After 17 years of misery, pain and uncertainty, former Rhodes University researcher and geology masters student Phehello Mahasele yesterday had an opportunity to be afforded justice.
Mahasele’s tragic tale goes back to July 2001 when he was involved in a car accident while travelling with an academic colleague and a student to a conference in Limpopo.
The events that followed the accident were so bizarre that Mahasele ended up blind, without proper medical care and seeking justice from the university in vain for almost two decades.
Rhodes VC Professor Sizwe Mabizela has now instituted an internal inquiry.
University spokeswoman Veliswa Mhlope confirmed the investigation, saying a list of 30 witnesses had been compiled. “An investigator has been appointed and the investigation will continue,” Mhlope added.
Yesterday, Mahasele spent three hours with investigator Elaine Milton, recounting his side of the story. He concludes his testimony today.
Mahasele was unconscious for four days and spent 12 days at a Limpopo Hospital. The 13th day was the beginning of his misery.
In a letter dated June 2017 and seen by the Dispatch, Mahasele wrote to Mabizela relaying how his white colleague had received preferential treatment and compensation from the university after the accident.
He tells of how two academics arrived from Rhodes on his 13th day in hospital, went to discharge him while still in a critical condition and promised the hospital management that they would have him flown to the Eastern Cape for medical treatment.
“But unfortunately they decided to drive me from Polokwane instead, all the way to Grahamstown.
“I do not remember a minute of that long drive,” Mahasele writes in the letter. He goes on to say that his first memory was of waking up in bed in a house of a senior Rhodes academic in Grahamstown.
“I had suffered a severe closed head injury and was said to have been unconscious for three to four days. My mother called the hospital and was told this story that I was fetched by two doctors.”
Neurological examination records seen by the Dispatch, dated 2003, show that he had “clear evidence of severe optic atrophy present in both eyes”.
“If a proper medical checkup and brain scan had been done, they could have spotted the things like blood flow and swelling, which are suspected to have caused optic nerve atrophy which caused me to lose my vision,” Mahasele said.
His medical records show he suffered severe head injuries that caused him to lose concentration.
“My white colleague who was in the accident was left in the Polokwane private hospital for close to two months. He had a brain scan and was on drugs to reduce swelling and blood clots,” he said.
While still dealing with his trauma, the university did not renew his contract in 2002, leaving him jobless ever since.
“I was given R100000 and he was given R200000. The man is fine.
“He can drive. I cannot even see my son playing cricket, or his Christmas shows at school,” he said.
Among the terms of reference of the investigation set out by Mabizela are:..