Winnie Mandela will not testify in the Rand Supreme Court where Jerry Richardson, the Mandela football team coach, is charged with the murder of teenage activist Stompie Seipei. Mandela had been mentioned on numerous occasions in the evidence. Richardson also faces four charges of abduction, five counts of assault and a charge of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. LCJ van Vuuren, for the state, told the Weekly Mail: ”Mrs Mandela is not on the state’s list of witnesses. And she will not be called by the state.”
Witwatersrand attorney general Klaus von Lieres said he had given no instructions for Mandela to be called as a witness. He added that the prosecutor did not have an obligation to subpoena every name mentioned during evidence. The defence team also confirmed they would not subpoena Mandela to testify. Three of the boys allegedly abducted, Kenneth Kgase, Thabiso Mono and Gabriel Pelo Mekgwe, said they were forcefully taken to Mandela’s house in Diepkloof extension and that Mandela was the first to sjambok them and Stompie. This was followed by assaults from other team members, including Richardson.
Stompie’s corpse was found on January 6 1989 in an open field between Noordgesig and New Canada near Soweto. He is said to have died from wounds to the neck and subcutaneous contusion. On January 16 1989 a community meeting in Dobsonville near Soweto decided that community leaders would approach Mandela to discuss Stompie’s disappearance after the meeting had heard the testimonies of Mono, Mekgwe and Katiza Cebekhulu concerning the alleged abduction and assault.
This evidence was given in court yesterday by Methodist minister Paul Verryn. The boys were allegedly abducted from Verryn’s Orlando West manse. Apparently Mandela also accused the boys of sexual misconduct with Verryn before beating them. Verryn denied these allegations yesterday. Relating his first contact with the boys after the alleged kidnapping, Verryn said that on January 7 1989, he received a telephone call from the Central Methodist Church informing him of Kgase’s escape.
He found Kgase at the church, with a bloodshot eye, a swollen lip and 20 scars on his back. ”The first thing he (Kgase) told me was he had learned to kill” Kgase also intimated to Verryn that Stompie was no longer alive. Earlier this week Mono and Mekgwe recounted the events leading to their release from the Mandela home. According to their evidence, Nelson Mandela’s lawyer, Ismail Ayob, visited the house on two occasions during their alleged captivity.
The first time Ayob came he informed Mandela the Methodist bishop Peter Storey wanted to see her, Mono said. On the second occasion Ayob brought a message from Nelson Mandela in prison that the boys should be released and allowed to stay at his (Ayob’s) house. Apparently Richardson refused this second request saying he would not agree to ”his players being taken to a place unknown to him”.
According to the boys Winnie Mandela’s lawyer, Krish Naidoo, also visited the house and Richardson instructed them to tell Naidoo that they were at Mandela’s house because of sexual misconduct in Verryn’s home. Later that day Mandela did order Richardson and Xoliswa to take the boys to Ayob’s place, Mono said. But Richardson wanted to remain with the boys at Ayob’s place. Ayob said they should return with the boys if they were not prepared to leave them there.
On January 16, Mono, Mekgwe and Cebekhulu were taken to Dr Nthato Motlana’s house in Soweto, and at 1pm Motlana took them to Verryn’s house, which was empty. Motlana then took them to Naidoo’s offices where Bishop Peter Storey met them. Apparently Richardson told Storey his name was ”Manyways Maseko”. They were then taken to the Dobsonville meeting.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
