Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
3 June 1997
About 20 submissions from the health profession, including numerous case studies of human rights abuses in the health sector, are included in the programme for the TRC's two day Health Sector Hearings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, 17 and 18 June, in Cape Town.
The Health hearings are the first in a series of submissions to the TRC on how the different professions colluded with and/or resisted human rights abuses during the a years under review. Similar events will include hearings on the media, judiciary and prisons. These hearings and submissions will enable the Commission to fulfill it's mandate to compile a complete a picture as possible of human rights abuses of the past, including "the antecedents, circumstances, factors and context" of those abuses and make recommendations as to how they could be prevented in future.
A representative task group, elected at the national workshop in November last year to work on preparing for the hearings, met last week to make recommendations to the TRC as to which submissions should be heard in public.
"We have been flooded by submissions," says Commissioner Dr Wendy Orr, who is facilitating the hearings from the TRC's side. "More than 40 submissions were received from individuals, institutions and organisations. They are still being sent in, and this made the task of choosing which submissions should be heard very difficult." Orr emphasised that all submissions will be used to enrich and inform the Final Report, even if they are not heard in public. The TRC's team for the hearings, including Dr Orr, Dr Mapule F Ramashala, Ms Glenda Wildschut, Dr S'mangele Magwaza, Dr Fazel Randera, Ms Hlengiwe Mkhize, Adv Denzil Potgieter and Ms Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, made the final selection for the intensive two-day programme. They will also make up the presiding panels for the hearings, along with TRC deputy chair, Dr Alex Boraine.
The proceedings will be opened by the Chairperson of the TRC, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, after which Dr Orr will set out the context of the hearing. The morning of the first day, Tuesday, 17 June, will be devoted to submissions on "case studies" of abuses. Most submis- sions will be limited to 20 minutes. They include: A submission on Steve Biko's death in detention by Dr Peter Folb (Head of the Pharmacology Department at the University of Cape Town); A submis- sion by a military medic who served on the "border" for 13 months; Case studies on detainees by the Health and Human Rights Project (HHRP); Evidence of the manipulation of forensic evidence by Dr David Klatzow, a well-known forensic scientist; Bademic Institutions; A Submission of systemic abuse in institutions by Dr Leslie London, of the Department of Community Health at UCT; Abuses in rural private practices by Dr Janet Giddy of McCord Hospital in Kwazulu-Natal.
During the afternoon several health organisations and bodies will present their submissions. They are:
The South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC);
The Medical Association of South Africa (MASA);
The South African Nursing Council (SANC);
The South African Medical Service (SAMS)
More institutions and associations will present their submissions on the second day of the hearings, Wednesday, June 18. They are: The Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA); Submissions by medical schools (from two or three universities); The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DeNOSA); Submis- sions by two organisations active during the eighties - NAMDA (National Medical and Dental Association) and OASSSA (Organisation for Appropriate Social Services in South Africa); A submission by the HHRP; The Department of Health.
The proceedings will be concluded by a plenary session on "The Way Forward", chaired by Dr Leslie London.
Several international health and human rights organisations will attend the hearingans for Human Rights, Amnesty International, the British Medical Association, IRTC (a Danish organisation for the prevention of torture) and the World Mental Health Federation.