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

CHAIRPERSON: Let us now proceed to Mr Goqo.

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: (sworn states)

MR SANDI: As it has transpired, Mr Goqo, it has become evident that you were one of the ambulance drivers at Diaz at the time of the incident, is that correct?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes Sir.

MR SANDI: And on this day, you were on duty, is that correct.

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes.

MR SANDI: Could you please come a bit closer to the microphone so that you could be more audible.  Could you just briefly tell us how long you had been employed at Diaz for, at the time of the incident?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: I was working at GM in Port Elizabeth and I left there after the labour relations soured before going to Diaz.

MR SANDI: Could you just tell us what happened on this day in March 1985?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: I was stationed at Kwanubuhle, and we were all called to Uitenhage and Despatch to an incident that took
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place in KwaLanga.  When we arrived there, there were ambulances and we got there and parked and we were told that we would be called in.  There were ambulances from Kirkwood and Patterson which were on the way and they met us there.  We kept asking each other what had happened and we were told, no, there has been a shooting incident.

MR SANDI: Mr Goqo, could you please just raise your voice a little bit so that you could be more audible, so that the people at the back could also hear you.

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: We got there and parked.  I don't know what the name of the street is, and there were ambulances parked there already that had come from nearby from the provincial hospitals and more ambulances.  I got there and I parked and we were told that we had to wait until we were called.  More ambulances arrived from Kirkwood and Patterson and those places and they joined us and we waited.  We were told to wait until we were called.  A yellow vehicle then arrived from inside and called us and we all followed.
 When we got there there were hippos that were parked in front of the police.  The police were in front, the hippos were behind, and more police lorries and Landrovers and so forth, and each person got out to go about their duties.  I then passed these policemen.  Most of the ambulance drivers went to the right-hand side because some of the people fell in something that's in like a valley there at No. 16 which something which seemed like a bridge.  Most of the people were on the right-hand side and most of the ambulance drivers went to the right-hand side.  I thought no, everyone is going that way, I am going to go this way, and when I went the other way, among these people, looking for those that were still alive, I would pass over the deceased and I 
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came across a child, and that is what disturbed me the most.

MR SANDI: When you saw this child, you were extremely disturbed?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes, extremely.

MR SANDI: Is there anything that you did, any steps that you took, did you phone home or anything?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: After we had taken everyone to the hospital, to the provincial hospital, and after having cleaned the ambulances and everything, I phoned home and asked them at home if anything had happened at home, it was as if something might have happened at home as well because these people had been injured and passed away.

MR SANDI: These petrol bombs being mentioned by the police, did you see any of them at the scene of the incident?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: No, not even one, all you saw there was stones.

MR SANDI: And were there any other things that you saw at the scene of the shooting?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Before I saw this child, I had a confrontation with somebody that was there, a policeman, because when I was looking at this child being shot, I saw that above her eyebrow there was a hole which was smaller than a 5c piece.  It was clear that this child felt this wound before the child passed away and she was obviously holding it and lying on top of it and had her hand on it, so I moved the child's hand.

MR SANDI: Approximately how old would you estimate this child to be?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: The child wouldn't even have been able to sit up yet.  It was a small baby.

MR SANDI: Let us just go back to the hospital.  At the hospital, was there any doctor there that you encountered?
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VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: There was, you can't say you couldn't see a doctor because even the time we were washing the ambulances, I heard the ladies inside saying that this child has been shot.

MR SANDI: Did you see anybody there because in your statement you mentioned a Dr Nel?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes, I saw him there at the scene and he was laughing, he wasn't doing anything.

MR SANDI: Was there anyone Dr. Nel was speaking to at the hospital.

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: I did not notice him at the hospital, I noticed him at scene of the shooting, taking out cigarette after cigarette.

MR SANDI: Did you appear before the Kannemeyer Commission in connection with this incident?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes.

MR SANDI: What did you say before the Kannemeyer Commission.  Could you just tell us very briefly?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: They wanted to know, they wanted information from me in connection with this child and I told them what I had encountered and what the child had on.  I described everything to the Kannemeyer.

MR SANDI: Were you called at work by your superiors wanting to know about the statement you made to the Kannemeyer Commission?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: When I left court, I went home and I went to work the following day.  I went to work in a Bravo, these were the vehicles that were used to take us to work, near Vista University and when we approached Uitenhage I heard on the radio that a certain person should not be included in the roll call and that was me.  I was excluded from the roll
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call because in the mornings there is a roll call to tell you who was delegated to which duties for the day, and I was told that I was excluded from the roll call and I gathered from that that I was being fired.

MR SANDI: Did they give you any reasons for dismissing you?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Joor told me very well that after the shit that you spoke to Kannemeyer, I don't think that you'll ever get an ambulance again.
 Please excuse my language but I am merely saying what he said.

MR SANDI: Was there any letter that was written by the people at Diaz stating reasons for your dismissal?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes, there was a letter, but I don't know what happened to it.

MR SANDI: Is that all you would like to say before this Commission?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: No, that is not all.  After our dismissal, I went looking for work.  I couldn't find work otherwise I encountered places where I could possible find a position but I would be told, or I would give them my particulars and I would find that I had to fill in a form and the person would take the form away, out of the office, going to phone Joor, and come back and you would see by the expression on their face that I wasn't going to get the job.

MR SANDI: The period that Mr Berry describes at Church Street police station when you people were as drivers were being told what to say in your statements were you present?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: Yes I was.

MR SANDI: Can you tell us what happened at the police station?

VUYISILE MICHAEL GOQO: We went in.  There was a certain captain, I don't
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know who he is, and we were told to write down statements as I explained to the commission and we continued until we got to the story about the child and we were told that that is sufficient and I also stopped and decided that I'm not going to mention this child again.