Issued by: The Office of the Executive Deputy President
At last we have been vindicated. The apartheid regime, at its highest levels, ordered the bombing of Khotso House as an attack on the heart of the Church, its mission and being.
According to the evidence of General Van der Merwe, Khotso House was blasted out of life because the ANC held secret meetings there. I am proud of the stand the Church took during those difficult times by (1) taking sides with the victims of the immoral apartheid system, (2) identifying with their struggle against apartheid, and (3) acting in solidarity with the people.
The majority of the people we had to minister to were victims and activists who opposed the apartheid system and thus members of the liberation movement which included the ANC, PAC, AZAPO as well as the UDF. If this is what we were attacked for then it was for our obedience to God and to the Gospel, a God who cares about justice and the lives of the people.
It is my hope that more disclosures will be made on the attacks carried out against many of the staff and officials of the SACC, some of which were fatal. I also hope that a disclosure on my near fatal poisoning in 1989 will also be made. If Khotso House was bombed for the reasons stated then it should follow that the attack of key personnel of the SACC was part of the strategy of the regime.
Having held meetings with both Presidents P W Botha and F W de Klerk, accompanied in most instances by Mr Vlok and General Van der Merwe or their predecessors it would be healing for me and many others if a direct apology could be made. This would create more confidence and trust after too much direct lying at high places.
Issued by FRANK CHIKANE (REV)
Cape Town 22 October 1996