Special Report Transcript Episode 29, Section 1, Time 00:15

Massacre has become a cheap word in South Africa. There have been too many instances where a dozen or more people were killed in one incident of political violence. But there is no other word for what happened in the Natal midlands in 1990. 200 people died in the single biggest massacre in our history, the seven day war. Tonight we will tell you what happened and how it happened and we will give you the full drama of the Truth Commission hearings in Pietermaritzburg. There was also drama at the hearings around the Bisho massacre where Oupa Gqozo at last gave evidence and the Truth Commissioners clashed publicly and emotionally with the former Vlakplaas policemen. // Your callousness, your coldness and insensitivity shows us the kind of leaders that the South African government chose. // No compassion. // We have a fascinating piece on black people from the Karoo who have spent many years trying to pass as coloureds and now want their old African identities back. We revisit Sophiatown, demolished with its vibrant and unique culture 40 years ago and renamed ‘Triomf.’ That triumph has turned sour because the township is about to get its old name back. And of course this was also the week that the priest to the nation met with the big crocodile of the past. But we start in Pietermaritzburg. Nelson Mandela had just been released and everywhere there was jubilation but in the Natal midlands in March 1990 the biggest and possibly most well orchestrated killing spree erupted. In seven days nearly 200 residents of the Edendale valley died, scores were injured and 20 000 were left homeless, refugees to this day. Known as the seven-day war, victims of the massacre say it was more like an invasion of unarmed communities than it was a calculated political cleansing. We heard many versions of the massacre at the Truth Commission’s hearing into the event. We did not hear from the Inkatha Freedom Party. But victims from all over the valley repeated a phrase used by the IFP at the time, ‘we want to plant sugarcane.’

Notes: Max du Preez; Commissioner; Zapiro cartoon ‘trying to land the Big One’

References: there are no references for this transcript