Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1999-10-20

MR WILLIAMS: Thank you.  Mr Grootboom, is it correct that you drafted and typed this statement without assistance?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: That is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Now before I deal in more detail with the incidents, I first want to put on record that certain facts, is it correct that you are applying for amnesty for an act of sabotage committed in October 1985 as well as for the offences listed on page 15 of the bundle of documents as well as for any other offences which may be inferred from the facts which you present to this Committee today?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: That is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Now, I am going to take you through the incidents and I want you to give us a more detailed background and exposition of the incidents itself.  Let's go to the first incident, the one of sabotage that was committed in 1985.   Can you briefly tell the Committee what the motivation was behind that attack and also the actual events of that day?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: The general political call to us at that time was to make the country ungovernable.   In Dysselsdorp the youth were involved in running battles with the police.  The police without provocation would stop us from going to the shops or being in the street, hitting us with shamboks and batons, they terrorised us.  There was furthermore to us no division between the police and the Town Council, members of our Youth Organisation who was evicted with their families from their houses, the Town Council used the police to enforce this.  Many of our members would leave for school from the street and returned from the school to the street, opposite their empty houses.  In DYO our organisation at the time, we in line with the general political climate took the decision to attack government and State institutions in our contribution to help to make the country ungovernable.  To us apartheid could not be transformed and it had to be destroyed.   This was also the political understanding in the UDF which we followed as our leading organisation then.

MR WILLIAMS: Is it correct that this act of sabotage was aimed at the Rent Office or the Civic Centre and can you explain to the Committee why this particular target was chosen?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: This particular target was chosen because the Civic Centre and the Rent Office used to be to us visibly the structure of apartheid who oppressed us, who did not have any regard or empathy for our people.  I remember myself personally, how some of our members, how we would sit and talk how to get people back into their houses, because they didn't have employment, they didn't have an income, there wasn't jobs and for us it was important to attack the Rent Office because it represented itself to us as the structure of apartheid who then enforced apartheid in our community.

MR WILLIAMS: Can you deal with the actual incident itself?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: Now, we used to make contact as this group of leaders in DYO, at a certain shop in Dysselsdorp known as Aunt Kate's Shop and from there we would then decide, after making contact where we would have a meeting.  On the 30th of October, we decided to have that meeting at Dysselsdorp Junior Secondary School's ground and we proceeded to these grounds and we had this meeting in a toilet, a dark toilet in the school yard, and we identified then there the Rent Office as the place to be attacked.   We left the meeting with the petrolbombs already made by ourselves and we proceeded to the Rent Office.  At the Rent Office we, I threw the petrolbomb through the window of the Rent Office which is located within the Civic Centre.  The police were already there, it seemed then to us, it appeared because after throwing the bomb, police lights at the back of the Civic Centre just went on, so we deducted from that that there must have been an informant amongst us.  We ran away and was then after that, arrested.

MR WILLIAMS: Was anyone injured or did anyone die as a result of this attack?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: No, nobody died or was injured, because it was at night and there was no one in the Civic Centre or in the Rent Office.

MR WILLIAMS: Was any damage caused to the institution?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: Minimal damage was caused because the police were on standby, so the fire was immediately quelled so there was not a lot of damage.

MR WILLIAMS: How many petrolbombs were actually thrown at this place?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: Only one petrolbomb.

MR WILLIAMS: Did you have more petrolbombs in your possession at the place or at the time?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: We had two petrolbombs and we ran away with the other one.

MR WILLIAMS: Now, were you a member of a political organisation at the state, at the time of this incident?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: I was the Chairperson of Dysselsdorp Youth Organisation and our political affiliation amongst us as members, was to the UDF.

MR WILLIAMS: And is it correct that the people that were also involved in this incident with yourself, also belonged to this organisation?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: That is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: You were sentenced to a prison term of seven years and you completed five and a half of that sentence, is that correct?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: That is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: Now, did you receive any financial benefit as a result of this particular incident?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: No, I received no financial benefit.

MR WILLIAMS: Was this incident, did this incident take place as a result of malice, any malice or ill-will or spite on your side?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: No, this action took place because of the politics of the time, the political situation and our objective to destroy apartheid and its structures.

MR WILLIAMS: Is it correct that the ANC at that stage also identified Rent Offices as legitimate targets for attack?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: Yes, that is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: In their effort to make the country ungovernable?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: That is correct.

MR WILLIAMS: I don't know if there is any addition with regard to this incident which you wish to place on record at this stage, before we deal with the other incident?

DEREK GROOTBOOM: No.

MR WILLIAMS: The second incident in respect of which you are applying for amnesty relates to an incident where you occupied a police station and the resultant actions thereof.  Would you mind telling the Committee the motivation behind this incident as well as the actual incident that occurred on that day?