The following da*, June j?, peter de Ionnu en<j j wen*

beck into the township etfsin. At the local stadium, we

s M i t t e d *n,j went on with our iniervieu;.

This is whtre j met 5 man, who does net went to be

identified, < I have his ns»e end e g r e s s ) r who ss:d he

had iteif two M-.liLt L'Siirlrs recked ct tht entrance o f the tawn«Iii>» in Mzimvubu Street. Armed men

disembarked from one cesspir end the other cesspir

proceeded towards the eastern pert of the townshiF,

That was about 1Q.15p «i.

Then there was a itsn who was Jointly interviewed by

•e «nd Peter de lonno* This wet because the nan could

not speak either English or Afrikaans, The man said he

had seen his colleaaue, one Louis Pienaar, whc- was

driving a SADF cesspir.

Hr Pienaar allegedly told this man* in the company of

others* that the perpetrators of the v i o l e n c e had

'finished their Job, aione away and there would be peace n o w " .

On the seme dawr 1 hid the opportunity of tfoin* beck

to people I interview on June 18f and I was told the same

story, I asain went over end over the story together with

the men we interviewed in the vicinity of the stadium.

Oil* wuunif&terf who was e«tenslvel» lnt*rviewed bw

Peter d« ionnq, mentioned seina a tfroup of menr led by

whilw M*nr «#ttdcKina souetter camp residents* The

Hounsstir said he end members of the local defence unit

were fired on by the attackers#

Lisina a n>ap of the townshir, we were able to picce

tosether where the aen were allegedly dropped off and

launched their attack*

s

SYDNEY HATJ u }Kf\

‘E- - (Oil) 3 3 3 - 2 7 2 1 / E

lOAK^ J * C1 E 0 I P A T 0 N G 0K T H U R S D A Y M O R N I N G (JUNE If) AT A LOUT

ON A R R I V A L BOI F'ATONG R E S I D E N T S W E R ^ K I L L I N G ARntlNn a*-r, e n v r W E R E R E M O V I N G B O D I E S F R O M A M O N G S T T H E * W D E C K A P F t u i * i’c c n th B E T H E I R S H A C K S AT T H E S Q U A T T E R S E T T L E M E N T ^ T°

T H E A D J A C E N T T O W N S H I P H O U S E S , F A T H E R S C H I L D R E N A N -

B O D I E S ^ O F ^ ' T H E I R R B E L O V E D O N e ! . W E E P I N G E E S f°ES B L O O D - S O A K E D

| r o m B E h e m o s h o e I h o e ^ s t r e e t ^ h ^ n ^ t h e ^ p r e c i n c t s ^ O F ^ T H ^ T O W N S H I pT O W A R D S T H E C E N T R E E V E R Y H O U S E IN T H E R O W H A D I T S W I N D O W S S H A T T E R E D A N D F U R N I T U R E B R O K E N . w i n d o w .T H E N A T U R E OF T H E A T T A C K S U G G E S T E D T H A T T H E A T T A C K E R S H A D

BROKEN ?S?S I S r f S S F J ' W EVERV «OD8iHfHAfSSCfeg3i WAS

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T O S T R E E T ^° ^GH T I M E T° B R E A K F R 0“ H O U S E T O H O U S E A N D S T R E E T "

t S K ^ L K ’gi?i,T iffi I ? * ^ ? S 8 v ! S ! o ! j e c t e r c a h p s n d c o n -

a k n v H n p ® ? t ^ v I » S p D S T A B B E D A N D H A C K W O U N D S .B R O T H E R T R T R H t o u f p n Ln l u ET u c M I ? ^ T E A R S H 0 W H I S M O T H E R A N D T H P n n v c ? T n D u?°uTAR Rx,SS£ £ P E + A T T A C K E R S BUT IN V A I N .

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N°T E V E N A T T E M P T TO D E F E N D T H E M S E L V E S .

O V E R T H E I R Y F A C E °F G R I E F A N D P A I N ' S A D N E S S W A S W R I T T E N A L L

?,!1E ^ A L L P O I N T E D F I N G E R S AT T H E I S C O R - O W N E D K W A M A D A L A HO*5TFT m p m t c T H E Y A C C U S E D OF H A R B O U R I N G D E A T H S Q U A D S A N D T S O T S I E L E -M h. N i j •I S I ?»,S9E IS N O T O R I O U S A N D W E L L - K N O W N O F B E I N G A S A N C T U A R Y T H E T O W N S H I P E L E M E N T £ A N D I N K A T H A M E M B E R S W H O H A D F L E D

BERS E E o',«lRiN B A S E D E X f D T ^ IS o s ¥ l L * TIAt:KERS WERE I N K A ™ ATHEY S A I D T H E L A N G U A G E S P O K E N B Y T H E A S S A I L A N T S W A S Z U L U .

. r I t I NT t 1 V j E r-T I M 7- I NT A ' N’E I T r E ' L I C E C AM E T HE N ' CHT E :

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A. ::C-KT AT T H E Y W 7.TCKEI IKE P O L I C E S’ P R A Y INC THI Y O U T H W I T H T E A F C A T , T H E Y D E C I D E D NOT lO GC TC S L E E P THA T N I G H T . T H E Y E A I D T H E Y W E R E I N F O R M E D EY S Y M P A T H E T I C I N K A T H A M r *'?ERc W H O W O R K E D AT THE H O S T E L T H A T AN A T T A C K WAS P L A N N E D F OR T H A N I G H T .T H E Y A L L I N S I S T E D T H A T P O L I C E W E R E I N F O R M E D B E F O R E T H E A T ­T A C K P U T T H E R E W AS N O R E S P O N S E .T H E A C C O U N T G I V E N BY TH E B O I P A T O N G R E S I D E N T S L E F T N O D O U B T T H A T T H E A T T A C K E R S K N E W W H A T T H E Y W E R E D O I N G .IT A L S O G I V E S A C L E A R I N D I C A T I O N T H A T P O L I C E K N E W A B O U T THE A T T A C K B E F O R E IT C O U L D T A K E P L A C E .T H E I R V I V I D R E C O L L E C T I O N OF T H E E V E N T S O F T H A T N I G H T D I S P E L A N Y D O U B T T H A T T H E A T T A C K E R S W E R E F R O M T H E N O T O R I O U S H O S T E L

WFAPCKE UE FT’ IK' THE ATTACK CONSTFTED OF SEE ART, PAN 3 A ANT

STATEMENT ON MY VISIT TO BOIPATONG AFTER THE JUNE 17 MASSACRE

I v i sited Boipatong on June 19, two days after the massacre,

t ogether w i t h David Ottaway of the Washi n g t o n Post. I did so in

order to g ather material for a report in The Observer, by w h o m I

am e m p loyed on contract to report on South Africa.

We drove first to Slovo Park, the sguatter settle m e n t on the

eastern edge of the township which suffered the h i g h e s t number of

c asualties in the attack. There we w i t n e s s e d a h o u s e w h i c h had

been p a r t l y demolished in the attack : the roof was gone, some

walls had been broken down and there was blood on the floor in

the b e d r o o m section. We spoke to a w o m a n w h o was packing

clothes there who told us she was the sister of a w o m a n who lived

in the shack and who had been attacked there t o g e t h e r w i t h her

husband. Both the woman and her husband had been injured, and

their y o u n g child, who had been asleep in an a d j o i n i n g room, had

been killed. She was packing up the clothes b e c ause the family

h ad d e c i d e d to leave Slovo Park and move to another area they

h oped w o u l d be safer.

We spoke to two w omen in another house in Slovo Park who told us

a m a n and his w i f e had been shot there. The m a n was killed, his

wife wounded. They showed us bullet holes in the door. One of

the w o m e n gave her name as Martha Mashinini. We asked these

p eople who had launched the attack. They said e m p h a t i c a l l y that

the attackers had come from the Kwa-Madala Hosel. We asked

- 2 -

whether they had seen the attackers, and M artha said yes, she had

seen some in the street outside her house w h i c h was in the

township itself, not Slovo Park. When we asked w h e t h e r the

attackers were accompanied by police, she said she had seen

police o r d ering young people off the streets before the attack

but had not seen any police during the attack itself. M artha and

other p eople present during the conversation said these young

people were p r e p aring to defend the township a g ainst an impending

attack, and they believed the police removed them in order to

facilitate the attack.

None of the people we spoke to in Slovo Park or in Boipatong

itself said they had themselves seen p olice e s c o r t i n g the

attackers into the township, but several said other residents had

told them they had seen this. Martha took us to her own house

where we m e t her daughter and several other people. All told us

they had seen a white man standing in the street outside Martha's

h ouse on the night of the attack, talking to several of the

attackers. They were talking in Afrikaans. They said the man

was w e a r i n g a white track suit with a red and w h i t e headband. He

came to the front door, shouted through the door in Afrikaans

t e lling the people to come out. They refused to open the door,

w h i c h was locked, and after beating on it the attackers left.

- 3 -

Other people in the township also told us they h a d seen white

people w i t h the attackers dressed in white track suits, but they

were u n a b l e to say whether these were policemen.

We spoke to 20 or 30 people in all. None of t h e m h a d seen any

p olice themselves, but several said they had h e a r d that police

had e s c orted the attackers in to the township. There was a

general p e r c e p t i o n that the police were involved in the attack.

The stories did not sound orchestrated. H a d they been

orchestrated, the people would surely have c l aimed that they had

seen the police themselves. Nor was there any u n i f o r m i t y about

the stories. All related to individual experiences, with

individual variations. It sounded to me that they were

recou n t i n g what had actually happened to t h e m on a dark and

c o n f using night, interspersed with rumours that they had picked

up since then. But on being questioned, they d i s t inguished

be tween the rumours and what they had a c t ually seen. We

encoun t e r e d no animosity, although many of the p eople we spoke to

were c l early very upset by what had happened.

A l l i s t e r Sparks

29th J u l y 1992

STATEMENT

M y full name is Peter Domenico De Ionno. I am an editor of the

Insight section of the Sunday Star at 47 Sauer Street,

Johannesburg. Tel. 633-2479. I have been a j ournalist since

1972. I t r ained in Australia on The A d v e r t i s e r in Adelaide,

w here I w o r k e d as a crime reporter and led an investigative team.

In Britain I w orked on The Times and was news e ditor of The

Sunday Correspondent. I joined to The Star in J o h a n n e s b u r g in

1991.

On Thursday, June 18, I went to Boipatong at about lp.m and left

about 6p.m.

On Friday, June 19, I went to Boipatong b e tween noon and 5p.m.

On the T h u rsday we first drove around the township. Streets were

blocked by barricades, particularly at junctions where it

appeared fires had been burning, the atmosphere was tense, people

seemed nervous and wary, an unusual number of p e o p l e were in the

streets, m a n y houses and shacks showed signs of damage, broken

w i ndows were boarded up.

At press a conference addressed by ANC leaders, several hundred

people g a t hered and listened to speeches. M a n y p eople went

openly.

- 2 -

Together w i t h Sunday Star reporter, Jovial Rantau, I spoke to

more than a dozen people about the events of the p r e v i o u s night.

In separate locations people pointed to places w h e r e they had

seen p olice casspirs and claimed that they had accom p a n i e d the

attackers. Their information was incorporated in a m a p and an

article p u b l ished in the Sunday Star on June 21. W e only used

information from people who said they had seen these incidents

themselves.

We went to Boipatong to the hostel where a large n u mber of police

were negot i a t i n g to enter the hostel. Part of this group went

into the hostel and came out with several dozen sticks, iron bars

and several spears which were thrown into a pile outside the

gates. Several assault rifle magazines and a h a ndful of pistol

rounds w e r e brought out. Police spokesmen issued statements

de nying any involvement in the attack.

On the Friday I went directly to the Boipatong S t a d i u m where a

large number of people were waiting and k e eping a w a t c h in the

d i r e ction of the Kwa-Madala Hostel. The atmos p h e r e was again

tense. I again asked to speak to people who had personally

wi t n e s s e d the events. I spoke to several y ouths w h o c l aimed to

have seen security force vehicles involved in the attack. One

claimed he had seen a white man involved with the attackers near

Slovo Camp. As we interviewed the residents, we asked them to

mark a local authority map of the area to indicate w h e r e they had

wi t n essed partic u l a r incidents. One m a n told me he had

recogn i s e d and spoken to the driver of a casspir. We were taken

to a house where a man said he had w i t n essed a c a sspir reverse

into his fence and unload attackers who had k illed two w o m e n in

the house and stolen property. This information was also

incorporated in a story and map published on June 21.

Af t e r the two visits, I was impressed by the c a l mness of the

commu n i t y and the consistency of their statements.

STATEMENT TO LAWYERS ON BOIPATONG MtssappR MATHATHA TSEDU. INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR. sowktam

I am M a t hatha Tsedu, the investigations Editor of Sowetan

newspaper. I have been working as a journalist since 1978. I am

based at the Sowetan head office, 61 K o m mando Road, Industrial,

Johannesburg, Telephone (Oil) 474 0128.

I trave l l e d to Boipatong on June 18 and a r r ived just before

10a.m. We went to the Slovo camp first where we found grief

s tricken p eople as the police mortuary van was c o l l e c t i n g the

body of a nine months old baby.

T here was very little structural damage v i s ible in this area,

although this scenario changed as we moved into the formal

settlement houses where windows, doors and p r o p e r t i e s inside the

houses were damaged and in some cases looted.

There was a sense of shock and disbelief of w h a t h a d happened.

People were more confused because they could not fathom any

reason why the attackers had done so as they said they were not

aware of any incidents that may have sparked the attack.

They were angry and youths were grouping and m a r c h i n g down

streets. The police were at the entrance of Boipatong, a few

m etres from K wa-Madala Hostel but did not search v e h i c l e s moving

into Boipatong.

- 2 -

The victims said the attackers had moved in after p o lice had

dispersed the defence units manning barricades. T h e y said the

a ttackers had m o v e d through the formal township from Slovo camp

towards Kwa-Madala.

They said the attackers had spoken in Zulu and h a d used spears,

knobki e r i e s and guns. Some of the attackers had taken clothing

and tv sets w h i c h in some cases were dumped further on as more

lucrative goodies were found.

In the area towards the Kwa-Madala Hostel, the v i ctims said a

police casspir had accompanied the attackers as they left towards

the hostel.

There was no doubt from the victims as to who was responsible.

They all said the attackers had come from K w a - M a d a l a Hostel and

were aghast that police were at that time s e e m ingly more

interested in them than in the hostel from w h e n c e the attack had

come.

There had been, according to all the witne s s e s we spoke to, no

w a r n i n g of the attack. We did not find anyone who specifically

b e l onged to any of the mainstream political organi s a t i o n s such as

ANC, Azapo, PAC etc.

- 3 -

They said the attackers had asked for comrades and in some cases

victims were asked whether they were Inkatha members. In the

latter case, an answer to the negative spelt death.

We had no doubt that people were telling the truth and that we

were g e t ting a truthful account of what happened.

STATEMENT FOR—GOLDSTQNE— COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO BOlPATOwn MASSACRE

LOUISE GUBB (photographer - J B PICTURES - N E W YORK)

This is to state that, as a member of the Foreign Press corps in

South Africa, and particularly as a p h o t o g r a p h e r w o r k i n g with

J.B. Pictures in New York, on assignment for Time Magazine, I

v i sited Boipatong on Thursday June 18, to cover events following

the m a s s a c r e the previous night. I have been a p r a c t i s i n g p h o t o ­

j ournalist for 18 years.

I s u bsequently visited Boipatong and/or the n e a r b y Kwa-Madala

Hostel on June 19, June 20, 21, 23, 29 and July 3, to cover

activities of residents, hostel dwellers and police, related to

the massacre.

On June 18 I found, on arrival in Boipatong, t e nsion and anger in

the crowds t h r o nging the streets, and great s orrow and shock in

and around the houses where attacks had taken place. By the time

I arrived, h aving got lost on the freeway, most of the dead had

been removed, including all in the squatter camp, so I

c o n centrated m y work on the central area of attack in Boipatong

township.

In one house, which had come under attack the p r e vious night, I

found the body of one man who I was told was B e n j a m i n Mosoetse,

- 2 -

shot three times from the front (throat, upper chest and torso)

and lying dead in a back room. In an a d j o ining r o o m (of this

four-roomed h o u s e ) , I saw pools of blood w here another man

(Benjamin's 21 year old son, Samuel Mosoetse) had r e p o r t e d l y been

stabbed on a bed and I was told he had died on the way to

hospital. The door of the rooms where the dead m a n was and the

w o u n d e d had been was upturned. Relatives of the d e c e a s e d told me

that five of their family members had been g a t h e r e d in the

k i t c h e n the prece d i n g night, before the attack happened. They

were t o g ether there because the mother of the h ouse had died

about two weeks before and family members had g a t h e r e d to bury

and m o u r n her. A 64 year old woman, Martha Hlengete, told me and

other reporters, through an interpreter who I found outside the

house, and w h o spoke good English, that she and her four

relatives (she was Benjamin M o s o e t s e 1s cousin) had been together

the night before when they heard a vehicle a p p r o a c h i n g and

shouts; the vehicle, she said, sounded like a casspir, but the

group in the kitchen were too scared at the noises to look out.

She and two women ran to the front room adjoining the k i t c h e n and

hid under the furniture. They heard in A f r i kaans a voice saying

"open the door", accompanied by whistles and shouts and men

y e l l i n g "these dogs" in Zulu. Then the door was broken open and

five men, she said, rushed into the kitchen. She said she saw

- 3 -

whits skin on the arm of one intruder, whose sleeve was drawn

back and who wore a balaclava. From the p o s i t i o n of the couch in

the front lounge there is a clear view t h rough a door into the

end of the small kitchen that leads on to the other two rooms, so

I thought it possible that she could have w a t c h e d some of the

goings on from under the coach, where she said she was hiding.

She and the other two women heard the attack t a k i n g place on

their two relatives, she said, and the screams of the victims but

stayed w here they were, hidden and terrified until the attackers

left.

O ther houses in the same street had broken windows, and signs of

forced e n t r y . But the bodies of victims had been r e moved by the

time I got there. I saw the body of a 21 year old w o m a n in her

home just before it was removed. She had been laid out on the

floor and it appeared that she had been stabbed and her throat

slit. I was told by relatives that she was the m o t h e r of an

infant.

I believe that I and the reporters with me were the first to

speak to M artha Hlengete, as I noticed her g r i e v i n g outside her

house, and found an interpreter to guestion her as to w h e t h e r she

had been in that house during the attack. I k n o w that the

information given was correctly interpreted because I could

- 4 -

follow enough of her vernacular to verify what she said. She

later repeated the story to television colleagues, t h rough a

different interpreter (another relative) who had not been present

during her first accounting.

D u ring the three and a half hours that I was in that area of

Boipatong, where there had been several attacks on houses and

residents killed, I did not see any police investigator searching

for evidence (fingerprints etc) or taking statements about the

events the night before. Police casspirs and nyalas patrolled

the streets and I saw some police in a street h i g h e r up in the

to w nship taking positions around a house as t h o u g h perhaps

someone dangerous was inside. But I asked p eople in the main

street of the attack whether police investigators h a d been active

there before I arrived, and was told no.

However, the police responded swiftly w h e n t o w nship youths

attacked two policemen's houses around noon in a separate part of

the township.

SIGNED : LOUIS GUBB/JB PICTURES

BY : SOPHIE TEMA

My name is Sophie Tema

I am a senior journalist for City Press n e w s paper w i t h 27 years

experience.

M y w o r k address is - Media Centre, 2 Herb Street, Doornfontein,

and m y telephone number is 402-1631.

t9Date of visit - June 17 and on several other occasions

thereafter.

On the day in question, I visited Boipatong and a r rived in the

township at about 10a.m.

The Streets were teeming with crowds of p eople all expressing

shock at what had taken place in the township the night before.

Some of the houses had windows shattered and others had doors

b roken down.

At Slovo Park I saw about three corpses lying outside the shacks

w hile others were lying inside some of the shacks that had been

attacked. We could not see"the state of the dead victims as they

had a l ready been covered with blankets.

- 2 -

In Boipatong township I was able to see one v i c t i m w h o was

uncovered w h e n police came to remove his body and n o t iced that

his face and had was badly severed which gave me the impression

that he was h acked with a panga or sharp axe.

Relatives, family members and those who w i t n e s s e d the incident

were crying, some shaking with shock and others c o l l a p s e d as they

r e c alled what had happened. The people in the streets were

angry, enraged and the youths immediately took to the township

and attacked several houses, including those that b e l onged to

policemen.

Most of them claimed that the perpetrators of the m a s s a c r e had

come from Iscor's Kwa-Madala Hostel.

R e s i dents said the attackers were -

1. m e mbers of Inkatha (IFP);

2. spoke in Zulu;

3. Carried weapons ranging from self made pangas, spears, axes

and iron-rods.

M a n y of the residents claimed they had seen p olice in casspirs

deploying the attackers outside the Slovo Park squatter camp.

Several p eople claimed - and this was m e n t i o n e d at a press

conference held earlier that day by an ANC m e m b e r - that there

had been forewarning of the massacre.

W h e t h e r there had been a common conviction of what h a p p e n e d was

d i f f icult to say because one could only gather one side of the

story and from people who had been terribly a n gered and felt

equally frustrated.

P eople seemed to be honestly recounting what they b e l ieved had

happened.

STATEMENT - RE : BOIPATONG MASSACRE

M y name is John Carlin. I have been the staff corres p o n d e n t of

"The Independent" newspaper in South A frica since J a n u a r y 1989.

I have been a foreign correspondent for ten years. I was in

Boipatong on 18 June 1992, arriving there at about 12:30, leaving

at about 17:00.

I arrived to find crowds of people m i lling about in a clear state

of shock. It reminded me somewhat of the mood on the streets of

M e x i c o City, where I lived, after the earthguake in 1985. The

consensus among people I interviewed - at least a dozen - was

that the attackers had come from Kwa-Ma d a l a Hostel and were

Inkatha supporters. Few of the attackers spoke, apparently, but

those who did, spoke Zulu. I was told that the attackers carried

spears and knives and, in some cases, guns. One m a n gave a

graphic descri p t i o n of white men with guns a c c o m p a n y i n g the

spear-wielders. Everyone I spoke to - bereaved and non-bereaved,

young and old - said they had seen police a round at the time of

the massacre. They said they had seen police c a s spirs used to

ferry the attackers to Boipatong. A number of p eople said police

had r aided Boipatong before the hostel attackers' arrival to

clear "comrades" from the streets. The impression I had was that

the people I spoke to - more than half through an interpreter

had a shared general perception of the events of the previous

night. I had no reason to doubt what they said. It w o u l d have

- 2 -

been presum p t u o u s and patronising to do so. Therefore, I

what they told me, and several other reporters, as the basis

an article published in the Independent on 19 June.

used

for

STATEMENT TO GOLDSTONE COMMISSION

PROM : JOVIAL RANTAU SUNDAY STAR

I am a journalist working for the Sunday Star and was in

B o i p atong on June 18 and 19th with Peter de Ionno, editor of our

investigations team - Insight.

Following the shooting in Boipatong on the night of June 17,

d u ring w h i c h 37 (?) people were killed, we went into the township

to find out what happened. On our arrival, we split up and

started interviewing people at random.

M y first interview was at a house at the corner of Lekoa and

M o s h o e s h o e Streets, where I spoke to granny M artha H l e h l e t h e and

her p r e g n a n t grandchild, Ouma. Ouma told me h o w on the night of

June 17 at about 8p.m, she heard the sound of a h eavy vehicle

stopping outside their yard. She peeped and saw m e n alighting

from a Casspir. The men were armed and started jumping into her

yard. She told her granny what she had just seen. She said out

of shock and panic, she did not even try to see what the

re g i s t r a t i o n number of the casspir was. She was, however, able

to see the colour of the casspir, green.

Ouma and her granny then hid under the table and her brothers

were h a cked and stabbed to death by the men. Mr. H l e h l e t h e said

she saw white and black men walking about in her house. They

then e n tered the second bedroom where they k i l l e d her sons.

On the same day I went, this time with Peter de Ionno and Abdul

S h a r i f f , a freelance photographer, and spoke to Mrs. Martha

Mashivane, who said on June 17 at about llp.m, she saw a yellow

and blue police casspir off-loading armed men who w a l k e d behind

her shack into the squatter camp. she later h e a r d people

screaming and shouting that they were being killed.

The following day, June 19, Peter de Ionno and I w e n t back into

the t o w nship again. At the local stadium, we split and went on

with our interviews.

This is where I met a man, who does not want to be identified, (I

have his name and a d d r e s s ) , who said he had seen two police

casspirs p arked at the entrance of the t o w nship in Mzimvubu

Street. A r m e d men disembarked from one casspir and the other

casspir proce e d e d towards the eastern part of the township. That

was about 10.15p.m.

Then there was a man who was jointly interviewed by me and Peter

de Ionno. This was because the man could not speak either

English or Afrikaans. The man said he had seen his colleague,

one Louis Pienaar, who was driving a SADF casspir. Mr. Pienaar

a l l e gedly told this man, in the company of others, that the

pe r p e t r a t o r s of the violence had "finished their job, gone away

and there would be peace n o w " .

On the same day, I had the opportunity of going back to people I

interviewed on June 19, and I was told the same story. I again

went over and over the story together with the m e n we interviewed

in the v i c i n i t y of the stadium.

One youngster, who was extensively interviewed by Peter de Ionno,

m e n t i o n e d seeing a group of men, led by a white man, attacking

squatter camp residents. The youngster said he and m e mbers of

the local defence unit were fired on by the attackers.

Using a m a p of the township, we were able to piece toget h e r where

the m e n were allegedly dropped of and launched their attack.

STATEMENT OF SYDNEY MAFILIKA

News r e p o r t e r for the past four years.

New Nation, P.O. Box 10674, Johannesburg, 200. Tel. (Oil) 333-

2721/5.

I v i s i t e d Boipatong on Thursday morning (June 18) at about 10a.m.

On arrival, Boipatong residents were milling around and some were

remov i n g bodies from amongst the wreckage that used to be their

shacks at the squatter settlement.

In the adjacent township houses fathers, c h i ldren and m o thers sat

mournfully. Some w e eping besides blood-soaked bodies of their

beloved ones.

The dead included children, adults and pets. ( D o g s ) . From the

M o s h o e s h o e Street, in the precincts of the t o w nship t o wards the

centre, every house in the row had its w i n d o w s shattered and

furniture broken. The nature of the attack s u g g ested that the

attackers had enough time to ascertain that every house in the

rows was b roken into and people killed.

The attack further suggested that the attackers k n e w that they

were not going to be disturbed in their ordeal that night.

- 2 -

Two things that strengthened this belief is that the attackers

had e nough time to break from house to h ouse and street to

street. They also had time to advance to the sguatter camp and

continue to hack and stab every moving object.

All the bodies had stab and hack wounds. A boy of 15 years

expla i n e d amid tears how his mother and brother t ried to ward off

the attackers, but in vain. The boy said he hid u n d e r the bed

and h e a r d the attackers speaking and shouting in Zulu that they

must come out. Community members said the attack was so vicious

they could not even attempt to defend themselves. Their story

w as of grief and pain, sadness was w r itten all over their faces.

They all p o inted fingers at the Iscor owned K w a - M a d a l a Hostel

w hich they accused of harbouring death squads and tsotsi

elements. The place is notorious and w e l l - k n o w n to be a

sanctuary for anti-social elements and Inkatha m e m b e r s w h o had

fled the township.

Most p eople interviewed said the attackers were Inkatha members

who were based at the hostel. They said the language spoken by

the a ssailants was Zulu.

- 3 -

W e apons used in the attack consisted of spears, p angas and axes.

People interviewed maintained that police came the n ight before

the attack and dispersed the members of the d e fence units.

Something w h i c h they said was unusual. However, b e cause they were

informed about the impending attack that night as they watched

the p o l i c e spraying the youth with teargas, they d e c i d e d not to

go to sleep that night. They said they w e r e informed by

sympathetic Inkatha members who worked at the h ostel that an

attack was p l anned for that night.

They all insisted that police were informed before the attack,

but there was no response. The accounts given by the Boipatong

residents left no doubt that the attackers k n o w w h a t they were

doing.

It also gives a clear indication that police k n e w about the

attack before it could take place. Their vivid r e c o l l e c t i o n of

the events of that night dispel any doubt that the a t t a ckers were

from the notorious hostel.

STATEMENT TO LAWYERS ON BOIPATONG MASSACREKEMOSI MODISANE. CRIME AND VIOLENCE REPORTER. SOWETAN

I have been in the employ of the abovementioned n e w s p a p e r since

1989. I have covered almost all the violence incidents in the

Reef. I am based at 61 Commando Road, Industria West,

Johannesburg. Tel. 474-012.

I arrived at Boipatong about 8.30a.m. I drove straight to Slovo

Camp. A n eerie funeral atmosphere greeted me as I entered the

camp. All the people I approached just p o inted towards areas or

shacks were bodies were lying as if they had been told aforehand

that I will be coming to take body count.

There w a s n ' t any structural damage easily v i sible in the camp,

but it was all different in the township. Windows, doors in

houses w e r e damaged and houses (many) were looted.

They were shocked. They did not seem to k n o w w h a t had hit them.

They said they had been accompanied by the police.

Some h inted that the men had spoken in A f r i k a a n s w h i l e others

spoke in Zulu. They mentioned mainly sticks and pangas.

They said police dismissed their street patrols in a hippo

m i nutes before the attackers arrived.

- 2 -

Those that I spoke to had not been w a r n e d of any trouble

forthcoming.

MFANASIBILI MKOSICamera Assis t a n t for ZDF German Television (Studio Johannesburg)

1 Park Road

R i c hmond 2092

A BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE AFTERMATH OF THE BOIPATONG MASSACRE

On the after m a t h situation in one house, that was also attacked,

we saw broken windows and damaged furniture. The v i c t i m that

survived the attack told us (crew) that the attackers broke down

the w i n d o w s and doors to gain entry in her house. The attackers

then started hacking members of her family. She also added that

the attackers were Zulu speaking people. She did not make

me n t i o n of any police presence in the attack itself as she was in

the house. She also pointed out that there was no forewarning

she k n e w about. According to her, the attack was random. In my

opinion, she was honestly recounting what had a c t ually happened

because that was what other attacked residents said and surely

they could not have planned it all w ithin that short space of

time. The people there were totally devastated because they did

not k n o w what had caused the attack, as some r e s i dents w e r e not

me mbers of a political organisation (the lady we i n t e r v i e w e d ) .

PRESS ftRTICLES IN SUPPORT OF MEMORANDUM

THESE ARTICLES CLEARLY REPORT ON UHAT BOIPftTONG RESIDENTS AND MASSACRE VICTIMS MERE SAYING HAD HAPPENED ON THE NIGHT OF JUNE

1. RAMPAGE THROUGH TOWN : JOHN CARLIN; THE INDEPENDENT (U.K.)

2 . BOIPATONG : ERIC RANSDEN US NEWS WORLD REPORT

3. 39 BLACKS DIE IN S.A.

TOWNSHIP MASSACRE : BILL KELLER NEW YORK TIMES

4. 3<t DEAD IN MASSACRE

S.A. SQUATTER VAMP : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

5. FROZEN BODIES BEAR

WITNESS TO TOWNSHIP

MASSACRE : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

6. ANC CHARGES GOVERNMENT

COMPLICITY IN MASSACRE : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

7. 39 MASSACRED IN S.A.

ANC BLAMES STATE : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

8. SMALL CHILDREN AMONG

DEAD, WOUNDED IN S.A : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

- 2 -

9. HUMILIATED DE KLERK

WINS UNWANTED PLACE

IN HISTORY : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

10. POLICE FIRE ON CROWD

AFTER DE KLERK PROTEST : REUTERS WILLIAM McLEAN

11. 3<f SLAUGHTERED BY IMP IS : BRONWYN WILKINSON, MELODY

McDOUGALL, ESTHER WAUGH STAR.

12. THE AGONY OF BOIPATONG : BRONWYN WILKINSON, MELODY

McDOUGALL, STAR.

13. NIGHT OF TERROR : NEW NATION

l<t. ANGER OVER MASSACRE : SOWETAN

15. MASSACRE TOLL RISES TO 39 : TONY STIRLING, MARTIN McGHEE

CITIZEN

16. 39 DIE IN GORY VAAL SLAUGHTER : KENOSI MODISANE SOWETAN

17. MASSACRE LAUNCHED FROM ISCOR’S HOSTEL : WEEKLY MAIL

- 3 -

18. THE NIGHT THAT BOIPATONG BLED : WILLIAM McLEAN STAR

19. BITTER ROW OVER MASSACRE : BROWYN WILKINSON, MELODY

McDOUGALL STAR

20. ANATOMY OF A MASSACRE : JOE LOUW, SATURDAY STAR

21. BUTCHERS OF BOIPATONG : SOPHIE TEMA, CITY PRESS

22. DOGS OF WAR : MOSES MAMAILA CITY PRESS

23. BEASTS TEAR THE HEART OUT OF BOIPATONG :

PETER DE IONNO, SUNDAY STAR

2*t. RESIDENTS’ VERSION OF SHOOTING : MICHAEL SPARKS STAR

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1

STATEMENT ON MY VISIT TO BOIPATONG AFTER THE JUNE 17 MASSACRE

r visited Boipatong on June 19, two days after the massacre, together iith David Ottaway of the Washington Post. 3. did so in order to gather material for a report in The Observer, by whom I am employed on contract

to report on South Africa,

We drove first to Slovo Park, the squatter settlement on the eastern edgeof the township which suffered the highest number of casualties in theattack There we witnessed a house which had been partly demolished inthe attackt the roof was gone, some walls had been broken down and there

was blood on the floor in the bedroom section. We spoke to a woman who

was packing clothes there who told us she was the sister of a whon i n the shack and who had been attacked there together with her

husband. Both the woman and her husband had been inured,

child, who had been asleep in an adjoiningroom, : i ^ v e s i o v o Park packing up the clothes because the family had decided to leave Slovo p

and move to another area they hoped would be safer.

We spoke to two women in another house in Slovo Park who told us a man and his wife had been shot there. The man was killed, his wife wounded. They showed us bullet holes in the door. One of the women her name as Martha Mashinlni. We asked these people who had launched the attack. They said emphatically that the attackers had come from the KwaMadala hostel. We asked whether they had seen the attackers, and Martha sai<* yes. she had seen some in the street outside her house which was in the township itself, not Slovo Park. When we asked whether the attackers were accompanied by police, she said she had seen police ordering young people off the streets before the attack but had not seen any police during the attack itself. Martha and other people present during the conversation said these young people were preparing to defend the township against an impending attack, and they believed the police removed them in order to

facilitate the attack.

None of the people we spoke to in Slovo Park or in Boipatong itself said they had themselves seen police escorting the attackers into the township, but several said other residents had told them they had seen this. Martha took us to her own house where we met her daughter and several other people. All told us they had seen a white man standing in the street outside Martha's house on the night of the attack, talking to several of the attackers. They were talking in Afrikaans. They said the man was wearing a white track suit with a red-and-white headband. He came to the front door, shouted through the door in Afrikaans telling the people to come out. They refused to open the door, which was locked, and after beating on it the attackers left. Other people in the township also told us they had seen white people with the attackers dressed in white track suits, but they were unable to say whether these were policemen.

we spoke to 20 or 30 people in all. None of them had seen any police themselves, but several said they had heard that police had escorted the attackers in to the township. There was a general perception that the police were involved in the attack. The stories did not sound orchestrated. Had they been orchestrated the people would surely have

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claimed that they had seen the police themselves. Nor was there any uniformity about the stories. All related to Individual experiences, with individual variations. It sounded to me that they were recounting what had actually happened to them on a dark and confusing night, Interspersed with rumours that they had picked up since then. But on being questioned they distinguished between the rumours and what they had actually seen.We encountered no animosity, although many of the people we spoke t.o were

clearly very upset by what had happened,

Collection Number: AK2672 Goldstone Commission BOIPATONG ENQUIRY Records 1990-1999 PUBLISHER: Publisher:- Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand Location:- Johannesburg ©2012

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