I was standing two metres away when a young car-hijacker put a gun to the head of colleague Phillip van Niekerk and fired.
I spent Monday morning with Van Niekerk, political editor of The Weekly Mail and Paul Taylor, of the Washington Post, moving from township to township, covering the start of the nationwide general strike.
The two picked me up at Baragwanath Hospital and after visiting Dobsonville, Soweto, we drove to Orange Farm squatter settlement. Then we decided to go to the Vaal township of Sebokeng via the quickest route — Evaton. It was about 12.30pm.
As we approached Evaton we slowed down swerving through concrete barricades strewn across the road these did not alarm us, as roads in the townships are usually barred during stayaways and the situation appeared calm. The barricades narrowed the road allowing only one vehicle at a time to pass.
We stopped to let a white Toyota Conquest coming from the opposite direction through the barrier and continued on our trip. Minutes later the Toyota raced passed us on the right and braked suddenly in front of us. There were four or five men in the car.
A man in his 20s, pistol in his hand, jumped out of the car’s passenger seat and ran towards us shouting: “Out of the car, Out of the car.” Another man joined him. We had little choice but to do as ordered. None of us said anything. None of us offered any resistance.
As Van Niekerk climbed out of our Toyota Corolla he was asked: “What are you doing in the township? Where is the money?” The two began to punch him and tore off his jacket. I watched helplessly as the assault continued.
Just when I thought that it was all over — we had given them everything we had of value — the man held the pistol to Van Niekerk’s head and pulled the trigger. Scared out of my wits, I sprinted for cover, bracing myself for a bullet to rip into my back. No bullet came. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Van Niekerk staggering towards a nearby fence.
I passed many people and dashed into the third house. I asked to use the phone. My request was met with blank stares. Not knowing what to do, I wandered confusedly around the yard gathering enough courage to go back to Van Niekerk.
Barely five minutes had passed when I went back. I found that Taylor had been shot in the shoulder and the car was missing. Residents had found someone with an old Datsun and had already put the two journalists into the car.
I opened the door to climb in and saw the two bleeding profusely. The driver of the Datsun struggled to get it going and it finally smoked its way slowly along the main Sebokeng road despite my pleas to the driver to accelerate.
On the way to the hospital we were met by an ambulance and the two journalists were then rushed to Sebokeng Hospital. Their condition was stabilised there before they were moved to Vereeniging Hospital where a helicopter was able to land to take them to Johannesburg.
SAP slow to act
Police have made no attempt yet to question witnesses to the shooting this week of Phillip van Niekerk and Paul Taylor. Van Niekerk of The Weekly Mail and stringer for a number of major overseas publications and Paul Taylor, a Washington Post correspondent who had been in the country for only five days were shot by car hijackers in Evaton township while covering this week’s general strike.
Van Niekerk was shut at point-blank range through the neck. The bullet entered just below one ear and passed out below his other ear. By a hair’s breadth it missed his spine and artery, though it badly smashed his jaw. He underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair his jaw and will take four to six weeks to recover.
Taylor was shut in a shoulder. The bullet was removed by doctors on Monday night. Both are stable and recovering in Johannesburg clinics. The two have received a flood of messages of comfort from around the world including from the state president’s office and the department of foreign affairs.
Nelson Mandela and Cyril Ramaphosa of the African National Congress paid personal visits to Van Niekerk this week. The police, however, have made no effort to contact the principal witness to the attack, fellow journalists Hubert Matlou, nor the two victims. They also appear not to have interviewed residents of the area who watched it happen.
The official police report of the incident placed it in the wrong township. They told the media it had happened outside the Sebokeng Zone 13 post office, when fact it had happened at the entrance a to Evaton township.
Asked about police progress on the case, General Leon Mellet, head of the division of public relations in Pretoria was unable to answer. By late yesterday, he had not answered queries about the case.
Local representatives of the ANC and Congress of South African Trade Unions have conducted their own investigation and submitted a report to their head offices.
The report, written by Cosatu organizing secretary Z Vavi says, Vaal leaders of the ANC alliance “took it as their task to investigate the shooting” and said “local leadership have been doing everything in their power to trace these hooligans” — Weekly Mail Reporter