february 29, 1996 - sapa bring us witnesses, says the … · 2019-09-13 · february 29, 1996 -...

February 29, 1996 - Sapa

BRING US WITNESSES, SAYS THE TRUTH COMMISSION

Members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday apppealed to church and non-governmental bodiesto bring forward witnesses and evidence of past human rights violations.

At a meeting in Pretoria the commissioners gave an assurancwe that witnesses would be protected.

“Please help us with all the information you have so we can get as complete a picture as possible of what happened inthe past,” human rights violation committee co-chairman Wynand Malan said.

He stressed that even-handedness would be applied at all the commission's investigations and hearings.

Replying to accusations by Foundation for Equality Before the Law chairman Theo de Jager that the commission's“playing field is uneven”, Malan said: “Test us on it. We will take up any challenge.”

De Jager said he thought it unfair that members of the fornmer security forces were being prosecuted while more than100 former members of the militia of the liberation movements were enjoying temporary indemnity.

“The only assurance I can give you,” said Malan, “is that the commission will even-handedly and independently employthe conditions of the National Truth and Reconciliation Act across the board.”

Malan stressed that the commission would not become involved in a debate about the framework in which it had towork, saying this should be left to politicians.

© South African Press Association, 1996

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South AfricanPress Association

March 1, 1996 — Sapa

WHITES STILL DOMINATE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY, SAYS OMAR

Whites continued to dominate all sectors of South African society and there was a danger the old order's values wouldpersist and begin to dominate the new democracy, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Friday.

He was opening a two-day conference on reporting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commmission, organised by theJohannesburg-based Applied Broadcasting Centre and Dr Alex Boraine's Justice in Transition.

Omar told about 125 delegates, mostly journalists, that whites continued to dominate the judiciary, media, civil serviceand economy.

Real reconciliation could not take place unless it was understood the process of transforming South African society hadonly just begun.

Omar feared in the process of granting amnesty, apartheid would be equated with the liberation struggle.

“There is a danger that under the guise of reconciliation we are going to sacrifice morality on the alter of politicalexpediency.”

The international community had declared apartheid a crime against humanity. However, there was no single exampleof members of liberation movements being involved in such crimes.

The African National Congress had reluctantly agreed to include a provision for amnesty in the interim constitution tobring the country back from the “abyss of civil war”.

If it had not been included there would have been no political settlement and no elections in April 1994.

“It was the one issue which stood in the way of democractic elections,” Omar said.




DON'T DISTINGUISH BETWEEN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: NP

No distinction could be made between human rights crimes committed by those who fought against the previousgovernment and those who fought for it, National Party Justice spokesman Danie Schutte said on Friday.

He was reacting to Justice Minister Dullah Omar, who earlier on Friday told a conference on the Truth Commission thathe feared that in the process of granting amnesty, apartheid would be equated with the liberation struggle.

Omar said the international community had declared apartheid a crime against humanity but there was no singleexample of members of liberation movements being involved in such crimes.

Schutte said in a statement that human rights violations remained just that, by whoever they were committed.

The act setting up the Truth Commission did not make a distinction and clearly set out that all violations should be dealtwith on an equal basis.

“The honourable Minister of Justice should rather involve himself in improving the state of our administration ofjustice, which is deteriorating by the day, than (in making) statements which are clearly against the Truth CommissionAct and which can arouse emotions,” Schutte said.




TRUTH COMMISSION TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to seek legal advice to establish whether victims who give evidence beforethe panel have legal protection from possible defamation suits.

The issue was raised on Friday by reporters attending a conference on reporting on the commission, organised by theApplied Broadcasting Centre and the Cape Town-based non-government body Justice in Transition.

Truth commissioner Yasmin Sooka said it was unclear whether legislation governing the commission gave legalprivilege to victims' testimony. She suggested it might be necessary to amend the Promotion of National Unity andReconciliation Act to give victims explicit protection from civil suits.

The Act says the testimony of any person questioned by the commission, or who has been subpoenaed to appear beforethe inquiry, will be protected by the same legal privilege which applies to witnesses in a criminal trial.

Commission chairman Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the 17-member panel was keen for the truth to beuncovered and the names of perpetrators to be made known, but was wary of exposing “victims to more victimisation”.

His deputy, Dr Alex Boraine, told the 125 delegates that it was for this reason victims would be cautioned during pre-hearing briefing sessions not to name the perpetrators in the hearing itself unless they were absolutely sure of theiridentities.

Earlier, Tutu told the conference the commission had taken a decision in principle to allow live television coverage ofthe hearings and had already entered into talks with public broadcasters to discuss the practicalities of such anarrangement.

“The cameras must be unobtrusive and we don't want banks of microphones in front of the victims. We don't wantanything that will frighten or inhibit people.”

The issue of live TV coverage was raised by some journalists who pointed out that few media organisations had theresources to cover all the meetings of the commission's committees.

Boraine said the commission would rely heavily on radio to publicise its activities, since many people were illiterate anddid not have access to newspapers.

Opening the two-day conference, Justice Minister Dullah Omar likened the commission to “a good knife which can beput to good purposes or bad”.

He expressed concern that the process of granting amnesty to people accused of politically motivated offences wouldput the “liberation struggle” on the same footing as apartheid.

“There is a tendency on the part of many people to say the struggle involved two sides, and that on each side there wereviolations of human rights.”

However, while the international community had condemned apartheid as a crime against humanity, there was not asingle example of the “liberation movements” having committed similar atrocities.

The amnesty provision in the interim constitution had been the product of a political compromise which the AfricanNational Congress had reluctantly agreed to in order to save the country from a civil war “with no end in sight”.

“Without the provision there would have been no political settlement. It was the one issue which stood in the way ofdemocratic elections.

“But the political expediency carries the danger that we will lose the morality that must come to the fore if we are tosurvive as a democracy.”

The aim of the conference is to scrutinise the role the media will play in reporting on the commission, and therelationship of the media with the commissioners.

Delivering a speech on behalf of judge Richard Goldstone, Boraine said the commission had an obligation to tell themedia and the country what it was doing. If the proceedings were held in camera, the reasons should be fully explained.

The media should avoid premature judgement on the commission's work until it had completed its 18-month mission.



March 2, 1996 — Sapa-AP

IN HEALING A NATION, TRUTH COMMISSIONERS FACE PERSONAL CHANGE

A deep frown creased Desmond Tutu's face when someone asked why an armed man wearing sunglasses was standingbehind him.

“We do what we are told,” the Anglican archbishop muttered about the bodyguard assigned him when he was namedhead of a commission to probe South Africa's violent and repressive past.

Death threats already have reached Tutu and some of the 16 others chosen for the Truth and ReconciliationCommission, which is considered key to healing the wounds of apartheid.

The panel, which is expected to begin public hearings in April, has promised amnesty to almost everyone whoconfesses, but whites linked to the former racist regimes are afraid it will seek revenge on police and soldiers who killedand tortured in the name of apartheid.

They also fear that reams of testimony about the abuses of former white governments will weaken any hope whitepolitical parties have of gaining the support of blacks.

President Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress, now in control of the government, insist that South Africamust confront its past before it can achieve forgiveness and reconciliation.

For Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, his new companion with the gun symbolizes an overhaul of his life.Normally exuberant, he has seemed unusually sober in confronting his newest mission.

“It is such a critical part of the healing of our land that you tremble at the awesomeness of the task,” he said in a recentinterview.

His morning walks now take place on an indoor treadmill. His dreams are all on hold: teaching at Emory University inAtlanta after retiring as archbishop this year, spending more time with his grandchildren, writing his memoirs, watchingthe Olympics.

More worrisome is his fear he'll break down as witness after witness details the horrors that were once routine.

“I am trying to imagine how I won't cry,” said Tutu, 64. “I don't know how they are going to be able to survive achairperson who keeps sniffling.”

Other commission members – lawyers, doctors, psychologists – shared similar worries.

“One feels the honor of the position, but it is destabilizing,” said the Rev. Bongani Finca, who has changed histelephone number after a series of harassing calls.

“Most of the people who are going to be coming before the commission are people whose fathers, mothers, sons ordaughters I have buried,” he said. “I don't know if I am going to have strength enough to take that pain again.”

After decades of mystery, censorship and cover-ups, the commission is supposed to finally set the record straight onapartheid-era crimes. Victims of security force repression, anti-apartheid attacks and sabotage or other political crimes

will get the chance to describe their experiences and find out what happened to relatives who disappeared.

Well-known cases such as the death in detention of black leader Steve Biko will probably come up, but much of thework will involve the thousands of mostly anonymous activists tortured or killed over more than three decades – fromthe banning of the ANC and other groups in 1960 to the formation of a multiracial panel that helped govern the countryin December 1993.

Commission members have split into three committees. One will consider amnesty for people confessing to politicalcrimes. Another will investigate gross violations of human rights, and the third will recommend reparations – but notcompensation – for victims.

While the panel has the power to seize documents and subpoena witnesses, it rewards confession. Only in extremecases, when the severity of the offense is judged out of proportion to the objectives sought, would amnesty be refused.

Some victims of white rule and veterans of the struggle against apartheid worry that Truth and Reconciliation will leantoo far toward forgiveness and ignore the gravity of crimes committed in the name of apartheid.

“There is a danger that under the guise of reconciliation we are going to sacrifice morality on the altar of politicalexpediency,” said Justice Minister Dullah Omar, who once accused apartheid government agents of substituting pills forhis heart medication in an attempt to kill him.

Tutu described the commission as a “middle way” between Nuremberg-style war crimes trials and simply forgettingabout what happened.

“Victims and survivors need to know they are being taken seriously, that their story is heard,” he said. “Then we canmove on to forgiveness and reconciliation.”




AZAPO TO CHALLENGE ASPECTS OF RECONCILIATION ACT

The Azanian People's Organisation on Monday said it intended to challenge the constitutional correctness of certainaspects of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act in terms of which the Truth Commission wasestablished.

Azapo president Mosibudi Mangena told a media briefing in Johannesburg the organisation, aided by Legal Aid, wasapproaching the Constitutional Court.

“We are concerned about the right the Truth Commission has given itself to give amnesty against prosecution to certainperpetrators of apartheid,” he said.

According to the Act, people applying for amnesty have to meet four criteria drawn up after multiparty negotiations.

“The problem is once those people have been given amnesty they cannot be prosecuted,” Mangena said. “We do notthink that is right because apartheid, just like torture and other war crimes have been declared a crime against humanity.

“No government has the right to grant such criminals amnesty against prosecution.”

Azapo did not say which other aspects of the Act it intended to challenge.

Mangena said Azapo had had problems accessing the Constitutional Court and the organisation was concerned about thetrouble the public would have in accessing the court.

“It is not as easy (accessing the Constitutional Court) as we had been led to believe. It is also a very expensive process,that is why Azapo had to approach Legal Aid.”

Mangena said Azapo intended to start a one-million signatures campaign to petition for the establishment of a Heroes'Acre and a shrine to honour heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle.




DATE FOR FIRST TRUTH HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has set April 16-19 as the date for its first public hearing, which will be heldin East London, sources in the commission confirmed on Monday.

The commission originally set April 9 as the target date for the hearing. However, logistical and staffing requirementssuch as hiring people to take statements forced the 17 commissioners to look at a postponement.

Scores of local and international journalists are expected to attend the hearing. It is not known yet which case will beheard first.




MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE TRUTH COMMISSION IN THE DOCK

In the 11 weeks since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formally set up in December, the panel's 17members have been operating in the unrelenting glare of the media spotlight, their every move subjected to scrutiny.

Although the commission has yet to hold its first public hearing, thousands of words have already been written andbroadcast on what is expected to be one of the biggest stories of the year.

The commission is well aware of the huge interest, both at home and abroad. Its first appointment was a spokesman tohandle the flood of media queries.

However, at a two-day conference in Johannesburg last weekend the spotlight shifted its focus – onto the role print,radio and television journalists will play as the commission travels the length and breadth of the country listening topainful stories of apartheid-era human rights abuses.

Some political observers have argued the media is crucial to the success of the commission – that its coverage willdetermine whether the commission stands or falls in its Herculean task.

Others have argued this is an exaggeration, although they concede the media may be facing one of its greatestchallenges.

But they question whether media is capable of meeting this challenge, given its poor coverage of the murder trial offormer Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock.

The SA Press Association, the country's national news agency, along with the Sowetan, Die Burger, Beeld, Argus andThe Star newspapers are among the media organisations which have already appointed reporters to cover thecommission on a full-time basis.

According to Gerhard Werle, a professor of criminal law and modern legal history at Berlin's Humboldt University, thejournalists will wield “enormous power” in deciding the public response to the work of the commission.

“In reporting on the truth commission much will depend on the journalist's attitude towards settling accounts withapartheid,” he told the conference.

“In the course of the commission hearings, evidence may emerge about people who committed crimes, but have notapplied for amnesty. Here the press should be vigilant and, where prosecutors appear to be unduly reluctant, they shouldpush for prosecution.”

The commission could fail if perpetrators faced no real threat of punishment and were able to boycott the commissionwith impunity, he warned.

“Journalists can give active support to the truth commission process by promoting the idea of the process as a whole –reconciliation on the basis of truth.”

A speech prepared by Constitutional Court Judge Richard Goldstone and delivered at the conference in his absencenoted that reporting the truth was not as simple or easy as it sounded.

One of the most difficult areas for the media, Goldstone said, lay in reporting on complex proceedings which werepolitically sensitive. The success or failure of the truth commission would depend largely on the calibre of reporting.

All sectors of the media had a duty to report fairly and fully on the work of the commission. However, journalists shouldreserve judgement on the work of the commission until it had completed its 18-month mission.

“It has to begin somewhere and unfair conclusions or inferences should not be drawn prematurely.”

Opening the conference, Justice Minister Dullah Omar admitted he was often openly critical of the media. However, hehad been “amazed” by its positive response to the commission.

“The role of the media has been absolutely positive. Without their participation we would have been the poorer.”

However, commission deputy-chair Dr Alex Boraine said he was concerned that media reports had tended toconcentrate on perpetrators rather than victims.

“In so many instances, the emphasis has been on who did what, while the victim has been put on the back burner. Iwould ask the media to look at all the players involved.”

Even if the media is willing to meet this challenge they may not be able to do it.

With the commission expected to hold simultaneous public hearings in different parts of the country, giving itcomprehensive coverage is going to tax the resources of media organisations and the stamina of journalists.

Many journalists may end up wishing the commission had followed its Chilean counterpart and closed all hearings tothe public and media until its final report was made public.




TRUTH COMMISSION APPOINTS CEO

The Truth Commission has appointed University of the North registrar and former ANC office-bearer Dr Biki Minyukuas its chief executive officer.

Announcing this on Monday, a commission spokeswoman said this was one of a number of key management postswhich had been finalised in preparation for the commission's first public hearing on April 16.

Minyuku, ANC vice-chairman in the United States from 1987 to 1994, was a specialist in strategic planning,management and development.

He would be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration of the commission, and all its department headswould report to him.

He held an MBA from LaSalle University in Philadelphia and a PhD in interactive management and social systemssciences from the Union Institute Graduate School in Cincinnati.

Since his return to South Africa in 1995, he had been registrar of the University of the North. He would take up his newpost on Tuesday.

The commission also announced that Prof Charles Villa-Vicencio, who currently held the chair in religion and society atthe University of Cape Town, had been appointed its research director.

His responsibilities would include co-ordinating a team of researchers, social scientists and report writers throughout thecountry. He would also produce the commission's final report.

University of the Western Cape graduate Sandra Arendse had been appointed as human resources director and KariemHoosain, a chartered accountant, had been appointed directorgad




TRUTH COMMISSION WILL OFFER PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP FOR OFFENDERS

Perpetrators of apartheid-era human rights abuses who appeared before the Truth Commission would be offeredpsychological counselling and support, commissioner Glenda Wildschutt said on Tuesday.

The commission's reparation and rehabilitation committee did not believe it made sense to set up mental health supportstructures which catered only for survivors and ignored offenders, she said.

“I know for some people that's going to be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is important that we provide support foroffenders even though we are victim-orientated. We have to give them some kind of safety net.”

The committee was spending much of its time preparing for the commission's first public hearing in mid-April in EastLondon, she said.

The committee also intended setting up a “buddy system” using volunteers to provide emotional support to the victims.The “buddy” would accompany the victim to the venue of the hearing and “provide a shoulder to lean on”.

The committee was particularly concerned that victims did not feel abandoned when the commission left the EasternCape, and was working with various non-governmental organisations, church groups and mental health workers toensure they received post-hearing counselling, Wildschutt said.




TRUTH COMMISSION MAY SET UP 24-HOUR HELPLINE TO HANDLE INQUIRIES

A proposal to set up a toll-free 24-hour help line to handle queries about the Truth Commission was being seriouslyconsidered by the panel's 17 members, commissioner Mary Burton said on Tuesday.

Burton said she had proposed that a dedicated telephone line be set up to give out basic information on how to accessthe commission, how it would operate and its mission.

“People wouldn't have to waste their time bringing stories to us that don't fall within our brief. And if someonetelephones from a distant place we can refer them to non-governmental bodies that are working in co-operation with usin their areas.”

Burton said the help line would make the commission more accessible to the public and help free the commission'sswitchboard operators from dealing with general inquiries.

The commission was looking seriously at the proposal but was unlikely to take a decision until a communicationsdirector had been appointed.




FORMER VLAKPLAAS COMMANDER, DIRK COETZEE, APPLIES FOR AMNESTY

Former Vlakplaas commander Capt Dirk Coetzee had applied for amnesty in terms of the Promotion of National Unityand Reconciliation Act, Truth and Reconciliation Commission deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said on Friday.

Boraine said Coetzee arrived unannounced at the commission's Cape Town headquarters on Wednesday to hand in acompleted application form and “a long, large document” which would be forwarded to the commission's amnestycommittee.

Boraine said Coetzee had also handed in application forms on behalf of two other people whom he did not identify.




DIRK COETZEE APPLIES FOR AMNESTY FROM TRUTH COMMISSION

Self-confessed police hit squad commander Capt Dirk Coetzee has become one of the first apartheid-era security forceoperatives to apply for amnesty under legislation governing the Truth Commission.

Announcing this on Friday, commission deputy chair Dr Alex Boraine said Coetzee arrived unannounced at thecommission's Cape Town headquarters at 106 Adderley street on Wednesday to hand in a completed amnestyapplication form and a “long, large document”.

When Coetzee, now head of the National Intelligence Agency's anti-terrorism and subversion unit, presented himself atthe commission's seventh floor reception desk, he asked to speak to Boraine, who was busy in an interview.

“I didn't know what he wanted but I took along an amnesty application form just in case. However, he had already filledone in,” Boraine told a media briefing.

Coetzee also handed in completed application forms on behalf of two other people and a lengthy document which is tobe forwarded to the commission's amnesty committee headed by Judge Hassen Mall.

Boraine said he had told Coetzee, former commander of the Vlakplaas police training base, that amnesty applicants incustody had to receive priority in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

Coetzee was in Cape Town this week testifying at a parliamentary intelligence committee enquiry into the allegedbugging of top police officers, including national commissioner George Fivaz.

This followed his earlier appearance as a state witness in the Col Eugene De Kock murder trial, where he indicated onJanuary 30 that he was not interested in applying for amnesty.

However at a hearing on February 9 he told the court he intended applying to the Truth Commission for amnesty.

“I am not certain if I will get indemnity because I have made myself guilty of so-called crimes against humanity. But Iwill reveal my full story to the Truth Commission,” he told the Supreme Court.

“I will not tell the commission about the information I received from other sources. Only those things I have beeninvolved in personally and about which I have first-hand knowledge.”

Coetzee, who has admitted to being involved in crimes ranging from car theft to murder after he joined the securitypolice in 1977, could assist the commission in shedding light on the 1992 Boipatong massacre.

In his testimony at the De Kock trial, he said he had information on the involvement of Vlakplaas agents in themassacre.

Coetzee, who first made revelations about murder squads in 1989, also confessed to “orchestrating” the murder ofactivist Griffiths Mxenge in 1981.

He left Vlakplaas in December 1983 and retired from the police force on medical grounds in 1986 after a departmentalinvestigation found him guilty on four different charges.

Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told Friday's briefing the amnesty committee had received about 25amnesty applications so far.

Another batch of about 30 forms had been forwarded to the commission by the justice ministry on Thursday.

Tutu said a confidentiality clause in the Act prevented him from spelling out the type of offences for which amnesty wasbeing sought.




DIRK COETZEE SAYS HE WISHES TO PUT THE PAST TO REST

Vlakplaas police base former commander Capt Dirk Coetzee on Friday said his decision to seek amnesty from the Truthand Reconciliation Commission reflected a wish to put the past to rest.

“This will be the last time that I tell my story,” he said in Pretoria. “I want to get on with my life.”

Truth Commission deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine earlier in the day said in Cape Town Coetzee had applied foramnesty in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

He also handed in a document, along with completed application forms on behalf of two other people.

Coetzee made headlines in 1989 when he claimed police were involved in murder squad activities. He fled the countryin the same year and went into self-imposed exile until 1993.

In 1990 in Britain he testified before the Harms commission investigating his allegations but was found to be anunreliable witness.

Coetzee on Friday said the two additional application forms he had handed in were those of former fellow policeoperatives David “Spyker” Tshikalanga and Almond Butane Mofomela.

Mofomela is serving a life sentence for murder.

“I was the first one who spilled the beans,” Coetzee said. “Many people have labelled me as a madman and attempts todiscredit me are continuing.

“I want to tell my story one more time and I hope it will bring an end to the discrediting.”

He said the document he had handed in with his application form contained the statements he had made before theHarms commission.

“I will merely be reiterating everything I have already said.”




TUTU STILL TRYING TO MEET BUTHELEZI

The Truth Commission was still seeking a meeting with Inkatha Freedom Party leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi,commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Friday.

“His office assures us that they are trying to find an appropriate time in his busy schedule for him to see us,” Tutu told amedia briefing at the commission's Cape Town headquarters.

Tutu and his deputy Dr Alex Boraine have already held talks with Deputy Presidents FW de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki,Freedom Front leader Gen Constand Viljoen, and Pan Africanist Congress President Clarence Makwetu, to explain howthe commission will operate.




R70 MILLION BUDGET FOR TRUTH INQUIRY

The Truth Commission has drawn up a R70 million budget for the first year of its 18-month probe into apartheid-erahuman rights abuses.

Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a media briefing on Friday the largest portion of the budgetwould go towards salaries and covering the travel and accommodation expenses of the panel's 17 members as they criss-crossed the country listening to victims' stories.

“If you want to attract the best people into jobs, especially if it is for a limited period, we have found that salaries haveto be more than just attractive,” he said.

It was also important to decentralise the commission's operations “if we are going to make any kind of impression onthe number of people who want to come before the commission”.

The budget, which is due to be presented to Justice Minister Dullah Omar within days, represents a R15 million increaseon the amount allocated to the commission last year by the Justice Ministry.

Tutu said when the 1995/96 budget for the commission was drawn up, the ministry had been working in the dark, withno idea how the commission would really operate.

The budget had been “a wonderful thumbsuck”.

The commission's financial manager Kariem Hoosain said the 1996/97 budget would be presented to the auditcommission on Friday before being submitted to Omar by March 15.




DUTCH DETECTIVES IN SA TO HELP TRUTH COMMISSION

Three Dutch police investigators have arrived in South Africa to assist the Truth Commission's 60-member investigativeunit and more detectives, from Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, were on their way, commission chairmanArchbishop Desmond Tutu said on Friday.

Tutu also announced that Ireland had donated UK50,000 to the commission for “general purposes”.

Sweden has already sent R1 million to help set up a computer database while Norway has indicated it will makeavailable R2,5 million, which will probably go towards the President's Reparation Fund for victims and meeting thecommission's technical needs.

Commission deputy-chairman Dr Alex Boraine said money was needed to equip the investigators with vehicles,telephones, cameras and laptop computers.

“We are not going out there with a begging bowl. But if people come to us it would be silly to turn them down.”

Tutu and Boraine recently met a group of European Union ambassadors in Cape Town to discuss the commission'sneeds.

Tutu said he was considering appealing to international donors to make “generous contributions” to various non-governmental organisations who would be assisting the commission in its 18-month mission.

Many NGOs were “feeling the breeze” following a cutback in foreign funding.




LESSONS FROM OJ TRIAL FOR TRUTH COMMISSION

The free-for-all media frenzy which surrounded the OJ Simpson trial will likely be uppermost in the minds of many ofthe 17 members of the Truth Commission this week when they begin looking at editorial and technical guidelines forallowing cameras into the public hearings.

The commission has already taken a decision in principle that the hearings should be televised, but has expressedconcern that witnesses should not be intimidated or frightened off by banks of microphones and cameras.

Commission spokesman John Allen is due to meet representatives of the SABC, the Foreign Correspondents'Association, international television networks and community broadcasters in Johannesburg this week to discuss thelogistics of putting the commissioners' “decision in principle” into practice.

The talks will take place against the background of a wider debate on whether there should be live coverage ofcommission proceedings, and the pros and cons of allowing cameras into the hearings.

CNN's Johannesburg bureau chief Mike Hanna says it is “virtually essential” for the hearings to be broadcast live asmuch as possible.

“Press reports are going to be coloured with the reporter's analysis. Going out live means it is uncensored.

“However, if one is going to have cameras in the hearings then you are going to have to have some kind of controls.You want to affect the proceedings as little as possible.”

Hanna says television coverage of US football star OJ Simpson's murder trial holds valuable lessons for the TruthCommission in this respect. “There were no editorial and technical guidelines established in the OJ case. It wassomething of trial and error and there were problems throughout. It was a matter of control.”

CNN has put together suggested guidelines in a discussion document based on its experience of court reportingfollowing a recent meeting between commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and network vice-president Ed(correct) Turner.

It proposes the commission appoint an executive to establish sub-committees on pool arrangements, technical mattersand editorial guidelines. The committees would include representatives of broadcasters, local and international printmedia.

It suggests using a “slave camera” in the hearings which would be in a fixed position operated by a cameraman outsidethe room. It should not be allowed to zoom in or out for emotional affect as a witness is giving evidence.

The commission should have no say in how the pictures themselves are used, either live or in edited news packages. Theaim should be to ensure the rights of witnesses are protected and the dignity of the hearings preserved.

SABC board member and executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism, Allister Sparks, says ifthe hearings are televised it will be the “ultimate in visible justice”.

“Not everybody can go to the hearings, but anyone can tune into it on television. This is a way of opening the court to

the whole nation.”

He also believes the cameras should be placed in unobtrusive, fixed positions as is the case in Parliament or the USCongress.

“But I think the bigger problem will be finding an existing channel on which it (the coverage) will go on.”

Sparks says the answer could lie in the SABC's proposed satellite public affairs channel, similar to the US's C-Span(Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which is expected to be up and running before the end of the year.

“I think there would be a lot of support for live coverage of the Truth Commission hearings on this channel.”

SABC chief executive of operations and satellite Gert Claassen says the timing of the channel's launch will depend ontwo factors – whether sufficient funding and satellite capacity can be found.

In the meantime, he says, budget considerations have forced the SABC's news department to revise its original proposalfor live coverage of the commission's first public hearing in East London on one of its existing channels.

When the SABC's group executive meets this week they will consider a new proposal which envisages inserts on thecommision during nightly news bulletins and its Focus current affairs programmes, and the possibility of a 30-minutedaily roundup.

There is a strong view, however, that coverage of the hearings should not be left to the SABC alone.

“Public service and community media need to be given priority in terms of facilities to document and broadcast thehearings,” says Clive Emdon of the Johannesburg-based Independent Media Diversity Trust.

“Commercial networks have been found to distort reality in similar hearings by using out of context clips and soundbites to create the impression of a sensational circus.”

The importance of involving community broadcasters in the process is echoed by former SABC anchorman andcommunity broadcaster Pat Rogers who says Court TV in the US, which televises American court cases, has expressedan interest in covering the hearings in co-operation with interested parties here.

“I think the the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) should encourage something like the commission to behandled by more than one broadcaster.”

Televising the proceedings, he says, would help to open the eyes of many white South Africans who still do not believein the existence of hit squads or that they operated with the “connivance of the National Party Government”.

“It will be important for them to hear the kind of evidence that will be heard by the commission. I think it will open theireyes.”

According to Emdon, television and radio coverage will have a crucial role to play in “highlighting the hidden andsecret part of South African public experience”.

It may also have positive spinoffs, such as paving the way for broadcasters to cover trials in the Supreme Courts whichis “clearly one branch of government which needs to be brought under public scrutiny”.

But that is in the future. The Truth Commission must still decide on guidelines that will best protect witnesses,particularly victims of human rights abuses, who appear before it.

Maggie Friedman, the partner of Wits University academic Dr David Webster who was gunned down outside theirTroyeville, Johannesburg home in 1989, says it should be left to individual witnesses to decide whether they want theirtestimony televised.

“I've had enough of that sort of thing. It is an intrusive situation and not very comfortable for somebody who has been inthose circumstances.”

For former ANC activist Marius Schoon, whose wife and child were killed in a parcel bomb explosion in Angola,television coverage is vital “so that people are made fully aware of the horrors and injustices of the past”.




DE KOCK APPLIES FOR AMNESTY

Former Vlakplaas commander Col Eugene de Kock, who is on trial on 121 charges including eight of murder, hasapplied for amnesty from the Truth Commission, his attorney Schalk Hugo said on Monday.

Hugo told Sapa some of the offences for which De Kock was seeking amnesty were not among the charges he wascurrently facing.

The former head of the security police's secret base near Pretoria had filled out a copy of the prescribed amnestyapplication form and posted it to the commission last week, he said.

In terms of the legislation governing the commission, its five-member amnesty committee headed by Judge Hassen Mallcan ask the “appropriate authority” to postpone the court proceedings pending the outcome of the application.

However, Hugo said Transvaal attorney-general Dr Jan D'Oliviera had indicated he wanted the trial to proceed and thatthere was no possibility of it being suspended.

De Kock had also told his legal team the “proceedings must go on”.

The three-page application form which De Kock filled in, provides 10 lines for the applicant to give particulars of thepolitical offences for which amnesty is being sought, and two lines for the names of the victims.

In completing the form, De Kock was also required to explain why he believed the offences were associated with apolitical objective.

However, according to Hugo, he did not include any details of the 121 charges against him.




TRUTH COMMISSION CONFIRMS DE KOCK AMNESTY BID

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission confirmed on Tuesday it had received a faxed copy of former Vlakplaascommander Col Eugene De Kock's amnesty application form.

A commission spokesperson said the form, which was filled out in Afrikaans, appeared to be in order.

It was faxed on Wednesday afternoon to the offices of the Cape Town-based non-governmental body Justice inTransition, which served as the temporary headquarters of the commission before it moved into permanent offices.

According to his attorney, De Kock intends applying for amnesty for political offences which are not among the 121charges he is currently facing in the Pretoria Supreme Court.




PERPETRATORS SHOULD REPENT BEFORE RECEIVING AMNESTY: CHILEANEXPERT

Perpetrators of human rights abuses appearing before the Truth Commission should be made to repent for their crimesbefore they were finally granted amnesty, the former executive director of Chile's Truth and Reconciliation CommissionProf Jorge Correa said on Tuesday.

“Amnesty is not used to justify human rights violations. It is a concrete reaction after the crime has been opened up andthere has been some repentance on the part of the offender,” he told a press briefing.

Correa, a professor of law at the Diego Portales University in Santiago in Chile, said the process of healing anduncovering the truth did not end when the Truth Commission completed its 18-month term of office.

“How society accepts the truth and how it is going to be taught in schools is the start of another process.”

Although there were a number of similarities between the South African and Chilean commissions, this country'scommission was more ambitious in its aims and what it hoped to achieve.

The Chilean commission – which completed its probe in 1991 – had dealt only with cases involving missing personsand known deaths, whereas the South African commission intended investigating a broader category of incidentsinvolving “severe ill-treatment”.




TRUTH COMMISSION TO SIFT THROUGH ‘MOUNTAINS’ OF DOCUMENTS

The Truth Commission will have to sift through “mountains” of documents, including Cabinet minutes and NationalIntelligence Agency archives, if it is to succeed in piecing together a complete picture of apartheid-era human rightsabuses.

This was the view on Tuesday of the commission's research director Prof Charles Villa-Vicencio who told a pressbriefing the commission was considering a proposal to recruit post-graduate students to help in the search.

“There are mountains of (documents) in archives around the country. If we are going to go through them in acomprehensive way we will need a lot of people to do it.”

The commission expected to be given access to confidential Cabinet and Sate Security Council minutes as well as theNIA archives, although it understood that some requests for information could be “controversial and sensitive”.




AMNESTY COMMITTEE AWAITING APPOINTMENT OF SECRETARY

The Truth Commission's amnesty committee could not begin looking at amnesty applications until a secretary had beenappointed, committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall said on Tuesday.

Mall told Sapa the five members of the committee were “anxious” to start proceedings as soon as possible, not later thannext month.

However, they were hamstrung by the fact that the commission had not yet appointed a secretary, who will have a statusequivalent to that of a court registrar.

The secretary will be responsible for keeping control of files, organising hearings and notifying interested parties.

Mall stressed that hearings would only be held when the committee felt it needed to hear further evidence in order torule on an application.

“It may be possible to dispose of a number of them (applications) without the need to call for evidence. Then it won't bea hearing but a meeting of the committee.”

Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said last week that 25 applications had been forwarded to thecommittee so far. Another batch of about 30 forms had been sent by the Justice Ministry to the commission last week.

In terms of the legislation governing the commission, the amnesty committee must give priority to applicants who are injail.

About 1200 prisoners who applied for amnesty under the old indemnity laws have been told they need to fill in the newprescribed application forms which the committee began distributing to prisons, magistrates courts, religious groups andhuman rights organisations in early February.

The committee may grant amnesty only if it is satisfied that the applicant has made a full confession of the facts, andthat the action was linked to a political objective.

The act must also have been committed between March 1960 and December 1993.




MANDELA REJECTED OUTSTANDING CANDIDATES FOR TRUTH BODY: MBEKI

Several “outstanding” nominees to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been excluded from the final list ofmembers to accommodate President Nelson Mandela's wish that the body represent a “diversity of life experiences”,Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.

Mbeki was responding to a question from Senator Ruth Rabinowitz (IFP) who asked whether a “certain bishop”, whohad enjoyed the unanimous support of the selection panel, had been rejected as a candidate.

When the names of the 17 commissioners were announced by President Mandela last year there was concern expressedthat Methodist Church of South Africa president Bishop Stanley Mogoba, was not among them.

Mbeki said Mandela was not obliged to divulge the reasons for the appointments but would in the interests oftransparency.

All 25 nominees had received support from the selection panel but none had been singled out for special mention.

“In appointing them, he (Mandela) wanted a diversity of life experiences,” he said.

As a result, certain “outstanding nominated persons” had not been selected.




POLICE SUPPORT GROUP OPPOSED TO OVERSEAS POLICE INVESTIGATORS

The Support Police Action Group on Thursday questioned the impartiality of police investigators coming from overseasto assist the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“One needs to remember that these are the countries (Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands) whopoured vast sums of money into the previously banned liberation movements,” chairwoman Avril Budd said in astatement.

She said overseas police investigators had come to South Africa as observers under the auspices of the United Nationsduring the anti-apartheid days and had helped the African National Congress come to power.

It could therefore not be ruled out that they would be biased against anyone who had been a member of the previousgovernment's security forces, Budd said.

The group was not satisfied with foreign investigators who had no allegiance to South Africa.

“They should not be permitted to deal with issues which, in reality, can only be understood by our own people.”




TRUTH COMMISSION RECEIVES 20 APPLICATION FROM EASTERN CAPE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's office in East London in the Eastern Cape has received 20 applicationsfrom people wanting to give evidence, SABC radio news reported on Friday.

Truth Commission spokesperson Phila Nqumba said several lawyers had made enquires on behalf of victims.

The commission expected to have received about 200 applications by the beginning of next month, Nqumba said.

Most of the 200 members of the organisation Victims of Apartheid Atrocities, including the Mxenge and Biko families,had rejected the commission and had appointed legal advisers.

The organisation described the commission as a political compromise which would not achieve justice for victims butrather indemnify perpetrators.

Father Sean O'Leary of the Catholic Bishop's Conference said the commission would be nullified by the on-going civilwar in KwaZulu-Natal and the fact that high profile victims rejected the commission.

The commission would set in motion the reconciliation process, he said, but would not achieve the new moral orderhoped for.




TRUTH COMMISSION TO MEET ST JAMES, TROJAN HORSE SURVIVORS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to meet survivors of the St James Church massacre, and the 1985 “TrojanHorse” attack in a new initiative to raise public awareness about the work of the commission.

The meetings are part of a new community outreach programme in the Western Cape which seeks to give people a“clearer picture” of how the commission operates, according to human rights violations committee member PumlaGobodo-Madikizela.

She told a media briefing on Monday there were many who were ignorant of the commission's existence while therewere others who knew it had been set up but were confused about its aims.

Eleven people were killed and 56 wounded when heavily armed gunmen burst into the St James Church in 1993 andopened fire on the congregation.

In the Trojan Horse attack three youths were killed when police, hidden in crates on the back of a lorry, opened fire on agroup of stone-throwers in Athlone and Guguletu on October 15, 1985.

Reparation and rehabilitation committee member Dr Mapule Ramashala said the meetings would also be used to tacklecertain misunderstandings which had arisen about the aims of the commission.

“Some people expect the commission to hand out money as a symbolism of what they have suffered. That is not whatthe commission is about.”

Ramashala said the rehabilitation and reparation committee would seek to identify and establish symbols that united thatcountry, rather than simply paying out victims of human rights abuses.

“Our recommendations will bring dignity to victims,” she said.




EASTERN CAPE TRUTH OFFICE ASKS FOR HALT IN SUBMISSIONS

Less than a month before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins its first sitting in the Eastern Cape, its EastLondon office has asked victims of alleged human rights violations to stop submitting reports.

Truth commissioner Bongani Finca on Monday called for a halt to applications to allow the commission time to siftthrough more than 200 statements received so far.

A commission spokeswoman confirmed that the East London office was overwhelmed with submissions and neededtime to consider statements already received.

The taking of new statements would resume on April 1.

Finca told a media briefing members of the human rights committee now had to determine which applicants qualified tobe declared victims as defined in terms of the Promotion of National Reconciliation and Unity Act. Most submissionswere from alleged victims of abuses by the state.

Between 20 and 25 cases would be heard during the commission's first hearings from April 15 to 18 in the East Londoncity hall.

Some cases would be heard by the full commission until it assessed its work and decided whether to hold simultaneoushearings in different areas.

The commission will scrutinise events in the province like the Bisho massacre and Langa massacre.

Finca stressed that the commission's purpose was not to compensate victims of violations, but it would makerecommendations to the president.

He denied earlier media reports which quoted commission chairman Bishop Desmond Tutu as saying no compensationwould exceed R50000.

The president would decide on the amount of compensation.

Finca added that a victim of the 1993 Highgate Hotel attack, in which five people were killed, allegedly by the AzanianPeople's Liberation Army, had made a submission to the commission.

Finca said the commission wanted to dispel a perception that it was only investigating abuses by state agents.

A member of the commission's human rights violations committee, Ntsiki Sandi, said among the submissions alreadyreceived included political abuses, torture, killings and arbitrary detentions.

Finca said the commission would try to assist the media with facilities during the first hearings.

At least 50 applications had been received from reporters wanting to cover the hearings and negotiations with the SouthAfrican Broadcasting Company were underway to have a live broadcast of the first day of the hearings.

Finca said no photographing would be allowed to avoid victims feeling intimidated and a code of conduct for interviewswould be devised.

The commission is investigating atrocities committed between March 1, 1960 and December 5, 1993.




RIGHTWING BOMBER DIES, AMNESTY APPLICATION STILL PENDING

The Truth Commission may still consider the amnesty application of rightwinger Lood van Schalkwyk, jailed for twofatal bomb attacks in 1990, who died in hospital early on Tuesday.

Correctional Services spokesman Brigadier Chris Olckers said Van Schalkwyk, who was serving a 25 year sentence,was transferred from Pretoria local prison to HF Verwoerd Hospital in Pretoria at the weekend.

Van Schalkwyk, who had undergone three heart bypass operations, died shortly after 1am on Tuesday after surgery tohis gall bladder.

The chairman of the Truth Commission's amnesty committee Judge Hassen Mall told Sapa he had not been informed ofVan Schalkwyk's death so was unable to comment specifically on the status of his application.

However, the committee intended reading through all applications it received, including that of any applicant who mighthave died in the interim.

“There is a possibility that there will be claims against his estate by the dependents of the victim who might havesuffered as a result of his activities,” Mall said.

This would be one of the factors which the committee would take into account in deciding whether to formally considerand rule on the application.

According to recent newspaper reports it was expected that Van Schalkwyk's amnesty bid would be successful becauseof his poor health and because both his co-accused had already been freed.




VICTIMS ON BOTH SIDES OF APARTHEID CONFLICT TO TELL STORIES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's first public hearing next month is to hear stories of gross human rightsabuses committed on both sides of the apartheid conflict and not just those carried out by the security forces.

It was likely that a victim of the 1993 Highgate Hotel attack in East London, who has already made a statement to thecommission, would be among those testifying at the four-day hearing in East London, a member of the commission'shuman rights violation committee, Ntsiki Sandi said on Tuesday.

Five people were killed in the attack, allegedly carried out by members of the Azanian People's Liberation Army.

Sandi said the commission's Eastern Cape office was busy sifting through about 200 statements to determine whichapplicants qualified as victims in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, and to decide on alist of about 20 cases for the first hearing.

The commission has already indicated it intends hearing about four to five cases a day.

Sandi said six people had been employed by the regional office to write down the victim's stories and sent toJohannesburg for training.

The 200 statements which they had already takenfrom victims, were only “preliminary” and it was likely that many ofthose selected to testify at the first hearing would have to be interviewed again.




TIMETABLE FOR TRUTH COMMISSION HEARINGS RELEASED

Victims of apartheid-era human rights abuses in the Western Cape will be given an opportunity to tell their stories to theTruth Commission a week after the first public hearing in East London in mid-April, it was announced on Tuesday.

Commission vice-chairman Dr Alex Boraine said hearings would be held in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal at weekly intervals through April and May.

Meanwhile the commission's Eastern Cape office is busy sifting through about 200 statements from victims inpreparation for the four day hearing in East London from April 15-18.




TRUTH PROBE UNIT STILL NOT SET UP

The Truth Commission's 60-member investigative unit, which will play a crucial role in verifying allegations of humanrights abuses, has still not been set up – less than a month before the first public hearings are due to start in the EasternCape.

However, the unit's political head, Dumisa Ntsebeza, sounded optimistic when he presented five top Dutch and Danishdetectives, who will make up part of the unit's international contingent, to the media on Wednesday.

“The team will be in place before the first hearing,” he said.

Ntsebeza confirmed no South Africans had yet been appointed to the unit, saying the first interviews for investigatorswould be held in the Eastern Cape next week.

These would be followed by interviews in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

He attributed the delay in the appointment of local detectives to the unit to the lack of suitably qualified candidates.

“Some of the best investigators in the SAPS have been drawn into the ITU (Investigations Task Unit) while others havebeen absorbed into (Transvaal attorney-general) Jan D'Oliviera's team which is investigating third force activities,” hesaid.

Ntsebeza, an Umtata attorney appointed to the Truth Commission last December, said the commission had triedunsuccessfully to head-hunt the ITU commander Lt-Col Frank Dutton.

The unit was responsible for bringing former Defence Minister Magnus Malan and his 19 accused to trial in the DurbanSupreme Court on charges relating to the 1987 KwaMakutha massacre.

Ntsebeza said the ongoing trial had ruled out any possibility of Dutton's appointment.

He also revealed the commission had received claims relating to the involvement of certain political parties ingunrunning and incidents of violence.

However, these were not thought to fall within the commission's mandate and they had been referred to the ITU forfurther investigation.

Ntsebeza said the commission planned to have a non-governmental component in the unit and was looking at appointinghuman rights lawyers and investigative journalists alongside serving or retired police officers.

Twelve investigators would be stationed at each of the commission's four regional offices in East London,Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

They would investigate “dominant themes” of human rights abuses – such as train attacks, attacks on liberationmovements and torture – and to verify claims made by victims and perpetrators.

Ntsebeza said there was an ongoing debate within the commission on the merits of handing over information it received

to the attorney-general for prosecution purposes.

“I can see no reason why information made available by a victim and put to the alleged perpetrator cannot be sent to theA-G. However, information disclosed in an amnesty application would be kept confidential.”




GOVT TO SPEND R4M ON TRUTH COMMISSION OFFICE RENTALS

More than R4 million would be spent this year on renting office space for the Truth Commission in Cape Town, EastLondon, Durban and Johannesburg, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Wednesday.

Replying to a question from Ken Andrew (DP), Omar said the annual rental for 106 Adderley Street in Cape Town – thecommission's seat – was R1,8 million.

This figure was inclusive of operating costs and electricity. The rentals for the regional offices were: East London(R480000), Durban (R960000) and Johannesburg (R900000)

Questioned on the salaries being paid to the 17 commissioners, Omar said in terms of the legislation governing thebody, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu would receive a monthly salary equal to that of a judge-president of the Supreme Court (R24350).

His deputy Dr Alex Boraine would receive an amount equal to that paid to a deputy judge-president (R23958) while theremaining commissioners would each receive a salary equal to that of a Supreme Court judge (R23750).

Commissioners on official duties away from seat of the commission would be entitled to a daily subsistence allowanceof R300.

Each member would also be entitled to eight aeroplane, bus or train tickets a year to travel to and from the commission'sseat or for family visits.

Senior staff members would receive a fixed monthly allowance of between R300 and R500 to compensate for “out-of-pocket” expenses such as parking fees, telephone calls and incidental entertainment expenses.

A total of R150 million had been budgeted for the commission's operations for the 1996/97 and 1997/98 financial years.




RAPE CASES SHOULD ALSO BE INVESTIGATED, SAYS TRUTH COMMISSIONER

The rape of women and young girls during the apartheid conflict was one of the hidden truths which needed to “come tothe surface” during the Truth Commission's public hearings, commissioner Dr Mapule Ramashala said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a public meeting in Langa, attended by about 100 residents, Ramashala said the black community had neveropenly spoken of the rapes and, as a result, had “suffered inside”.

She said perpetrators of human rights abuses who appeared before the commission would never admit to rape because ifthey did, they would not receive amnesty.

“According to the (Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation) Act those who committed rape and killed childrenare not eligible for amnesty.”

She urged people with knowledge of rapes to approach the commission “because it is important for these things to cometo the surface now”.

During the meeting serious allegations of misconduct were levelled against certain doctors at a Cape Town hospital whoallegedly ignored wounded school pupils during the 1976 student uprising.

A Langa resident claimed the pupils died after not receiving medical treatment for their wounds.

Ramashala said this was an exmaple of human rights violations by omission rather than commission which she and hercolleagues would be looking at.




TRUTH COMMISSION MEDIA CAMPAIGN OVERDUE: BORAINE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had “stumbled” in not launching an intensive media campaign sooner topublicise the aims of its 18-month mission, commission deputy-chairman Dr Alex Boraine said on Monday.

He was reacting to a statement released at the weekend by the Gauteng-based Khulumani victims' support group whichcriticised the commission for failing to communicate effectively with human rights abuse victims.

“There is increasing frustration among victims. What is needed is a media campaign with advertisements on radio,television and in the press that explain how the commission is working,” Khulumani spokeswoman Maggie Friedmantold Sapa on Monday.

Friedman said the group was also pushing for more information on the commission's witness protection programme,following several incidents in which members were intimidated.

On Monday, both the South African Catholic Bishops Conference and Truth Commission nominee Fr Michael Lapsleycame out in support of the Khulumani statement.

Lapsley, who is chaplain at a trauma centre for victims of violence and torture in Cape Town, said there was an acutecommunication problem which the commission needed to address as a matter of priority.

“I as a victim don't know what process I must follow if I want to tell my story.”

Lapsley lost both hands and an eye in a letter-bomb blast in Zimbabwe in 1990.

In its reaction, the SACBC questioned why educational materials explaining the mechanics of the commission were stillnot available.

“We have no materials with which we can actually educate the nation about the workings of the TRC. We need thematerial urgently,” said Fr Sean O'Leary of the SACBC's peace and justice department.

Boraine conceded that the publicity campaign was one area where the commission had stumbled.

“The criticism is justified,” he said, “and we are going to put it right”.

The launch of the media campaign had been delayed by problems encountered in appointing a communications director,who would spearhead a comprehensive communications programme.

An applicant for the post had been chosen and was due to have been appointed last week. However, the person hadturned down the offer at the last moment.

The commission would look at making a new appointment when it met on Wednesday, Boraine said.

“We are very keen to communicate as widely as possible explaining to both victims and perpetrators how they can getin touch with us.”

On the issue of educational materials, Boraine said the commission did not have the financial resources yet to providethem. It was still waiting for Justice Minister Dullah Omar to approve its R75 million budget for the 1996/97 financialyear.




EVERYTHING ON TRACK FOR EL TRUTH HEARINGS: BORAINE

Preparations were on track for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's first public hearing, to be held in EastLondon from April 15-18, Commission deputy-chairman Dr Alex Boraine said on Monday.

“At the moment we are just holding our breath and working hard. We are checking with the regional office daily,”Boraine told Sapa.

The commission plans to hear about 20 cases of human rights abuses committed on both sides of the apartheid conflictduring the four-day hearing.

According to a proposed timetable released last week the commission will then move on to the Western Cape, Gautengand KwaZulu-Natal.

Central to the commission's preparations for the first sitting has been the work of its human rights violation committeewhich is still busy drawing up legal guidelines for the hearing.

Committee deputy-chairwoman Yasmin Sooka told Sapa on Monday that the committee was still looking at thequestions of legal representation, prejudice and cross-examination in the hearings.

It had also sought legal opinion on whether the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act gave legalprotection to the testimony of witnesses.

Doubts were recently raised whether victims who implicated people in apartheid-era crimes would be protected fromsubsequent civil lawsuits.

Sooka said the committee would report to the full commission when it met on Wednesday.




BOOST FOR TRUTH COMMISSION ON EVE OF HEARINGS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday received a major boost to its investigative capability – acomputer database containing more than 10,000 files on apartheid-era human rights abuses.

The database, which contains details of actual incidents and names of both perpetrators and victims of abuses, is theproduct of a nationwide year-long project by a coalition of 12 non-governmental organisations.

The project was initiated by deputy commission chairman Dr Alex Boraine in early 1995 while he was still head of theCape Town-based NGO, Justice in Transition.

Boraine commissioned the NGOs to begin documenting potential cases of human rights violations which could be usedby the commission.

Among the organisations involved in the project were Lawyers for Human Rights, the Mayibuye Centre, LegalResources Centre, Human Rights Committee, Peace Action and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies.

Handing over the database to the commission on Wednesday, Brandon Hamber of the Centre for the Study of Violenceand Reconciliation said it would help speed up the body's ability to locate information on perpetrators and victims, or tolocate a witness to a certain event.

Of the 10200 files on the database, 4100 dealt with incidents of torture, murder, attempted murder and abductions, 4800with victims' accounts and 1300 with details of the alleged perpetrators.

In compiling the database, which consists of four computer disks, the NGOs studied the records of human rightsorganisations, such as advice office and paralegal statements, and newspaper clippings.

Hamber said the NGOs would keep copies of the database's files so that they could monitor the commission's use of theinformation and to ensure that certain key issues, such as violations against women, were placed on the body's agenda.

Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was “enormously grateful” for the database.

“We have said frequently that we will not be able to complete our daunting task without the assistance of organisationssuch as yourselves.”

The commission's executive secretary Paul van Zyl said afterwards the NGO files would be kept separate from thecommission's main database which would comprise only primary sources of information such as amnesty applicationsand statements received from victims.

“The NGO database will be a secondary source of information, but our regional offices will still be able to access it,” hesaid.


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COURT CASE MAY FORCE POSTPONEMENT OF EL TRUTH HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to be asked to postpone its first public hearing on April 15 pending theoutcome of a Constitutional Court challenge to the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

Attorneys acting on behalf of the Azanian Peoples Organization and the Biko, Mxenge and Ribeiro families told Sapaon Wednesday that if the commission ignored the request for the postponement, they would seek an urgent SupremeCourt order interdicting the commission from proceeding with the hearings.

Attorney Cyril Morolo also disclosed that he intended asking the commission for a copy of former Vlakplaascommander Capt Dirk Coetzee's amnesty application in terms of Section 23 of the interim Constitution.

This section gave every person the right to request any information held by the state “or its organs insofar that theinformation is required for the protection of any of his or her rights”, he said.

It superseded the confidentiality clause governing amnesty applications in the Promotion of National Unity andReconciliation Act.

“Since the commission has usurped the functions of the courts they are bound to comply with this section.”

Morolo said he hoped to be in a position by next Monday to file an application with the Constitutional Court givingnotice of the families' intention to challenge the constitutionality of the Act.

It was unlikely that the court would be able to hear the application before the commission's April 15 hearing in EastLondon.

I will be writing a courtesy letter to the commission next week asking them not to proceed with the hearing pending theoutcome of the case. I see no reason why they shouldn't agree as they are under no pressure to proceed with hearings.”

The basis of the families' application was that the state was obliged, in terms of international law, to “criminalise,prosecute and punish war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

“It does not have the right to remove from the victims of such crimes their right to seek redress from the courts. Theamnesty provision in the Act is thus unconstitutional.”

Morolo said he had written to Justice Minister Dullah Omar on Wednesday to inform him that the family of ANCactivist Dr Fabian Ribeiro, who was shot dead in his home in 1986, was joining Azapo and the Biko and Mxengefamilies in bringing the application.

Biko died in police custody in 1977 while Mxenge was assassinated in 1981, allegedly by agents of the state, and hisbody dumped in a stadium at Umlazi near Durban. Coetzee has confessed to involvement in Mxenge's murder.

Morolo said evidence before the Harms commission of inquiry had indicated the involvement of the security forces inRibeiro's death.

In the letter to Omar he also expressed concern about newspaper reports that the minister had met the Biko and Mxenge

families last Thursday in a bid to persuade them to go before the commission.

“We view the conduct of the minister as being unethical...the minister should have had the decency to inform us aboutthe planned meeting.”




TRUTH COMMISSION TELLS OMAR IT WANTS WITNESS PROTECTOR SOON

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has told Justice Minister Dullah Omar it is unhappy with his department'slack of progress in setting up a witness protection programme.

Deputy chairman of the commission Dr Alex Boraine said on Thursday the commission first asked the department threemonths ago to investigate setting up a scheme to protect witnesses who feared for their lives.

“One of the key items on our agenda at our first meeting on December 16 was appointing a witness protector, which wemust do in terms of the (Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation) Act,” he said.

“We've been negotiating with Justice to make that appointment. We've been doing this for three months. We have raisedthe issue over and over again.”

The commission was uncomfortable that with only three weeks to go before the first public hearing in East London onApril 15, it still did not have a protector or a protection scheme, .

A recent application by a witness for protection had thrown the spotlight on the issue. Emergency measures had beentaken in the interim to protect the person, whom he declined to name.

“I have been in touch with the minister and told him of our deep concern that there is not witness protection scheme. Wehave been given the assurance that there are plans afoot to establish a national scheme which would include thecommission.”

Boraine said the commission could not afford any more delays and intended putting pressure on the ministry. Omar'soffice would be contacted daily to get updates on the progress that was being made in setting up the programme.

“We must have this programme to give people the kind of protection they deserve and want. We wil do everything wepossible can to ensure that the scheme is in place well before the first hearing,” he said.




TUTU SAYS HE WON'T APOLOGISE FOR OFFICIALS' SALARIES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission would not apologise for the market-related salaries which it was paying itsofficials, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday.

“When you are starting up an organisation from scratch and it is a short-term operation where you are seeking to makeaffirmative appointments, then almost by definition the salary levels are going to have to be very competitive,” Tututold a press briefing.

He was unable to release details of the salary packages because the commission's R75 million 1996/97 budget had notyet been finalised and was still being studied by the Ministry of Finance.

It would only become public once it was tabled in Parliament.

“We can assure you there is no veil of secrecy. But we are not going to be making any apologies (for the salaries). Itwas a decision we have taken with great deliberation and responsibility. We can justify it.”




EL TRUTH HEARING WILL GO AHEAD: TUTU

The Truth Commission had no intention of postponing its first public hearing on April 15 pending the outcome of aConstitutional Court challenge to amnesty legislation, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said onThursday.

“We owe it to the victims and survivors of human rights abuse,” Tutu told a press briefing.

He was reacting to newspaper reports on Thursday that attorneys acting on behalf of the Azanian People's Organisationand the Biko, Mxenge and Ribeiro families intended asking the commission to delay its first hearing in East London.

Attorney Cyril Morolo said he hoped to be in a position by next Monday to file an application with the ConstitutionalCourt giving notice of the families' intention to have the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act declared“null and void”.

They argue that the Act's amnesty provisions deprive them of their right to seek redress.

Morolo warned that if the commission turned down the request for the postponement, the families would seek an urgentSupreme Court order interdicting the body from proceeding with the hearings.

Deputy commission chairman Dr Alex Boraine said the commission would make a further response when it formallyreceived the request.

On Thursday Morolo said he had faxed a letter to the commission asking for a copy of former Vlakplaas commanderCapt Dirk Coetzee's amnesty application to enable the families to prepare their case.

In terms of Section 23 of the interim Constitution every person had the right of access to all information held by thestate “insofar as such information is required for the exercise or protection of any of his or her rights”, he said.

Tutu told the press briefing Coetzee's application was privileged and would not be handed over.

“If they want to test the confidentiality clause, let them. We will continue to operate on the basis of the law whichestablished us.”




TRUTH BODY MOVES TO DELAY AMNESTY HEARINGS

Amnesty hearings would not be held until the Truth Commission had completed the first round of victim hearings in theEastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said onThursday.

“We don't have a target date for the amnesty hearings yet,” Tutu told a press briefing.

Tutu said the commission had received about 100 amnesty applications so far, many of them from people in custody.

“The rule is that we don't publicise their identities ahead of the hearings.”

The commission had taken a deliberate decision to delay the five-member amnesty committee's hearings until after thefirst victim hearings, to highlight the emphasis which the body placed on human rights abuse victims.

However, there was also the problem that Judges Bernard Ngoepe, Hassen Mall and Andrew Wilson, who sat on thecommittee, were not available until April.

The commission was also still interviewing candidates for the position of committee secretary. The post is equivalent tothat of a court registrar and the successful candidate will be responsible for keeping control of files, organising hearingsand notifying interested parties.


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