hrvtrans HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION HEARINGS 1996-06-10 KIMBERLEY 1 CT/ FATHER MICHAEL LAPSLEY FATHER MICHAEL LAPSLEY SEVERELY INJURED BY A LETTER BOMB https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=55383&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/hrvtrans/kimber/ct00654.htm MICHAEL WILSNER CHAIRPERSON Thank you, the hearing resumes. DR BORAINE Before I ask Denzil Potgieter to take over from me, would you please stand for the taking of the oath. FATHER MICHAEL LAPSLEY Duly sworn states DR BORAINE FATHER LAPSLEY Michael Wilsner. DR BORAINE MICHAEL WILSNER Duly sworn states DR BORAINE Thank you very much, please be seated. Denzil Potgieter I hand over to you now please. ADV POTGIETER Perhaps just by way of introduction you are an ordained priest of the Anglican Church and presently the Chaplain to the trauma Centre for victims of violence and torture in Cape Town, is that correct? FATHER LAPSLEY Than is correct. ADV POTGIETER Before we deal with the incident that you testifying about, perhaps you can - you can give us a brief personal background of yourself. FATHER LAPSLEY Yes, thank you very much. May I just say also on beginning that I have the privilege of telling my story many times in South Africa and around the world but I think for me this has a particular [indistinct] in significance to be able to tell it to a Commission which represents the nation. This - but it was for me I suppose the turning point was 1976 - the Soweto uprising and the killing of school children that changed me very dramatically. And I was at that stage National Chaplain for Anglican students and I was speaking out against the killing of school children and the torture of children during that - that year. And then I was expelled from South Africa in September 1976 and then I went to Lesotho - I was - continued my studies in Lesotho, became Chaplain at the university, trained priests for the daises of Lesotho. But the - I was not an employee of the ANC - I did various church work, working for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe and also for the Lutheran World Federation. And I did a masters degree in Zimbabwe as well. In - and I was part of the community - the exile community in Lesotho and subsequently in Zimbabwe. Because I believed that apartheid was a choice and an option for death carried out in the name of the Gospel of live. And my work was the work of mobilising the religious community in South Africa and internationally to applause apartheid as an issue of faith. Now 1990 came Nelson Mandela was released, the political organisations of the people were un-banned but I forgot the say that when the Zimbabwean Government said that they had information that the South African Government who wished to kill they asked me to except an 24 hour armed police guards and I had those armed police guards. So I came upon this [indistinct] envelope that had been among the accumulated mail. I opened it and it was addressed to me and inside where two religious magazines and they - the magazines were - were wrapped in plastic - sealed in plastic. So I ripped open the plastic and took out the magazines both religious - one in Afrikaans one in English. And the sign of the triumph of good but I want to just conclude on two other parts, I want to talk about responsibility and also what I would ask of the Commission. I my mind there was somebody obviously who typed my name on an envelope - a woman or a man who typed that bomb, also somebody who made it, who created it. And I have often asked the question about the person who made it - the person who typed my name. What did they tell their children that night that they did that day, how did they describe when they said how was your day today. What were they saying that they actually did on that day? So of cause that person has a particular responsibility but I believe responsibility increases the higher you go up the chain of command. To my mind I have always been clear that the person I hold responsible [indistinct] for my bombing is FW De Klerk and the reason I say that is that remembering I was bombed on April 28th 1990 - on the eve of the first talks between the ANC and the Government. I think in - in - to conclude my last part is what do I ask from the Commission. I should say to that the Government of Zimbabwe has an open attempted murder docket in my case which is not complete because they have not found who was responsible. Now obviously there was a complex range - I think one must also be clear, one is not talking about the active and the individual. That bomb was so sophisticated that it could come through the post registered mail from South Africa to Zimbabwe and not explode until I opened it. CHAIRPERSON I - I should rebuke you for clapping but I think it is a response that is probably appropriate. ADV POTGIETER MR WILSNER ADV POTGIETER Most definitely. MR WILSNER [indistinct] met Michael in 1979 when I left South Africa to go to Lesotho as a war resister because I came to the conclusion that I could not serve in the SADF in any capacity what so ever. And Michael was at the time the warden of Lelapela Jeso Seminary in [indistinct] . And for me it was an conversion experience - I mean once I had gone through that, there was no turning back. And it was - I was not the only person for whom that was an important place to be. It was a house of peace, I want to emphasise that I never say weapons there - ever. It was a house of protest, it was a house of debate where people met in real terms and could discuss and disagree and that sort of thing. But it was a house essentially of peace, it was sometimes a house of prayer. That is the contexts in which I met Michael, the only violence that I personally encountered while living in Lesotho was the two raids that happened from South African into Lesotho in 1982 and in 1985. The first myth that apartheid - that the apartheid state wanted people to believe was that the struggle was a struggle for the rationale survival of the whites against the blacks. On the one hand the ANC was portrayed as an all black organisation, on the other no white in their right mind would want to join it because it was out to destroy then. Than was the first myth, the second myth was that the ANC was portrayed as a Marxist, Atheist organisation. Both of his hands were taken off, he needed to hold his stumps up all the time because anything touching then cause him the most extraordinary pain. His lips were swollen and bleeding, his one eye was damaged completely by the explosion and he could see nothing at all out of the other one. We had to shout to make him hear but it seems as though he could hear just a little. He was in a terrible state, his sister Helen who was with him told us about how he would wake up at night, screaming, reliving the bomb. I wanted to touch him but everywhere you looked - everywhere over his body was red and swollen and sore and painful. There was nowhere to touch him, we were grateful that he was alive but we were very aware that his live would be changed irrevocably from that moment on. There was very little any of us could do, except be there. It was an agonising time for everyone but non of us could even remotely imagine the kind of agony that he was going through. ADV POTGIETER CHAIRPERSON Thank you very much, any [indistinct] Dr Boraine? DR BORAINE Father Lapsley I would like to take it a little further, your comments about forgiveness and restorative justice. You will know better that most that the hole question of amnesty is - is very controversial. FATHER LAPSLEY CHAIRPERSON Glenda? MS WILDSCHUT Father Mike I was very - I was very moved when you talked about your understanding at the time of your bombing. About what it must have meant for the mother of Christ to witness the crucifixion and in a sense I was realising that you were also making reference to your own family. FATHER LAPSLEY When I was bombed all those families loved me in a very - in a very extraordinary way. The - and that was what enabled me - I mean the doctors said it would take 18 months to 2 years before I was well again and 7 months later I returned and I was fine and I think that is because of all those families and the roles through their prayers, their love, their support. Religious people - people who are not religious at all prayed. Two of my sisters came to see me in hospital. And I think even than I lived the pain that others go through in their helplessness in a way is often much greater and so yes I was supported very profoundly and deeply by all those families. MS WILDSCHUT Thank you Father. CHAIRPERSON But he is an [indistinct] sort of living example for the kind of thing that we are trying to help be incarnated - be in-fleshed in our country. And I am very deeply humbled but also very proud that Michael is now a priest in my [indistinct] in Cape Town and a priest of which - of whom I am very deeply proud. I give thanks to God, I give thank to God for you Michael and I also give thanks for the experience through which you went because you can talk about crucifixion and resurrection because it is real - you - it is in your body.