Special Hearings — Health Sector Hearings — 1997-06-18

DISABILITY: is something I want to talk about because I feel like nothing has been said about it in these health hearings.
 Disabled people have very difficult lives in any situation but particularly so in rural areas.  Wheelchairs cannot move on soft sand and life is often intolerable for people with serious disabilities.  I'd like to tell you just about one patient of ours, a Mr Frans Pimbi.  He became quadriplegic after an accident in 1979.  He had no movement in his legs and only a little in his arms.  He was totally dependent on his mother for everything and he was confined to a wheelchair.  They lived in a home comprised of sticks and mud huts about 10km from the hospital and he received a disability grant of R242 every second month.  He was subject to terrible urinary infections and bed sores which were difficult to treat because of the scarcity of clean water and the distance from the hospital.  
 In other situations Frans could have expected to access resources and assistance to cope with his condition but because he was Black and because he lived in a rural area, he suffered far more than others with similar disabilities and he died far sooner.
 I present Frans's story as an example because his life and subsequent death of TB in 1990 was an expression of the abominable effects of the whole system on an individual. That he lived with such dignity and inner strength, despite the cruelty of his situation was a source of great inspiration to us and testimony to the power of his faith in God.
 As District Surgeons we were obliged to assess applicants for disability grants, a system that was fraught with difficulties.  Many who were clearly eligible, or had serious disability, had endless bureaucratic problems.  The system was very inefficient, bureaucratic, waste of the time of all concerned and in many, many cases corrupt.  People whose lives were filled with physical suffering were given very little real support.
 The last point is TB repatriation from the mines.
 In the course of our work we frequently came across TB sufferers who have laid off work at the mines because of their illness despite an official policy to the contrary. They were paid out a lump sum and discarded by the employment agency TEBA  because they were unfit to work and ended up in our TB wards with their lives barely intact.
 In conclusion, we have highlighted a number of situations in which we felt that the Medical Profession and those responsible for the provision of health services abused the human rights of rural communities and individuals through the neglect of their duties towards them. We know that people died prematurely and suffered immeasurably in obscure corners of rural South Africa as a result of these sins of omission. Their suffering was no less significant for it's hidden and undramatic nature.  
 It is our hope that by sharing these experiences and raising the issues that the health of rural people and communities in this country would be given the attention it deserves in  the New South Africa.  It many ways it is an indicator of the extent to which the new government succeeds in its task.

CHAIRPERSON: Janet thank you very much.  You've packed in everything in the 15 minutes.  You've also raised your concern that the TRC asked you to concentrate on one aspect.  You've done that admirably.  I've said already that we're not going to be asking questions.  If people wish to send you questions we'll send those to you.  I hope you will, because many of the issues that you raise need to be continually discussed and taken up, certainly in the workshop this afternoon.  I hope you'll be staying for that workshop.

JANET GIDDY: I can't stay for the whole time.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
 Maybe as I sort of prevented stops, I've prevented people from going to tea, if you'd like to stand for three minutes just to stretch your legs while Professor Simpson comes to the table.
SHORT ADJOURNMENT
PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE IN DETENTION

CHAIRPERSON: Professor Simpson are you ready.  Can I just say that if people want copies of the submissions they can make a copy at a Quick Copy which is down stairs, Shop 6, 101 St George's Centre, and they have all the submissions there.
 Professor Simpson before I hand you over to Mr Denzil Potgieter will you just introduce yourself.

UNKNOWN: Thank you Fazel.  My name is Professor Michael Andrew Simpson, I am a physician, psychiatrist and human rights activist.  I was in exile from South Africa from 1961 until 1984 and then returned and worked on a series of major human rights court cases from 1984-85 to date.  I returned having worked as a professor and senior academic in Britain, America and Canada and with special emphasis in my research on human rights and on the effects of trauma on individuals and communities.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Denzil.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you very much Fazel. Professor I'm just going to ask you to take the oath before you present your testimony. Thank you.

UNKNOWN: (sworn states)

CHAIRPERSON: Professor your presentation will deal with psychological abuse in detention.  You have in fact furnished the Commission with a very very full written submission and you have arranged to let us have access to a lot of other material which is relevant, which we will use together with your submission for the work that we will be doing but for purposes of your presentation here, you will simply just be highlighting the main sections of your full submission that you have made to us in writing. Over to you.