Human Rights Violation Hearings — Nelspruit — 1996-09-05

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome you, Mr Solomon.  I would ask Commissioner Malan to help you as you take your oath.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: (Duly sworn, states).

MR MALAN: Thank you, you may be seated.

CHAIRPERSON: We thank you.  We will ask the Commissioner here to help you so that you put your testimony forward.  Yasmin Sooka will help you.

YASMINE SOOKA: Mr Khoza, don't be nervous.  Do you want to tell us what happened to you on the eve of Chris Hani's funeral.  Speak loudly, please, so that everybody can hear you.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: We were sitting on the road. We had made a fire and policemen came.  They told us not to do any damage and afterwards a 4 X 4 came and it was driven by a white man.  When he came there he stopped, he took his gun and he fired. I stood up. He shot me, he hit me. I fell down.  I tried to run.  I ran to one house and one woman in that house tried to help me.  They took me to hospital. When I was in hospital I don't know what happened.  I was admitted and stayed in hospital for four months.  I went back to Barberton.  After I was discharged from hospital I could not eat certain foods like stiff porridge.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you for telling us that.  But I am going to ask you a few questions, just to make sure that we get your story right. Do you want to tell me where you actually
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stay and what you did at that time for a living.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I am living in Barberton.

YASMINE SOOKA: Are you employed?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, I am not.

YASMINE SOOKA: At the time that you were shot, were you employed?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes, I was working.

YASMINE SOOKA: What were you actually doing?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: At the Sowetan.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were you a reporter?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, I wasn't a reporter.

YASMINE SOOKA: Where were you going on that particular day?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: We were going to a night vigil, Chris Hani's night vigil.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were you going there by bus?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes, by bus, we were waiting for the bus.  This happened while we were waiting for the bus at the station.

YASMINE SOOKA: How many of you were there?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I couldn't tell, because we were many.

YASMINE SOOKA: So while you were waiting at the station for the bus to come, this is when this 4 X 4 came and you were then shot. Is that right?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes, that's right.

YASMINE SOOKA: So in how many places were you shot on your body?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Two places.

YASMINE SOOKA: Tell us where that was?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: One on my left rib and on my right rib.

YASMINE SOOKA: Since you have come out of hospital, when you came out of hospital, did you make a statement to the police about what had happened?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, I tried to go to the police station, but they NELSPRUIT HEARING TRC/MPUMULANGA
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couldn't do anything.

YASMINE SOOKA: Why, didn't they want to open a charge?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: It all ended up nowhere.  They did, but it ended up nowhere.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did they actually open a docket, did they take a statement from you and did they press charges against this man who shot you?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes, they tried to press charges against this man. They have taken a statement.  The first time it was when I was in hospital.  I couldn't talk very well at that time.  Again, I can't sit for a long time.  We went to court and then the case was remanded, remanded many times.  Up until it just ended like that.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did they withdraw charges against this man?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did you have a lawyer?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, I didn't.

YASMINE SOOKA: So you did not press a civil claim against this man.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: To claim you need money, I didn't have money to employ a lawyer.

YASMINE SOOKA: What effect has the shooting had on your life now?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I am not crippled and I can't work.  I can't do anything, I am just no one.  I tried to go for a pension.  They told me I am still young, I don't qualify for a pension.  Now I am with my brother. He cannot afford looking after me because he is also married and has a wife.  Also, he is taking care of my mother.

YASMINE SOOKA: Were there other people who were shot in the same incident, by the same man?
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SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I was the only one shot.

YASMINE SOOKA: When you say that you are crippled, can you tell us a little bit more about that, please.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I can't live heavy things, anything that is heavy I can't lift up. I was working somewhere and they couldn't take me any more because I used to ask for days off to go for medical check-ups.

YASMINE SOOKA: In your statement you also say that you don't remember so well.  Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Usually when I am doing things I forget. Even when someone asks me to do something, I forget. I even forget what I was doing.

YASMINE SOOKA: Have you received any treatment for that?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, my brother gives me money to go for check-ups.  Lots of time I have pains I do go to doctors for treatment.

YASMINE SOOKA: Where do you get the pains? Do you get the pains in your body or do you get headaches?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Where I was shot.

YASMINE SOOKA: And they give you tablets at the hospital?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes, they do.

YASMINE SOOKA: You are not married?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, I am not.

YASMINE SOOKA: Do you have any children?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I have one.

YASMINE SOOKA: How do you support yourself and the child?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: My brother is supporting me. I can't support myself and he is also taking care of my child.

YASMINE SOOKA: What do you want the Truth Commission to do for you?
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SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I can't tell, I think the Truth Commission will see what they can do.

YASMINE SOOKA: How old are you, incidentally?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: I was born in 1966.

YASMINE SOOKA: I asked you if you were a reporter and you said no, so what work were you doing for the Sowetan?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: We were delivering newspapers.

YASMINE SOOKA: And you lost your job then obviously, at the time of the shooting.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you, Mr Khoza.

CHAIRPERSON: We thank you very much, Mr Khoza. I will ask other Commissioners to help you and if they have some questions to ask.  Wynand Malan?

MR MALAN: Mr Khoza, did you never go to the police to make a statement and lay a charge against Mr Richards?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Witnesses went to the police station and laid a charge, not me.

MR MALAN: No, but you were the person shot. Did you never make a statement?  Did you never make a statement?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No, I didn't.

MR MALAN: Why didn't you go to the police and ask them to prosecute Mr Richards and bring him to book?  Because that is what you now ask of the Truth Commission, but that should be asked of the police.

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: They arrested Mr Richards, because witnesses went to the police station and made a statement against Mr Richards.  The case was being remanded from time to time.

MR MALAN: They never took a statement from you?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: No.

MR MALAN: Mr Khoza, can you please also explain the
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circumstances to me.  You say that before Mr Richards stopped there, where you were waiting for the bus, there was another vehicle from protective services that stopped and told you not to be violent and then drove off.  Is that correct?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes, that car came first and they told us that we must not damage anything.  Then after that car, the police car left, then the 4 X 4 came.

MR MALAN: And was Mr Richards alone in his car?

SOLOMON BOY KHOZA: Yes.

MR MALAN: In his 4 X 4.  How many people were there waiting for the bus?