Amnesty Hearings — Johannesburg — UNKNOWN

MR BRITZ: Thank you Mr Chairman, Committee Members.
 We are gathered here today in a spirit of peace and reconciliation. We believe that the time has come for a new era in South Africa'shistory.  The Afrikaner has struggled for freedom from BritishImperialism.  The African people have struggled for freedom. It is now the time for all South Africans to be free, free ofthe past and free of conflict.  We are part of the New South Africa. We believe in reconciliation between all the people of this country.
 As members of the security forces during the time of the strugglewe have decided to come forward in the spirit of this new country,in a spirit of trust in the new government and the Truth Commissionin particular, and with a purpose of cleansing our souls fromthe darkness of the past and to let the truth be spoken aboutour deeds.  We will tell all, and participate in these hearingswith the full knowledge that what we have done belongs to thepast.  That it belongs to the conflicts, ideologies and systemsof the past, and that we need to reflect upon our deeds, to repent,to search our souls for the truth, and to shed the burden of ourconscience which we have carried with us for so long.
 We believe that the process created by the promotion of NationalUnity and Reconciliation Act is a necessary mechanism to obtainthe truth, to weigh the motives and arguments of those who werepart of the conflicts of the past, to reflect thereupon, and eventuallyand ultimately to 1A learn/...
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learn therefrom for the benefit, not only of ourselves but offuture generations in South Africa and beyond.  Our actions andexperiences relate to a period of extreme violence and conflictin South Africa's history between opposing forces who have nevertried to understand each other or to reconcile differences ina peaceful way.
 The recent changes in South Africa represent an opportunity tobury the past, the conflicts of the past and the reasons therefor,and to build a new country for all the people of South Africa. It is with this belief that we have decided to come forward andto participate in the process of healing the wounds, discoveringthe truth and reflecting on our actions during the period of theconflict.  The time for deception is passed.  The time for denialis passed.  The time for conflict is past.  The time for refusalis past.  The time for repression of the truth is past.  The timefor justification is past.  The time for hatred is past.  It istime for peace.  It is time for reconciliation. It is time forhealing.  It is time for forgiveness.  It is time for truth. It is time for confession.  
 We do not believe that our endeavours to uphold apartheid wereworth the pain and suffering on both sides and we are of the firmbelief that the actions of both sides of the conflict were excessiveand unnecessary and could have been avoided.  We believe thatthe truth will assist in preventing such happenings to occur infuture in South Africa.  We have decided to come forward as webelieve, contrary to the leaders of the previous government andto our superiors in the security forces, that the time for conflictis past.  We call on all other members of the security forcesand the liberation fighters to come forward 
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and participate in this process of reconciliation and nation building,as we believe that is the only alternative to further conflictand separation of the people of this country.  
 We will give evidence about our actions during the time of theconflict and will show that all our actions were purely and simplyassociated with the political objective, namely to uphold theNational Party government and apartheid, to fight communism andto resist liberation of South Africa and democracy for all inSouth Africa.  
 We are not criminals, we have never committed any criminal deedoutside the sphere of the conflicts of the past, and we have notread any extra financial or patrimonial incentives for anythingwe had done.  We believed that we acted bona fide in theinterests of our country and our people.  We will show that we,at all times believed that we were acting in the course and scopeof our duties and within the scope of our authority.  
 We will attempt to explain our actions in the political contextand against the political background of the time in which theywere committed, and we intend to explain the reasons for our actions. We express compassion and regret to the families of those whohave suffered as a consequence of our deeds.  We will endeavourto enlighten the world to the environment and background againstwhich we acted, the beliefs we held which were impressed uponus from our birth, the indoctrination to which we were subjectedand the political motives with which we acted.  
 We were brought up to believe in apartheid.  We were made tobelieve that apartheid was sanctioned by God through the church. We were made to believe that our participation 
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in the security forces was justified to uphold apartheid.  Wewere made to believe that Black people were inferior and thatthe needs, emotions and aspirations of Black people differ fromours.  We were made to believe that we were superior and thatthese differences justified apartheid.  We have come to realisethat these beliefs were wrong, morally and in reality and we donot hold these beliefs anymore.  We believe that the example setby the President of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, in respectof reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding should be followedby everyone in South Africa.  
 In the same vein we wish to refer to what General Jan Smuts saidabout South Africa already in 1917.  I quote,
  "The time has come now to speak about the past and thenbury it forever.  To take hands and to work together for a newcountry.  Tonight we are really met together here as members ofthe South African family, some born into it, some married intoit, some old servants who have gone grey in hard service and whohave given the best years of their lives to that service.  Herewe can all sit together forgetting Europe, forgetting the stormsraging outside and our minds can travel back to the sun-filledspaces of Southern Africa to its amazing history and its immensetask.  A great historian has said, on those whom the Gods lovethey lavish infinite joys and infinite sorrows. On that principlesurely South Africa must be a special favourite of the Gods. She has known joys and sorrows.  She has known the deepest abasementand she has known the highest auscultations".
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 We, as proud Afrikaners, are part of this country and shall bepart of this country in the future.  We are prepared to forgivethose who have sinned against us in the past.  We have forgiventhe concentration camps of the Boer War where innocent women andchildren had died.  We are prepared to forgive those who havewaged war during the struggle, also on innocent women and children. We similarly ask forgiveness for those who lost their lives andthose who were injured, and we share the grief of those familymembers of victims who have suffered during the era of the conflict. We have sincere regret that people have suffered on both sides,and we wish to express the sincere hope that the time for truthand reconciliation in South Africa has now arrived.
 We have made full disclosure of all relevant facts pertainingto our applications and we wish to say furthermore that from ourexperiences in dealing with the Truth Commission, up to now, wehave come to expect to be treated with compassion, understandingand fairness.  We therefore have belief in this process and commitourselves fully thereto.
 We call upon our superiors and the previous government not todeny responsibility but to stand by the people and to admit responsibilityfor what was done by us in our endeavours to keep them in power. We all supported the National Party until 1994.  What we haddone was always in the interests of the National Party and itsobjectives.  We believed in the policies of the National Party,and believed that we had to carry out our duties in support ofour party.  We state emphatically that we have been deserted bythe National Party and that we have, so-to-speak been thrown 
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away in the gutter where we now have to take the responsibilityon our shoulders to deal with our past, to motivate our actionsand to present our view, as Afrikaners, of the conflict.  We callupon the previous government and our superiors to explain certainorders given to us about which we shall testify and to admit toauthorising actions outside the normal processes of the law suchas are demonstrated by the facts of our deeds and the authorisationthereof.  We seriously doubt the statement made by Mr F W de Klerkin the following terms in the National Party submission to thisCommission,
  "In dealing with the unconventional strategies from theside of the government I want to make it clear from the outsetthat within my knowledge and experience they never included theauthorisation of assassination, murder torture, rape assault orthe like.  I have never been part of any decision taken by Cabinet,the State Security Council or any committee authorising or instructingthe commission of such gross violations of human rights, nor didI individually directly, or indirectly ever suggest, order orauthorise any such action.  I feel in duty bound to also placeon record that the above statement with regard to my positionis also a reflection of the viewpoint of my colleagues who satwith me in Cabinet, the State Security Council or Cabinet committees".
We ask from you do not desert us further.  Do not turn your backson us, help us.  
 We wish to end to quote an Afrikaans poem of the well-
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known Afrikaans poet C J Leipold which is apposite to the endof conflict and the beginning of reconciliation.
   (Starts in Afrikaans with no Interpreter)
   And in mind for dreams
   Give us the ability to laugh when life is hard 
   Grant us hope in the darkest nights of grief
   Give peaceful rest to us all who live and struggle throughgrief and pain
   Grant us the right ultimately to die 
   Grant us peace and rest and we will ask for no more but listenquietly to the wind which whispers softly in our ears 'Couragepeople, courage'.  Evil will be transformed into good and dawnemerge from the darkness".