Human Rights Violation Hearings — Nelspruit — 1996-09-03

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much indeed for leading us. In a moment or two we will call the first witness and when that person is called they will come up and sit at the table and one of the staff of the Commission will sit with that person and that person is there in order to give support, solidarity and comfort to the witness, the victim/survivor who will be telling that story.  I want to say that this is not a court of law, but it is a Commission that has been appointed by the President of our country and by the parliament of South Africa and therefore there two things we should bear in mind.  First this is not a political rally, this is a place of hearing.  Second, we should conduct ourselves with dignity and a sense of being in the presence of people who have suffered. I want to ask those of you who have cell phones to make quite sure that they are switched off so that that dignity can be maintained. I also want to tell you that no smoking is permitted in the hall and I will be grateful if you'd accept that as the procedure throughout the day. So please do not disrupt the proceedings, we want this to proceed as calmly and as dignified as possible.
 Together with me today is the panel that will hear and make findings regarding the stories told by the witnesses, and I'd like to introduce them now.
 On my immediate left Ms Hlengiwe Mkhize, who is a commissioner but is also the chairperson of the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee of the Commission.  On my far
NELSPRUIT  HEARING TRC/MPUMALANGA
2 VAN ECK
right is Mr Hugh Lewin, who is a committee member and a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee and is based in Gauteng as is Ms Mkhize.  Immediately next to me is Ms Yasmin Sooka who is deputy chairperson of the Human Rights Violations Committee and the commissioner and also resides in Gauteng. My name is Alec Boraine, I'm the deputy chairperson of the Commission and I'm very delighted to be here for today.
 Unfortunately, the demands of our work take Archbishop Tutu and myself all over the country so we can't always be present for every hearing.  I will be here for the full day and will chair the proceedings.
 Now I'm quite sure that there are a number of people who whose names should be mentioned during the course of the day who are dignitaries in this part of the world.  If there members of the staff who know of those names, perhaps they could give them to us as we proceed.
 Now I want to explain that we can only hear a number of people in the four days that we are here but we have received statements from many more, and every statement, whether that person is heard publicly or is not heard, receives exactly the same attention and the same care. These are the names that will be placed in our final report and presented to President Mandela, which is required of us. So what you will hear today are only a few of the people who have already made statements to us.
 Now before I call the first witness, may I just explain that some of you will have these earphones and you will find that there are various numbers, and if you do not understand the language that is being used, you can switch to the language that you can understand, so I hope you will make NELSPRUIT  HEARING TRC/MPUMALANGA
3 VAN ECK
use of this when you think it is necessary, some of you 
probably won't have to use it at all. May I say , please do not take these away with you, they are no good to you whatsoever, they have to be charged again for tomorrow, so if you do leave, please just leave them on the seat so that we can make use of them during the day and of course in the succeeding days.  
 Now I call the first witness, Johannes Frederick van Eck. Will you please come? Mr van Eck, on behalf of the Commission I'd like to extend to you a very warm welcome.  It's never easy being first at the start of the day but I'm quite sure that you have thought very carefully about today and our thoughts go out to you. The story that you have to tell is a very very sad and horrifying story. We want to listen very very carefully, we hope that you will feel comfortable and relaxed and obviously you will use the language of your own choice.  I'm going to hand over now to my colleague Yasmin Sooka for the taking of the oath and the assistance to you as you tell your story. Once again, jy is baie baie welkom.

JOHANNES FREDERICK VAN ECK: ( sworn states)

YASMINE SOOKA: Mr van Eck can you tell us a bit about yourself and of what happened on that day?