Special Hearings — Trojan Horse Hearings — 1997-05-21

SALMON PIENAAR: Madam Chair I've handed you my submission.  What I will do is that I will present the submission in my mother tongue, Afrikaans, but when we come to the questioning period I am willing to deal with it in English to make the proceedings flow a bit quicker.
Madam Chair I do the following submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in terms of the provisions of Section 31 of the Act:
"I, Salmon Pienaar, hereby declares under oath as follows
I was born on the 16th of July 1942 in George.  I matriculated in 1959 and obtained the degrees of B.A. Hons at the University of Stellenbosch.
My civil life I was a teacher and I started my career in education in 1964 and in 1996 I left the service of the Department of Education in the Western Cape after having been a school principal for 28 years.
On leaving the service I was a school principal of the Excelsior Primary School in Bellville.
In the past I held several leadership positions in organised education and I still hold some of these leadership positions and I'm currently the Chairperson of the South African Teachers Union in the Cape.
I started my defence career in 1960 at the Defence Force Gymnasium in Pretoria in 1965 and I later became an officer in the civilian force.   Throughout the years I continued my civilian force service voluntarily and in 1979 I acquired the rank of commandant, it's now the rank of Lt Colonel".
Chairperson I am still a member of the South African National Defence Force and I am also a member of the transformation working group of the new South African Defence Force.  It was debated as recently as Friday regarding the issue of transformation in the Defence Force.
My personal love for people in general and children in particular is from a lifetime of intense involvement in education. In my entire life thus far I haven't taken a single decision or performed a single action of which I am aware of which was aimed at causing harm to children.
And in this hall today there are people who will be able to confirm that, people from the Press and others, thousands of former students and former colleagues could testify to this fact.
My sympathy with the Magmoed, Miranda and Claasen families, the parents of the deceased in this matter is definitely not superficial.  
I also lost my own 11 year-old son in an unnatural way.  This happened three months after this incident so I know the pain that these parents went through.
So it's against this personal background that I would like to offer you my testimony.
"In 1985 and over a period of more than 30 years it was expected of soldiers to maintain political order within the country.  And it's a soldier's duty, in terms of the Defence Act, to protect and maintain the interests of the State irrespective of the persons own political preferences.
Honourable Chairperson the civilian unrest in 1985, in my view, and according to the information given to me, was similar to a civil war and in the circumstances, I as a soldier and all soldiers under my command had to try and stabilise the situation and according to the information given to me as commanding officer we had to avert and counter a revolution, and we had to do this subject to and with respect for the laws of the land.  That is how I saw my task as commanding officer of the Defence Force troops in that area and how I tried to perform it to the best of my ability. 
Due to the fact that civilian unrest arose in the residential areas, the Defence Force, in terms of the Defence Act was tasked by the State to perform an extremely sensitive task in a very sensitive milieu.  Speaking for myself I was always of the opinion that it was the task of the soldier to protect and ensure the safety of civilians in the State and not to control civilians, and I would like to emphasise protect.
Furthermore the primary task of law and order was given to the Police and the Defence Force had to act only in support of the Police.   That was not always an easy thing for myself for the Defence Force because these two forces had totally different spheres of responsibility and cultures and ways of doing things".
I want to describe that again, the culture of handling things differed between the two groups.
"It was common cause that the first state of emergency in 1985 was announced 11 days before the Trojan Horse incident in the district of Athlone in Manenberg.
Now I also accept as common cause that unrest and incidents of violence were, according to the information reports and my knowledge of what was happening on the ground unrest was rampant in these areas.  Full particulars regarding these unrest situations appear from the records of the Supreme Court trial.  I emphasise this unrest not as a justification for the death of children but as an illustration of the tremendous pressure which rested on the decision-makers in this area.  
I was a part-time civilian force soldier and I was called up for two months in terms of the Defence Act and this incident took place in this two month period.  On a daily basis I was subjected, along with my troops, to unsavoury civilian disobedience and violence. My training as a soldier was based on the principals of the officer as master and the soldier as master in the community who acts to protect communities and community life and not to destroy that life.
Under my command in this time I had about 14,000 troops and the two months relevant here not a single soldier under my command shot a single shot and two of my members died in this period".
I would like to add here that the only ammunition which a soldier was allowed to carry at any time was ordinary sharp point ammunition or bullets.  It is also true, and I would like to add that to my statement, that not only did two of my men die in this period but that I was also subjected to handgrenade attacks and AK47 gunfire, and not a single shot was fired by my troops.
"My troops consisted of civilian force members, people from ordinary civilian life and also young conscripts from all the communities.  If I could use those terms, from all the communities, Black, White and Brown.  It followed, necessarily that they represented the full spectrum of political thought in the country at the time and I refer to the statistics to illustrate to you that the Defence Force and in particular the Civilian Force tried to maintain the discipline which formed part of their patterns of conduct and they often tried to do so under great pressure and provocation.
I respectfully submit that undisciplined conduct and violation of human rights, deliberate violation of human rights within the Defence Force context and taking into account the circumstances prevailing at the time were the exception and not the rule.  
As will appear from my rank I was a senior officer in the civilian force fraternity, but I was actually a junior in the broader context of the South African Defence Force and its rank structure.
The policy approach of my superior officers in that time was aimed at avoiding conflict and to try by means of community involvement, and in that regard I can refer to many, many examples of community involvement to, in that way, try to persuade a dissatisfied populace to avoid revolutionary development.  It is within this context which I performed my duties as a soldier and I can say to this Commission that I am very proud of that.
As a soldier I had more operational experience than the average permanent force officer here or elsewhere.  Nevertheless I was fortunate never to have shot a person or have acted in conflict in a way which made my actions the subject of investigation by this Committee.  In conclusion I could mention that I received from the group commanding officer of group 40 a special award to commend me for my actions and conduct in the urban unrest situation.
My public involvement with the Trojan Horse incident has caused a great deal of embarrassment and pain and disruption to my family and myself.  It cast a shadow over my proud military career and also my civilian career as an educator.  
For that reason I would like to thank the Committee today for giving me the opportunity to explain my involvement in this matter and I hope that you and the families sitting in front here, families of the deceased and those injured will understand my role today and also to accept my bona fide condolences and explanation for the incident.
On the morning of the 15th of October 1985, it could have been the afternoon but I recall that it was in the morning.  I, as usual, commenced with my daily routine as military commanding officer....."
and I would like to refer you to documents which you handed out this morning in connection with the JOCS system where the duties and responsibilities within the JOCS were set out.  I would also like to refer you to documentation which you furnished in respect of the instructions given within the JOCS and what my duties as military commanding officer were in this context.
"On the 15th of October I started with my normal duties, routine duties and I was not under the command of the Police and no policemen ever served under my command.  As far as support services were concerned for the Police this separate command function would have been strictly maintained.  My troops did not take orders from any policeman and no policeman would have taken any orders from me.  That was completely outside of my context.
The only semi-exception was necessitated by the civilian milieu in which I had to operate as a soldier.  My patrols, or whatever operation I was involved in there always had to be a member of the South African Police present to accompany us to see to it that these law and order functions were being fulfilled, such as arrests and detentions etc.
Every morning during that period I was compelled to attend these JOC meetings.  It was a duty of mine, also in terms of the documentation which we have referred to.  JOC is the abbreviation for a Joint Operational Centre which was established, and it was, as far as I recall, done by virtue of a decision, Government decision, and it was the ground level coordinating point of the then central security management system.  At that particular JOCS, which was held daily at the police station at Manenberg, we normally dealt with the following subjects.
1. The areas of responsibility for the deployment of the Police and the Defence Force.  We never operated in the same area.
2. A mutual review of flash-points and problem areas within those areas of responsibility.
3. Mutual notification of the planned daily tasks.
4. And any requests for support functions from the Police to the Defence Force and vice versa.
5. Any logistic or communication matters of mutual interest".
and there may also have been other routine matters which in the drafting of this document I couldn't specifically recall.
"The military commanding officer, the SAP commander and the Railway Police commanding officer, as well as any other departmental bodies from civilian life who were involved from time-to-time were present at these meetings, normally.
On the morning of the 15th of October 1985 I attended this JOCS meeting as usual. Myself, Colonel Janse van Rensburg, who was the commanding officer of the Police and Colonel Loedolff from the Railway Police were present.  Junior members of the abovementioned three forces might have been present but I can't confirm that under oath.
During this meeting routine matters were raised as usual.  And I assume that it's general knowledge and that your Commission is also aware of the fact that the civilian unrest was at its height at that stage and was particularly prevalent and serious in Thornton Road and Belgravia Road in Athlone.
Mention was made of flash-points earlier and my information in this regard came from Police records.  I did not deploy any Defence Force troops in this area.  I had not first-hand knowledge of that area because I didn't work there.  I based my knowledge on the incident reports and the information which I got from the South African Police which daily came to my notice.
Vehicles, and especially civilian vehicles on a daily basis were stoned and set alight and roads were blockaded using burning obstacles and blockades.  The standard procedure, namely patrols, were simply insufficient to counter this problem because as soon as the Police or Defence Force vehicle approached the specific flash-point the people simply fled and concealed themselves at various points.
At this meeting somebody, and I can't remember who it was, indicated that a vehicle which should appear to be a civilian vehicle and which would conceal Police members would be sent into the area in an attempt to identify and arrest the ringleaders.  Nobody gave any indication during this meeting that any unlawful action or attack was envisaged, and I still believe that nobody had that in mind.  I in fact agreed with the plan and it was an acceptable conduct for me.
Here I must explain that I had no powers of amendment as far as Police actions were concerned.  I could not veto it, I could not say you can't continue with that.  I simply took note of it.  That was a Police task and after the meeting I immediately continued with my I own tasks as Commanding Officer of the Defence Force.
I had no knowledge of the instructions given to Colonel Loedolff, to Lt Vermeulen, those things were totally unknown to me.  What I do know I learnt from court cases and this hearing.
That evening I heard for the first time that there had been an attack on the vehicle and that three civilians had died as a result.  I didn't know that these were children.  I afterwards, and long afterwards found out that children had been involved".
Honourable Chairperson that is my total involvement in this matter of the Trojan Horse and it will be confirmed by member of the South African Police.  
I conclude,
"You, as a Commission are asked to judge the moral blameworthiness of the decisions taken in the conflict as far as I am concerned.  
I don't shrink away from my decision in respect of the objective of the operation and I don't hesitate to accept moral responsibility for that, and I would like to actually look at the parents today when I say this.  I would like to use this opportunity, the Magmoed family, the Miranda family and the Claasen family, I see that they are sitting in the front here, I would like to extend my sincere condolences to them especially as far as the families of the deceased are concerned and the fact that there were children involved.  And I would like to tender my apologies for any pain which arose from my conduct or actions.
Thank you."