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people's warExplanation Apart from the moral repugnance with which some of us recoiled at the activities of what people in the township tended to generally regard as ‘Winnie’s boys,’ one of our major concerns at a political level, was the extent to which the activities of these ‘boys’ were beginning to detract ... Having been overcome by the colonialists because of their superior weapons, mobility and fire power the African people correctly decided to resist the unholy alliance by setting up political organisations, drawing up petitions, organising protest marches as well as involving students and workers in ... ... Rooigrond then on that day I was put in isolation, taken to a cell where I stayed alone for a period of almost two months. Whilst in detention the warders in jail were telling us, all of us, not me alone that ‘you people are going to be hanged; you are facing a very serious crime of ... By the end of the next day scores of people were wounded and dead. Many wounded were treated at home for fear of being arrested at hospitals. But these were the lucky ones. Some say, up to 17 people lost their lives. // I will say for people that were hurt, I will call it something like 300 to ... June 17, 1992. About 300 residents at the Kwamadala Hostel and members of the security forces turned Boipatong into a place of terror. 49 people died that night. News of the massacre reverberated throughout South Africa and the world. This week, some of the survivors told the Truth Commission their ... 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 ... On our arrival there people were actually singing freedom songs. I was standing there looking at the people. As I was looking there up front, it was my first time to see such a big gun. // It was already late, then we found this place full with those who came in before. Then the police have already ... When you carry out operations and you are congratulated, decorated, honoured and given all the accolades of a successful officer in the struggle against communism and insurgency and counter revolution, you believe that the people who are honouring you know what you did to be honoured for. We have seen very few former politicians, generals and foot soldiers expressing genuine regret for the evils of the past. The apologies we have heard so far mostly went along the lines of, if we hurt people, we are sorry, but we didn’t mean it. Adriaan Vlok and Pik Botha also expressed regret. There is something we do not understand. We need to know who it was who pulled that trigger. We know that the events of that night are known to the people who watched us. // It seems to me more than strange that the Durban murder and robbery unit, a unit with an excellent record of solving crimes ... But there have also been many lows. // I remember at a hearing when somebody talked about just walking daily with her child down the street and so on and this most overwhelming sense of sadness… I just felt I wanted to weep no end. And often I think it’s when things resonate with one and often ... Bringing back the name Sophiatown might well restore some of the dignity that was stripped away in the past. But it was more than dignity that was lost; it was a way of life. // It was a fluent kind of living, vibrant community and I think longing for the kind of freedom that hopefully we’re ... And yet many of the files do remain. // It’s very difficult for any bureaucracy the size of the South African state to ensure that every copy of every document is destroyed. There is also evidence of certain people who just chose not to destroy documents, that’s all. They just didn’t do it. ... Can a Truth Commission be an effective instrument to extract the truth about the past? // That depends on what powers the commission is given. In some cases there’s great frustration, you can have a commission that’s very effective but in the end it really only has the powers to speak to ... Wherever Mbokodo is you will always see the caspir behind them, you’ll always see the van behind them. They were never really moving alone unless they were going at night when people were … but daylight they would never move alone. And that’s why I agree with all those who are saying Mbokodo ... In October 1990 three men belonging to the right wing Orde Boerevolk attacked a bus of black commuters. Seven people were killed and 27 injured in this racially motivated attack. Piet Botha, Adriaan Smuts and Eugene Marais had executed the attack. They wanted to kill black people in revenge for an ... People who must have an opportunity to register their regret at not preventing human rights violations and also to give them an opportunity to register their commitment to reconciliation. As far as our collaboration and resistance to the system is concerned there is the community at large. In truth, the community at large was a complacent community, feeble in its responses and going whichever way the wind was going at that particular moment. In 1979 Imam Abdullah Haron was murdered ... Col Van Rensburg words to me were that a drastic plan should be made very quickly with these particular people and that I accepted to mean that they should be eliminated. The shocking images of Sophiatown, people just being uprooted and carted away much against their will and quite hopelessly struggling against this thing, the machine of the National Party Government at the time was just simply too strong. |
