| Time | Summary | |
| 17:32 | Have you apologised about wasting a valuable life that might have made a valuable contribution to the people of South Africa? // No, how can I ever apologise for an act of war. War is war. | Full Transcript |
| 17:53 | Amnesty hearings have been slow and painful, the process sometimes ground to a snail’s pace through administrative bungling, overemphasis on legal procedure and a completely unexpected wave of applications. The timeframe of the Commission was extended, the number of members dramatically enlarged. But all this fancy footwork may still not be enough for the mountain of unfinished business. The nation is still waiting to hear what shocking revelations might come from the amnesty applications of serial murderer Eugene de Kock and superspy Craig Williamson. | Full Transcript |
| 18:30 | ‘Unearthing the Truth’ // Perhaps the most disappointing part of the Truth Commission has been its investigations unit. They were handicapped from the start by rules restricting the kind of investigators it could employ. The regional head of investigations in the Eastern Cape was fired from misconduct and the national director of investigations, Glen Goosen resigned over clashes with his boss, Dumisa Ntsebeza. Cases like the murder of David Webster should have been cracked by the unit but in this instance the justice system has showed up the shortcomings of the Truth Commission. The investigation unit’s most notable failure has been its inaction over the violence in KwaZulu-Natal. 20 000 people have died here in the terrible conflict between the ANC and the IFP, but there has been little explanation of who ordered and carried out the violence. The TRC never subpoenaed Mangosuthu Buthelezi or any of his Lieutenants to explain their role. One of the most notable successes of the ...more | Full Transcript and References |
| 21:14 | ‘The Politicians’ Version’ // Our weapons, ammunition, uniforms, vehicles, radios and other equipment were all developed and provided by industry. Our finances and banking were done by bankers who even gave us covert credit cards for covert operations. Our chaplains prayed for our victory and our universities educated us in war. Our propaganda was carried by the media and our political masters were voted back into power time after time with ever increasing majority. | Full Transcript and References |
| 21:56 | These political masters of both apartheid and the liberation movements were interrogated at two special hearings. At the first hearing they explained their role in history. | Full Transcript |
| 22:08 | It remains however a sad fact that we have to admit that the historic struggle of the Afrikaner for freedom and self realization did not bring about the sensitivity that was needed in order to understand the same motivations and concerns when they came from black people. | Full Transcript |
| 22:26 | The Africanists opposed the Freedom Charter, because it diluted the true nature of the struggle. | Full Transcript |
| 22:34 | The ANC made detailed submissions in which they dealt head on with a long list of thorny issues like necklacing, civilian casualties inflicted by their bombing campaigns and even torture in their own camps. | Full Transcript |
| 22:47 | And the decision was in the conduct of war it is not possible to avoid civilian losses. // After the few incidences where civilians were caught, the president called us in and asked us to put a stop to this method of operation. I gave the instructions to all our forces to stop using the landmine. | Full Transcript and References |
| 23:28 | ‘With our necklaces we shall liberate this country.’ // On hindsight if we delayed in the judgement of any person too long in appealing for the end of this practice and to condemn it, then on hindsight, yes we made a mistake. We should have done it earlier. | Full Transcript |
| 23:51 | But the National Party when questioned about the widespread killing and torture of opponents and the use of covert units like that at Vlakplaas and the Civil Cooperation Bureau, was not able to explain who took the decisions and who should take final responsibility. | Full Transcript and References |
| 24:06 | In dealing with the unconventional strategies from the side of the government, I want to make it clear from the outset that within my knowledge and experience they never included the authorisation of assassination, murder, torture, rape, assault or the like. // Where does political accountability lie for the killings that have taken place, both inside our country and outside of our country? // The news and these revelations are only coming to the fore now and I simply couldn’t believe my eyes and my ears as to what these people were saying. People were saying that they had gained the impression that they were authorized to do certain things and they say they gained the impression from documents which are no longer in our possession. So, it wasn’t policy, so the policeman on the ground couldn’t have said it was in line with your policy. | Full Transcript |
| 25:00 | When generals from security structures put in place by the politicians were called to special hearings they said the bottom line was that orders were misinterpreted by the security operatives on the ground. | Full Transcript |
| 25:13 | I did not give any policeman any illegal instruction, unlawful instruction. Kill a person, assault a person, or do anything of that nature. | Full Transcript and References |
| 25:27 | ‘The Broader Picture’ // Part of the Truth Commission’s mandate is to give context to the gross human rights violations they have been investigating. That is why not only individuals, but whole sections of society have been called to account. Institutions like business, the medical profession, the media, lawyers, prisons and organised religion have been asked to explain how and why they acted or omitted to act. The only people who refused to appear were the judges. | Full Transcript |
| 26:03 | The fact that whites have been advantaged within the private sector is undeniable. | Full Transcript and References |
| 26:12 | The state’s relation with the media as a macro continuum, it goes right from the owners of the media, the people that own the newspaper, the editors who control the policy of the newspaper right down to the chap who clean the dustbin at night and stuff it all in an envelope and give it to you. | Full Transcript and References |
| 26:32 | Event hearings saw testimony from both victims and perpetrators, painting a fuller picture of incidents like the 1986 war in Crossroads, the Bisho massacre and the killings of the Gugulethu Seven. | Full Transcript and References |
| 26:52 | During the demonstration there was a house which was locked and we were shown as to how to penetrate the house and attack we shoot and we told that when you enter a house you should have a hand grenade. We were using shotguns and AK 47s. Those were the firearms that we were taught about. | Full Transcript and References |
| 27:14 | It looked as if we were in a butchery. It was full of blood; the bodies were lying on the blood. The shelves were full of bodies. | Full Transcript and References |
