Wonder Hlongwa
The Ministry of Defence is facing a lawsuit after matric pupil Sibongiseni Zondi (19) died, allegedly as a result of being tortured by soldiers patrolling the conflict-ridden Dalton area in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Witnesses say Zondi was called by the soldiers to explain a hand gesture he made to a passing army Casspir. He denied making the gesture, and called his friend Phangisani Ndlovu to support him. They were both taken to the nearby Mtulwa River, where Zondi was “baptised”.
Zondi’s friends say four black soldiers asked him who owned guns in the area. He denied any knowledge of gun owners. The soldiers took him to the river bank. They then allegedly asked him to dip his head in the water repeatedly. His friends claim the soldiers then stripped off his T-shirt and began beating him with their guns and slapping him.
“One of the children who saw it happening say the soldiers made him sit with his back against a waterfall, then they started beating him with guns, slapping him and insulting him. Finally, a soldier pushed him down the 30m-high waterfall,” says his mother, Dorah Zondi.
Army officers then called Ndlovu to help them look for Zondi, who had “just disappeared”. A few hours later he was found dead, floating in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.
Police Captain Mark Bauer, who is investigating Zondi’s death, says he will soon hand the docket to the attorney general. He says the soldiers deny involvement in Zondi’s death.
But his mother says a post-mortem showed that broken ribs pierced Zondi’s heart and concluded that he died of drowning. She plans to consult her lawyer to prepare a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defence.
She is also angry because her son’s body was dragged from the river to a police van. “The police said they had no blankets to cover him and no stretchers to carry him. I appeal to the government to see that justice is done. The indecency shown by the army and the police to my son and myself will leave indelible scars in my mind.”
Captain Dewald van der Spuy, Dalton police station commander, says his officers could not wait for a mortuary van because members of the community were getting aggressive.
Dorah Zondi reported the case to the Independent Complaints Directorate two weeks ago, but she has not had any feedback. Three weeks after the incident no one involved has been suspended from duty. “If this was a white boy, surely something would have happened by now,” she says.
The defence force’s Natal Command representative, Lieutenant Colonel Kobus Venter, says Zondi’s death is being investigated by the army’s legal department.