Human Rights Violation Hearings — Bisho — 1996-09-09

WITNESS:  I also thought I'd rather get up and run away, that maybe I would survive that everything that was happening but unfortunately I just ran a short distance, a distance of three metres and I felt something burning on my left-hand side and I found myself on the ground the next moment.  I didn't realise there and then that I had been shot but when I tried to get up I found that I couldn't and I didn't even know what the cause was.  I attempted several times to get up and I realised that I could not get up.  I then realised that I quickly had to ask people for help, the people that were running past me and I shouted for help, asking people to please help me get up and remove me from where I was and there were those comrades who were running with us who heeded my call of distress and they came to me and asked me what happened comrade and I said to them I don't know whether I have been shot or what and thereafter they looked at my body and when they looked under my jersey they found that there was blood on my side and they took me and ran with me.  In all this time shots were still being heard and they ran with me and we got to the road from which we came and that was where I was able to get onto a bakkie.  I was loaded onto a bakkie and there were also other people who had been injured who were being loaded onto this bakkie.  Others were groaning and we did not know what had happened to them.  We were then taken and rushed off to Gray Hospital here in King William's Town.

MS MAYA:  How long were you in Gray Hospital for?

WITNESS:  When I got to Gray Hospital there were many people who were also obviously injured and I was taken and x-rayed to assess the extent of the damage, the injury, and I was taken in for x-rays where after the doctors came to me with my x-ray slides and showed me that there was a bullet lodged in my body and they said that they would not be able to treat me at Gray Hospital, that I would have to be rushed to East London because I could also feel, at the time, that it was even becoming difficult to breathe and I was then transferred to Frere hospital in East London where it was found that I had a bullet lodged in my back and that I had been injured in my lung, my left lung, and that there was a lot of blood in my lung and they hurriedly treated me and drained the blood and I was admitted in that fashion.

MS MAYA:  What did the doctors at Frere hospital say to you about your injuries?

WITNESS:  After three days of observing me and trying to find whether there would be any change in my circumstances, they found that there was no change, that I remained the same, that the use of my legs wasn't returning to me.  They came back and told me that there was a bullet lodged in my spinal cord and that bullet had caused damage to me in such a way that I would never be able to use my legs again.  In other words I was paralysed from the waist down.

MS MAYA:  Was this bullet ever removed?

WITNESS:  After a week of having been in hospital, on the day of the burial of the victims, I was taken into theatre for the removal of this bullet that was lodged in my back.

MS MAYA:  How long were you in hospital for?

WITNESS:  It became apparent that I had to be transferred to Conradie hospital so that I could receive better treatment because here in East London they realised that they were not well equipped to deal with my rehabilitation so it was better that I had to be sent to Cape Town and that is where I was sent to and I was there for three months.  I was discharged on the 18th December 1992.

MS MAYA:  Can we just go back a little bit more, did you say that at the time you were injured you were a student at the Cape College of Education.  How old were you?

WITNESS:  I was 22 years old.

MS MAYA:  You were 22.  What year were you busy with?

WITNESS:  I was busy with my third year of studies, in my final year so to speak.

MS MAYA:  After your injury were you able to go back to school and complete your studies?

WITNESS:  Yes I realised that since I had come thus far in my studies it was best for me to go back.  I went back to the same college and completed my studies, my teacher studies, which I completed successfully and I am now a family health worker.

MS MAYA:  And you are now a teacher?

WITNESS:  Yes I am.

MS MAYA:  I am certain that this changed your life drastically, this injury, especially finding yourself in a wheelchair.  What is it like being at home and teaching at a school while confined to a wheelchair?

WITNESS:  Yes life changes when you are in this situation because it is not the same as before.  One encounters a lot of problems in society and in the community and in life in general.  I could say that at home I have problems in the sense that I do not come from a well-off home.  My situation is very difficult in the sense that we live in a 4-roomed house and this 4-roomed house is in a very small area and it is very difficult to move around freely.  You also find that sometimes it is even difficult to go by yourself freely and go outside.  Even when I am at work you find that the circumstances are such that it is not for one in a wheelchair because you must remember that our schools are not well equipped schools and they haven't been prepared for people in my situation so I do experience difficulty in those circumstances.

MS MAYA:  Who assists you at home, for example in washing and dressing and preparing yourself and doing everything you have to do, even getting around in your wheelchair?

WITNESS:  I get assistance and support from my parents and my brothers and sisters but there are also people that help me generally in the community especially when I move around, for example towards town you would find people that push me around and things, in my wheelchair.

MS MAYA:  How do you get to school and how far is the school from your home?

WITNESS:  The school is not too far but it is difficult for me to go in this wheelchair so I hire a car to take me to school every morning and fetch me and take me back home after school.

MS MAYA:  Was there ever a case about this matter or was anyone charged or did you consult with attorneys?

WITNESS:  As far as the case is concerned, we made statements which were submitted to the investigators and we are still waiting for the prosecutor to announce whether there was ever a follow-up.  As far as the civil claim is concerned, I did submit, institute a civil claim against the government and I think that it was the government of the day that was responsible for this because in days gone by, the side of the government collapsed and nothing became of my claim.

MS MAYA:  When you say that the claim was resolved are you saying that you received some financial compensation?

WITNESS:  Yes I did receive some financial compensation.

MS MAYA:  How much did they compensate you with?

WITNESS:  I am not sure if it would be appropriate for me to go into the matter of  [indistinct].

MS MAYA:  That is fine, maybe we'll speak privately.  I am certain that you do have a request or a wish that you would like to place before this Commission.  What would you like the Commission to do for you?