South Africa yet to hear from apartheid enforcers .
Anton Ferreira
CAPE TOWN 1996-08-25
South Africa 's truth commission begins issuing subpoenas this week in a bid to dig beneath the political rationales and find the sinister figures who have the blood of the country 's race war on their hands .
Leaders of the major parties involved , from right-wing whites to radical blacks , appeared before Archbishop Desmond Tutu 's Truth and Reconciliation Commission last week to paint the broad picture of their actions for or against apartheid .
Most , including former president F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress Deputy President Thabo Mbeki , offered apologies for any mistakes they had made and accepted broad responsibility for the actions of their foot soldiers .
But none named those guilty of ordering or carrying out any of the gross violations of human rights which Tutu is investigating .
Human rights lawyer Brian Currin said the hearings last week were not intended as a form of confessional and that those who personally committed crimes during apartheid would testify only before a separate arm of the commission , the amnesty committee .
" I do n't think one should have expected more than what one got , " he said . "
That was not the amnesty committee where perpetrators are expected to open their hearts and souls and to tell it all . "
The commission , which has the power to grant amnesty to those who confess to abuses , has begun hearing the testimony from people already in jail for their deeds .
But others , such as self-confessed secret police hit-squad leader Dirk Coetzee , have yet to testify .
Tutu 's deputy chairman , Alex Boraine , told reporters the commission would begin issuing subpoenas to suspects who refused to appear voluntarily some time this week .
He added that former hardline apartheid president P.W. Botha could be among those called .
But Currin , who is advising several people regarded as perpetrators , said this was not the best way to achieve the commission 's aims .
" A person can be forced to appear , but the only way one is going to get to the truth in its totality is if people feel it is a good idea to go to the amnesty committee .
At the moment this is not the case . "
He cited Coetzee , who was charged with murder after confessing in media interviews to dirty tricks .
His trial is due to start in December but the truth commission intends to decide on his amnesty application before that .
Currin said the law had to be changed so all judicial prosecutions were automatically suspended for those who approached the truth commission .
Last week 's submissions to the commission by the ANC , de Klerk 's National Party and the right-wing Freedom Front of General Constand Viljoen left many South Africans unsatisfied .
Boraine said the picture was incomplete because officers of the apartheid-era security forces had yet to make their scheduled , separate submission , but one black caller to a radio talk show declared :
" This whole thing is utterly useless , it does n't help us at all .
What the people expect is to have houses , to have jobs . "
Political scientist Jannie Gagiano said he doubted that the National Party , which implemented apartheid in 1948 and began dismantling it in 1990 , felt it carried a burden of guilt and needed to be exculpated through the commission .
" Therefore I have some doubts about achieving some form of reconciliation .
One has to feel a bit guilty to feel the need for reconciling yourself to a historical adversary , " he said .
Professor Tom Lodge of the University of the Witwatersrand demurred , saying :
" In the irritation , in the jokes , in the anger that white South Africans express about the commission , I think there 's a moral uneasiness , and I think that 's healthy .
Responsibility is percolating downwards . "