Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-10-31

MR JANUARY: The work was computer related.  We did a full 
range of services from desk top publishing through to installations 
of computers.
	On the night of the incident, the 30th of December 1993, 
myself and my cousin, Grant January stopped at the Heidelberg 
Tavern in Observatory.  Within minutes of entering the Tavern, we 
had barely sat down, there were loud popping noises which I 
immediately identified as gunfire.
	I wasn't at that point sure whether the gunfire was inside or 
outside the Tavern, but judged it safe to or the safest course being 
to take cover under the table at which I was sitting.
	Early in the shooting, I was hit in the back of my left leg 
which caused extensive injuries to my leg and pelvis.  I will briefly 
outline the nature of those injuries.  The bullet resulted in a 
shattered thigh bone and I got a 40 cm steel pin which runs from my 
knee to my hip joint.  I have also since about a year after the 
incident, on the 8th of November 1994, I had a nerve graph to try 
and repair extensive nerve damage within my left leg, but this has 
not had much effect.  With the result that my left leg is still pretty 
useless today and I walk with a limp.
	I have been recommended by a family Doctor to walk at least 
with a stick.  For the first year I used crutches exclusively, but since 
1995 I have been able to walk without the use of crutches and 
although on recommendation I should be using a stick, I find this 
impractical for the type of work I do at the moment.
	While I was in hospital and on crutches and in the first few 
months after I was shot, the nature of my injuries was such that I 
was unable to continue with my business.  It resulted in the loss of 
that business.  My brother was without work and my parents were 
without the support I had provided them.  In fact the situation had 
been reversed, it was now my parents who supported me and my 
brother was left to find employment elsewhere, which he eventually 
did.
	Needless to say, being a cripple today as it were, I have 
suffered extensively in terms of pain, discomfort, I've had a 
complete change of lifestyle, the loss of my business, the loss of 
income and the work I do today, in no way can be compared to what 
I used to do before I was so injured.
	In this last four years, I have also lost many friends and 
alienated family members as a result of behaviour and personality 
changes due to depression, frustration and bitterness.  Many days I 
was unable to get myself out of bed in the morning, because I felt 
not only had I lost the use of my leg, I had also lost my business, my 
income, my whole future as it were.  Often I felt that there was no 
reason to go on, or to do anything.
	Even today I suffer from continuous discomfort and after a 
long day of work, I often have to ask a family member for a massage 
to ease back pain and pain in my hip.  The loss of sensation which I 
have suffered in my left leg, is extremely dangerous as well, as I 
often step in things or bang my leg or foot against obstructions 
without realising that I have done so.
	If I am lucky this only results in a fall which is not too bad, 
and I have learnt to cope with it, but sometimes I have hurt myself 
more than I realised.  
	Regarding my position on amnesty I would also like to say the 
following.  It has been an exceptionally difficult four years since my 
disability.  I have suffered from a great many things.  I have 
undergone various operations.
	I lost my business, etc.  I have continually prayed to God to 
give me strength to face these hardships and the courage to forgive 
the men who inflicted this disaster on my family.  This forgiveness 
did not come easily and for many years I dreamt of vengeance as it 
were, of somehow getting my own back, but I can now say that the 
Lord God, my Saviour, has given me the strength to unconditionally 
forgive these men regardless of whether they are asking for 
forgiveness or not.  I unconditionally forgive them for what they 
have done to me personally, however, I obviously cannot - it is not 
my place to forgive them for what they have done to the other 
people who have suffered as a result of their actions.  Or as it were 
for what this country has had to go through as a result of the 
actions.
	I cannot say with any truth that I have forgiven the people 
who sent them.  Neither can I say with any truth that I have forgiven 
the system that left my family and me to suffer for the last four 
years.  We did not receive so much as a phone call to provide us 
with relief in the last four years, not from any person in Government 
or any Commission set up by the Government.
	This is the bitterness that drives me to thinking of the Truth 
and Reconciliation Commission as no more than a mechanism of the 
system to forgive itself and whitewash the suffering that myself, my 
family and the people of this country, have endured.
	Despite having forgiven the men who shot me, I still wish to 
hear the truth.  Why were we victimised, what did they hope to 
achieve by what they did to us?  I can't honestly think that they 
believed that what they did to us, has achieved anything.
	I hope that these men will not receive amnesty unless they 
come forward with the whole truth and expose all the (indistinct) 
behind this event.  I don't know if the Truth Commission will follow 
up all the people responsible, or even if all of them have applied for 
amnesty.
	As a result of attending, further to the submissions that I have 
made and which I have summarised, I also wish to say that as a 
result of attending these hearings now and listen to the applications 
and read in fact some of the applications that has been made, I find 
it most disconcerting that the applications these men have made, are 
very vague.
	In fairness to them, I would say that regarding the position 
they were in, they were probably not given enough time to make a 
full application, but the impression certainly as in this hearing is that 
the full disclosure has not been made.
	More facts are continually being extracted in these hearings 
and added and amended to the applicants' statements but which for 
some reason, was not part of the original statement, that these 
applicants have made.  For their sake, I hope that this is not 
construed as deliberate attempts to be vague, but for example Mr 
Madasi's admission that he was inside the Tavern, was a crucial 
piece of information which should have been in his original 
statement.
	I hope that this does not negatively impact on Mr Madasi's 
application.
	I do also feel that I know something of where these men come 
from emotionally and politically as I myself have experienced 
oppression in the schools and in the townships in which I was raised. 
 And yet for all that our family have experienced, I can say that my 
family has experienced a lot under Apartheid and under the racist 
regime of the National Party, yet, we never turned to the course 
they took.
	It has often been said by various people in Government, that 
the actions of freedom fighters should be considered in the light that 
they were fighting a just cause, a just and noble cause, being the 
freedom and justice for all the people of this country.  However, in 
the light of that cause shouldn't the actions they take to further that 
cause, reflect the nobility and the justice of the cause for which they 
are fighting?
	I don't think indiscriminate murder can properly be considered 
in the light of a just war.  Many freedom fighters, many soldiers for 
the cause of liberation, have done sometimes many brave things and 
very courageous things and all of this, in a very noble course and I 
think that many of them, would not want to be considered as 
indiscriminate murderers.
	My differences are not with these individuals though, but with 
the mentality of an organisation which led to its soldiers and allowed 
those soldiers to attack its own Government.  We all know that the 
peace negotiations were well on the way by the time this attack took 
place.  In fact the National Party, the racist regime, had already 
transferred power to the Transitional Executive Council and the 
elections was almost inevitable, but this organisation had the gall to 
allow these men to be tried and sentenced while its leaders embraced 
the gravy train as it has been called.
	Where are these leaders today?  They are hiding behind these 
men who are being duped into losing their chance at amnesty while 
the leaders continue on that gravy train.  I am opposed to amnesty, 
not on the grounds of truth or the disclosure of these men, but that 
amnesty cannot be given to us the survivors.
	Mr Prior has attempted on various occasions to explain to me 
the nature of these proceedings and amnesty, and he explained to me 
that the word amnesty as derived from the Greek word amnesia, 
which means to forget.  Well, we cannot forget.
	A just war is understandable, but granting amnesty to people 
who killed indiscriminately will be condoning the actions of every 
single individual worldwide, who has ever planted a bomb on an 
airplane, machine gunned a restaurant or killed innocent people in 
the name of political idealism.
	I don't think that is the message South Africa wants to send 
out to the world that killing innocent people is justifiable, 
politically.  If you are going to be fighting a just war, then you must 
consider your actions in the light of the cause for which you are 
fighting.
	I would almost go so far as to say that the actions, not 
necessarily by the three gentlemen I have in front of me, but the 
actions of their leaders by sending them on such an attack, I would 
almost go so far as to say that the actions are treasonous in that 
their attempt was to derail the peace process and to derail the 
elections and would have resulted in great bloodshed for this 
country.
	So their actions are treasonous to the people of this country 
and I don't believe that the attack on the Heidelberg has in any way, 
furthered their cause.  In fact, I believe that it was a set back to 
their cause and in that light, their actions are treasonous to the 
cause for which they fought, or claim to have fought.
	That is all I have to say at this point, Mr Chairman, thank 
you.