UNKNOWN
Mr Chairman after the 1976 riots, which of course focused on the youth mainly, 
there was a sharp increase in the involvement of youths in the struggle. Large amounts of youths went out 
to receive military training and these youths became much more militant and the ANC also realised, mainly 
the ANC, realised that this was an opportunity for a new approach because it was generally accepted that in 
1976 it was the watershed as far as the liberation movement of the ANC was concerned. Thereafter, we 
experienced the situation increasingly where youths were becoming involved in violence to such an extent 
that during the State of Emergency in 1986 and 7 and thereafter we were obligated to detain large amounts 
of youths who, not only participated in actions, boycotts and such in the townships but were also involved 
in necklacing.  And we had great problems with that because you can obliviously imagine how much 
opposition there was to the fact that there were even persons as young as 13 whom we would detain, due to 
the fact that their parents could not control them and they spiralled out of control under those 
circumstances.
PRETORIA HEARING	AMNESTY/