Human Rights Violation Hearings — Mabopane — 1997-05-08

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mokoena you've given us a very comprehensive statement, you've told us the whole story, we also  have it on paper it seems there are no more questions, you've satisfied all our questions. Thank-you very much for coming. You've taken us back a long time to the sixties when you started with your political activities and then to 1983, 1987, 1997 many, many things happened to you over the years, we honour you, we are very grateful that you came, and may the future hold all the best to you and to your family. Please greet them from all of us. Thank you very much, you may take your seat again.
 We have, if you could bear with us for another five minutes there are just a few things that need to be said. The first thing what I'd like to say to you is, what happens now with the Truth Commission, as you know very well that the Truth Commission has the three committees who've been working very hard. 
 The first committee is the committee for gross human rights violations, they have hearings all through the country, this to-day was a hearing from the, of the commission of gross human rights violations, you may know that virtually every week of the year up till the end of June, July there will be hearings like this giving people the chance all over the country to come and tell your stories. The important thing is not that a story should be heard in public, the important thing is that a statement must be taken. There are many, many more statements on tape as Joyce Seroke has explained, many, many more statements on paper, but all the statements on paper and  the statements of people who appeared in public will be taken by the Truth Commission for the report. 
 We really want to appeal to you that if there are any people in the community who still need to come to the fore to make their statements let us hear from you. We will see to it that statement takers come here because we need all the statements. We think as I said earlier this morning, we think that by the end of this year maybe between 30,000 and 50;000 statements will be gathered from all the parts of South Africa, but please remember we need statements. 
 The second committee of the Truth Commission is the committee for amnesty, You've read all about that in the newspapers, you listened on the radio, and the TV. The other leg of the Truth Commission is not only what happens to the victims, but what happens to the perpetrators. You know that the very, the very graceful, a very wide opportunity exists for people who were perpetrators in the past, some of them are living in this area too. People who were guilty, who were on the other side, who for many  reasons perpetrated horrible things. There is the possibility of amnesty, that they can come to the fore, that they can give their whole story, that they can show to us that they did it because it was part of the struggle, or a political motive, and if they are completely honest with us, they can be given total, total amnesty. That means that no criminal charge can be laid against them, no civil claim can be maid against them. 
 If you receive amnesty, it is a wonderful, wonderful gift from the nation of South Africa, and now when the perpetrators to be reconciled with the community, reconciled with the people who were wronged, to be part of a new South Africa, but, please remember that as wide as the offer for amnesty is, this Saturday the door closes, this Saturday the door closes. 
 If you know of people who must come for amnesty tell them that they must phone the Gauteng office or any other office in the country, but they must phone before Saturday, 5 o'clock in the afternoon, for then finally, the door closes on amnesty, and there will be no amnesty. And if people don't ask for amnesty, they will live under a cloud, because they can be persecuted, there can be civil claims, there can be criminal charges against them. It is a very serious thing to be a perpetrator and when you do not ask for amnesty. So please take this message back that amnesty, the door closes this Saturday, in two days time.
 There is also the third section of the Truth Commission, and that is the VK for Reparation and Rehabilitation. Many people say, but the Truth Commission seems to be "perpetrator friendly" for there is so much in the whole process for the perpetrators to receive forgiveness, no matter what they did. But the Truth Commission is not only perpetrator friendly, the Truth Commission is in the first sense of the word "victim friendly", because the Truth Commission wants to know what it can do to the victims, to the many victims in the country, from all these statements we received, we make lists and lists and lists of the needs and of the requests of the victims. And you may know that at the end of the life of the Truth Commission a whole series of recommendations will be put before parliament, how can things be done for the victims of the past, to rectify their need, to reinstate them in a position where they would like to be, so all these requests are taken care of and we do hope that in the end when the victims come to the fore they will say - Yes, this whole process of truth of reconciliation has been worth their while, because there will be reparation for them.
 Those are the things that I wanted to say about the life of the Truth Commission. On 14 December the Truth Commission will stop, then we hope that round about 1 March next year, the state, the president will be able to present to the nation of South Africa, the big report of the Truth Commission, telling all about what's happened in South Africa in 30 years since the time of Sharpeville 'till the election that brought the new South Africa to us.
 Secondly, the report will have to tell what happened to all the victims, all the names, all the things that happened to them, also what happened to the perpetrators that asked for amnesty. Also the proposals for reparation, and then thirdly, the last section of the report will have, will be a very interesting section, trying to learn the lessons from the past.
 What should be done to see that we do not fall again in a morass,in the quagmire of the past, that we learn the lessons of the past, that the future can be a better future to all of us.
 We hope that at some stage within the next few weeks, the Truth Commission from Johannesburg will be able to come again, come back again for one more meeting, a report back meeting. If we can do that, we do not succeed in every instance, but if we can do that, we come back to a community after a number of weeks to report back, to hear what's happened in the community since the Truth Commission was here, to hear about the possibilities of reconciliation, to tie all the loose strings. So the VK who prepared for this day hopefully will, in a few weeks time, ask you to invite you to another meeting, where we will be able to report back. But we will keep in touch on the possibility of that.
 Before I ask the Reverend Modau to close our proceedings with prayer, I would like very much to call upon the chief of our Head Office, of the office in Johannesburg, Dr Fazel Randera, to give a vote of thanks.