hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-06-24 WORCESTER 1 CT/00320 ZANDISILE NTSOMI ZANDISILE NTSOMI SHOT IN LEG BY POLICE LEG, AMPUTATED https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=56168&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/worcest/ct00320.htm DR BORAINE The next witness whom we now call to the witness stand DR ORR Mr Ntsomi, will you stand to take the oath please? ZANDISILE NTSOMI Duly sworn states DR ORR May I call you Zandisile? MR NTSOMI Yes. DR ORR MR NTSOMI Thank you. DR ORR MR NTSOMI Yes. DR ORR And now you going to tell us your own story. It was around the same time 1985 in Zwelethemba, a time of State of Emergency, curfews - the township being blockaded and intense police activity. Can you tell us about the events which happened to you starting on that evening 12th October 1985? MR NTSOMI There was a funeral in the location. It was one of the comrades who was shot and dead, his name was Thomas Segolo. So it was his funeral and it was on Friday. The situation in the location was not stable. There was a tense situation I would explain it that way. The youth was not stable either. More especially in the youth although it involved the whole community. And then on Saturday there were protests among the location because as it was that tension people were not that much happy - there were many things that happened as Mamma Bahume has stated before. Some of the youth were shot dead and some were shot and injured. I gave the doctor the phone number, my neighbours phone number and I told him to try and phone my parents and he did so. So my parents was the time they only get the message that I was in Tygerberg Hospital. They were not aware all this time. They even - they came as soon as they could. They were not allowed to talk to me - they said they were not allowed so it was that situation - because it was time for me to go to the theatre. They were told to come later. The operation was done to me - my leg was amputated and it was okay - that was Sunday the day was the 13th October 1985. I stayed there the whole - the whole day on Sunday under a drip. And then on Monday, it was about lunch time at the hospital they brought me some food. My face was swollen because the policemen had beaten me, had kicked me, so that was the result of their assault and the way they dragged me from where I was lying in that yard. It was very painful so it was - my swollen was resulted from that. I try - I forced myself to eat. After I finished my meal a nurse came along and brought me a wheelchair, took me from the bed to the wheelchair - they brought two packets of pills, put them in my pocket. By that time I was wearing - I would say it was a night gown - a hospital night gown and then op top I had some - I had the other thing on top like a gown. There was nothing I had underneath, I had no shoes on, no clothes on. I had no idea what happened to my clothes but when I came into Worcester I heard that they had taken my clothes home. They drove me out of the hospital - I was on the wheel chair, put me in the police van - I was operated yesterday, remind you. And then the following men [intervention] DR ORR [indistinct] get the sequence of events clear in my mind. You had the operation on the Sunday. Your leg was amputated above the knee. MR NTSOMI Exactly. DR ORR Which is a serious operation and the doctor discharged you the very next day, is that correct? And he discharged you knowing that you were going back to the police cells, not to your home? MR NTSOMI DR ORR And he discharged you were wearing only the hospital nighty and the dressing gown? MR NTSOMI Can you repeat the question? DR ORR You were wearing only the hospital nighty and the dressing gown. MR NTSOMI Yes. DR ORR How do you feel about that doctor? MR NTSOMI I was taken to the police cells telling me that I was waiting for the police from Worcester to take me back to Worcester. I waited there for a long time. They arrived there around about five. They opened the cell and they woke me up because I was already asleep. They told me that they are taking me and they said I must prepare myself we are on a journey. There were two Coloured policemen - they supported me, taking me to the police van. They were supporting me to the front seat of the van. As I was - as I was seated there I was - I felt much comfortable and I had to thank them a lot because I was relieved of the situation I was in at the back of the van, I thanked them a lot time and again and they drove off. We arrived in Worcester. As we were in the charge office that - the one here in Worcester, I think they even called those who were inexperienced to come and see this fool that was here because there were a lot of policemen by the time we arrived here, even those that were not on duty, they came in. DR ORR It must have been very difficult for you after having your leg amputated to still be treated so rudely and humiliatingly by the police. Are you ready to continue - can we go on? MR NTSOMI Yes. DR ORR Can we go on a bit? You were kept in the jail - the Worcester jail and then released on bail, is that correct? And you appeared in court and what happened as a result of the court case you were charged with public violence, what happened? MR NTSOMI I was charged with public violence and related charges which I think they were about 3 - but there was only - they were all under one charge - public violence. I was then acquitted because they found me not guilty. May I continue from there? DR ORR [indistinct] made against the State. MR NTSOMI And then last year what I would like to mention is I got a letter. I would start from 1992. Lawyers called me, they asked me to make an affidavit because that was what the State was asking for. They wanted to be sure what am I doing at that moment - to state my state of income, how do I receive funds and I did that with the help of my lawyers. I was still a student then and I sent the affidavit. And then last year round about August or September, I am not sure I received a letter from the State Attorney. The State Attorney said the affidavit I made maybe was not but - was not exactly what they wanted but they said again that I must say the same thing that I wrote there and then I did again write down the same thing that I did. But last year I ignored the letter. It came again, I received it later, the second one this year. I read through it and it was saying the same thing and the lawyers phoned seemingly there were other lawyers now in that place, and they told me to make an affidavit because the State is asking for an affidavit to state my situation and my financial situation. DR ORR MR NTSOMI Ja exactly so that was the second letter - the third letter - I received a third letter - it was a registered letter stating that there are legal costs as my claim was dismissed in all costs so I must pay some costs to the State. DR ORR DR BORAINE Thank you Dr Orr - Ms Burton. MS BURTON Thank you Mr Ntsomi, we heard earlier that you had been a witness to the death of Nkosane Bahume, is that right? MR NTSOMI MS BURTON You were with him when he was shot? MR NTSOMI I was with him. MS BURTON Then a while later you were at the funeral of - is that Thomas Kholo who was buried the day that you were shot? MR NTSOMI I was at the funeral, I attended the funeral. MS BURTON [indistinct] leaders of the young people in Zwelethemba at the time? MR NTSOMI I would say so because - I would say I was one of the leaders, because we had the organisation, we that was [indistinct] MS BURTON [indistinct] the youth. MR NTSOMI Zwelethemba Youth Organisation. MS BURTON Yes. MR NTSOMI Ja. MS BURTON The day that you were shot, were other people injured? MR NTSOMI I am trying to think deeply because I am not sure there were some who were injured but people I can remember, there were those who were arrested because I met them at the police cells and they told me that they were arrested during that period. That weekend is the time of their arrest. MS BURTON [indistinct] when you were injured and they put you in the van and drove around like you told us for those two hours there was nobody else in the van with you then. MR NTSOMI MS BURTON And then afterwards, once your leg was better and you were still appearing in court and in the subsequent years were you still involved - where you still an activist? MR NTSOMI MS BURTON [indistinct] where did you get your medical attention after you were released? MR NTSOMI MS BURTON [indistinct] doctor is in Worcester was he? MR NTSOMI Yes he was here, but he is no longer here now. MS BURTON Thank you. DR BORAINE Ms Gobodo. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA MR NTSOMI XHOSA - NO TRANSLATION MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Can you tell us when you think about those times the most things you still remember. MR NTSOMI MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA You are not the same person? MR NTSOMI No I am not the same person whom I use to be - or I know myself to be. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Do you still remember the doctor who attended you in Tygerberg Hospital? The one who let you to the policemen? MR NTSOMI MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA The people who shot you, can you still remember them? MR NTSOMI Yes, I know the one who shot me because I was with him in Court - one of the policeman, Mr Van der Merwe, he was the one who shot me and he had two witnesses, Constables [indistinct] and Brink. They were three against one which is me, so I know them. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Were they the only three who were [intervention] MR NTSOMI There was only one who shot me but the other two were witnesses to him against me but the one who shot me was Van der Merwe. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Can you still remember what you were doing at that time when they shot you? MR NTSOMI MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Is the toilet in the backyard? MR NTSOMI Yes, it is in the back of this yard next to a shack. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA When did you realise that it was van der Merwe who shot you? MR NTSOMI I knew him at the court while the case was in progress then its where I identified him. MS GOBODO-MADIKIZELA Yes it was found out that it was him, thank you very much. DR BORAINE [indistinct] Potgieter. ADV POTGIETER MR NTSOMI ADV POTGIETER [indistinct] to what I want to hear from you, first of all you won that case, you - you were found not guilty in that case - in the public violence case, is that right? MR NTSOMI I was found not guilty - I for one was not guilty in the court. ADV POTGIETER When you were charged [indistinct] were you the only accused? MR NTSOMI I was alone in my case. ADV POTGIETER And did the police give evidence in that case, did they come and tell the Court what happened? MR NTSOMI Yes, they did come and give evidence and witness. It was me and my friend while the whole thing was happening there were two of us and three policemen against the two. I also had a witness because I was not alone. ADV POTGIETER And [indistinct] MR NTSOMI Exactly what happened. ADV POTGIETER In which court was it - was it in the Regional Court or was it in the ordinary court? MR NTSOMI The Regional Court. ADV POTGIETER And can you still remember who the magistrate was that heard the case? MR NTSOMI Yes, I do have the records, but there was a Magistrate - there was a famous Magistrate here in Worcester who used to sit in for these political cases in Worcester but I do have the records. ADV POTGIETER [indistinct] in the regional court in Worcester, you then got the lawyers to make a claim against the State in the Supreme Court in Cape Town? MR NTSOMI ADV POTGIETER [indistinct - you say that you lost that case. MR NTSOMI ADV POTGIETER You say that you lost that case after having won that case in Worcester. MR NTSOMI Exactly. ADV POTGIETER Where you were accused of having committed public violence you lost the claim that you made? MR NTSOMI ADV POTGIETER MR NTSOMI ADV POTGIETER The appeal [indistinct] in Bloemfontein? MR NTSOMI Yes it was at Bloemfontein. ADV POTGIETER Now in Cape Town in the Supreme Court did you speak there, you and your witness - did you give evidence? MR NTSOMI Yes, I did give the evidence there. ADV POTGIETER MR NTSOMI Van der Merwe was there, the one who shot me and one of them was mentioned - was stated to have passed away so there were two of them from the police side and I was the only one on my side because my lawyer said there is no need for a witness. So I have to stand alone with two of them against me. ADV POTGIETER MR NTSOMI And I would like to see and I would like the Commissioners also see that it goes in the right direction and this cost of about R45,000 as if I paying a car or a house bond - I am not prepared to pay that amount. And I would like the Commission to assist me in that situation too. At times I had to go to Red Cross, they had a prostheses department where I had to go and fit in the leg and then - I am working here in Worcester but I have to travel all the long way to Cape Town. I come back here, they phoned me again, I had to go back again to Cape Town, fit the leg again. If it is not okay, I have to stay there for some days - maybe I will just make an example. ADV POTGIETER [indistinct] MR NTSOMI Okay. DR BORAINE Mr Ntsomi, we have listened very carefully to your story. You bear not only on your body but in your mind and spirit the marks of the past. We will certainly look at the requests that you have made. The Commission has not unlimited funding or resources, but what we do have we will make use of in order to assist you in whatever we can. We thank you very much for coming today, we know it is very hard and we are full of admiration that even though you have gone through such a bad and bitter time, you are now working - you are able to walk, you show great courage and we commend you very much. Thank you very much for coming. Ladies and gentleman I think this is a good time for the adjournment - we will adjourn.