| Time | Summary | |
| 25:24 | The judges of the Amnesty Committee in Potchefstroom this week heard four brothers argue that pure racial hatred should qualify as a political motive for murder. The Committee was distinctly sceptical. The Van Straaten brothers brutally killed two security guards at a transport company and said it was part of an attempt to show that black people were not capable of doing their jobs. Nantie Steyn was in Potchefstroom. | Full Transcript and References |
| 25:51 | On the night of 17 June 1989 the Van Straaten brothers, Adriaan, Willem, Gideon and Dawid went into the premises of a transport company in Vereeniging, stole a truck and murdered the two unarmed night watchmen on duty. They crushed the skull of the first guard with a rock and the other was stabbed to death with a chisel. They were taught from an early age, they said, to hate black people, therefore the murders were political. | Full Transcript |
| 26:19 | I grew up in a conservative, Christian home. Since childhood it was imprinted on me that blacks are underlings that his culture is not the same as yours. | Full Transcript |
| 26:40 | Something is right or not right, and the black people were below us, slaves and mostly used as labourers. | Full Transcript |
| 26:54 | They took me with to chase blacks and assault them. | Full Transcript |
| 27:02 | We treated blacks badly. We ran amok with my friends when we saw them in the streets. They were inferior blacks had to stay inferior. | Full Transcript |
| 27:22 | The AWB certain statements they made, a kaffir is a kaffir it drew me, I grew up like that, it is what I understood. | Full Transcript |
| 27:38 | All four brothers claim that they were supporters, if not members, of the AWB. It was Adriaan, the third eldest, who approached his brothers with a plan to establish an underground cell. It was their very first mission that ended in murder. | Full Transcript |
| 27:55 | We got into my vehicle and looked at premises. Terreblanche Transport was the third place we went to. | Full Transcript |
| 28:09 | We drove past the premises; we left the car 300 to 400 meters past the premises. We walked back to the premises. Dawid and I each grabbed a night watchman for Andre and Deon to tie up with ropes. | Full Transcript |
| 28:37 | I then hit them over the head with a torch. I told Dawid and Gideon to look for ropes to tie them up. They came back and I told them they should look after the guards. Willem had already moved into the premises. I went further into the premises where I found him at one of the trucks. | Full Transcript |
| 29:05 | The guard tried to stand up. At that stage I had to think quickly when I saw a rock next to the fire. I picked it up and hit the guard three, four times on the head. | Full Transcript |
| 29:23 | The guard resisted again. I took the chisel and I stabbed the guard with it two or three times. The guard fell against me, and slid down. I understood that it would no longer be necessary to tie him up. | Full Transcript |
| 29:48 | I will refer to a letter that you wrote. ‘As the murder was in no way planned beforehand, it was simply the result of pure racial hatred and the aim was against the struggle against apartheid and this caused the death of the two night watchmen.’ // Did you hear this? Do you agree that because you mentioned in your letter pure racial hatred it had absolutely nothing to do with politics? | Full Transcript |
| 30:38 | As I understand politics it was the way I grew up, the different races against each other, and this was the result. | Full Transcript |
| 30:48 | Are you saying to us that you don’t distinguish between murder committed through a political objective or motivation on the one hand and murder committed as a result of pure racial hatred? // That is correct, Mr. Chairman. // Are you serious? | Full Transcript |
