TRUTH COMMISSION: re: Application for amnesty by Brig Cronje, Col Venter, Captains Hechter & Mentz & WO Van Vuuren LAWYER PETER BRITZ READING OPENING STATEMENT

Record ID: 893643

  • Title: TRUTH COMMISSION: re: Application for amnesty by Brig Cronje, Col Venter, Captains Hechter & Mentz & WO Van Vuuren LAWYER PETER BRITZ READING OPENING STATEMENT
  • Date: 21st October 1996
  • Summary: TRUTH COMMISSION: re: Application for amnesty by Brig Cronje, Col Venter, Captains Hechter & Mentz & WO Van Vuuren LAWYER PETER BRITZ READING OPENING STATEMENT
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  • City: JOHANNESBURG
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: 96OCT21R01
  • Story Text:TRUTH COMMISSION HEARINGS: JOHANNESBURG re: Submission by Brigadier J Cronje, Colonel R Venter, Captain J Hechter, Captain W Mentz and WO P van Vuuren

    00.51.40 PETER BRITZ [LAWYER FOR THE GENERALS] READING OPENING STATEMENT
    00.52.10 ...we have decided to come forward....with the purpose of cleansing our souls from the darkness of the past and to let the truth be spoken about our deeds...
    00.52.30 ...we need to...repent, to search our souls for the truth & to shed the burden of our conscience which we have carried with us for so long...
    00.53.09 ...our actions & experiences relate to a period of extreme violence & conflict in SA's history, between opposing forces who never tried to understand each other or to reconcile differences in a peaceful way...
    00.53.48 ...the time for deception is past. The time for denial is past. The time for conflict....for refusal...for repression of the truth is past. The time for justification...for hatred is past. It is time for peace...it is time for confession...
    00.54.22...we do not believe that our endeavours to uphold apartheid were worth the pain & suffering on both sides...
    00.54.44 ...we call on all other members of the security forces to come forward & participate in this process of reconciliation and nation building as we believe that it is the only alternative to further conflict & separation of the people...
    00.55.06 ...we will...show that all our actions were purely & simply associated with a political objective namely to uphold the National Party Government & Apartheid, to fight communism & to resist liberation of SA & democracy...
    00.55.22 ...we are not criminals...we have never committed any criminal deed outside the sphere of the conflicts of the past...we believed that we had acted bona fide in the interests of our country...
    00.56.23 ...we were brought up to believe in Apartheid. We were made to believe that Apartheid was sanctioned by God through the church. We were made to believe that our participation in the Security Forces was justified to uphold Apartheid. We were made to believe that black people were inferior and that the needs, emotions & aspirations of black people differed from ours.
    00.56.48 We were made to believe that we were superior and that these differences justified Apartheid. We have come to realize that these beliefs were wrong...and we do not hold these beliefs anymore...
    00.57.23 QUOTING GENERAL JAN SMUTS [1917]
    00.58.26 ...we are prepared to forgive those who have waged war during the struggle...we similarly ask forgiveness for those who lost their lives...injured and we share grief of those family members of victims who have suffered during the era of conflict...
    00.59.21 ...we call upon our superiors and the previous government not to deny responsibility but to stand by their people and to admit responsibility for what was done byus in our endeavours to keep them in power.
    00.59.36 We all supported the National Party until 1994...we have been deserted by the NP...
    01.00.08 ...we call upon the previous governmentn & our superiors to explain certain orders given to us...and to admit to authorising actions outside the normal processes of the law...
    01.00.25 ...we seriously doubt the statement made by Mr FW de Klerk in the following terms in the NP's submuission...QUOTE
    01.02.24 END READING INTRODUCTION
    01.04.56 LAWYER - REQUEST THAT STATE WITNESSES BE SUPOENED TO GIVE EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF APPLICANTS
    01.05.48 HANDING COPIES OF HIS ARGUMENT
    01.09.12 CUTAWAY AUDIENCE - GEN JOHAN VD MERWE
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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