On this Day in History 13 november
Learn what happened on this day on history
Sunday, 13 November 1977
Bishop Desmond Tutu resigned as Bishop of the Lesotho Anglican Church after being appointed as the first Black Secretary-General of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). The choice of Tutu for the position was influenced by the increasingly critical position the SACC was taking in its fight against apartheid.
Thursday, 13 November 1980
After a two-week judicial inquest under presiding magistrate Marthinus Prins, it was found that no particular person could be blamed for the death of Steve Biko. The case was then submitted to the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) for further investigation. The Medical Association of South Africa (MASA) gave the green light to its ethical committee to conduct a public investigation into Steve Biko’s death on 13 November 1980. This happened following public outcry against the official explanation of the cause of his death on 12 September 1977. The SAMDC conducted an investigation, which found no doctor guilty of unprofessional medical conduct, though they did find that a medical certificate issued by District Surgeon Dr Lang was ‘unsatisfactory and incomplete, if not a deliberate suppression of the facts’. As the committee did not have subpoena powers, it did not attempt to establish whether the doctors involved were guilty of disgraceful or unprofessional conduct. It did, however, make some recommendations to improve the medical treatment of detainees. The Executive Committee of MASA expressed full support of the SAMDC’s report. The finding was greeted with anger within South Africa and internationally. The National Medical and Dental Association (NAMDA), a new and alternative organisation formed in December 1982 by 52 doctors who were dissatisfied with the actions and decisions taken by MASA, especially with reference to the issue of the health and welfare of detainees under security legislation, accused MASA of having ties with the apartheid regime. On 30 January 1985, the Pretoria Supreme Court ordered the SAMDC to hold an inquiry into the conduct of the two doctors who treated Steve Biko during the five days before his death. After this secondary inquest by the SAMDC, action was taken against the doctors. Both of them were found guilty of improper and disgraceful conduct. Dr Tucker was struck off the roll of medical practitioners and Dr Lang was cautioned and reprimanded.
Tuesday, 13 November 1990
The Harms Commission released its report on its investigations into the activities of the South African Defence Force and the South African Police counter-insurgency units. Supreme Court judge, Justice Louis Harms, headed the Commission. With a wave of assassinations sweeping the country and targeting opponents of the government, the Commission found no evidence to back up the allegations of army and police involvement in hit squad activities. Although the report exonerated both units, it was critical of the suspicious activities of the redundant Army Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB).
During the hearing, three former police officers – Dirk Coetzee, Almond Nofomela and David Tshikalanga – came forward to testify on the activities of the hit squad. Their evidence was dismissed as untrustworthy. Therefore, no evidence was brought to shed light on who was responsible for the deaths of anti-apartheid activists David Webster and Anton Lubowski in May and September 1989.
Although this report found the Minister of Defence, General Magnus Malan, politically responsible for the operations of the CCB, the then State President, FW de Klerk, exonerated him.
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