TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 4

Subsection 6

■ PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

56 Physical injuries and disabilities caused by torture or severe ill treatment exact an immense toll on the individual, community and society. Physical scars and disabilities have been described by one survivor as: “a tattoo, a permanent physical reminder of what was done to us, a symbol that in many cases brings shame.”15

57 Most physical injuries caused by torture result from blows to the body. An increased risk of infectious diseases, malignancies, cerebrovascular accidents and heart disease has also been reported in survivors of torture or prolonged arbitrary detention.16

58 Ms Evelyn Masego Thunyiswa was arrested on her way to attend the funeral of Steve Biko in 1977. At the Mmabatho hearing she told the Commission that she had been beaten and shocked on her genitals:

After torturing me like that, they trucked us off the road. When I tried to urinate, I was urinating blood. Because I left on my own - it was not through the permission of my parents - I was scared to even tell my mom where I had been to because of the whole situation. I stayed like that for a month or two. I remember I went to the doctor in the beginning of November and then I said to my mother I have tonsils, because I realised this sickness of mine was getting worse and worse.

59 Despite receiving treatment, Evelyn reported recurring symptoms.

In 1992, the pains came back. The pain that I felt when I was tortured came back in 1992. That was the same pain that I felt when I was tortured. As I [told] you, when it attacks me I stay three or four days not going outside and I cannot even urinate. I have never given birth since that time and I am a married wife.

60 Physical injuries and disabilities were also sustained in shooting incidents, physical attacks and beatings, as well as in failed assassination attempts by hit squads. Father Michael Lapsley (see above) described the extent of his physical injuries:

It blew off my hands. I lost an eye, my eardrums were shattered ... I’d faced the possibility of my own death and I had never - I’d never - sorry, but I’d never faced the possibility of major permanent disability.

61 He articulated the devastation that he felt:

I thought maybe it would have been better to have died when I realised I had no hands. I’d never met another human being with no hands. I didn’t know whether life would be life in any meaningful sense. They didn’t know whether I would ever see properly again. I lost one eye - [I] couldn’t see properly out of the other. I couldn’t hear properly because the eardrums were shattered. I was burnt extensively.

62 Mr Neville James Clarence was blinded in the Church Street bombing at the Air Force Headquarters in Pretoria on 20 May 1983. He described his physical rehabilitation at the Pretoria hearing:

I was able to slot in with ... a course presented by the National Council for the Blind, a rehabilitation course which I duly did attend a few months later. And I was taught to read and write Braille, to touch type on a typewriter. I was also taught various skills of daily living: how to pour a glass of water without spilling; how to dress myself; how to ... recognise various things around the house simply through touch. I also received training in the use of a long cane - a white stick in other words - and how to walk around town and how to orientate and find myself in case I get a bit lost walking in town.

63 Physical disabilities fundamentally alter the victim’s life. Ms Elizabeth Sizane Mduli was an eighteen-year-old student during the 1986 school boycotts in Nelspruit. During a protest gathering, she was shot by the police. At the Nelspruit hearing, she told the Commission:

What worries me, and what actually made me feel very painful, it is because I am not a member of any organisation and I am not actually a person who is affiliated to any movement. But today I am crippled because it is just [that] I was found at school. That was my sin.

64 She described her deteriorating health since the incident.

I have a problem with my chest. At the back, I am always tired. I have a problem with my bladder. I am sickly at all times. I have a pain that keeps haunting me every day. There are times when I urinate blood. I was fit, I have to tell you; I was an athlete at school.

65 Physical disabilities may exacerbate psychological problems, as the victim suffers not only from pain and other afflictions, but may also suffer a loss of independence and dignity. On 4 June 1987, Mr Namadzavho Phanuel Davhula was shot in a case of mistaken identity. The wound to his shoulder resulted in a permanent physical disability. He described his anguish at the Venda hearing:

I hope that everyone who is here is able to realise that the government really did malicious damage to me because I can’t even wash myself. People have to bath me. But in the past, I used to bath myself. This is painful.

66 At the first East London hearing, Mr Karl Webber told the Commission:

I lost my left arm. It was amputated at the elbow, below the elbow. I’ve got 80 per cent use of my right arm plus three fingers are not in operation. It took me plus/minus a year to teach myself how to get dressed, to feed myself. There are things I can’t do. I can’t get to the right hand side of my face because of the fixtures in my elbow. I need assistance when I need to be shaved. I need assistance when I need to be bathed. And there are many other things that I need to be helped with which I can’t do. I’ve tried to sort of cope on my own, but it’s a bit difficult. So, there is someone that assists me, helping me with things.

I can’t accept charity for the rest of my life. I can’t accept to be looked after for the rest of my life. I want to be independent, and I want to lead a normal life again.