Litnet

Death notice:

ACKERMANN DAVID JACOBUS (Dawie – 66 years) 07.02.2012. Passed away at Vincent Pallotti Hospital after complications arising from a heart attack. He leaves his wife of 17 years, Anne; his brother Jan; his son Braam and daughters Liezl and Dominique; 3 grandchildren Reuben, Cian, Jenson and many close friends. A Memorial Service will be held at 11h00am, on Thursday, 9 February at St James Church in Kenilworth.

About Dawie Ackerman's life – from the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

Darren Taylor
Dawie Ackerman is a born-again Christian who vividly remembers the attack on his church on the 25th of July, 1993. He and his wife are sitting separately in a large group of visiting Russian sailors when the church doors burst open to silence their singing.

Dawie Ackerman
It all happened very quickly. My ears were zinging from the gunshots and then especially from the two grenade explosions. I was afraid. I had visions of the attackers walking up the aisle and shooting the people between the benches as they were lying down.

Angie Kapelianis
But Dawie Ackerman’s main concern in the minute that seems to last forever is for his wife. To get to her near the church entrance, he has to walk over three dead Russians in what he describes as "a bloody mess".

Dawie Ackerman
There were people screaming. But immediately after the attack, it was as if a deathly silence settled on the church. I went forward to my wife and saw her still sitting upright, thought that she might have survived, but she had not.

Zola Ntutu
Dawie Ackerman says the St James Church massacre has stunted him emotionally. He should be angry with his wife’s killers. Instead, his family has become the target of his anger. "We fight about stupid things," he says.

Dawie Ackerman
I’ve never cried over the death of my wife. Other than have silent cries. But I’ve never had an emotional crying outburst. While Mr [Khaya] Makoma was testifying and he talked about his tortures and that he was suicidal, I could identify with that. And I wrote you a note to bring your cross–examination to an end because what are we doing here? The truth, yes. But I … I looked at the way in which he answered you and his anger. How on earth are we going to be reconciled?

Angie Kapelianis
Dawie Ackerman captures the two pillars of this process. Truth and reconciliation. As a victim, he wants the truth to the unanswered questions about his wife’s death. As a Christian, he has to reconcile with her murderers.

Dawie Ackerman
I for one couldn’t stay away from, in the immediate days following the massacre, to return to where my … my wife had been shot. It was … it’s … a release to me to go there and to be where she was killed. And as the time unfolded and the Truth Commission started up and I heard the testimonies of my fellow black South Africans who had been subjected to the treatment that they had, and parents and mothers, brothers asked: "Where is my son?" "Where is my father?" And because I know the … the value of going back to the place where it happened, I appeal to the agents of the government to come forward and to identify what they’ve done and where they did it. At least give them also the opportunity to grieve where it happened.

Darren Taylor
The grieving takes place in the amnesty arena. Khaya Makoma, Bassie Mkhumbuzi and Thobela Mlambisa sit in a row facing the committee. Dawie Ackerman sits right behind them – an arm’s length away. Without any warning, he breaks all the conventional rules of mediation between victim and perpetrator.

Dawie Ackerman:
May I ask the applicants to turn around and to face me? This is the first opportunity that we’ve had to look at each other in the eye. I want to ask Mr [Khaya] Makoma who actually entered the church. My wife was sitting right at the door where you came in. She was wearing a long blue coat. Can you remember if you shot her?

Khaya Makoma:
I do remember that I fired some shots. But I couldn’t identify [anyone]. I don’t know whom did I shoot or not, but my gun pointed at the people.

Dawie Ackerman
It is important for me to know if it is possible. As much as it is important for your people who suffered to know who killed. I don’t know why it is so important for me, it … it just is.

Angie Kapelianis
The moment is frozen in time. They continue as though no one exists.

Dawie Ackerman
I would like to hear from each one of you, as you look me in the face, that you are sorry for what you’ve done. That you regret it and that you want to be personally reconciled.

Amnesty applicant
We are sorry for what we have done. Although people died during that struggle, we didn’t do that out of our own will. It’s the situation that we were living under. We are asking from you, please do forgive us.

Audience
[Claps slightly]

Dawie Ackerman:
I want you to know that I forgive you unconditionally.

Zola Ntutu
Dawie Ackerman forgives them even though he doesn’t know if they have been totally honest with him. "Maybe there is more," he says. Or maybe he just wants to hear more. No one says a word. There’s just this strange silence.

In Memoriam contributions – assembled by Albert Maritz

Sean Higgs
Dawie Ackerman, one of the best actors I have seen auditioning in our studios, died on Tuesday at the Vincent Palloti. He had a heart attack and never recovered. He will be missed by many and by the local film industry. Rest in Peace Dawie.

Mehboob Bawa
What a loss to our industry and to all that knew him. Stunned by this news. He went through a traumatic experience a few years ago, which he shared with me and fellow actors on set in Kenya some time ago. I learnt a lot about life in that one conversation. May your soul rest in eternal peace Dawie. I'll cherish the memories. :–)

Adrian Galley
What a gentleman Dawie was, and he had overcome terrible hardships in his time. Check the record of the TRC hearings – he testified there after losing his wife in the St James Church massacre – and he recently lost a son to a road accident in the US. Dawie, a true gentleman with nary a malicious bone in his body. I'm going to miss bumping into you at auditions, although you mostly got the gig ahead of me.

Albert Maritz
This is terrible news. Same as other “below the line” greats, eg Annemarie Muller, these names are now disappearing off our radars. I grew up as a boy, at the feet of our South African greats of the radio and theatre, in the radio studios in Sea Point, in a previous dispensation. We sweated through endless radio dramas, and weeks of radio soaps, during what was an unforgettable period 1960s to 1980s. Dawie was somewhat older than me, and a trooper. He always went that extra mile to create an exceptionally distinctive character – sometimes to the despair of bystanders! Recently, he spoke at great lengths with a woman in France or somewhere re a Dirk de Villiers TV puppet series – which was a giant step in television in the world. Dawie and many other Cape Town actors voiced the puppets. The series is now distributed abroad. Mag Dawie daar meer vrede vind as wat sy lotgevalle op aarde hom toegelaat het.