hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-10-16 WINELANDS 3 CT/00425 COENRAAD VAN ROOYEN COENRAAD VAN ROOYEN ASSAULT https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56128&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/wineland/ct00425.htm DR ORR Good morning Mr Van Rooyen, you got up early this morning to drive all the way from Saldanha and we say thank you very much to you. Before we listen to your story would you please stand to take the oath. COENRAAD VAN ROOYEN Duly sworn states DR ORR Thank you, I will ask Glenda Wildschut to lead you through your evidence. MS WILDSCHUT MR VAN ROOYEN MS WILDSCHUT Did you work for Sea Harvest before? MR VAN ROOYEN MS WILDSCHUT Do you also work as a temporary worker for Sea Harvest? MR VAN ROOYEN MS WILDSCHUT Please go ahead - please go ahead with your story. MR VAN ROOYEN While walking though this township my friend left for their various homes, but unfortunately I had to pass a house where a policeman and his wife were living. His name was Johannes Stroebel - Inspector Johannes Stroebel, when I arrived there - when I crossed the park I saw their children and people were scattering in various directions. I did not know what was going on and I decided just to go ahead. When - in my yard he told my wife and children that if they came any nearer they would shoot - he would shoot them dead, so they remained at a save distance. That evening a police van came - they put me into that police van. I was unconscious and the bystanders said they kept on assaulting me in this police van. And they then took me to the Charge Office, there I partly regained my consciousness and I remembered that they dragged me to the cells. Open this cell that I can see what this pig look like - looks like. This pig who threw stones at my house. And she said: Why did you throw stones at my house? And I asked: And she said: Close the door and let this pig just die. A little while afterwards I shouted through the window that I wanted to see the Officer in charge, now he was Captain or Lieutenant Kitchener. I asked to see him because I was urinating and vomiting blood and I would like to go and see a doctor. Could he send somebody to take me to the doctor. For the whole day he showed no interest and I was suffering extreme pain for that whole Monday. The next morning the police opened the cell and I asked them to please take me to see a doctor because I was going to die and he then said: Bring him out. They drove at a high speed to the doctor, it was 11 km to the hospital. I sat there for a whole hour at the hospital and I asked them - they could ask the police who had accompanied me please to take me to the doctor immediately because I am suffering extreme pain. When the doctor eventually examined me he said that I should have gone to Tygerberg Hospital on the Sunday already because I was bleeding internally. MS WILDSCHUT You were convicted? MR VAN ROOYEN No, I was acquitted. MS WILDSCHUT Do you know which injuries you sustained or why you were operated? MR VAN ROOYEN According to the doctor I had internal injuries like my pancreas was injured, my intestines were damaged. And they had to remove that. MS WILDSCHUT The book in the Police Station in which they write all the events of the day - this book [indistinct] shot by Constable Stroebel with shot gun and that he fired bird shot at you. But the entry makes a claim that the victim was not injured as a result of the shooting. MR VAN ROOYEN Thank you. ADV POTGIETER Mr Van Rooyen just a few questions, were you active in politics, were you politically involved that the police were watching you? MR VAN ROOYEN ADV POTGIETER Sir my question is were you politically involved in Saldanha at that time? MR VAN ROOYEN Previously yes, I was member of the UDF. ADV POTGIETER And was it well known that you was a member of the UDF? MR VAN ROOYEN Yes. ADV POTGIETER A second question. You say that the - you were acquitted in court. Did you receive any compensation - did you institute a claim for compensation and did you receive any money? MR VAN ROOYEN ADV POTGIETER Do you still have those files in your possession? MR VAN ROOYEN Most of my files are in my possession now. ADV POTGIETER And then a last question. You mentioned your family, are you married, how many children do you have, what are they doing? MR VAN ROOYEN I have 4 daughters and one son. Presently 3 of them are working, my son still attends school. At that time 1 daughter was at University but after I was injured I could not afford it to keep her at University any more and she had to leave. The State gave me disability - they declared me and they assisted me. I received a pension at that stage. ADV POTGIETER Do you receive it at the moment? MR VAN ROOYEN Not any more. ADV POTGIETER And then a very last question. You say that you would like to work but at the moment you can only do piecemeal work because you have to go to the doctor regularly. Why do you have to go to the doctor regularly? MR VAN ROOYEN R177-00 and that is the only medication which still helps today. This - if I take one in the morning, it helps me through the day otherwise I vomit all the food I take in. Once a month a specialist comes to Saldanha, Dr Luyt, and he says - he said I need another operation to be completely healed. This operation will cost about R9,000-00, I said to him in that case I will have to die because I do not have that kind of money. ADV POTGIETER Thank you very much, this information is very important for us for our future investigations. Mr Van Rooyen just one aspect, this policeman Stroebel he was a Constable in 1987 when he shot you and assaulted you in public and his wife was also a Police Officer? MR VAN ROOYEN She was also a Constable. ADV POTGIETER So husband and wife were both Constables in 1987? MR VAN ROOYEN They were both promoted - the wife is a Lieutenant at the moment and both of them are inspectors at the moment. ADV POTGIETER So both husband and wife have been promoted? MR VAN ROOYEN After this incident they were promoted to Inspectors. ADV POTGIETER Are they still at the police in Saldanha? MR VAN ROOYEN No they are in Vredenburg at the moment. They are involved with the Vredenburg-Saldanha Police. ADV POTGIETER How do you feel about that. They were promoted and you are sitting with all the pain? MR VAN ROOYEN I have friends at the moment who have progressed in life. They could build houses, they could buy motorcars. I could have been at that level as well but because of all these things which had happened to me I could not do the same things as my friends. And this policeman Stroebel was promoted all the time, he has - he owns a big house. I could have had that as well if it was not for this incident. I could have given my children a better life and a better education if it were not for all these things. MS GOBODO Thank you [indistinct] ask you how old were the policemen who this - Captain Stroebel how old do you think he was at the time? MR VAN ROOYEN Are you referring to the policeman? At that stage when he shot me? MS GOBODO How old - how old do you thing he was - the policeman who shot you? MR VAN ROOYEN The day he shot me he was about 26 years of age - or 28 years round about there. MS GOBODO And how old were you at that time? MR VAN ROOYEN I think I was about 37 years old. MS GOBODO Thank you, I just want to say that we cannot begin to fathom the impact of the injuries that were in - afflicted upon yourself. On your person, on yourself as a man, on your self as a potential earner and to say that it is very difficult for us to understand, to know fully what it means for you to suddenly be found - find out that you cannot be gainfully employed. But now you have been reduced to piece jobs - work that you can do only for 2 weeks. On a day to day basis people were confronted with - being excluded from all sort of benefits in the country. You suffered the abuse - the grouse violations in Saldanha because you were excluded from the ram of personality of humanity. Those policemen did what they did to you partly because they were policemen but mostly because there was the race factor as well. Some of it - a lot of it has got the do with racism and you experienced it and you suffered the consequences of it and the consequences reflect also in the economic situation that you find yourself in now. So it is true that the Commission is political because our life are political. So this is no reason to stay away from the Commission because it is political because the entire community of the country in fact white and black people lived their personal life as political lives. Thank you for coming this morning and for sharing with us your pain. We will do our best again to assist you in what ever way we can in sorting out some of the issues that you have raised in your statement, thank you. MR VAN ROOYEN Thank you very much, I appreciate that you could listen to my story.