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people's warExplanation In 1993 more than 1500 people were killed in the orgies of violence that engulfed the East Rand townships near Johannesburg. Most of the violence was rooted in the political conflict between the supporters of the ANC, who were primarily township residents, and Inkatha hostel dwellers. Bloody ... We actually are talking about creating something that never was in this country. // Conciliation as far as I’m concerned will mean that you have to take away the anger and the animosity in people and make them understand the need to stay and work together. Let’s get some comment in Johannesburg. // Max, I’d rather focus on where the Truth Commission has succeeded. To me, as a viewer. // OK, let’s talk about that. // I think that a lot of people in the case of Steve Biko’s killing wanted this not to be part of the TRC process. Their argument ... I didn’t think I would be very surprised by what I heard. I think all of us on the Commission have, in fact I think the whole country has learnt much more about what happened. Prepared in other ways I think I was very reluctant to accept nomination for the Commission. I didn’t want to do this ... How many people did Winnie kill? Has she ever been in jail for those murders? No. // If anyone gets into the bad books of Winnie she can resort to any solution of her choice. // ‘Roar young lions roar!’ // Now I can say Mrs. Mandela is a murderer and a killer of the nation. She’s no longer ... Police claimed that the crowd of people who were shot at were armed with sticks, stones, petrol bombs, and bricks with which they had intended to attack the white inhabitants of Uitenhage. Minister of Law and Order, Louis Le Grange immediately appointed judge Kannemeyer to head up a commission of ... Meanwhile the search for three escapees and two accomplices who shot and wounded a policeman during a daring escape near Otjiwarongo, Namibia has been extended to the South African Namibian border. The wounded policeman, Constable Ricardo van Wyk may have to be transferred to a hospital in Cape ... I had gone there to shoot any living thing. It was my aim to shoot anybody within the tavern // The rifle grenade that was fired in by Mr. Madasi, why did that have wire nails either glued or fixed to the head of the rifle grenade. Can you explain that to us? // We decided to make it so, so that as ... We’ve heard a lot of evidence about how you people went into houses and you saw some person there you didn’t know so you killed them. // [We heard such evidence] // So wasn’t it important to find out who was in a house? How many people were there? Whether there were innocent people there or ... One small question, when you accept I think moral responsibility, what does that mean? // As I understand it I can’t run away from those occasions where somebody as a result of my action and as a result of misunderstanding my words, committed an offense. I am morally obliged to stand by him and ... Tell me about the Aliwal North exhumations, do you have strong evidence besides forensics evidence about whether those were members of a MK unit. // Well, the evidence seems to be sufficient. I wouldn’t say it is conclusive, but it seems to be sufficient, because one, it is a consequence of ... In October 1985 the world got to see an amazing piece of television footage shot in South Africa. A number of policemen hid in boxes on an open truck and provoked angry young people to throw stones at them. Like in a violent movie the world watched the policemen jump up and mow down the stone ... Poverty, repression and police brutality in the 1980s. The townships on the East Rand were seething. Six COSAS leaders died in July in 1985 after being lured into launching an attack with hand grenades, booby trapped by Vlakplaas policeman Joe Mamasela. At one of their funerals Maki Skosana was ... ... with the Imbali support group. // We were sitting in the house, the Gabela house, that has experienced unspeakable terror, even from ’86 onwards because Sipho her son was a UDF member and a spokesperson for the youth. In ’89 Sipho was so severely injured by white policemen and Mama ... ... security forces that I have spoken to say, there’s a carrot but they don’t believe the stick. They don’t believe that if they don’t come forward that they will ever be caught. Is that a problem for the Truth Commission; that the investigators are not efficient enough or there are not a ... It began in November 1978, a warm summer’s day that began like any other for Susan and Jaap van der Merwe on their farm Swartklip at Thabazimbi near the Botswana border. Susan left for a teaching job and Jaap went to a nearby farm to shoot a buck. He left a note saying he might be late, but he ... Under the heading ‘special projects’ support for anti-Marxist liberation movements, Mortimer talked about SADF support for UNITA in Angola, RENAMO in Mozambique and the Lesotho Liberation Army. And then he dropped in this insignificant little paragraph. // Inkatha. In 1985 chief minister ... I became known, especially in the Western Cape, as the person to contact if cadres got injured or people were in danger in some kind of way. As you know many people couldn’t go to hospitals because they were at risk of being arrested. So, my little house became a little hospital or clinic and ... ... hear evidence on the reign of terror of the Toasters gang. You may have seen that the Special Rreport team was given the foreign correspondence award for outstanding journalism. Tonight we want to dedicate this award to all the people who have appeared before the Truth Commission, the people ... According to me more people could have been killed that night if it wasn’t to the quick reaction of the people. The white guys basically, well all of them who’s got military training, so when you pick up a shot or when you hear shots going off you know automatically what to do. |