Special Hearings — Mandela United Football Club Hearings — 1997-11-24

CHAIRPERSON: We welcome you all including media representatives and witnesses. I want to pay a special tribute to my colleagues, the Commissioners and Committee Members in this region who have worked so very hard to prepare for this hearing.  And also our staff, to thank Patrick and all of the staff for working so assiduously. I pay a very warm tribute to my colleagues for all of their dedication.  And we are grateful to the trustees of this place for making this beautiful venue available.
 The TRC is tautologically a Commission. It is not and we must stress this, the TRC and this hearing is not a Court of Law and so this hearing is not a trial. We operate under a Founding Act entitled The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. 
 That Act mandates us to provide as, and I quote "complete a picture as possible of the nature, causes and extent of gross violations of human rights committed during the period from the 1st March 1960", that is to include the Sharpeville Massacre of 21st March 1960, "to the 10th May 1994", the inauguration of the first democratically elected President, i.e. Nelson Mandela.
 These gross violations must have emanated from the conflicts of the past. We are required to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of the victims of such violations, and this is done by one of three Committees of which the Commission is constituted, the Human Rights Violations Committee; we are mandated also to grant amnesty to persons making a full disclosure relating to acts committed with a political motive during this period of 34 years, and this is the work of our Amnesty Committee; and we are then expected to provide for reparations to be granted to victims of gross violations, and this is the work of our third committee, the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee.
 We are required among the recommendations we will make to the President at the end of the life of this Commission, at present July 31st, next year, to provide recommendations that are aimed at a prevention of the commission of gross violations of human rights in the future, and so we are not a Court of Law. I repeat this is not a trial.  There won't be a verdict of guilty or innocent at the end of this hearing or inquiry, come Friday.
 We are gathered to ascertain as much of the truth as we can establish about allegations from those who made statements to the Human Rights Violations Committee. These are statements from the families of alleged victims of gross violations of human rights.
 The Act enjoins that we should be victim friendly; therefore we are always driven by the statements of victims or survivors, and it is no different in this particular instance. Our focus is not a particular individual or group against whom allegations are being made. As always, we are here concerned primarily for the victims and survivors.
 I said there will not be a verdict because we are not a Court. We are here not in order to put anyone in the dock. We are not intent on pilloring, on ridiculing or humiliating anyone. Our objective is to find out the truth in order to assist in the process of healing our land, to promote reconciliation and to ensure that the awful things we hear about will not happen again. 
 We seek the truth, not for the purpose of prosecution, we seek the truth for the healing of our land. On Friday when this hearing finishes, we will not provide you or anyone with a verdict. No, as with all of our other hearings, we will as a Commission subsequently be making a finding as to whether gross violations of human rights have in fact taken place, and the Act is quite clear about what it regards as gross violations - abduction, torture, killing or severe - and we have to seek to establish the identity of the victims.
 The enquiry will assist us in writing our final report, which is to be handed to President Mandela July 31st 1998, which will then be tabled in Parliament for later dissemination to the nation. We have to report inter alia on the antecedents, circumstances, factors and context of the gross violations as well as the perspectives of the victims and the motives and perspectives of those responsible for them.
 The Act makes it absolutely clear that self-incriminating evidence cannot be used in criminal or civil proceedings against the person giving the evidence, but when we draw up our final report, we the Commission will decide on whether we make formal recommendations that the cases of people against whom there is prima facie evidence and who did not apply for amnesty or refused amnesty should be referred to Attorneys General. Whether or not we make such recommendations our process does not impinge upon the criminal justice system of the country, which continues to operate in the normal way.
 We seek again, may I emphasise, the truth, not for purposes of prosecution, but for the purpose of seeking to re-integrate people into our society. The fact that we are conducting this enquiry and that South African and international media have chosen to give it unprecedented attention does not mean that the Commission recognises a moral equivalence between those who fought apartheid and those who opposed it. We made the distinction that most normal human beings would make for instance when someone who is about to be raped kills the person who is going to rape her, that is not the same as when someone morally kills another because they wanted to hijack their car.
 We will consider in our final report whether those fighting apartheid had moral justification, more moral justification than those opposing it. We are not speaking about a moral equivalence. The Act speaks about a legal equivalence, that is when a gross violation of human rights as defined in that law happens then it is a gross violation of human rights, no matter who committed them. If violations are found to have been committed in specific instances by people who opposed apartheid, that is not a judgement on the struggle or its morality.
 I want to finish by just reminding us what the preamble of the Act says -
"The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1993 provides a historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society, characterised by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence for all South Africans irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex.
It is deemed necessary to establish the truth in relation to past events as well as the motives for and circumstances in which gross violations of human rights have occurred and to make the findings known in order to prevent a repetition of such acts in future." 
 And the Constitution states that the pursuit of National Unity, the well-being of all South African citizens and peace require reconciliation between the people of South Africa and the reconstruction of society.  And the Constitution states that there is a need for understanding but not for vengeance; a need for reparation, but not for retaliation; a need for ubuntu, but not for victimisation.
 And the Constitution states that in order to advance such reconciliation and reconstruction amnesty shall be granted in respect of acts, omissions and offences associated with political objectives committed in the course of the conflicts of the past. 
 And the Constitution provides that Parliament shall under the Constitution adopt a law which determines a firm cut-off date and before the cut-off date envisaged in the Constitution provides for the mechanisms, criteria and procedures including tribunals, if any, through which amnesty shall be dealt with, and it is in the spirit of that preamble that we gather today and for the next four days.
 May I introduce my colleagues on the panel. On the extreme end is Faizel Randera, who is a Commissioner and member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and he is the Regional Convenor of our Region here in Gauteng. 
 Hlengiwe Mkhize is a Commissioner and the Chairperson of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee. She is based here in Gauteng.
 Dumisa Ntsebeza is a Commissioner and Head of our Investigative Unit. He is based in Cape Town.
 Alex Boraine is the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, and on my left is Yasmin Sooka. She is a Commissioner and Deputy Chairperson of the Human Rights Violations Committee, and is based here in Gauteng. 
 Khoza Mgojo is a Commissioner, member of the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee, and is based in our KwaZulu Natal/ Free State office in Durban.
 There are these contraptions for those of you who will be wanting to use them to follow the translation, Channel 2 is English, Channel 3 Zulu and Channel 4 Sotho.
 The first witness to testify is Thami Hlatswayo. Order, please. The witness is on my left and on that panel there, formidable, are lawyers who will be representing witnesses, and in front there is Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and her legal team.  And over there are the TRC, Hanif and his team.
 Thami, which language are you going to speak?