| Time | Summary | |
| 07:27 | The Truth Commission devoted much of its energy in 1996 to the testimony of victims. In 1997 the granting of amnesty to the perpetrators of those gross human rights violations will be the main emphasis. In the original legislation perpetrators could get amnesty only for acts committed before 14 December 1993. But there was a lot of political violence between this date and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president. The PAC, the National Party and the Freedom Front campaigned for the cut-off date to be moved to this day, May 10 1994. The cabinet agreed to do this in December. | Full Transcript |
| 08:08 | Those that will benefit particularly from the new amnesty deadlines are the Freedom Front, the ‘Afrikaner Weerstands Beweging’ and the Pan Africanist Congress. APLA, the military wing of the PAC, will now apply for acts such as the shooting at the Heidelberg Tavern in Cape Town on 31 December 1993. | Full Transcript |
| 08:34 | APLA as a unit, that is APLA head command, is shouldering responsibility of all the activities that took place since its inception in 1961 till the cut-off date that is May 1994 and those activities of course include ambushes on security forces, the police and the soldiers; attacks on police facilities like police stations or military facilities like camps, etcetera. And of course as a matter of fact I am going to shoulder responsibility, as the director of operations, of everything that happened when I was the commander including attacks on Lady Grey police station, attacks on St James Church and attacks on different farms across the country. I’m going to apply for amnesty for the Queenstown steak incident, steak bar, that is the place where a limpet mine went off; I’m going to apply for amnesty for an attack on a swimming pool somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal. I am even going to apply for amnesty on incidents including robberies. Robberies evokes negative feelings, but as a matter of ...more | Full Transcript |
| 10:42 | The Truth Commission will receive about 600 applications from APLA. The entire Military Commission and High Command will be applying. For the first time we know who they are. // ‘Military Commission // Daniel Mohato Mofokeng // Barney Hlatshwayo // Morgan Gxokwa // Thobile Gola // Enoch Zulu // Vusi Make // Joe Mkhwanazi // Johnson Mlambo // High Command: // Willie Nkonyeni // Raymond Fihla // Willie Zweni // Mpazamo Yonana // Andile Ntabeni // David Phillips // Mandla Mlangeni // Samuel Motau // Letlapa Mphahlele // Matlabase Matlala // Vuma Ntikinca // Rocky Dlova // J Chintsela Bongwana // Boy Boy Mbethe // David Kongwane // Bongina Dlamini // William Ngwenya // Mangelengele Zibi // Madodana Fihla // Mosoeu Magalefa // Sydney Mabusela // Mandla // Thapelo // Ntoboloho // Thembelani Xundu // X. Poni // Benjamin Lecheko // Xolani Mabanga // Sipho Matolweni // Thamsanga Khonto // Stanley Rasevhetshera // Abel Dube // Benson Mandindi // Ngxabano // Moloto Odar’ | Full Transcript |
| 11:09 | We are proud of what we did. We…. It is unfortunate that people had to die, but it is not something that we are ashamed of, that we did go to war. War is by its very nature evil and if the war has another method to avoid it we would have avoided it. | Full Transcript |
| 11:31 | After the announcement of the extension of the deadline general Constand Viljoen announced that he will be applying and thanked President Mandela. | Full Transcript |
| 11:41 | It adds to my delight today to say thank you very much Mr. President. This has now opened the way for not only myself but some of my followers, those that want to, to participate and be part of the amnesty provisions of the constitution, which does solve a lot of problems. | Full Transcript |
| 11:59 | The AWB men convicted of the blasts in Johannesburg in the period leading up to the elections can now also apply for amnesty. | Full Transcript |
| 12:12 | Forgiveness does not come cheaply. It is something that comes deeply from the heart. And I can just ask the people that were involved directly or indirectly and who have been affected by this case to consider forgiving me. | Full Transcript and References |
| 12:37 | He might not be forgiven but Trust Feed killer Brian Mitchell was granted amnesty and set free in December. It was not a popular decision. He had served less than five years of his 30 year sentence for the killing of 11 people in the Natal Midlands. It was a tragic mistake as the four policemen sent to carry out the order were supposed to attack a UDF leader but ended up at the wrong house. The Commission found that Mitchell had made a full disclosure of all the relevant facts of the killing and that he did have a political motive as the incident had been part of the then government’s onslaught against liberation movements like the UDF. | Full Transcript |
| 13:17 | Amnesty was granted to Koos Botha, former Conservative Party MP, for bombings committed during 1990 and 1991. These included the Hillview Primary School in Pretoria, post offices in Verwoerdburg and Krugersdorp and COSATU House in Pretoria. | Full Transcript and References |
| 13:36 | I want to help build the new SA. I was a destroyer now I want to be a builder. | Full Transcript |
| 13:42 | Racism is not a political motive the Committee found in December. Among the applications rejected on this basis were those of Jean du Plessis and Cornelius van Wyk of the ‘Nasionaal Sosialistiese Partisane.’ They are serving prison sentences for murder and robbery. The Committee decided that the ‘Partisane’ was not a publicly known political organisation and that its members were religious fanatics. Under the influence of the ‘Church of the Creator’ they tried to purge South Africa they perceived to be inferior races. | Full Transcript and References |
| 14:20 | The four Van Straaten brothers also failed to prove that racism equals political motive. They killed two night watchmen and stole a truck from a transport company in Vereeniging in June 1981. | Full Transcript and References |
| 14:31 | Grim and gory details of Vlakplaas murders, abductions and cross border operations emerged again this week. Dirk Coetzee, Almond Nofemela and David Tshikalanga who are applying for amnesty for a range of atrocities continue to spill the sordid tales of South Africa’s secret death farm. | Full Transcript and References |
| 14:51 | By now Vlakplaas is known as the shadowy space where hit men like Eugene de Kock, Joe Mamasela, Dirk Coetzee and Almond Nofemela freely roamed and secretly planned their killer missions against the opponents of the apartheid state. Little is known though of the assassinations in their own ranks; of the shooting, poisoning and burning of those they decided were traitors or double agents. One such man was Isaac Bohlokho Moema known by his exile name as ‘Ace.’ | Full Transcript and References |
| 15:32 | Mister Coetzee, do you know the name Ace Moema? // Yes I do Mr. Chairman. // From where do you know this person? // It was the name of an ANC cadre who came to Vlakplaas in the late 1980s, in the 1981s, towards the end of the year as a person that has been debriefed already through all the relative channels and he was then placed at Vlakplaas with me, under my control. I should just say he was a very observant, quiet, if I remember right, non-smoker non-drinker and asked a lot of questions, which concerned me and the rest of the policemen at Vlakplaas. At that stage I got the impression that there might be a hidden agenda. Captain Koos Vermeulen suggested that we should take him out. // Meaning? // Meaning assassinate him. | Full Transcript |
| 16:41 | A decision is taken so flippantly and a man’s life is put to an end. I am alarmed by that. // I can understand that Mr. Chairman, I think in those days a black man’s life meant absolutely nothing. | Full Transcript |
| 16:56 | Your Honour I left the country because of the pain I’d gone through. I’ve lived in exile; I’ve lived under very harsh conditions, but this is one of the worst moments for me, to be sitting here to try to say how the family feels about what has happened and … | Full Transcript and References |
| 17:32 | Thele Moema was the first to hear of his eldest brother’s death. Just a year apart, they fled to join the ranks of the ANC within a month of each other in 1976. In 1990 he set foot on South African soil for the first time since, this time to honour Ace as a hero. | Full Transcript |
