Human Rights Violation Hearings — Bisho — 1996-11-18

MR POTGIETER: Dirk van der Bank on the stage please.

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: (sworn states)

MR POTGIETER: You have been approached to assist the Commission in looking into the incident which has become known as the Bisho massacre.

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: Yes.

MR POTGIETER: And without any further ado I am going to ask you to please make your submission in that regard.  Thank you.

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: Thank you very much Mr Chairman.  Mr Chairperson first of all I would like to say that it must be a very painful experience, and through you I would like to speak to the people to be sitting here.  It must be a painful experience for us all that were there that day.  I also want to say that I think, especially for those people who have lost their loved ones, it must be very painful to come here and to re-live that horrible incident that happened that day.  I can say nothing, and I want to say it in public, I can say nothing else than to admire the courage of the people who have lost their loved ones to come and sit here and re-live every moment of that again.
 I also want to say I lived in Ciskei.  I was appointed as Deputy Commander after the Jamongile affair, and I had to resign from the South African Defence Force, because I was asked, there was a crisis with the leadership in the CDF if 
EAST LONDON HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
2 D VAN DER BANK
I would mind to take over.  I said yes I will at high risk of losing everything that I have done for 20 years in the South African Defence Force.  I am not saying this to you because I am saying it to the panel, but because I liked the country, I loved staying here.  I have seen children walking every day to school unlike other people are used to taking in smart cars to school, they walk 20 to 30 kilometres to school without water, the basic food etc, and they are still smiling.  I have seen people driving past them with empty cars, not giving them lifts.  I have seen that to other people, to the older people also.  People standing in queues for pension for hours and hours without basic facilities.  That is one of the reasons why I stayed, I thought that maybe we can help.
 I was acutely aware of the fact that when I arrived here the soldiers were seen as a sort of another community.  The soldiers and the rest of the Ciskean people.  I tried my best to rectify that, because I know it's not only being a soldier, a soldier is also part of the community.  That man must come from somewhere, and that somewhere is a community.  He is still part of the headman system.  He is still under the authority of his father, so I had to appreciate all those inputs whilst being the deputy commander, and I tried my best to accommodate that.
 I was there, I was not one day absent from my duty.  I stayed in Ciskei.  I went through all the grief, the joyfulness, everything that happened in Ciskei I went through that. 
 In the absence of the then commander I have said to the people, to the soldiers, that we realise that soldiers are not entities, that soldiers have family, loved ones all over EAST LONDON HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
3 D VAN DER BANK
the country and most probably because you cannot pressure somebody to belong to a certain political party, that most probably some of his closest relatives will be in the march.  So in the absence, when I briefed the politicians and I said to them, I was on record, three things, four things, I said to them please there must be a political solution to this beforehand, there must be no shooting, because Ciskei and its people cannot afford any harm to anybody, any human right violation, we cannot afford that.
 Secondly integration was a fact, it was a question of time.  So why rock the boat now, nobody needs it.  There were people with careers in the Ciskei that should go forward.
 Thirdly, there must be a political solution to this.  There is no other solution to the march that was to come.  And I was on record, and I was so confident that I left my family in my home, they were 800 metres from the march, I said that there will be no shooting that day, I trust that everybody will stick to the agreed contracts.
 We did everything humanly possible to avoid any shooting. 
 Lastly, from my side, I would like to say, it was the most horrific and tragic experience in my life.  I cannot talk on behalf of other people, but I can presume in their lives too.  When the shots started it felt like a hammer blow in my stomach, and I said to myself God, no, this cannot be happening.  What else can I do but to say I am truthfully sorry on what happened that day.  I am trying my best to feel with you. I am waking up for the last four years every morning re-living the moments.  It is engraved, I think I will take it to my grave what happened that day.  EAST LONDON HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
4 D VAN DER BANK
Should I have said or done anything wrong that could have contributed to this tragedy I can only ask forgiveness, I cannot ask the people to forget.  I can only ask forgiveness. 
 Thank you Mr Chairman.

MR POTGIETER: Thank you General.  The comment I would like to make is to say that you are definitely a person of courage and such a contrast to other testimonies that we have heard in this regard.  But let me ask my fellow panellists whether they have got any questions that they would like to pose to you.  Advocate Sandi.

MR SANDI: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr van der Bank can I ask you, you say on that particular day you did everything humanly possible to prevent the tragedy, is that to say that you anticipated that something could happen on that day, and can you tell us what steps exactly did you take to try and prevent this tragedy?

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: Mr Chairman thank you.  I was deputy-commander, I was not the commander on that day.  All the steps that we have taken, I appreciate your question, we have tried to do before that day.  We have briefed the politicians of Ciskei, we have briefed the RSA politicians, and like any military activity you spell out certain scenarios and you give advice on what you think would be the best.  If that is ignored then there is nothing I can do about it.  That is what we did Sir.  And we were all very relieved, I think at quarter to 12 that day it came through that an agreement has been reached that the march can proceed to the Bisho stadium.  We were all relieved that some sort of solution has been reached.

MR SANDI: Can you say why you thought something could
EAST LONDON HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
5 D VAN DER BANK
happen on that day, why did you think there could be havoc on that day?

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: Sir, Mr Chairman it was general talk.  There were so many incidents beforehand, rumours running around, conflict between all parties which we know what happened, so it was the possibility that something could happen was not ruled out.

MR SANDI: What was the official attitude to these rumours, were these rumours or talks going around believed by the authorities?

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: I cannot talk for them Mr Chairman.  I have anything within my capabilities to say that a political solution must be reached, please, reach a political solution.

MR SANDI: Did you personally believe such rumours?

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: Mr Chairman rumours are not facts, but if one lived in Ciskei at that stage and we have all lived there and you have seen all the incidents, experienced all the incidents then anything could happen.

MR SANDI: When you say you were the deputy commander on the day in question, is that to say that you were exercising delegated authority, someone, that is the actual commander had delegated his powers on to you?

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: No Sir, the commander was General Olshig(?).

MR SANDI: He was in charge?

DIRK ADRIAAN VAN DER BANK: He was in charge, yes.

MR SANDI: Thank you Chair.