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Content
A listing of transcripts of the dialogue and narrative of this section.
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Structure
The list provides the transcript, info about the text, and links to references contained in the text.
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Special Report
Transcripts for Section 4 of Episode 23
| Time | Summary | | | 17:05 | It has a rather harmless sounding name, PTSD. And yet it is one of the most serious psychological diseases in our country today. PTSD stands for post traumatic stress disorder. It was first identified in the United States as ‘Vietnam syndrome.’ The behavioural malfunctions of soldiers who had fought in Vietnam. In South Africa it was first called ‘bossies’ after the experiences of mostly white South African soldiers in the bush during the war on our borders. But post traumatic stress disorder is also a condition suffered by many thousands of former soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe and APLA, present and former policemen and ordinary people who have suffered conflict and violence. In Hanover in the Karoo this week two mothers from Noupoort gave grim accounts of how the beatings and electrical shocks their sons had undergone at the hands of the police had scarred them for life. Today, both young men are mentally disturbed and unable to lead normal lives in the democracy they had ...more | Full Transcript and References | | 18:09 | Siphiwo and Yibawathi were two of Noupoort’s young foot soldiers. The late Chris Hani, leader of MK was their hero. When they were detained they told their interrogators that they were fighting for Nelson Mandela’s release. The police mocked their militant dreams, but they were also severely punished for daring to act on them. // They drive you to a place and put you in water. They ask you all sorts of questions. They’ll ask you do you know that you are breaking the law by your actions. // They put us in the boot. They drive. Luckily then I saw the farm where I was punished. They put us in bags and then they throw us in the water. // Are the bags tied? // The bag is tied. They throw us in the water. After that they take us out. And then they electrocute us on the stomach. After that, they tie the bags to the fender of the car then they drive. We roll like this; we roll just like that over the stones. That sort of thing works in the head. | Full Transcript and References | | 19:37 | Today, in this new democracy that they dreamt about Yibawathi and Siphiwo are emotional cripples caught in their brutal past. They suffer a psychological syndrome common to those who were in a war situation whether as victims or perpetrators. It is known as post traumatic stress syndrome. | Full Transcript | | 19:57 | These are people that permanently are disabled. They will never be able to handle stress again. Their lives will never be normal again. They will always suffer from this syndrome. It’s a living hell. As one person put it to me, he said it’s like watching a horror movie over and over and over again and its 24 hours and it’s unrelenting and it’s ruthless. It doesn’t let go of you, not for one minute, not for one day or one night. | Full Transcript | | 20:26 | Now when he gets like that, he hits, he fights. He does everything that is not right. Then you can see he’s disturbed. I don’t know he just gets crazed. He can go and throw that food outside now! There is just something that is not right with him. Then he just breaks anything which is not right. // So he gets very aggressive? // Yes. // Was he like this before he went to prison? // Never! I did not have a child like this. He was a good, sweet child. | Full Transcript | | 21:06 | He does all these wrong things. Walks up and down; chases people. He hits people, when he goes off his head, then he hits people. He walks up and down, he does not sleep at all. Even if we take him to hospital he does not sleep there. In the middle of the night he comes home. | Full Transcript | | 21:28 | Already in prison there were signs that the effect of the torture was more than physical. Siphiwo spent two months in the Queenstown psychiatric hospital. He was sent back to the cells, not home. // I went to the police station and requested that I see my son. Then a policeman took me to the cell. He was alone in the cell. Both his hands and his legs were tied. When I looked at him as a parent I realized that he was mentally disturbed. When he saw me he just cried. I could see that my son had changed. // I always told my mother that I would give her beautiful things. I would work for my mother. Now I did not get that chance to work for my mother. The government of Botha made me like this, like you see me now. | Full Transcript |
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