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people's warExplanation Black resistance in South Africa during these years were partly inspired by the spread of ‘uhuru’ in the rest of colonial Africa. By the mid-sixties many African countries had cast off the colonialist yoke and became independent states. // The PAC organised a massive protest against the pass ... And in the morning the very same people came in the very same uniform. They were still like the previous day. They took my name. They said they needed some statements as to who had injured the people. I was quite scared to tell them that you are the ones that were here yesterday. I can’t give the exact detail how we did the layout and the planning because for the future those type of plans may be used again, so I can’t divulge information regarding that. But the people waited, Vlakplaas members with Piet Retief members, for the people to infiltrate. And what happened is ... ... of some 100 people gathered around his body and he was stabbed and set alight. // It was dark with the crowd as they were running and they ran downwards. A little while later a boy came in the back door and said Aunty Baby they have already killed Jetta and he is lying there ... It was a truly symbolic moment when these three theologians made their way to the Truth Commission stage this week. Coming from the church seen to have been the theological backbone of the National Party their confession before the people of Paarl and Stellenbosch was a meaningful milestone in the ... Claire’s killers have still not been found and for her family the Truth Commission is the last hope in finding answers to the mystery surrounding her death. In a letter to the Special Report her aunt Anne Hope writes. ‘We understand the anger of black people and do not want revenge, we do very ... What we were involved in was as I say ‘active sabotage,’ protest sabotage, specifically not to affect people, not to affect human beings, but at the same time to show that there was opposition, that there were people who were opposing. ... we are going to have to say that people have a sense of responsibility for what happened. Because if we don’t say that, then I think as we go forward there are going to be many who say, well I can do these things because comrade x or comrade y did it and got away with it. And in finalising ... I don’t sleep much, I want to read more. I love philosophy, theology, myths, everything to do with the understanding of life. I believe very firmly that different people think differently, not just over the content of their thinking, but also to do with the manner in which they approach things. ... This cocktail of God and fatherland was backed up at home with medal parades and military manoeuvres. The news was clinical and heroic. To keep the machine rolling and white South Africa’s morale up, the blood and guts, the dying and killing was not shown. Those who came back from the killing ... You were told by your commander that the reason why you had to infiltrate this group is because they were heavily trained and they were dangerous and they were destabilizing the area in and around in Cape Town. // That’s correct sir. I was instructed to train these people and when I reported that ... We went to the disco at about eight o’clock that night and it was Valentine’s night, it was supposed to be a special night for couples or married people. Joe Mamasela, self-confessed political serial killer was one of the Vlakplaas askaris who participated in this operation. // It was brutal; it was what in Afrikaans people call ‘broekskeur.’ It was terrible. // Were they tortured? // They were tortured severely. They were savaged; they were ... Our policy has five components to it and we really would like people to see it within the context of those five components and not focus simply on the money, which I think what has been happening over the last eighteen months. // ‘Urgent Interim Relief’ // This is for people who can’t wait ... But the message that was given to many people was you’re a coward or there’s something wrong with you, and again there was the attitude of almost a joke, that bossies was a sort of a joke. People joked about whether they were or weren’t or whether other people were or weren’t, without ... When I look closely at what I did I realize that it was bad. I took part in killing someone that we could have used to achieve our own aims. Amy was one of the people who could have in an international sense worked for our country. I ask Amy’s parents, // Amy’s friends, relatives, I ask them ... sometimes praying for myself that if God can take my life with the child, maybe it will be better. Because there was no privacy. Even from my labour ward to the wards. When I wanted to go to the toilet, they didn’t want me to go to the toilet, as if maybe I’ll run away. So, they brought a ... Maybe the last words in the harrowing week of testimony belong to Joyce Mtimkulu, a mother whose son was broken by apartheid and then removed from the face of the earth. // I have not forgiven them. Why must I forgive them, when they don’t want to tell the truth? And the beauty part of this, they ... ... whole thing. They’ve dumped us. They’ve dumped us. Now the same people in many instances were getting medals, were getting praised, getting rewarded for the good work that they had done. We questioned the politicians again and the generals and what they’re really saying and what you seem ... Gideon Niewoudt is now on trial in the Port Elizabeth Supreme Court for murder. // The Motherwell bombing case. The state alleges that he was involved in the murder of other policemen. // At the Truth Commission hearing this week Niewoudt was once again implicated in torture. Because of the court ... |