The End of Apartheid - South Africa’s Human Spirit

This documentary transports the listener through raw sound to the unprecedented public hearings at which survivors - victims, perpetrators and others – testified about gross human rights abuses since 1960. It contains award-winning stories with lots of gripping and contextual sound. Well-known musicians, storytellers, poets, former political prisoners, exiles and most of the Truth Commissioners thread the story of South Africa's past with music, song, poetry and commentary. This oral record aims to preserve for posterity the rich gamut of viewpoints, memories and emotions of South Africa's history - apartheid and democracy. Web page: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/index.htm Butterflies in the pit - Desmond Tutu Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#butterflies © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC. Additional music by Whitesand - Eternity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5c83Uixoj8

The first week of Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in East London was an exceptional one in South Africa. Nothing like the miracle election of April 1994. Nothing like the Government of National Unity. And nothing like South Africa’s unifying sport victories. Mid-April 1996 was a week in which the country and its people came face to face with their past for the first time. Darren Taylor and Zola Ntutu reflect on the dominant themes that surfaced in the first four days of the Truth Commission’s probe into gross human rights abuses during the apartheid era. Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#unlock Gifts of justice, mercy and compassion  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#gifts  Wounded people Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#wounded In session Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#session Witness to great courage  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#witness Dance unshackled - letters read by Desmond Tutu Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#dance bones of memory - experiences and memories lay bare the pain and bravery of apartheid's victims  © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC. Additional music by Whitesand - Melody Of My Dreams - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si89RLFreaw

The Truth Commission’s symbolic hearings into gross human rights abuses moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg between April and May 1996. Again a number of themes were raised under the ceiling and the cross of the Central Methodist Church, where the hearing was held. For the first time an ordinary apartheid policeman came across as being sympathetic towards the comrades and opposed to the free rein of the notorious Security Branch. South Africans of Indian origin were finally recognised for their role in the liberation struggle. But some of these shifts in the Truth Commission script were lost on all but those paying the most undivided attention as the pain first experienced in East London resurfaced. Darren Taylor and Antjie Samuel return to the Johannesburg testimonies. Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#hell Hearing in Alex - Hugh Lewin Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#hearing bones of memory - experiences and memories lay bare the pain and bravery of apartheid's victims © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.

The Truth Commission wrapped up its symbolic round of public hearings into gross human rights abuses in Durban on the 10th of May 1996. Evidence heard at the Jewish Club provided some insight into the violence that was still ravaging KwaZulu-Natal long after South Africa’s first democratic elections had brought peace to most of the country. Many ANC members and supporters blamed the Inkatha Freedom Party in absentia for abuses they had suffered. A glaring gap was that the experiences of IFP members went untold in the same week that South Africa’s democratic Constitution was adopted. And in the same week that the National Party walked out of the Government of National Unity. Kenneth Makatees and Darren Taylor bring to mind what happened in Durban. Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#glaring  The beast of our dark past - Desmond Tutu Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/bonesright.htm#beast  "Nkosi sikelel’ iafrika" and "Die stem" bones of memory - experiences and memories lay bare the pain and bravery of apartheid's victims © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC. Additional music by Whitesand - Melody Of My Dreams - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si89RLFr

"Last will and testament" - Ariel Dorfman Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#last  the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually  © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.

The Truth Commission went behind bars in July 1997 to investigate gross human rights abuses committed in the apartheid prisons and ANC camps in exile. One of the aims of the two-day hearing was to record the memories of so many political prisoners whose lives were wasted. Another was to recommend to government ways of creating a human rights culture in places of detention. The hearing was held at the old fort in Johannesburg, or "Number Four", as the prison was commonly known. One person who had eerie memories returning to the old fort was Truth Commission member Hugh Lewin. He spent seven years in jail for sabotage in the sixties. This is how Lewin captured the essence of imprisonment in his book, called Bandiet. Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#butcher slices of life - the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.

She was proud to be a revolutionary. And proud to be an African woman. But she had no idea how she would be battered physically, mentally and emotionally for her beliefs. By the apartheid Security Police, the prison authorities and even her own sisters in the struggle. She was Greta Appelgren, the ANC’s woman in the 1986 Magoo’s Bar bombing in Durban. And the coloured Catholic who converted to Islam to become Zahrah Narkedien. Angie Kapelianis tells Narkedien’s story of suffering and strength both in jail and in the colour of her skin.  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#stand  slices of life - the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually  © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.

The ANC presented the longest and most complicated political submission to the Truth Commission when it was called to account for its past in 1996 and 1997. The former liberation movement acknowledged that some of its members committed gross human rights violations in exile, but called these abuses "excesses". It also admitted that its military tribunal in Angola executed 34 cadres. On behalf of the ANC, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki apologised for incidents in which civilians were killed, like the Amanzimtoti and Magoo’s Bar bombings in KwaZulu-Natal in the mid-eighties. But the main thrust of the ANC submission was that it fought a just war against an illegitimate government and unjust system. Kenneth Makatees, Angie Kapelianis, Darren Taylor and Antjie Samuel report.  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#just  slices of life - the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually  © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.

Five commissions of inquiry investigated torture in the ANC camps abroad during the liberation struggle against apartheid. They were the Stuart, Skweyiya, Sachs, Motsuenyane and Douglas commissions. Yet several victims jailed in the ANC’s notorious Quatro Camp in Angola were dissatisfied with their findings and turned to the Truth Commission for help. The most eloquent and damning testimony, though, came from one of the ANC government’s own senior officials, Chief Land Claims Commissioner Joe Seremane. Antjie Samuel reports.  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#my  slices of life - the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually  © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.

The apartheid legal system came under the Truth Commission’s gavel in October 1997. It wanted to know how did judges and lawyers co-operate or collude with the National Party government? Why did South Africa’s learned men uphold unjust laws? And why did they fail to protect the human rights of all South Africans? But the men who could have answered these questions decided to boycott the hearing. South Africa’s first black chief justice, Ismail Mahomed, said there was no need for the judges to account for their actions in person and in public. Angie Kapelianis compiled this collage of criticism levelled at the judges.  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#above  "I saw your mother" - Jeremy Cronin  Transcript: http://www.sabctruth.co.za/sabctruth/slicesright.htm#saw  slices of life - the imprisonment under apartheid of all south africans - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually  © SABC 2020. No unauthorised use, copying, adaptation or reproduction permitted without prior written consent of the SABC.