Human Rights Violation Hearings — Duncan Village — 1996-09-23

BONGANI FINCA: Makhuluphala is the next witness.  Thembisa Tifi will be the next followed by Phumla Wokona.

XOLISWA MAKHULUPHALA: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Thank you.

T TIFI: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Thank you.

UNKNOWN: (sworn states)

REV XUNDU: Thank you.  I've sworn them in Mr Chairman, thank you.

BONGANI FINCA: We welcome you to this Commission and we ask that you should relax whilst you give your evidence to this Commission.  Ms Maya is going to lead you.

MS MAYA: I thank you Chairperson.  Ms Makhuluphala and Thembisa I want you to be clear about the fact that the evidence we have here is from you, but because Thembisa is here, she is going to talk on her own, is that the case?  Thembisa, are you going to give evidence?

T TIFI: Yes.

MS MAYA: Mrs Makhuluphala, do you have any additional information?

XOLISWA MAKHULUPHALA: Yes, there may be those that he could have left out.

MS MAYA: Thembisa, according to the evidence here in front of us, you were shot on the 11th of August in 1985, shot by the soldiers and you sustain serious injuries.  How old were
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you at the time?

T TIFI: I can't remember how old I was at the time.

MS MAYA: When were you born?

T TIFI: I was born in 1976.

MS MAYA: What were you doing at the time you were shot and where were you?

T TIFI: At the time I was shot, I was coming from school and we were the last group to go out of school.  There were three of us.  It was my brother and someone else from our neighbourhood and myself.  And as we were walking we scattered to different directions and somewhere I just saw a casper that was parked.

MS MAYA: Just a minute - could you come closer to the microphone.

T TIFI: And after crossing the Douglas and  was near my home, there was a casper parked somewhere and I - that did not disturb me because I was dressed in my school uniform and I had a hope that nothing would happen to me.  But as soon as I crossed the line, I heard a sound and I ran away - passed my home because I was shocked.
 It is after some time that I noticed that I was bleeding from the face and here on front, what I did was - I didn't know where to go and I could feel that I was getting weak.
 And after some time I met some comrades who asked where was my home.  I don't know how I directed them and I lost consciousness and to regain it at my home.  Then one of the neighbours took me to hospital and I was feeling very weak.
 On the way we met several people who were injured and there were no taxi's so we had to walk all the way and in the forrest we couldn't go further because the farmers were 
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not allowing people to walk there.
 And I lost consciousness once more and I regained my consciousness when I was in hospital where the nurses attended to me.
 They washed the blood from my body and they said there was no serious injury, but I was swollen.  My face and arms were swollen and they discharged me.
 After some time my body was still swollen, my face was swollen and was turning greenish.  I didn't say anything to my parents, but I couldn't eat and this went on for quite some time.
 And the swelling subsided, but there was still this green mark on my face.

MS MAYA: Could we go back a little bit.  At the time - what time was it when they shot you?

T TIFI: I went out of school at - after lunch which was at about one o'clock.

MS MAYA: Now you say, because there was no transport at the time, people carried you and you walked all the way to hospital.  What time did you get to the hospital?

T TIFI: I just can't remember what time we reached hospital.

MS MAYA: How long were you in hospital?

T TIFI: I was there for some time and I didn't get treatment, they just washed me and discharged me.

MS MAYA: Could you go ... (intervention)

T TIFI: I was not in hospital for a long time, they just washed me and put me on bandages.

MS MAYA: They did not admit you?  What hospital was that?

T TIFI: No, it was the Frere hospital.

MS MAYA: Did they take out the bullets from your body?
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T TIFI: Yes, they did, but some of them remained within my body and they could not take them out.  But, and I was under the impression that they had taken all the bullets out, but I noticed in 1987 that I still had some bullets in my body.

MS MAYA: How did you notice that?

T TIFI: I saw them, I still feel some of the bullets within my body.  And I told the nurses who used to come to the school and I would frequently go to the hospital and some of them were extracted, but I still feel that I still have some bullets within my body.
 And I have gone to hospital several times and I have told the Doctors that I still have the bullets, but they told me - they ask me why I have this bullets for 10 years within my body.
 I have explained to them that this bullets are getting into the tissues the longer they are within the body.

MS MAYA: What hospital is this?

T TIFI: This is the Frere hospital.

MS MAYA: At the time you were shot, you were 11 years old.  What standard were you?

T TIFI: I was in standard 3.

MS MAYA: Did you go back to school to further your studies?

T TIFI: Yes, I did though I had stayed for 2 years out of school.

MS MAYA: What is your highest qualification?

T TIFI: My highest educational qualification is standard 10.

MS MAYA: How has this shooting affected your health?

T TIFI: I would say this shooting is still causing problems to me - physically because several times if I have
to lift some heavy objects, I feel a pain in my arms and
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some other times they get swollen and when it is cold, I feel some pain on my head.

MS MAYA: Do you perhaps have any wish or requests to forward to this Commission?

T TIFI: Yes, I have.  I would like this Commission to make means that I should consult Doctors who are going to be able to extract bullets that are still within my body.

MS MAYA: Is that all you have to say?

T TIFI: Yes.

MS MAYA: Ms Makhuluphala, do you perhaps have any additional information?

XOLISWA MAKHULUPHALA: No, I don't have any.  No, I've got nothing more to say.

MS MAYA: We thank you.  We are now going to hand you over to the Chairperson for in case there is anyone who would like to pose a question to you.

BONGANI FINCA: Over to you June Crichton.

JUNE CRICHTON: Can you hear me Thembisa?  Can you hear me?  I have two questions for you.  In your statement you say that you were at your front door when you were shot.  Did you see anybody when that happened, did you see a vehicle or did you see any person that you actually saw shooting?

T TIFI: As I said earlier, after I had gotten to the yard, I looked and saw a casper that was parked in front of our house and thereafter I heard some gunshots.

JUNE CRICHTON: Thank you, that's the one question, the other question is, just to ask you and perhaps your mother, whether you still at Frere hospital where they have said that they should remove those bullets, is it the same file that you've been using ever since that shooting incident?
Is it the same file, is it a thick file?
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T TIFI: It isn't the same, but I explained to them when this incident occurred and they looked for the old file and found it, but they asked me to open a new file.

JUNE CRICHTON: Thank you.

REV XUNDU: Do you work?

T TIFI: Yes, I am employed.

REV XUNDU: Where do you work?

T TIFI: I am a security.

REV XUNDU: Do you think that this incident and your injury could have been the cause for you to leave school?