Human Rights Violation Hearings — Middelburg — 1997-06-04

CHAIRPERSON: May I call on Noah Nkosi?
 Mr Nkosi, welcome.  Will you just tell us who do you have sitting next to you?

MR NKOSI: This is Josephine Makaghula.

CHAIRPERSON: Is she related to you?

MR NKOSI: My sister.

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome you too.  Thank you for accompanying your brother.  Mrs Sooka will be assisting you in leading your evidence and she will also be administering the oath.

YASMINE SOOKA: Good day, Mr Nkosi.  Can I ask you to stand so that I can ask you to take the oath please?
NOAH M NKOSI: (Duly sworn in, states).

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you, you may be seated.
 Mr Nkosi, you've come today to tell us about your son, Eric, who was shot and killed.  I wonder if you could tell us what happened and what you know, in your own words first.   And then I will ask you questions if I need to get more clarity on some of the things you're saying.  Will you tell us your story please?

MR NKOSI: I would say, he didn't die, he is still alive.  I just have to correct that from the beginning.

YASMINE SOOKA: Oh, sorry.  Yes, you're quite right.

MR NKOSI: It was on the 21st of January 1990 and it was on Sunday.  I was at home, preparing to go to church.  It was about 11, somewhere between 11 and 12.
 My sister came crying and I was so surprised when she entered the door and she gave me the message that Eric was shot by the police.  
 I wanted to enquire.  She couldn't perfectly relate as to what happened as she was terrified and crying at that time.  And I asked her to accompany me to show me the scene where the incident took place.  
 We went together and we arrived at the scene.  It was about half a kilometre from the place, from my place at the place where he was shot.  
 At the scene, I found the constable who shot him.  He was still there and he had called an ambulance.  I started asking the constable as to why did he shoot the young child?
 He didn't answer.  I also asked, is it the law that you don't arrest people any more, but you come and shoot them?  He didn't give me an answer to that question too.  Therefore I left and I got into the ambulance together with the shot child and we went to a hospital in Middelburg.
 We got the child to be admitted into hospital.  Thereafter I went back home and the following week, I don't remember well, may it was the week after, or two weeks later we had to go to court.
 Because while we were on the way to hospital, I asked him as to what happened to him?  He said he was just standing in one of the grounds.  This ground is near Germain street.  
 On that particular day, on the 21st of January there was a meeting of the ANC, the African National Congress, and we were going to discuss about the rent boycotts.
 He related that when they got out of the meeting, they were marching on the main street and they were going to the direction of one of the policemen who was working with the municipality.
 I don't know what exactly they were going there for, because I didn't get time to ask him that question.  This house he's talking about is so close to the ground or the field.
 When arriving at that house, I should think the police knew everything.  They were already there.  Then the people discovered the police were there.  The police started shooting and people started running to the direction, different directions and some of them ran back to the field or the ground.  
 So this child also joined them and ran with this people and ended up in one of the houses under a bed.  That's where the constable came and shot the child under a bed.
 This worries me a lot.  On the court date, I thought the child was lying and I hoped that maybe when the matter goes to court, they will call the child to give evidence.
 Unfortunately the child didn't appear in court.  One of the White station commanders who was there;  I managed to talk to him and ask him as to, since my child was there and was shot and the matter is on hearing now, why is he not called in to give evidence?
 The station commander said he didn't know anything.  So the answer was not satisfactory.  And that hurt me so much.  I started talking to the lawyers.  The lawyers for human rights.  If I remember well, they were from Johannesburg.
 I tried to tell them the story.  I related to them that I also had my child shot on that particular date and that my child was not invited to come to court.  And I asked them why is he not in.
 They asked me where he was.  I told them he was in hospital in Middelburg.  What's painful is that when I went to Middelburg to visit my child, I discovered there were two policemen who were told to guard the child.
 I don't know whether they were given this instruction by this constable to guard my child.  They were standing right next to him, holding big rifles.  
 The child was so thin at that time.  He was so thin, just like an unfed dog.  That hurt me so much and I had to ask one of the lawyers to help to remove the lawyers (guards) from the child's bed, because the child was still young.  He was about thirteen at that time.
 I thought he couldn't sleep.  He'd be frightened to see the police standing with big guns next to him.  And this lawyer managed to talk to the people, the administration.  And when I came back the next time, I found out that the police had been removed.
 The case was concluded.  I mean the whole case involving all the people.  However the case concerning this young child didn't go any further.  
 I find it so difficult as to why they guarded him at hospital if there wasn't a case concerning him.  I used to go to the police station or the court with him, all during the times of the hearing, but nothing happened until the case was concluded.
 What worries me this moment is that the way he was shot is so dangerous.  I think there is this kind of a gun, that when you shoot it, the bullets have to spread.  And he was shot and the bullet went through and end up shooting - went through and also shot through the hand.
 The problem now is he cannot work.  As I'm here today, I don't have money myself.  I can't support him.  
 This is what I came to say before the Commission.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you, Mr Nkosi.  Mr Nkosi, you, I heard you in your evidence state that your son was thirteen years old at the time.  Is that correct?

MR NKOSI: That's correct.

YASMINE SOOKA: Was he still at school?

MR NKOSI: That's correct.

YASMINE SOOKA: What standard was he in when this happened?

MR NKOSI: If I remember well, it's about seven years ago.  I think he was in standard one or two

YASMINE SOOKA: Was he involved in any political organisation at the time he was at school?

MR NKOSI: I'm not sure about that, but he was a very good child and he didn't like to be involved in other outside things which were not acceptable at home.

YASMINE SOOKA: So you won't know whether he was a member of any of the youth groups at the time in the township?

MR NKOSI: I will say, to my opinion, I don't think he was a member of any political organisation.  Because if he was a member, I shall think he was supposed to be together with those who were protesting at the Roman Catholic Church.

YASMINE SOOKA: So he actually just got caught up in the cross fire between the police and the marchers then?

MR NKOSI: What do you mean?

YASMINE SOOKA: It seems that you mentioned in your evidence that there was a meeting about the rent boycott on that day.

MR NKOSI: That's correct.

YASMINE SOOKA: Your son got caught up in the crowd and ran into a house and they were followed by the police.  Because you say he was under a bed when he was shot by the police?  Is that correct?

MR NKOSI: That's correct.

YASMINE SOOKA: You have given us the name of the policeman.  Tell me, when this matter came to court, was this an enquiry into the march or were the people who were boycotting that day, were they being charged by the police?
 Can you remember what the details of the court case was about?