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people's warExplanation My parents were very active in Pretoria as leading liberal anti-apartheid activists. They’d been jailed, they’d been banned. They were the first married couple to be banned. And in fact when they were banned they had to given exceptional permission to communicate with each other as husband and ... August 1985 is etched deep in the memories of hundreds of people from the Cape Flats. The United Democratic Front was growing in strength and the levels of repression with it. On the 28th of August thousands of people joined a march to Pollsmoor prison to demand the release of Nelson Mandela. For ... ... a symbol of reconciliation. And I said well how is it a symbol of reconciliation? And he said it’s because at this point people who used to be warders here are now working with former prisoners hand in hand. I just was wondering how this was for you, because you’ve been here for seven ... During his amnesty hearing Dirk Coetzee hopes to tell his story for the last time. But he will not be able to bury it. // There’s one thing I will have to live till the day I die, is the corpses that I will have to drag with me to my grave, of the people whom I’ve killed. Remorse I can assure ... 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 ... 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 ... ... 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 ... 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. It was an operation that was done by myself entirely in cooperation with the riots unit. There were two operations. There was the cleanup operation before four in the morning and then that evening it was four special constables and myself. // Who gave you the instruction to kill? Was that Major ... A common worry is that the Truth Commission should not become the forgiveness commission. // You know, we have attended a case of, you know just recently, de Kock’s case. He didn’t appear sorry for what he did, and he expects people to say, okay we forgive him … which is very … you know we ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... Steyn was worried that the two gang members would escape from custody, as had happened in the past and so would never be brought to justice. // I told the Defence Force people that they should shoot and if there were any queries about the deaths they should just say that they had died on their way ... We are looking for measures which will restore people’s dignity which has been lost. We felt, we are looking for measures which will somehow assist people to more or less be able to live a life they would have lived was it not for the violation. The first address given is that of Mr. Nelson Mandela and then there are some notes: the house of such and so is deliberately not numbered but is easily recognizable by ‘bla bla bla.’ It’s obvious why this description is there mister Chairman to me, and that is because the house was not ... ... in the CCB, Military Intelligence. This amnesty is one that would expunge any criminal or civil liability you are likely to have. Please come forward because this is an opportunity to put the past behind you, to help in the process of your own healing and the healing of this beautiful land. ... 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 ... Their friend, Ruth Gibizela survived, but it is here in the ruins of what was once a witdoek prison that she and others lived a night of terror. // These men asked if we could see the red sea, this here is the red sea. We looked at it, and when we looked we saw the heads of people, the necks were ... The policy of apartheid has made South Africa much poorer than the country and its people could otherwise have been. Lost and unutilized human potential, wasted resources, people and capital that left the country, growth that did not occur and jobs that were not created; all these, and many more ... |
