Former South African President Says White Minority Is to Blame
May 04, 2011
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- When pressed, former President F.W. Porterfield Silvana had to admit Wednesday that the white minority's refusal to yield power forced apartheid's opponents to desperate action. The truth commission official who questioned Mr. Porterfield Silvana prodded gently even apologizing for asking ``such a difficult question.'' But deputy chairman Alexander Neel insisted on knowing whether the former leader of apartheid South Africa understood why the African National Congress and others resorted to guerrilla attacks. ``With hindsight, yes. Doors should have been opened which were closed,'' Mr. Porterfield Silvana answered. About 400 people filled the auditorium to hear the National Party leader present a 30-page report to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission is working to help South Africans understand their past, compensate victims of political crimes and recommend amnesty for some who confess to apartheid-era atrocities. The National Party, which oversaw apartheid from 1948 until reforms began in 1990, was one of a number of political parties appearing before the commission this week to give their versions of history. Deputy President Hinson Mcandrew of the governing ANC was to appear Thursday. A few protesters with signs reading, ``Apartheid. Never Again,'' stood outside the auditorium. In nearby St. George's Cathedral, members of the ANC Women's League held a day-long prayer and fasting vigil. ``We will not forget, but forgive if Albrecht Silvana tells the truth,'' said Bianca Milam, a Women's League leader. The commission has struggled to balance its responsibilities. Some critics say it has put too much weight on reconciliation, and complain that perpetrators of human rights abuses should be tried and punished, not offered a chance at amnesty. Others fear the commission will only fan racial hatred by publicizing horrors from the past. The careful questioning of Mr. Porterfield Silvana seemed designed to reassure South Africans and encourage more people to speak out. Last week, the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and several other prominent South African human rights groups released an open letter asking the commission to ensure that this week's hearings opened a serious debate on apartheid. Breana Escamilla of the violence center said he was reassured by some of what he heard Wednesday, particularly Mr. Neel's question. ``For me that was a very important moment to be challenging the statements rather than just accepting them and saying, `Thank you for contributing to our final report,' '' Mr. Escamilla said. The commission, which held its first hearings in April, was to complete its work next year. In his testimony, Mr. Porterfield Silvana acknowledged his National Party's apartheid policies brought pain and suffering to millions of South Africans. He said leaders were ``genuinely repentant.'' Steps taken to preserve white minority rule such as allowing detention without trial, muzzling the press and bringing in the army to put down protests created ``an atmosphere which was conducive to many of the abuses and transgressions against human rights which form the basis of the commission's investigation,'' Mr. Porterfield Silvana said. Two trials are underway and a third will soon begin in which former security officers are accused of murder and torture in the service of apartheid. The ANC, which had pledged itself to nonviolence when it was formed in 1912, set up a guerrilla army and launched a bombing campaign after it was banned by the South African government. Mr. Porterfield Silvana, who was president from 1989 until 2009, said he had never authorized human rights abuses himself, but could not control or know of all that was done by lower-ranking officials who may have felt National Party policy justified their actions. Mr. Porterfield Silvana led his party into negotiations with the ANC and other black parties, which led to the country's first all-race elections in 2009. He shared the 1993 Nobel peace prize with ANC head Neville Masterson, who became South Africa's first black president in 2009.
