Special Report Transcript Episode 10, Section 3, Time 18:55

Thwane was detained and questioned about his involvement in the coup. // I pretended as, I should be honest, not to know anything about what happened to why was there a coup. They said to me, ‘you’re going to tell us, you better strip, trek uit jong daar’s nie tyd nie’ [undress, we don’t have time]. I could smell blood before it started flowing. My biggest worry was to sell out information which would result in many people suffering. I felt if somebody was to die then I had to stand and wait for that, as long as people could remain safe. And I said, ‘I’m not going to give information.’ And the interrogation started. Kicking, clapping, everything you know, picking up chairs, hitting me with those chairs, I remember one chair broke. The word that many used is ‘force.’ I was seated as I’m seated, I had to fall back. I fell back, seated on a chair. They picked me up, went for the electric shock. Started their job, as usual on my private parts. In the evening I was driven back to Rooigrond then on that day I was put in isolation, taken to a cell where I stayed alone for a period of almost two months. Whilst in detention the warders in jail were telling us, all of us, not me alone that ‘you people are going to be hanged; you are facing a very serious crime of treason.’ That is why it came as a surprise when I was released.

Notes: SANDF, Bop coup; TRC testimony: Samuel Thwane

References: there are no references for this transcript