Special Report Transcript Episode 70, Section 1, Time 27:40

I further do not believe that the political defence of ‘I did not know’ is available to me, because in many respects I believe I did not want to know. In my own way I had my suspicions of things that had caused discomfort in official circles, but because I did not have the facts to substantiate my suspicions or I had lacked the courage to shout from the rooftops. I have to confess that I only whispered in the corridors. That I believe is the accusation that people may level at many of us. That ‘us’ is not deleted. We simply did not, and I did not, confront the reports of injustices head on. It may be blunt but I have to say it. Since the days of the Biko tragedy right up to the days of hostel activities, hostel atrocities in the late 90s as we went up to the record of understanding, the National Party did not have an inquisitive mindset. Everybody in this country knew people were tortured. They were tortured. You read it in the alternative press. Anybody who had access to the townships, my sources of information was the Chairman of this Commission, sitting next to him Wynand Malan, Alex Boraine. We did battle on many occasions in Parliament, in the face of attacks by Helen Suzman, Boraine and others simply saying the security forces were a law onto themselves. And we argued vehemently, opposed that and said you are misreading the situation, it’s not true. And yet it all happened right there under our noses, so I don’t believe I can stand up and say ”sorry, I didn’t know.” Eugene de Kock’s recent claim in his amnesty that I submit is correct namely that any National Party politician or supporter I may add, at the time who believed that we held power because of persuasion and not through coercion was out of touch of reality, to put it mildly. With the benefit of hindsight I now believe that we had failed the security forces because we did not offer this country a viable constitutional vision to end the conflict. I remember sir, proud soldiers and policemen now on their knees in front of the Amnesty Committee. I cannot condone those violent, unlawful acts, but nor can I condemn the persons. I cannot disown them. We were on the same side and fought for the same cause, namely law and order as we saw it and also to ensure that this country would not be made ungovernable. Power was not to be wrestled from us in a revolutionary manner. I cannot disown any of those men and women who were on our side. We have reached the end of a journey on a road marked by pitfalls, political doubts and obstacles. However, the journey always carried forward. The road often became one of tight hairpin bends, because I was afraid of negotiating the evils on bare back. I am both an African and an Afrikaner. I am a liberated Afrikaner; I am also a proud Afrikaner. Liberated Afrikaners took the reform bit firmly between their teeth when it was necessary. Both our hearts and our minds have been changed. We love this country. We have been liberated from the baggage of an immoral system of government. I am now, more than ever, convinced that apartheid was a terrible mistake that blighted our land. South Africans did not listen to the laughing and the crying of each other. I am sorry that I had been so hard of hearing for such a long time.

Notes: Leon Wessels

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