TRC Episode 04, Part 01

This episode focuses on the HRV Committee hearings held in Durban (7 to 10 May) and covers incidents from the KwaZulu-Natal and Free State regions. What has become known as the Magoo's Bar bombing is covered, including testimonies from victims and an interview with the MK bomber Robert McBride. Relatives of victims of the 1985 Maseru raid by Vlakplaas operatives give testimony, as well as relatives of victims from the KwaZulu-Natal violence and the mother of child activist Stompie Seipei - implicating the Mandela United Football Club and Winnie Mandela in Seipei's abduction, torture and eventual death. Other segments include the hit squad assassination of Newcastle community leader, Hlogonathi Sibankulu. The episode also profiles Patrick Dlongwane, who was both a perpetrator and victim of human rights violations, and finally, the killing in Durban of ANC lawyer Griffiths Mxenge by Vlakplaas operatives, including interviews with Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee and Mxenge family members. // Nightmares of the past came back to haunt the Truth Commission this week and several world known personalities, such as Winnie Mandela and Robert McBride. Sitting in Durban the Truth Commission hearings reminded South Africans that atrocities and human rights violations were not the monopoly of the apartheid state. KwaZulu-Natal's low intensity civil war was reflected day after day. Griffiths Mxenge was one of KwaZulu-Natal's most prominent legal minds in the struggle for democracy. He was brutally murdered in his home in 1981 and his wife Victoria four years later. Tonight, the special report will bring you the disturbing confessions of his murderers. They have never been charged. But the hearings in Durban also covered human rights violations in the Free State. Later on we listen to the mother of Parys child activist, Stompie Seipei, who was tortured and killed by members of Winnie Mandela's United Football Club. We start tonight's report with the bomb attack on Durban's Parade Hotel.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

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