‘I felt my family needed protection’
MATSAPHA – Hardly five days after Thabani Nkomonye’s body was discovered, Silindile Makhanya, a daughter to the man who claimed to have witnessed the alleged accident, was of the view that her family needed protection.
The 22-year-old daughter of Mathokoza Makhanya submitted this during her appearance before the Coroner, Senior Magistrate Nonhlanhla Dlamini, where she was cross-examined by Lawyer Mangaliso Nkomondze.
The lawyer asked the witness if she partook in the protest action of May 17, 2021, which started in Matsapha and ended in Manzini. She responded to the negative.
The lawyer also asked her where she was on that day and she claimed not to recall.
Conversation
Nkomondze asked if Silindile recalled talking about Nkomonye’s matter with other people, besides her family and her response was to the positive. She submitted that she discussed it with many other people and the lawyer wanted to know the contents of conversations she had.
Silindile claimed that it was when the media wrote about her father that he was allegedly lying to the coroner and she said the statements did not go down well with her. However, the lawyer asked if she had discussed the matter with anyone before her father came to the inquest to give his evidence. In fact, the lawyer wondered if she remembered telling anyone that there were police at her parental home on May 17, 2021. In response, she submitted that she did not recall.
Thereafter, the lawyer told the witness that she should consider her response regarding the conversation he was asking about. He said this was because he might call the person she told that there were police at her parental home. The inquest was adjourned as the lawyer asked to make some calls.
When it resumed, the coroner reminded Silindile that she was still under oath and that she would be expected to tell the truth. Nkomonye asked her if she still maintained that she did not recall telling anyone that there were police officers at her parental home.
“I do not recall,” the witness responded.
Once more, the lawyer asked her where she was on May 17, 2021, and she claimed that she did not recall, but mentioned that maybe she was at Ngwane Park with her friends enjoying some drinks.
“Perhaps, it was in that setting that you made the statement that there were police officers at your home for the whole day,” the lawyer said.
However, in her response, the witness alleged that if she said anything, she could have said they (family) needed police to guard them, not that there were law enforcers guarding their home.
Lawyer Nkomondze wanted to know that at that early stage, hardly five days after Nkomonye’s body was found, she already felt that she and her family needed protection.
“I think so,” the witness replied. The lawyer asked the witness if she would agree with him that this happened before her father came to give his evidence to the coroner, as the inquest started on June 1, 2021, and that was also prior to the deceased’s memorial service. In her response, the witness claimed that she did not know.
She added that by that time, people had started demanding answers about the death of Nkomonye through the #JusticeForThabani movement.
The lawyer asked why she was concerned about her family and felt that they needed protection at that time.
The witness alleged that there was the #JusticeForThabani movement, yet her father allegedly witnessed the accident. She added that she thought that maybe the people might want to meet him to ask what had happened.
Reasonable
“You will agree with me that a reasonable person who will hear your father narrating what happened, that individual might have questions for him, just like you (witness) had concerns even before he gave his evidence to the coroner,” the lawyer said.
However, the witness submitted that a person who had spoken to her father might not have further questions for him, but one who had not discussed the matter with him, might need to hear more.
Again, the witness added that she personally saw that the matter would go far. Silindile submitted that she understood even if someone could explain, some people might not understand and as a result, could want more answers.
The witness added that she was also on Facebook and that she saw that the matter would go far.