Human Rights Violation Hearings — Bisho — 1996-09-09

CHAIRPERSON: We would like to bid everyone a hearty welcome to this gathering of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  We would like to welcome everyone to this special sitting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  We welcome you all to this event hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
 We would like to bid a special welcome to those that are going to be giving evidence and also the family members who have come to give them support and we welcome those who will be making special submissions.  I want to express my appreciation to my fellow Commissioners and Committee members and staff especially the Regional Manager and his staff in our office in East London who have all done a splendid job of work all along but each time they seem to excel themselves and we want to say thank you to them for arranging this hearing.
 We would want to express our appreciation too to the University of Fort Hare for making available the facilities that we have here.   
 This is an event hearing which is meant to give a window on a specific kind of incident in which gross violations of human rights have happened so that we may be able, perhaps, to draw conclusions about any common characteristics on features that may be part of events of this kind, massacres as here, as in Boipatong, KwaMakuta etcetera.  From 1990 to 1994 we were as if riding a roller coaster, sometimes we would be on the crest of a wave of optimism as a breakthrough seems to have happened in negotiations in Kempton Park and then, at the next moment we would be thrown into the nadir of despair and it seemed like we would be entering a horrid night and this Bisho massacre was something of that kind, when our hopes for a settlement seemed to be being dashed.  
 We will be hearing from those who suffered as a result of that event, survivors' victims but we will also be hearing from other important role players who will be making submissions that may help us to understand a little bit the psychology and mind of those who gave orders, those who seemed to be moved by bravado etcetera.  One of the things that we have been asked as a Commission is to find ways and means that we will recommend, that will ensure that things of this kind never happen again in our country.
 We will be looking to see how we might be able to inculcate, instil in all of us in this land a deep reverence for human life against the prevalent cheapness that we see for instance in the high level of criminal violence that is happening at the present time in our country.  We hope that as we listen to those who are not statistics but human beings of flesh and blood, that you and I will be filled with a new commitment, a new resolve that our country will be a country where violations of this kind will not happen, that the context will be inhospitable for those who seek to treat others as if they were nothing.
 May I also, ahead of time, express our appreciation to those who help us by providing translation and now that I talk about translation, yes, all right I will, I'm being given wonderful signals over there.  As you know these are headphones.  For those who don't know the 11 official languages of this country, you may use one of these.  Xhosa will be heard on channel three and English will be heard on channel two and please do not remove these things from the venue.  They bite!  Once you leave the venue with these things it turns into something horrible, a monstrous thing that hurts you.
 So I want to say thank you to those lovely persons in the booths who do a wonderful job.  We are saying that this is not a court of law but we have had many hearings and people know how to behave with dignity and we are very grateful for that.  We just want to remind you that this is how we show our solidarity with people who have suffered as much as they have suffered.  We will also not be giving, making findings at the end of this hearing but that is something that is going to happen a little later.
 May we also remind you that although we are not a court of law, if anyone deliberately misleads the Commission, then they will be guilty of a criminal offence the same criminal offence as if they had done it in a court of law but I'm quite certain nobody wants to come here and  [indistinct] but I have to give you that warning.  There are wonderful, I mean all of you are very warmly welcomed but we want to be able to welcome the Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr Kasrils, Mr Ronnie Kasrils and Ms Kasrils and their speaker and deputy speakers of the Provincial Legislature, Mr and Ms Winty and Ms Nash.   We welcome as well all the mayors who are here, actually you are supposed to stand when I call you out so that the people can see you and if they like you  [indistinct].  We would ask the mayors to stand please.  MEC's, there is MEC Ngonyama and Umhlalo and Mangocho.  They say that Cyril is here.  The speaker's microphone is not on.  The speaker's microphone is not on.  
 I would like to introduce members of the panel.  Father Mcebisi Xundu, he is a member of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee and he is based in our office here in East London.  Tiny Maya is a member of our Human Rights Violation Committee and she is based here in East London.  Commissioner Bongani Finca.  Why did you applaud for him and not for the others?  He is a member of our Human Rights Violations Committee and he is also the boss man in our office, our original office here in East London and they are doing a splendid job of work.  Then Alex Boraine who is Deputy Chair of the Commission, a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and he is based in our headquarters in Cape Town.  Oh and his spouse is here just to make sure he is behaving, Ms Boraine.  Dr Mapule Ramashala, he is a Commissioner and a member of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee and she is based in our office in Cape Town.  Dumisa Ntsebeza is a Commissioner, a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and he is also head of our investigating unit.  Should they applaud for you?  And then Ntsikelelo Sandi is a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and he is based in our office in East London.
 I want to introduce the people who are sitting also behind here.  Advocate Denzil Potgieter is a Commissioner, a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and he is based in our office in Cape Town.  And it's a very special pleasure to welcome back June Crichton.  She left because, she is a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee.  She resigned because of ill health and very wonderfully she has received a clean bill of health and has resumed since the 1st September which is wonderful.  June Crichton.
 Right you are, now I call on Reverend Finca.