Apla’s former commander and director of operations, Letlapa Mphahlele, and Apla member Dumisani Ncamazana are among witnesses to be called this week in the inquest into the Highgate Hotel massacre.
Mphahlele is out of the country and will be testifying via video.
A dry run of how his testimony will be heard will be done on Monday, the inquest sitting in East London on Friday heard. He will testify on Wednesday.
Initial reports alleged that after the attack in May 1993, the local newspaper received a telephone call from a person who identified himself as “Carl Zimbiri” of the internal high command of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), claiming responsibility for the attack.
This was denied by the organisation, which said the way in which the attack was carried out, with unknown balaclava-clad gunmen storming the Highgate Hotel and opening fire, was not how its members operated.
The shooting left five patrons – Royce Wheeler, 46, Derek Whitfield, 42, Stanley Hacking, 65, Deon Harris, 26, and Douglas Gates, 56 – dead.
The seven survivors – Neville Beling, Karl Weber, William Baling, Megan Boucher, Nkosinathi Gontshi, Doreen Rossouw and Charles Bodington – sustained life-altering injuries.
Gontshi, who has since died, worked at the hotel as a barman.
Advocate Howard Varney, representing the families of the victims and survivors, said on Thursday that they would be calling Mphahlele to give evidence.
Beling, Weber, Lyndene Page and Theresa Edlmann, the first four witnesses to testify on behalf of the victims, said they were misled to believe Apla was involved in the deadly shooting.
Ncamazana briefly took the witness stand on Friday before presiding judge Denzil Potgieter.
After being advised of his rights, he elected to have a legal representative by his side.
This led to the inquest being adjourned until Monday.
During Ncamazana’s brief stint in court, dressed in an orange prison outfit, heavily armed correctional services members, some wearing black balaclavas, were present in court.
He requested that his face not be filmed or photographed.
Ncamazana is serving time at a correctional facility in Mdantsane.
The inquest is set to run until Friday.
Daily Dispatch
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