"I thought I would die"
SURVIVORS of yesterday's stampede at the gates of the University of Johannesburg, which left a parent dead and 22 people injured, told how they looked death in the face.
The matriculants were desperately trying to gain access into the campus to register when the commotion happened.
All of them were treated and discharged at the Helen Joseph and Charlotte Maxeke hospitals in Johannesburg.
"I am not going back to that institution. I have seen enough and the experience scared me. I am traumatised," Refilwe Benjamin, of Dobsonville in Soweto, said.
A number of people were admitted at the Helen Joseph hospital in Johannesburg after a stampede at the university's Bunting Road campus yesterday morning.
A mother, who had taken her child for registration, died when desperate students, eager to register, started pushing and shoving, resulting in a stampede.
Kwazi Mphakathi, 16, of Tsakane in Ekurhuleni, said she thought she would die in the melee that ensued when people started pushing one another.
"I thought I would die. I initially came here on Friday but I was told to return on Monday. At around 10.30am we were told by the staff that they were closing. I decided to sleep over so that I would have a better chance of registering in the morning," a shaken Mphakathi said.
She said those who arrived late and the failure by the university's staff to deal with the large number of people led to the chaos.
"People who arrived late were desperate to get to the front and started pushing us. The staff from UJ was also pushing. I fell down and was suffocating. I really thought I would die," she said.
Refilwe Benjamin, 19, of Dobsonville in Soweto, also blamed the university staff.
"The (UJ) crew failed badly to control the people. They should have opened the bigger gates instead of the smaller ones and they should have also made use of their other campuses," she said.
"I lost everything I had in that stampede - ID, wallet and all my statements from school."
A nurse at the hospital said 16 people had been discharged.
Prospective students relive chaos at UJ
"I thought I would die"
SURVIVORS of yesterday's stampede at the gates of the University of Johannesburg, which left a parent dead and 22 people injured, told how they looked death in the face.
The matriculants were desperately trying to gain access into the campus to register when the commotion happened.
All of them were treated and discharged at the Helen Joseph and Charlotte Maxeke hospitals in Johannesburg.
"I am not going back to that institution. I have seen enough and the experience scared me. I am traumatised," Refilwe Benjamin, of Dobsonville in Soweto, said.
A number of people were admitted at the Helen Joseph hospital in Johannesburg after a stampede at the university's Bunting Road campus yesterday morning.
A mother, who had taken her child for registration, died when desperate students, eager to register, started pushing and shoving, resulting in a stampede.
Kwazi Mphakathi, 16, of Tsakane in Ekurhuleni, said she thought she would die in the melee that ensued when people started pushing one another.
"I thought I would die. I initially came here on Friday but I was told to return on Monday. At around 10.30am we were told by the staff that they were closing. I decided to sleep over so that I would have a better chance of registering in the morning," a shaken Mphakathi said.
She said those who arrived late and the failure by the university's staff to deal with the large number of people led to the chaos.
"People who arrived late were desperate to get to the front and started pushing us. The staff from UJ was also pushing. I fell down and was suffocating. I really thought I would die," she said.
Refilwe Benjamin, 19, of Dobsonville in Soweto, also blamed the university staff.
"The (UJ) crew failed badly to control the people. They should have opened the bigger gates instead of the smaller ones and they should have also made use of their other campuses," she said.
"I lost everything I had in that stampede - ID, wallet and all my statements from school."
A nurse at the hospital said 16 people had been discharged.
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