Survivors of deadly Phoenix unrest question criminal justice system
The survivors of the deadly vigilante attacks in Phoenix during the civil unrest have questioned the police and court's handling of their cases.
One of nine victims, who was beaten and shot in July, has told the South African Human Rights Commission's panel of investigators that the court process is questionable.
Ntethelelo Mkhize, a TVET college lecturer from Ntuzuma, is still recovering from massive trauma after spending two months in hospital in a coma.
He says he and his friends were assaulted by a group of Indian men on 12 July, when they tried to drive through Phoenix to take a shortcut home.
Speaking through a translator, Mkhize says they were called "monkeys," and the k-word was used.
"I expressed my unhappiness with the bail issue, that they had been granted bail and also pointing out that I was unhappy about the issue that the matter had been taken to Verulam.
"And it was after we had been assaulted and we had been hacked and we had sent some time in hospital, and the matter is taken to Verulam court in which in Verulam court even the magistrate is of Indian descent and there was no one that would have been for the victims.
"It was only the attorneys for the accusers, and we had not even been offered such."
Commissioners investigating the unrest, violence and looting will continue to hear testimony from witnesses in Durban on Thursday.
