Special Report Transcript Episode 70, Section 1, Time 25:44

I realized that I could have done more to turn the tide of apartheid earlier. I acknowledge that I could have done more in the State Security Council, in the cabinet and in Parliament to ensure that political opponents were not killed or tortured by government institutes. I could have and should have done more to find out whether the accusations that government institutions were killing and torturing political opponents were true. Not one of us in the former government can say today that there were no suspicions on our part that members of the South African Police were engaged in irregular activities. The decisive question is not whether we as a cabinet approved the killing of a specific political opponent. We did not do so. The question is whether we should have done more to ensure that it did not happen. I deeply regret this omission. May God forgive me.

Notes: Pik Botha

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