hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SUBMISSIONS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1997-05-23 BALFOUR 1 TABITA N SIKHOSANA JB3329 https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=54947&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/balfour/5balsikh.htm DR ALLY Could I ask Tabita Sikhosana to please come forward. .......Sikhosana ? MRS SIKHOSANA Good day. DR ALLY Can you hear me through the earphones ? MRS SIKHOSANA Yes, I can. DR ALLY Mama, you are also coming to speak about the very same event, the bucket protest, where your son was shot and eventually died as a result of the injuries that he sustained. Before I ask Mr Hugh Lewin to assist you, I am going to ask if you would just please put up your right hand to take the oath. Thank you very much. Thanks. MR LEWIN MRS SIKHOSANA MR LEWIN Take your time Mama. MRS SIKHOSANA That was quite a difficult time for us as parents. Miss Kumalo took me to the hospital on Sunday to see my son. When I got there I discovered that my son was bleeding profusely through his nose. We left ...(indistinct) Miss Kumalo. The police refused us entry to the hospital. We went to Heidelberg office and asked the Comrades there to accompany us to the hospital. When we got to the hospital they refused us entry. Tembi talked to them and they eventually allowed us in. When I got to his bed, I realized that the nurses did not attend to him. I saw the bullet in his neck and others were in the spinal cord. When I asked him whether they were fighting because I was told that he was already in hospital, he said we were not fighting, we were only trying to get Ngakane to understand that he should not shoot because we had already finalized this matter of the buckets. I also saw that his left hand was tied to a pole on the bed. He was not attended to. He could not stand up and his foot was also tied onto the hospital bed. MR LEWIN MRS SIKHOSANA MR LEWIN Ma, maybe it would help if could just ask some questions about what happened earlier because in your statement you tell us about his being an activist and you say that he was in prison. Can you tell us about that ? MRS SIKHOSANA MR LEWIN Had he been charged or was he just being held in detention ? MRS SIKHOSANA He was not charged. They were just held in detention and they were picking up all the youth from the location and they were arrested on those grounds. MR LEWIN He must have been very young when he was in detention because you say when he died he was twenty two ? MRS SIKHOSANA MR LEWIN Why do you think the police were again trying to hold him after he had been shot and was lying in hospital. Why were they protecting him or why were they holding him ? MRS SIKHOSANA MR LEWIN MRS SIKHOSANA That was done because they were called Comrades as if they were fighting and yet they were not fighting. They were only protesting and shouting that Mkane must not shoot and he shot. When I got to the hospital, I realized that the police were keeping guard over him and they tied his foot and him arm onto the hospital bed. MR LEWIN MRS SIKHOSANA No, they never gave us trouble. They only came once and I asked them why were they after my son because he was sick, lying down. He could not run or walk. They answered back and said, when we come back one day and find out that he has ran away, you will be in trouble, meaning myself. He never ran away, he died instead. They never came back since. MR LEWIN Before he died, were you able to bring in a doctor or get any treatment for him ? MRS SIKHOSANA Yes, he used to get his treatment from the hospital in Heidelberg. MR LEWIN Did he talk about the incident at all, before he died ? MRS SIKHOSANA You mean the bucket incident ? MR LEWIN Yes. MRS SIKHOSANA No, he never did that because what was commonly known in the community was that one day there will be this bucket protest but there was no intention of killing. My son grew up in front of Ngakane. It was very surprising for me to find out that he shot my son and even at the hospital with his foot and hand chained to the hospital bed, it was surprising to me because the three of them were not fighting. MR LEWIN Ma, just a last question. Could I just confirm that Temba was actually shot by the Councillor and then was in hospital and that all happened before the Councillor was killed so Temba had nothing to do with his killing. MRS SIKHOSANA Yes, he never killed the Councillor. Temba was admitted to hospital and the Councillor was still alive then. They only heard in hospital that Ngakane was killed. That was after they had been admitted to hospital. MR LEWIN Ma, thank you very, very much. I have no more questions. DR ALLY MRS SIKHOSANA I have no objection to that. DR ALLY Thank you very much for coming, Mama Sikhosana and re-living that painful experience and we hope that maybe if the families do come together that some understanding can come from that and maybe that can help with some of the pain and some of the suffering. Thank you for coming to speak to us.