12 October 19922
I should like first to thank the Special Committee against Apartheid for extending an invitation to me as a member of the African National Congress to address the Committee on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners.
As a political prisoner on Robben Island in the 1960s and the 1970s, I found that international support and solidarity with the plight of political prisoners in South Africa played an important role both in our struggle against the inhuman conditions in South African prisons and in the campaign for the release of all political prisoners in our country.
In one sense, every black person in South Africa is a political prisoner deprived of all basic human rights, such as the right to the vote, to education, to health and to housing as well as the right to peace and security and employment opportunities. The racist apartheid State turned our entire country into a vast prison camp of poverty and homelessness, of police terror and death squad assassinations, of forced removals and brutal massacres.
This meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the Mandela-de Klerk summit, which rekindled the hopes of all South Africans, but the regime and its allies have erected obstacles to the speedy liquidation of the apartheid system.
The struggle for the release of all political prisoners has been long and difficult. The Harare Declaration made the unconditional release of all political prisoners a precondition for any talks with the regime. This position has been endorsed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations General Assembly. This was an important prerequisite, for without the release of political prisoners and the return of exiles no negotiation with the regime was possible.
When the African National Congress met with the regime and signed the Groote Schuur Minutes, the regime undertook to release all political prisoners and time-frames were set for the completion of the process. The State, however, dragged its feet and kept on creating obstacles and extending the time period, and at the end of the day it failed to release all the political prisoners.
That is just one example of how the regime continually reneged on its agreements with the ANC. While we kept to our side of the agreements, the regime continued to follow its own agenda.
It was this persistent duplicity and lack of honesty on the part of the racist State that led the African National Congress to suspend all bilateral negotiations with it after the massacre of Boipatong. We also made numerous demands, including the release of all political prisoners and steps to end the violence against our people. We backed up our demands by mass action, when millions of our people participated in national strikes and mass demonstrations and other forms of action
As a result of our mass action, international pressure, United Nations resolutions and the Goldstone Commission reports, the Nationalist Party regime felt obliged to seek a summit with the ANC to consider ways and means of meeting the ANC's legitimate demands. Accordingly, various meetings between the Secretary-General of the ANC, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, and the Nationalist Party regime took place to prepare for the summit.
The position of the ANC was that such a meeting between our leaders was not possible until such timeas the Nationalist Party Government was committed to meeting the key demands which would lay the basis for the resumption of bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
The outcome of those meetings was a draft of the Record of Understanding, thus laying the basis for its adoption at the summit.
On 26 September 1992, at a summitmeeting between the President of the ANC, Comrade Nelson Mandela, and F. W. de Klerk, a Record of Understanding was signed which, inter alia, provided for a constituent assembly and the release of all remaining political prisoners.
It was agreed that there was a need for a democratic constituent assembly, and that for such a body to be democratic it must: be democratically elected; draft and adopt the new constitution, implying that it should sit as a single chamber; be bound only by agreed constitutional principles; have a fixed time-frame; have adequate deadlock-breaking mechanisms; function democratically - that is, arrive at its decisions democratically, with certain agreed-to majorities; and finally, be elected within an agreed predetermined time period. Within the framework of these principles, details would have to be worked out.
It was also agreed that all political prisoners whose imprisonment was related to political conflict of the past and whose release could make a contribution to reconciliation should be released. The National Party regime and the ANC agreed that the release of prisoners - namely, those who according to the ANC fell within the guidelines defining political offences, but according to the regime did not, and who had committed offences with a political motive - would be carried out in stages and completed before 15 November 1992.
In that regard, the following was agreed to and steps were taken for its implementation: 150 political prisoners were released on 25 September 1992; three combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe - McBride, Mncube and Nondula - were released on 28 September 1992. The remaining political prisoners are to be released as soon as they have been identified, and their release is to be completed before 15 November 1992.
The apartheid State, however, also released Barend Strydom, the right-wing mass murderer who went around the streets of Pretoria shooting and killing innocent black people because of his racial hatred of the blacks. During his trial Strydom was examined by one of the country's leading criminologists, who warned that he was a psychopathic killer and not safe out of prison. We see the release of Strydom as part of the well-orchestrated violence against the black civilian population of our country.
The racist State justifies the release of this right-wing murderer on the grounds of equal treatment of prisoners who fought against apartheid and those who defended the racist apartheid system. It is an attempt by the National Party regime to equate the crimes of apartheid, which was declared by the international community to be a crime against humanity, to the militant acts of resistance carried out by freedom fighters who gallantly fought a liberation war in our country. As one South African newspaper put it, to treat them as being the same "would be like putting the French Resistance in the Nuremberg dock along with the Nazis".
The regime has sought in the past to link the issue of the release of political prisoners with that of granting a general amnesty to all its forces who have committed human-rights abuses, but who have not been charged and sentenced. That was rejected by the African National Congress.
Our position on a general amnesty is quite clear. The policy on dealing with past abuses by the State must meet certain conditions of legitimacy. These are as follows.
First, the truth must be known. Any measures to deal with past human-rights abuses must be adopted in full knowledge of the truth about what happened in our country.
Second, the truth must be complete: the nature and the extent of the violations committed should be disclosed, as well as how they were planned and executed, what the fate of the victims was, who personally gave the orders and who carried them out. This is especially important in relation to people who have "disappeared".
Third, the whole truth must be officially proclaimed and publicly exposed. Hiding the truth perpetuates the suffering and, indeed, goes against the rights of the relatives and victims. It also perpetuates deep resentment and makes national unity and reconciliation more difficult.
Fourth, the policy must represent the will of the people. An illegitimate Government systematically violated human rights, and after a change of Government a policy to deal with abuses of the past must be approved in a manner that reflects the will of the people. The policy must be approved by a body that has a democratic mandate. In our case, this can be only an interim Government of national unity.
Fifth, the policy must not violate international law relating to human rights. We in the African National Congress have made it quite clear that on no account can we countenance a situation in which we are bound by any action that isa clear breach of international law. Gross violations of human rights, war crimes and crimes against humanity cannot be the subject of amnesty by a Government. A person cannot forgive his or her own sins. The succeeding Government must provide remedies for these serious breaches.
Six, there must be a purge of the most serious offenders. No interim or democratic administration can countenance a situation in which the most evil perpetrators of torture, "disappearances" and killing continue in office. Their presence would represent a constant threat to a democratic order.
Seven, there must be reparations or compensation for the victims or their families. Reparations may take the form of the truth in cases where victims have disappeared or where the cause of death is not known. Other countries have found ways of providing modest financial compensation to those who have been wrongfully imprisoned or tortured.
The State has already announced that in the reconvened session of the racist minority Parliament, which begins today, 12 October, it will unilaterally legislate a general amnesty law, thus granting amnesty to itself. The African National Congress has condemned this unilateral step, and we have announced that we will treat the law as null and void, as a nullity.
Without international support for the struggle against apartheid and without the active involvement of such bodies as the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, we would not be where we are today in our struggle.
The white minority State is criminalizing black political activity and is attempting to take the sting out of the limited victories scored by our liberation movement. The struggle against apartheid and for a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and united South Africa continues to be waged by the masses of our people in the country. No ruling class voluntarily gives up power.
The States Members of the United Nations will agree that it has taken massive international pressure and relentless struggle by the people of South Africa to push the regime towards negotiations. It is therefore our considered view that in order to encourage progress it is important that pressure be maintained against the regime. Such an approach is necessary, especially since the second plenary meeting of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) failed to make headway precisely because the regime would not accept the consequences of democracy.
In this regard, we would strongly urge the international community to maintain existing measures against the apartheid regime in accordance with the resolution adopted by consensus by the General Assembly. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the United Nations Declaration on apartheid and subsequent consensus resolutions stress the responsibility of the United Nations in continuing to support those who are engaged in the struggle for democratic change.
Furthermore, we appeal to the international community to continue to assist the people of our country in redressing the socio-economic inequalities of apartheid. Such assistance becomes highly critical against the backdrop of a devastating drought that threatens close to 23 million people in southern Africa with death and destruction. The African National Congress calls on the United Nations and its various agencies on which we have relied for support in the past to renew their efforts.
Permit us to take a moment to congratulate the Government and people of Angola on the successful conclusion of their electoral process. It isour hope that that historic event will put an end at last to the war that has gripped that country since its independence and allow the people to go about the business of reconstruction so as to create a better life.
Similarly, we offer our congratulations to the Government and people of Mozambique on the peace accord signed with RENAMO. It isour wish that it will result in the stability so long desired in that country following many years of ruinous fratricidal strife.
Even as we are preoccupied with the enormous difficulties confronting our country, we cannot afford to close our eyes to the colossal catastrophe that is unfolding in Somalia. We add our voice to the international outcry over the tragic state of affairs in that country. We strongly appeal to the international community and the United Nations in particular to spare no effort to alleviate the sad plight of the Somali people.
As we mark this Day, we cannot but reflect that there are people elsewhere in the world who in the quest for freedom and self-determination are forced to surrender their sons and daughters to prisons. We think of the prisoners of Palestine, Western Sahara, El Salvador and elsewhere. To all of them we convey our warm greetings of solidarity. Today we should like to say "Your struggle isour struggle; your victory isour victory."
We wish also to welcome Security Council resolution 772 (1992), which authorizes the Secretary-General to deploy, as a matter of urgency, United Nations observers in South Africa. The issue of ongoing violence against our people and the demand for free political activity in some of the bantustans must be addressed by the international community as a matter of urgency. However, we urge that the United Nations move with greater speed to implement all the provisions of that resolution, including those relating to the investigation of criminal conduct and the monitoring of armed formations in the country. This, in our view, would go a long way towards stabilizing the situation and thereby contribute to the creation of a climate conducive to negotiations.
While we are on the subject, let us also caution against the temptation which seems to be prevalent in some circles, to equate the victims with the perpetrators of violence. According to this approach, peaceful demonstrators should be held accountable for marching and thus provoking the security forces to shoot at them. We have never heard it argued anywhere that the penalty for protesting peacefully or for deviating from a set demonstration route is the firing squad. In any event, for the majority of the people in South Africa the only avenue for peaceful political expression is precisely that kind of mass action, since they do not have the vote.
In conclusion, the ANC, on behalf of the oppressed and democratic-minded South Africans, wishes to express once again its deep appreciation to the United Nations and the international community for their continued support in our struggle for a free, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa.
Footnotes
1. Mr. Ebrahim, a former political prisoner, was then a member of the National Working Committee on the ANC.