sergeant Moatshe that the remark attributed to Sergeant Mere was made by him. It is also significant that Sergeant Mere stated during his evidence that when he and the other policemen in the Combi set out on their patrol on the Sunday morning they took with them not rifles or shotguns but stopper guns. The probabilities therefore are that the deceased died as a result of being shot by a rubber bullet fired by Sergeant Mere. The matter does not end there, however. Sergeant Ferreira testified that members of the police force were instructed to use teargas to control and disperse unruly crowds and thereafter they could use rubber bullets to do so. It was therefore realistic for any policeman to think that firing a rubber bullet at a person would not have fatal consequences. It would, however, seem to the Commission that having witnessed a demonstration of the firing of a rubber bullet from a stopper gun, any policeman would reasonably have known that firing a rubber bullet at a person from short range would probably cause such person an injury. As it is on the evidence doubtful if the deceased was in possession of stolen goods, the actions of Sergeant Mere in firing a rubber bullet from a stopper gun at a distance of 6 paces may well have constituted an assault. However, having regard to the inability of Sithole or anyone else to identify the deceased's assailant, the fact that another branch of the Bophuthatswana Police used a similar vehicle to the white Combi and the denials of both Sergeant Mere and Sergeant Modise that any shots were fired by them, it is probable that although the circumstances point strongly towards Sergeant Mere being the deceased's assailant, a criminal trial court may be unable to find proof of this beyond reasonable doubt. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is MADUMESHA PETRUS MPETE, an adult, male, aged 33 years. (b) the circumstances of his death were that he was fatally injured when struck on the left side of the chest probably by a rubber bullet fired from a stopper gun by a policeman of the Bophuthatswana Police, who was probably Sergeant Jeremiah Mere, while the deceased and his companions were walking empty-handed alongside the Temba-Babelegi road at about 14:00 on Sunday, 13 March 1994 after they had been drinking at a nearby tavern from about 10:00 that morning. (c) the cause of his death was "chest and heart injuries with ruptured heart due to compressive blunt trauma to the chest". (d) the death was brought about by an act of Sergeant Mere prima facie amounting to an offense on his part but it appears unlikely that final proof of such offense could be established beyond reasonable doubt. 4.22 CASE NO B30:OBAKENG PEETE The deceased in this case, a 10-year old boy, was shot when security guards guarding the Rantol Complex at Makapanstadt fired on a crowd of advancing looters on Friday, 11 March 1994. The events surrounding this incident were described to the Commission by four witnesses viz. a sergeant of the Bophuthatswana Police who was off duty at the time, Sergeant Richard Maanwane; a Detective Sergeant of the Bophuthatswana Police, Phillimon Kupane, who was on duty at the Complex at the time, and two security guards employed by Counterforce Security Company to guard the Complex, Daniel Leshata Mosupye and Jacob Kgalama Tladi. Maanwane said that on 11 March 1994 he was at the Rantol Complex at a dairy there. A large crowd of people, which he estimated at about 80, were looting and breaking into shops at the Complex. The crowd was very hostile and he was afraid of them as they knew him as a policeman and he would have been putting himself in danger if he had interfered with them. He saw two security guards there. The crowd was advancing on them. He then heard a shot and saw a small boy fall to the ground. The boy had not initially been part of the crowd but was crossing a road as if to join them when he was shot. He did not go to the boy to assist him. He only heard one shot and could not say who had fired it. Maanwane said that if he had been one of the security guards he would have been afraid as the crowd which was advancing on them were throwing stones and bricks at them and their lives were in serious danger. Kupane said he was in charge of a contingent of Bophuthatswana Police who were trying to disperse the crowds of looters at the Rantol Complex. Shops there had been looted and though some people had left, others were throwing stones at them. The crowd was very aggressive. The security guards had run away. He was then told of a young boy who was lying across the street from the Complex. He went to the child who was dead with a gunshot wound on his left side under the armpit. Nobody knew who the child was until an elderly man appeared and said he was the child's grandfather and that the boy's name was Obakeng. Daniel Mosupye said that on 11 March 1994 he, Jacob Tladi and another guard, Morris Taulatswala were on duty at Rantol Complex. He was armed with a .765 pistol and Tladi with a .38 revolver. While on duty they heard of the looting at the Checkers Complex at Temba and the manager decided as a result to close the Spar store at the Rantol Complex. The three of them, however, remained on duty. Shortly thereafter a large and very aggressive crowd came towards the Complex and started to batter down the sliding door to the Spar store. To try and disperse the crowd he and Tladi fired warning shots into the air. Tladi also fired "horizontally towards the crowd". The crowd then turned against them and he and Tladi were in serious danger of their lives. They had both run out of bullets and sensing this the crowd advanced on them and the three of them fled to the Makapan Police Station for assistance. There had been no police presence up to then. The police then came to disperse the crowd. He did not know at that stage that a boy had been shot and had died. He heard that later when he returned with the police and saw the boy being put into a police van to be taken from the scene. The police were shooting with rifles and shotguns to disperse the crowd but the boy had been shot before the police arrived. Mosupye could not say if he or Tladi had shot the boy. Tladi's evidence was similar to that of Mosupye. He said that when the crowd started to break down the door to the Spar shop, he and Mosupye fired warning shots into the air to try and scare off the crowd. The crowd was hostile and threw missiles at them. They fired shots until they ran out of ammunition and then ran away to seek police assistance. They were in serious danger of their lives. Tladi said he fired four shots altogether. He did not see if he had hit anyone. He, too, could not say if it were he or Mosupye who had shot the deceased. The deceased's grandfather, 78-year old Gideon Peete, said the deceased left home on 11 March 1994 to go and play soccer. Later other children came to tell him the deceased had been shot and he found him near the Rantol Complex where the police took him away. The Commission accepts the evidence of Mosupye and Tladi, supported as it is by that of Maanwane. It is clear to the Commission that while they may have shot into the air, they also shot directly at the hostile crowd of looters as they were in danger of their lives from the latter. The deceased was not deliberately shot by them but was probably struck when they fired at the crowd as aforementioned. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is OBAKENG PEETE, a child, aged 10 years. (b) the circumstances of his death were that on 11 March 1994 two security guards of Counterforce Security Company, viz Daniel Mosupye and Jacob Tladi fired shots at a hostile crowd of looters advancing upon them at the Rantol Complex and throwing stones at them, when they were in danger of their lives, one of which shots probably struck the deceased who was on the periphery of the crowd. (c) the cause of the death was gunshot wounds to chest with injury to lungs, heart and aorta. (d) the Commission finds that the death was brought about by an act on the part of either Daniel Mosupye or Jacob Tladi which does not however prima facie amount to an offence on the part of either of them. 4.23 CASE NO B32: PAUL SEHULA An entry in the Rietgat Police Station Occurrence Book reads: "Vanaf DK 82 Rietgat Suid Afrikaanse Polisie rapporteer dat 'n 17 jarige s/man Paul Sehula by Central City deur 'n rubber patroon teen die kop getref is en by hulle 'n moord dossier aangele het. VB 83613/94" The time of the entry is given as 1 1:00 on Saturday, 1 2 March 1 994. It was this entry that gave rise to one of the cases investigated by the Commission. Captain Van Gent of the Investigating Team did the investigation. He said that despite diligent search he had not been able to find any murder docket. Furthermore he had not be able to find the Occurrence Book in which the entry VB 836/3/94 is referred to. It had either disappeared or been destroyed. He had followed up the entry "DK82". It was a call sign used by members of a certain police district, the letters "DK" standing for "Distrikkommissaris". He had been able to obtain no information as to who had possibly made the report to Rietgat Police Station. The officer commanding the Police Station, Superintendent Baloyi, had also been able to give him no information about the case. Both he and Superintendent Baloyi had searched the records at the police station but had found nothing which could assist them. Central City had fallen under Loate Police Station. A search of their records had also revealed nothing. He had searched the records of every mortuary in the vicinity but could not find the name Paul Sehula or any name even vaguely similar or resembling it in any of the mortuary registers. The Commission was accordingly unable to deal effectively with this case. In the circumstances, it was unable to find with any certainty that: (a) the identity of the deceased was Paul Sehula or that there had been a deceased person of that name; (b) what the circumstances of such a person's death were; (c) what the cause of the death was; (d) if it was brought about by an act prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person. 4.24 CASE NO B34: SEDIMA SPRINGBOK This teenaged deceased was, according to the evidence, probably shot while he was taking part in the looting at Central City Complex on 11 March 1994 by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force, whose identity can, however, not be established by the Commission. Moriat Springbok said the deceased was his younger brother. He was a scholar. At about 15:45 on Friday, 1 I March 1994 the deceased left home saying he was going to study. He did not return home. His body was found at Ga-Rankuwa Mortuary on 15 March 1994. A post-mortem examination by Dr Kariuki showed that he had multiple gunshot wounds to his right neck, chest and back of the chest. Two shots had been fired at him: one from the front, the other from behind by two shotguns, one using SSG pellets and the other using no. 5 pellets both of which types were found in the body. The body of the deceased was probably picked up by Inspector Ezekiel Molefe who said he was patrolling in the vicinity of Central City in a police van at about 16:00 on Friday, 11 March 1994. Looting was in progress and shots were being fired. Members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force and Army were on the scene, the former being armed with pump-action shotguns, R4 rifles and "stopper" guns, the latter with R4 rifles. There were also members of the Internal Stability Unit of the South African Police present armed with 9 mm Parabellums and R4 rifles. Molefe said he saw a man being carried from inside the Complex to He back entrance and loading zone of the OK Bazaars store there. He did not appear dead. He took him to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital. He was a young man, about 14 to 17 years old. The senior police officer in the area at the time was Captain Lucas Lelaka who instructed him to take the injured youth to hospital. Shown an identity picture of the deceased, Molefe said he was not sure if that was the youth he had picked up. Molefe said there were a number of Bophuthatswana policemen at the loading zone of the OK Bazaars. Molefe, who was an indifferent and evasive witness, said he could not recognise any of them. He did not see Lieutenant Kubu, whom he knew, there, although it is common cause that Lieutenant Kubu was present at the time with Captain Lelaka. He saw no looted goods on any of the police vehicles there. Superintendent Johannes van Rhyn, who was a Captain in Unit 1 of the Internal Stability Unit of the South African Police in March 1994 and to whose evidence the Commission has referred in detail in that portion of its Report dealing with allegations of looting by the Bophuthatswana Police members said that after talking to Captain Lelaka at the OK Bakers loading zone he heard shots being fired at the front of Central City. He and his driver, Warrant-officer Willem Smit, went there and saw five or six members of the Bophuthatswana Police in uniform, two of whom were armed with shotguns. Two youths carrying groceries in plastic bags were running away from them when they were shot at with the shotguns. One who was clearly hit, stumbled and fell but stood up again and continued running. He was obviously wounded. At this stage a confrontation occurred between his men and the Bophuthatswana policemen both sides training their weapons on the other. Nothing eventuated from this, however, Superintendent Van Rhyn said he and Warrant-officer Smit then went to look for the wounded youth but could not find him. They did, however, find a man lying dead on the middle island of a road near the Complex. From a photograph from which he identified the man, it is clear that this was the deceased SELLO VICTOR DIALE, CASE B4 supra. While it cannot be found beyond reasonable doubt that it was the deceased in this case, Sedima Springbok, who was the youth shot by the Bophuthatswana Police members, the probabilities would seem to be that it was he. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is SEDIMA SPRINGBOK, a male, 18 years old. (b) the circumstances of his death were that he was probably shot while taking part in the looting at Central City Complex by an unidentified member or unidentified members of the Bophuthatswana Police using shotguns. (c) the cause of the death was multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. (d) the death was brought about by an act on the part of an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police prima facie amounting to an offense on his part. 4.25 CASE NO B35: JAFTA BOETIE TSHABALALA This is another case where the Commission had no positive evidence as to where or by whom the deceased was shot. Jane Mathe, who lived with the deceased as man and wife, said the deceased left home at about 16:00 on Friday, 11 March 1994 to go to Mabopane railway station to meet a relative who was arriving to stay with them. At about 17:00 she heard that the deceased had been shot. Neighbours who had a car drove her to try and find him. Along the way they met the deceased walking homewards. He had been shot in the head and was bleeding from his forehead and from below his nose on his upper lip and he also had a wound on the side of his head. Ms Mathe said she asked him what had happened to him. He said he had been shot by some white policemen. He did not say if they were in uniform or where they had shot him. She did not ask him too much as he was in pain and she thought he would live to tell her everything later. They took the deceased to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital where he was treated. She visited him twice on the Saturday. His head was bandaged and he was on oxygen. He died on the morning of Sunday, 13 March 1994. Where they found him walking was some distance from Central City. There were a lot of people there but she heard no shooting. No witnesses could be traced who had seen the shooting. The post-mortem examination by Dr Dubasi revealed a bullet entrance wound on the right temporal area. An operation had been performed at the hospital prior to his death to relieve the pressure on the brain from swelling there. The cause of death was "a gunshot wound on the right cerebral hemisphere and cerebellum haematoma in right face and back of neck". The Commission accordingly finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is JAFTA BOETIE TSHABALALA, an adult, male, aged 37 years (identity number 5712025507083). (b) the circumstances of his death are that he was shot in the mouth and head but it cannot be established when, where or by whom he was so shot. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound on the right side of the head. (d) the Commission is unable to determine whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of any person. 4.26 CASE NO B36: MAKANZU JOHANNES TSHABALALA The deceased in this case was shot by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force, whose identity, however, cannot be established. The post-mortem report was that the deceased died from a gunshot wound fired from behind by a high velocity firearm. The bullet entered the right buttock and exited from the front left thigh, severing the femoral blood vessels. The wife of the deceased, Mrs Mamiki Martha Tshabalala, said she left for work at about 06:20 on Friday, 11 March 1994. Her husband was still at home preparing to go to work later. On her way to work she saw men on horseback chasing people around. She thought they were soldiers. She also saw Bophuthatswana Police in green uniforms. On her return home from work she was told that her husband had been shot. She did not know how this had happened. Mrs Sunny Lekalakala said that on 11 March 1994 at about 07:00 she went in her bakkie to look for her 1 5-year old son, Phillip, who was not at home when she woke up. She went to Central City from where she heard sounds of gunfire. Things there were chaotic. She parked near the Molema Bottle Store which is a little way from Central City. She had a friend, Mrs Christina Setshedi, with her. She left the latter at the bakkie while she looked around for her son. She saw Bophuthatswana Police in green and camouflage uniforms chasing looters around and firing shots at them. The situation was chaotic and she returned to her bakkie. As she got there a number of young men carrying a wounded man, who was bleeding from the waist down, forced her to take the man in her bakkie to Clinic III. There she was told to take him to the Soshanguve Medical Centre where on arrival there the man was certified dead. The Police arrived shortly afterwards and took him away. The man was the deceased. Mrs Lekalakala said she did not know him or how he had been injured. Mrs Setshedi said that she was waiting at Mrs Lekalakala's bakkie while the latter was looking for her son. The situation was chaotic. People were carrying goods which they had looted from Central City and the Police were firing randomly at the looters with teargas and also live ammunition. She realised this when she saw a man heading towards their bakkie carrying a wardrobe on his head. Police told him to stop and put the wardrobe down. The police, of whom there were about five or six, were black Bophuthatswana Policemen wearing green uniforms. They were armed with rifles. The man started arguing with the police. Mrs Setshedi said she could not hear what the argument was about but one of the policemen suddenly shot the man. About four young men went up to the police and asked them to pick the man up. When the police did not do so, the young men picked up the man and carried him to their bakkie and told Mrs Lekalakala to take him to Soshanguve or they would burn her bakkie. She then did so. The policeman was about 3 paces from the man when he shot him with his rifle. Mrs Setshedi said she could not hear what the man said to the police. He was gesticulating and unarmed. She could also not say if the man was moving away or trying to run away from the police when he was shot. The policeman who shot him was the one who was doing most of the arguing with the man. She could not say if the man was behaving aggressively but she thought "that the police were not behaving as policemen because out of an argument they can't just shoot a person". If they had wanted to arrest the man the police could have done so as there were enough of them. The man was not armed. Mrs Setshedi said she was surprised at the police's behaviour. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is MAKANZU JOHANNES TSHABALALA, an adult, male, aged 48 years. (b) the circumstances of his death are that he was shot by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force, whose identity is unknown, following an argument between the policeman and the deceased after the deceased had been looting at Central City on 11 March 1994. (c) the cause of the death was a gunshot wound to the left thigh. (d) the Commission is of the opinion that the death was brought about by an act by an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force prima facie amounting to an offense the part of the latter. 4.27 CASE NO B49: DECEASED UNKNOWN The deceased in this case, whose identity and whereabouts of his body could not be established, was shot by a young police constable of the South African Police in Central City when during the looting there, the deceased attacked the constable from a distance of two to three paces with bricks and iron pipes. The constable, Constable (now Sergeant) Rikus Johannes Boshoff and his senior during March 1994, Sergeant (now Inspector) Mornay Francois van Vollenstee, described to the Commission how the death occurred. Van Vollenstee said on Friday, 11 March 1994 he was a section leader of Unit l of the Internal Stability Unit of the South African Police with seven policemen under his command. Boshoffwas one of them. Their task was to help to stabilise the situation in the Central City area. At about 13:00 they were instructed to enter Bophuthatswana to render their assistance. He said that he saw the looting at Central City Complex and Bophuthatswana Police members firing shots. Their Unit's instructions were to try to curb the looting using the minimum of force. Shots were fired at them. There was total chaos at Central City. He found the bodies of about 6 people lying dead in the vicinity. The Complex was burning fiercely and they could not enter it. Using teargas and rubber bullets they drove the looters away from the Complex. He and his men were constantly fired on. He did not know by whom. His main worry was that one of his men might be hit by these shots. Van Vollenstee said that by about 19:30 the situation had stabilised to such an extent that he decided that he and Boshoff could undertake a foot patrol. They went in the direction of a subway at the Complex. As they neared it five black men ran past them towards the subway carrying looted items. He shouted "Stop, police" at them but they continued running. He chased them and caught two of the men from behind. He tried to handcuff them but they resisted vigorously. While he was doing this he heard Boshoff shout "Hy het my gun". He succeeded in handcuffing one of the men and then saw that Boshoff was wrestling with a man who had hold of Boshoffs rifle. He shouted to Boshoff "Kry net jou gun terug". He had to turn his attention once more to one of the men he had caught and when he looked at Boshoff again he saw that Boshoff had retrieved his rifle but the man was then throwing stones, bricks and other rubble lying there at Boshoff. The man kept advancing on Boshoff throwing stones and bricks and pieces of pipe at him. The man was very aggressive. Van Vollenstee said he was greatly concerned that if the man hit Boshoff with one of the missiles at such a short distance - they were only metre apart - he could seriously injure Boshoffor even kill him. He thought Boshoffwas in danger of his life. He then heard a shot and when he looked up he could not see the man. The other two men also stopped their resistance when they heard the shot. The area was fairly dark and he went to get the Nyala vehicle in which they had been travailing to light up the area with its searchlight. The man was then seen lying on the ground. He had a wound in the shoulder and was dead. Boshoff was obviously deeply shocked. Van Vollenstee added that if Boshoffhad been hit by any of the missiles that the man continuously threw at him, the latter could have got possession of Reshows firearm and his, Van Vollenstee's, life would then also have been in danger. Boshoff said he was 19 years old at the time and had been in the police for one year. His evidence as to what happened up to the time they reached the subway was exactly the same as that of Van Vollenstee. Boshoff, like Van Vollenstee, said their main worry was that they may be shot by people who had been firing at them. None of the men had bullet-proof jackets. It was also fairly dark. There was a great deal of smoke from the burning Central City Complex and from the Ga-Rankuwa railway station, which was also on fire. The visibility was poor. Because of the dangerous situation, said Boshoff, he had loaded his rifle with live ammunition. Boshoff, too, testified to the five men who ran past them carrying looted goods, to Van Vollenstee's shouting to them "Stop, police", and to his chasing after the men. The rearmost one turned back and ran into the Complex. Boshoffsaid he ran after this man who dropped his looted goods. He called to the man "Polisie, kom uit". The next moment the man suddenly leapt upon him, tore his rifle from his hands and pressed the barrel against his chest. The man was physically bigger than he was. At He time he weighed only 65 kg and was physically slender. Boshoff said that because the rifle was loaded he thought that the man was going to shoot him and that his last moment had come. He shouted to Van Vollenstee "Hy het my gun". Boshoff said he stepped backwards and stumbled over bricks that were lying. He instinctively grabbed for his gun and he and the man struggled for possession of it. He again fell over the bricks and the momentum of his fall enabled him to wrest the gun from the man. The man then started throwing bricks and pieces of iron at him from short range. He realised that the man intended to injure him severely and even to kill him. The fact that he had his gun back again did not deter the man at all who continued to advance on him, throwing missiles all the while. He was in danger of his life. He realised then that the only way to stop the man was to shoot him. He fired his rifle from the hip intending to shoot him in the legs to demobilise him and to miss his vital organs. The man fell to the ground and all was still. Van Vollenstee later drove their Nyala nearer to light up the scene. He then saw that the man had blood on his shirt from his shoulder and that he was dead. He was about 1.85 metre tall and strongly built. Boshoff said he thought the reason that the man was struck in the shoulder while he had fired at his legs was that when the shot went off the man was bending down to pick up more missiles to throw at him. Boshoff said that had he not shot the man the latter could have severely injured or even killed him, in which event Van Vollenstee's life would also have been in danger as the man would then have had hold of his loaded rifle. The incident was immediately reported to the Operations Centre over the radio by Van Vollenstee. They were instructed to continue with their foot patrol, which they did despite his being severely shocked by what had happened. Neither Boshoffnor Van Vollenstee knew what had happened to the body, it being led to other policemen to remove it. No one had ever identified the body and there is no record presently in existence of any post-mortem having been performed on it. Both Van Vollenstee and Boshoff impressed the Commission as honest and truthful witnesses and it is clear from their evidence that Boshoff, as a result of the attack on him, was in danger of his life and in firing the shot that killed the deceased he acted in legitimate self-defence. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased can not be established. (b) the circumstances of the death of this unknown man are that he was fatally shot on 11 March 1994 in the shoulder by then Constable, now Sergeant, Rikus Johannes Boshoff with his shotgun, in self-defence when the man attacked him with bricks and pieces of iron in conditions in which Boshoff's life was in danger. (c) the cause of the death cannot be established, save that the man suffered a shotgun wound in the shoulder. (d) having acted in legitimate self-defence the man's death was not brought about by an act of Sergeant Boshoff prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on his part. 5. CASES WHERE INQUESTS OR CRIMINAL TRIALS WERE HELD BY MAGISTRATES INTO THEE DEATHS AND WHERE THE COMMISSION DID NOT COME TO A CONCLUSION DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF THE MAGISTRATES In seven cases inquests had been held by magistrates into the deaths in question and in one case three members of the Bophuthatswana Police had been tried and acquitted by a Regional Court Magistrate on a charge of murder arising out of the death of the deceased in that case. This notwithstanding the Investigation Team nevertheless fully investigated each one of the cases, not with a view to enabling the Commission to decide if the verdict of the Magistrate in each case was correct or not (which it would neither have been the function, nor within the competence, of the Commission to do so) but to determine whether there was any additional evidence to that placed before the Magistrate which the Commission would have to consider in relation to the deaths. As pointed out earlier in this Report in a large number of cases the Police had not conducted adequate investigations into the various deaths and in some instances had not even opened dockets in regard to them. To ensure that the circumstances of the deaths were properly established this necessitated the Investigating Team having again to investigate those cases even where inquests had been held and findings made. The Commission herein below deals with each one of the eight cases involved. 5.1 CASE NO B10: TEBOGO LEKOMA This is the case in which three Bophuthatswana Police officers were tried in the Regional Court at Taung on a charge of murder of the deceased. They were Elia Khonkhobe, Simon Mosetho and James Legalamitiwa. It was alleged that the deceased, an 18-year old youth, was part of a crowd at the Ganyesa Shopping Complex intending to loot the shops in the Complex on the night of Saturday, 12 March 1994. The crowd was throwing stones at the Complex. Ganyesa was situated in the former Bophuthatswana. The Bophuthatswana Police took action against the crowd. It was alleged against the three policemen that they had assaulted the deceased when arresting him at the scene and again at the Ganyesa Police Station. The deceased died of his injuries at the Vryburg Hospital on 14 March 1994. A post-mortem examination report handed in at the trial gave the cause of death as "skedelfraktuur met subdurale en subarachnoidale bloeding". At the trial the State called seven witnesses. At the close of the State case the defence applied for the discharge of the three accused. The Regional Magistrate found the evidence of the State witnesses to be so contradictory as not to warrant the accused being put on their defence. They were accordingly found not guilty and discharged. The Commission has read the statements of the witnesses and can find no fault with the Magistrate's decision. The Investigating Team could find no further evidence. The Commission therefore finds that (a) the identity of the deceased is TEBOGO LEKOMA, a male, aged 18 years. (b) the circumstances of his death cannot be established with any certainty. (c) the cause of his death was a fractured skull with subdural and subarachnoid bleeding. (d) as found by the Regional Court there is no prima facie evidence of any offence on the part of any person. 5.2 CASE NO B13: MAPHUTI MARCUS MAKGOKA The deceased, aged 33 years at the time of his death, was found dead about 16:00, on 11 March 1994 in a shop in Central City Complex. He had a gunshot wound to the head causing his head to explode. He was obviously looting there. Dr Kariuki and Captain Brits felt that he had been shot at close range by a high velocity firearm. It would appear that the deceased was the man who Lieutenant-Colonel Herbst said he saw being shot by a member of the Bophuthatswana Police dressed in civilian clothes, in Pick 'n Pay. The Magistrate of Odi held an Inquest No. 115/95 on 14 June 1 997 and found "(a) the identity of the deceased is MAPATI MARCUS MAKGOKA, male, aged 33 years. (b) the date of death is 11 March 1994. (c) the cause of death was gunshot wound to the head." As to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person, the Magistrate found: "Yes, deceased was allegedly shot by unknown person." The Commission agrees with these findings save that, in the light of the evidence of Lieutenant-Colonel Herbst the deceased was shot by an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. 5.3 CASE NO B17: MARGARET THAPELO MOGOROSI In this case the Magistrate at Lehurutshe held an Inquest No. 42/95 on 25 May 1995 into the death of the deceased, a 13-year-old girl who died on 11 March 1994. She was one of a group of adults and schoolchildren who attacked the shop of one Ishmael Mooketzi at Motlhabeng Village stoning it and threatening to kill him. He fired three shots and fled. Two boys were wounded and the deceased fatally wounded sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. The mob burnt down both the shop and Mooketzi's house. A large number of affidavits from witnesses were handed in at the inquest and also a post-mortem examination report. The Magistrate made the following findings: "(a) the identity of the deceased is MARGARET THAPELO MOGOROSI, female, aged 13 years. (b) the date of death is 11 March 1995. (c) the cause of the death is 'Gunshot wound on skull causing neurogenic shock'." As to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense the part of any person, the Magistrate found: "death was not brought about by any act or omission to or amounting to or involving an offense on the part of any person. ". The date of death is obviously an error and should read " 11 March 1994". The Commission agrees with the above finding. Mooketzi clearly fired the shots he did in order to escape the mob and save his life. The Investigating Team found no other witnesses to the incident. CASE NO B20: KGOSIENEWANG GIFT MOLOALWE The Magistrate of Kudumane held an Inquest No 12/96 on 12 July 1996 into the death of the deceased, a 18 year old schoolboy, who was shot when the Bophuthatswana Police dispersed a crowd at Maruping Village during the period of unrest. Drs E G Amlima and W J Geyer conducted the post-mortem and found the cause of death to be "Cardio-respiratory failure due to severe bleeding from internal organs from multiple gun shot". Further investigation by the Investigation Team revealed, however, that the deceased was probably shot by an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police. The Magistrate made the following findings: "(a) the identity of the deceased is KGOSIENEWANG GIFT MOLOALWE, a South African, male, aged 18 years. (b)the date of the death is 11 March 1994. (c) the cause of death is cardio-respiratory failure due to internal bleeding from gun shot wound to his organs." As to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of any person, the Magistrate found: "Death was brought about by an act or omission amounting to an offense on the part of an unknown person or persons". The Magistrate forwarded the Inquest proceedings to the Attorney-General for his decision. The Attorney-General agreed with these findings as does the Commission, save that in the light of the evidence obtained by the Investigation Team the deceased was, it would seem, probably shot by an unidentified member of the Bophuthatswana Police Force. 5.5 CASE NO B29: JAN LESIBA NTAUWATSWALA The Magistrate of Odi held an Inquest No. 02/96 on 23 January 1996 into the death of the deceased a 21 -year-old man who was found shot at Central City Complex during the period of unrest. He had a shotgun wound in the chest. A post-mortem examination by Dr Kariuki showed that he also had a bruised face, a fractured left arm, gunshot wounds to the thighs and to the left arm. Neither the investigating officer Detective Sergeant J M Putuka of the Murder and Robbery Unit at Winterveld Police Station nor the members of the Investigating Team could find anyone who could say where, when, how or by whom he had been shot. The Magistrate made the following findings: "(a) the identity of the deceased is JAN LESIBA NTAUWATSWALA, male, aged 30 years. (b) the date of the death is 12 March 1994. (c) the cause of the death is 'shotgun wounds to the chest with collapsed lung and bleeding into the chest cavity'." As to whether the death was brought about by any act or omission prima facie amounting to an offence on the part of any person the Magistrate found "Yes, deceased was allegedly shot by unknown members of the Stability Unit" The Commission has great difficulty in understanding how the Magistrate could have come to this latter finding in the light of the evidence before him of Detective Sergeant Putuka and in the light of the injuries suffered by the deceased. The only basis for his finding could be an affidavit before him of Lieutenant Prince Johannes Kubu, to which reference was been made earlier in this Report. In it is a general statement reading as follows: "During the night shots were heard from the shopping complex and people came to complain that Stability were shooting people at random and others have since died." He does not say that they shot this deceased or that he had been told that they had done so. As mentioned earlier Lieutenant Kubu said he saw no members of the Internal Stability Unit shooting anyone nor could he confirm that they had done so. The Commission finds therefore that the finding that the deceased was shot by members of the Stability Unit cannot be supported. Nor is there any evidence to support the finding that the date of death was 12 March 1994. The deceased may have been shot on 11 March 1994 before the arrival of the members of the Internal Stability Unit. The Commission finds that the circumstances of the death can not be established and therefore it cannot be determined if anyone can be held responsible for it. 5.6 CASE NO B33: NKOSINATHI AI)OLPHUS SITHOLE The Magistrate of Odi held Inquest No. 210/94 on 11 August 1994 into the death of the deceased and made the following findings: "(a) the identity of the deceased is NKOSINATHI ADOLPHUS SITHOLE. (b) no finding was made as to the date of death. (c) the cause of the death was 'Head injury due to bullet wounds to it'." As to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person, the Magistrate found: "death was not brought about by any act or omission involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person". Apart from the witnesses who attested to affidavits handed in at the inquest, the Investigating Team also found a witness, Inspector Thabo Mphatudi, who found the body of the deceased. He found it at about 11:00 on Friday, 1 1 March 1994 in the veld near Central City Complex. The body was taken to the Mortuary at about 12:00 on that day. No other witnesses could be found who could say by whom or in what circumstances the deceased was shot. Dr Kariuki told the Commission that the deceased had suffered one gunshot wound to the head fired from the front. Captain Brits was of opinion that it had been caused by a 9 mm or .357 handgun. The Commission agrees with the inquest findings. 5.7 CASE NO B37: UNKNOWN AFRICAN MALE The Magistrate of Odi held Inquest No. 08/96 on 26 January 1996 into the death of the deceased and made the following findings: "(a) the identity of the deceased is unknown. (b) the date of death is 11 March 1994. (c) the cause of death is 'Gunshot wounds to the upper cervical spine and chest with head injury'." As to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person, the Magistrate found: "persons unknown responsible for the death". The investigation officer in this case was also Detective Sergeant J M Putuka. He filed an affidavit at the inquest in which he said that the deceased was shot "at Mabopane Shopping Complex during the unrest times at Central City". The deceased was not identified at the Mortuary. Dr Kariuki told the Commission that the deceased had three gunshot wounds to the left side of the neck, chest and also Captain Brits thought he had been shot by a shotgun using SSG pellets. The Investigating Team could also find no witnesses as to when, where or by whom the deceased had been shot nor anyone who could identify him. The same affidavit by Lieutenant Kubu as was produced in Case B29: Jan Lesiba Ntauwatswala, was also produced at the inquest in this case but here the Magistrate - correctly, in the Commission's view - appears to have disregarded it. The Commission agrees with the inquest findings. 5.8 CASE NO B38: UNKNOWN ADULT AFRICAN MALE This case is one of those referred to earlier in this Report where the deceased could not be identified. His body was one of those burnt beyond recognition at Central City Complex. The Magistrate of Odi held Inquest No. 207/94 on 9 August 1994 and found that "(a) He identity of the deceased is unknown. (b)the date of death was not determined. (c) the cause of death was 'severe burns (charred)'." As to whether the death was brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offence on the part of any person, the Magistrate found: "the death was not brought about by an act or omission prima facie involving or amounting to an offense on the part of any person". The Commission agrees with these findings. On the last day on which the Commission heard evidence a witness came forward to say he had heard of the Commission and wished to bring certain facts to its attention. He was Ephraim Masola, a bus driver from the Manyeneng area of Hammanskraal. He said that if it were not for the presence of the Internal Stability Unit and soldiers on horseback (who appeared to have been members of the South African Defence Force), members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force would have killed him and others in numbers. He said that a community meeting was being held by about 100 people at the Manyeneng Stadium during the unrest period and at the time of the looting when he heard that members of the Internal Stability Unit were outside. He asked the person in charge of them, one De Beer, to stand guard and see to it that the Bophuthatswana Police did not disrupt the meeting. About 10 minutes later, the police in "Hippos", Flying Squad vehicles and police vans arrived. He asked De Beer if they were safe. While talking to De Beer one of the policemen tried to run him over with his car but he was pulled to safety by an Internal Stability Unit member. Masola said that the policeman said his intention was to kill him. The Internal Stability Unit prevented any further incidents. Masola also testified to having seen members of the Bophuthatswana Police Force stealing a safe from the First National Bank at the Temba Complex and had also seen them trying to shoot open safes at businesses in Babalegi. He had seen policemen looting furniture from a furniture store at Temba and loading the items into a police "Nyala" which he saw them later off-loading at a house close to where he stayed. Masola also testified to having been present at an argument between members of the Bophuthatswana Police and of the South African Defence Force, the former accusing the latter of interfering with their wives, at a party at a house at Manyeneng. The police had fired shots at the house killing three children and wounding four others there. He could point out the house. At the request of the Commission, Captain Van Gent and Sergeant Ferreira of the Investigating Team investigated these allegations. They ascertained that a shooting had indeed taken place at the house mentioned. This had occurred on 9 April 1994 when two teenagers, Thomas Ponki Makhubela, 19, and Daniel Mampye, 17 were shot dead and four others wounded when a school teacher and a member of the South African Defence Force had fired on them using a weapon of the latter. The two men were charged with and convicted on two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder and each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. These deaths fell outside the Terms of Reference of the Commission and no more need be said about them. As to the allegations of looting it must be said that on Masola's own admission he is at loggerheads with the police and has a particular grievance against two of them, one Isaac Dikobe and one Gavamba, who he said had taken away the wives of himself and his father-in-law. Be that as it may it was, as stated above, not the Commission's function to investigate allegations of looting by the former Bophuthatswana Police which, if it chooses to do so, the South African Police may wish to investigate.