Human Rights Violation Hearings — Klerksdorp — 1996-09-26

CHAIRPERSON: Sello, good morning.

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Good morning, Sir.

CHAIRPERSON: Are you well?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Yes, I am very well.

CHAIRPERSON: Sello, you have brought a lady who is accompanying you this morning, can you please introduce her to us?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: This is my mother, her name is Rebecca Mothusi.

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Mothusi, I welcome you too.  Thank you for coming.  Sello, you too come from Kanana.  Again, we are going to that, as other people have pointed out already, the year 1986 was a particularly terrible year for our history. I am sure when our history books are rewritten, that year will stand out.  I don't know whether people have seen the graph that is on the board outside.  But that graph shows from year to year how many human rights violations took place.  As early as - and our work as we are at the present time, 1986 already stands out.  Before I hand over to Adv Potgieter, Commissioner Potgieter who is sitting over there, I would please like you to stand to take the oath.

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: ;  (Duly sworn, states).

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Sello.  Commissioner Potgieter.

MR POTGIETER: Thank you, Dr Randera.  Mr Mothusi, good morning again and welcome here.
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
2 S P MOTHUSI

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Good morning, Sir.

MR POTGIETER: Your evidence relates to another shooting incident when you personally were shot and injured by members of the police in May of 1986, but before we come to that, before we come to the actual incident, perhaps we can just talk about your personal circumstances.  Perhaps you can tell us what you do, what your age is, whether you are married, whether you have children, where you live.  So that we know who we are talking to.

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: I am Sello Paulos Mothusi. I am 31 years old.  I don't have a child, I don't have a wife.  I am not working, I am just at home, doing nothing.

MR POTGIETER: Who cares for you, is it your parents?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: My parents are taking care of me.

MR POTGIETER: Now in 1986 when the shooting incident happened, what were you doing?  Were you schooling, were you working, what were you doing then?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: I wasn't schooling, I left school in 1985.

MR POTGIETER: So that was the first, your first year out of school, 1986, when this incident happened?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Yes, that was my first year after school.

MR POTGIETER: What was the situation like in Kanana, around this time, we talk of about May of 1986?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: The situation was not normal.  The comrades were burning tyres in the streets, the police were shooting people.  Some were injured and some died.

MR POTGIETER: Now would you like to tell us what happened on the occasion when you yourself was shot and injured?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: It was in 1986, I missed the month, but I remember the day, it was on the 4th of March, when four boys died.  The four boys that the previous speaker referred to.
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
3 S P MOTHUSI
My mother sent me to the cafe at the bar and I went to this cafe and I bought everything I was supposed to buy.  I got out of the cafe.  I got out of the gate and I crossed the street.  As I was walking towards the direction where the clinic was, a Hippo approached.  
 I couldn't count the policemen on top of the Hippo and they drove to another direction, and they just started shooting with their tear-gas.  This crowd was standing at a taxi rank.  They shot three times.  Because of the tear-gas people started taking different directions.  
 There was another policeman who was putting a helmet on his head and he wanted to shoot at us.  I turned, I ran towards the first house, but before I could hid myself with the wall I was already shot.
 I fell ...

MR POTGIETER: Take your time, Mr Mothusi.

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: I fell and after falling, some girls and boys came to pick me up and they took me home.  But before we could reach home we went to this other woman who was a street committee member.  They told her that I was shot on the left side of my body. She asked them who shot at me.  At that time I was unconscious and I was taken home and at home they asked who shot at me. I said no, I don't know, but I saw the policeman on the Hippo and they were shooting randonly at people.
 This street committee member said it would be better to be taken to the hospital because my body was full of bird shot.    They tried to organise transport to take me to the hospital.  Before we could get out of the township, just at the circle, we met a group of people and they said please, do not leave, the police are waiting for you at the
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
4 S P MOTHUSI
roadside, they want to take you to Stilfontein.  The driver understood them and he said let us take this person home.  
 My mother was shocked, and she said to me Sello, you have been shot and we thought you had been taken to the hospital, now why do you come back.  This woman tried to take out the pellets that were on my left-hand side of the body.  She took them out and she applied an ointment and she gave me tablets and I went home to sleep.
 That was the end of it all.

MR POTGIETER: Now at the time when this incident happened, were you politically active, were you involved in politics?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: No, I wasn't involved in politics.

MR POTGIETER: And if I understand you correctly, you are saying that this happened on the same day as the day on which the four persons got shot and killed, that we heard about earlier?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: That is on the same day, that is correct.  I just happpened to forget the month, but it was on the fourth.

MR POTGIETER: We know now from the earlier testimonies that it was the 4th of March in 1986 actually, when all that happened.

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Yes, that is the correct date.

MR POTGIETER: At about what time were you shot?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: It was between one and two o'clock.

MR POTGIETER: In the afternoon?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Yes, in the afternoon.

MR POTGIETER: And the people who were shooting, the police who were shooting, did you know them?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: No, they were far. I was far away from him and they had helmets on their heads, I couldn't see them.
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
5 S P MOTHUSI

MR POTGIETER: And when you were shot, you were not involved in anything unlawful.  You were telling us you were on your way to go and buy something, you were sent to the shop to buy something. Is that correct?  You were not engaged in any unlawful activities.

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: No, I did nothing wrong.

MR POTGIETER: Were all the injuries on the left-hand side of your body as you have indicated?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Yes, it is on the left side.

MR POTGIETER: You were shot with bird shot, the small holes?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: Yes.

MR POTGIETER: Now apart from the pointment that you were given and the fact that the one lady removed some of the pellets from your body, did you receive any other medical treatment or any medical treatment in fact, at all?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: No, after this woman removed the pellets, a few days thereafter I was healed. I was just healed until this year.

MR POTGIETER: Now you were saying that you were unconscious after being shot.  You said, in fact, you fell to the ground and you were unconscious. Is that correct?

SELLO PAULOS MOTHUSI: That's correct.

MR POTGIETER: So must we understand that the injuries were fairly serious?   Or why did you lose consciousness?