Special Report Transcript Episode 74, Section 3, Time 18:21

The Truth Commission special hearings such as those on the health sector, the legal sector and the media have become a very important exercise; not only for the Commission who has to write a full report about our past, but for us as citizens. It gives us a chance to look at what went wrong in the past and it stimulates debate among the different groupings called to testify. This week representatives of black and white business as well as very vocal and angry COSATU workers came together in Johannesburg to talk about apartheid and the economy. It was in many respects a strange hearing, between the statistics and business speak. Afrikaans business in particular made some moving admissions and apologies about the past. It was also a very historic moment to see the powerful men from Anglo American, the richest and most powerful corporation in South Africa, take their place on a Truth Commission platform. But despite the many dark suits and striped shirts one could at times be forgiven for thinking this was a meeting of anti-apartheid movements, especially when powerful companies like Anglo and Barlow Rand claimed to have always opposed apartheid.

Notes: Max du Preez