While wallowing in pain, it did not dawn on him that what seemed like a bleak future, would lead him to being a Judge in this century. It also did not cross his mind that he would be the first in his family of eight to go to university, become an admitted attorney and later a Judge.

Mashile said when faced with a difficult situation, giving up is not an option. “Don’t give up. Where possible, try to talk to people. You might just find out that most people have gone through what you are going through. There might be someone who would give you a helping hand. Do not give up. Another big thing is that, when you are faced with a difficult situation: accept and see how you will deal with it, because, if you do not accept, then you will not have a solution. I had to say to myself, ‘look, I am blind, where do I go from here.’ You cannot say ‘I am blind, I must try and make sure that I can see’. You cannot go up and down and wanting to see. You need to say, ‘I am still alive, so what do I do. If I am still alive, I need to do something and do things differently. Once you do that, there will be movement,” said Mashile.

Mashile has a degree in BA and LLB (Law), obtained at the University of Witwatersrand. Together, with his varsity mate, Mr Victor Teele Ntlhoro, they established Mashile-Ntlhoro Incorporated (Inc.) in 1991. Mashile-Ntlhoro continued to operate under the name and style of Mashile-Ntlhoro Incorporated until 2004 when Mashile was joined by Ms Gcwalisile Makhathini. The firm then changed its name to Mashile-Twala. It underwent a further name change in 2009 when they recruited Mr Melatong Ramushu in 2009. It then became Ramushu Mashile Twala Inc. To date, it is still operating under that name.

Mashile is the former director and shareholder of disability Bagale Mining. He practised as an attorney for 22 years and became a Judge in 2013. 

Like most Judges, Mashile’s position is highly demanding, with less social life, but immediately after taking his jog on a Sunday morning, he granted the Diary Series of Deaf People an exclusive interview.

Asked about his jogging experience, he chuckled, “It was good, you feel better after running.”

Although the interview focussed on many aspects of his life, this first article concentrates on his high school years. The purpose of a series of articles about Mashile’s life is to give hope and courage to students and professionals who believe life is meaningless and are at the brink of suicide.

Even though Mashile grew up in Alexandra, he was born in a small town called Pilgrim’s Rest, Mpumalanga in 1963. He later went to a boarding school at Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga.

“During the course of the year [1978], I had a disease called sarcoidosis. It is an autoimmune disease that means the immune system attacks itself. It attacks the soft tissues like the liver, brain, eyes and anything that is a soft tissue. In my case it was affecting my lungs and eyes. The symptoms manifest themselves as TB, coughing and so on. So, I was slowly losing vision. But at the end of the year, I went to Joburg and went to St John Eye Hospital in Soweto. They were able to help me.”

In 1978 he received treatment for sarcoidosis and it was resolved. Although he regained his vision, he was still using eyeglasses. He left boarding school and studied at Alexandra High School.

Despite the miracle of regaining vision, he lost his sight to migrant labourers who attacked him in 1979. He explained, “Just before I wrote my exams, I was attacked by migrant labourers at night.”

The incident happened while Mashile and two of his friends were standing at the gate of a house that he had been asked to house sit in his neighbourhood whilst the owner was away for a weekend. While the three youngsters were still standing at the gate and chatting, migrant labourers holding knobkerries arrived and attacked them.

His friends ran away, but Mashile did not. “I thought it would be more dangerous to run away especially because I had done nothing wrong. So, I spoke to them. One of them tried to land a blow on my head, and the other one blocked him and said, ‘but this guy is not one of those.’ We had a chat, but as they moved, there was another one who came and I did not see him. So, when I turned my head to say, ‘bye-bye’ to them, the other one [the one he did not see] landed a blow, and that took my eyesight.”

He added that, “Because I was using glasses [eyeglasses], they smashed the glasses across my face. The [broken pieces of] glasses went into my eyes, resulting in the left or right, being completely enucleate. Because it [right eye] was smashed there was no way it could have been resolved. In the left eye, they [eye surgeons] were able to pull some glasses out. Today, I still have light perceptions from that eye.”

Asked what went through his mind as a youngster when he realised that he had lost his eyesight, Mashile said he attempted to take his own life.

He reflected: