Special Report Transcript Episode 23, Section 4, Time 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 fought for.

Notes: Max du Preez; Vietnam war footage; SADF soldiers