Human Rights Violation Hearings — Nelspruit — 1996-09-02

MRS MKHIZE: Just briefly tell us, because you have just said that you don't know the Mdluli but you said Mdluli helped you at the time you have been beaten up and he took you to the hospital.  And you said you are not feeling well.  Now tell us what did the doctor discover.

MS MDLULI: There was an X-ray report on my bed.  Now the X-ray showed that I had bullet holes.  Here on the stomach.  But the thing that really destroyed me a lot was a bullet that hit me behind my head and I lost my balance and on my body as well.  I couldn't see at first that I was shot at the body, I only saw the X-ray reports.

MRS MKHIZE: Are there other parts of your body that are not functioning very well, because you have just said that you
NELSPRUIT HEARING TRC/MPUMALANGA
6 MDLULI
are a bit crippled?

MRS MKHIZE: Yes.  As now I have a problem with my chest.  At the back I am always tired.  I have a problem with my bladder.  I am sickly at all times, I have a pain that keeps on haunting me every day.  There are times when I urinate I urinate blood.  I was fit I have to tell you, I was an athlete at school.  I wish I could remain lying every time because if i stand and try to work I get tired quickly.  I cannot lift up heavy objects.  And my mind, my mental state is unstable.  At times I just stop thinking.

MRS MKHIZE: When you were released from the hospital did you go back to school to carry on with your studies?

MS MDLULI: Yes, I went back to school.

MRS MKHIZE: I am trying to get clarity here because you have just mentioned that you were mentally disturbed but now when you went back to school were you disturbed in any other way by the accident?

MS MDLULI: Yes, I went back to school, things were normal at the beginning but I didn't notice this problem immediately when I was discharged from the hospital but as time went on I realised that it seems as if I am a bit insane but I do not know now because I don't have problems.  I am just living like any other person but I think this mental state comes from the incident.

MRS MKHIZE: Thank you very much.  I want to take you back now to Mr Chairperson so that other Commissioners may ask you questions as well.

YASMINE SOOKA: Elizabeth, immediately after you came out of hospital did your parents or did you see any attorney, any lawyer to ask them to check about who actually shot you?

MS MDLULI: No.  What happened they did not take any
NELSPRUIT TRC/MPUMULANGA
7 MDLULI
further steps about this matter.

YASMINE SOOKA: Did you ever receive any kind of compensation by the police or any other person for what happened?

MS MDLULI: No, I did not receive anything.  I was shot at and that was the end of it.

YASMINE SOOKA: Could you tell us what work you actually do now.

MS MDLULI: I am working at Villa Italia, I am a chef.

YASMINE SOOKA: Thank you.

COMMISSIONER: Elizabeth, we were saying that the youth did actually contribute a lot to the freedom and to the liberation and we realise the fact that even though people actually - and you were just walking back to the buses and now that you happened to be about your explanation the police were actually giving you problems.  But now I want to say this to you, that actually they paid the price.  Actually the young people like those, like you, actually helped a lot, contributed a lot.  I look at you as if you are still 18 years of age.  We want to thank you because you did work, you worked for the nation.   (Indistinct) Mkhize here he is actually a member of the Reparation and Rehabilitation and he asked a lot of questions to you that how do you feel now.  Maybe he is trying to find out from you something that could sort of help you.  By the time when the Commission ends its work in 1998/1999 maybe they could refer you to some of the doctors who can sort of help you in order to assist you healthwise.  But we want to thank you.