TRC Episode 19, Part 01

This episode begins with some background to right winger Leonard Veenendal, who gave testimony at the HRV Committee hearings in Newcastle (11 to 12 September). The following segment focuses on the first part of the Bisho massacre special hearings (held in Bisho, 9 to 11 September) where we hear testimonies from Ciskei Defence Force officials responsible for the deaths of 29 people. This segment includes interviews with former member of Military Intelligence, Gerrie Hugo; leader of the former Ciskei, Brigadier Oupa Gqozo and Ronnie Kasrils, who headed the march into Bisho with the late Chris Hani. The episode includes a segment on the amnesty applications of the Van Straaten brothers (heard in Potchefstroom, 9 to 12 September) who argue that pure racial hatred should qualify as a political motive for murder and finally a segment on an instance of racial discrimination and reconciliation in the United States. Talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, brings together the 'Little Rock Nine' with former white students who resisted their integration into Little Rock High School in 1957. // Some of the saddest stories in history are of those who died as the freedom they fought for became a reality, the casualties of the last day of war. Bisho, 1992 was such a story, actually 28 of those stories. Freedom and democracy were upon us when those people were gunned down by Ciskei's soldiers during one of the last big freedom marches before the election. We'll focus on the unanswered questions around the Bisho massacre tonight. We're also taking you into the madness of blind racism, a madness that destroyed the lives of four brothers and their two victims. And we show you how American talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, had her own mini truth commission recently. But first, meet the victim who is also a perpetrator. Leonard Veenendal moved the audience at this week's Truth Commission's sitting in Newcastle with his description of police torture. But there a few facts about himself that Veenendal didn't tell and the Truth Commission didn't ask either for some reason. My path also crossed that of Mr. Veenendal. In 1990 the offices of the newspaper Vrye Weekblad was blown up. I was the editor of the paper. Veenendal admitted to the police later that he had planted that bomb.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• truth
• reconciliation
• sabc
• special assignment
• max du preez
• south africa
• apartheid
• human rights
• violations
• murder
• abduction
• close circuit television