Special Report Transcript Episode 70, Section 1, Time 12:53

It was never the intention on the part of the political authorities to use those words. I told you where they came from. Our omission was that we didn”t actually go and look at those things and correct it. But it is true, that as it flowed down the structures, right down to the ground, it could have created or increased the opportunities for people acting outside the boundaries of the law. // If you as Minister of Law received a memorandum which comes from the Eastern Cape Joint Management System which says the leaders of the UDF must be eliminated…surely it was your prerogative to say, if this means arrest, let it be … in those terms because we don”t want a situation arising afterwards that people will eliminate people, in the sense of killing them, when in fact what was meant was that they should be arrested or be detained. // May I say immediately that you are correct in saying that the submissions which we received and the documents which we received in the State Security Council and at cabinet were drafted by officials? The ministers didn”t actually write or draft them and the officials at the State Security Council came largely from the security fraternities: soldiers, policemen and people from National Intelligence. So the language used there was not in the first instance the language used by the ministers. And secondly, you are totally correct; that is what I tried to convey in my submission. I should have queried this. I sat there and I read it. I should have queried it and said look you can”t use the word ”eliminate.”

Notes: Adriaan Vlok; Dumisa Ntsebeza (Truth Commissioner); Adriaan Vlok

References: there are no references for this transcript