Human Rights Violation Hearings — Uitenhage — 1996-08-27

CHAIRPERSON: We are going to call upon our last witness who will then be the last, so that we can be able to go to the scene of the incident as said earlier on by the Commissioner. Let me firstly affirm your full names, Mr Bhana, because we did not have the opportunity to receive a statement from you whereby you would give full explanation about yourself. What are your full names?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: (sworn states)

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: My full names are Khyaletu Patrick Bhana.

CHAIRPERSON: Are you one of the people who was affected by the shooting there on that day in question on the 21 March?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, I was greatly affected by this attack of the 21 March 1985.

CHAIRPERSON: Could I ask that you should briefly explain, where you were at the time the people were going for the funeral.

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: I would say I was in the third row and I was in front.  We were holding hands as comrades and we were advancing.

CHAIRPERSON: At what stage were you shot, Mr Bhana?
UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
2 K BHANA

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Mr Chairperson, at the time they were starting to shoot, I stopped holding hands and I ran facing the 15th Avenue and I went up running very fast and before I had intentions to get into one of the houses but unfortunately, one of the houses was closed and there were people dressed in green clothes.

CHAIRPERSON: At the time they were hitting you with the bullet, had you already ran away from the scene of the shooting?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, I had, because I felt if they had shot me I would have fallen there.

CHAIRPERSON: Did they actually hit you?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, they did.  Whilst I was running away.

CHAIRPERSON: Where did they shoot you?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: They shot me at the back.

CHAIRPERSON: Are you the one who said you got into a nearby yard where the shooting was taking place?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Then what happened were you were in that yard?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: What happened is that I was not far from the scene of the incident and I was in the yard, and as I was getting into a certain house these people tried to lock me out and whilst I was getting to the bedroom I heard some gun shots.

CHAIRPERSON: Now tell us where did they actually hit you?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: They hit me at the back.

CHAIRPERSON: Did you get any help from hospital?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, I was treated in one hospital.

CHAIRPERSON: What hospital was that?  Is it the same hospital where all these victims were being sent to?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, that was in Livingstone Hospital.
UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
3 K BHANA

CHAIRPERSON: Who took you there?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: I was taken from this house to Church Street, and then I was taken to provincial hospital and I was driven in an ambulance to Livingstone Hospital.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you tell us about the injuries that you sustained as reported by the doctor.

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: The doctor did not give me any explanation pertaining to the injuries.

CHAIRPERSON: Are there any pains that you still feel today as a result of the shooting, or do you still have some treatment you get from the doctor?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: There is no treatment that I get from doctors and I really feel a lot of pain because I had eight bullet wounds and some other times when it is overcast, my body becomes painful.

CHAIRPERSON: At the time people were called to Jubilee Hotel, were you one of the people?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, I did go there.

CHAIRPERSON: And then what happened?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: I got some assistance there.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, what kind of assistance?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: I mean financial assistance.

CHAIRPERSON: Now, are you ready to tell us how much you actually received there?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: I received R8 000 at the Jubilee Hotel.

CHAIRPERSON: Was there a lawyer assisting you to get this money?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, I got this money because a lawyer assisted me to get it.  My lawyer was Molly Blackpan.

CHAIRPERSON: By being here now as we are concluding, what is your requests to this Commission?
UITENHAGE HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
4 K BHANA

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: My request is that this Commission should bring forward Lieutenant Fouche to come and give an account of the blood and the killing that he administered on this particular day.

CHAIRPERSON: Is that all you have to say?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: I have got a lot of things to say, but we are now trying to summarise otherwise I would be saying more and really there is just no time.

CHAIRPERSON: Is there anything that's new?

KHYALETU PATRICK BHANA: Yes, there is.  At the time I was in this bedroom, where these policemen took me out, the policemen pushed in a firearm through the window and I pleaded, asking that people should open the door and they did.  This I mentioned in my statement.  Then one Afrikaner said, yes, you red trouser, you are making a struggle, so I am trying to say that these Boers, they mark us so that is as far as I can go.

CHAIRPERSON: We must thank you for your explanation and your evidence Mr Bhana.