- A witness told a South African Human Rights Commission hearing into the July unrest that he was shot four times in Phoenix.
- Nketselelo Mkhize said three of his friends died during the unrest.
- He testified that his attackers were laughing and that it looked like they were enjoying themselves.
A witness has told a South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) hearing into civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal in July that he was shot four times in Phoenix, outside Durban.
The hearing, which is looking into the cause of the unrest that claimed the lives of 36 people in Phoenix, was in its third day on Wednesday.
Nketselelo Mkhize said he was in a coma for three weeks and that he struggled to sleep because of what happened to him.
Recalling the ordeal, he said he and a group of friends where traveling to KwaMashu in KwaZulu-Natal on 12 July when they decided to take a "shortcut" through Phoenix.
When they arrived in Phoenix, the roads were blocked and he thought people were protesting for water.
There was a group of about 20 Indian people, including teenagers, who were carrying golf sticks and axes. Some were carrying knives and guns. They asked to search their vehicle but the "manner in which they requested to search the vehicle was somewhat laced with insults and anger", he added.
He alleged that the group called them "Zuma's people" and "monkeys".
After the vehicle was searched, the group told them to proceed.
But suddenly, as they moved off, one young man used an axe to hit their car.
He said:
Mkhize said the others started banging against the vehicle and used stones to pelt it. A stone hit one of his friends on his forehead.
Later, a man "who seemed to be a leader" of the group, shot his friend.
"There was a point where he was inserting the firearm into his mouth," he testified.
Another friend was assaulted and when someone tried to assist he was shot.
"I tried to flee with the vehicle and they were busy shooting at us with their big guns."
During the chaos, one of the attackers approached him and shot him.
He stopped the vehicle, "unable to proceed since the road was blocked".
Eventually, another group approached him and some of them were laughing.
He said:
He was ordered to "run to the river" and when he did, one of the men shot him again.
As he lay helpless on the ground, a "dark Indian man with a gold tooth" took his cellphone, jacket and flip flops.
He said the group continued calling them "monkeys" and "Zuma's people" and threatened to "kill all Zuma's people here".
"It was like a game and they were enjoying it. They were laughing."
Eventually, he collapsed and woke up at a clinic. He did not know how he got to the clinic or who took him there.
He was later transferred to a hospital, where he spent more than three weeks in a coma.
Three of his friends died during the unrest.
"This has affected me financially because of the ups and downs and medical expenses. I am unable to sleep. I can't sleep without taking sleeping pills. Whenever I try to sleep, the flashbacks all comeback," he said.
"If I died, [my mother] was going to lose a breadwinner and her only child," he said.
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