TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 9

Subsection 21

Brian Mitchell and the Trust Feed Community

70 Trust Feed is a rural community situated north-west of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. It is a freehold area with a hierarchical structure of landowners and tenants. The area has a long history of peaceful co-existence that changed in the mid1980s as a result of political tensions between the UDF and the IFP. Threatened by the activities of the UDF, the local police unit colluded with the IFP to wipe out UDF members. This led to a sequence of atrocities culminating in the Trust Feed massacre in December 1988.

71 The massacre was directly related to the clandestine activities of Captain Brian Mitchell, Station Commander at the New Hanover police station at the time. On his orders, eleven people were killed and two others wounded at a night vigil following the death of a relative. Five of them were men and the rest were women and children. None were UDF members. In April 1992, Captain Mitchell was sentenced to death eleven times for his role in ordering the attacks. His sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment in 1994. After serving a prison term of about five years, Captain Mitchell was granted amnesty by Commission in 1997.

72 The Trust Feed community (though they had not reportedly opposed amnesty) was enraged and seemed not to have forgiven Captain Mitchell. The hurt was profound, and the community went through a process of re-experiencing the original anger and pain. Captain Mitchell expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness. He pledged to honour the community request to help reconstruct the community he had polarised and destroyed through his clandestine operations.

73 In this way, two parties, divided by negative feelings of hostility and rage, were able to come together with the common purpose of reconciliation. For Trust Feed, polarised and divided by destructive forces, it offered an opportunity to help restore broken relationships and create a stronger sense of community.

74 Some of the essential and necessary elements for reconciliation were already in place. Captain Mitchell had made a confession. He appeared to repent of his own atrocious deeds and had made a request for forgiveness. He had also reconciled himself with God and was a member of the Rhema Church. At the same time, the community of Trust Feed was still in pain and needed time to heal its wounds. It had, however, indirectly paved the way for forgiveness by asking Captain Mitchell to commit himself to playing a part in the reconstruction of the Trust Feed community as an overt act of repentance.

75 The Commission facilitated the various stages of the process. Initial contact was made with Captain Mitchell who, accompanied by a Minister from Rhema Church, once again declared his intention to reconcile with the Trust Feed community.

76 This was followed by series of meetings with a special committee representing the Trust Feed community. Since the committee had a strong ANC bias, attempts were made to invite IFP members to join. This was followed by a community meeting that proved to be a cathartic experience. Community members were able to work through their feelings to the point where they were willing to meet Captain Mitchell.

77 This in turn paved the way for a reconciliation meeting between the Trust Feed community and Captain Mitchell. The meeting presented a major challenge to the Commission and the community. All efforts were made to mobilise professional expertise, including the services of mediation consultants.

78 The reconciliation meeting was held in July 1997 and was well attended by the Trust Feed community – including both ANC and IFP members. The community was given enough time to express its feelings and ask direct, clarifying questions of Captain Mitchell who was also given an opportunity to express his feelings and ask for forgiveness. A process of mediation followed, focusing on Captain Mitchell’s offer to participate in community reconstruction and try to meet the community’s expectations of him.

79 Following careful deliberations, all parties agreed that a committee should be formed to look into the needs of the relationship with Captain Mitchell. The meeting ended emotionally. As Captain Mitchell was driven away from the community he had so grossly violated, he was followed with parting calls of “Bye-bye, uhambe kahle [go well] Mitchell”.

80 The reconciliation meeting was a considerable success and the spirit of goodwill and willingness to forgive by the Trust Feed community was very touching. The community’s sense of trust is still very fragile and will need to be sustained by Captain Mitchell’s long-term commitment to his offer. The fact that the community opened its heart to Brian Mitchell made it vulnerable to secondary violation and traumatisation should Mitchell fail to honour his offer of reconciliation. Thus, the meeting was simply the beginning of a long process of reconciliation. The community and Brian Mitchell carry the major responsibility for ultimate reconciliation.

81 Reconciliation at the meeting went beyond this, however, and led to a healing of community tensions between ANC and IFP members. During the meeting, leaders of both parties expressed a great willingness to work together as a united community and committed themselves to follow-up meetings.

82 There were, however, problems. The overseas press sought to sensationalise the reconciliation initiatives by talking to Mitchell and a few selected families from the Trust Feed community. This created divisions and renewed feelings of mistrust. The situation was, however, well managed by the Trust Feed committee. In addition, the heavy police presence at the meeting did not create an ideal environment for conciliation. On the other hand, in the light of the potentially explosive nature of the situation, the role of the police force in helping to maintain a contained and controlled environment seemed necessary.¹²