Human Rights Violation Hearings — Worcester — 1996-06-25

MR DE BRUIN: Well according to the media, somebody ran into her shop - carrying this broken bottle and according to her she said that she had no option because she was alone in the shop just with her assistant and that's why she then wounded this attacker in the chest.  But the clothing he was wearing shows that there was a hole in the sleeve, so the wound was in his chest.

ADV POTGIETER: Now the person who fired the shot, do you know her?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes I know her.

ADV POTGIETER: Did she know the deceased?

MR DE BRUIN: Well I am not sure in 1982 or '83 we use to buy clothes from her during that time, but I don't know whether she still remembered him from those days.

ADV POTGIETER: So you not sure whether she knew him when this  incident took place?

MR DE BRUIN: No.

ADV POTGIETER: Was your son the only person shot  on that day?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes he was the only child shot there.

ADV POTGIETER: So nobody else was shot?

MR DE BRUIN: No.

ADV POTGIETER: Maybe I can just explain to you, that the person who fired the shot asked for an opportunity to also make a statement to  the Commission and we will probably listen to her statement after lunch, is there anything you'd like to add to  what you've just said?  Is that the full story?

MR DE BRUIN: I think yes it is actually all I can tell you.

ADV POTGIETER: Is there anything you would like to ask the Commission?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes, I took out a policy for my son and according or as a result of this situation the police did not want to make any payments on this police because I  didn't  end of Tape 2, side B   ...   
Excuse me.

ADV POTGIETER: The person who shot, the ...

MR DE BRUIN: Yes, Nolene Steyn.

ADV POTGIETER: Is she known to you?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes I know her.

ADV POTGIETER: Did she know the deceased as well?

MR DE BRUIN: I don't really know because in 1982/83 we used to buy clothes from her but he was still small then so I don't whether she still knew him.

ADV POTGIETER: So you're not sure whether she knew him at the time that the incident took place?

MR DE BRUIN: No Sir.

ADV POTGIETER: Was your son the only person shot at the scene?

MR DE BRUIN: The only boy or child?

ADV POTGIETER: Was there nobody else shot at the scene?

MR DE BRUIN: No, nobody else.

ADV POTGIETER: I'd just like to tell you that the person who fired the shot has asked for the opportunity to make a statement to the Commission.

MR DE BRUIN: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: We will probably hear that submission after our lunch break.  Is there anything else you would like to add or is that all?

MR DE BRUIN: That is actually all I have to say.

ADV POTGIETER: Are there any requests to the Commission?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes there is.  I took out a policy for him but because of the situation the policy won't pay out because I couldn't get the necessary evidence for them.

ADV POTGIETER: What did they indicate, what evidence must you give them?

MR DE BRUIN: They want the police report and the post-mortem results.

ADV POTGIETER: And ...

MR DE BRUIN: When you phone nobody answers.  A person doesn't know where to find them as they were in Athlone and then moved to Paarl but I don't know their whereabouts now.

ADV POTGIETER: Do you want the Commission to investigate this for you?

MR DE BRUIN: I would appreciate it.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you very much Mr De Bruin, I would just like to ask my colleague whether she has any questions.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Thank you Chairperson, Mr De Bruin and Mrs De Bruin it's very sad that you could loose your child in the way that you did.  May I speak English?

MR DE BRUIN: You may.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: It must be very difficult for both of you to deal with the memory of that particular day.  Can you tell us what kind of memories you have of your son?

MR DE BRUIN: He was always smiling.  His mother was still working and when he got home he would start making supper, prepare food and he'd always tidy up the house.  He helped her a lot and was never a problem for her because at that stage I was working for Telkom in Botrivier and I could only come home every fourteen days so he was a great support to his mother.   The people of Robertson talk about this to this day, they say he always had a smile on his face and he never harmed anybody.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: He was a wonderful child as well as a very good child from the perspective of the community.  What were your hopes about him?

MR DE BRUIN: According to the talks we used to have he wanted to become an advocate like Mr Potgieter, that is why I took out this policy for him so that he could study and fight for his human rights but today he's no longer with us to achieve this aim.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: So it's an entire future taken away from the family.

MR DE BRUIN: Yes.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Did you hear that or are you asking me to repeat?

MR DE BRUIN: Repeat.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: I was just saying that it's so, it is an entire future, a whole future of yourself and of the family taken away from you.

MR DE BRUIN: That's correct.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: I'd like to ask something specific about the event itself.  Who picked up your son from the place where he lay dead?

MR DE BRUIN: It was the ambulance man, Dirk de Koker who picked him up and put  him in the ambulance and then took him to the hospital.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: And was this on the road outside the shop where he was picked up?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes about 15 to 20 metres away from the shop in the road, on the pavement.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Not on the pavement, in the road.

MR DE BRUIN: Yes it was in the road.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Just to reiterate the fact that people who saw what happened said that he was outside with the other marchers when he was shot.

MR DE BRUIN: Yes he was outside.  How do you mean outside?

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: On the road he did not go ... I just want to emphasise that they were outside marching to make the demands for improvements on the conditions of the township.

MR DE BRUIN: Yes.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: This newspaper where it was stated that a broken bottle was found in the shop, what newspaper was it?

MR DE BRUIN: I think it was the Worcester Standard.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: So it was a local newspaper?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes, I still have the newspaper at home.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: So you still have the newspaper at home?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes and I did give it to the Commission.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: I know that we have the paper but can you just tell us for the record do you know who the Editor of that newspaper is?

MR DE BRUIN: No.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: I just wanted to find out.  So it was only in the local newspaper, in other words it was just the Worcester local newspaper where this was reported?

MR DE BRUIN: I think it also appeared in Die Burger and I think there was something in that Sunday's Rapport but I can't remember clearly.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: Just those three, the one local newspaper and the two Afrikaans newspapers carried that report of the bottle?

MR DE BRUIN: I don't know whether any of the English newspapers carried any reports about the matter, I don't know.

MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA: That Sunday's Rapport and Die Burger carried the report, is that what you're telling us?

MR DE BRUIN: Yes.