Human Rights Violation Hearings — Uitenhage — 1996-08-26

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: We came out of school at 2.30pm and we had asked our principal for permission to play on the school grounds. He granted us permission and we play, and after we had played and we went home, and it was on our way home that we met up with this truck.

MS MAYA: Was this a students meeting?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: It was not a meeting, we asked the principal for the school grounds, to play.

MS MAYA: Thank you very much, I didn't hear you. So when this incident occurred, you had come from the school grounds where you had played and on your way home, what time was it approximately?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: It was at approximately 5.00pm.

MS MAYA: When you got to this truck with these branches, were you just walking or had you done something?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: No, we were just walking home. There was nothing that we could have done to that truck because we were from school.

MS MAYA: In your written statements, unless the person taking your statement, made a mistake, it says that the students got out of the premises and stopped the truck. Did you do that?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: Yes, there were people, apart from school children that had stopped the truck.

MS MAYA: And thereafter, did the policemen just appear from amongst these branches?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: Yes.

MS MAYA: What do you think the intentions were for them having concealed themselves with these branches?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: I think that they were camouflaging themselves from the people.

MS MAYA: Did you know any of these policemen?

LULAMILE BASIE PETER: No.

CHAIRPERSON: Sir, we thank you, you too Peter or Lulamile for the story that you have come and shared with us as the Commission and as my colleagues said, my two colleagues from Cape Town have stated, this incident is very similar to one that took place in Cape Town known as the "Trojan Horse Killing".
 They were fortunate in the sense that their story was covered by the media, but yours, I cannot recall at any stage that your story received any publicity to expose the dirty tricks of the police. This always happens that in bigger town, such as they one where they come from. These things are newsworthy, but when it happens in smaller places they are not, they are not worthy of making news.
 We are going to try our best as the Commission to follow up on your story and the questions that I have put to you which made it seem as if you were in a court of law, putting you under cross-examination are so that we can follow up on your story.
 It is important for us to know what happened because the police were known - they are supposed to know which policemen were driving that truck that day and the Municipality should have records of who was driving the truck. The people in charge of the Municipality at the time and the police at the time if they had done their jobs correctly should know who went out in that truck that day, so they should have records of that shooting incident and we as the Commission will investigate this because of the four children that were killed and also because of the injury of you sir.
 We will investigate and try and establish the truth so that you can come to terms with it. We thank you and promise that if there is anything else, any other information that we need, that we will get back to you. Thank you very much.