CHAIRPERSON:: I would like to ask Mahase Rampone to come to the fore please. I would like to give the word to Dr Randera please.
DR RANDERA:: Chairperson, if you will, we also have other people from different areas and I want to particularly welcome some of the people who actually appeared at other hearings, Mrs Bangeni from Soweto, the mother of Bheki Bangeni, and Duma from Sharpeville, one of the Sharpeville six people from the eighties, welcome to you two as well.
CHAIRPERSON:: Mr Rampone, so welcome, very very happy to have you with us, and just before I ask you to take the oath, who is sitting next to you on your right hand?
MR RAMPONE:: She is my younger sister.
CHAIRPERSON:: What is her name?
MR RAMPONE:: She is Martha Rampone.
CHAIRPERSON:: Ms Rampone, we are very happy to have you, welcome. Thanks for coming. May I ask you just to raise your right hand, while you are sitting, in order to take the oath. Dr Ally will ask you to take the oath.
MR RAMPONE:: So help me God.
DR ALLY:: I think the witness has sworn himself in Chairperson, we can now proceed.
CHAIRPERSON:: We have said that you've sworn yourself in and now Dr Ally will also assist you in telling your story.
DR ALLY:: Welcome to you Mahase, you're coming to speak about an incident that happened in 1986. It was during a protest and you were shot and lost your leg. Can I ask you to relate those events to us?
MR RAMPONE:: In 1986, I was a pupil at Motswane High School in Maboloka. I was doing Std 7 at the time. It happened that, we as students we had problems with our principal, because he was using school funds.
The Boputhatswana police were sent to answer our problems, because our demand was that the principal should resign from work. The Boputhatswana police came to us and arrest us and they dispersed us and some of the students were arrested. The students who remained behind, I was among them, and we decided that from that day, it was on Monday 3 March, and we decided that from that day we were not going to attend classes until the other students were released.
On the following Tuesday and Wednesday, in our secret meetings, we decided that on the Thursday they're going to have a mass meeting at the Ambassador's sports ground, where our main discussion was around whether we're going back to school or not, before the other students are released, because there was also a threat that the Boputhatswana police were going to go from house to house and take students who have not attended school.
On that Thursday we met, it was at 10 o'clock when we met, the police were already surrounding the township by then. When we arrived at the Ambassador's sports ground, we waited for the other students to arrive so that we could be all there. While still there, the police started driving past us in vans, hippos and private cars, on both sides. That is they were trying to surround the ground by then, but they did it in a way that they were driving (indistinct).... on either sides of the ground.
They started shooting us with rubber bullets, teargas and so forth and then we ran away. While still running, some of us were arrested, and that included a number of those who had already been arrested. Whilst we were still running and trying to hide in some of the houses that were nearby, others were removed from houses because they were already meeting police in the houses that were nearby the ground.
Whilst I was running with the other group, some of the police saw us and when we entered another house they saw us. I tried to run out of that house and pretend that I am not from the house that the other students had fled into.
I just moved like a pedestrian and I came across a hippo, and those police realised that I was really frightened by them and then they came to me - "Comrade, get into the hippo". They wanted us to jump up onto the hippo and that was impossible and I said to them - I can't do that and I haven't done anything for you to arrest me.
Then two of the policemen alighted from the hippo and they started beating me, and they also injured my head. When I started bleeding, I thought of hitting back. One of them said to the other policeman they should give him their way so that he can shoot me. I thought he was joking, and then I moved away from them. I was worried about my bleeding head and then I heard a sound, a big bang of a gun and that is where they had shot me. When I started moving, my other leg was - my leg joint wasn't even functioning at that time, and then they left me there.
They went away for about 4 hours and I was laying there, there was nobody to help me. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, in fact about 2 o'clock when they came and fetched me there, they dropped me at the clinic. After dropping me at the clinic, they left me and I waited for an ambulance which arrived at 4:30pm. The ambulance took me away to the hospital. I went to the hospital, I stayed there for about four weeks and then I was better at that time. From the hospital, I stayed home for about two days from there I went to school again until I completed Std 10 at the very same school that I was at when they shot me in 1989.
One policeman said that we were at the - in fact when I returned from the hospital, I went to Jericho Police Station where I opened a case, because I was back to school by then, they said they would come and fetch me one day from school, that is how we arranged with them, so that we could go to Maphase at the military camp, there was a sort of a parade there where we had to identify a soldier who shot me, because my witness knew that person.
By the time they shot me they had already arrested other students and one of my home buddies was able to see the face of the soldier who shot me, therefore, this home buddy of mine was going to identify the soldier who shot me at the parade. We went to Maphase on that day and when we arrived there, the police who was handling my case drove around the Maphase Township with us and he didn't want to keep time, that is the 10 o'clock time, when we had to go to the identification parade. He drove with us around the township until the police who were supposed to be at the parade were already dispersed by then.
We then returned to Maboloka without going to identify those people. We slept at the police station in the charge office, that is where we slept until the next day and they took us home. When we arrived home, they told my dad that we arrived at the parade but the soldiers that we had to meet were not at the parade. This policeman decided that he would investigate on his own and contact me again. Fortunately, a lawyer was handling my case at the time, that is Chris Naidoo, who stays in Johannesburg.
He sent a letter which warned the official to speed up the docket or the case, because the day of the case was already nearby. When the policeman received the letter, he came to me and said they had identified the person they were looking for at the parade, so they left me with a docket number, case number and thereafter I'll come to tell you when we are going to court.
We waited for him to come back to us so that we could get to the court. Until I went to look for him in Jericho, because there had already passed a few weeks without him arriving, and then at Jericho I heard that he took a transfer to Mabopane. When I came to Mabopane, they didn't know him. They told me to go to Rankuwa, and even at Rankuwa they didn't know him. That's where I lost hope and some of the people even told me that I'm not going to go through with my case. I'm through.
DR ALLY:: Thank you very much for that. Is that the status of your case presently, that it's still an open case because I see the letter that we have in your statement, that you've attached to your statement, the last date of communication between yourself and your lawyers, Lawyers for Human Rights, is 1993.
MR RAMPONE:: No it was in 1986.
DR ALLY:: You misunderstand me, what happened to you took place in 1986, but in your statement the letter from the Lawyers for Human Rights was, I imagine those were the lawyers handling your case, not so? The last correspondence is excuse me, 16 February 1993, is that the most recent regard to your court case, legal action against ...
MR RAMPONE:: No. The letter from the Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria came to me while I was still looking for help, because I didn't lose hope. When I went to Lawyers for Human Rights they wrote me a letter, thinking that my letter took place not far behind from 1993.
DR ALLY:: When was the last time that you heard about your case?
MR RAMPONE:: The last time I had correspondence about my case was in 1987, I still remember I was still in school at that time. It was in 1987, that was when I last heard from the policeman who was handling my case.
DR ALLY:: Do you still have the same lawyer, Mr Naidoo, who you mentioned?
MR RAMPONE:: I'm not sure whether he is still around in Johannesburg, but if he's still alive I think he's still in Jo'burg, if that will need any reference or his details.
DR ALLY:: ... for a while also, and when was The last time you heard from him?
MR RAMPONE: No, I haven't heard from him.
DR ALLY:: Now you say the soldier who shot you was identified, but you didn't give any name. Do you have a name of this person?
MR RAMPONE:: The person whose name I know is the policeman who was handling the case, not the soldier.The soldier was known to my witness because he was already arrested by then. He was in the van or in the hippo that they shot me from.
DR ALLY:: Does the witness know the name of the soldier?
MR RAMPONE:: I'm not sure that he knows his name because these soldiers were from. The only person whose name I know and who I can identify is the policeman who was handling my case. This policeman looked as if he knew this soldier who shot me, because in his action, I could see that he was trying to protect him.
DR ALLY:: Your witness knew this person by sight, they were going to identify them because they would be able to recognise his face.
MR RAMPONE:: Yes.
DR ALLY:: And were you or the witness ever shown any photographs?
MR RAMPONE:: No.
DR ALLY:: Just to go back to the events which led to your being shot, to be clear, you said that you were protesting against the principal because you believed that the principal had actually being misappropriating or misusing school funds. Is that correct? Is that what the nature of the protest was?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes.
DR ALLY:: Any other issues which you were protesting about, besides the question of the school principal?
MR RAMPONE:: We were also wanted a students representative council at our school to act as a mediator between the principal and the pupils.
DR ALLY:: And what was the attitude of the principal towards this, towards the students wanting a representative council?
MR RAMPONE:: He was very negative, by that time they said that SRC's were not allowed in Boputhatswana High Schools.
DR ALLY:: But you persisted with your - did you ever get a SRC elected at your school?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes we elected a SRC, but it happened after this incident until I completed matric.
DR ALLY:: ... went back after this, after you were shot, was it the same principal still at the school?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes it was still the same principal.
DR ALLY:: Thank you.
CHAIRPERSON:: Dr Randera.
DR RANDERA:: Mahase, I just wanted to pose that question a little differently. We heard earlier on that 1986 was, there was a state of emergency. I assume that it applied to your area as well, is that right?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes that is right. May you please repeat the question?
DR RANDERA:: Was the state of emergency in existence already. What, why else was the army out on the streets of your township at that time, besides the incident you're talking about, there must have a ...
MR RAMPONE:: Yes, there were many soldiers even some of them were stationed at a travel authority.
DR RANDERA:: What was the reason, was there a lot of unrest in your area?
MR RAMPONE:: The problem is we are not going full-time to school, and they were forcing us to go to school, that's what caused that present day.
DR RANDERA:: We have also heard that people's houses were being burned down, policemen were being attacked. Was that happening in your area at the time?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes that was happening.
DR RANDERA:: And were the students involved with that?
MR RAMPONE:: I don't know because I wasn't present at the time. I was still in hospital by then.
DR RANDERA:: But you do admit that there were houses being burned down, policemen being attacked?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes, there were houses that were being burned down, but I didn't know about the attacks on the police, because I stayed at the hospital for a while.
CHAIRPERSON:: Ms Seroke?
MS SEROKE:: You say after they shot you they stitched you. I want to know, did they amputate you immediately? You said when you were injured, they stitched you and then you came back.
MR RAMPONE:: They amputated my leg immediately, that is after I - because I was supposed to be conscious first, and then I had to attach a statement and that is when they would operate me before they could operate anything.
MS SEROKE:: How long did you take before you went back to school?
MR RAMPONE:: I went back to school in May.
MS SEROKE:: When did you get injured?
MR RAMPONE:: I was injured 6 March.
MS SEROKE:: You said you've completed your matric, have you completed it?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes.
MS SEROKE:: What are you doing now?
MR RAMPONE:: I'm only staying at home.
MS SEROKE:: What would you wish to do?
MR RAMPONE:: I would like to further my studies, and maybe get any assistance from the commission to help me.
MS SEROKE:: But at the moment you are not able to?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes, at the moment I'm relying on my parents, and they also have other children, who were born after me. They are the ones who are being provided for, because they are not well educated. That is they have not completed matric.
MS SEROKE:: Do you want to go to university?
MR RAMPONE:: Yes I want to go to university.
CHAIRPERSON:: Thank you Joyce. Mahase Rampone, thank you for coming to us. The picture, photo, that you brought to our album today, is a very sad one, having lost your leg, the pain, the suffering, the ending of your studies. But you are still a young man and your whole future is in front of you. We will do our best from the side of the truth commission, but we do hope that you will find a beautiful future, a worthwhile future, that you will be able to find work, study, to do all the things you want to do to help us build up this beautiful country of ours. Thank you for coming and all the best for the future. Thank you so much. While he is taking his place can I just check - Puleng Lebopo has not come yet, the first on the list, which seems not so. Mothomone Masola, the second on the list also not come. Can I ask Matlodi Fedibana, Matlodi Fedibana, not come. And then Mafatima Maluleka also not present at the moment ....(Tape ends)
