 |
News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
|
News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
people's warExplanation I got off by the corner over there from the car that fetched me. When I was coming up this way I saw about two or three dead bodies. As I came I passed a hippo next to one of the corpses. When I arrived, I discovered that the house was already full of people. My mother was lying between the bedroom ... Throughout the 1980s most of the state’s aggression was unleashed on the black youth of the country. In 1986 26 000 people were detained, 40 percent of those were 18years old or younger. At least 1 198 people died in political violence in the same year, a third of whom died in the hands of ... Even the most hardened opponent of the Truth Commission process will have to agree, these people have the right to know the full truth and it seems if we might just get there by the end of the year. The flood gates have truly opened with the torrent of new applications for amnesty from former ... And then obviously the question around medical treatment, people who still have bullet wounds, people who still suffer at a physical level should be given medical treatment and those people also suffering from psychological continuing problems, they should also be given help. ... You did not disband that unit. You say now that you did not have enough evidence. How much more evidence did you need? // I was at no stage aware of any unit carrying out assassinations. The Vlakplaas unit as it was explained to me had a totally different objective, a totally different ... You have to see the state’s relation with the media as a macro continuum. It goes right from the owners of the media, the people that own the newspaper, the editors who control the policy of the newspaper, right down to the chap who can clean the dustbin at night and stuff it all in an envelope ... Sadly there are many graves still to be dug up in the next few weeks. When one looks at the tears of the family and friends gathered around these graves one cannot help but feel anger at those responsible for the killings. The Truth Commission is asking all of us to forgive these people. It would ... ‘Maseru Lesotho December 1985’ // Nine people died in this attack. Among the dead was Jackie Quinn whose family testified at the TRC in 1996. // I feel that as long as the people up top who gave the order are exposed, that it’s going to help a lot. If we can find out, it must be somebody in ... 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 ... Look, I myself have been involved in different bombings. I myself was in command of a region and I gave many orders to sabotage. I established cells, I spoke from platforms … so I do feel responsible co-responsible for the people who are in the prisons. Because I was part of it I feel that I must ... But Donald Woods, talk to me what you feel so far, perception wise has it been one sided. What is your feeling about this? // I’ve had the impression of it being pretty fair, but you know they were in a no win situation in the sense that when you undertake something which is really a very ... When I came onto the Commission one of the things that shocked us was the fact that there is no requirement in the Act for the applicant to express remorse. It is not a requirement and we were bald over actually and some people had almost a traumatic experience. 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 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 ... 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 ... Professor Giliomee could you give us an idea of the public perception of the Truth Commission process so far. // I think the best indicator we have is the most recent public opinion poll that was published about a week ago, it’s a mark data poll and it shows that at the moment only half of the ... ... 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 ... 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 ... ... our side. We have reached the end of a journey on a road marked by pitfalls, political doubts and obstacles. However, the journey always carried forward. The road often became one of tight hairpin bends, because I was afraid of negotiating the evils on bare back. I am both an African and an ... |
