DR ALLY: If I could call our next witness please, Mr Martin J Coetzee. Sorry, It’s Coetzer. While Mr Coetzer is taking his seat, I’d just like to let you know that we do have statement takers present to-day. There are two rooms which are attached to the dining hall which are being used as statement taking rooms. People who have not yet made statements and who would actually like to make statements are invited to go to either of those rooms where we have statement takers. Mr Coetzer, it’s Coetzer is it ?
MR COETZER: That is correct.
DR ALLY: I saw that you had your wife present with you. Would you like her to accompany you ? She is most welcome to accompany you. She can come and sit here if you want to.
MR COETZER: She would rather not do so since our small son has come with us and he will take over everything here if we allow him on the stage.
DR ALLY: That my not be such a bad thing. Welcome to you Mr Coetzer. You are also going to speak about a landmine explosion and what happened to you and I think it was probably around about the same time that this happened. June of 1986. Mr Tom Manthata is going to assist you but before we start I’d ask you if you would please take the oath. Do you have any objections to taking the oath ?
MR COETZER: No.
DR ALLY: If you would raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony which you are about to give, will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
MR COETZER: (sworn states)
DR ALLY: Thank you very much. Tom ?
MR MANTHATA: You are welcome, Mr Coetzer. Feel at home.
MR COETZER: Thank you very much.
MR MANTHATA: Can you please tell us what happened to you on that day when the bomb exploded.
MR COETZER: I want to first of all use the opportunity to say to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission before we talk about the actual event, to thank you for the opportunity given to me to bring testimony this morning. The even also occurred on the tenth of June 1986 at about twenty past seven in the morning. In 1986 I was a Matric scholar at the Volksrust High School and at that time I was eighteen years of age. I already had a driver’s licence so I used my own transport to school.
On the Tuesday morning of the tenth of June, I was the first person to use the farm road, this is a small entry into our house, about eighty meters away from the Main Road. I was the first person to cross that and the landmine was placed in a very narrow gateway. Only a single vehicle would be able to pass through the gateway at the time. The landmine was planted in a hole which had previously been made by the vehicles and because of the rain the vehicles kept on making this hole deeper and deeper. About two weeks prior to the incident I approached one of the farm workers and asked him to level the road so that we will not always be driving through this hole. It was that particular hole which was then used for planting the landmine.
The morning of the tenth of June I was on my way, I cannot recall anything of the incident. I had been in a coma for two days or I was unconscious. I woke up two days later in a Johannesburg hospital. I didn’t know what had happened or why I was in hospital. It was because of the assistance of my father who came to tell me exactly what had occurred, that I later understood the event.
Before I continue I want to first tell exactly what had happened. The worst of all of the entire experience was the loss of my left leg, from the knee downwards. The violence of the landmine explosion blew my entire foot away. The amputation was then done about ten centimeters below my knee. As you can see I’m walking very comfortably with my artificial leg. My left leg was also broken and my right foot was also damaged and my ankle was broken. As you can read from the reports from the Orthopedic Surgeon in Bloemfontein which I’ve provided you with, he has said in that report that the back of my foot was entirely destroyed and it was not possible for me to have normal use of that left. Other injuries was my right arm. Both of the pipes of the bone was broken and also the top pipe of the bone so there were three breakages in my arm and there are still metal plates in my arm and in my leg. There are about twenty screws and three plates still in my arm and in my leg. There is also a metal spike in there. I also had an injury to my jaw and to my skull. Both sides of the jaw, the jaw was broken in three different places. The first evening after the incident my leg was amputated. Other operations were carried out and not all of the injuries could be treated that evening because I had already been under anesthetic for too long and this had to then wait for a later time, for further operations. If I recall correctly it must have been eight days after the incident before they could begin work on my jaw. I stayed in hospital for about twenty three days.
Upon my return home, it was a very uncomfortable atmosphere on the farm. I returned home and did not know what to expect on my arrival at home. I did not realize how the vehicle in which I had driven had been damaged. I was under the impression that the vehicle would be able to be repaired. Upon my return to the farm there was these very tense moments. The atmosphere was entirely different from before. There was tension on the farm. There was tension amongst the members of my family because one did not realize whether such an event would occur again. Apart from that I want to continue to say what my intention is here this morning. I am not here this morning to, and I must say that I have personally seen the people who had planted the landmine. I know what they look like. There were three persons involved. I am not here to-day to blame these people for anything or to say anything about them in a negative way. My intention here this morning is to see whether I cannot make a contribution towards Truth and Reconciliation in this country.
In addition the consequences of this incident for me as a human person was the following. The first thought that one had was that of disappointment. I was disappointed that other people of this country, other South Africans felt free to do something like this. It is a terrifying thought to think that we as people in South Africa are not able to live together in the love and the peace that Jesus Christ has bought for us two thousand years ago on the Cross. The question which I ask myself is, why did this happen to me ? What would the purpose be of all of this for me ? I quickly came to the realization that this is not the kind of question that one should ask but rather that one should ask, how one can use that which has happened to you to serve God and how you can use the experience to mean something to other people.
Everything that happened to me, I want to say to-day to everyone that hears me, to the whole world and it is good that everyone in South Africa wants to co-operate to bring about Peace and Reconciliation in our nation. However, there are pre-requisites to such peace and reconciliation and the first such pre-requisites which I want to share with you is that one gets the idea that there are people who have no feeling of remorse. If everyone who is responsible for loss of life or loss of property or whatever other loss has occurred, if all of these people want to experience true remorse, that already would be a great gain towards peace and reconciliation.
A second idea which I want to emphasize is, we must forgive one another. It does not matter what has happened, without true forgiveness there will never every be reconciliation in our nation. I want to feel free to-day to come and say here and I have already said that ten years ago in a congregation when I was asked by a local Minister to bring testimony that I have forgiven and forgotten ........... (end of tape) We will walk around with feelings of revenge in our hearts. After all God tells us in the Bible that we must not seek revenge. We must not answer evil with evil. In God’s word he said to us that we must obey him.
I want to quote from Philippines Three, Verse Fourteen which reads, I am able to do everything because of Jesus Christ who gives me strength. If in the process of reconciliation, we want to recognize Jesus Christ as our Saviour then the process of reconciliation will be far easier to achieve.
I also want to refer to Philippines Four, Verses Six to Seven which reads, do not be concerned for anything but rather in every case, bring your needs and desires to God through prayer and with pleading and with gratitude.
In Verse Seven, then the peace of God which exceeds all reason will be in your thoughts and hearts and will guard you in Christ Jesus. Should we therefore not hold onto and obey God’s command in Scripture, then all efforts towards true reconciliation will not succeed. True reconciliation will only be possible if we forgive one another as I’ve already mentioned. If there is true forgiveness for one another as Christ has forgiven our sins through his blood on the Cross. In conclusion, in South Africa we must take great care with regard to the problem of peace and reconciliation, not to try and achieve this through human means. As human beings we have theories, we have notions, we have techniques for approaching problems. This is simply normal and there’s nothing wrong with this but however, if we want to do this entirely out of our own strength, we will fail. We must prayerfully approach this process. We must recognize our dependence on Jesus Christ who achieved salvation for us two thousand years ago on the cross. Reconciliation in this nation, in our nation will only be possible if this reconciliation gives Jesus Christ his proper place. The Bible also tells us that we must know him in all of our ways and he will smooth our way.
I therefore conclude. Despite everything that has happened, I am not at all sad about what has happened anymore. I am grateful to God for both the suffering which I experienced and the strength which God has given me and will give me. In the past eleven years God has given me strength. I want to thank God for the strength which he had given me to accept that which has happened to me and that he has helped to forgive those who perpetrated this act. It is my prayer and the prayer of my heart this morning that the Holy Spirit will work in every South African so that we will be bound together in true peace and true reconciliation and I want to emphasize this, true reconciliation must be through Jesus Christ who made this possible on the cross. I thank you very much.
MR MANTHATA: Mr Coetzer, can I ask you whether the sentiments you have expressed here are shared by you, your family, that is the wife and children and your family, father, mother and brothers ?
MR COETZER: My response to this would be the following. It is a very clear yes, I cannot involve my parents in this since both of my parents have since died. My mother in 1988 and my father in 1993. My wife is present here to-day and she will be able to testify that what I say is true, that they agree with me that no reconciliation is possible except in and through Jesus Christ.
MR MANTHATA: At that time you were still a student. Do you recall the impact that the explosion could have made to your fellow students at the time, that is your school mates ?
MR COETZER: I will have to give hearsay evidence now. If mean what the immediate incident of that morning was, it was an incident which brought about panic and uncertainty. As I understand it, the school children did not know how to respond. They were frightened that something like this might even happen in their school. That there might be hidden bombs or even landmines on the school property. As I’ve said to you, as you know I was not personally conscious, I was not able to know how people responded immediately but from what I’ve also been told by the Principal of the school, this created chaos that morning.
MR MANTHATA: And thereafter you have never had the opportunity to meet some of your fellow ex-students ? I understand the immediate chaos but in the process of your healing and in the process of what was attained in the country, you have never got to know what impact the whole incident could have made on them ?
MR COETZER: This is a very difficult question. The actual impact on my friends, I would not be able to gauge. What the true feeling in their hearts would have been, I don’t know. We never actually discussed that aspect of the event. To really ask people who they felt about the events, I would imagine that they would have felt disappointed and shocked since this had been the first time in the history in the Volksrust environment that that happened. How they upon reflection felt about it, I do not know. I must be entirely honest with you. I simply do not know what their feelings and the feelings of other persons had been.
MR MANTHATA: With apology, I’m asking the question because I feel this is how you have correctly described the incident. This has national implications and we would want to see reconciliation taking place almost at national level and it’s at this stage that we are trying to say what’s going to guide us and to guide the nation and everybody is to find out how many share this kind of view. You have put it very clearly that forgiveness, reconciliation, this should only be perfect if it is done through God but at the same time we maintain that God works through his people. Are there practical things that you can suggest that the people of God can do to actualize forgiveness and reconciliation ? Besides that the two communities or whatever communities that were previously were in conflict can do together ? Don’t worry, I think that you may not have had a change to reflect upon this but I thought you could just throw one, two or three ideas which can guide the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
MR COETZER: As you have truly said, this is a very difficult question. I want to link to my previous comment namely, that there has to be remorse and also an honest telling to the truth. There must be a testimony of what had occurred. Alongside the idea of forgiveness these things must come together. If we can share our ideas with one another, if we can tell one another that we must forgive one another, then forgiveness can happen. As to the process of how we should forgive one another, if we do not want to forgive one another then there will not be forgiveness. For all of us who continue to hold in our hearts the idea that the events of the past has hardened us entirely so that we are not able to forgive, for those who do not want to show remorse, these persons will not be able to join in the process of reconciliation because they will not want to bring their share to the process of reconciliation. I don’t know if I’m making sense now.
MR MANTHATA: Thank you, Mr Coetzer. I hand you back to the Chairperson.
MR LEWIN: Mnr Coetzer, baie dankie. Could I just ask one brief question which I also asked the previous witness and probably unnecessary. Could you just tell us what is your reaction to the action by the South African Government to ban altogether the use of landmines ?
MR COETZER: I will wholeheartedly support this suggestion or recommendation. My personal feeling is that this is a cowardly act, a most extreme cowardly act which any person can perpetrate against another. To entirely ban this in our country would be one of the most valuable contributions towards peace and reconciliation. Thank you.
DR RANDERA: Mr Coetzer, in your statement you’ve very clearly told us what to your parents and you said already that they passed away. I think you mother in 1988 and your father in 1993. Do you feel that this was related to what happened to you ?
MR COETZER: I would not want to see this as directly the cause thereof. In the case of my father I can say that he was a person who suffered from heart trouble and the incident of that day effected him to such an extent that the staff of the General Hospital that evening of the tenth of June wanted to take him up in the hospital for shock I would assume. That might well have had a negative effect on his health in general. Whether it in fact reduced the length of his life, there’s a possibility but I do not think that one can make a direct cause or a link.
DR RANDERA: Mr Coetzer, again earlier on you so eloquently talked about reconciliation and forgiveness. I think you’re looking back with hindsight at what happened to you but can you tell us what your thinking was at the time as a young White person of eighteen, about to start University I would have thought and the generation that grew up with you on the farms, in the schools. We’ve heard already earlier on, Mr Tshabangu referred to you people as the boss. What was the thinking about of yourself and others in terms of the conflicts that were taking place in our country ? I’m not asking for a general statement because you were part of a group of young people. You grew up in a community and you went to a school which was altogether White. What was the thinking about at that time, that prevailed in yourself and your friends ?
MR COETZER: At that time, as you have said the circumstances in our country, the circumstances of our lives were entirely different from those of to-day. This is a difficult question. A very difficult question. From the very beginning I grew up in a home where conflict and things like conflict was not allowed. I grew up in a Christian home with Christian values. To speak very specifically about our family, if you saw the video material of the SABC, if you could see the words of my father, his very clear words at that time was that we bear no hatred against those who committed this act. We do however feel hatred against the act itself. That is what my parents themselves said. The attitude of the community however, that would be difficult. I have some difficulty. I was a very young person at that time. I could not think about these events in the same way as I do to-day. So you are asking me a very difficult question.
DR RANDERA: Reading through your statement again what comes across so clearly is the difficulty that your family went through. Initially I understand your parents had a medical aid and that covered some of the expenses but later on that medical aid ran out and your father lost his farm. You went insolvent. What surprises me is how little support the then Government gave to you and your family. Would you like to comment on that ?
MR COETZER: I no longer have the exact amounts of the medical costs. I can give you some indication that the medical costs must have been around fifty to sixty thousand rand at that time. We received an amount from the so-called State President’s Fund, an amount of forty thousand rand which was paid out to us. The medical fund was then exhausted. This fund was not sufficient for the medical costs related to the incident and I want to make it clear that I do not want to say by this that money would return me my health or my leg but the mere idea that what one has experienced, the difficulties which I had to experience as a young person, I’ve mentioned that I was in a flourishing period of my life. I was a very fit young person. I was a very active sports person. I never sat around for a single moment, I ran around all the time and this was cut as if with a knife. Money itself cannot return one’s leg but we were disappointed in some of the letters which had been written to us in which it had been said that no further additional funds would ever be considered. At a later stage I managed to address an additional request to the State President’s Fund with regard to the replacement of my artificial limb for which I did not have funds. I made an application. I asked for assistance which they did provide and that was the only additional assistance from their side which I received. Beyond that we have never heard anything or received any support from such institution..
DR RANDERA: Despite what happened to you and having been left with the disabilities that you have to-day, you appear to overcome many of those problems. I understand that you’re a student at Free State University. In my opinion there are thousands of people like yourself in our country who haven’t actually had the opportunities of the best medical treatment available in our country that you have had. As you know, we have to make recommendations to our Government. Would you like to make from your own experiences, for the treatment that you’ve had, thinking that’s gone on, would you like to put your thoughts as to what recommendations we should be making towards assisting people who have been disabled through the conflicts of the last thirty four years ?
MR COETZER: I do not know what the exact position would be financially speaking to assist such persons. I do feel that should the present Government be able to do anything like this then they should particularly where persons have physical difficulties because of that which they have experienced. I would like to recommend that be assisted as far as it is possible. These victims should be assisted insofar as it is possible, regardless of what had happened to them. I don’t say that the Government should go beyond it’s abilities and that there should be damage done because of these efforts but as far as possible, most or if possible all of the victims should be assisted with regard to medical expenses.
DR ALLY: Mr Coetzer, you say that you actually had the opportunity to meet those who planted this landmine. Can you tell us a little about that. How did that happen ? What was the circumstances of you meeting them ?
MR COETZER: It must of been around May of 1987. The Security Police made contact with me and asked me to indicate the place where the landmine had been planted. The Government of that day provided me with a air travel fare to Johannesburg from Bloemfontein. They then collected me at the them Jan Smuts Airport, took me through to the farm where the Security Police had the three persons whom they had taken into custody. These persons were present. I stood next to them. They were under very great police security so I couldn’t have any personal contact with them. I could only see them. I was close enough to touch them but I could only point out the place. It was at our farm gate at that time and that is where I saw them and those were the circumstances under which I met them.
DR ALLY: You also in your statement seem to suggest something happened to them subsequently. Do you want to comment on that, make some comments about what happened to them after this incident ?
MR COETZER: These are only rumours which I have heard. I don’t know what truth there would be in these rumours. I wrote a letter, I’m sure exactly who this was but if I recall correctly it was towards the persons in charge of the State President’s Fund at that time and I’ve said to them that I’ve heard rumours that the persons who had planted the landmine were political prisoners and that they had been released. What was reported back to me was that this information could not be made known to me. That it was not appropriate had occurred. Where this is true or not I would not know. I would assume that in the process of reconciliation when the political prisoners were released that they would have been part of those who were released. That’s what I assume.
DR ALLY: Is this something that you would like to know ?
MR COETZER: For interests sake I would, I assume be interested but this not the Alpha and the Omega to know this. In my heart I believe that if this is part of the reconciliation process, for them to be released I would have no difficulty with this. If all of us wants to achieve reconciliation in our nation and if they are willing to turn themselves towards reconciliation, I would have no difficulty with them being out and free.
DR ALLY: Mr Coetzer, did you follow or read about the recall of the political parties that took place last week ? Did you follow any of that ?
MR COETZER: No, I did not follow the media in any way last week.
DR ALLY: Just more generally then, you made the point that an important condition, maybe the most important condition for reconciliation is genuine remorse. Just generally do you think that the political parties, organizations or any other actors party to this conflict of the past, do you feel that there has been genuine remorse ? With regard to those who became victims of the conflict ?
MR COETZER: This is once again a difficult question. I do not think that every single person actually has shown true remorse and I want to repeat, if you only go as far, if people can only bring themselves so far as to show remorse and if people want to also continue to forgive because remorse and forgiveness must go hand in hand. If you show remorse then this automatically almost brings about forgiveness. It is my prayer that those people who were victims and those people who were perpetrators, that there will be true remorse to take a part in the process of reconciliation.
DR ALLY: Mr Coetzer, again thank you very much for coming to the Commission and thank you for being so forthright in your opinions. It’s clear that you did suffer a very horrific physical injury and as a young person, in the prime of your life it must be very hard. I think that for all of us here on the panel it is quite inspirational in many ways to hear how you have actually coped. The fact that you display almost no bitterness, that your plea is for genuine remorse, for forgiveness for reconciliation, to move away from the bitterness of the past, from the divisions of the past. I think that for us in the Commission it’s always very reassuring when victims can display that kind of attitude and that willingness to want to contribute towards reconciliation because I’m sure you must know that the Truth Commission often gets quite a rough ride in that we’re accused of ... divisions, of being biased. So it’s very heartening for us when victims come forward and speak in this way and actually also applaud the process which the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is engaged in. From all of us in the panel, thank you very much for coming and for sharing your experience with us.
MR COETZER: Thank you very much.
DR ALLY: Seeing that it’s already half past eleven I think we will bread for tea and we will recommence at five to twelve. Thank you.
