TRC Episode 25, Part 01

This episode opens with a segment on the HRV Committee hearings in Durban (24 to 25 October 1996) from where we hear testimonies from relatives of assassinated Durban academic, Doctor Richard Turner, and evidence of attempted assassinations on Fatima Meer and Harold Strachan. We also hear about incidents of police brutality in the Western Cape (from the Winelands HRV hearings, 14 to 16 October) including voluntary testimony from a policeman on duty the night Adri Faas was killed by a fellow policeman. The following segment focuses on violence on the East Rand during the tumultuous eighties, including the killing of youth activists in Duduza by Vlakplaas operatives. 'Operation Zero Zero' triggered a chain of violence including the necklacing of Maki Skosana, suspected of being an informer. In Cape Town, Major-General Deon Mortimer presents the South African Defence Force's submission to the TRC, by and large defending Botha's total strategy. Deputy chairperson Alex Boraine highlights the serious omissions in the SADF submission. Former commissioner of police, Gen Johan van der Merwe's testimony at the amnesty hearing in Johannesburg reveals the line of command in incidents like 'Operation Zero Zero' and the bombing of Khotso house. One of five former senior policemen applying for amnesty, Roelf Venter, delivered his testimony this week but provided no new information on the killing of the Pebco Three. // Two former generals appeared before the Truth Commission this past week. A military general on behalf of the former Defence Force, and a former commissioner of police who gave evidence in an amnesty hearing. Both generals said very interesting things and omitted many interesting things. And fingers were pointed all the way up to mister total onslaught, PW Botha. We have full reports on the generals' evidence and the amnesty application of five security policemen. We also tell you the stories of two police executions in the Boland. But first, the assassination of Durban academic Richard Turner in 1978. This week his daughters, his wife and friends relive the horror of the most mysterious political killing the last two decades.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

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