The chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, appeared "with the greatest possible reluctance" as a witness for the prosecution yesterday in the trial of former president, Mr P. W. Botha.
Archbishop Tutu told the court he felt compassion for Mr Botha and had tried to reach out to him as "his brother" and to dissuade him from defying a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Referring to the appearance in court of Mr Botha on charges of contempt, the prelate, who is suffering from prostate cancer, told magistrate, Mr Victor Lugaju: "I stand here with the greatest possible reluctance." His presence in the witness box and Mr Botha's in the dock should "not have happened", he added.
Replying to questions from the Attorney General, Mr Bruce Morrison, Dr Tutu denied he had agreed to waive the TRC's right to summon Mr Botha to appear in person before it in return for detailed written replies from him to questions from the commission on the role of the State Security Council. "I did not give such an undertaking," he said. "I have never given that kind of immunity to any potential witness to the commission. I do not believe I have the power to do so."
Following a meeting with Dr Tutu at his home in George in November 1996, Mr Botha begun working on a lengthy deposition to the TRC questions. The document of more than 1,500 pages was submitted to the TRC last year after Mr Botha was subpoenaed to appear at a TRC hearing on the State Security Council.
The trial court in the town of George had been told earlier of extra-judicial attacks, including assassinations, carried out by members of the security forces under the now displaced white government. TRC executive, Mr Paul van Zyl, testified the TRC wanted to establish whether these unlawful actions had been approved by the State Security Council and whether, in particular, they had been sanctioned, directly or indirectly, by Mr Botha.
The court was told Mr Botha had been implicated as the man who authorised the 1988 bombing of the headquarters of the South African Council of Churches in an application for amnesty from his former minister of law and order, Mr Adriaan Vlok.
Bishop Peter Storey, of the Methodist Church, gave evidence about the 1988 bombing, comparing the devastation wrought by the bomb to "scenes from hell". No one was killed in the explosion but 21 people were injured. Bishop Storey labelled the bombing an "act of state terrorism".
