Special Hearings — Trojan Horse Hearings — 1997-05-20

EBRAHIM AKOOJEE: I will speak around them, but not read from the statements.  To begin with, I would like to thank the TRC for inviting me and for the opportunity to relate some of the events around those tragic days in October 1005.
 I am here as a GP because I was involved in this particular incident, but I was by no means the only GP who took part in the unrest and the treatment of unrest victims.
 And to this end I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and pay tribute to the role of the many GP's through the unrest times.  A lot of the GP's worked under difficult conditions and a lot of constraints on them.  Often they weren't allowed access to victims at the scene of unrest. 
 There was a directive I remember at the time, that every GP had to report to police about riot victims that they had seen.  A lot of GP's ignored these directives and treated patients in their rooms.
 Those who could get to the scenes of crimes, got there under difficult circumstances and often saw patients at home at night.  They treated patients, removing bullets, removing buckshot, removing bird shot, counselling patients, counselling families and they were always there for their patients and I think I have to acknowledge them, pay tribute to those GP's, especially on the Cape Flats.
 If I come back to the event which is now known as the Trojan Horse incident, on that particular Tuesday I was summoned, I was called by Dr Hassiem (indistinct) who has a practice in Thornton Road, not far from the Ryklief house to say that there had been trouble and he needed assistance.
 I went home and collected my wife who is a nurse and changed from my white coat to ordinary sports shirt because if you went in as a GP you were often stopped and you weren't allowed access to victims, so we also could not carry our medical bag with us.
 We often had to take a carrier bag and put Savalon and bandages and pain tablets and whatever in these bags or in brown paper bags, and we did that.  We proceeded to Thornton Road. 
 When Ii got there Dr (indistinct) had already left, he was not in his rooms and he was already treating patients or victims and we then proceeded, but we were stopped by police and just told to move along.  We managed to part in a side street, there were many caspers and police vans around and burning barricades, but we eventually found our way into the Ryklief house.
 As I approached the house, I could see that it was riddled with bullets, the outside wall and when I entered the house, I must say this, I was stunned.  One could not imagine that what could have happened before we arrived, that could have caused the scene I saw in there.
 In fact I had to actually compose myself and say I have a duty and of course work to do here, I mean don't be shocked by what you see here.  There were children crying, there was blood all over, there was crockery strewn all over the place, people were screaming and we treated and bandaged whatever we could.
 You know, it was just a question of just tidying them over at that time and then getting them out to the GP's or to the hospitals or to State hospitals.
 The bodies of the three victims who had been killed, were already removed, so I didn't see those at the time I got there.  Some children were even taken over the wall to the house behind the Ryklief house, so we actually when we had treated some of the children here, we then climbed over the wall to the other side and saw some of the children that had been taken to that house and we treated them.  From there they were sent to their respective GP's or to hospitals.
 Two days after that, obviously because of a public outcry and the fact that the bodies had not been released to the parents, there was a mass meeting that was arranged at St Athens Mosque.  At the time I was working for Dr Bade who was then District Surgeon of Athlone.
 Such I was on duty as a District Surgeon for that particular day.  I attended the mosque the evening.  When we got there, there were a lot of people, there were a lot of other GP's and specialists also in attendance and as Mr Ebrahim Rasool explained, it was decided that they would send a delegation to negotiate with the police for the release of the bodies.
 By this time the police had cordoned off the area with caspers and police vans and as the delegation left to negotiate, the Imaam of the mosque asked people to disperse into small groups, quietly and said the Friday lecture, would then give a report back on what they had achieved as far as the negotiations were concerned.
 But as they decided to leave, there was gunshot and people started panicking, running back into the mosque.  I remember I was in the main mosque area and through - the dome of the mosque has got small windows and teargas canister came through there and landed on the carpets and that caught alight and there was panic and people were overcome by teargas fumes.
 A lot of Doctors and specialists, they assisted people and then somebody said that someone had been shot in the courtyard.  We ran out there and found a man with severe abdominal wounds and - what I am going to describe may not sound too good - but it was a young man who was in a severe state of shock.   He had a single entry wound at his back and he was shot with what was known to be a dum-dum bullet.
 Dum-dum bullet enters through a single entry wound, then disperses in the abdomen and it had multiple exit wounds.  It was a terrible sight and he was in a severe state of shock.  Fortunately there were quite a few specialists around and they tried to resuscitate him, but it was soon apparent that he needed urgent hospitalisation.
 Dr Jaco was one of the specialists and phoned Somerset hospital.  Although it was a bit further than Groote Schuur, we were aware at the time that any time there is any unrest or so, there is always a police van stationed virtually at Groote Schuur, so we thought it would be pointless taking him there.
 So we proceeded then to go to Somerset hospital.  We couldn't use St Athens road, so they asked for assistance and the nearest car belonged to two brothers, Shadley and Ridwaan Young and they volunteered their vehicle and since I was the District Surgeon on duty, I was asked to accompany the patient.
 We proceeded with great difficulty, trying to dodge many caspers and that and eventually reached Somerset hospital.  In the car, the two Young brothers were in front and I was at the back with Mr Fridie with my hand on his stomach trying to contain the blood and stop him from (indistinct) bleeding.
 And when we arrived at Somerset he was taken to casualty immediately.  There was attempted resuscitations but after about an hour, he passed away.  Soon after we arrived there, the police were there, questioned us, wanted to take me into custody and the two brothers.
 And I protested saying look I was a District Surgeon on duty and they had to do so on their own risk and they said okay, they will contact me later for a statement, but they took the two brothers into custody.
 I then returned to the mosque and treated whoever needed treatment.  I just want to mention that I was never ever, called to the inquest, nor was I told about the inquest.  I was asked for an affidavit which I think is in the possession of the TRC and at no time did we have any indication that Mr Fridie had a gun on him.
 When I examined him there or when we carried him to the car, when I carried him out at Somerset hospital, there was no indication that he carried a gun with him.
 In conclusion, I just want to say that as minister Ebrahim Rasool said, if you look through the times in 1985 and through that era, you had the feeling that it was so tense, it was so chaotic.
 Even, I met a journalist who told me that he had just returned from Beirut and he found the atmosphere in Thornton Road and Riviera Road even more tense than it was in Lebanon at the time and one had the feeling that you were going to bring the apartheid regime down, it was going to collapse within a few weeks.
 I mean that was the enthusiasm at the time.  I know it has taken nine years since that incident for us to have a free and democratic South Africa and I think, as we enjoy our freedom today we must remember those days and acknowledge the role and pay tribute to the families (indistinct) to come through these times. I thank you.