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people's warExplanation Showing 541 to 560 of 1000 First Page•Previous Page 24 •25 •26 •27 •28 •29 •30 •31 •32 Next Page•Last PageCan 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 ... 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. I’m the father of the late Anton Theodor Lubowski … sorry … Anton was shot and killed at approximately 20 hours 30 on the 12th September and he was about to enter his home at 7 Sanderburg street, Windhoek, Namibia. There’s no doubt that the death of Andre resulted from the politically ... There are people that were tortured and tormented by the SB’s or by the security system and we are not of equal strength, we’ve got to recognize that, so they broke down and sold out and actually went ahead and gave evidence in court. Now, you look at their motives, did they join the liberation ... Thank you, Donald Woods. // A quick point. Since I’ve been back in South Africa I’ve met very few whites who knew anything about the Cassinga massacre, a much bigger massacre than any of these others, and for the first time through the TRC this came to light. I think last week it was in your ... Originally my view was rather more radical in that I felt that those who were responsible for ghastly deeds which brought about so much suffering to so many families or so many people, many of whom were members of my own congregation, and many of whom were my friends, I felt that there had to be ... I gave the instruction for them to flatten the huts with a casper and that we would open fire at the same time. It’s the overkill situation that was typically Koevoet. We would shoot as much as concentrated fire into a space as possible. We didn’t know how many people might be in there with ... 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 ... Du Plessis and Van Rensburg presented a plan to General Erasmus to have the two activists eliminated. // And what is the ultimate conclusion which the three of you reached? // Our final conclusion was that there was no other way, detention or any other thing than to eliminate this people. // And ... We were over 60 in number I don’t remember exactly however, we grouped into two. The others had to attack one of the homesteads nearby. // We started… we hit the door, there was a hew in the door and we used it to hack the door. The door opened and we shot at the people and we also stabbed them ... With the birth of the Truth Commission last year a voice was finally given to the thousands of South Africans who’d been brutalized during the conflict of the apartheid years. For months people from every part of the country poured their hearts out before the TRC’s Human Rights Violations ... ... explained to them what the problem was that we were faced with. I can just mention that Mr. Niewoudt and Mr. Van Zyl at that stage were completely aware of the activities of Pebco. // Is it your evidence that these three people, the so-called Pebco Three, that they were extremely dangerous? // ... ... him from near and he fell down. What precisely happened there I can’t remember. At that stage I thought my life was in danger. // It’s a bit awkward but just give us the details. When you shot this man, what did you see, where did you shoot him? // I shot him on the side of his head; that is ... 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 ... 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 ... TRC Commissioners emphasize that this week’s health hearing was just a small step in a long process of healing, which should be followed up by the medical profession and human rights organisations. // If we achieve anything through this process I do hope that we insure that human beings are never ... than to watch her burn. As the fire subsided I went into the house even although it was full of smoke I found my mother lying on the ground facing upwards. She had a lot of spear wounds; she had been hit with a stone on her cheek. I was alone. I dragged her outside and put her on the ... And at night you’d lie in your bed and you’d listen to these bizarre screams and shouts and behaviour and people going quite mad in the ward next door. And it was kind of, well ‘daai klomp is bossies’ [that lot is ‘bossies’]. And it was sort of left at that you know. And I don’t think ... The Bonteheuwel Military Wing started precisely because we needed to respond to the manner in which the state operated. We needed to one, defend ourselves, defend our community, because it appeared as if our community were under siege. We had a situation where there were, police put patrols – and ... There is a perception amongst NGO’s and amongst certain members of the legal fraternity that a large degree of impunity exists in KwaZulu-Natal in terms of the lack of prosecutions and a lack of convictions. What’s your response to that? // I would like an opportunity to discuss that with the ... |