CHAIRPERSON: Good morning everybody. This morning we'll be continuing with the evidence of Mr Erasmus. Before we start I would just like Mr du Plessis to place himself on record.
MR DU PLESSIS: Thank you Mr Chairman. I'm representing Mr Gary Pollock, P J du Plessis, from the firm David Botha Du Plessis and Kruger Attorneys, Johannesburg.
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr du Plessis.
PAUL FRANCIS ERASMUS: (s.u.o.)
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Mr McAslin. Sorry, Mr Bizos.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR BIZOS: (cont)
...(indistinct - mike not on) There are one or two specific things that I want to put to you, Mr Erasmus. Firstly in relation to Mr Naidoo, you've already told us that you stole his clock, did you?
MR ERASMUS: I'm sorry, I can't hear Mr Bizos.
MR BIZOS: There is some uncertainty. Did you or did you not say that you stole a clock from Mr Naidoo?
MR ERASMUS: Mr J Naidoo, I believe. I referred to it in a broad outline, but later, it was in fact during the South African Police raid on COSATU House, ...
MR BIZOS: Oh, Mr J Naidoo, oh I beg your pardon. Okay. Yes, another Naidoo. Because Mr Shanty Naidoo says that the family
house was broken into and family jewellery was taken away, do you know anything about that?
MR ERASMUS: No, I don't Mr Chairman.
MR BIZOS: Well do you know anything about a house-breaking into their house?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Chairman, no, housebreaking was part of my portfolio, but I don't know anything about the Naidoo residence. As I explained Mr Naidoo, or the Naidoo family wasn't under our portfolio. I certainly never heard about it. I really don't know anything about it.
MR BIZOS: Yes. Now if a group of people raided, you wouldn't necessarily know what the searchers helped themselves to?
MR ERASMUS: Not always. I would know what I helped myself to and some of the others, but ...
MR BIZOS: And would it be part of the campaign of one or other of them taking a clock away, taking away family documents, letters, cards, not particularly of any material value, but merely to upset the people whose possessions they were.
MR ERASMUS: Absolutely.
MR BIZOS: In relation to women, was sexual harassment over the telephone practised?
MR ERASMUS: I know it would happen, Mr Bizos. It wasn't my personal forte to use the sexual side of things. I was - I did do it on occasion, I can't remember in respect of who.
MR BIZOS: Yes, because Dr Liz Floyd says that she was the victim of this type of harassment over the telephone over the years.
MR ERASMUS: I would certainly accede that I probably made some of those calls, in fact I can't remember specifically, but there were many of us, all I can say we did do these type of things and at various times something might have come to attention of our Commanders or to the Security Branch in respect of Mrs Floyd and she would have during that period had a spate of these type of calls and activities being carried out by myself and by other people.
MR BIZOS: And would - the purpose of that was to persuade her to leave the country?
MR ERASMUS: No necessarily to leave the country, just to intimidate and terrorise.
MR BIZOS: Now there was a raid on her family home where approximately ten people came, five of whom were armed with what appeared to her to be machine guns or multiple sort of a - I don't know ...
CHAIRPERSON: Automatic rifles.
MR BIZOS: Automatic rifles, yes, automatic rifles, thank you Mr Chairman. What was the purpose of that raid?
MR ERASMUS: I presume Mr Chairman this would have been during the State of Emergency, if Mr Bizos is referring to a raid on Dr Floyd's home, yes I was in command of a group of about ten people. Our standing instructions were to be heavily armed at all times, visibly heavily armed. It was, I think, part of the State of Emergency, we had lists of people that we were arresting and houses that we were searching in terms of the emergency regulations. Certainly the arms would have been, on the off chance that we encountered people of our adversaries that were likewise armed, so we were ready for that but there was another purpose and that certainly was intimidation. I think the incident that you're referring to is the one where I and a group stole pot plants and this tent, I remember that Dr Floyd wasn't at that house and if my memory is correct, it was in Hunter Street, somewhere in Yeoville. I think Hunter Street. I can't remember Mr Bizos, we raided...(intervention)
MR BIZOS: Who ordered this raid on the house?
MR ERASMUS: It was police policy - not police policy, these were standing instructions from our seniors, in this case I think it would have been Brig Oosthuizen, my Section Head. We worked around the clock, we had lists drawn up and we hit one house after the other in groups, heavily armed groups.
MR BIZOS: And was intimidation the main purpose?
MR ERASMUS: Well obviously intimidation was a purpose. Our aims were to arrest the people, it was seen by the powers that be, the Government and the State Security Council that the country was in dire straits and that everybody that was involved in this onslaught against us, had to be neutralised one way or the other, hence the detention of so many people under the emergency regulations.
MR BIZOS: You see, it may sound just a detail, but on this occasion Dr Liz Floyd's husband, opened the door holding a baby.
MR ERASMUS: I don't remember that, Mr Chairman.
MR BIZOS: Because she remembers that on subsequent raids, she came to the door and the question was: "Where's your husband to open the door this time?" What would have been the point of that?
MR ERASMUS: I don't recall that Mr Chairman, I honestly don't know.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry Mr Bizos, if I could just ask a question about that raid. You say that you went there in command of about ten people to the house in order to search it in terms of the emergency regulations, so I take it you went there openly as policemen to conduct such a search?
MR ERASMUS: Absolutely, Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Now when you say that you stole stuff, you say that I think you took a pot plant and a tent, would that have been stolen surreptitiously or would you have openly taken the articles?
MR ERASMUS: It's just the way the opportunity presented itself. By the time we had left the place, I think it was standing knowledge amongst the ...(indistinct) or the people that were our victims, that stuff was missing. It would have been done not openly in front of them while the person was watching you.
CHAIRPERSON: So I would have thought that it wouldn't have been done openly because they, you would have been laying yourself open to a charge of theft, but if it was taken surreptitiously, can it be said that the motive for taking it was personal gain?
MR ERASMUS: In most cases not, after those raids we were in a position to, from Stratcom, to prepare, we had documents, copies of people's handwritings, personal letters, we had greater insights, we were able to arm the Intelligence Unit and our Agents better, some of it would have been for personal gain, I would accede that. We were sent, for example, I might just mention, by our Section Head on more occasions than I can remember, to raid the entire Khotso House and it was a standing joke that we all arrived with empty suitcases and left with our suitcases bulging. But they referred to these as stationary raids.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Bizos.
MR BIZOS: Did you break into Dr Floyd's house?
MR ERASMUS: No.
MR BIZOS: Do you know whether any of your colleagues did?
MR ERASMUS: I'm not aware if my colleagues did.
MR BIZOS: Do you know about the theft of an I.D. Book, a cheque book, a diary?
MR ERASMUS: I don't know about that Mr Chairman.
MR BIZOS: On the assumption that it was done by your colleagues without your knowledge, what would the purpose of that have been?
MR ERASMUS: I personally, and I still have in my possession, cheque books relating to various suspects and/or organisations. I have still, after all these years, I have a South African Council of Churches cheque book, I have a cheque book of Mr Neil Coleman. Once again it was just a way of putting pressure on, although this did lead to tragic results later, from our side, they would have to go and apply for a new cheque book, or we would go and write out cheques which was my forte, it was my little artistic ability, write out outrageous cheques and try and embarrass the person concerned. I can give you an example of this Mr Bizos, it was me that discredited Dr Dave Dalling by forging a cheque and having it printed in the Sunday Times, in the Star, on the front page of the Star, which was a government action to embarrass him. So these type of things like cheque books would be useful.
MR BIZOS: I want to return to the Aggett inquisition. When you were travelling around in order to obtain information about Dr Aggett with Whitehead when you met the Generals, when you discussed the matter with Maj or Col Cronwright, did you have discussions with them as to what they thought the effect of the disclosure of torture would have on them?
MR ERASMUS: I missed those last words, Mr Bizos, I'm sorry.
MR BIZOS: Yes, did you discuss what the effect of the disclosure of systematic torture of the large group of detainees, what affect that would have on the Government and its reputation, or the administration of justice, did you discuss those things with them?
MR ERASMUS: Yes, oh yes.
MR BIZOS: How did they feel about that, your superiors?
MR ERASMUS: They would have been absolutely mortified, if that's the right word, at the prospect of that type of scenario developing, vis a vis the negative publicity or propaganda which would be used against the country and the Security Branch.
MR BIZOS: You told us that they said that they could not afford another Biko.
MR ERASMUS: That's right.
MR BIZOS: That the embarrassment of the disclosure of the Aggett inquest, were they considered as embarrassing as the Biko, or less or more so?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Chairman, I may be walking on a tight-rope here. Dr Aggett was not just the fifth person who died in detention, he was the first, I'm speaking under correction, he was the first white person who died in detention and I think this maybe affected the psyche of the powers that be, a little bit more than if it was a non white person. Here was a white person, one of us, that has died and a doctor to boot. I remember at the time hearing and being told in fact about the devastation to this country that Biko's death caused. There were five submarines which were about to be delivered. The rand fell, there was this disastrous set of events that enfolded under it and at all cost, and this was what we were told throughout, was this damage control had to be instituted, the inquest had to be won, hence us being sent on a trip like this.
MR BIZOS: Now it has been suggested by analysts of the pattern of state of violence and the suggestion has been made, the statement that there is evidence, that in order to avoid the embarrassment of Biko and Aggett type of inquests, the Security Forces, with the authority of the Security Council and the Government, authorised hit squads to kill people, dispose of their bodies, create scenarios that they tried to escape, in order to avoid the embarrassment of having inquests where people died in detention under torture in order to obtain information. Now you were involved in the Aggett inquest. What do you say, what did you hear, what do you know about that thesis that has been held out by people who analysed the patter of violence in South Africa particularly from '82 onwards?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Bizos, where do I start? Certainly I would hypothesise that after the inquest of Dr Aggett more emphasis was given to totally illegal acts, as in murder of suspects, which did transpire and which I will be talking about, I believe in another forum. I might just mention to you that I, at a later stage in my career, was given the most horrendous poisons under my command and I would have probably been able with the knowledge that I'd accrued by that time, to kill a person like yourself Mr Bizos, unnoticed, before you could get out of that door, by simply inducing a heart attack with digitalis or curare, we had valium, we had a whole variety of stuff in an actual box that was under my command, so to answering that part of the question, yes, most certainly, the very fact that Vlakplaas was brought about confirms the statement that you've just made, the State-sponsored hit squad. It was easier to kill a person and certainly to let it look like it was an accident and we started to specialise in these things. I was trained in various ways. I know how to sabotage a car, the brakes, where the car would roll and somebody would hopefully be killed. We were officially trained and steered in that direction. In another forum Mr Bizos, I have documents where these things are officially written and they used words like "saboteering, elimineering", the famous statement about permanent removal. Yes, those situations certainly did come around and it is interesting that maybe the death of Dr Aggett and the surrounding hullabaloo and the 28 day inquisition afterwards, with the eyes of the world on this, was bad for the system.
MR BIZOS: It was actually 42.
MR ERASMUS: I'm sorry, 42 days.
MR BIZOS: How confident were you, or what were your fears that time?
MR ERASMUS: I beg your pardon?
MR BIZOS: What were your fears that justice may catch up with you or did you feel quite safe that you were immune from the supposedly long arm of the law?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Bizos, at that time, ja, something like untouchable, we were untouchable. Here I'd gone through a situation as with Dr Aggett, a whole court case had been rigged, the Head of our branch and we all knew the most powerful man in South African Police and probably arguably the most powerful man in the intelligence community in this country, can sit and make a couple of phone calls and I wasn't that stupid, I might certainly have been young and a little bit ...(indistinct), not as wise as the people around me, what it took to rig a court case like that, there was the General at the top, phones the Attorney-General, the Regional Magistrate who heard the case must have been in on it.
MR BIZOS: Why do you say that?
MR ERASMUS: It was quite apparent to me Mr Bizos, I stood in the box, I had the fine money in my pocket, I knew that I was going to be sentenced and the Magistrate gave me, I think about - I can't remember off-hand, I was terrified, I was about to get married by the way and the Magistrate launched into this long thing about serving the interests of justice and for a time I was worried, I thought maybe the old man's not going to come through for us, he is going to jail me and he launched into this long thing about the agony of Mr and Mrs Aggett, I think Mr Aggett was sitting in court, if I remember, but what - would the interests of justice be served, this is a young man who was over zealous in his approach, he's about to get married, he brought in and all this type of stuff and that's where the suspended sentence and the R200 came, I walked out of there with a big sigh of relief. I didn't even have to worry about delving into my lousy police salary, because the secret fund had given me the R200, so the whole thing and I will state that very unequivocally, that whole thing was rigged from the top down and everybody that was part of it must have been told, this is how it's going to work and this is what is going to happen. The only area that I'm not clear about is how they rigged that the charges against Whitehead were withdrawn. There I heard some interesting theories that there was some sort of trade-off, but I don't know about that, I can't comment on that.
MR BIZOS: Sorry, I didn't hear the first part of ...
CHAIRPERSON: About - he has difficulty in trying to work out how the charges against Whitehead were withdrawn. But he wasn't actually at the house?
MR ERASMUS: No he wasn't.
CHAIRPERSON: That might have facilitated that aspect of it.
MR ERASMUS: Ja, I think that's probably correct, Mr Chairman. I'm not certain on that terrain.
MR BIZOS: Was the fact that a substantial number of detainees were to come up to give evidence before the Magistrate in the inquest? Were they confident that they would be absolved from any blame by the Magistrate, or were they nervous that there may be an adverse decision?
MR ERASMUS: I find it hard to answer the question, because I'm a bit uncertain. Could you maybe rephrase it?
MR BIZOS: Yes. How did they feel when one after the other detainees took the stand before the Magistrate and described the torture and they knew that there were more to come? How did they feel about that? Did they believe that there would be a finding against them or were they confident that they would be absolved by the Magistrate?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Bizos I didn't follow that inquest maybe as much as I should have. I was involved with other areas. I remember going to the Court the one day and standing a metre away and talking to Maj Cronwright. He in fact told me - made some hectic commands on them. To answer your question, no I don't know. I know that, you mentioned this to me yesterday, they were obviously very upset. As I said to you before, that whole thing, everybody there had to fight nail and tooth and inquests had to be won at all costs.
MR BIZOS: What was your attitude and your activities in relation to trade union activity at the time?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Chairman we had a desk, as we had a church desk, we had a trade union desk which I never worked on. I knew some of the investigators that worked there. I never investigated trade unionism at any stage right through my career.
MR BIZOS: Would - did you hear about damage of trade union property, trade union motor cars, attacks on trade unionists?
MR ERASMUS: Yes. Well the best example is that I, as all of the Security Policemen at that time plus half of the uniform police of Johannesburg, raided COSATU house, when I think two and a half million rands worth of damage was done. I know about other raids on trade unions so yes, I participated in some of them, it's not in my amnesty application.
MR SIBANYONI: And then who was heading the trade union desk?
MR ERASMUS: Maj Marx. M-A-R-X.
MR SIBANYONI: Thank you.
MR BIZOS: Was there a period when trade unionists travelling in motor cars were involved in more accidents than other people involved in different occupations and did interference with motor cars have anything to do with it?
MR ERASMUS: Yes, there was. Can I have a moment to - I've just realised something. You know Mr Chairman, I have to mention this to you, there are incidents now that my memory runs along this line, that I haven't applied for amnesty for. Can I talk about them, or?
CHAIRPERSON: Well it's up to you Mr Erasmus, if you haven't applied for amnesty in respect of certain incidents and you talk about them, there is a risk that, I've got to inform you of that, that you might be confessing to some unlawful acts and I don't know whether or not any action might be taken by the authorities, that is the position.
MR McASLIN: Sorry Mr Chairman, can I confer one minute with my client?
CHAIRPERSON: Certainly.
MR McASLIN: My client has elected to make full disclosure and to the extent that it's relevant, he apologises to the Committee. It's an incident which he maintains he had actually forgotten about, but he's prepared to tell the Committee everything and also the extent of his involvement in those proceedings.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you. Thank you Mr Erasmus.
MR BIZOS: I'm instructed that trade unionists in particular were liable to have the tyre pressure on their motor cars interfered with by increasing substantially the pressure of the tyres on one side and reducing the pressure of the tyres on the other side.
MR ERASMUS: Right.
MR BIZOS: And this was discovered and the preventative measure was that no trade unionists ventured out on a motor car without checking the tyre pressure, which was often found to be so different that it could not be accidental. Do you know anything about that?
MR ERASMUS: I recall that particular trick. I can just say that I personally never did that, not that one anyway. You had thousands of such ...
MR BIZOS: There were many ways in which you could interfere with motor cars, you say.
MR ERASMUS: Absolutely.
MR BIZOS: Did you hear of this as part of your work at the time?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Chairman, this is now a matter of recollection. I don't remember the offices. Maybe somebody in this hearing could tell me where it was. Just below John Vorster Square in the road under the highway, there was a trade union office around the corner. I went there on several occasions with numerous members and the window was smashed. Whichever union it was eventually replaced this window with a bullet-proof glass. Now I had a considerable knowledge of firearms and various types of bullets and so on and I actually manufactured an armour piercing round after numerous attempts were made and it was me that shot that window out, armour-plated or not, I put a bullet right through it and the whole thing fell to pieces. I don't remember the union, I didn't investigate them, I was with guys that investigated trade unions. The second thing which I would admit to now which I've recalled now, there was yet another person I don't know, relating to your question about motor cars, a black man who worked for a trade union, he was terrified of the Security Police. I was given instructions to terrorise him. He had a yellow Volkswagen beetle and he was either hurt or killed, I don't know the circumstances. I didn't do anything physically, but the car rolled. I used to terrorise him about this motor car and eventually he did have an accident in it. I don't know the circumstances, I can't remember the guy's name. That I just recall this morning Mr Chairman. What can I say. I couldn't think of everything when I prepared this 300 to 400 or 500 events.
MR BIZOS: We know that two very prominent trade unionists, Joe Marvi of the Johannesburg Municipal Workers Union, died in a motor car accident and Mr Sisa Njikelane, who incidentally was one of the detainees in the Aggett investigation, he was very seriously injured. Were these matters discussed in your circles at all at any time?
MR ERASMUS: All I can say, Mr Chairman, with as much honesty as possible, obviously vehicles were a target and I could sit and bore this Commission or tie the Commission up for the next hour in different ways that vehicles can be interfered with. I was given personal instructions by none other than W/O Jerry Raven, the London Bomb, about how to blow somebody's car up and how to damage the brakes, not on one occasions and by many of my colleagues, by simply opening - the most easy one was getting the bonnet open and pouring water into the brake fluid system. The brakes will work for a while and then there will be total failure as the pressure drops and the water seeps through and does whatever it does. The incident, if I remember the guy that was hurt, if you can check this out, it was a Volkswagen, I remember if was a yellow Volkswagen, it was driven by a trade unionist. The reason I cannot supply you, Mr Bizos, with any further stuff, I never worked, specialised and didn't have much to do with anything relating to trade unionists.
MR BIZOS: Did you know that Ahmed Timol died as a result of falling from the 10th floor?
MR ERASMUS: Yes, before my time.
MR BIZOS: Before your time.
MR ERASMUS: Ja.
MR BIZOS: But when detainees came there or people were there, was any reference made to them in relation to Timol's death.
MR ERASMUS: I beg your - I didn't ...
MR BIZOS: Was any mention made to detainees when they were brought to John Vorster Square to remind them of Timol's death?
MR ERASMUS: I'm trying to think of a specific incident. Timol's death was talked about and in fact joked about and speculated on for many years and during my time on the Security Branch. I worked with the people, I'm still not certain who apparently did it, they either hung him out of the window to make him talk, I heard various stories, some of them were funny at the time, it wasn't supposed to happen but they'd forgotten that he had shoes and socks on, incidents like that, Mr Bizos.
MR BIZOS: Who would talk about those things?
MR ERASMUS: The staff members. I mean obviously we were all curious and who was it that did it and there were various people that were mooted, in fact most of the staff.
MR BIZOS: What was this about shoes and socks?
MR ERASMUS: One of the stories that I heard was that Timol was hung out of the window to terrorise him into talking, but whoever was doing it was holding him by his shoes and didn't realise that his feet would pull out with his own body weight, stories like that, I never heard something which I regarded as the truth, as regards Timol's death.
MR BIZOS: Was John Vorster Square referred to as Timol Heights?
MR ERASMUS: That's correct.
MR BIZOS: Mr Erasmus, I'm informed that all this has had an effect on your own attitude to what was happening at the time and also has had an effect on your health and other matters. The people that were there at the Aggett death, where is Brig Muller, do you know?
MR ERASMUS: Brig Muller?
MR BIZOS: Yes.
MR ERASMUS: I don't know. I last heard of him three, four years ago. I don't know what's happened to him. If he's still alive - I know he certainly went off medically unfit at that time. He was staying in Ontdekkers Road, the corner of Ontdekkers and Golf Club Crescent. I'd been to his house several times on various errands. Whether he's still there, whether he's still alive I don't know.
MR BIZOS: What suburb is that?
MR ERASMUS: Roodepoort.
MR BIZOS: What has happened to Whitehead?
MR ERASMUS: Steven Whitehead has, what I've heard, done very well. He has a seven figure bank account, he owns a computer, I'm not sure if its hardware of software company in Mid Rand apparently. I haven't see him for the best part of ten, twelve years.
MR BIZOS: We know that Cronwright has passed away.
MR ERASMUS: Col Cronwright's dead?
MR BIZOS: So we are told, you don't know?
MR ERASMUS: No. I'm actually - that comes as a bit of a shock because I got to know him in his older age and I found a lot of pity for him.
MR BIZOS: Where did you find him?
MR ERASMUS: I say, I found a lot of pity for Col Cronwright.
MR BIZOS: Yes, but where did you see him? You say you saw him.
MR ERASMUS: Mr Bizos, my ex-wife and I were the only police guests at Col Cronwright's, I think it must have been his fourth wedding, or his fifth wedding. I took the photographs at his wedding and I saw him a couple of times and I saw a different side of him, so I'm sorry to hear that, I really am.
MR BIZOS: Yes. Thank you Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR BIZOS
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr Bizos. Ms Patel do you have any questions you'd like to put to Mr Erasmus?
MS PATEL: No, thank you, Honourable Chairperson.
NO QUESTIONS BY MS PATEL
CHAIRPERSON: Mr McAslin, do you have any re-examination?
MR McASLIN: I have only one question in re-examination, Mr Chairman.
RE-EXAMINATION BY MR McASLIN: Mr Erasmus, your superior officers, were they beyond absolving themselves from any blame by cleaning up after themselves?
MR ERASMUS: Absolutely. I would like to mention to the Commission that what happened here yesterday morning, is actually an indication of this because literally before I opened my mouth, Gen Coetzee's attorneys had served a paper here stating that he denies any knowledge of anything that I'm going to say. But this is the golden thread of everything that has happened in these hearings in the TRC, one of the many golden threads, is that we've been thrown away by these people, who can sit back with their massive police pensions, in his case on a farm in Graaff-Reinet, which is probably stolen, and he can sit there and he can outgun me because I don't have batteries of attorneys and millions of rand and he can make statements like that which like I received yesterday and I must confess Mr Chairman, that makes me upset. The fact that people like Gary and I and Smit and little Eric Goosen sit here and face things like perjury when these guys can cover up murders, ...(indistinct) court cases and they can walk around, I mean there's not enough corpses for them to even get to ... sorry. I'm sorry.
MR McASLIN: Mr Erasmus can I refer you to page 131 of volume 2?
CHAIRPERSON: This is your statement that was made on the 14th of May 1982 that you described was made in Pretoria.
MR ERASMUS: Correct, Mr Chairman.
MR McASLIN: This is, Mr Erasmus, also the statement, if you compare it to the one that appears previously in the bundle, at pages 120 and onward. You'll see the statement at page 131 is the same, except that it has no reference or does not contain the handwriting and of course then has no reference to Brig Muller or any other superior officers, yet as Mr Bizos pointed out yesterday, this appears to be the statement which was drawn from the police docket in Somerset West, has the number at the top. Can you perhaps explain to the Committee how it could come about that this statement without any reference to any of your superior officers, is the one which was found in the police docket?
MR ERASMUS: I'm very confused as to how this worked. These statements, as I mentioned, I obtained when I realised that I would need stuff somewhere in my life to defend myself. I broke into my own Security Branch offices and my own file and I stole all of the stuff. I don't know how these statements moved around, I'm very uncertain about that.
MR McASLIN: Thank you Mr Chairman, there's no further questions.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR McASLIN
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr McAslin. Adv Bosman, do you have any questions you'd like to put to Mr Erasmus?
ADV BOSMAN: ...(indistinct - mike not on)
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Sibanyoni?
MR SIBANYONI: Just one point, Chairperson. Mr Erasmus, don't regard what I'm asking you as if I'm countering your evidence, but I just want to share my knowledge of John Vorster Square. During my time at John Vorster Square, black policemen were never allocated cases to handle, to interrogate detainees as they like and instead they were just used to take detainees from John Vorster Square to a Security Office which was situated in Sandton, or perhaps to a District Surgeon or out on investigations, but I've never seen a black police person handling a case like heading an investigation. I just want to hear your comment about that.
MR ERASMUS: I know of personal witness to interrogations and I know of personal investigations being headed - of an investigation headed by a black Lieutenant at John Vorster Square.
MR SIBANYONI: Okay. Was it often, apart from that black Lieutenant, others were ...?
MR ERASMUS: I would agree with you there, Mr Chairman, that was an exception, that was an exception. Generally the investigation staff were white, staffed by white members and you are right, Sir, the black members performed minor flunky type activities, drove people around, took them back to the cells, saw that their food was in, you are right in that respect.
MR SIBANYONI: Yes and some of them were Sergeants, those who were driving detainees around.
MR ERASMUS: That's correct.
MR SIBANYONI: Thank you Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Erasmus my personal experience in a number of these hearings, we've heard of applicants, members of the Security Forces, who have suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and I've seen letters and reports put up by psychologists and psychiatrists saying this ... a very detrimental effect on their memory, on particular applicants' memories, in fact I've come across a couple of applicants who state that they can hardly remember anything because of this condition. I don't get that impression from your testimony, obviously you don't remember every detail, because you were involved in so many things, but your memory, from the evidence that you've given here, seems to be reasonably good. What effect has that stress had on you?
MR ERASMUS: Mr Chairman, I lost the three things that I loved most in life. I've lost my wife, I've lost my daughter. My son, my wife and my daughter have been traumatised. I've personally been hospitalised for stress. I went totally off my head 14 times. Starting the late 80's, I got to a stage where I couldn't live with myself any more. 1991, when the chips really came down, I tried to get out, only to discover that I was then seen as a threat and have Col Eugene Alexander de Kock on his way to atomise Linda, my ex-wife, my two beautiful children, in yet another little propaganda scheme engineered by these people that we used to call politicians, so I have suffered. In the next two months, I would like to, in another forum, explain to the Commission just how insidious, and I think my colleague over here, Gary, has been the situation that us amnesty applicants have found ourselves in. We've had to deal with many issues. We've had to betray our friends. We've had to hear just the horrible side or the horrors of what has happened in the Security establishment. I'm not proud of what I have done. If I could turn the clock back, I would do anything. I'm literally at the stage now, apart from that I have a commitment to my child, I'm quite prepared to go to jail and C Max, if de Klerk and Botha and Magnus and Vlok and Constand Viljoen and all of them, the people that not only were the architects of this, sanctioned it and used our loyalties, misused our loyalty and our patriotism, they come out and they face trials like we face trials, because I think the golden threat and forgive me if I sound critical of the TRC, and something which has been lost, is that it's been a systematic betrayal of the people that did the job, the foot soldiers and as I mentioned this morning, this general, sorry Mr Coetzee's statement already that he denies anything that I will say. Now I don't have the resources to fight that man off. If he's going to drag me through a Supreme Court like de Klerk did when he raped the TRC's report in a slick political move and once again condemned us all down the river, so we are all here and what's going to happen at the end of this Commission I don't know, but I certainly pray to God for mercy, some sort of mercy for us and that our situations be given cognisance, all of us, and this applies not only for Security Force people. I don't know what the situation is with people on the other side of the fence. I presume and I understand that there are people that, when the liberation movements that are sitting with similar things - there was one golden thread, several golden threads that have run through this whole process. The first one that relates to us was betrayal by de Klerk. Frederik Willem de Klerk has alleged that I was a renegade, some sort of criminal genius, that I could have done all of this, set up multi million rand projects, run operations which affected the British Government and the United States Government, a warrant officer in the police, I must deserve statues at least for having this ingenuity to do it. I did it on my own, he referred to me as a renegade in the system and I say to him he's a liar, he's a thief, he's a con-man and he must give that Nobel prize back. He's even raped the Nobel prize process and that line, Mr Chairman, goes all the way down through these people, it's us, the Gary Pollocks and poor old Smittie that walked out of there and has now thrown in his lot, that have got to take the hammer, but the people that did this, in this case Mr Bizos, Mr Whitehead, I was shocked to hear that Whitehead has never applied for amnesty for this.
MR BIZOS: ...(indistinct - mike not on) told us that he has information that Mr Whitehead is alive, I beg your pardon that Mr Cronwright is alive ...(indistinct - mike not on) from our clients because I was naturally interested to hear where he was and this is what we were told but ...(indistinct - mike not on)
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you.
MR ERASMUS: I'm sorry, I got carried away, I just had to get that off my chest. I've just got one last thing, Mr Chairman, I would like the guarantee of the Commission that the other matters relating to here, that I would be given the opportunity on those. I know you did mention it yesterday, so I would just like some sort of clarity.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, well I can't give any guarantees on behalf of the Commission because I wouldn't like to bind myself, but as I mentioned earlier, as far as I'm aware, they're preparing a further hearing. It's not for me to issue guarantees. Yes, thank you. Are there any questions arising out of questions that have been put by the members of the Panel?
MR McASLIN: No, Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR McASLIN
MR BIZOS: No.
NO FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR McASLIN
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Erasmus thank you, that concludes your testimony. You may stand down.
MR ERASMUS: Mr Chairman, could I just say something.
CHAIRPERSON: Certainly.
MR ERASMUS: The people here that suffered under this thing. All I can say is I'm sorry, I wish it was otherwise. Dr Floyd and yourself Mr Bizos, what can I say? I'm sorry.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you.
WITNESS EXCUSED
CHAIRPERSON: Mr du Plessis.
MR DU PLESSIS: Thank you Mr Chairman. May I just inquire, the application by Mr Pollock, has it been handed in as yet as an exhibit? It's contained in a bundle which also contains Smit's and Bosch's applications.
CHAIRPERSON: ...(indistinct - mike not on)
MR DU PLESSIS: Thank you.
CHAIRPERSON: It's volume 1 page 59. Do you have the volumes, Mr du Plessis?
MR DU PLESSIS: Yes. I do have, it's volume 1.
CHAIRPERSON: Page 59.
MR DU PLESSIS: Yes, that is correct. Thank you Mr Chairman, may I then proceed?
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, certainly.
