&#9;TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

&#9;UWC HEARING - DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY 7 AUGUST 1996



CASE NO:&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;CT/00157

VICTIM:&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;MONICA DANIELS

NATURE OF VIOLENCE:&#9;&#9;SHOT BY POLICE

TESTIMONY FROM:&#9;&#9;MONICA DANIELS



MONICA DANIELS&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;Duly sworn states

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much, please be seated.Glenda Wildschut will assist you and facilitate your evidence and I hand over to her.

MS WILDSCHUT: Good afternoon Monica. --- Good afternoon Glenda.

Monica you will be talking to us about your own story today it happened in 1985 in August 1985, so it's about ten years ago now.I know that still today you are very conscious of the incident that had happened.But maybe you can tell us a little about yourself and then begin to tell us your story. 

MONICA DANIELS:&#9;Good afternoon everyone, I am Monica Daniels, I live in 183 Binne Singel, Bellville South.I came here this afternoon to tell you what happened to me in 1985 during the boycotts.My granny had sent me to the shop to buy a bread, coffee and at the time we were using candles, I was suppose to buy a candle as well, it was on a Thursday.I went to the shop and returned and on the way back, I went to a friend of mine, Sally. We were going to go to the club that Thursday night, dancing.But on the way there, I just heard shots, I was still carrying these things, and I turned around and ran, and while I was running I just felt lame and I fell. I lay there on my back and my right arm was hanging and it was under me.I asked the one policeman to help me to just try and get my arm out, he helped me and I screamed please go and call my mother.I lay there on the ground and I asked one Coloured policeman to bring me some water because it felt as if my throat was dry, and I was crying.He brought me a bit of water and I was lying there after he had helped me move my arm.And I screamed please - please - please and another boy that was lying near me, took some of my blood and smeared on himself so that the policeman could think that he had also been shot.He then got up while the policeman was standing with his back towards us, while we were lying on the floor.And I screamed again and he asked me to keep quite, this is the boy that was lying next to me.And he took of my blood and smeared it on himself and lay there, and when the policeman turned around, he got up quickly and ran and after he had gotten away I shouted again.And this one policeman said to me, voetsek, shut up or I'll shoot you, I'll shoot and kill you and he kicked my feet.I lay there and kept quite, and the ambulance arrived and picked us up and I was put in the ambulance, the ambulance drove off and not to far they shot at the wheels and the wheels were punctured and we had to get out - they carried me out of the ambulance.Another ambulance arrived, and I was put in that ambulance and taken to Tygerberg Hospital.Probably a few weeks later after attempts to heal my arm they were forced to amputate it because it festered and they amputated it halfway at first and when there was no improvement, they amputated the whole arm.And now there is - there was just this piece left, they gave me an artificial limb, butit doesn't do anything because when I do attach it, it hurts me, so it just stays in my wardrobe.&#9;Monica the time that you were shot were you politically involved at all and do you have any idea why the police shot you? --- I have no idea why and because at the time there were riots and I cannot say at the time I was this or that, because after I had been shot, I joined the then UDF because I had already been shot, but I wasn't a political person.

&#9;Monica how do you feel now, can you give us an idea as to your state of health? --- As I am now I - fair enough I had both arms then, I wasn't born with one limb and although a lot of people who see you, will tease you about being a one armed person and you don't feel to good about that.

&#9;Are you saying that where you are staying right now, people tease you a lot and pass remarks about the fact that you do not have a - both your arms? --- Yes.

&#9;And how does that make you feel? --- I go home and I tell my mother and I cry, it's not nice.

&#9;As a woman you needing to do quite a lot of things for yourself like comb your hair and dress yourself and so on, and before I ask you that question are you left handed or right handed? --- I was right handed but now I am left handed.

&#9;And how do you manage to - to dress yourself and to do your - wash your clothes and to do things for yourself, how do you manage? --- I cannot do my washing, I try washing myself, but my mother has to do my washing.

&#9;Are you - do you have to ask for some people to help you and how do people respond when you - when you have to ask people to help you to do things? --- There are people that help me but they don't do it for nothing, they want to be paid.

&#9;Do you have money to pay them? --- I get a disability grant.

&#9;Is it enough Monica? --- I get R430-00 a month and there is my mother's pension, and she also helps me in between to pay the people that help me from time to time.And I have a child as well, my child doesn't get any allowance and from this amount I have to give - see to him as well and I can't send him to school with bread every day because sometimes there is just no money to provide for him.

&#9;Can I just talk about your artificial limb a bit, when you went to the hospital, did they try to make the arm a bit more comfortable for you? --- I did go to Red Cross Hospital and they gave me two straps and clips and the clips are missing but the arm hurts me here at the bottom.

&#9;Would you - would you like to wear an artificial arm would it make it much better for you if it were to fit comfortably? --- Yes I would.

&#9;You also told us in the beginning that you were wanting to go dancing that evening when you were shot. --- Yes.

&#9;I assume that you enjoyed going to clubs and dancing, have you ever gone to clubs and gone dancing ever since? --- No I don't go to dances any more, since my arm is off I don't go to dances any more.

&#9;So since this incident your lifestyle has changed quite a lot? --- It changed completely it is not like it was - or like it should - it's not like it should have been.

&#9;Was there ever a Court case - an inquest - a Court case into the incident? --- Yes there was.

&#9;And what happened at the Court case, could you tell us? --- I appeared in Cape Town, the guy who had shot me, was shown to me, I identified him, and he said that I was wearing black clothes and my pants were rolled up and that I was barefoot, but on the photos showing how I was lying in the road, I had on white pants and a shirt and orange socks and black shoes.But he had been lying and he said that I had been wearing black clothes, a black T-shirt and a black pants and I was barefoot and my pants was rolled up.

&#9;According to the notes I have here the policeman claimed that they were ordered to eliminate ringleaders of unrest, were you ever a ringleader of unrest? --- No I wasn't.

&#9;There was also a civil action and you - you instituted a civil claim of R250-thousand, did you receive that money? --- They didn't give me R250-thousand they gave me R75-thousand and the attorney took R10-thousand for himself and he gave me R65-thousand.

&#9;And was there ever a reason given why you did not get the amount that you claimed? --- The attorney established the amount, and he said to me that they can only give me that amount of R75-thousand.

&#9;Monica can I ask you nowwhat is it that you would like the TRC to do in respect of the matter that you have brought to us? --- I want to be like everyone else, I want to be like I was, I mean I am already half - I'll never be able to get my arm back.Because I am like this for life.

&#9;It's true that you now have lost your arm and in that way it is making it very difficult for you to live a normal life and to feel that you can do things for yourself and to be self - to be independent.But is there anything that you would really like us at the Truth Commission to do to make things a bit better for you? --- There are so many things, look my child for one, I cannot even peel a potato.

&#9;How old is your child Monica? --- My child is 8 years old.

&#9;You sound very proud of him. --- I have to be proud.

&#9;Does he help you some times? --- Yes when I send him he goes.

&#9;Monica we thank you for having come to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to come and tell your story.I would just like to ask my - the Chairperson if any of my other colleagues have any questions, but I have no further questions.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Glenda, Monica can I just get a bit more detail from you.The injuries apart from your arm, were you injured anywhere else on your body? --- Yes on my legs and behind my shoulder and also on my bottom.

&#9;Agter op jou skouers en waar nog? --- On my legs.

&#9;En waar nog? --- And on my bottom.

&#9;Op jou sitvlak? --- Ja.

&#9;Have the bullets been removed from your body? --- Yes some of them have been removed, but there are still some which remained.

&#9;So there are still some which remained in your body at this stage? --- Yes.

&#9;In which parts of your body are these bullets still? --- In my leg and in my vagina.

&#9;O! op u privaatdele, goed. --- Yes in my private parts as well.

&#9;Hoe lank was u in die hospitaal gewees? --- I cannot say because it's been so long ago because from Tygerberg I was sent to Karl Bremmer.

&#9;Was it for a few months? --- Yes.

&#9;Apparently at the time of this shooting incident, there were other people in Bellville who were also shot, one of them actually died, one Sarah van Wyk and another lady, Mercia Coetzee and a minor person who was also shot.Is that correct? --- Yes.

&#9;And there was a case in the Supreme Court, Cape Town Supreme Court against those policeman who had shot at you and those other people is that correct? --- Yes.

&#9;And they were charged for murder - the murder of Sarah van Wyk, the one who was shot dead and they were charged for attempted murder on you, Mercia Coetzee and the minor child, is that correct? --- Yes sir.

&#9;Do you know whether they were found guilty - where they convicted or what happened to them? --- They were acquitted.

&#9;They were acquitted? --- Yes.

&#9;And according to information we have available two policeman a Constable Ernst Villet and a Paulus Kruger were the two policeman. --- Yes.

&#9;And as my colleague Ms Glenda Wildschut pointed out to you when they were charged they alleged that they were - they had received orders from one of their officers, a Captain - one Captain Van Schalkwyk to eliminate the ringleaders of the riots in Bellville at the time - to shoot them, do you remember that? --- Yes.

&#9;Just for the sake of a complete picture about what happened, there was a Judge, a one Judge, Judge Howie was the Judge presiding over the matter, but there were also two Assessors present at the time of this matter.And what happened was that the Judge found those two police officers guilty, he rejected their version that they were carrying out orders to shoot.But the two Assessors found him not guilty - found them not guilty -so the two Assessors outvoted the Judge's verdict.So that is how these two people were acquitted because although the Judge found these policeman guilty, the Assessors who were in the majority, found them not guilty and they thus outvoted the Judge and that is why these people were acquitted and nothing happened.There was, however, something else to this case, in that the two officers, the one who I referred to, Captain Van Schalkwyk and one Brigadier Mans, who was also from the police force in Bellville, he, this Brigadier Mans had apparently told Villet and Kruger to hide behind the fence and shoot at people.And they apparently admitted that they had submitted a false report to the Court, but they were - no steps were taken against them since then.So that is just to complete the picture as to how this matter with regard to your injury was handled in Court.

&#9;Are there any request you would like to put to the Commission in connection with these policeman to whom nothing eventually happened in connection with your shooting? --- There can be further steps can be taken against them.

&#9;Would you like to see that the Commission must - would you like the Commission to look into what further steps can be taken against them. --- Yes.

&#9;Fine, thank you very much. --- Thank you.

MS WILDSCHUT: Monica I would like to thank you very much for coming, it's not an easy task to come before the Commission and to talk about something so painful and so close to you.It must be very-very difficult for you to do anything for yourself properly because as you pointed out you are right handed and your right arm has been shot off.It must be very sad for you everyday when you get dressed in the morning to look at your body and to look at yourself in the mirror and think that once before you had an arm and you were an outgoing person, who was able to go dancing and to enjoy life and now you cannot do that because you feel that in some way, a part of you has been taken away.And we feel that we would like to assure you that the Commission will do particularly the reparations and rehabilitations committee will do whatever we can to try and make it a bit more comfortable for you.I think that it is possible that a artificial limb can be fitted onto your shoulder very comfortably and that you'll be able to use it in a way that will make your life a little bit better.Apart from the other request that you have made, I wish you very well and we have listened to everything that you have asked us.Thank you for coming. --- Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Glenda.



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