Bophuthatswana decide not to publish report of Smith Commission

The Star reports that Bophuthatswana's administration has decided not to publish the findings of Mr Justice E.A.T. Smith, one-man commission of inquiry into the shootings at Winterveld on 26 March 1986 because, according to the homelands minister of Foreign Affairs '. its recommendations have either already been implemented as a matter of course or have, by and large, been overtaken by events.' On that date, conflict between the Winterveld community and the Bophuthatswana authorities culminated in a meeting of between 5 000 and 10 000 people on a soccer field in Winterfield. The meeting was calm initially, but later became unruly. Bophuthatswana police, led by Colonel AM Molope, opened fire on the crowd, killing eleven people and injuring 200. More than 1 000 people were arrested and charged with attending an illegal gathering or with public violence. Police allegedly continued to assault residents even as they fled, dragging them out of houses and subjecting them to extensive battering, both at the scene and at GaRankuwa police station. Colonel Molope, who had given the order to open fire, was promoted soon after the incident. A commission of enquiry into the shootings (the Smith Commission) began its investigation in April. Two months later, Colonel Molope was shot dead in a Winterfield house. Both the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and African National Congress (ANC) claimed responsibility for the shooting. Although the findings of the Smith Commission were never published, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was able to gain access to the report. The evidence given to the Smith Commission stated that the majority of the people being arrested for suspected involvement in these activities were between the ages of twelve and twenty, and that many were assaulted while in custody, kept for longer than the statutory forty-eight hours without charge, and then often released without charges being brought against them. The report said "initially the meeting was calm but sometime after the arrival on the field of Brigadier Molope the crowd became unruly. It was probably something that Brigadier Molope said to the people that upset them and triggered off an advance on the police." The report found that the shooting was justified in order to protect the lives of the policemen, but the TRC found that the police did not engage in proper riot control measures, but instead used excessive force. Source: South African Institute of Race Relations. (1989). Race Relations Survey 1988/89, Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations. http://www.news24.com/Content_Display/TRC_Report/3chap6.htm