Human Rights Violation Hearings — Queenstown — 1996-07-22

AP VAN WYK: It was a Thursday night, because the school was about to close the next day.  There were about 25 or 30 children present.
QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
7 AP VAN WYK
 At about ten past eleven that evening, we had registered the last transaction of the day, that is now on the cash register, that is when the bomb exploded.
 And I think it must have just been God sent that the children that was present that night, had already left.
 We were very busy on that night.  There were approximately 30 to 35 people present in the restaurant on that night.
 I can think of no reason whatsoever and it is now nearly three and a half years later, and I still up till today am battling with the idea as to why something like this had to happen to me and had to happen to my business.
 I have never, ever done harm to anybody or anybody's business.
 And the last thing that anybody thinks about is that a bomb would go off, or that there would be a terrorist attack and the next minute 21 people were severely injured.
 One person died, you would also notice that in the reports that I brought along, and short of trying to shock you or to impress you, but all 21 people have sustained very serious injuries.
 On page 4 there is photo 1 and 4.  You cannot believe that this person is still alive today.  The person will more than likely give evidence in front of the Commission tomorrow.
 When I was woken up that night, after working for many hours and preparing myself for this festivities, so at around quarter past eleven, I was woken up.  On that specific day I had worked for 16 hours, I was now woken up and I was told that a bomb has exploded in my business.
 It was like a dream, I got into my manager's car and it QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
8 AP VAN WYK
looked like a battle field.
 The first person I came across that night, was the person Les Barnes, the person I referred to on page 4.  I said to him, hang in there, the ambulance is on their way.
 On the next page, on page 5, I've got more photo's of Les with him in hospital where he was treated , the local hospital and you can see that the wounds that he sustained, because of the bomb, is quite visible.
 And Your Honour, I guess I could have brought along photo's of 21 more people.  Heidi Cunningham, she today lives in England, she does not want to live in South Africa, she teaches in England.  I would very much have liked Heidi to have been present here with us today.
 She looked equally bad.  She was standing at the table and Les and the person with Les, Jerome, who died on the Sunday subsequent to the Thursday, she stood there.
 And she bent, lent forward.  She was busy taking an order and the entire impact of the bomb, had hit her.  Her photo's and even her body looks just as bad and even today they still have to undergo surgery because of these injuries that they have sustained.
 And even still to remove the shrapnel.  And so I can continue and I can go through this entire file and that is how the Spur looked that day.
 Photo number 8 the same, the ninth photo is where the bomb was planted and that is how it looked.  The whole in the ground, well it was a very big bomb.
 I think the main reason why not more people died in this attack, is that the type of tables that we make use of in Spur or in the Spurs, is of such a quality of high standard and I think that must have prevented more people 
QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
9 AP VAN WYK
from being killed.
 Also the fact that the person responsible for planting this bomb, perhaps placed it in such a way that it exploded into the ground and did not explode into the air.
 And that is probably why not all of those people had died.
 Photo number 10 is the corner where the bomb was actually detonated and you can see that very clearly.  The same on photo 11.  And on the eleventh photo, you can, if you look at that, you can just imagine yourself that people were sitting there eating and just imagine how many of those flying objects have ended up being lodged into people's bodies.
 And then page 12, photo number 8, there we can look at evidence which proves that it was a limpet type of bomb.  Photo number 9 is a photo of what the scene looked like the next morning.  
 Page 14, the same, page 15, the same, 16, the same.  Also on page 17 and then again on page 17, there is a photo which shows the impact of the bomb and what type of damages were sustained.
 And then there is also various newspaper cuttings and I will now specifically refer you to page 20, where there is a photo of Michelle while she is in hospital and of course with the clothes on that she wore on the day of the bombing and then at the bottom, we have a photo of Cheryl Edwards and there we can very clearly see the flames and how that burnt people's hair and their clothes.
 It singed their clothes and then of course the photo of Jerome Goos who died on the Sunday.  On page 25, also a newspaper cutting  and there I see Shane in hospital.  Also 
QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
10 AP VAN WYK
of course with hardly any hair on his head.
 I would also just like to point out to the Commission
that this is not where it all ended.  
 The next day when we had to put together the pieces and when we had to ask ourselves what really happened, and how are we going to assist people, quite a few things happened that even up to today, where myself and my family and the whole Spur family sit together, it really had quite an amazing effect on us.
 We sat at Maverick Spur and the reason why we were there is that the next day when the assessor came, we established that my insurance weren't in order and I would refer back to that a little later.
 So what in fact happened is that we were not insured against the damage that was caused by this bomb.  We had no income for myself, my family, my managers, the workers, the students and those who were looking forward to earning an extra salary or pocket money for the holidays.
 My managers went as far as Durban, well because they were transferred there.  My manager, Garth, went to Maverick Spur where we were training people.  They came to me and asked me Andrew, now what should we do?
 Everybody was looking for jobs and unfortunately there was no business around.  The hospitality industry, the restaurant business, all suffered.  
 21 Families were effected by this.  I couldn't tell people when we would resume business, I didn't know when we would open our doors again, because we were bankrupt.  
 I didn't have the resources to rebuild my business.  I made a desperate attempt by phoning my head office and very kindly they advanced me some money which I then later had to QUEENSTOWN HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
11 AP VAN WYK
pay back.
 And the rest I acquired by handing in some insurance policies.  I went as far as for the next three months, whilst the business was closed, this is now from the 3rd of December till the 18th of March of 1983, I each and every Wednesday, I took all 21 of my staff members, this is now the permanent staff, I still paid them.
 I still provided them with their salaries.  And this is not where my financial situation or crisis ended.
 My children still had to be educated, accounts had to be paid and although life proceeded in its normal fashion, there was no income.
 I went to the company and said that I was forced now to cancel my Provident Fund that I need this, that I am in need of money, so I cancelled this.  
 I was advised by my auditors to talk to the Receiver and ask to be exempted from paying tax.  Of course this didn't help.  
 The R20 000-00 that I was meant to get, never came and so one thing led to the next.  And because of this, we were not able to advance, our business was hampered.
 I think my wife, Heila would be able to tell you a little bit more about the happenings of that night.  What scars it left her with and also to tell you about the scars it left on our marriage.