We would like to invite you to take part in a screening and healing discussion in response to Enver Samuels “Truth be Told” – a powerful series which unpacks cases from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 30 years later through the voices of children of those killed under Apartheid.

The screening will be followed by a discussion and healing session hosted by:

• Enver Samuel (Director)

• Fatima Swartz (The institute for the Healing of Memories)

• Christie Van Zyl (Indigenous Health Practitioner: UCT Student Wellness)

• Dr Anell Stacey Daries (Centre for the Afterlife of violence and the Reparative Quest)

• Undine Whande (Constellation Therapist: Truth and Reconciliation Commission)

The Episode will begin at 12:30 followed by the session with our panelists unpacking alternative healing modalities and questions around ways of finding Justice and Reparations 30 years after the TRC.

DOCLove and our partners at Bertha House in Mowbray look forward to hosting this session where we can reflect on the TRC archives and find new ways of using Film as a tool for healing.

Episode Description: Prisoner In my Mind:

Tumelo Richard Motasi was a policeman based at the Hammanskraal Police College. The Northern Transvaal Security Police compiled a file on him which suggested that he was an ANC agent giving sensitive information over to the ANC in Zimbabwe and Johannesburg. His activities were apparently the subject of discussions at the Northern Transvaal Divisional Crime Meeting. The evidence from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Amnesty Hearings, indicates that General Jacob Gabrielle Roux Stemmet (the Divisional Commissioner of the Northern Transvaal Division), General Ras, Brigadier Jack Cronje and Colonel Kloppers instructed Captain Loots, Captain Hechter and Warrant Officer Van Vuuren to eliminate Motasi as he was a threat to the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) and the government of the day. Loots then requested Mamasela (a Vlakplaas askari) to establish the actual
address of Motasi. Mamasela did so and reported back to Loots. On the evening of 1 December 1987, Loots, Hechter, Van Vuuren, Mamasela and the driver Danny Selahle, went to the Motasi home. Mamasela knocked on the
Motasi home front door and spoke to Mrs. Irene Motasi who told Mamasela that Motasi was not at home. Mamasela then took Mrs. Motasi and her small child into the bedroom and kept them captive in the bedroom awaiting Motasi. Both Richard and Irene were executed. Five year old Tshidiso was in the home and miraculously survived by hiding in a cupboard.

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing.

Today, married with two children, Tshidiso tries his best to shield them from the trauma he experienced, but it is bubbling ever present under the surface because when Death Came Knocking it scarred him for life.

“My recollection of my parents was you know the normal family, that is when I knew my dad and my mother because I was the only child. The recollection is just that, I can’t say anything specific of the happy days or what because it all comes back to that fateful event, so whenever I think of my parents I just don’t want to think about it because that picture, it comes every day because it is the last picture I have of my parents”.

– Tshidiso Motasi

“I can’t necessarily explain the trauma that I grew up with because I can’t define it but I always knew that I ‘m a bit of abnormalish, I wanted my space, I didn’t want to interact more with friends”.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP HERE.