Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-05-08

DR BORAINE: "relatives and family felt.  I think differently about the struggle, and I know for a fact that people get killed in the struggle for liberation.  It was unfortunate that my brother, who supported the struggle for liberation in a peaceful means, got killed.  He believed in a free and just society for all South Africans, a society where everyone, black and white, could live in harmony.  I want to plead through this forum, Mr Chairman, for an end to all the atrocities committed, whether in Sri Lanka, the Middle East, in Africa, or in KwaZulu Natal.  I urge the leaders to get together and avoid the bloodshed.  We cannot allow children to become the victims of the atrocities to the satisfaction of the politicians.  There has to be an end to violence so that all of us can live in harmony, and let not the death of my brother be in vain.  He wanted a free and just society, where everyone can live happily.  I want to ask for President Nelson Mandela and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi to stop the carnage in KwaZulu Natal so that other people, other children, are not left orphans and belittled, and live in squalor like some of us are doing in this province."

DR BORAINE: Thank you.

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much for a very moving statement.  I want to return to some of the comments you have made, but perhaps Terence would like to complete the picture.  And Terence, I know it's very hard for you, you were only six years old when this happened, and you were made an orphan, but we would be glad to hear from you if you have anything to say.

WITNESS:   I was small at that time, I was six years old.  I do not remember much.  But I would like to say that I don't like to see other kids now, especially today, ending up an orphan like me.  It's hard if you're alone and you do not have any brother or sister growing up, and you do not have parents.  But I had my family which supported me throughout the years, and I am grateful for that.  I'd like to know the person that planted this bomb.  I would like him to come forward, and I would forgive him if he tells me why he did it.

DR BORAINE: Terence, you will obviously have a chance to say something more if you wish, but do you want to stop there for the moment?  Thank you.  That's very brave, thank you.  You have told us a little bit about your brother and his wife, who were so tragically counted amongst the victims of random and calculated violence.  What ages were they when they died?

WITNESS:   My brother was about 34, and my sister-in-law was about 10 years younger.

DR BORAINE: Thank you.  You mentioned that your brother had a commitment to - the liberation of the country, I think is the words you used.  Was he involved - he or his wife, in any particular way with any particular party or particular commitment?

WITNESS:   There are some doubts about that, but some of us who knew my brother at the time would recall some instances where he was involved with the then 1974 incidents when SASO or BPC was around, and he was not an -he was an activist at the time.  My sister-in-law was apolitical.  She never knew what was happening in terms of politics.  But at the time of his death my brother was a family man.  He had a brilliant job.  As a black man he went right up in his job, much to the hate of white people, and he prospered in his life.  Coming from humble beginnings, a humble background, my brother had gone a long way.  He was about to have bought a house.  His wife was pregnant at the time she died, and he was to have taken an insurance policy of about R100 000,00 - I read in the newspaper - the day after the death, because he confirmed the day before the death that he was going to sign these papers.

DR BORAINE: It compounds the tragedy.  You mentioned that in your own response, apart from your personal grief, which is very understandable, that you made a powerful political statement.  Were you in any way involved in politics?  I know that the ANC, for example, was a banned organisation in 1984, so clearly you couldn't have open membership of that party, but just tell us about why you made such a strong statement?  Was it revulsion of violence, or political commitment, or what?

WITNESS:   It was a situation - when one looks at the political arena at the time you find there are bomb explosions.  The perpetrators were not blowing up pylons, they were not blowing up bridges, they were not blowing up Government offices, they were not blowing up the army barracks.  In this instance innocent people were being affected, innocent people were being killed.  And I know for a fact that in a struggle like this innocent people get caught in the crossfire, but I couldn't allow the death of my brother to go in vain, and the Government of the day had a responsibility - not to put people in gaol and chase them overseas in exile, but they had a responsibility to start talking to the leaders of the respective communities, the leaders of organisations which were rightly and justifiably - which justifiably belonged to this country.  Any by banning the organisation and putting people in gaol they couldn't achieve what was the right thing to do, and these type of atrocities would have continued.  And I thought it best that I make a statement like this, much to the detriment of myself in terms of my family.  It was difficult to have made a decision to speak out in that fashion, more so when my own brother and sister-in-law were killed.

DR BORAINE: Can I just ask one last question about that?  When you made that statement in support of negotiation politics, resolution of conflict, were you aware that the allegation would be that the ANC had planted that bomb?

WITNESS:   Of course.  There was no doubt in my mind that the ANC had planted the bomb.  Who else would have done it?  The AWB?

DR BORAINE: What I am asking is you made that statement condemning the Government and its policies knowing that the ANC had planted the bomb, or did you only hear that afterwards?

WITNESS:   I knew full well the ANC had planted the bomb, and I knew full well that the ANC planted the bomb as a means to an end.  But it was unfortunate that people were killed.

DR BORAINE: You illustrate the terrible dilemma of so many, many thousands of people in this country who wanted change so desperately, but were also appalled at the high cost, and you of course felt it personally, and we are sympathetic towards you and feel some of that pain, particularly as you had to bear a great deal of criticism.  Now, did you take Terence into your family almost as a son, or has he lived with some other members of the family, or have you brought him up?

WITNESS:   He was basically brought up at my - at our home.  My problem is that he gave me a hard time from the time now he's bigger than me.  I have to look after him in a fashion and make him into a big boy.  So he was my responsibility from the time his parents died up until now.

DR BORAINE: Did you have any other children?

WITNESS:   I have two children of my own, but they are very young.  But I didn't marry, only because I had a responsibility.

DR BORAINE: You mention that you would like to know who planted the bomb, and I think you're expressing something of your deep disappointment that nobody came forward to at least say, "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened."

WITNESS:   I feel disappointed that the perpetrators of this blast haven't come forward in these 12 years to apologise or take responsibility for it.  And the ANC didn't take responsibility only because of the statements I had made, only because I had said that we were part of the struggle, and we were ironically affected by this.