Special Hearings — Political Party Hearings — 1996-08-20

MR LEON: Thank you very much Mr Chairperson, and Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great privilege and honour for the Democratic Party to make the submission to you today.
 Before doing so and introducing the submission itself, I would like to introduce my colleagues who are with me today.  I know that some of them need no introduction at all, but for the sake and purpose of the record, perhaps I can introduce them in their particular role in the history and events we are going to describe and also in terms of today's presentation, which we've decided to democratise and split up between several of us.
 On my extreme left is Mr Colin Eglin, who is currently a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Party but has been a Member of Parliament for the periods 1958 - 1961, and 1974 to the present.  At the material times of the period under investigation, he was leader of the Progressive Party and the Progressive Federal Party between 1971 and 1979 and later on, between 1986 and 1988.
 On my immediate left is Mrs Helen Suzman who apart from her many other contributions, was a Member of Parliament for an uninterrupted period from 1953 to 1989 and at all stages, represented the Democratic Party or its predecessor parties which came together to form the current party.   And Mrs Suzman obviously had a unique insight and involvement in the period under review which she will be sharing with the Commission on behalf of our party today.
 Then on my right is Senator James Self, who is the Executive Director of the party and was also instrumental in the assisting in the compilation of the document and report we have handed in to you today.
 Absent today for really unavoidable reasons are two other people who are instrumental in the party under the period of review.  Firstly Dr Van Zyl Slabbert who we understand, only return from overseas today but without having made contact with him specifically, since he was also in the party's involvement in the events under review, we are quite sure that if necessary, we can arrange for him to speak to you at a later stage.  He was leader of the party from 1979 to 1986 and Dr Zac de Beer, who was leader in 1988 ti 1989 of the relevant period under discussion, who is currently the ambassador in the Netherlands.
 Also present today, but not on the platform is Miss Dean Smuts who is the Chairperson of the party and is also our spokesperson on human rights, she is in the audience together with Mr Ken Andrew who is a Member of Parliament and also very involved in monitoring activities in the period under review and other colleagues, Senator Moorecroft I see there, Senator Minisi.  So we are well represented here if not in Parliament.
 Perhaps I could just briefly make a few introductory remarks.   The major one I would like to share with you is our reason for being here.  Our initial reaction as a party was to say that the Truth Commission and the hearing of political parties in this particular phase of its investigation, was relevant for some parties and not for others.
 And our initial view was that we couldn't really contribute something additional to your knowledge, however, last week, when the Parliamentary caucus met and as a result of some very definite views expressed within the party, it was felt that we did have a distinctive perspective to bring to bear that certain of our key members were deeply involved in the witnessing, monitoring and the (indistinct) of human rights abuses and the entire construction of the edifice of apartheid, and that these should be shared with the Commission and with the people of South Africa in order that a total perspective might be achieved before your report is compiled and in that spirit and with that background, we duly compiled our report which is with you today.
 Because of the somewhat undue pressure of time in our case, we might not have as complete a report as we would have liked, but it is reasonably comprehensive and we would certainly be willing to cooperate any future stage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, particularly with your Directorate of Research in order to gain a fuller picture and for you to pick up on any of the events, activities, people and saga's which we describe in order to get further detail and we look forward to that cooperation and we hope in a modest way, that we can make a contribution towards the process which you are engaged in and which we fully support.
 I am going to introduce the division of our report now and I will hand over in a moment, but before I do so, in preparing this report, in putting together the entire tapestry of events from our perspective and going through with many of the people who were involved at the relevant time, one comes to one inescapable conclusion about the entire period under review and that is that there was a terrible misconstruction of what the purpose of the State and the government is.  That there was a negation of democracy and fundamental rights, that this didn't confine itself to the State apparatus, but spread across the whole of society and indeed was relevant at the time of struggle against the very system which was set up and on both sides, but particularly on the side of the apartheid State, the rallying cry for so many of the pieces of legislation, the administrative Acts, the individual decisions of the State, were always dealt with on the basis of necessity and nothing seem to us more apt and it is a long time ago, than the words of William Pitt the younger, in the House of Commons, in 1783, when he said was not necessity the plea of every legal exertion of power or exercise  of oppression.  Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom, it is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves.
 That to us is as relevant today in the future perspective which we will conclude with, as it was when it was said in the context in which it was intended.
 Mr Chairperson, for the purpose of presentation, we have divided our report up into several sections.  The first aspect will be dealt with by Senator Self and that is the overview of the political climate and the milieu in which the party operated at the time which it did in Parliament and I will hand over to Senator Self.