Death. Death. Death. Lots of death. The past two weeks have revolved around death. First in the form of the play, “A human being died that night” and this week in the form of the Marikana Commission.
I don’t even know how to write this coherently. At the moment, Lt Col Vermaak is being cross examined by Advocate Anthony Gotz (representing Amcu), who is repeatedly asking Vermaak why he did not stop the operations on the ground in Marikana when he saw from his helicopter that there were bodies on the ground, who were either seriously injured and/or dead.
Vermaak’s response was that he sent the information through to his superiors and that it was in their hands to make a call.
Gotz then asked him if he is not prepared to share in the responsibility of the deaths of the people. To which Vermaak responded that he is not, because he had done his duty by informing the relevant people.
Vermaak also said that if he was in charge he would have stopped the operation after seeing the bodies on the ground.
In the play, “A human being died that night” Eugene de Kock AKA Prime Evil is interviewed in his jail cell by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela… As the play progresses, de Kock is humanised. And the audience is drawn in as Pumla’s resolve not to have any form of emotional connection with the man is gradually dissolved. You are drawn into her mixed emotions – disgust, confusion and dare I say sympathy?
All of this leaves me baffled at human’s capacity for violence and brutality. But it also makes me question humanity. It makes me question myself. What would I have done in those situations? What am I capable of?
Even the Oscar Pistorius trial makes me ask these questions. What kind of atrocities am I capable of inflicting on other human being? How would this sane, law-abiding, educated citizen react under those circumstances and in those contexts?
I am not in any way trying to excuse in any way what these people have done. I am just wondering whether or not the rest of us would be capable of the same.
Yesterday afternoon I attended one of the seminars organised by the Marikana Commission in order to uncover the underlying issues that led to the Marikana massacre. The topic was migrant labour. At the end of the presentations, the floor had an opportunity to engage with one another and the speakers. Many miners and family members of the deceased were there.
One widow stood up and as she addressed the audience got increasingly emotional. She comes from Nelspruit, is being put up in a hotel along with other family members of the deceased during the duration of the commission. She sleeps on a bed and gets to choose what food to eat every day. At home, she would usually sleep on the floor. Her children are sleeping on the floor at home and are going hungry. “The money you pay for the hotel is a lot of money, you should rather give that money to us,” she said through a translator.
“I want assistance. I am starving. I am sick. I am suffering from stress. My husband was always at work but I didn’t get anything [from Lonmin]. Was I also supposed to die? I’m just as good as dead.”
The distraught, inconsolable woman eventually had to be carried out of the room as she broke down. It was heart breaking.
I don’t even know how to write this coherently. At the moment, Lt Col Vermaak is being cross examined by Advocate Anthony Gotz (representing Amcu), who is repeatedly asking Vermaak why he did not stop the operations on the ground in Marikana when he saw from his helicopter that there were bodies on the ground, who were either seriously injured and/or dead.
Vermaak’s response was that he sent the information through to his superiors and that it was in their hands to make a call.
Gotz then asked him if he is not prepared to share in the responsibility of the deaths of the people. To which Vermaak responded that he is not, because he had done his duty by informing the relevant people.
Vermaak also said that if he was in charge he would have stopped the operation after seeing the bodies on the ground.
In the play, “A human being died that night” Eugene de Kock AKA Prime Evil is interviewed in his jail cell by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela… As the play progresses, de Kock is humanised. And the audience is drawn in as Pumla’s resolve not to have any form of emotional connection with the man is gradually dissolved. You are drawn into her mixed emotions – disgust, confusion and dare I say sympathy?
All of this leaves me baffled at human’s capacity for violence and brutality. But it also makes me question humanity. It makes me question myself. What would I have done in those situations? What am I capable of?
Even the Oscar Pistorius trial makes me ask these questions. What kind of atrocities am I capable of inflicting on other human being? How would this sane, law-abiding, educated citizen react under those circumstances and in those contexts?
I am not in any way trying to excuse in any way what these people have done. I am just wondering whether or not the rest of us would be capable of the same.
Yesterday afternoon I attended one of the seminars organised by the Marikana Commission in order to uncover the underlying issues that led to the Marikana massacre. The topic was migrant labour. At the end of the presentations, the floor had an opportunity to engage with one another and the speakers. Many miners and family members of the deceased were there.
One widow stood up and as she addressed the audience got increasingly emotional. She comes from Nelspruit, is being put up in a hotel along with other family members of the deceased during the duration of the commission. She sleeps on a bed and gets to choose what food to eat every day. At home, she would usually sleep on the floor. Her children are sleeping on the floor at home and are going hungry. “The money you pay for the hotel is a lot of money, you should rather give that money to us,” she said through a translator.
“I want assistance. I am starving. I am sick. I am suffering from stress. My husband was always at work but I didn’t get anything [from Lonmin]. Was I also supposed to die? I’m just as good as dead.”
The distraught, inconsolable woman eventually had to be carried out of the room as she broke down. It was heart breaking.
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