Human Rights Violation Hearings — Soweto — 1996-07-22

YASMINE SOOKA: Please make sure your cell phones are switched off.  This period is for the witness and allow them to make their statements in quiet please.

AMELIA MOLAPO: (sworn states)

MR LEWIN: Please feel relaxed.  I would just like to say that what you are doing today is a very courageous thing in coming forward.  You are showing great courage in doing that.  Please just take your time.  We want to take you back to that very important day in 1976 when your life was changed very dramatically and to commend you for coming forward and then let you tell your story take your time.  Just tell us what happened during that day.  Thank you.

AMELIA MOLAPO: I was a student at St Peter in Pimville.  I was only 11 years old.  When we got to school they told us that we are not going to do anything, no lessons today.  We therefore left the school premises.  We got home. There was some noise in Potchefstroom Road. We therefore left with my friends to go and look around at what was happening, but we never got to arrive exactly where there was confusion.  As we were still standing a hippo police car came by.  When it came people were already running around, running away and they sprayed teargas.  Just when I thought of taking another step, running away I was shot and I fell down.  As I was lying down there there were no people around me.  People had already run away.  I could not even stand up.  When I got to SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
2 A MOLAPO
the hospital I could not walk and the soldiers were not allowing us to go through the hospital gates.  There were some soldiers accompanying me.  When I got to the hospital they told me that my mum had passed away. The people who saw me getting shot they left away to tell my mum that I was shot and my mum died immediately.  As I was at the hospital I had difficulty with my spinal cord and they operated on me at my spine.  They inserted iron.
 As I was still at the hospital there was a soldier right next to my bed.  I was under his mercy by so speaking.  There were on shifts.  I was discharged and I was taken to Nelspruit at the school of the disabled.

MR LEWIN: Thanks very much.  Can I just ask a few questions, just to give us the full context, but just compose yourself for a time. The first question I'd ask, how old were you at the time when you were coming back from school?  You said you were a standard one pupil, how old were you?

AMELIA MOLAPO: I was 11 years old.

MR LEWIN: Did you actually have any indication what was happening?  You say the teachers said there was possibly a strike, did you actually know what was happening at the time?

AMELIA MOLAPO: No I did not.

MR LEWIN: Afterwards when you were standing in the street watching what was happening, did you have any idea at that stage what was actually happening?

AMELIA MOLAPO: I did not know what was happening but as I was standing there I started asking around what was happening, but we were standing in a crowd, we could see some shooting and then I got to know immediately what was happening.
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
3 A MOLAPO

MR LEWIN: Thanks very much.  To go onto the moment at which you were actually shot, this must have been something that you've lived with many times since that, was it a complete shock at the time?   Had you expected anything?  Did you see anyone pointing a gun at you for instance?

AMELIA MOLAPO: No I did not.

MR LEWIN: So you don't really have an idea of what, or who was responsible for shooting you?

AMELIA MOLAPO: No I did not see anyone shooting at me.

MR LEWIN: And then when you were in at Baragwanath and the soldiers were by you and you said they also made you every day write a statement or sign a piece of paper, can you remember more about that?  Can you tell us more about that?  What do you think was the purpose of that?

AMELIA MOLAPO: I did not know because that soldier used to give me a piece of paper and tell me write your name on it.

MR LEWIN: But he never explained to you what he wanted or why he was there?

AMELIA MOLAPO: No, they never explained a thing as to what was happening.

MR LEWIN: How did it feel, just explain to us, it's something that is very close to you obviously, but it's very difficult for the rest of us who are very fortunate not to have gone through something like this, can you explain what was it like, was it very painful?  How did you actually find strength to survive at that time?

MS MKHIZE: Amelia you have already explained to us what happened on that day and your mum passed away.  In your statement you have stated that that day is still remarkable to you because of the blood that was shed and you cannot even talk about this incident.  Can you probably say other
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
4 A MOLAPO
things that are related to this?

AMELIA MOLAPO: What makes things difficult for me each time I think about that day is that I parted with my mum, my mum died on that day.  You know when I am in the company of my friends everyone talks about their mum, but I cannot even talk about my mum.  I was still a baby then.  I didn't know my mum that well.

MS MKHIZE: Amelia as you have said that you were in the hospital and they used to give you a piece of paper to write your name, if you were to be in the government today how would you contribute in the community as to the treatment of the children?

AMELIA MOLAPO: Really today I would like that these children who are still growing who never experienced what we experienced in 1976 I would like for them to carry on in education, go back to school and get educated.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Amelia roughly how many are you at Sharp?

AMELIA MOLAPO: Only four, four only were injured.

THOMAS MANTHATA: That is four who are disabled.

AMELIA MOLAPO: Who were injured in 1976 at Sharp, there are only four, only four of them who were paralysed.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Okay, thank you, thank you.  What kind of recreational activities did you engage yourselves in?

AMELIA MOLAPO: At Sharp we play.  We have got lots of sports that we play.  I take part in the Sharp choir, I take part in the sports.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Thank you.  And did your father re-marry or are you under a stepmother?

AMELIA MOLAPO: No we are only the two of us, myself and my father.  He never got married again.

THOMAS MANTHATA: I can understand now the love he has for you
SOWETO HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
5 A MOLAPO
and the support he has given himself out to give to you.  What is it you think your father could be assisted with to make your life more pleasant than it perhaps is now?

YASMINE SOOKA: May I just intervene please.  I think it would be much easier if you put the headphones on because the sound would be amplified and also the Interpreter will be able to assist you with the question.  Could you put the headphones on for her please.

THOMAS MANTHATA: Amelia thank you, no further questions.

YASMINE SOOKA: I would like to ask one question please, after this incident was any attorney instructed to bring any action against the police?  Was there any kind of civil claim filed?

AMELIA MOLAPO: Yes.  I am not quite sure about this, what they did with my father, but as I was discharged from hospital I heard my dad telling me that he was fetched.  I don't know whether he was fetched by the police or by the attorneys to talk about my case, but he told me that they gave him
R20 000.

YASMINE SOOKA: So there was some money that was paid to him for the fact that they had shot you?

AMELIA MOLAPO: Well I am not too sure because I just heard this recently.  Even that money no one knows about it.