Special Report Transcript Episode 52, Section 6, Time 28:02

Before we go, a last matter. In the Special Report of the 9th of February we dealt with the issue of necklacing or the use of fire to kill people or destroy bodies. The matter was taken to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa and I was asked to read the following statement by the Commission. // ‘The Flame Lily Foundation and the Association of ex Rhodesians complained to the BBC’s SA regarding a statement about necklacing or the incineration of people doused in petrol made by mister Max du Preez, the presenter of the Truth Commission Special Report. The statement that gave rise to the complaint was. // ‘The truth as we now know is that this repulsive form of killing was first started by white Rhodesian security forces in the 1970s and then brought to South Africa by the security police.’ // After having studied additional evidence filed by the SABC the Commission came to the following conclusions: That there was no evidence that the SABC or mister Du Preez had acted from malicious motives as charged by the complainant, that the Commission had not however been provided with any evidence that the alleged atrocities in Rhodesia of the seventies included the incineration of live people by necklacing or by setting people alight after dousing them with petrol. That accordingly, the statements that these forms of incineration of live people originated from the Rhodesian security forces was not substantiated by the documentation before the Commission. The BCCSA accordingly found that the SABC had contravened the broadcasting code. The Flame Lily Foundation’s complaint was consequently upheld unanimously.’ // So far the statement, perhaps I should give a little bit of background. We’ve heard evidence from people like Dirk Coetzee and Eugene de Kock that they learned to incinerate the bodies of guerrillas while stationed in Rhodesia. But our statement in the February programme was understood by the Commission and the complainant to mean the Rhodesians also burned live people to death and for that we could supply no proof. We told the Commission that we accept their finding, but we also told them we found it outrageous that people who represent the Rhodesian army and police could come to South Africa and claim their integrity had been violated. We supplied the Commission with evidence of widespread atrocities committed by the Rhodesians, such as the poisoning of clothes supplied to villages who supported the guerrillas, the booby trapping of portable radios given to black Zimbabweans and brutal executions. More than 55 000 people died in that dirty war. A real pity there wasn’t a truth commission in Zimbabwe after their liberation. This coming week there will be two days of hearings about human rights abuses in the health sector with case studies like the torture, treatment and death of Steven Biko. We’ll meet against next Sunday. Goodnight.

Notes: Max du Preez

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