Thulisile Mapongwana
The 1993 Highgate Hotel massacre had one survivor who miraculously emerged unscathed from the deadly attack that left five people dead and seven more wounded despite a hail of bullets fired from an automatic weapon.
Roland Parker was with his cousin, Neville Beling, who has had over 50 surgeries to correct the damage from over 32 years ago.
Parker told the inquest into the massacre, that he had been visiting the Highgate Pub for the first time when the incident occurred in May 1993.
“We were at were at the pub for less than 20 minutes when the masked assailant came in with an automatic rifle.”
He said he lost consciousness during the shooting after his cousin, Beling, pulled him down and he hit his head. Parker said he woke up and it was dark and misty, with teargas stinging his eyes.
When he got out, he saw a guy shooting outside the pub with a .38 handgun.
Shortly after, a police van and an ambulance arrived, and “both responders refused to go inside, stating they had no masks for the teargas.” He said.
Parker described how they had to drag his cousin’s bloody body to the door to get help.
He says, even though he was not physically injured, he has attended sessions with a psychiatrist and psychologist and still has nightmares about that evening.
“My wife already knows not to touch me when I am having a nightmare.”
Meanwhile, the widow of the deceased Derrick Whitfield said she has so many unanswered questions about that night.
Bernice had three children with Whitfield at the time of his death and said she was left in the dark about how he died.
"No one told me how he died. They told me he had five bullet wounds in his chest, but that’s all I knew." Derrick passed away before she arrived at the hospital.
She said she later heard rumours that her husband had crawled out of the bar to his car across the street and died next to it. “How is that even possible? That someone who had been shot so many times could crawl?” She said she also noticed that there were no bloodstains around the car and the path leading to the car.
This only added to her growing pile of questions with no answers.
Whitfield said the days that followed were filled with confusion and frustration. She said police told her that she would be escorted to the Highgate Pub to collect her husband's car, but when she arrived, she found his wallet and keys were missing.
"They said, just in case you get shot," she remembers. "Four police officers were there, and that was the last I saw or heard from the police, ever."
After that, she struggled to make ends meet. "We had no money or food after we lost Derrick. It was very, very difficult. I had three kids to provide for, and it was just my faith that carried me through. The older kids didn’t have permanent jobs, and the school fees needed to be paid."
On top of her grief, Bernice faced an unimaginable reality—three children who lost their father. And the pain didn’t stop there. "Ten months later, I also lost my 20-year-old daughter, Chantel, in a hit-and-run accident," she says, her voice heavy with emotion. "I was not even over my husband. And I got no justice for her either."
In her search for answers, Bernice became involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) proceedings, but her experience left her disillusioned. "It was a waste of time," she says. "They don’t care. There is no justice."
Despite the years that have passed, Bernice’s pain and the lack of closure still weigh heavily on her heart, but she says she has forgiven the suspects.
Directing her words to the survivors in the gallery, she said, “The Lord says justice is mine, vengeance is mine. To forgive those who persecute you and use you spitefully, forgive them because you do not want to walk in bitterness and let other people rob you of your joy. Forgive them and be set free, God knows who they are. All will be exposed.”
