Human Rights Violation Hearings — Pretoria — 1996-08-12

CHAIRPERSON: I ask Mrs Landman to please come to the front.  ... speak in Afrikaans.

MS LANDMAN: Yes, it is so.

CHAIRPERSON: So I would then ask you to then please remove your headphone, but if it is more comfortable for you to listen on the ear piece, then you may do so.  I see that in the programme I am going to assist you.  You have been here all morning and I would now appreciate if you can, in your own words, please tell us what happened on that specific occasion.  We are now referring to the siege in Silverton.  You may now proceed.

MS LANDMAN: It happened on the 25th of January 1980.  At around five to one that afternoon three ANC terrorists entered the bank.  Initially we thought it was a robbery, but it then became evident that it was a terrorist attack.  The senior official in the bank was busy, I was the senior official in the bank at that time.  I took charge of the situation.  I made sure that we grouped people.  There was approximately 25 of us.  Most of them were in the front area and that is where the terrorists were.  There was approximately eight of us in the cashiers cubicles.  The bank was of such that it was an open area so that it enabled us to actually see the task force that eventually entered.  So we were quite aware of their presence at the time they
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later then came.  
 The hostage drama lasted for seven hours.  I was the mouthpiece between the police and the terrorists.  At around five to seven the task force entered the bank and they tried to relieve us.  Two of the terrorists were shot dead.  Sorry I cannot remember so clearly.  Two of the terrorists was immediately shot dead.  The task force had to come down the steps and whilst proceeding coming down the steps they fired approximately 50 shots.  Ms Anderson was assisted by me.  There was no place because there was eight of us in the cashiers cubicle so I sat on top of the cashier's desk.  Some of us could not fall on the floor.  I put my hands in front of my face and that is how my elbow was shot and then the other person was shot dead.
 I was transported to the hospital and only at about nine o' clock did they operate on me.  They made a note of the fact that I was only allowed to communicate or talk to the police.  There was a lot of pressure put on me from very early that morning.  Of course after the operation the television was also present.  I was a single parent at that stage and my daughter then was ten years old.  In the days proceeding this event I was granted a lot of interviews.  People of the police, of the bank, etc came to talk to me and over a period of two to three months I had to undergo 12 operations.  Approximately three months later I was released and sent home.  I then went home and I then tried to attend to my daughter.  I was not able to cope.  I had lots of pain at the time.  I was not even able to drive.  
 I then requested the bank that I should return to my place of employment.  They agreed.  I then returned.  They were not really prepared to allow me to work as they said I 
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was a high risk, but somebody did fetch me and they took me to work.  I was the breadwinner and I had a daughter to look after.  I was very scared that the people or the bank, that they would say that I was not emotionally stable enough to be promoted.  So this put a great amount of pressure on me, but I wanted to prove to everybody that I was able and capable to go on.  I put a lot of pressure on myself.  I battled a lot and, in particular, I battle financially.  I do not blame anybody even though I had nobody to assist me.
 A few months after the Truth Commission started I was approached to bring my story to the Commission and I think that this really brought 16 years of pain and stress to the front and for the very first time did I actually give in.  I have had to undergo six electrical shocks.  I am currently on sick leave and I am here today to really make peace with myself and I am really here to give evidence and then to become free again.  I am not really cross with anybody.  I have come forward because I regard this as the final phase of my getting better.

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Landman, thank you very much.  This is very touching.  I am sorry, but I am going to have to ask you to just remain with us for a little while.  I need to ask you a few questions.  I just need some clarity for the records.  You mentioned or you referred to the people as terrorists.  You put everything in a political context.  You also mentioned that there was, shots were fired and you also mentioned that you were in the bank.  Please give us some more details and tell us what the framework of this was.

MS LANDMAN: One did not really think of the terrorist attack.  One just really, I just really thought that it was perhaps a robbery.  I think that the reality of the whole
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thing only became, everything only became clear after a little while, but the terrorists who entered did fire shots.  At that stage of the fight was incidences like this exceptionally, it did not happen very often.  It took a good while, approximately an hour before we actually really got to the realisation that this was not a robbery.  We had just received money and the safe door was ajar and somebody had said that they should actually just take the money, but they said that they were not interested in the money.  This is how we slowly, but surely got to realise that it was in fact a terrorist attack.  The manager who was in the front section of the bank, he was approaching the people who had entered the bank and he then asked them what they wanted.  They then demanded the release of Mandela and then the combi in which they were delivered was, in fact, full of ammunition and weapons.  The also requested that Minister Vorster should come to the front and because I was the senior in the bank I automatically went to the front and they then spoke to me.  
 When the police entered they tried to negotiate with them and I, of course, then was the mouthpiece.  We were not allowed to speak Afrikaans, we were requested to speak in English only.  The bank official then requested that I should communicate with the terrorists.

CHAIRPERSON: May I also just ask, in your statement you mentioned your, the fact that you were involved in sport.  Please tell us about this.

MS LANDMAN: I was a very keen and good sportsperson.  In my younger days I played netball and represented Natal.  I use to swim.  I was very actively involved in sport.  After this event I was unable to participate in any form of sport.
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They had to remove bones out of my back in order to put this in my arm.  My elbow was almost gone and at this stage the one is six inches shorter than the other.  They then removed some of my bones and they used this for my elbows.  After that it was, therefore, impossible for me to play any contact sport.

CHAIRPERSON: You also mentioned that you are still receiving psychological treatment.

MS LANDMAN: Up until now I have never received psychological treatment.  I have only be receiving it of late.  They use to call me the iron lady in the hospital.  I use to condition myself that I always had to be available.  I was very afraid of the effect that it might eventually have on my life.  I often spoke about this and I was later told that I was not, they were not able to promote me and so there are a lot of people that work with me that was not even aware of all the sufferings I went through.

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Landman, thank you very much.  I am just going to give my colleagues a chance to perhaps ask some questions.

YASMINE SOOKA: Mrs Landman could I ask, you say that a lot of the medical expenses you had to pay from your own pocket.  Did Workmen's Compensation not pay all of that?