Amnesty Hearings — Johannesburg — 1998-09-15

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: I was actually the passenger in the police van that was driven by the late Constable Jacob Mabaso.  We were conveying members who just went off duty from Meadowlands to Orlando, and on our way back we took the road that led us to the Soweto freeway which was at the intersection between Diepkloof and Orlando.
	Just on the intersection we were forced to stop by a robot that turned red and a couple of seconds after we stopped there actually I personally heard a sound, sort of a banging thing at the back and I tried to look out of the window, only to find - actually when I looked out of the window I saw these guys who were like firing towards our van.  I didn't know what exactly was going on, but I remember I screamed for Jacob and I just said, "Jakes", and I tried to pull out my firearm but I was struck by the first bullet on my shoulder, on my right shoulder and my hand went limp.  And I went down between the dashboard and the seat just in the passage into the car trying to duck the bullets that were like showering at us.  I was shot several times while lying inside the car until I lost consciousness, and I only woke up I think after the car hit the railings on the other side of the road, because we were standing in the robot and apparently when Jakes was shot he lost control of the vehicle and it was in some kind of a steep slope.  So, the vehicle went down until it hit the railings on the other side of the road.  And that's when I woke up.  	When I woke up I looked at Jakes who was then sitting in the driver's seat and I tried to call him, but unfortunately my voice didn't come out and at that point in time his head went like down like this and I think he was gone.  I tried to get up and I realised that my whole body was sort of stiff, I couldn't move.  The only part of my body that I could move then was my left hand, and with my left hand I pulled the door and when I pulled the door all the glasses from the bullet that broke the glasses, all the glasses like fell on me and my whole weight went to the left side of my body and I was like - I actually fell to the ground from the car.  	On the ground I realised that my gun was actually in my right hand, but the trigger gun had hanged in my small finger.  That was the time when I tried to pull out my gun, it only landed up in my left finger and I couldn't move my hands, I couldn't move anything except for my left hand and I tried to scream but my voice didn't come out.  
	I realised that I was shot, but at the stage I didn't even know where was I hit because I had blood all over from the top of my head down to my legs.  I lied on the ground for several minutes which I can't remember how long exactly, and in a while someone came.  I didn't know who the person was.  That person came very close to me and I thought he was like one of those guys and he was just going to shoot me and kill me, because maybe he realised I was still alive.  And the person came to me.  He pulled out my right hand which had my gun in it and he took my gun and he pulled - I had on a jersey, he pulled my jersey and put the gun under my jersey and covered it.  Then he untied my boots and he pulled off my boots and untied my field dress trouser as it was like tied and he took off I think socks, if I remember well.  Then he lied me on my back on the ground.  He was talking, but I couldn't make out what he was saying because I was like almost half dead and in a while I opened my eyes and realised that there was a car standing, I think it was an ambulance because I heard the little sound of this ambulance, the sirens.  I was put into that car and that was the last time I was conscious at the scene of crime.

MR MAPOMA: So, were you taken to the hospital?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: ...to the hospital.

MR MAPOMA: Are there any bodily injuries that you suffered?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: Yes.  I suffered several gunshot wounds.  I had two shots on my right shoulder.  Actually three from the back, one from the front and I had another three shots on my lower back and I think four, if not five on my right buttock that went through into the stomach.
	As a result I had several operations and leading to the impairment of the nerves in my right foot, and a colostomy being inserted in my stomach for a couple of months, I think for five or six months which was only removed, I think it's on 1994 late.  And like a lot of things that happened to my body is, they can be maybe explained by the doctor, but the fact is at this point in time I'm still undergoing treatment due to those injuries, and as a matter of fact in the past two weeks when I was contacted by your offices that I was lying in hospital.  
	I had a gastroscopy due to some pains that were from the insertion of the colostomy and the operations that I have.  And I also have a permanent deficit on the right leg which is described by my doctor as a 39% disability on my right of foot.  As a matter of fact I cannot get involved in any active duties like I used to before.

MR MAPOMA: Thank you.  Now, you've heard the applicant applying for amnesty, telling why he did it and what did he do.  What is your attitude regarding this application for amnesty?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: What I can say about the application of amnesty by the aforesaid person here, Mr Phila Dolo, that I don't have any negativity against him as a person because in the first place I don't think he knew me and secondly, I don't know him too.  I only started seeing him in a couple of days, actually hearing from him because the whole thing is I don't know if maybe I would have been at some stage back in his shoes, maybe I could have done the same thing.
	I don't know, but the fact is I don't have anything in person against him and I, to that point, don't have any problem in him applying for amnesty in the incident that happened.  Yes, of course, I personally lost a friend in the whole thing and some people did lose families and as much as I am still a sick man due to those things that happened there, but the whole thing is I cannot turn back the clock and say let's redo things again, but there's nothing I can do at this stage, but I don't have anything in person, I don't have any negativity in him applying for amnesty.

MR MAPOMA: Thank you.  Is there anything which you want to raise to the Committee perhaps?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: What I would like to say to the Committee is the fact that I was actually victimised and it was then that it happened and what I actually would like to put straight is that I don't know what the Committee will say to the whole issue of this amnesty application, but from my point of view as a victim I still repeat it, I don't have anything against the people who did this, and the Committee should only consider me as a victim, as one of those victims that has actually suffered.  	Unfortunately the family of my other colleague did not turn up today, but maybe what I could say is that if he means it that he was acting upon orders from his organisation, as we call it, then it means had it been maybe a personal thing I don't think he could have done it.  That's basically what I can say.

MR MAPOMA: Thank you.  Thank you, Chairperson.  No further questions.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR MAPOMA

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr Mapoma.  Mr Nelushi, what is your date of birth?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: I was born in 1968, October 20.

CHAIRPERSON: October 20?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: Yes, sir.

CHAIRPERSON: What is your marital status?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: I am single.

CHAIRPERSON: Do we have your contact address?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: Yes, sir, I supplied my address to the officials.

CHAIRPERSON: And you're still stationed, is it at Meadowlands you said?

MOLALO EDWARD NELUSHI: Ja, that's correct.

CHAIRPERSON: And what sort of duty do you do nowadays?