The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hears its first witnesses

On 15 April 1996 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission opened its first hearing into human rights violations in the East London City Hall, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the chair. For four days victims and relatives told what had been done to them under apartheid, in public and on national radio and television. The hearings went on for two years across the country. On the second day, as Singqokwana Malgas described his torture, Tutu put his head in his hands and wept.