Human Rights Violation Hearings — Klerksdorp — 1996-09-24

ADV POTGIETER: I must thank you very much for sharing this story with us and for your commitment to what is really a very, very necessary facility and for fighting against the
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
14 H DE KOCK
odds, because it is quite clear that the odds must have been very - and you seem to say, are still very heavily against you.  But thank you for sharing your story.

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: There is one little thing I still want to say.  Don't despise all private schools.  All private schools are not just there for the elite.  There are private schools with genuine ideals and to educate and if you take away my ideal to educate and help this nation, there is nothing left for me to do, and I believe that all of us must have the opportunity to give what we have to our nation.  Thanks.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you.  Thank you, Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. I am going to ask my fellow Commissioners if they want to ask you any questions.

DR RANDERA: Mrs Randera, I heard you mention that you have children.  Can you tell us how many children do you have?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: I have three children and they are with me in the school.

DR RANDERA: And how old are they?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: Pardon?

DR RANDERA: How old are they?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: I have - my eldest girl 17 in Std 9, a little boy in Std 4 and a little girl in Std 2.

DR RANDERA: It seems as if your children through the same story that you have told us today, as well?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: We are a family that can really stick together and we would just say to one another, well, we are in this together, we have got to go through this. I sometimes, I can see the pain in their lives, but it has brought us very close and they are very much also rejected by the community.  So they are still paying the price.  But they are very willing to do that.  I think they are more mature than most
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
15 H DE KOCK
children of their ages.

DR RANDERA: Mrs De Kock, one more question.  All this happened to you very close to the great changes that took place in our country. To quote you, you said you know what it is like to be under house arrest or home arrest to a community, and I thought you say that this applies to this day.  Are you then saying that within the community of Klerksdorp, within your community now, which I would understand and accept that it is still predominantly a White community, that there hasn't been a move towards this reconciliation towards you, people haven't come forward and said what you were doing was right and we are sorry for what we did?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: No, unfortunately up to this day, nobody came and said sorry, sorry, here is my hand of reconciliation, I am willing to give you another chance.  They ignore me, they would turn their heads away, they would not at all reconcile up to this day. I don't know what is going on inside some people, but to me they never came and said I am sorry for what has happened to you.

DR RANDERA: Thank you.

PROF MEIRING: Mrs De Kock, just a number of short questions.  I was intrigued by the name of the school Klerksdorp KCA, what does it stand for?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: Klerksdorp Christian Academy.

PROF MEIRING: Christian Academy?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: Yes.

PROF MEIRING: And where is it situated, in the so-called White township or ...

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: Yes, well, I believe that the people of South Africa may have the best, it is not just for some people,
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
16 H DE KOCK
and we are situated in the so-called - how can I say, elite area of the town and I think that is mostly or it was the cause of the hatred that we had to face, because we came in there with our different children and we came to make unpleasantly, change the environment.

PROF MEIRING: When do you hope to return to the buildings that were bombed?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: We have returned already and we have expanded greatly there.  We have 24 beautiful classrooms and we just continue to buy and to pay and to continue.  It is the wall that has been bombed that we could not restore. It is going to cost about two and a half million rand to restore and we just haven't got that kind of money.

PROF MEIRING: Thank you.  Just a last question.  Did I hear you correctly if you said that what you actually would like the TRC to do is, are two things.  Firstly to help you with the town council, to sort out the mutual problems you have and secondly, that you would like the inquest, that must proceed. You would like to know who were the people responsible, because you said that once you knew who they were, you would like to face them and talk it over with them. Are those the two things you actually want?

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: Yes, because I think it is a very - you are a very great coward if you stay behind the scene, the walls and you don't come out and say I have done it and this is the reasons why I have done it.

PROF MEIRING: Thank you.

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: I mean, I am not going to kill them.

PROF MEIRING: Thank you so much.

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs De Kock, thank you very much for coming to share your story with us. I think your courage in doing this
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG
17 H DE KOCK
sort of thing in the days when it was very difficult to do it, is to be commended. I think part of the legacy we have in this country is to overcome the hatred that separates people and also the sense that people are inferior and that people are different, simply because of their colour.  I think part of reconciliation in this country is to try and address that and to get people to accept the fact that they come from the same humanity. It is a difficult road and we are very sorry that even in this day you are still having problems because we would want to believe that people accept change with the greatness of heart that it requires, and that that doesn't happen is a problematic matter.  We will look into the matter.  You know that arson is a very difficult matter for the Truth Commission to look at, because technically it is not a classic human rights violation.  We have, however, been listening to arson cases and we will of course be considering how we are going to handle that in the future.  Thank you for coming.

HELENE KROON DE KOCK: Thank you very much. I just want to say I really appreciate what the Truth Commission is doing.  If it wasn't for your work we would have been in the dark still, about a lot of things that happened in this country and that we never, never would have known.  Thank you so much. Just go ahead, it is a great thing that you are doing.  There are a lot of us out there very much appreciating it, and there is a lot of hearts that are melting and a lot of tears that are flowing when you realise what really happened to our precious people in this country.  Thank you so much.
KLERKSDORP HEARING TRC/GAUTENG