KwaMashu resident recounts multiple beatings during Phoenix riots
The South African Human Rights Commission's hearings began on Tuesday morning with evidence from a KwaMashu resident, who testified what happened to him and three teenagers during the July riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
"What would I say when I get back home without the children and having to tell the parents that I left the boys in Phoenix," says Mbuso Xaba, a survivor of the vigilante attacks in Phoenix earlier this year.
Xaba said he was on his way to fetch his partner from the airport when he decided to stop for fuel on Phoenix Highway.
Three boys from his area who wanted to come for a ride were travelling with him.
He said their short trip to the airport turned into a nightmare when they were stopped by a group of men - at one of three roadblocks - who beat them with an assortment of weapons, including baseball bats.
Xaba told the commission he could hear the three boys crying and screaming.
"They were screaming and calling me. They were crying and trying to run away. It pained me a lot to see that they were beaten up severely. They were throwing stones at them.
"Some of the boys tried to run away and I could see as they were running away one of these people fired shots, directing them to the boys."
He was let go when another man intervened.
He was assaulted at two other roadblocks and said he changed his mind about driving to the police station when he saw other people being beaten on the road.
He said no officers could be seen.
