Human Rights Violation Hearings — Johannesburg — 1996-04-29

MS SEROKE: Thank you Hennie.  I would just like to say that perhaps you should give that support to your mother, because I gather from the statement that some of the family members say that they got comfort when they heard that the boy was hanged.  I suppose you have different feelings and
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maybe you should help them get to the stage in which you are about your son's death.  Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.  Would anybody like to put a question?

DR BORAINE: I don't want to prolong what for you is a very difficult moment, but to take the sort of stand that you took you must have been pretty lonely with friends and family not really being able to come to terms with that, so you had a double thing to bear, the loss of a child and deep misunderstandings, perhaps anger from family and friends, how did you cope?

JOHAN SMIT: I think I've got the strength from God because in the first instance I really didn't plan to say what I said.  It's only when the journalist interviewed me that I decided I am ready, I've got the guts to say it, it doesn't matter what happens after that.
 But I think at this moment I would like to thank you because you were the only one that ever phoned me and supported me.

CHAIRPERSON: My Afrikaans is not that fluent but I would like to say this in your mother tongue.  The people of this country are incredible and the testimony that you have just given is something which people really admire.  ... our hats off to you and we would really like to express our appreciation and thanks to God that he created people like yourself, and that the reason why we still have this hope that reconciliation will triumph in the end is because there are people like yourself.
 We would like to say how much we appreciate what you have done, and I really hope that all the people in this country, and you've referred in your statement to this fact 
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that we must forget about skin colour and that we must not apply reverse racism in the new South Africa.  I do hope that our people will heed your appeal.  
 On behalf of all of us here and also on behalf of the whole nation I can say there has been so much pain and suffering in this country, on behalf of all of us, I would just like to say thank you very, very much for what you have said here today and for what you have suffered and experienced with your family at a time when nobody would have wanted to believe that such a thing was possible.
 Thank you very, very much.

MR MALAN: May I ask one more question please.  Against the background of having had the privilege of looking at video footage in which Joyce was also involved and also the fact that the Act expects of us to look at the victims' perspectives, the perspective on the conflict you have testified partly on this but one of the questions there asked related to the whole catharsis or therapy whether that also included assuming joint responsibility, the suggestion was made that perhaps you could apologise for the past and here I am referring to a specific occasion, would you like to tell us how you feel about that?

JOHAN SMIT: No.  I feel that we didn't really know beforehand what was happening and we cannot apologise for things which we weren't aware of and which we weren't guilty of.  So the people who must apologise are those who committed transgressions.  We can't apologise on their behalf.

MR MALAN: Did you find peace in the knowledge of what had happened, did that bring reconciliation for you?

JOHAN SMIT: Yes, it gave me peace because I knew what was happening.  I thought that if I placed myself in the other
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person's shoes how would I have felt about it, would I have liked not to be able to vote, not to have any rights, and that kind of thing, and I realised that I would not have liked it, so I realised how it must have felt for them.

MR MALAN: Thank you very much Mr Smit.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very, very much.   Once again our apologies for the delay.

JOHAN SMIT: Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Can we please stand whilst the witnesses and their families leave.
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