Amnesty Hearings — Potchefstroom — UNKNOWN

<UNKNOWN>: Did you have a close relationship or a poor relationship with your father?

MR VAN STRAATEN: As I said, we had a very strong relationship with our father, it was also a very strict relationship, things had to be right, you simply did a thing the right way or you did not do it.

<UNKNOWN>: Then your father died, how old were you when this happened?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I was ten years old when my father died.  I missed my father, and the things which I remembered and which I learnt from him remained with me.

<UNKNOWN>: What happened after your father's death, did you stay in Vereeniging?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes, we stayed in Vereeniging, I went to secondary school.   This was a very difficult time, because I missed my father a great deal.

<UNKNOWN>: Then your mother married again?

MR VAN STRAATEN: This is true, she married again.   We never accepted my new father.

<UNKNOWN>: When your mother married again, these values of your father, was this continued in the context of the new family situation, or what was the approach then?

MR VAN STRAATEN: To some extent this was the case, that the same values continued, but not to the same extent as my
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father, my father was very strict, he simply said a thing once.   My stepfather rather preferred just beating one up.

<UNKNOWN>: What was the political view of your stepfather, did he also communicate to you as a child, did he teach you any political views, or in what way did you experience his political principles?

MR VAN STRAATEN: My stepfather differed a great deal from my own father.   He did not attempt, in the same strict manner, to communicate his political values to us.

<UNKNOWN>: You've already testified that the years you spent at secondary school was very difficult.   What secondary school did you attend?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I went to the Higher Technical School in Vereeniging.

<UNKNOWN>: You've testified that these were difficult
years.   Why do you consider these years to have been difficult?

MR VAN STRAATEN: We were very poor, we grew up very poor.  As a young man, I never knew what I wanted or what the reasons were for all the various meaningless fights.   In standard eight I wanted to leave school to join the military.  I applied, I was accepted and I went into the army.   I was there for two weeks, but then I was informed that I was not old enough to be in the army, I wasn't 16 years old yet.   I then returned to school.    I completed standard nine and ten, and then started working at Owen and Chapman in Vereeniging.   I started working as an apprentice kettle maker.   I worked there for about six months, when I was called up for National Service.   I was called up to 8 SAI in Upington, which when I arrived there, in July 1979 I arrived there and started with my basic training.   I
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completed my basic training after about five months and I was then transferred to Kimberley, where I followed a subsequent course in information, as well as a driver's course.   After completion of these courses, I was transferred to Second South African Battalion in Walvis Bay.  Upon arrival there, we received further information and training and we were then sent to Chavello(?), where we received a further four weeks of training in bush war, camouflage, etcetera.   From Chavello, we went to Poha(?) in the Kakoaland.   That was our zero base where we received instructions, received our provisions and then went to the base we were to man.

<UNKNOWN>: You said that you received instructions and training.   This instruction and training that you received, what was its nature, what kind of training and instructions were these?

MR VAN STRAATEN: This had to do with small weapons handling, such as carabans(?), hand grenades and the various kinds of hand arms, as well as mortar training, and sometimes this was only given to certain persons.

<UNKNOWN>: What kind of instructions did you receive?

MR VAN STRAATEN: We were already in Ojavelo(?) at the time and in that area the enemy was normally black people.   It was difficult to believe this, because in the time in which I trained, they told us we would only fight Cubans and Portuguese in the area of Angola and the other states in that area involved in that particular war.   We then went to the base we were to man.   Upon arrival there, we built the base, took our positions and we went out daily on patrol.   We went on these patrols throughout the area we manned and we learnt that without information from the people, we had
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to use violence to gain information.   This is how the situation continued.   It was fairly quiet in the Kaokoalands at that time.   We mainly took out landmines, disarmed landmines, and such people as happened to be in trouble, people for instance who hurt themselves in the mountains.

<UNKNOWN>: With regard to background, I can understand to some extent that your testimony is being guided to indicate what the person's attitude was.   With regard to the detail of that which happened through the course of years, insofar as it does not have implication on this particular deed, we would appreciate it if you could use your discretion to try and prevent this from running too long, so that we can get to the actual facts.   For how long were you on the border?

MR VAN STRAATEN: At that time I was about 3 1/2  months on the border.

<UNKNOWN>: How long were you on the border in all and when did you clear out from the army?

MR VAN STRAATEN: After this period, 4 1/2  months in Ovamboland, subsequent to the time in the Kaokoa fields and then I returned and then we went back to the border for an additional four months, so all in all I spent about 18 months on the border.

<UNKNOWN>: At the end of that time you were then cleared out from service?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes, that was June 1981.

<UNKNOWN>: Could you briefly tell the commission how you experienced your years in the military, what did you take out of this experience?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I experienced my military years as traumatic, of my friends died under these circumstances, I
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was often involved in contact situations.   During this time, I saw people shot or in one or another way hurt on a daily basis.

<UNKNOWN>: After leaving the military, where did you go, did you return to the Republic?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes, I returned to the Republic and I then returned to Vereeniging.

<UNKNOWN>: What did you do in Vereeniging?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I returned to work in the Vereeniging area.   After about 13 months I was called up again to the Vereeniging Kommando, where we continued with patrols and guard duty at various large places.

<UNKNOWN>: What kind of work did you do during this time?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I was an apprentice kettle maker.

<UNKNOWN>: Upon your return from the border, with regard to your political ties, what would that have been upon your return, did you join a political party or not?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I did not join a political party at that time.   Roughly at 1985, I moved to Edenvale.   I then did not get involved, but agreed strongly with the points of view of the AWB and their actions, so I attended their meetings, and that's as far as my political involvement went.

<UNKNOWN>: If you said that you agreed with the AWB, what of that which they said did you agree with?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I agreed with the notion of Afrikaans schools, own Afrikaans schools, self-determination, and what I mean by self-determination is that white people should be on their own.   At that time I did not agree with the mixing of races and so forth.

<UNKNOWN>: Was this a position that you believed in or
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did you not believe in this position?

MR VAN STRAATEN: It's not that I did not believe in this position, but this is how I grew up, my feelings never changed all along.