Human Rights Violation Hearings — Karoo — 1996-10-07

MARY BURTON: Thank you very much Ms Tantsi for telling us all of this and we are all so sorry that your mother and your sister, your sister is Olga, is that right?

MS TANTSI: Yes - Olga..

MARY BURTON: That they are not here with you today.  You - if you are not able to work now, are you receiving a disability grant?

MS TANTSI: No,  but at work they gave me money for my service.

MARY BURTON: Your employers clearly supported you through the time when you were being arrested.

MS TANTSI: Yes, they were supporting me, especially my regional  manager.

MARY BURTON: You mentioned that  the police continued to look for your brother.  Do you think that you family was particularly involved, because of your brother's involvement in political activity.

MS TANTSI: No, I don't think we were tortured because my brother was involved, because this - the case against my brother came after we were shot.

MARY BURTON: I am just going to ask if either of my colleagues want to ask you any questions.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you Mary.  
Ms Tantsi you have told us about an experience which many people have had and which is still quite shocking to say the least of it.  You and your mother and your sister were basically in your yard - you were at home in your yard when you - when you got shot.

MS TANTSI: Yes, we were in the yard when we got shot.  We were in the yard outside the house.

ADV POTGIETER: And eventually in the court in Kimberley, that court accepted that - that you were shot, you were never involved in anything illegal.

MS TANTSI: Yes, it was found that we were innocent, because we were shot in the yard.

ADV POTGIETER: This policeman Potgieter, or the court found that he was shooting at some other people and that he was using this bird shot that spreads out when you fire with a - you use that kind of ammunition and that he shot you quite innocently.  He never really aimed at you, he never really wanted to shoot you.

MS TANTSI: No, he was not aiming at me, but unfortunately at that time he was shooting - when we got out of the house - we were all shot - the three of us, Olga, my mother and myself and my - my daughter - because she was shot in the back.

ADV POTGIETER: And obviously what happened then that when the police realised that they were going to be in trouble, because they injured you, they injured your mother and your sister, they then made up these false charges against all three of you.  And they charged you for public violence for throwing stones.

MS TANTSI: When Mr Zepe charged us  he said that he found stones in my mother.  And he said that my mother threw  these stones.

ADV POTGIETER: I mean it is a patently ridiculous thing to say, because your mother was then seventy-two years old and I mean it's just quite improbable that she would have been throwing stones, but he was prepared to make up that story because they would have been in trouble for having shot you quite innocently.

MS TANTSI: Yes, he just wanted to defend the police.

ADV POTGIETER: How old was your sister in 1985 when this incident happened?

MS TANTSI: I think she was nineteen or eighteen years old.

ADV POTGIETER: And you were yourself arrested - your mother of seventy-two year old - was arrested and your younger sister, eighteen -  nineteen years old - was arrested and it took until November that year to be found not guilty.  So you had to go to court the whole time until November.

MS TANTSI: Yes, we appeared in court all this time until November.

ADV POTGIETER: And when they charged you that day when you went to lay the charge against the police.  When they arrested you, did they keep you in  prison or did they release you in that same day - or what happened.

MS TANTSI: They did not release me at that same - the same day.  I spent the night in prison - that day.

ADV POTGIETER: [Indistinct] appear in court only and then released.

MS TANTSI: I appeared in court the following day and they gave me the day to appear in court again.

ADV POTGIETER: And your mother and your sister when they were arrested -  were they also kept in jail.

MS TANTSI: Yes, they were kept there - they spent the night there.  They didn't even wait for my mother to be discharged from the hospital.  They took them from the hospital and to prison.

ADV POTGIETER: How do you feel about this experience? How do feel about the police and how do you feel about the court system - the legal system at this stage?

MS TANTSI: I feel bad, because if they charged me because I was toi-toiing at least I could understand that, but I was at my home and doing nothing.  That's why I am so bad.  My life has changed now, it is not the same, because of that experience.

ADV POTGIETER: And that you were awarded some money, but has that made up for your feelings, for your experience?

MS TANTSI: The money doesn't make any changes, because my eye, I lost my eye and I will remain the same until I die.

ADV POTGIETER: And what is the condition of the remaining eye?  What is that like - is it affected in any was?

MS TANTSI: My right eye was almost affected, because when I wake up in the morning, there are blood stains in my eye and I could feel that, but I got this eye spectacles to help my eye and I am still receiving treatment from Dr Van Aswegen.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] the shooting incident of July of 1985, were your eyes healthy?  Did you only start wearing glasses after this incident?

MS TANTSI: Yes, my eyes were healthy.

ADV POTGIETER: [indistinct] so you never wore glasses before.  You only got it after you lost your eye.

MS TANTSI: No, I never wore glasses before.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you Ms Tantsi.

MS SEROKE: Beauty, how old is your mother at this stage.

MS TANTSI: She's eighty-three years old.

MS SEROKE: How is her health?

MS TANTSI: She is not feeling well.

MS SEROKE: Where is your daughter who was shot at the back now?  Why -  how was she affected?

MS TANTSI: Fortunately, she doesn't complain.

MS SEROKE: I could think that it was a very painful thing for you that you were shot in your eye and that you were accused for something that you didn't do.  You were arrested for thirty days.

MS TANTSI: Yes, this was a painful moment.

MS SEROKE: [Indistinct] got used to staying in prison for this days.  We know and we hope that your manager will be blessed, because he supported you all this time.  Thank you.

ADV POTGIETER: There is just one question I forgot to ask you Ms Tantsi - I am sorry.  Your mother and your sister, did they make any claims against the police for their own experiences and did they get any money.

MS TANTSI: In this - in Kimberley Supreme Court they were left out of the case.  They did lay charges against Mr Potgieter, but they didn't get anything.  
And I still  - I have a request for Oscar - Olga - because she's got a problem and I would like the Commission to help her to get some assistance.  Because she's got a child and her mind is not well.  She's under the psychiatrist treatment in Day Hospital and when specialist are here - they call her to go to see the specialist for check-up.

ADV POTGIETER: She was also perfectly healthy before the incident -  before July 1985 when the shooting happened, she was a healthy person.

MS TANTSI: Yes, she was a healthy person.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you Chairperson.