ABSTRACT
Daniel Petrus Siebert, a member of the team of policemen who interrogated and tortured Stephen Biko to death, and who subsequently was promoted to head of the detective branch in the Eastern Transvaal and retired with the rank of police brigadier in 1995, submitted his personal overview statement to the Truth and Reconciliation commissioners as part of his application for amnesty.
Mr. Siebert [I was born] on the 20th of September 1945 in Bloemfontein. I am the youngest of four children. I grew up in a conservative and Christian home. I am a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and have been actively involved in the Dutch Reformed Church since my childhood and have, for the past 26 years, served on the local Church Council. I grew up, during my formative years, in the apartheid era. The apartheid policy would, as a consequence, have been acceptable and justifiable to me since I was of the opinion, at that time, that this policy was necessary for the continued survival of the White and South African at the southern end of Africa. This point of view, in subsequent years, was additionally influenced and strengthened by the policy expressions or statements of political leaders as well as cultural and church leaders.
