Francesca Villette
TWO men who were injured in the farmworker strikes in Wolseley two years ago have told the Wolseley Magistrate’s Court police abused their powers by firing at protesters with live ammunition.
The shots – one of which claimed the life of Michael Daniels, a farmworker on an errand for his mother – turned the situation “chaotic, like war”.
“The police were supposed to protect us. But they used live ammunition and started shooting at us,” Henrico Williams, who is not a farmworker, said yesterday.
He was wounded when the police opened fire and was bundled into the back of a van into which police had loaded Daniels’s body, he said.
Testifying on the first day of Constable John Geldenhuys’s trial on murder and attempted murder charges, Williams described the events of November 14, 2012, when “war” broke out between police and protesters.
Geldenhuys is accused of killing Daniels and trying to murder Williams, Jonathan Malgas, Sello Mosalo and Jerome Visser when about 400 farmworkers took to the streets of Wolseley, demanding better wages from farmers.
He has pleaded not guilty, but has admitted to using live ammunition.
At the time, he received a disciplinary warning. He continues to serve at the Wolseley police station.
His lawyer has told the court that Geldenhuys was acting in self-defence when the crowd became unruly.
Williams told the court he had been out in Wolseley in support of the farmworkers, who were demanding that their wage be increased from R69 a day to R150.
Although not a farmworker himself, Williams said he felt it was important for him to support the workers.
At about 10am that Wednesday, Williams walked from his home in Montana to Wolseley with about 12 friends.
They met disgruntled farmworkers and gathered outside the municipal building.
Williams told the court he had not carried weapons or pelted police with stones.
“The next moment, I heard shots. Adrenalin was pumping and people were pushing each other. We ran away from the police who had blocked the road.”
As he ran from the officers, a bullet struck the back of his right foot. He was put in a police van with four others and taken to the Ceres Hospital.
He said the violence broke out after he left. He had not seen people throwing stones and burning tyres.
Geldenhuys’s lawyer Ranjan Jaga presented pictures to the court showing burning tyres and stones lying in the section of the road where Williams said he was when the shots were fired.
Jaga put it to Williams that the officers feared for their lives and were in danger.
“The person getting thrown with stones also has the right to protect himself, does he not?” he said.
Jaga showed Williams doctors’ reports showing he had visited Ceres Hospital on November 22 – eight days after the date Williams had given.
He said the reports said Williams had been shot in the front of the foot and not the back, indicating that he could not have been running away.
Williams responded, “Nee, f**,” shocking the court.
After a brief adjournment, the second witness, Malgas, who was also injured, was called to testify.
Malgas showed scars from the bullet’s entry and exit wounds on his lower right leg. He said his father had sent him to the shop and he had been caught in the shooting. A skipper, Malgas said he had to live with pain from the injury.
Daniels’s mother, Marte-leena, said she would not get over the death of her only son.
“I see the sadness in her eyes,” she said, referring to her son’s 9-year-old daughter.
Daniels had been the breadwinner and without him, she was struggling.
The trial continues today.