South Africa
“This Crazy thing called Grace”
Desmond Tutu and the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission
40 minutes - February 1997
Begins with Vivaldi’s “Winter” playing and shot from inside a car in very 02.00
early morning. Title comes up with date soon afterwards.
See airport sign and then flashback to P.W. Botha and the pomp and ceremony
of the opening of parliament a few years ago and dissolve into Tutu’s face
and then back to P.W. Botha. Hear P.W. Botha’s voice and see Desmond Tutu
picking up a newspaper in the airport lounge.
P.W.Botha:
“There’s a white minority, there’s a coloured minority, we are a country of 03.33
minorities. Unless you are prepared to recognise and take cognisance of the
fact that this is a country of minorities, unless you are prepared to deal
with that in a practical way you cannot govern South Africa properly.”
(this is said over a picture of P.W. Botha speaking at a meeting somewhere)
and dissolves back to Desmond Tutu close up looking down at his newspaper.
The newspaper reads: “Tutu, P.W to meet in secret, face to face” and a
picture of former president of South Africa P.W.Botha which reads “I won’t
repent”.
Tutu says:
Over Desmond Tutu reading paper and plane lifting off.
“I have sometimes said to people you know, that whether P.W. (Botha) likes 03.59
it or not, he is my brother, that’s the consequence of being a Christian,
he being a Christian and I being a Christian.”
aeroplane takes off
see Tutu in the plane, various contemplative angles
Christianity is not a religion of virtue its not about being good and about
being praiseworthy it’s at the heart a religion of grace, grace is gift
freely given unearned often really un-earnable and undeserved...
aeroplane lands...
People say he didn't deserve but that’s Grace... it’s what makes a good 04.57
shepherd not go after the good little lamb, the good shepherd goes after
the lost sheep and the lost sheep is not going to be a frisky little lamb,
the lost sheep is going to be an obstreperous old ram, totally undeserving
the most troublesome one, that’s Grace it turns everything sort of topsy
tervey
outside meeting place in suburbia, raining
“There’ll be a picture outside”
press gathering under umbrellas waiting for door to open on the two
protagonists. Desmond Tutu emerges and says:
“Listen guys, we can’t stand outside. I’m so glad I’m not part of the
media. I mean you stand there (in the rain) and we stand here...”
Member of the press:
“How was the meeting gentlemen?”
“We’ve had a good meeting and I am looking forward to reporting back to my
colleagues and I will then have a press conference at
4 o’clock at Bishopscourt.”
P.W. Botha says: “Yes, I agree.”
Desmond Tutu and P.W. Botha shake hands and then hold hands for a long
while. Close up on the two old hands. Vivaldi’s winter takes over and
as the clouds pass the window on the return journey we first hear Tutu’s
voice saying and then on him as he sits pensive in his seat.
Desmond Tutu:
“I felt a little sad a little sorry I mean I said we’ve come a very long 06.51
way, and, I mean, that he was willing now to talk to me and not only that,
but he said, look I am ready to answer questions that you people want to
put to me, but give me a list of questions.
I hope that one day we will be able to get him to say something like I did
what I did because I believed I was right.”
plane is landing back in Cape Town
To on camera interview:
Desmond Tutu
“Grace...Grace... which is this crazy thing, can get him there...something
could touch his heart which could make him say, and the day he can say I
realise that a lot of heartache happened, I am sorry for that. It would be
dynamic no rather dynamite...in many ways, it would be...”
To Inauguration of Truth and Reconciliation Commission in St George’s
Cathedral (flash back, begins in black and white and then to colour.
Singing and see Nelson Mandela and other dignitaries.)
Hear Nelson Mandela’s voice over faces and then on camera:
Nelson Mandela:
“ The Truth and Reconciliation Commission affords all South Africans an 09.09
opportunity to participate in reconciliation and nation building. Too
often, victims have been neglected in our society and the whole South
African Nation has been a victim. It is in that context that we should
address the restoration of dignity and the issue of reparation. However,
above all, the healing process involves the nation because it is the nation
itself that needs to redeem and reconstruct itself.”
(Tutu and Mandela hug etc. and singing)
New scene
Moutse/KwaNdebele hearing in December 2, 1996
Desmond Tutu enters the buildings where a Truth and Reconciliation hearing
is about to proceed. We hear a voice speaking in the local vernacular and
sub-titles come up as Tutu greets all the kitchen staff hanging out of the
window as he passes by.
sub-titles over pictures of people entering hearing rooms:
“The government’s failure to incorporate the town of Moutse into KwaNdebele
signalled the final collapse of apartheid’s homeland policy. Thousands of
lives were lost to the conflict between supporters and detractors of the
incorporation.”
Tutu is greeting public at the meeting and the translator’s voice says:
At the time when they removed Moutse to central KwaNdebele, we were
conscientised and we learnt that the homeland governments were Mickey
Mouse.
Hear Tutu’s voice saying : “Order Please”
as an old man comes to the witness stand.
“You will please raise your right hand and do you swear that the evidence
that you are about to give will be the truth and only the truth. Say so
help me God. Thank you very much, you may be seated.”
Witness David Tjiane:
“I don’t know exactly how old was he, but he was at school.” 11.28
(cutaway to Tutu intently looking at him)
“He was a little bit grown up. Many people were assaulted but my son was
assaulted and died. That is the pain I am showing “
My witnesses are all around and they all know that my son passed away
during the conflict with the Mbokoto tribe and they buried him.”
Elias Mahsego:
“My wife said that my son is nowhere to be found and I asked what happened.
Then I ran... there is a river in an area... then all the people who ran
away came back and my son didn’t. Then I searched for days and days and I
couldn’t find him. He appeared on the fourth day, he was, he was, floating
on top of the water, then we picked him up and I took him. His body was
already destroyed, then I buried him.”
Desmond Tutu addresses the witnesses:
“One wishes one were able to say that they did not suffer this pain, but 12.50
we still say to you, may God be the one who would be able to anoint you
with his Holy oil and that the Holy spirit is able to bind your wounds, and
your family’s wounds...”
sound fades out over top shot of the hearing buildings.
Audio offset of Desmond Tutu’s voice saying:
“ I mean you can say apartheid has happened, not because God says yes I
want Apartheid to happen but because God says I I’ve given them the
capacity, and they’ve made choices.”
(scene changes from tutu walking outside pensively at the hearing) to on
camera interview.
“most of the time the choices are wrong choices which have consequences and
if God had stepped in to stop us from making the wrong choices because the
consequence would be horrible, then God would have to undo the gift he gave
us in the first place, which is freedom.
That is why somebody can say, Hell, I mean the doctrine of Hell is God’s
biggest compliment to human beings.”
Back to truth and reconciliation hearing at Moutse
Roelf Meyer the then secretary general of the Nationalist party is talking
at the hearing:
Roelf Meyer
“I am definitely not arguing the case this afternoon in favour of the 14.21
homelands policy because with hindsight one can certainly say that that
was a big mistake, but the point is in understanding what transpired over
that period of thirty years, one has to go back to that time and at least
try and create a perspective of what was at the back of the minds of those
that created it (the homelands policy).
Roelf Meyer continued:
“Now it seems to me from what one can read in various speeches of Verwoerd
he tried to find a moral basis for the idea of creating the homelands. The
moral basis which he in his own words described as: to give to each an
every person the right to govern over his or her own people. But the basic
fault was, to my mind, that Verwoerd himself did not address the realities
of what he had in mind.”
Desmond Tutu:
“ It didn’t seem to occur to anyone that you wanted to consult the people 15.34
for whom you were thinking that this particular policy would have been of
benefit to. It seems a very critical contradiction that if you thought this
thing was good, you did not believe that its persuasive powers were so
strong that if you brought it to the people they were going to accept. I
mean did you know what the mind set was that did not seem to see this
fundamental contradiction?”
Roelf Meyer
“I am afraid to say, chairperson, that I think that that was part of the 16.33
mistake of the past. That unfortunately, people were not consulted on their
views and it was kind of the authoritarian style of the past, which
unfortunately lead to many mistakes, I guess...
Into television studio where Roelf Meyer and Desmond Tutu are being
interviewed in a panel discussion.
Facilitator:
“ Let’s talk about a more general view of the parties towards the Truth
Commission, Mr Meyer again, lets start with you:
Roelf Meyer on Television:
“ What we need to do and that is a responsibility that I believe we need to
take up ...is to ensure that we participate fully in the work of the truth
and Reconciliation Commission so that the overall perspective eventually
emerges.”
Facilitator:
“And finally we have literally 30 seconds left...talk to us about
“truth commission and 1997”
Desmond Tutu in the television studio, on camera:
Desmond Tutu:
“Let me say to you that I am amazed at the things that have already 17.23
happened...at ..in East London at our very first hearing was a white woman
who was a hand grenade victim and she said that experience enriched her
life and she said : I want to meet the perpetrator in a spirit of
forgiveness, I want to forgive him and I hope he will forgive me.
An incredible alchemy is happening in our country and we beg all of you
take this opportunity for reconciliation and we will amaze the world with
another miracle.”
see the logo of South African television Current Affairs program and then
outside in a car, Desmond Tutu, his driver and John Allen himself driving
through suburbs, audio offset of John Allen Tutu’s media liaison officer
for a decade comes up and says:
John Allen
“Many people look at the size of the job ahead and it is frightening, it 18.20
can be overwhelming... but what he does is to inspire the people around
him, the audience. He is a very effective communicator through the media as
well, he can inspire people, give them the vision and take away that
cynicism and in response to people who say look at the daunting prospects
that we face, we can’t get over this one, he looks back and he says, look
at where we come from....”
Pictures go to flashback starting in black and white of the Defiance
Campaign in August 1989, people filing into St George’s Cathedral and
Desmond Tutu at the pulpit:
“Does the white South African government think that black people are human,
really human, that black people can feel pain, that black people laugh, can
love, that black people are people created in the image of God, I don’t
think so....laughs, you see, yesterday, yesterday God gave us a beautiful
day, with sunshine (crowd roars with laughter) and we’re going to the beach
with our children and with our picnic lunches. The people came out in
droves to say we are claiming what is ours. But can you really imagine,
(points to an imaginary signboard) have you ever looked at that signboard
properly? That signboard says “ Beach” and “Sea” ...white ...God’s sea, I
mean you know that sea was there long before these people arrived here, we
said ...come to our country...”
pictures of crowd applauding in the church and back to Desmond Tutu at the
pulpit, animatedly speaking.
audio off-set of John Allen’s voice again talking as we see Tutu in the
same location at the Defiance Campaign inauguration:
“There have been people who say that Desmond Tutu of the 90’s of the 20.25
transition, the democratic era and Desmond tutu of the post-election era,
that he has changed, that he is a different person to whom he was in the
eighties but I don’t think that is correct, he hasn’t changed, the
situation has changed.
His thinking and his philosophy have been remarkably consistent throughout
..its faith first and everything from faith flowing.”
Back to Desmond Tutu at the pulpit
“As we think of those who are tortured, as we think of those whose noses 20.58
are rubbed in the dust as we think of those who are treated like dirt in
the land of their birth I want to stand and to think of those in
silence...”
To interview in a church - Tutu to camera
“ I didn’t chose, I was thrust into it in a way very much like the prophet 21.29
who is my favourite Jeremiah taken by the scruff of the neck. Jeremiah
complained to God and said you cheated me you called me to be a prophet and
all I have been saying is doom and judgement to these people and yet if I
try to keep quiet your word is like a fire in my breast”
Leah Tutu’s voice off-set as we see Tutu’s Soweto home garden and him
walking into his private chapel:
Leah Tutu
“No-one who has faith in him will be put to shame because the same Lord is 22.15
lord of all, for the Lord has enough riches for those who call on him for
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved...”
Tutu speaks off-camera as he and Leah and a friend go through the Sunday
Eucharist in his Soweto chapel.
“Most of the African world view is in a way reflected in the world view of 22.35
the Bible particularly : our sense that a human being is a person through
other persons is something that is reflected very much in the Old Testament
(to on camera in the Church interview ) that most of what we are depends on
where we belong and also the very deep sense you have in African
spirituality that you don’t have dichotomies. So mercifully for us, in many
ways, it is the West that has had to try and adjust to the Christian, the
Jewish the Biblical world view, more than we...”
(back to Eucharist scene)
prayer in chapel goes over and cross fades with song sung at the Funeral of
seven police victims in March 1986 - starts off black and white and melts
into colour an off-set voice says:
“On the third of March 1986 seven young persons were shot and killed by the 24.09
police in Guguletu. There were two conflicting versions. A police version
and there was a version by individuals who saw certain incidents
happening.”
voice off-set in Xhosa and then translator takes over - still over pictures
of funeral procession in March 1986.
Elsie Konile ( mother of one of the young men killed)
(Her picture fades through the funeral procession, she is testifying at a
hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission)
“They somehow referred to him as a hero, the police came with their guns 24.42
and they said nothing should be done in preparation for the funeral. The
people that were there insisted that they would prepare, that they would do
their work...
I was never happy in the spirit again. Zabonkwe has a daughter,
(see picture of daughter listening at the hearing)... she was still
crawling at the time...cries ”
Tscherden Mbenyana (uncle of one of the victims)
His face comes in and out of the mass funeral procession and then arriving
at the graveside where the police and army presence is very ominous.
(Archive pictures shot by same cameraman)
“They took all the details how the bodies were injured, they would record
exactly how each individual had been injured . One of Sabonkwe’s eyes were
totally out, his gums were totally out.
We then prepared for the funeral. We went to the stadium because it was a
mass funeral as you will remember, these were very young men, the entire
youth was extremely grieved. That day was almost a calamity because
actually the youth wanted to attack all the N2 vehicles that were there,
the police vehicles, it is the priest that helped trying to stop the
youth...”
back to the inside of the Truth Commission hearing:
Desmond Tutu says:
“We have said that we hope that we will be able to open wounds so that they 17.19
can be cleansed ...and this has to be done with great sensitivity. One of
the things that I do want to say is that we probably would not have won the
struggle for peace and for justice and equity had it not been for the
strength of our women.
And I just want to pay a very very warm tribute to you mothers, we thank
you very much because if it wasn’t for you...
(over pictures of end of the Guguletu funeral, mothers putting sand on
coffin, coffin going down into ground, helicopter hovering overhead )
Tutu’s voice singing prayer cross fades end of funeral song and into
another Eucharist ceremony with members of his staff in Cape Town offices
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Voice off-set of Desmond Tutu over pictures of praying and Eucharist:
This section weaves an on camera interview of Desmond Tutu with pictures of
the Eucharist ceremony.
“One of the things I did when I took on the work on the Commission was to 28.52
write to religious communities around the world and said please bear us in
your prayers, your regular ones so we are being prayed for all around the
world...and for me that is quite crucial”
Back to Eucharist
“one of the things that was suggested is that we must be careful to
maintain our spiritual disciplines and I’ve tried to maintain that, I mean
the patterns of preying the Eucharist and so on...”
Back to Eucharist:
“The Lord is here, his spirit is with us...”
...and trying to have large blocks of silence of quiet and trying to be in
the presence of God I mean just sitting and being as quiet as you can,
almost as if you were sitting and its a cold day and
you’re sitting in front of a warm fire and you let the qualities of the
fire become your qualities, the warmth, the glow to spread over you no now
you’re imagining that you’re sitting in front of, in the presence of God
and you’re letting the pain and the anguish and the tensions slip out of
you into this glow into this wonderful perfume, cleanse you.”
Back to Eucharist
Give thanks to the lord, his mercy endures forever, we offer ourselves to 30.59
you as a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ our lord send us out into the
world in the power of the holy spirit go in peace to love and praise the
Lord..
The end of the Eucharist and the last prayer go over pictures of the
subpoenaed policemen appearing in the Guguletu 7 hearing on day 3
As the police walk in and take their seats, Desmond Tutu’s voice carries
on:
“I believe that in a way, as it were we do not deserve it but here we are, 31.23
this extraordinary country, that has suddenly become a symbol of hope for
the world, yes, and I think that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or
the process that we are engaging in is one that we would suggest to very
many countries dealing with the past, dealing with it effectively and
shutting the door on that past so that you can go with integrity forward
together as one people...”
One of the commissioners says audio off-set:
“Let me just warn that some of the visuals are going to be very bad” 32.05
...as the police video showing some of the seven young men killed comes
onto the screen
Superintendent John Kleyn just after taking the oath
“ I had no idea that this person was going to hurl a hand grenade at me and 32.20
as far as I am concerned I did not act incorrectly... I am a policeman I am
authorised to stop these people...”
last part of his defence over Police video footage where one sees police
nonchalantly walking past dead bodies in the street:
“What is so strange is that you as a stopper group are the persons who
sparked off the whole thing”
General Sibaca: (eye-witness)
I saw a black man he was being called by the white man, he lifted his hands
up in the air and they took a gun from his waist and immediately after that
the white man called out and said shoot him...”
Desmond Tutu voice off-set over final pictures of dead young men lying
prostrate on the ground and looking very young:
Desmond Tutu:
“I am fortunate that I do not have the kind of temperament that questions 33.08
the existence of God, what I do is question what kind of God it is, you
know, I get angry with God and I argue with God.”
(First off camera, then on camera and then back into the truth commission
hearing)
Ronald Benting (bus driver - eye witness)
“I stopped the bus, there was a man lying on the road, according to me he 33.32
was alive but he never moved and amongst the lot that was there a European
policemen came out of the crowd and he approached the man laying on the
ground and he took out, I don’t know if it was a revolver or a pistol, and
he shot this man, twice through the head, in front of me, in front of the
thirteen children that were sitting in the bus and their house mother.”
Superintendent John Kleyn
“ An attack was made on my life, my family could have been sitting there I 34.24
could have lost my life, I was only a policemen doing my job and I feel
very sorry...”
Desmond Tutu on camera
“I mean Jesus too said to God, why have you forsaken me you know, so I
don’t doubt God but I say for goodness sake, on whose side are you?”
More pictures of the police video, sound of helicopter and tension as
people strain to see the pictures. Then there is a scream as a body is
turned over carefully (in case of hand grenade explosion) and a woman is
taken out of the hearing along with others who are overcome with the
emotion of seeing the pictures.
Voice off-set of radio announcer who says “we move onto Siswe before we
take an ad break, Siswe are you there?”
“I have a question that is directed at the archbishop...I wonder
sometimes when I look at the proceedings at the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission if some of the gruesome evidence that is lead shouldn’t be held
in camera... when some of these things come out, and they come out on
national newspapers and some of the kids of the victims were young at the
time and they hear this gruesome evidence, the only feeling as a human
being that can come out is that of having a feeling of hatred and of
vengeance...”
Onto Desmond Tutu at the radio station speaking into mic with headphones
on, then cuts to on camera interview and goes back into Truth Commission
hearing:
Desmond Tutu
“You are raising a very very important point and I have sometimes asked how 36.11
much truth we can tolerate...I think first of all its got to be accepted
that this is part of who we are and part of who that child is and that
child has a mother and a father who went through that kind of thing and it
made their father and mother be that kind of father and mother which made
that child be that kind of child...
In Truth Commission hearing: Desmond Tutu is speaking to one of the victims
daughter.
He died as a hero and so as his daughter you can gain encouragement from 36.55
the knowledge that you have a father who paid this very heavy price but
gave his life as a sacrifice so that today you and other children can be
able to play, so that you and other children can go to any school and live
anywhere...
Singing of all the witnesses and holding hands of victims of the hearing
Desmond Tutu’s voice comes over the singing scene and then on camera in the
radio station studio:
“Recently you may have seen the police video over the Guguletu Seven. The 37.56
Commission helped to council the families, warned them that the details
would be quite traumatic. But afterwards, they came to the commission and
said it was horrible, but thank you because it has helped us. Now we need
to be very sensitive and I agree entirely because it is a very delicate
piece of work that we are doing, because the nation must know the horrible
things that were done in its name and the reason is, to say to us that, let
us commit ourselves in saying that things of this kind will never again be
allowed to happen in our country.
“Mmm but what would you say was your worst moment personally during the
hearings?”
Desmond Tutu
“Actually I should say that very first hearing in East London when we heard
the testimony of someone who had been tortured.”
To pictures of the first hearing and a man with his hands over his face as
he describes his experience.
Desmond Tutu
“I think we had thought we knew in our minds the kinds of things that were
happening but I think we knew them in a generalised way, we knew them
almost as statistics, now the statistics had come alive”
Over pictures of Desmond Tutu crying at the East London hearings.
Senzeni na ...what have we done is sung at the hearing in East London
Desmond Tutu on camera in interview which runs through the whole film:
“Somebody says God writes straight with crooked lines that God wants to go 40.09
this way but to get to that point God has to keep zig zagging in order to
accommodate our responsibility, God would like compassion to happen but
compassion does not happen in the most obvious and direct way, it has all
sorts of by-ways and then this beautiful thing comes...”
Over portrait of Tutu and zoom out to reveal it’s frame and old door on
which it hangs with music cross fade of song and Vivaldi’s Autumn. Hear his
voice under portrait.
“I’m thrilled to be human I’m thrilled to be part of the human family 40.58
because even today in the west in the affluent you get all those many who
protest against say racism, against poverty, those who protest against war
and so I have the greatest possible confidence that in the end that we are
going to make it as a world family.”
ENDS 41.45
Credits:
Cameraman: Craig Mathews
Editor: Joelle Chesselet
“This Crazy thing called Grace”
Desmond Tutu and the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission
40 minutes - February 1997
Begins with Vivaldi’s “Winter” playing and shot from inside a car in very 02.00
early morning. Title comes up with date soon afterwards.
See airport sign and then flashback to P.W. Botha and the pomp and ceremony
of the opening of parliament a few years ago and dissolve into Tutu’s face
and then back to P.W. Botha. Hear P.W. Botha’s voice and see Desmond Tutu
picking up a newspaper in the airport lounge.
P.W.Botha:
“There’s a white minority, there’s a coloured minority, we are a country of 03.33
minorities. Unless you are prepared to recognise and take cognisance of the
fact that this is a country of minorities, unless you are prepared to deal
with that in a practical way you cannot govern South Africa properly.”
(this is said over a picture of P.W. Botha speaking at a meeting somewhere)
and dissolves back to Desmond Tutu close up looking down at his newspaper.
The newspaper reads: “Tutu, P.W to meet in secret, face to face” and a
picture of former president of South Africa P.W.Botha which reads “I won’t
repent”.
Tutu says:
Over Desmond Tutu reading paper and plane lifting off.
“I have sometimes said to people you know, that whether P.W. (Botha) likes 03.59
it or not, he is my brother, that’s the consequence of being a Christian,
he being a Christian and I being a Christian.”
aeroplane takes off
see Tutu in the plane, various contemplative angles
Christianity is not a religion of virtue its not about being good and about
being praiseworthy it’s at the heart a religion of grace, grace is gift
freely given unearned often really un-earnable and undeserved...
aeroplane lands...
People say he didn't deserve but that’s Grace... it’s what makes a good 04.57
shepherd not go after the good little lamb, the good shepherd goes after
the lost sheep and the lost sheep is not going to be a frisky little lamb,
the lost sheep is going to be an obstreperous old ram, totally undeserving
the most troublesome one, that’s Grace it turns everything sort of topsy
tervey
outside meeting place in suburbia, raining
“There’ll be a picture outside”
press gathering under umbrellas waiting for door to open on the two
protagonists. Desmond Tutu emerges and says:
“Listen guys, we can’t stand outside. I’m so glad I’m not part of the
media. I mean you stand there (in the rain) and we stand here...”
Member of the press:
“How was the meeting gentlemen?”
“We’ve had a good meeting and I am looking forward to reporting back to my
colleagues and I will then have a press conference at
4 o’clock at Bishopscourt.”
P.W. Botha says: “Yes, I agree.”
Desmond Tutu and P.W. Botha shake hands and then hold hands for a long
while. Close up on the two old hands. Vivaldi’s winter takes over and
as the clouds pass the window on the return journey we first hear Tutu’s
voice saying and then on him as he sits pensive in his seat.
Desmond Tutu:
“I felt a little sad a little sorry I mean I said we’ve come a very long 06.51
way, and, I mean, that he was willing now to talk to me and not only that,
but he said, look I am ready to answer questions that you people want to
put to me, but give me a list of questions.
I hope that one day we will be able to get him to say something like I did
what I did because I believed I was right.”
plane is landing back in Cape Town
To on camera interview:
Desmond Tutu
“Grace...Grace... which is this crazy thing, can get him there...something
could touch his heart which could make him say, and the day he can say I
realise that a lot of heartache happened, I am sorry for that. It would be
dynamic no rather dynamite...in many ways, it would be...”
To Inauguration of Truth and Reconciliation Commission in St George’s
Cathedral (flash back, begins in black and white and then to colour.
Singing and see Nelson Mandela and other dignitaries.)
Hear Nelson Mandela’s voice over faces and then on camera:
Nelson Mandela:
“ The Truth and Reconciliation Commission affords all South Africans an 09.09
opportunity to participate in reconciliation and nation building. Too
often, victims have been neglected in our society and the whole South
African Nation has been a victim. It is in that context that we should
address the restoration of dignity and the issue of reparation. However,
above all, the healing process involves the nation because it is the nation
itself that needs to redeem and reconstruct itself.”
(Tutu and Mandela hug etc. and singing)
New scene
Moutse/KwaNdebele hearing in December 2, 1996
Desmond Tutu enters the buildings where a Truth and Reconciliation hearing
is about to proceed. We hear a voice speaking in the local vernacular and
sub-titles come up as Tutu greets all the kitchen staff hanging out of the
window as he passes by.
sub-titles over pictures of people entering hearing rooms:
“The government’s failure to incorporate the town of Moutse into KwaNdebele
signalled the final collapse of apartheid’s homeland policy. Thousands of
lives were lost to the conflict between supporters and detractors of the
incorporation.”
Tutu is greeting public at the meeting and the translator’s voice says:
At the time when they removed Moutse to central KwaNdebele, we were
conscientised and we learnt that the homeland governments were Mickey
Mouse.
Hear Tutu’s voice saying : “Order Please”
as an old man comes to the witness stand.
“You will please raise your right hand and do you swear that the evidence
that you are about to give will be the truth and only the truth. Say so
help me God. Thank you very much, you may be seated.”
Witness David Tjiane:
“I don’t know exactly how old was he, but he was at school.” 11.28
(cutaway to Tutu intently looking at him)
“He was a little bit grown up. Many people were assaulted but my son was
assaulted and died. That is the pain I am showing “
My witnesses are all around and they all know that my son passed away
during the conflict with the Mbokoto tribe and they buried him.”
Elias Mahsego:
“My wife said that my son is nowhere to be found and I asked what happened.
Then I ran... there is a river in an area... then all the people who ran
away came back and my son didn’t. Then I searched for days and days and I
couldn’t find him. He appeared on the fourth day, he was, he was, floating
on top of the water, then we picked him up and I took him. His body was
already destroyed, then I buried him.”
Desmond Tutu addresses the witnesses:
“One wishes one were able to say that they did not suffer this pain, but 12.50
we still say to you, may God be the one who would be able to anoint you
with his Holy oil and that the Holy spirit is able to bind your wounds, and
your family’s wounds...”
sound fades out over top shot of the hearing buildings.
Audio offset of Desmond Tutu’s voice saying:
“ I mean you can say apartheid has happened, not because God says yes I
want Apartheid to happen but because God says I I’ve given them the
capacity, and they’ve made choices.”
(scene changes from tutu walking outside pensively at the hearing) to on
camera interview.
“most of the time the choices are wrong choices which have consequences and
if God had stepped in to stop us from making the wrong choices because the
consequence would be horrible, then God would have to undo the gift he gave
us in the first place, which is freedom.
That is why somebody can say, Hell, I mean the doctrine of Hell is God’s
biggest compliment to human beings.”
Back to truth and reconciliation hearing at Moutse
Roelf Meyer the then secretary general of the Nationalist party is talking
at the hearing:
Roelf Meyer
“I am definitely not arguing the case this afternoon in favour of the 14.21
homelands policy because with hindsight one can certainly say that that
was a big mistake, but the point is in understanding what transpired over
that period of thirty years, one has to go back to that time and at least
try and create a perspective of what was at the back of the minds of those
that created it (the homelands policy).
Roelf Meyer continued:
“Now it seems to me from what one can read in various speeches of Verwoerd
he tried to find a moral basis for the idea of creating the homelands. The
moral basis which he in his own words described as: to give to each an
every person the right to govern over his or her own people. But the basic
fault was, to my mind, that Verwoerd himself did not address the realities
of what he had in mind.”
Desmond Tutu:
“ It didn’t seem to occur to anyone that you wanted to consult the people 15.34
for whom you were thinking that this particular policy would have been of
benefit to. It seems a very critical contradiction that if you thought this
thing was good, you did not believe that its persuasive powers were so
strong that if you brought it to the people they were going to accept. I
mean did you know what the mind set was that did not seem to see this
fundamental contradiction?”
Roelf Meyer
“I am afraid to say, chairperson, that I think that that was part of the 16.33
mistake of the past. That unfortunately, people were not consulted on their
views and it was kind of the authoritarian style of the past, which
unfortunately lead to many mistakes, I guess...
Into television studio where Roelf Meyer and Desmond Tutu are being
interviewed in a panel discussion.
Facilitator:
“ Let’s talk about a more general view of the parties towards the Truth
Commission, Mr Meyer again, lets start with you:
Roelf Meyer on Television:
“ What we need to do and that is a responsibility that I believe we need to
take up ...is to ensure that we participate fully in the work of the truth
and Reconciliation Commission so that the overall perspective eventually
emerges.”
Facilitator:
“And finally we have literally 30 seconds left...talk to us about
“truth commission and 1997”
Desmond Tutu in the television studio, on camera:
Desmond Tutu:
“Let me say to you that I am amazed at the things that have already 17.23
happened...at ..in East London at our very first hearing was a white woman
who was a hand grenade victim and she said that experience enriched her
life and she said : I want to meet the perpetrator in a spirit of
forgiveness, I want to forgive him and I hope he will forgive me.
An incredible alchemy is happening in our country and we beg all of you
take this opportunity for reconciliation and we will amaze the world with
another miracle.”
see the logo of South African television Current Affairs program and then
outside in a car, Desmond Tutu, his driver and John Allen himself driving
through suburbs, audio offset of John Allen Tutu’s media liaison officer
for a decade comes up and says:
John Allen
“Many people look at the size of the job ahead and it is frightening, it 18.20
can be overwhelming... but what he does is to inspire the people around
him, the audience. He is a very effective communicator through the media as
well, he can inspire people, give them the vision and take away that
cynicism and in response to people who say look at the daunting prospects
that we face, we can’t get over this one, he looks back and he says, look
at where we come from....”
Pictures go to flashback starting in black and white of the Defiance
Campaign in August 1989, people filing into St George’s Cathedral and
Desmond Tutu at the pulpit:
“Does the white South African government think that black people are human,
really human, that black people can feel pain, that black people laugh, can
love, that black people are people created in the image of God, I don’t
think so....laughs, you see, yesterday, yesterday God gave us a beautiful
day, with sunshine (crowd roars with laughter) and we’re going to the beach
with our children and with our picnic lunches. The people came out in
droves to say we are claiming what is ours. But can you really imagine,
(points to an imaginary signboard) have you ever looked at that signboard
properly? That signboard says “ Beach” and “Sea” ...white ...God’s sea, I
mean you know that sea was there long before these people arrived here, we
said ...come to our country...”
pictures of crowd applauding in the church and back to Desmond Tutu at the
pulpit, animatedly speaking.
audio off-set of John Allen’s voice again talking as we see Tutu in the
same location at the Defiance Campaign inauguration:
“There have been people who say that Desmond Tutu of the 90’s of the 20.25
transition, the democratic era and Desmond tutu of the post-election era,
that he has changed, that he is a different person to whom he was in the
eighties but I don’t think that is correct, he hasn’t changed, the
situation has changed.
His thinking and his philosophy have been remarkably consistent throughout
..its faith first and everything from faith flowing.”
Back to Desmond Tutu at the pulpit
“As we think of those who are tortured, as we think of those whose noses 20.58
are rubbed in the dust as we think of those who are treated like dirt in
the land of their birth I want to stand and to think of those in
silence...”
To interview in a church - Tutu to camera
“ I didn’t chose, I was thrust into it in a way very much like the prophet 21.29
who is my favourite Jeremiah taken by the scruff of the neck. Jeremiah
complained to God and said you cheated me you called me to be a prophet and
all I have been saying is doom and judgement to these people and yet if I
try to keep quiet your word is like a fire in my breast”
Leah Tutu’s voice off-set as we see Tutu’s Soweto home garden and him
walking into his private chapel:
Leah Tutu
“No-one who has faith in him will be put to shame because the same Lord is 22.15
lord of all, for the Lord has enough riches for those who call on him for
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved...”
Tutu speaks off-camera as he and Leah and a friend go through the Sunday
Eucharist in his Soweto chapel.
“Most of the African world view is in a way reflected in the world view of 22.35
the Bible particularly : our sense that a human being is a person through
other persons is something that is reflected very much in the Old Testament
(to on camera in the Church interview ) that most of what we are depends on
where we belong and also the very deep sense you have in African
spirituality that you don’t have dichotomies. So mercifully for us, in many
ways, it is the West that has had to try and adjust to the Christian, the
Jewish the Biblical world view, more than we...”
(back to Eucharist scene)
prayer in chapel goes over and cross fades with song sung at the Funeral of
seven police victims in March 1986 - starts off black and white and melts
into colour an off-set voice says:
“On the third of March 1986 seven young persons were shot and killed by the 24.09
police in Guguletu. There were two conflicting versions. A police version
and there was a version by individuals who saw certain incidents
happening.”
voice off-set in Xhosa and then translator takes over - still over pictures
of funeral procession in March 1986.
Elsie Konile ( mother of one of the young men killed)
(Her picture fades through the funeral procession, she is testifying at a
hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission)
“They somehow referred to him as a hero, the police came with their guns 24.42
and they said nothing should be done in preparation for the funeral. The
people that were there insisted that they would prepare, that they would do
their work...
I was never happy in the spirit again. Zabonkwe has a daughter,
(see picture of daughter listening at the hearing)... she was still
crawling at the time...cries ”
Tscherden Mbenyana (uncle of one of the victims)
His face comes in and out of the mass funeral procession and then arriving
at the graveside where the police and army presence is very ominous.
(Archive pictures shot by same cameraman)
“They took all the details how the bodies were injured, they would record
exactly how each individual had been injured . One of Sabonkwe’s eyes were
totally out, his gums were totally out.
We then prepared for the funeral. We went to the stadium because it was a
mass funeral as you will remember, these were very young men, the entire
youth was extremely grieved. That day was almost a calamity because
actually the youth wanted to attack all the N2 vehicles that were there,
the police vehicles, it is the priest that helped trying to stop the
youth...”
back to the inside of the Truth Commission hearing:
Desmond Tutu says:
“We have said that we hope that we will be able to open wounds so that they 17.19
can be cleansed ...and this has to be done with great sensitivity. One of
the things that I do want to say is that we probably would not have won the
struggle for peace and for justice and equity had it not been for the
strength of our women.
And I just want to pay a very very warm tribute to you mothers, we thank
you very much because if it wasn’t for you...
(over pictures of end of the Guguletu funeral, mothers putting sand on
coffin, coffin going down into ground, helicopter hovering overhead )
Tutu’s voice singing prayer cross fades end of funeral song and into
another Eucharist ceremony with members of his staff in Cape Town offices
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Voice off-set of Desmond Tutu over pictures of praying and Eucharist:
This section weaves an on camera interview of Desmond Tutu with pictures of
the Eucharist ceremony.
“One of the things I did when I took on the work on the Commission was to 28.52
write to religious communities around the world and said please bear us in
your prayers, your regular ones so we are being prayed for all around the
world...and for me that is quite crucial”
Back to Eucharist
“one of the things that was suggested is that we must be careful to
maintain our spiritual disciplines and I’ve tried to maintain that, I mean
the patterns of preying the Eucharist and so on...”
Back to Eucharist:
“The Lord is here, his spirit is with us...”
...and trying to have large blocks of silence of quiet and trying to be in
the presence of God I mean just sitting and being as quiet as you can,
almost as if you were sitting and its a cold day and
you’re sitting in front of a warm fire and you let the qualities of the
fire become your qualities, the warmth, the glow to spread over you no now
you’re imagining that you’re sitting in front of, in the presence of God
and you’re letting the pain and the anguish and the tensions slip out of
you into this glow into this wonderful perfume, cleanse you.”
Back to Eucharist
Give thanks to the lord, his mercy endures forever, we offer ourselves to 30.59
you as a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ our lord send us out into the
world in the power of the holy spirit go in peace to love and praise the
Lord..
The end of the Eucharist and the last prayer go over pictures of the
subpoenaed policemen appearing in the Guguletu 7 hearing on day 3
As the police walk in and take their seats, Desmond Tutu’s voice carries
on:
“I believe that in a way, as it were we do not deserve it but here we are, 31.23
this extraordinary country, that has suddenly become a symbol of hope for
the world, yes, and I think that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or
the process that we are engaging in is one that we would suggest to very
many countries dealing with the past, dealing with it effectively and
shutting the door on that past so that you can go with integrity forward
together as one people...”
One of the commissioners says audio off-set:
“Let me just warn that some of the visuals are going to be very bad” 32.05
...as the police video showing some of the seven young men killed comes
onto the screen
Superintendent John Kleyn just after taking the oath
“ I had no idea that this person was going to hurl a hand grenade at me and 32.20
as far as I am concerned I did not act incorrectly... I am a policeman I am
authorised to stop these people...”
last part of his defence over Police video footage where one sees police
nonchalantly walking past dead bodies in the street:
“What is so strange is that you as a stopper group are the persons who
sparked off the whole thing”
General Sibaca: (eye-witness)
I saw a black man he was being called by the white man, he lifted his hands
up in the air and they took a gun from his waist and immediately after that
the white man called out and said shoot him...”
Desmond Tutu voice off-set over final pictures of dead young men lying
prostrate on the ground and looking very young:
Desmond Tutu:
“I am fortunate that I do not have the kind of temperament that questions 33.08
the existence of God, what I do is question what kind of God it is, you
know, I get angry with God and I argue with God.”
(First off camera, then on camera and then back into the truth commission
hearing)
Ronald Benting (bus driver - eye witness)
“I stopped the bus, there was a man lying on the road, according to me he 33.32
was alive but he never moved and amongst the lot that was there a European
policemen came out of the crowd and he approached the man laying on the
ground and he took out, I don’t know if it was a revolver or a pistol, and
he shot this man, twice through the head, in front of me, in front of the
thirteen children that were sitting in the bus and their house mother.”
Superintendent John Kleyn
“ An attack was made on my life, my family could have been sitting there I 34.24
could have lost my life, I was only a policemen doing my job and I feel
very sorry...”
Desmond Tutu on camera
“I mean Jesus too said to God, why have you forsaken me you know, so I
don’t doubt God but I say for goodness sake, on whose side are you?”
More pictures of the police video, sound of helicopter and tension as
people strain to see the pictures. Then there is a scream as a body is
turned over carefully (in case of hand grenade explosion) and a woman is
taken out of the hearing along with others who are overcome with the
emotion of seeing the pictures.
Voice off-set of radio announcer who says “we move onto Siswe before we
take an ad break, Siswe are you there?”
“I have a question that is directed at the archbishop...I wonder
sometimes when I look at the proceedings at the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission if some of the gruesome evidence that is lead shouldn’t be held
in camera... when some of these things come out, and they come out on
national newspapers and some of the kids of the victims were young at the
time and they hear this gruesome evidence, the only feeling as a human
being that can come out is that of having a feeling of hatred and of
vengeance...”
Onto Desmond Tutu at the radio station speaking into mic with headphones
on, then cuts to on camera interview and goes back into Truth Commission
hearing:
Desmond Tutu
“You are raising a very very important point and I have sometimes asked how 36.11
much truth we can tolerate...I think first of all its got to be accepted
that this is part of who we are and part of who that child is and that
child has a mother and a father who went through that kind of thing and it
made their father and mother be that kind of father and mother which made
that child be that kind of child...
In Truth Commission hearing: Desmond Tutu is speaking to one of the victims
daughter.
He died as a hero and so as his daughter you can gain encouragement from 36.55
the knowledge that you have a father who paid this very heavy price but
gave his life as a sacrifice so that today you and other children can be
able to play, so that you and other children can go to any school and live
anywhere...
Singing of all the witnesses and holding hands of victims of the hearing
Desmond Tutu’s voice comes over the singing scene and then on camera in the
radio station studio:
“Recently you may have seen the police video over the Guguletu Seven. The 37.56
Commission helped to council the families, warned them that the details
would be quite traumatic. But afterwards, they came to the commission and
said it was horrible, but thank you because it has helped us. Now we need
to be very sensitive and I agree entirely because it is a very delicate
piece of work that we are doing, because the nation must know the horrible
things that were done in its name and the reason is, to say to us that, let
us commit ourselves in saying that things of this kind will never again be
allowed to happen in our country.
“Mmm but what would you say was your worst moment personally during the
hearings?”
Desmond Tutu
“Actually I should say that very first hearing in East London when we heard
the testimony of someone who had been tortured.”
To pictures of the first hearing and a man with his hands over his face as
he describes his experience.
Desmond Tutu
“I think we had thought we knew in our minds the kinds of things that were
happening but I think we knew them in a generalised way, we knew them
almost as statistics, now the statistics had come alive”
Over pictures of Desmond Tutu crying at the East London hearings.
Senzeni na ...what have we done is sung at the hearing in East London
Desmond Tutu on camera in interview which runs through the whole film:
“Somebody says God writes straight with crooked lines that God wants to go 40.09
this way but to get to that point God has to keep zig zagging in order to
accommodate our responsibility, God would like compassion to happen but
compassion does not happen in the most obvious and direct way, it has all
sorts of by-ways and then this beautiful thing comes...”
Over portrait of Tutu and zoom out to reveal it’s frame and old door on
which it hangs with music cross fade of song and Vivaldi’s Autumn. Hear his
voice under portrait.
“I’m thrilled to be human I’m thrilled to be part of the human family 40.58
because even today in the west in the affluent you get all those many who
protest against say racism, against poverty, those who protest against war
and so I have the greatest possible confidence that in the end that we are
going to make it as a world family.”
ENDS 41.45
Credits:
Cameraman: Craig Mathews
Editor: Joelle Chesselet