TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 7

Subsection 9

■ EXPLANATIONS OF MOTIVES AND CAUSES

A political understanding of causes

61 To understand perpetrators’ actions, it is essential to locate them within a particular pattern or sequence of events. One aspect stands out above all others when one looks back at the patterns of numerous atrocities over the twentieth century. They begin under certain political configurations, increase rapidly in scope, diversity and spread, peak, then decline quite rapidly when political circumstances change. In the South African case, this pattern spanned the historical period 1960 to 1994, although the majority of violent acts occurred mainly towards the tail-end of this period, between 1983 and 1994. This means that the motives of perpetrators need to be understood primarily in historico-political terms; that is, psychological explanations and motives, while not irrelevant, are secondary.

62 None of this means, however, that there were no atrocities beforehand. Historical circumstances build over a long period and, in South Africa, conflict goes back to the initial appearance of invader-settlers. Nor does it mean that atrocities decline entirely following a change in political dispensation. There have, indeed, been isolated incidents of violence from far-right-wing groups and ominous recent attacks against farmers. Violence continues in KwaZulu-Natal and, of course, criminal violence and violence against women have not abated.

63 Yet the pattern is different. Atrocities are widespread and rampant at particular times, then decline and dribble away to sporadic cases. Types of violence change; hit squads, torture, abductions, cross-border raids, assassinations, guerrilla bombings decline and disappear. Criminal activities, and violence against women, have different motives.

The primacy of the political motive

64 The primacy of the political context as an explanation for violence was persuasively put by General Constand Viljoen in the submission of the Freedom Front to the Commission. Regarding accountability, General Viljoen said:

I still maintain it is unfair that the operators be exposed as the chief perpetrators of atrocities and violence in general when the politicians and strategy managers hide behind their status and positions. The iniquity of our past was of a political nature first, and mainly in that way a moral problem on an individual level.

65 Mr FW de Klerk also confirmed the primacy of the political in creating the overall climate for subsequent violence. In the NP’s submission statement to the Commission in May 1997, he said:

Let me state clearly that the National Party and I accept full responsibility for all our policies, decisions and actions. We stand by our security forces who implemented such policies. We accept that our security legislation and the state of emergency created circumstances which were conducive to many of the abuses and transgressions against human rights … We acknowledge that our implementation of unconventional projects and strategies likewise created such an atmosphere.