Human Rights Violation Hearings — Balfour — 1997-05-23

MR COETZER: I want to first of all use the opportunity to say to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission before we talk about the actual event, to thank you for the opportunity given to me to bring testimony this morning.  The even also occurred on the tenth of June 1986 at about twenty past seven in the morning.  In 1986 I was a Matric scholar at the Volksrust High School and at that time I was eighteen years of age.  I already had a driver's licence so I used my own transport to school.
 On the Tuesday morning of the tenth of June, I was the first person to use the farm road, this is a small entry into our house, about eighty meters away from the Main Road.  I was the first person to cross that and the landmine was placed in a very narrow gateway.  Only a single vehicle would be able to pass through the gateway at the time.  The landmine was planted in a hole which had previously been made by the vehicles and because of the rain the vehicles kept on making this hole deeper and deeper.   About two weeks prior to the incident I approached one of the farm workers and asked him to level the road so that we will not always be driving through this hole.  It was that particular hole which was then used for planting the landmine.  
 The morning of the tenth of June I was on my way, I cannot recall anything of the incident.  I had been in a coma for two days or I was unconscious.  I woke up two days later in a Johannesburg hospital.  I didn't know what had happened or why I was in hospital.  It was because of the assistance of my father who came to tell me exactly what had occurred, that I later understood the event.  
 Before I continue I want to first tell exactly what had happened.  The worst of all of the entire experience was the loss of my left leg, from the knee downwards.  The violence of the landmine explosion blew my entire foot away.  The amputation was then done about ten centimeters below my knee.  As you can see I'm walking very comfortably with my artificial leg.  My left leg was also broken and my right foot was also damaged and my ankle was broken.  As you can read from the reports from the Orthopedic Surgeon in Bloemfontein which I've provided you with, he has said in that report that the back of my foot was entirely destroyed and it was not possible for me to have normal use of that left.   Other injuries was my right arm.  Both of the pipes of the bone was broken and also the top pipe of the bone so there were three breakages in my arm and there are still metal plates in my arm and in my leg.  There are about twenty screws and three plates still in my arm and in my leg.  There is also a metal spike in there.  I also had an injury to my jaw and to my skull.  Both sides of the jaw,  the jaw was broken in three different places.  The first evening after the incident my leg was amputated.   Other operations were carried out and not all of the injuries could be treated that evening because I had already been under anesthetic for too long and this had to then wait for a later time, for further operations.   If I recall correctly it must have been eight days after the incident before they could begin work on my jaw.  I stayed in hospital for about twenty three days.  
 Upon my return home, it was a very uncomfortable atmosphere on the farm.  I returned home and did not know what to expect on my arrival at home.  I did not realize how the vehicle in which I had driven had been damaged.  I was under the impression that the vehicle would be able to be repaired.  Upon my return to the farm there was these very tense moments.  The atmosphere was entirely different from before.  There was tension on the farm.  There was tension amongst the members of my family because one did not realize whether such an event would occur again.   Apart from that I want to continue to say what my intention is here this morning.  I am not here this morning to, and I must say that I have personally seen the people who had planted the landmine.  I know what they look like.  There were three persons involved.  I am not here to-day to blame these people for anything or to say anything about them in a negative way.  My intention here this morning is to see whether I cannot make a contribution towards Truth and Reconciliation in this country.  
 In addition the consequences of this incident for me as a human person was the following.  The first thought that one had was that of disappointment.  I was disappointed that other people of this country, other South Africans felt free to do something like this.  It is a terrifying thought to think that we as people in South Africa are not able to live together in the love and the peace that Jesus Christ has bought for us two thousand years ago on the Cross.  The question which I ask myself is, why did this happen to me ?  What would the purpose be of all of this for me ?  I quickly came to the realization that this is not the kind of question that one should ask but rather that one should ask, how one can use that which has happened to you to serve God and how you can use the experience to mean something to other people.  
 Everything that happened to me, I want to say to-day to everyone that hears me, to the whole world and it is good that everyone in South Africa wants to co-operate to bring about Peace and Reconciliation in our nation.  However, there are pre-requisites to such peace and reconciliation and the first such pre-requisites which I want to share with you is that one gets the idea that there are people who have no feeling of remorse.  If everyone who is responsible for loss of life or loss of property or whatever other loss has occurred, if all of these people want to experience true remorse, that already would be a great gain towards peace and reconciliation.  
 A second idea which I want to emphasize is, we must forgive one another.  It does not matter what has happened, without true forgiveness there will never every be reconciliation in our nation.  I want to feel free to-day to come and say here and I have already said that ten years ago in a congregation when I was asked by a local Minister to bring testimony that I have forgiven and forgotten ...........  (end of tape)  We will walk around with feelings of revenge in our hearts.  After all God tells us in the Bible that we must not seek revenge.  We must not answer evil with evil.   In God's word he said to us that we must obey him.  
 I want to quote from Philippines Three, Verse Fourteen which reads, I am able to do everything because of Jesus Christ who gives me strength.  If in the process of reconciliation, we want to recognize Jesus Christ as our Saviour then the process of reconciliation will be far easier to achieve.  
 I also want to refer to Philippines Four, Verses Six to Seven which reads, do not be concerned for anything but rather in every case, bring your needs and desires to God through prayer and with pleading and with gratitude.  
 In Verse Seven, then the peace of God which exceeds all reason will be in your thoughts and hearts and will guard you in Christ Jesus.  Should we therefore not hold onto and obey God's command in Scripture, then all efforts towards true reconciliation will not succeed.  True reconciliation will only be possible if we forgive one another as I've already mentioned.  If there is true forgiveness for one another as Christ has forgiven our sins through his blood on the Cross.  In conclusion, in South Africa we must take great care with regard to the problem of peace and reconciliation, not to try and achieve this through human means.  As human beings we have theories, we have notions, we have techniques for approaching problems.  This is simply normal and there's nothing wrong with this but however, if we want to do this entirely out of our own strength, we will fail.  We must prayerfully approach this process.  We must recognize our dependence on Jesus Christ who achieved salvation for us two thousand years ago on the cross.  Reconciliation in this nation, in our nation will only be possible if this reconciliation gives Jesus Christ his proper place.  The Bible also tells us that we must know him in all of our ways and he will smooth our way.  
 I therefore conclude.  Despite everything that has happened, I am not at all sad about what has happened anymore.  I am grateful to God for both the suffering which I experienced and the strength which God has given me and will give me.  In the past eleven years God has given me strength.  I want to thank God for the strength which he had given me to accept that which has happened to me and that he has helped to forgive those who perpetrated this act.  It is my prayer and the prayer of my heart this morning that the Holy Spirit will work in every South African so that we will be bound together in true peace and true reconciliation and I want to emphasize this, true reconciliation must be through Jesus Christ who made this possible on the cross.  I thank you very much.