N’WA-MUKANSI, (first names not given)

Only four months after the assassination of David Webster the most prominent white member of the Namibian liberation movement, Anton Lubowski, was shot and killed in front of his house in Windhoek. One of the men who conspired to kill him, Irish citizen Donald Acheson, was arrested soon after the ...

When Chris was abducted at Zone 12 the people I had mentioned were Hunter, Zandi as well as Themba. And when the people saw those people, these names were mentioned – three people – but Khetisi was not mentioned.

Monstrous times, monstrous deeds. State violence brought violence in reaction. The ANC’s explanation that they fought a just war against apartheid is probably acceptable to most South Africans. But sometimes one wonders if the guerrillas remembered that the people they killed were more than enemy ...

We know what unbelievable mechanisms of repression, of forgetting, of distortion perpetrators use of justification in order not to remember what they have done. When the victims come and tell their stories it reminds, it can remind the perpetrators of what they have done and it is a very difficult ...

That’s the area that I am finding a little bit difficult in giving a one and definite answer. I can only say, since I say also in my affidavit, that this is not new to me. I’ve just been handed in, in fact, from my office I’ve had it faxed. In 1992 there is a press statement which apparently ...

Reference book, pass book, dompas, stinker, different names for the same thing. The hated document that determined the life of every black South African for decades, where they could sleep, live, work, visit and for how long. The main aim of the pass laws was to control the movement of black South ...

Three good friends get together once or twice a year to talk about the old times. They go way back these guys. They were once cops together at Brixton Murder and Robbery. About 10 years ago all 3 suddenly quit the force for a new career on the other side of the law. Between them they have been ...

Nzimeni Bosman was arrested for handing out pamphlets in 1991 in Kimberley. // Then I went into the police station. There were two white guys, I don’t know their names and a police man called Petrus wanted to take my finger prints and he put my head into the toilet seat. When I pulled my head ...

This is a place that is known throughout the world for the triumph of the human spirit. It’s out of this place where freedom fighters were going to be crushed. The prison people tell them that in five years time people would have forgotten your names and out of this came Mandela and the ideas ...

These are the names of the dead. The questions unanswered for four years now are why did the different actors act as they did and who is really to blame. Crucial to any understanding of the Bisho massacre is the one man who did not come to the Truth Commission this week, Brigadier Oupa Gqozo. At ...

This is the Vaal Triangle, home of Eskom, Sasol and many other big industries. Also home to millions of people who work at these industries and their families. They live in grim townships such as Sebokeng, Sharpeville, Bophelong and Boipatong. For some, mostly men from KwaZulu-Natal, this is only a ...

Derby-Lewis did admit that the list of 19 names found at Walus’ flat on his arrest, which is widely believed to have been a right-wing inspired hit list, was hers. // Did you at any stage conspire with Mr. Kemp in order to draw up a list to be used as a hit list to kill Mr. Hani or any other ...

It is often assumed that a religious person will be a man of peace. In that case something went horribly wrong with Zionist bishop Mbekezeni Khumalo of Tokoza after his daughter was raped in 1992. Khumalo formed a vigilante group in revenge, as well as for profit. As the Khumalo gang was soon side ...

‘Good evening. A woman was killed in one of two bomb explosions on the East Rand today. She died in the Johannesburg Hospital a short while ago. At least 57 people were injured in the explosions believed to have been caused by limpet mines. One blast took place in a packed restaurant in the ...

There have been many women before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Till now they have been in the background speaking mainly about human rights violations against loved ones. This week, a special session in Cape Town was dedicated to hearing the stories of women who have been directly ...

June, 1986 in Mamelodi. The township a stone’s throw away from the seat of apartheid power, Pretoria. The big men who make and break the laws had just declared a state of emergency across the land. Ten days after the state of emergency ten young men disappeared from Mamelodi. It is known only ...

One of the central issues in the complicated story dished out to the Amnesty Committee is that of a so-called hit list. The list contained the names of many prominent people, including that of Chris Hani. The list have been obtained from Derby-Lewis’ wife and given to Janusz Walus. The Committee ...

The Truth Commission has got a mission to unearth the truth, whether the truth be in the offices of Government or in the graveyard. They have a responsibility to unearth that truth and the families which are here today are very happy that they know the truth about what happened to their sons. And ...

Gideon Niewoudt is now on trial in the Port Elizabeth Supreme Court for murder. // The Motherwell bombing case. The state alleges that he was involved in the murder of other policemen. // At the Truth Commission hearing this week Niewoudt was once again implicated in torture. Because of the court ...

But maybe the most useful to the Truth Commission’s search for truth was the ANC’s list of more than a 1000 ANC members who died in exile. This included the names of 34 people executed by order of the ANC’s military tribunal. But questions around the mysterious death of MK commander Thami ...