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Thursday marks 30 years since the Wit Wolf massacre at Pretoria’s Strijdom Square. Phumlani S Langa talks with Bradley Hawk Steyn, a survivor who is making a film about it
Bradley Hawk Steyn was at Strijdom Square – now Lilian Ngoyi Square – the day Barend Hendrik Strydom went on a killing spree.
That afternoon, after rugby practice, the 17-year-old Steyn went to Lyttelton train station to travel to Pretoria to meet his mother, who worked at the SA State Theatre.
“This was always my chance to walk around and check out the shops. I used to love walking past the taxi rank. White people stayed away, but I was curious and drawn to the kwela music and the visceral feel of the real South Africa,” he said in an interview last week.
Running a little late, he crossed Church Square, where Strydom had been planning to strike, were it not for a high-profile court case at the high court nearby. The shooter then went to Strijdom Square instead.
“As I walked across the plain, heading towards the State Theatre entrance, I noticed panic on the faces of two black women who were looking at a man holding a gun. I thought maybe he was a cop, going to catch bad people. I followed this guy around the garden area,” he said.
“I saw him walk in between some bushes along a path,” he says, pausing to move his chair so that it faces passers-by.
“Sorry, there have been some death threats, so I’m a little wary,” he explains.
Right-wing Afrikaners have not been impressed with some of what Steyn has been publicly saying, or with his involvement with Umkhonto weSizwe.
Throughout the interview he glances about, scanning the faces of those who pass by.
“He headed along that path and as he entered I [saw] him raise his hand and squeeze the trigger of his gun at a black person, who [dropped] to the ground. I [got] concerned as the person was unarmed and didn’t seem to be doing anything wrong. He then [shot] the lady sitting next to him,” Steyn says.
“I [dropped] to the ground. I [heard] ‘Kleinbaas! Kleinbaas!’ and as I [looked], I [saw] a young black guy, maybe five or so years older than me, and he [said] I should come over.
“So I went and hid behind this bench with him. He wasn’t alone; there was a white lady, a coloured lady, an Indian guy and a few black people. Lying in this sea of people, I [heard] the murmuring, the crying and screaming.”
Steyn peered over and saw the attacker shooting a man sitting on a bench eating a sandwich.
He recalls seeing the look on the face of the young man who saved him – it was as if something in his mind had flipped – and he leapt up and bolted in the direction of the shooter.
“I gathered my kit bag and ran after him. I wanted to help or do something. I [turned] a corner and [noticed] bloody footsteps. I saw [Strydom] shoot the man three times and he fell on the ground.”
The youngster ran up to the friend he had made and lost in moments, and placed his head on his lap.
Enraged, he looked up and screamed at the shooter: “Why are you doing this?”, to which the shooter responded calmly in Afrikaans: “I’m doing this for the future of white South Africa.”
Steyn has spent the better part of 11 years writing his book, Undercover with Mandela’s Spies: The Story of the Boy who Crossed the Square, which will be released in April next year.
A documentary is in the works, with Hollywood actor Kevin Costner getting involved in funding the film.
Now working in security, Steyn lives in California, US, where he met Costner through a friend and did some security work for him.
“People would joke and say that I’m The Bodyguard’s bodyguard. He heard this story and wanted to do something around it and now we find ourselves at this point.”
The documentary is set for release some time next year.
“We have been working on trying to find the names of the victims and survivors. This hasn’t been spoken about; it hasn’t gotten the attention it should have. It isn’t even recognised as a massacre. My team and I find this puzzling,” he said.
Strydom served only five years in prison for his crimes and showed no remorse after killing eight people.
Steyn alleges that the killer, who still lives in Pretoria, has in the past posted about the event on Facebook.
“At the end of the day, we want to find more survivors and the families of the victims so that we can memorialise their story. We went to the archives and discovered so much. Some of the papers sounded like this ...” he says, picking up a sachet of sugar on the table and rubbing the two leafs of paper together.
“Old, man. Papers that have been folded up and left like that since 1989. There [were] also a lot of things missing, but when we found the names it was such an emotional moment as now I could put a name to the people I saw get shot.”
On Thursday, Steyn will erect a plaque in the area, commemorating those who died.
He has begun a crowd-funding campaign to ensure the unveiling is a dignified and respectable occasion.
Anyone who may know any survivors of the Strijdom Square massacre, or who lost a friend or relative in the shooting, can contact Steyn at info@hawksteyn.com
