DESMOND MPILO TUTU
We welcome you warmly at this first of the series of public hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  This is a hearing of the Commission on human rights violations.  The other type of hearing is that of the Amnesty Committee.
We thank our Eastern Cape colleagues, Commissioner, Commissioner Bongani Finca and all his colleagues in this region for their very hard work, demonstrating that I head up a team of outstanding persons as Commissioners and Committee members, some of whom are here with me today.
 Our staff consists of dedicated and skilled persons.  We thank the Premier of this province, the honourable Raymond Mhlaba and the people of his province for their welcome and for their presence here today with Mrs Mhlaba as well as the speaker of the Provincial Legislature, Mr Kugile and Mrs Kugile.  We thank the mayor, the councillors and the people of East London for their welcome, and especially for making available these facilities here.
 We want to say a big thank you to the police for providing security, as we can see.  They are our police. We welcome all those who will be telling their stories as well as their relatives and friends.  We will want to hear their stories.  That is the basic reason for these hearings. For the Human Rights Violations Committee to help the Commission EAST LONDON  HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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determine whether a particular person has suffered gross violations  of their human rights and for those people then to be declared victims and who will thereafter be referred to the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee of our Commission, which then must make a appropriate recommendations to the President of our country for the nature and size of reparation to be given.  
 The Committee will not be making immediate findings about whether people are victims who have suffered gross human rights violations. But it's something that will happen only a while afterwards, because it may be necessary to verify testimony, we may have to alert people who have been named as alleged perpetrators so that they are given an opportunity of making representations in writing and possibly being asked to come to a future hearing.
 Thank you all of you here in South Africa and around the world who have prayed and are praying for the Commission and its work. We are charged to unearth the truth about our dark past, to lay the ghosts of that past so that they will not returned to haunt us and that will thereby contribute to the healing of the traumatised and wounded people for all of us in South Africa are wounded people. And in this manner to promote national unity and reconciliation.  For Christians it is a significant thing.  Now the first hearing happened at Easter time, when we commemorate the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of goodness over evil, of justice over injustice, of truth over lies, of laughter, of joy, of peace of compassion over their ghastly counter parts in the glorious resurrection of saviour Jesus Christ.
 We want to indicate that those who testify before this Commission, will enjoy the same privilege as would happen in EAST LONDON  HEARING TRC/EASTERN CAPE
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a court of law for the testimony that they give, provided what they say is the truth as they understand it, and provided what they have done is done in good faith.  
 We want to assure that we do not want to turn the hearing into proceedings of a court of law, but the conduct of all of us here should be conducive to a dignified hearing, for we have come especially to hear harrowing stories from those who are going to be witnesses, and out of respect for them, I hope that it will not be necessary for me to invoke the powers that have been given to me by the Act, that each of us here will conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. If people who hear what would be construed in a court of law, if it happened there, as contempt of court, then they will be guilty of an offence. I would hope that it would not be necessary for us to go in that direction.