Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
13 NOVEMBER 1996
"SEVEN - DAYS WAR"
PIETERMARITZBURG CITY HALL MONDAY NOV 18 TO THURSDAY NOV 21
THE last sitting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the KwaZulu/Natal-Free State region for the year 1996, is an event hearing which will attempt to bring to life one of the bloodiest, incidents of political violence ever to happen in South Africa.
This special sitting of the TRC will be at the Pietemaritzburg City Hall, from Monday November 18 to Thursday November 21. On all the four days the hearings will commence at 9 am, and will focus on the events that led to a brutal "war" which raged on for seven days in the densely populated Edendale and Vulindlela areas in Pietermaritzburg.
The "war", - subsequently dubbed the "7-Days War" - which lasted from the 25th to the 31st of March in 1990, left more than 200 people dead, hundreds of homes gutted and looted and countless orphans and refugees.
According to accounts of eyewitnesses and monitors of the situation at the time, the fighting was triggered by an incident where buses ferrying people home from a rally in Durban were allegedly stoned while driving past the ANC stronghold of KwaShange.
The following day all hell broke loose as thousands of heavily armed men returned to the area where the buses had been stoned and started attacking everything on sight. The violence spread to surrounding areas. The revenge attack degenerated into an orgy of killing and destruction.
There were persistent allegations at the time, which are going to be repeated once more next week, that the attackers were bussed into the area and some brought in trucks others on foot however, at all times. And were seen escorted in and out of the area they had attacked either by heavily armed police or military units.
It is also for these reasons that the TRC had to subpoena high ranking police and SANDF officers, who were commanders on the ground at the time, to come to these hearings and answer questions.
The first day of these hearings, on Monday November 18, will be dedicated to the survivors and families of victims of the attacks who will relive their agony and pain. The next three days will see numerous prominent people in the region who were touched one way or the other by this particular incident testifying before the commission about the events, from their own perspective.
There will also be video clippings of footage of most of the fighting which was captured by local and foreign television crews. Most of the footage which confirm some of the allegations and expose certain prominent figures who were behind the fighting, will be shown during the hearing on a giant screen inside the City Hall.
People who are scheduled to testify before the commission include police and army officials, violence monitors in the area at the time, Randley Keys and Pierre Cronje both of the Democratic Party, John Aitchison of the Centre for Adult Education at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, Tim Smith, a priest at Elandskop, Dr Blade Nzimande a local ANC leader at the time and leading journalists Fred Kockott and Khaba Mkhize, presently the General manager of the SABC in KwaZulu-Natal.
FOR MEDIA ACCREDITATION AND MORE INFORMATION PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONSULT: MDU LEMBEDE (TRC MEDIA SPOKESMAN) PHONE 031 3076745/3076767 FAX 031 3076742 CELLULAR 082 4588464