A student from the Johannesburg Institute of Engineering and Technology (JIET) has recalled a shooting incident that left her with two wounds in her back.
“I was standing outside our college with my classmates waiting for the bus to take us to our workshop. Students from the University of the Witwatersrand came from one of the streets and stood with us. More students wearing ANC doeks and scarfs came to stand with us. They took off their regalia and held it in their hands. A few moments later, a police nyala stopped by the college entrance, police came off and started shooting at us.”
This is the detailed account of Nikiwe Rasmeni, 22, who was shot and injured, allegedly by police, during a student protest in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, last year.
Rasmeni was testifying in the high court in Johannesburg on Tuesday in the trial of the four police officers accused of killing Mthokozisi Ntumba during the protest on March 10.
Ntumba was coming from his doctor’s appointment at MyClinic Health Care on De Beer Street during a student protest over historic debt and non-registration.
JIET is a college adjacent to MyClinic Health Care.
Rasmeni said after being shot she sustained injuries on her spine.
“I had just finished my maths classes at the south campus and I was going to the main campus to wait for a bus to take us to a workshop in Brixton. As I was walking to the main campus with my classmates we saw Wits University students on the other street protesting. Police were shooting at them.
“My friends and I used a different street to go to our college because police were shooting on the other street. We finally managed to get to our campus. My friends waited for me at the corridor inside the college as I went inside the college to the reception area to pay for my work suits.
“After paying, I went to stand with my friends by the corridor and wait for our bus. Afterwards Wits University students came to stand with us. A few moments later, that is when a police nyala arrived and police started shooting at us,” she said.
Rasmeni said she then started running to the college turnstile so that she could get inside.
“I was shot while I was trying to go through the revolving gate. Many students were trying to go through the gate. I was shot twice in the back. I was bruising and swelling. My T-shirt had two holes on it and my jeans were stained with blood,” she said.
Rasmeni said she cannot identify the person who shot her.
She said she was then taken to a clinic in Soweto to get medical attention.
Officers Tshepiso Kekana, 27, Cidraas Motseothatha, 43, Madimetja Legodi, 37, and Victor Mohammed, 51, face charges of murder and three counts of attempted murder and have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues.
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