Mthokozisi Ntumba had blood on his chest and around one of his eyes after he was allegedly shot by police during a student protest last year, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Monday.
Cidraas Motseothata, Madimetja Legodi, Victor Mohammed and Tshepisho Kekana are on trial for Ntumba’s murder on March 10 2021 when police fired rubber bullets at protesting Wits University students in Braamfontein.
Lerato Mokoena, an employee at the Myclinic healthcare centre, told the court Ntumba, 35, had arrived at the centre at about 10am to consult the doctor.
“The patient came in, gave me his details and I updated his file. He was a usual patient, but had changed his medical aid and I had to update his particulars,” Mokoena said.
“He went to the doctor’s room when it was his turn. When he was done with the doctor I had to buzz him out as our door uses a buzzer for people to get in and out.”.
Mokoena said the door to the centre was directly opposite the Johannesburg Institute of Engineering. The door is made out of glass so she could see movement outside and people standing in front of the centre.
There were often students outside the premises as that was where they waited for transport to take them to other campuses.
“After Ntumba left I heard gunshots. I saw one big police vehicle. It was parked on the street where the students usually stand,” she said.
She saw students running in different directions.
“While I was still inside, I saw him [Ntumba] carrying a plastic bag with his pills and a prescription. He was holding his chest.”
Ntumba was walking towards a nearby shop and the engineering institute.
“After seeing him walking I saw [a] police vehicle moving. I buzzed myself out [of the centre] to see what was happening outside. I saw Ntumba lying on the ground. I ran to take his possessions and I asked a security guard to keep an eye on him so that no one touched him.
“I ran back to my workplace to call the doctor. The doctor asked me to call the ambulance.”
According to Mokoena, Ntumba’s spectacles were broken when he was lying on the ground.
“I took his cap, cellphone and his tablets [and] his car keys. He had blood on his eye. There was a stain of blood on his chest.”
The police van was the only law enforcement vehicle she saw in the vicinity that day.
When she called the doctor the police vehicle was gone.
She could not see what had injured Ntumba, but she had heard gunshots and assumed he was shot.
“According to me, he was shot.”
She heard later that Ntumba had died of his injuries.
The trial of four police officers accused of Ntumba’s murder during student protests last year started in the Johannesburg high court on Monday. The accused pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder and three of attempted murder related to the shooting of three students at the institute of engineering.
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