Amnesty Hearings — Potchefstroom — UNKNOWN

<UNKNOWN>: Please talk more loudly.

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes, possibly to a friend or some other
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supporter of the AWB, who could maybe whisper someone in the ear that you did this action and that you had intended to do more.

<UNKNOWN>: The owners of the particular business, did you intend to let them know or bring your plans under their attention?

MR VAN STRAATEN: No.

<UNKNOWN>: No further questions, chair.   Chair, the next witness is Gideon van Straaten.
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GIDEON VAN STRAATEN: (sworn states)

<UNKNOWN>: Mr Chair, before continuing with this particular applicant, it came to my attention that I made an error when I stated to the first applicant that he was born on the 5th of March, that is mistaken, the first applicant was born on the 2nd of March.   Adriaan was born on the 2nd of March, Willem on the 5th of March.   In fact, Chair, that is the case.   Mr Van Straaten, you were born on the 11th of April 1966 in Vereeniging?

MR VAN STRAATEN: That is correct.

<UNKNOWN>: Could you tell the commission what about your childhood, how you were raised, the circumstances of your childhood?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I was born on the 11th of April 1966 in Vereeniging.   I am the third youngest, I have two sisters and six bothers.

<UNKNOWN>: You said that you were the third eldest?

MR VAN STRAATEN: No, the third youngest.

<UNKNOWN>: The third youngest.

MR VAN STRAATEN: In 1972 I began my schooling.   My father died in that same year.

<UNKNOWN>: Could you speak slightly louder please?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes.

<UNKNOWN>: So in 1972 you went to school, is that the case?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes, that was the primary school.   In the same year my father died.

<UNKNOWN>: The relationship between yourself and your father, could you tell or explain to the commission how strong this relationship was?

MR VAN STRAATEN: At the time, I was rather young, I was only six years old when my father died.   I only remember
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about him very vaguely.   What I do remember is that he was very strict.

<UNKNOWN>: What values did he communicate to you, if any?

MR VAN STRAATEN: You know, as we grew up, he was a very strict person, for him things were only right or wrong, you couldn't get past him with anything wrong.

<UNKNOWN>: You had heard your elder brother, Adriaan, giving testimony that your father communicated certain values to him.   Would you say that the same values were communicated to yourself, or did you experience it differently?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I don't think it was quite the same with me, because I was quite young at the time.   Only later did these view arise in me.

<UNKNOWN>: In 1972 you went to primary school?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes.

<UNKNOWN>: This was still in Vereeniging?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes, it was still in Vereeniging.   We lived on a smallholding and later moved into town.

<UNKNOWN>: When was this?

MR VAN STRAATEN: We moved into town roughly in 1974, that's when we moved to town.   In 1975 my mother remarried.   The relationship with my stepfather was such, while he was good to us, it was difficult for me to accept him as father.

<UNKNOWN>: Where did you complete your schooling?

MR VAN STRAATEN: We then moved to a different house and I went to the Primary School Handhaven, where I completed standard five in 1979.

<UNKNOWN>: Did you complete your secondary schooling?

MR VAN STRAATEN: No, in 1980, I entered standard six in (Indistinct) Technical School, Vereeniging, that's where I started my secondary schooling, and that carried through to
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1983, when I began my two years of military service.

<UNKNOWN>: How old were you at that time and what standard did you complete?

MR VAN STRAATEN: I left school upon completing standard eight.

<UNKNOWN>: You then went to the army?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes.   I completed my two years of military service in the Air Force in Pretoria at Valhalla, and then I went to Hoedspruit Air Force Base.

<UNKNOWN>: Did you complete your basic training?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes.   We had various phases, including a weapons phase or arms phase, in which we were trained how to do armed combat, how to fight with an enemy.   At that time most of the enemy were black.

<UNKNOWN>: Is that what you were taught?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes.

<UNKNOWN>: You then went to Hoedspruit, is that the case?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Yes.

<UNKNOWN>: Is that where you received your military training?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Indeed, I completed my military training there, 1985 I went to the border for six months.

<UNKNOWN>: What did you do on the border, what unit did you do your service in?

MR VAN STRAATEN: It was in the Air Force.   We were only guards, we did guard duty at the gates of the base.

<UNKNOWN>: In '85 you then left the army?

MR VAN STRAATEN: Indeed.

<UNKNOWN>: Upon reflection, what values did you take with you out of the army, what was your experience of military training?
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MR VAN STRAATEN: /...
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