amntrans AMNESTY HEARINGS 1999-10-14 PRETORIA 2 HENDRIK JOHANNES PRINSLOO AM4907/96 NORTHAM https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=53768&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/amntrans/1999/99101228_pre_991013.htm CHAIRPERSON We are proceeding with the application of Mr Prinsloo. When we adjourned yesterday Mr Prinsloo had concluded his evidence in chief. We'll now proceed to afford the legal representatives an opportunity to put questions, if they do have any, to Mr Prinsloo. We'll start with Mr Jansen. HENDRIK JOHANNES PRINSLOO (s.u.o.) CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR JANSEN Yes thank you, Chair. If you could just bear with me a moment, I do have questions. Mr Prinsloo, the bundle which was handed out to us yesterday afternoon containing some of the statements in the dossier, do you have a copy of this? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR JANSEN And before I refer you to some of these specific statements...(intervention) CHAIRPERSON Can we just allocate a number to that bundle? MR JANSEN Yes, I don't think - can we make it bundle 3? CHAIRPERSON Can it be bundle 3? MR JANSEN Yes. CHAIRPERSON Yes. MR JANSEN Is my impression correct that you were one of the most senior investigative officers in the Pretoria area with regard to acts of terrorism, as they were known back then? MR PRINSLOO That is correct, Chairperson. MR JANSEN Is it correct that you were one of the investigating officers in the matter against Masenya. MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR JANSEN Now just for the purposes of the record, this was a reasonably well-known matter which was also reported in the court reports of 1991 or some or other time? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN And you would recall that a finding was made by Justice de Klerk with regard to that matter, namely that these persons who were involved in Thangwane and the Pretoria area, regarded themselves as soldiers. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct, Chairperson. During the hearing they also wore MK uniforms. MR JANSEN And they regarded it as a situation of warfare? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Very well. At that stage, you were probably familiar with the information which the Security Forces possessed regarding persons who had already been identified as being involved with the ANC and the PAC? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR JANSEN It must have been a great proportion of your work to keep yourself up to date with that sort of information. MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR JANSEN Now, if you look at bundle 3, beginning on page 44, this is a statement from one Queen Kenny, which comes from the dossier, pertaining to the murder of Mr Mahlangu. Have you had the opportunity to study that statement? MR PRINSLOO Yes Chairperson, I have studied it. MR JANSEN And then furthermore, on page 50 there is one from a Mr Mahlahila. MR PRINSLOO That is correct, Chairperson. MR JANSEN Have you studied that statement? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR JANSEN And then on page 57, there is one by Constance Mahlangu, who is also better known as Connie Mahlangu. MR PRINSLOO I don't know whether she is known as Connie, I have just seen the name Constance Masiswe Mahlangu. MR JANSEN Yes. Have you studied that statement? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR JANSEN Now you will see, if we can begin with Constance Mahlangu, she is the sister of Patrick Mahlangu. MR PRINSLOO Yes, I see that it appears as such. MR JANSEN Now, I would just like to know from you whether the information that she provides there is in correlation with what you knew about Mr Mahlangu's involvement? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, it was only at a later stage that I became aware of the fact that Mahlangu had indeed received military training and that he had been used by the State as a witness in a terrorism case, but at that stage it was known to me. I just knew that he had training. MR JANSEN And if we return to page 44, the statement made by Queen Kenny, the fact that he was involved in the so-called Civics as well as labour movements, did you know this at that stage? MR PRINSLOO Yes and furthermore that he was a member of the ANC? MR JANSEN The direct cause of your operation or the direct reason for that operation was actually connected with the information which was relatively new at that stage, pertaining to the training or the instant training in the use of hand grenades, is that correct? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct, Chairperson, hand grenades and weapons of terrorism. MR JANSEN Can one also accept that one of the reasons why, with the exception of the information which the informer sent through, further information had to be obtained, would be that the information of the informer or the informers had to be verified? MR PRINSLOO Yes, we used the phrase "to be evaluated". MR JANSEN It would be correct to say that in the security community in general, one always had to be cautious regarding the information which was given by an informer? MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR JANSEN Well that is probably true when it comes to general policing. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Now with regard to the operation and the murder of Mr Mahlangu, you would accept that with regard to the command structure, you were in control of that operation, including the killing of Mr Mahlangu from the beginning to the end? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN And if we come to the evidence surrounding the precise reason for Mr Mahlangu's death or the reasons for his death, I would like to take you to your own statement on page 330 of that bundle. I think it is bundle 1. Could you perhaps turn to that? And I quote from what you have stated, that would be the last sentence of the first paragraph, and I quote "Ras informed me furthermore that Mahlangu had identified a person that he, Mahlangu, suspected of having given information about his activities to us. This person was one of my informers." MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR JANSEN You compiled this statement independently of Mr Ras and his statement, is that correct? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Now if I read the sentence it would appear to me that it correlates with what Mr Ras stated in his evidence as well as his statement, namely that there was a pertinent reference which was made by Mahlangu to a person that he either suspected of having betrayed him or knew had betrayed him. Would you agree with that? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN Then what I find strange is why yesterday in your evidence, in your verbal evidence, you told a tale which appears to deviate to some extent from this direct reference by Mahlangu and said that the fact that Mahlangu was aware of the informer, was inferred from the context of that statement. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, what I meant by that, this is in line with what appears in my written application, that during the interrogation of Mahlangu by Ras, it appeared very clearly that Mahlangu had to have been aware that he could have inferred who the informer was who had disclosed information about him. MR JANSEN Yes, I understand that what you are saying now is in line with what you said yesterday, but would you accept - you say that it is in line with what you wrote here but that isn't really true. You stated that it was clear from the interrogation or from what you understood of the interrogation that Mahlangu would have made that inference, as you put it. In other words you speculated regarding what Mahlangu's inferences were, not about what Mahlangu actually said, is that correct? Do you understand? I know that it is quite a problematic difference to understand. MR MALAN I beg your pardon Mr Jansen, perhaps I could assist because this was my problem yesterday as well. It is not Mahlangu's inferences, it is your inferences, that is your evidence. Because you saw the name you inferred that the name had to have been given to him by Ras, while it is stated in the written document that Ras discussed this with you, that he told you. When I put this to you yesterday you denied it and you said no, he hadn't had any discussion with Ras, he did not correct him, he was simply upset because he saw the name in his notes. Could you perhaps clear us that discrepancy for us? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I will once again attempt. As far as my recollection goes, in the first instance, I requested what the man was doing there. What Mahlangu was doing there because he was never supposed to have been picked up. Then Ras explained to me and I also had a discussion with Mosiane and Ras explained to me why they had interrogated the man and that he had also made notes of this interrogation which he then handed over to me and from the notes, there were not only names which appeared there, but there was also supplementary information for every person indicating what that person had been involved with or what information Mahlangu had given about that particular person and from that I inferred that Mahlangu would definitely have been able to identify the relevant informer due to the fact that they operated in cells. MR MALAN Very well, Mr Prinsloo, in other words what you are saying here on page 330 "Ras further informed me that Mahlangu had identified a person that he, Mahlangu suspected of having provided information to Ras and the others" that is incorrect then? Both of them cannot be correct. Either he told you or you inferred from his notes, but you cannot follow both lines of argument. MR PRINSLOO I will then stand by my verbal evidence. MR MALAN And the inference which was drawn. So what you said under oath in writing is incorrect? MR PRINSLOO Yes, in retrospect. MR MALAN Very well. MR JANSEN Do I understand you correctly that you understand the difference now? One can accept that a person who has been interrogated, could realise who had betrayed him in terms of information which was given to him on the one hand and then independently, based upon his own suspicions, on the other hand. In other words something that he had definitely said to the person. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is why I also indicated that one had to interrogate a person about specific topics or subjects. MR JANSEN Yes, but I just want to know that you understand the difference between the two situations, MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN In the first situation you inferred that he knew or possibly knew, who the informer was, but in the other he told you he didn't need to infer, he told you? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Now my statement to you is that there is no reason why you, when you compiled this statement and wrote the section that I've just read to you, there was no reason for you to give a different reflection of the truth than what you are giving here today, or to tell a different story of the truth than what it really was. In other words what I'm trying to say to you is that it is very clear that you are attempting in your verbal evidence, to indicate a mistake in terms of how you realised that the informer was in danger. MR PRINSLOO No I am not mistaken with regard to that, with regard to the danger of the informer. MR JANSEN No, we are in agreement that the informer was indeed in danger, or at least you accepted that the informer was in danger, but the question is why you thought the informer was in trouble. Can you provide any reason for the Committee why you would have made this mistake in your words by saying that Ras told you that Mahlangu said so? What would the reason for the mistake have been? MR PRINSLOO The only explanation that I can offer in terms of the written application is that it was a brief summary based on information given to me by Ras, based upon which I made the assumption that the informer could possibly be exposed. MR JANSEN Now do you understand the inherent probabilities or improbabilities that independently from Ras's statement, you have stated something which is in line with what you have stated here indicating why the informer was in trouble? MR PRINSLOO I'm sorry, I don't understand what you've just said. MR JANSEN You know that if two statements correlate and it is faulty, there is only one inference to be drawn and that being that there must be some form of collaboration to create a mistaken impression. That is the only inference that one can draw. You must know this as a police or investigating officer? MR PRINSLOO It must be so. May I just explain. MR JANSEN Yes. MR PRINSLOO I wish to qualify. This is according to the best of my recollection. After I had received the documents from the other applicants and heard the evidence which was given here by Mr Ras, there were certain facts which reappeared more clearly than what they were at the time of making the written application. MR JANSEN Yes, very well. MR PRINSLOO So it is not a question of the two of us conniving to do something. MR JANSEN Yes, but you must understand that this is going to be argued with your application. Please understand the context. I will take you further. You would agree with Mr Ras that at no stage was there any discussion between you and him regarding what was to be said in the statement? MR PRINSLOO No, there wasn't. MR JANSEN And I assume that it was only until a very late stage that you knew that Mr Ras had applied for this case. MR PRINSLOO It was shortly before the closing date for the applications that I came to hear of his application. MR JANSEN Very well. Now the other reason why your statements, your written statements may correlate is because this is in truth what actually took place, this could be the other explanation. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN Now based upon your own version that there was no collaboration between you and Ras, the second explanation should be acceptable as the true explanation, in other words, it is highly improbable that independently of each other, you could make this mistake. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Can you now understand why it is possible for you to have committed a fallacy or created a faulty reconstruction of the events in your evidence? MR PRINSLOO With regard to what? MR JANSEN With regard to why you thought at that stage that the informer was in danger, firstly because Ras told you that Mahlangu had identified the person, possibility number one. Possibility number two, from the notes and from what you inferred, with regard to the information that Mahlangu had given to Ras in the course of the interrogation, you were afraid that this was indeed the situation that through that information he had realised who the informer was. MR PRINSLOO In retrospect and recollection, I would say that the latter option that you have submitted, that was my inference. MR JANSEN Yes that is your recollection now, or at least yesterday and today when you gave your verbal evidence and I accept that this is your recollection. I am not putting it to you that you are purposefully submitting a false version of this, the only thing that I want to say is that the one is as logical as the other. The one has just as many justification as the other, but one has to be a faulty recollection and explanation, that being that you could not have made the same mistake independently of Mr Ras. Would you concede to that? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN Will you now accept that on the basis of this, your written statement and what is pertained therein is actually correct, that this is actually what took place? In other words, there was a specific mention by Mahlangu regarding the identity of the informer and that is what was conveyed to you? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, Mr Ras did not know who my informer was, or my informers. MR JANSEN Yes, but Ras knew what Mahlangu had told him. MR PRINSLOO With regard to the suspicion of the informer? MR JANSEN Very well, I will stand by the following with regard to this aspect and that is that apparently in your reconstruction of these events, you did not keep up completely with the logical sequence of events and you are busy constructing something that you recall as a possibility, but not with specific reference to independent recollection. Do you wish to comment on that statement of mine? MR PRINSLOO What I have stated here Chairperson, is according to the best of my recollection. The best of what I can remember. MR JANSEN Yes, that was the best of your recollection when you made the statement, is that correct? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN And when you gave verbal evidence, was that also according to the best of your recollection? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN After having sight of the documents? MR PRINSLOO Yes. CHAIRPERSON Mr Prinsloo, you are giving Mr Jansen a little bit of a problem. What he wants to understand from you is which one do you now recollect better, the written statement which stands, the version that has been given in your affidavit as it appears on page 330, as it has already been read out to you by Mr Jansen, or the version that you gave during your evidence in chief yesterday? You can't say both are correct. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I have already conceded and stated that with the verbal evidence that I gave here, that this was according to the best of my recollection, correct evidence. MR MALAN Very well, may I then ask you said that this current recollection of yours is based upon the inferences from what was stated in the notes and after you had had site of the applications from the other applicants, which applicants deal with this matter in their applications? MR PRINSLOO That would be Mr Ras. MR MALAN But Mr Ras's statement is the same as your written statement, not your oral statement. Who else? MR PRINSLOO Well that specific point it would be only about me and Ras. MR MALAN Now after you heard Ras, you deviated from your written statement while Ras was actually confirming your written evidence. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN Or can you explain to me why, after you had heard Ras, you presented a different opinion than that which you had before you heard Ras? MR PRINSLOO As I saw it, within the context of which I completed the written application, it was based upon admissions that Ras made to me, resulting from his interrogation and I have summarised it clearly in my verbal evidence, that he gave me the note and explained to me what the man had said, as a result of which I drew the inference that the identity of the informer had been exposed, that Mahlangu must necessarily have made that inference. MR MALAN Mr Jansen, I think we can abandon this point now. MR JANSEN Then the following section on page 330, Mr Prinsloo, paragraph 2 on that page and I quote "I gave Vermeulen and Ras the order to take Mahlangu away from the safe-house and to get rid of him, seeing as I did not wish to identify the members from Bophuthatswana and other members under my command and render them possible targets of terrorism" Is that correct? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Was this also a factor of consideration in your mind at that stage? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN And one could then accept that the words "get rid of him" would indicate that he was to be murdered? MR PRINSLOO That's correct. MR JANSEN Am I also correct, with regard to the killing of Mr Mahlangu, although it was your order, you left the detail of the execution thereof over to Mr Ras and Mr Vermeulen? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN Then we come to one of the other aspects regarding which there was uncertainty yesterday and that is what your reaction was when you realised that Mr Mahlangu was being strangled or assaulted in the back of the kombi. Now the word assault was used. Did I have the correct impression that what you meant by that was that you heard noises which sounded as if he was being strangled? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR JANSEN You did not hear any sounds of fist blows, or any slapping? You did not see or hear anything like that, or draw any such inference? MR PRINSLOO No, not that I can recall. MR JANSEN Very well. One also has the impression that you didn't really know at that stage what Ras was planning, how he was going to kill the person and when he would kill him? MR PRINSLOO No Chairperson, at that particular stage one could have drawn inferences. MR JANSEN So actually it was only later, during the incident, or at a later stage that you realised that...(intervention) MR MALAN I beg your pardon, Mr Jansen, sorry for interrupting. Did I hear you say that you simply drew inferences in response to the previous question? MR PRINSLOO I would just like to return to the question that was put to me yesterday afternoon from the bench. MR MALAN No, I want to know whether you said that you simply drew inferences. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN Well, then would you care to explain to us about those inferences that he was being assaulted or strangled in the back of the vehicle, upon a question put by Mr Jansen with regard to the fact that Ras and the others continued with the assault? MR JANSEN Very well. I think what the Committee Members attempted to point out to you yesterday afternoon was that at that stage, with regard to you, it could just as well have been a senseless assault, a perverse sadistic assault of a person which was not specifically connected to the ultimate killing of the person. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. The question was put to me: "What political objective would have been achieved by that isolated incident of further assault?", upon which my response was: "I don't know what was going on in the minds of those people", but if one regards the situation holistically, it was part of the removal of Mahlangu. I don't know at which stage he would have been killed or rendered unconscious, because it was logical that one could not drape a living person over an explosive device and expected him to sit still and be blown up. MR MALAN Mr Prinsloo, with the greatest of respect, please do not attempt to give us a retrospective view from a ...(indistinct) angle because we have detailed evidence of this from Mr Ras. The question to you yesterday was: "What did you think when you heard the noises which you described as an assault and what would have been the motive in your mind?" Your answer was that you may have been negligent and you stated that you really didn't think that he was being killed at that moment. That was what you said yesterday. Please don't give us the big picture in retrospect now and that is specifically what Mr Jansen is asking you. He says that with regard to you, it was a senseless perverse assault and then you returned and said that you didn't know what was going on in their minds, but upon the question or the statement that you didn't know how or when he would be killed, you answered no, you simply drew inferences. MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR MALAN Then I asked you what inferences you drew, please tell us about these inferences. That was your response. MR PRINSLOO Do you want to know about the inferences I drew? MR MALAN Yes. Which inferences did you draw? The inferences that you now refer to. You spoke of inferences that you drew, which inferences? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, once again I just wish to make myself clear. The question was put to me yesterday in isolation and that is how I interpreted it, with regard to that specific assault in the back of the vehicle when I said that I heard the noises and asked what political objective could be achieved by means of that assault. I interpreted this in isolation. Now upon the question put by Mr Jansen, in which he refers to senseless and perverse assault and so forth. I said no, the inference that I drew was that Ras and Roslee were perhaps rendering the man unconscious, or whatever, in order to get him into a state where he would be controllable so that he could be placed with the explosive device. MR MALAN Then why didn't you tell us this yesterday? I pressured you to say this. I did not accuse you that you were aware that they were murdering him and you answered no. MR PRINSLOO Let me just say once again that I regarded the question in isolation. MR MALAN No the question that you regarded in isolation was the question put by the Chairperson with regard to the meaning of an assault and I put it to you specifically: "What did you think that they were doing" and I said to you that they were busy killing him. "Didn't you think that they were killing him?" and you said "No." MR PRINSLOO The question put by the gentleman on the left was directly put to me and also by the Chairperson regarding which political objective would be achieved by means of the assault in the back of the minibus. That is what I focused on, that is what I interpreted and that is the only response that I had. MR MALAN Very well. Your answer now is that you thought that they were busy rendering him unconscious so that they could blow him up? MR PRINSLOO Yes, in the broader context of what took place there. MR MALAN No, I want to know what you thought then, not the within context. Was that your understanding? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that was my inference. MR MALAN And you couldn't tell us this yesterday? MR PRINSLOO Not as I interpreted the question which was put by the Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Mr Prinsloo were you not in fact precise with regard to your understanding of how this man was going to be killed? Wasn't it your direct evidence that you never thought he would be killed, other than being blown up with an explosive? We explored this point on several occasions and your evidence was very precise on how you thought he was going to be killed. MR PRINSLOO That is indeed so, Chairperson, that he would be blown up with explosives, but I will repeat what I have said earlier on and that is, one cannot take a living person and place him down with a bomb in his lap or over a bomb and expect that he would stay there and be blown up. I accepted that at some stage, I didn't know when, that something had to be done to the man, whether his head be bashed in or whatever, to get him into an inert situation so that he could be draped over the explosives, CHAIRPERSON That was not your evidence. That was not what I understood you to be saying yesterday. MR PRINSLOO I did not say that yesterday. I will repeat. I interpreted the question in isolation in terms of that assault. CHAIRPERSON It wasn't a question of interpreting the question in isolation, you were being questioned as a result of the evidence that you had given in chief. An explanation was being sought from you and when one of the Committee members put it to you that couldn't you have thought that they were busy killing him, your precise was no, because you knew, what you knew, how he was going to be killed, was that the killing was going to be conducted through an explosive, so you couldn't have inferred that the muzzled noise that you heard from the back of the kombi could have been anything that could have been done to Mahlangu to render him unconscious for purposes of ultimately destroying him through explosives. MR MALAN Mr Prinsloo, I beg your pardon Chairperson, I do not want him to enter into an argument over what you have said. I agree with the interpretation of the Chairperson as to what happened yesterday. Let me make it clear to you. You've applied for amnesty where you have to show political motive in a political context and you have to disclose the full picture in your mind. You have to make a full disclosure of what happened. Your credibility is on the line. Let us walk off from what happened yesterday and the day before yesterday. Please tell us the truth. If you do not tell us the truth, then we will have a problem in giving you amnesty, even if we wanted to give you amnesty, if we find that you are beating about the bush or trying to beat about the bush with us, then you cannot receive amnesty, so please, when you continue, please answer the questions honestly and state out, don't try to explain things away. Tell us what was going on and if it is your recollection, then it is your recollection. Mr Jansen you may continue. MR JANSEN Thank you Chairperson. Mr Prinsloo, with regard to this aspect I would just like to put two questions to you. This strangling, while this strangling was going on, at that stage you were not subjectively aware that that was indeed the process of killing in order to execute the explosion? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, no. I drove the vehicle, the road was foreign to me. I heard the sounds. MR JANSEN And you did not know, with as far as you know it could have been, it might as well have been a senseless assault, assault without any motive? It is not something that is entirely out of the ordinary. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson it is possible that I would think that it was senseless at that stage. It would have been, but it is not impossible. MR JANSEN One could accept that assaults took place during the course of all these years which had nothing to do with a political motive or specific operational requirements. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR JANSEN Now Mr Prinsloo, in totality I would just like to comment on your evidence. Where your evidence should be weighed up against Ras's evidence, I will argue that you, although you are not a dishonest applicant, you are an applicant who is trying to read the process. You are unwilling to make certain concessions with regard to possible mistakes which you have with your memory. You are unwilling to make concessions about things that you have done which might possibly not fit in properly with your political motive. Do you have any comment on that statement? MR PRINSLOO That is your viewpoint and I do not agree with it, Chairperson. MR JANSEN And then in conclusion, I'm not certain whether I heard your evidence clearly yesterday. Later this incident was reported to your senior by you, Brig Jack Cronje? MR PRINSLOO That's correct, Chairperson. MR JANSEN And he did not express any disapproval to you? MR PRINSLOO No, Chairperson. MR JANSEN Thank you, Chairperson, I have no further questions. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR JANSEN CHAIRPERSON Thank you Mr Jansen. Mr Hattingh. ADV MOTATA Madam Chair before Mr Hattingh comes in I just want to clarify something with Mr Prinsloo. Mr Prinsloo, while you were driving on this unknown road and while Mr Mahlangu was being strangled by Ras, were you aware at that stage when you heard these sounds, that it was Ras strangling the man? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson as I have already said at that stage Ras and Roslee were in the back of the kombi, in other words they were closer to Mahlangu, I assumed that the two of them, or one of the two of them, was busy with Mahlangu. I did not look around to see who was doing what. ADV MOTATA So you were not certain who was strangling the man? MR PRINSLOO That is correct, Chairperson. ADV MOTATA You also did not look in the rear-view mirror because you don't have to look around to see in the back of the kombi, you can look in the rear-view mirror. MR PRINSLOO That may be so Chairperson. In the broader context, as I have said earlier, I drew the inference, it was necessary for me to look around, it was late at night and I was concentrating on the road. CHAIRPERSON This happened quite late at night? MR PRINSLOO I cannot say exactly but it was at night, yes Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON So even if you had used the rear-view mirror you wouldn't have been able to have sight of what was happening at the back of the kombi? MR PRINSLOO That may be so, Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Mr Hattingh, can we call upon you? MR HATTINGH Chairperson, I need to consult with Mr de Kock on one or two matters before I would be able to cross-examine. I wouldn't mind if some of the other representatives continue and perhaps I could consult with him during the tea adjournment, in that way it won't waste any time. CHAIRPERSON Yes. Before we go to Mr Cornelius, may I make a very short address, in the form of an appeal to members of Correctional Services? We are conducting a process that really requires that we all try and assist one another in one way or another. In your position, it is to try and bring Mr de Kock on the time that we have indicated that we will be commencing with our proceedings. Yesterday we indicated that we would commence at 9.30. I'm aware that by that time you had already left, but I want to assume that you do know that proceedings of this nature usually commence at 9 o'clock, if not at times earlier than that. I will strongly appeal that as from tomorrow you do your utmost to be here before 9 o'clock. We will not take kindly to Mr de Kock's late arrival because it actually prejudices Mr de Kock as an applicant. He has to be here at all times during the proceedings to listen and to be able to give his legal representative, listen to the evidence and be able to afford his legal representative whatever comments he may wish to have, so we'll make this last appeal that you must please be here timeously. We expect you to be here before 9 o'clock tomorrow. MR HATTINGH Chairperson, may I just come to the defence of the gentlemen who actually bring Mr de Kock to this venue? They have explained to me that their only duty is to go to the Maximum Prison and wait for Mr de Kock to be brought to the vehicles in which he is being conveyed here, they have no control over the process of him getting to the vehicle and that is where the problem arises. They are there on time every morning and if Mr de Kock is brought out at the time they get there, then there would be no problem, but the problem is inside the prison and I've explained to previous Panels that that is a problem that we've experienced on many occasions. When we go there to consult with Mr de Kock, we'll arrive and it would take anything from half an hour to an hour, from the time that we arrive for consultation until the time that they actually bring him to where we have to consult. I've no doubt that they will convey your comments to the authorities, but I just wanted to explain to you that these gentlemen are not responsible for the delay. CHAIRPERSON Thank you very much, Mr Hattingh, for making that known to me. I was not aware of that, that being the situation, we'll take the matter up with the authorities concerned, because this is a very short-lived process, we cannot afford to waste two hours. Mr de Kock arrived here, I noted, at ten past 10, when we should have started at 9.30. I will request Mr Steenkamp to directly liaise with the senior person concerned and if there are any difficulties, to kindly come back to the Panel and give an indication so that we can intervene appropriately. MR STEENKAMP I'll do that Madam Chair. CHAIRPERSON Mr Cornelius, do you have any questions to put to Mr Prinsloo? MR CORNELIUS Thank you Chairperson. Thank you. I shall be brief. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR CORNELIUS Mr Prinsloo was the senior of the two. MR PRINSLOO Yes, but Marthinus Ras had rendered service longer than Vermeulen at Vlakplaas. In that sense Vermeulen was a junior as opposed to Ras. MR PRINSLOO I will not be able to comment about that. MR CORNELIUS Very well. Although Vermeulen is older than Marthinus Ras, in paragraph 5 of page 328 you say the Vlakplaas Commander, the Vlakplaas men were under the command of Mr Vermeulen. That is not correct. MR PRINSLOO In light of what you have said now that is not correct, but that is how I accepted it at that stage. MR CORNELIUS That is an inference you drew? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR CORNELIUS So we accept that Marthinus Ras was in command? MR PRINSLOO That is so, Chairperson. MR CORNELIUS And a final question, did you not think when I see you use the words "there was a struggle" in the back of the kombi, did you not think that they were trying to bring him under control, this is Mahlangu in the back of the kombi? MR PRINSLOO No, Chairperson, I would have waited, or I would have expected them to say something, that there would have been an indication as you say that they were trying to bring him under control. MR CORNELIUS To place him under control so that they could blow him up. That is what I mean. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is what I said was the inference that I drew. MR CORNELIUS Very well. Thank you Chairperson. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR CORNELIUS CHAIRPERSON Thank you. Mr Wagener. MR WAGENER Thank you, Chairperson. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR WAGENER Mr Prinsloo, I received bundle 3 yesterday and I see in terms thereof that the incident took place on the evening of the 25th/26th of March 1986, would you accept that? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I would, Chairperson. MR WAGENER I may just mention it to you that there was some uncertainty with my client with regard to the date. Indeed he had not even been sure of the year. Now in 1986, if I heard you correctly, you were a Captain? MR PRINSLOO That's correct, Chairperson. MR WAGENER And you were in command of the Terrorist Investigative Unit at Division Northern Transvaal Security Branch? MR PRINSLOO That's correct, Chairperson. MR WAGENER Do I then understand correctly that your task was primarily investigative work, detective work, with regard to security matters and security related incidents? MR PRINSLOO That's correct, Chairperson. MR WAGENER This Investigative Section of yours, how large was it? Can you recall? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson at that stage, I would have to guess, it was probably more or less 12 to 14 men. MR WAGENER Mr Roslee was also a member of that section? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR WAGENER Can you recall what Mr Roslee's rank was? MR PRINSLOO I think I said that he was a constable at that stage, as far as I can recall. MR WAGENER He says he also thinks so. He was one of the most junior members of the section. MR PRINSLOO Yes, at that stage he had not been there for too long. MR WAGENER Did he specifically work with you at that stage? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. The junior members are deployed along with senior members, so that they can become familiar with the process of security related investigations. Basically detective work is the same, but the circumstances are not. MR WAGENER Could we then say that he was in training as such? MR PRINSLOO Yes, we could accept that. MR WAGENER In 1986 specifically, seen from the angle of the acts of terror, do you have any specific recollection of the intensity of violence in your area, the are which you had to investigate? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR MALAN Mr Wagener, that evidence has been given, or do you want more of it? Is it necessary to cover that? MR WAGENER Chairperson, with your leave, I would like to take it a little further, without burdening the record any further. MR PRINSLOO: There was an intensity in the onslaught, specifically from ANC MK and therefore it was also mentioned by the then President Oliver Tambo as the year of MK and nation-wide, specifically in the Eastern Transvaal and here in the Northern Transvaal, there was an increase in incidents of violence. MR WAGENER Yes, we know that it increased so much that in June 1986 we had the first nation-wide state of emergency. Do you recall that? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR WAGENER You have referred to Constable Vuma who had been killed in Mamelodi. I would just like to take up one other incident with you. I see in the Submissions of the ANC that they accepted accountability for an incident on the 24th of January 1986 where a Sergeant Makulu was killed in a hand grenade attack in his house. Can you recall that? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I can recall that, Chairperson. If I recall correctly, he was a municipal police official. MR WAGENER Did you investigate that case? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I was at the scene. MR WAGENER Can you tell us if the suspects were arrested or if anything came from that investigation? MR PRINSLOO Yes, there were suspects, but not enough evidence to allow for a prosecution. MR WAGENER Now, I would like to ask you with regard to this incident, can you recall, because I am not entirely certain from your evidence, how many times did you go to the farm where you found Mahlangu? Can you recall how many times you visited the farm? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson as far as I can recall, I would say I visited the homestead on three occasions. The first time or in the meanwhile I was busy with other operations with the other members and one used to come and go. The first time I saw Mahlangu at the homestead and the second time when I went there and he was still there and the third time when I picked up Ras and Vermeulen, where we received Mahlangu from Radebe along the road. MR WAGENER Mr Roslee is not certain as to how many times he was there but he can recall twice. The last time that you referred to and at least one of the previous occasions. Would you accord with that? MR PRINSLOO Yes, but I cannot recall how many times I took him along, Chairperson. MR WAGENER The one point which is not very clear from your written application, was Mr Roslee with you when you went to Brig Cronje? MR PRINSLOO No. I went and saw Brig Cronje alone. MR WAGENER Yes and those are my instructions. I beg your pardon, if I interrupt you, but those are my instructions, although your written application is a bit unclear, but he says he was not present. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR WAGENER did I hear you correctly, in your evidence in chief, the basic reason why Mr Roslee, the evening of the 25th of March, accompanied you was because he had a kombi vehicle? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that was one of the reasons, the other reason was that he was a member of the specific unit which operated there. MR WAGENER Now the evening of the 25th of March, what were your instructions to Mr Roslee, if any specific instructions were given? MR PRINSLOO As far as I can recall, I informed him that we would kill Mahlangu and that he would be killed by means of explosives and we needed the kombi for that. I asked him whether he had any problems in coming along. He said no and then we went out to Soutpan, to the safe-house where we met with Ras and Vermeulen and we held a discussion there and we departed from there. MR WAGENER Is it a fair statement to make that Mr Roslee, during this whole process, acted upon your instructions? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I would accept that. MR WAGENER No further questions, Chairperson. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR WAGENER CHAIRPERSON Thank you, Mr Wagener. Mr Lamey. MR LAMEY Thank you Chairperson. MR MALAN Before Mr Lamey continues, in the last answer you said that Mr Roslee only executed your instructions. When he stopped, did you open the kombi, the back of the kombi? Who opened it? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, no, I cannot recall. As I've already said, Ras and Roslee were in the back. I only heard the door opening. MR MALAN So you did not disembark from the kombi? MR PRINSLOO I believe at that stage I was standing outside the kombi. MR MALAN If you cannot recall, say so. MR PRINSLOO No, I cannot recall. MR MALAN But if you say you cannot recall, please just tell me. MR PRINSLOO I must have climbed out Chairperson to observe that Mahlangu had fallen out. MR MALAN Did you observe that Mr Roslee was stepping on Mr Mahlangu's throat? MR PRINSLOO No, I did not know about that. MR MALAN If he did that, would you regard that as part of your instruction to him? MR PRINSLOO I would say yes. MR MALAN Why would Mr Roslee be involved in the murder if it was Ras and Vermeulen's work, because you have testified that that was the work of Ras and Vermeulen and not Roslee? MR PRINSLOO Ras and Vermeulen had to make arrangements as to how we would get rid of Mahlangu and I told Roslee about the circumstances, that the man had to be taken out and he didn't have a problem with it. MR MALAN So that would be a fair conclusion to reach. You accepted that Mr Ras and Vermeulen would be doing the killing. MR PRINSLOO But he was part of the group and as it has been put to me, that he acted because of the instructions I gave to him. MR MALAN Would he have read it as such? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN But it was not your instruction? MR PRINSLOO No. MR CORNELIUS Chairperson if I may be allowed one further question, I think now is the correct time. FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR CORNELIUS Mr Prinsloo, in fairness Sir, Mr Roslee does not say that you gave him the instruction to go and step on the man's throat, I apologise if my question is unclear, that is not what we are saying, but he went along on your instruction, on an operation during which a person would be killed. That is what I meant. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR CORNELIUS Yes, we are on the same wavelength. Thank you Chairperson. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR CORNELIUS CHAIRPERSON Mr Lamey, you may proceed now. MR LAMEY Thank you Chairperson. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR LAMEY Mr Prinsloo, from your evidence I understood that you went along with members of Vlakplaas to this place Soutpan, for purposes of investigation which you executed, which had regard with, amongst others, incidents which had taken place in Bophuthatswana and Mamelodi and the incident which you mentioned was the incident of Officer Zwane and amongst others, the police officer Vuma? MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR LAMEY One of the subjects you were looking for was Oderile Maponya? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that was one of the possible persons we were looking for Chairperson. MR LAMEY So actually, you operated from this place Soutpan, or hand intention to operate to Mamelodi in Pretoria, North West of Bophuthatswana? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY Because I would think that if you only focused on Mamelodi, you could have done that from Pretoria? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is logical. MR LAMEY Because that is Mr Mathebula's recollection, who was a member of your unit, who said that amongst others you were looking for Maponya. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR LAMEY And then Mr Mathebula says, and I would just like to hear what your recollection is about, he says that he recalls that on a particular day, Chris Putter was part of your team. He arrived there with a letter that was intercepted by W H Tensit at ...(indistinct) and this had regard with a woman called Connie Mahlangu who was involved, who may have been involved in the murder of Constable Vuma, Chairperson and that Patrick Mahlangu's name also arose in this regard. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I recall the incident. I would just like to distinguish here. There is another Connie Mahlangu who came to our attention at that stage, I cannot recall exactly. There are persons whom I had arrested, amongst others, Conrad Lukungwe and A Mokorane and some others, in regard with acts of terror, so I would just like to make it clear that that Connie Mahlangu must not be confused with this Constance Mahlangu, Patrick Mahlangu's sister. MR LAMEY So that was an entirely different matter, it was not one and the same person? The Connie Mahlangu, Patrick's sister, did you have any information about her? MR PRINSLOO I only knew that such a person existed, Chairperson, that is why I put persons in and that informers reported about it. MR LAMEY Now Mr Mathebula's recollection is that Connie's brother Patrick was also a person whom according to information was linked to the murder of Sinki Vuma and this information which was intercepted, also came to the attention. MR PRINSLOO Information that was intercepted, the letter ...(intervention) MR LAMEY Have you looked at page 141 of Mr Mathebula's evidence or application? I refer to paragraph 2. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, that paragraph 2 on page 141, those are not the correct facts. The correct facts are as I have given them here, so no, that is not correct. MR LAMEY Did Putter arrive with intelligence there? Let's take it step by step. Let's see what information you don't agree with. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson it will be necessary for me to sketch the picture once again. I had various groups of people, I had the Vlakplaas group, I had the Bophuthatswana group, I had some of my people, there were two groups who operated in generating intelligence and to follow up certain information and they went back and forth and came and went, that is why I was not present at Soutpan continuously. This document which Putter brought to me dealt with Connie Mahlangu, as I've already explained, who was an aunt or sister of one Conrad Lukungwe and others who were also arrested for acts of terror. MR MALAN Mr Prinsloo the question is whether Mr Chris Putter arrived there. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN Did you see him there? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I was Commander. MR MALAN Did he bring a letter there? MR PRINSLOO Yes. These are the WH10 pieces which were referred to. MR LAMEY And this is a letter that was intercepted and was intercepted from Swaziland? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY Did this letter form a link in the murder of Vuma? MR PRINSLOO No, Chairperson. MR LAMEY Mr Mathebula is present and he hears what you are saying and I will take instructions from him later. If his memory has been refreshed otherwise, but let us march on. Mr Prinsloo, may I ask you as follows, was there at some stage any discussion between yourself and Mr Ras and other members possibly about a possibility to abduct this Connie Mahlangu which you referred to? MR PRINSLOO No. MR LAMEY So you are saying if Mathebula says that, to abduct for purposes of interrogation, let us speak about the Connie Mahlangu you refer to, it is something that he sucks out of his thumb? MR PRINSLOO I cannot explain that. It may be so. I am saying that such a thing did not exist. MR LAMEY So you are saying that there was never any discussion at Soutpan about the possible abduction of this woman? MR PRINSLOO No. MR LAMEY May I just ask you as follows? In order of extracting or more obtaining more information from Mahlangu, was the option and not the final plan, but the option a possibility of abducting him or one of his family members? MR PRINSLOO Are you referring specifically to Patrick Mahlangu? MR LAMEY Yes, let us speak about Patrick Mahlangu. For purposes of this question, we may leave out names. Was there a discussion at any stage to abduct someone for purposes of interrogation while you were there? MR PRINSLOO No, no Chairperson. MR LAMEY Are you certain about that? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I'm certain about that. MR LAMEY So if Mr Mathebula says that, he is entirely wrong. MR PRINSLOO Or he confuses it with another matter? MR LAMEY Well, with which matter would he be confusing it? MR PRINSLOO I say that he may confuse it with another matter which had taken place before or after this. MR LAMEY But you cannot think of an incident which he may confuse it with? You are speculating? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I would not go and discuss something like that and say "let's abduct A or Z". MR LAMEY Why would you not have done that? MR PRINSLOO If there was any talk of it, I would only have involved people whom I trusted, to execute such an operation. You have to recall that we worked on a need to know basis within the system. MR LAMEY In other words, you share information specifically of a sensitive type, this information is only shared with certain persons, but there are other cases where Mr Mathebula was in a position of trust in your unit and there are other incidents where he applies for amnesty and where you are also an applicant, where people were abducted. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY After Mahlangu was brought to Soutpan, did you also interrogate him? MR PRINSLOO I did not question him intensively at that stage, I was satisfied that the information that Ras had conveyed to me would be, how shall I say, would have been the most that we could have extracted from him at that stage. MR LAMEY May I just ask you as follows? Your evidence is that the abduction of Mahlangu was contrary to your expectations and instruction? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY When the fact of his abduction took place, did you accept that he would be intensively questioned and assaulted by the other members and that that would be in order? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, when I observed him the first time, I don't know how long he was there, I think he may have been there for a day or two or three, if I recall correctly, I observed the injuries which I have described to you. He was never assaulted, further assaulted, in my presence. MR LAMEY Very well, I accept what you are saying there. He was not assaulted in your presence, but all I am asking is, did you foresee that he would be assaulted while being interrogated and you did not give clear counter instructions to that and you did not have a problem with it? MR PRINSLOO No, one has to accept that certain things would happen. CHAIRPERSON May I intervene Mr Lamey? After you had seen that he had been assaulted, the first time you saw him, did you specifically instruct or order Ras and Vermeulen or whoever was part of the interrogation team, not to further assault him? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall, I would either have to speculate or tell a lie. CHAIRPERSON I don't what you to speculate, nor tell a lie. MR PRINSLOO No, I cannot recall. MR MALAN Is there any reason why you would have told them not to assault him? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson at that stage, it was about the information that the man had. MR MALAN Yes and the pattern was to obtain information from the man and he had to be assaulted in some or other way? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR MALAN So you knew that there was no order for them not to assault him? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall. MR MALAN But did you ever give anyone an order not to assault someone while they were trying to obtain information from such a person? MR PRINSLOO No. MR MALAN Then why would you have done this now? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall. MR MALAN Very well, Mr Lamey, please proceed. MR LAMEY Let me just ask you whether you know, after Mahlangu was detained there, that askaris were sent to win Patrick Mahlangu's sister's confidence and take this letter to her, this letter indicating that he was in Botswana and so forth? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson I have already said with regard to the letter and so forth, I had nothing personal to do with that. CHAIRPERSON Mr Prinsloo, please just confine yourself to questions being put to you. Did you know of the letter having to be delivered by the Askaris to Mr Mahlangu's residence? Yes or no? MR PRINSLOO No, not at that stage. MR LAMEY Did you come to know of this at a stage? MR PRINSLOO Yes, much later after that. MR LAMEY This infiltration which was supposed to have taken place via the askaris MR MALAN I beg your pardon, Mr Lamey, I would like a follow-up question. How did you find out about the letter? MR PRINSLOO I came to hear of this from Ras, if I recall correctly. MR MALAN You say you heard about this at a much later stage? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN How much later? MR PRINSLOO It's difficult to say, but it was after Mahlangu had been taken out, as far as my recollection goes. MR MALAN During the same operation or a year or two later? MR PRINSLOO No, I think it was before we finally broke up camp at Soutpan. It was two or three weeks later. MR LAMEY So you say after the unexpected took place and Mahlangu was abducted, you say that you had no input into any plan to pacify anybody at home or amy members of his family from where he could have been taken away and told them that he was in Botswana? MR PRINSLOO No, as I've said I asked Mosiane what the circumstances were under which they had taken this man and I was under the impression that no-one would suspect his absence. MR LAMEY Now, if that is so, why would Ras have regarded it as a necessity if Mosiane had told you this? MR PRINSLOO I don't know. MR LAMEY The point that I want to put to you is that Mosiane never said this to you. MR PRINSLOO I beg your pardon. MR LAMEY Mosiane never told you this because he wasn't involved in the abduction. MR PRINSLOO I will stand by what I said Chairperson. MR LAMEY Did you offer any input with regard to the later infiltration during which askaris were to obtain information and to win over the confidence of Patrick Mahlangu's sister in order to obtain information about a so-called ANC Combat Unit in Mamelodi? MR PRINSLOO No. MR LAMEY Did you at any stage suggest that a card or a letter be sent to Patrick Mahlangu's family or sister at a later stage? MR PRINSLOO No, I've already given evidence as such. MR LAMEY Well this is what Mr Mosiane states as having taken place on page 365. So you differ from that? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY I see it's now ten past eleven. I haven't noticed the time. I don't know what time we should adjourn. CHAIRPERSON Do you still have more questions to put to Mr Prinsloo? MR LAMEY Yes, I've got some questions still to cover. CHAIRPERSON Yes, in that case we'll take a 10 minute adjournment. MR LAMEY as it pleases. CHAIRPERSON Before we do that, Mr Hattingh you had indicated that you would like to consult with Mr de Kock. Will that be sufficient for you to consult? MR HATTINGH I think so, Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Yes. We'll take a ten minute adjournment. COMMITTEE ADJOURNS ON RESUMPTION HENDRIK JOHANNES PRINSLOO (s.u.o.) CHAIRPERSON You may proceed. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR LAMEY (cont.) Thank you Chairperson. Mr Prinsloo, the order, who gave the order that the askaris were to infiltrate Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, as I've already testified, I discussed it with W/O Ras and Vermeulen in my office in Pretoria and I then said to them what I required, that I wanted people from their unit to infiltrate because they had a better and a deeper background regarding the ANC and MK. MR LAMEY Did you know that Mahlangu resided in Mamelodi? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I had his address and his particulars at that point in time. MR LAMEY Did you know whether he was married and who the other members of his family were? MR PRINSLOO Yes. Yes, Chairperson. MR LAMEY Were you aware that he had a sister by the name of Constance or Connie Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I could imagine something like that. MR LAMEY Now how did you visualise the way in which they were supposed to conduct the infiltration? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I think that I stated in my evidence in chief that there would be a postal interception of an item in which mention would be made of a person at that stage, who was operating under an MK name. I cannot recall precisely what that MK name was, that under that pretence they were to say that they were coming from Botswana and as such, infiltrate the area and Mahlangu himself. You must just bear in mind that the askaris themselves were also former MK members and they knew precisely how to approach one another and what to discuss in order to win the confidence of a subject and also to obtain more and deeper information about the activities of the subject. MR LAMEY Very well. CHAIRPERSON May I interpose Mr Lamey? Did you or did you not have any participation with regard to the methods that Mr Ras and Vermeulen were to use in the infiltration of Mr Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO No Chairperson, I left it up to them. As I've already stated, these persons were former MK members and they knew precisely how to approach such persons. I simply provided a cover-up for them. To a certain extent, this cover-up being from the Botswana side, so that they could make initial contact. MR LAMEY So in this regard, Ras bore the responsibility of giving method and execution to this operation and he had to report to you? MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR LAMEY Would Ras also then decide who he would send in for the purposes? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I was aware, as I stated I asked who the members were that he had available and then the name of Chris Mosiane emerged as one of the members and he said that Chris would be a suitable person, due to his personality. MR LAMEY Would Chris Mosiane do this alone? MR PRINSLOO As far as I know, no, I don't believe that he would have because by nature of the situation, they always operate in teams. MR LAMEY Why were you interested in who Ras would select? Why didn't you just leave it over to Ras's judgment? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, Mamelodi fell within my jurisdiction. I was aware of the circumstances and the information at my disposal at that stage, with regard to Mahlangu as a person, made it necessary for me to ask which persons were available and when Mosiane's name emerged, I said that he would be a suitable person. MR LAMEY Why him specifically? MR PRINSLOO I knew Chris Mosiane. Before the incident I'd already known him. MR LAMEY For how long? MR PRINSLOO It is difficult for me to say precisely, it would have been a number of years. MR LAMEY If you refer to a number of years, can you give us an estimate? MR PRINSLOO One or two years that I had been involved with him. CHAIRPERSON May I interpose Mr Lamey? Were you familiar with all the askaris at Vlakplaas? MR PRINSLOO No, not all of them. CHAIRPERSON So when a question was put to you by Mr Lamey, why you registered any interest in who would be sent to do the infiltration, what purpose would have been served by you having to know who would be sent there, because you did not know all the askaris in Vlakplaas? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, a group that was mentioned by Ras and Vermeulen to me who would offer assistance, were mostly known to me and due to the fact that I had previously had contact with Mosiane, that he had performed certain work of which I was aware and I also regarded his personality as the most suitable, for this reason I requested that Mosiane be a member of the contact group, which would infiltrate Mahlangu. CHAIRPERSON Was it at your request that Mr Mosiane was included in the infiltration group, or was that what Ras advised you? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, when Ras and Vermeulen came to see me in my office, I asked them who the askaris were that would operate with them there, then names were mentioned to me among which Chris Mosiane's name appeared and I then suggested that he be one of the persons who would make contact with Mahlangu, so it was not a prior request indicating that I specifically required Mosiane. CHAIRPERSON You approved of his appointment. MR PRINSLOO I beg your pardon. CHAIRPERSON You approved, you merely approved of his appointment by Ras? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN I don't know whether the interpretation came through differently, as I understand you, you wanted to know which group would be working in the area. MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR MALAN And you found out that Mosiane was a member of the group. MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR MALAN And then you said that you suggested that Mosiane be one of the infiltrators. MR PRINSLOO That is correct. I did not say beforehand that I wanted or preferred that Mosiane be a member of the contact group. ADV MOTATA So in other words Mr Ras did not have the discretion to decide how Mosiane would infiltrate. MR PRINSLOO I didn't say that. I simply suggested it due to my knowledge of Mosiane. He was a very outgoing person, smooth talker and at that stage I reckoned that Chris Mosiane should then be one of the contact persons who went to Mahlangu. Ras could have said no, that he would send someone else and I would have accepted that as well. ADV MOTATA Thank you. Thank you Mr Lamey. MR LAMEY Can you recall any of the other names that Ras mentioned? MR PRINSLOO Of the group that was there it would be Collin, I cannot recall all the names, there were various names. I cannot give you all the names after one another at this moment, due to the fact that I worked at different times with different groups of askaris. MR LAMEY Why was the fact that he was well-spoken or a smooth talker such a deciding factor in your opinion? MR PRINSLOO From my perspective and due to the information at my disposal, Mahlangu was involved with the Mamelodi Civics organisation and I think that he was also involved in some or other trade union and a person who was unable to communicate appropriately could not be sent to someone like Mahlangu, that is why my choice led to Mosiane, because I had had previous contact with him and I knew that he was an intelligent person, if I can put it as such. He would be able to communicate far more easily than some of the other askaris. MR LAMEY How well did you know the other askaris in order to know that they...(intervention) MR MALAN Mr Lamey, is it necessary to elaborate on this? Is this going to contribute in any way to this hearing? What are you leading to? MR LAMEY Actually I wanted to get to a later point, but let me get there then. Did you know whether Mr Ras indeed had initially sent Mosiane out? MR PRINSLOO Well that is what I accepted Chairperson. After I had arrived at the farm and saw Mahlangu there, before this Ras indeed told me that they had made contact with Mahlangu. MR LAMEY You didn't see who brought him to the farm? MR PRINSLOO No, I wasn't there. MR LAMEY How did you know that it was Mosiane who abducted him? MR PRINSLOO That is what was said to me by Ras upon which I confronted Mosiane and asked him "Why did you do this?" MR LAMEY Why did you directly confront Mosiane, why didn't you discuss the matter with Ras, who was his Commander? MR PRINSLOO Ras explained to me that the circumstances dictated the situation which was described here, that this was the reason why Mosiane and the other men had to take the man away immediately or abduct him, that is why I immediately discussed it with Mosiane after Ras had explained it to me. I then confronted him and asked him: "Why did you take the man and under what circumstances did you take the man?" MR LAMEY Wasn't Ras's explanation sufficient? MR PRINSLOO I'm sure it would have been sufficient, but I needed to be further informed, that was a right which I had because they worked below me. MR LAMEY You would agree with me, or at least you present a clear recollection of a discussion with Mosiane during which he admits that he was involved in the abduction and you are certain and clear of this recollection? MR PRINSLOO Yes, at a stage when I asked him what happened, he didn't deny it. MR LAMEY And did he tell you that he was indeed involved in the abduction? MR PRINSLOO As far as I can recall I did not ask him pertinently whether or not he was involved, I simply asked him why they had taken the man and the he explained to me. He did not deny it. He didn't say that he wasn't involved. I accepted that he had been involved because that is also what Ras told me. MR LAMEY Why, in your initial amnesty application, is no mention at all made of Chris Mosiane and that according to your inference, he was involved in the abduction? MR PRINSLOO It is a significant fact to mention, Chairperson, then I would have had to mention all the members from A to Z who were present there and explain exactly what they did and I didn't regard this as a necessary fact to mention in my application. MR LAMEY Do you understand the difference between an abduction and an arrest? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I do. MR LAMEY Now, I would just like to tell you what you said in your statement. You said that, on page 329 over to 330, you state "I discussed this with Vermeulen and Ras and expressed my dissatisfaction that they had arrested and assaulted the person who had been identified as Patrick Mahlangu because this action would endanger the lives of my informers and their next of kin." Now firstly I would like to ask you why you refer to the concept of arrest there? MR PRINSLOO Well at that given stage, arrest and abduction were viewed within the same context. MR LAMEY No, you are a very experienced investigative officer, Mr Prinsloo, you understand the difference between an arrest and an abduction. You must understand those concepts? MR PRINSLOO Well then it must be a question of semantics. MR LAMEY No, it is no question of semantics, you understand the legal nature of these concepts, due to the work that you performed in the police, you understand quite clearly what the difference is between an abduction and an arrest. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY Furthermore you state that you discussed this with Vermeulen and Ras and expressed your dissatisfaction towards them. Nowhere do you state that you had any discussion with Chris Mosiane. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, once again it must be an oversight on my behalf. MR MALAN Mr Lamey, I think that it is quite clear that he does not mention the abduction anywhere in his application. MR LAMEY Who drove a blue motor vehicle? Which member of your group? MR PRINSLOO That is difficult. Could you specify? MR LAMEY No I am referring to a blue motor vehicle. The colour. MR PRINSLOO No, I cannot say. MR LAMEY You don't know. Is your answer that you don't know? MR PRINSLOO I don't know. MR LAMEY Yesterday you testified and according to my notes it was the following. You testified that you knew Mosiane very well, that you had visited Vlakplaas over a span of 10 years and that you knew the askaris. Can you recall that evidence? MR PRINSLOO Yes. I beg your pardon, if I recall correctly, I did not refer to a period of 10 years. MR LAMEY Well that is my note. MR PRINSLOO Not as far as I recall, because it was only in 1983, at the end of 1983 in fact that I arrived here in Pretoria and while I was working with other divisions, I did visit Vlakplaas from time to time. CHAIRPERSON There might be a problem with regard to the period Mr Lamey, because I don't have the period as 10 years. My note says that he knew Mr Mosiane for some time. MR LAMEY My note was that he knows Mr Mosiane and then over the period of 10 years he visited Vlakplaas and he knows the askaris. CHAIRPERSON Well maybe then it was a question of interpretation, in as much as he knew Mr Mosiane well, he also knew the askaris because he had been visiting Vlakplaas for 10 years. But what is the point that you want to make out of the period concerned? Does anything of significance turn upon the period? MR LAMEY Well it is significant in a certain sense if - So what you're saying now is that you hadn't known Mosiane longer than for one or two years? CHAIRPERSON Yes, he knew him for two years approximately. MR PRINSLOO At that stage, at that given stage yes, as far as I recall. MR LAMEY Very well. Is your recollection correct over a span of two years? MR PRINSLOO It couldn't have been longer than that. MR LAMEY Yes. MR PRINSLOO I did not work on a day to day, or month to month basis with Vlakplaas members. There would be specific operations and during such operations one would make use of these members. MR LAMEY Very well. You see, what I want to put to you is that Mr Ras qualified Mr Mosiane by mentioning him. He also stated that it was, as far as he could recall, my interpretation of this of course is that Mr Ras cannot really recall whether or not Mosiane was involved in the abduction or not, but I want to put it to you that in terms of Mr Ras's evidence, you are attempting to place Mr Mosiane with the abduction of Mahlangu and that this is completely incorrect with regard to your evidence in that regard, because what I want to put to you is that Mosiane was not involved in the abduction of Mahlangu. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I will stand by what I have stated. MR LAMEY Very well. Let us then presume just for a moment, let us take your evidence and say that as far as you know he was, do you know that after the abduction askaris had to go back? You have given evidence to that effect, that they had to go back, as far as I understand your evidence with regard to - I beg your pardon, that is Ras's evidence. Subsequently you came to hear of the letter? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR LAMEY So with regard to you, you did not offer any input with regard to the return to the families in connection with the letter, you don't know anything about that? MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR LAMEY Then let me ask you, do you know that a further infiltration was supposed to take place after Mahlangu had been detained? MR PRINSLOO No upon my specific order, Chairperson, but it is acceptable to me that Vlakplaas members, if they saw that they could find a point of departure ...(intervention) MR MALAN Mr Prinsloo, the question is whether or not you know. MR PRINSLOO No. MR MALAN Thank you very much, then just answer no. MR LAMEY So when Mahlangu was abducted and interrogated and provided information, there was not further purpose for the infiltration, is that what you said? MR PRINSLOO That is what I said because the purpose behind the infiltration was removed due to his untimely removal or abduction from his home. MR LAMEY Very well. Furthermore, I would just like to put the following to you as to why you are also incorrect in connecting Mr Mosiane with the aspect of the abduction and I wish to refer you to a statement made by Constance Mahlangu. You also gave evidence, as I understand, that two persons were supposed to go with regard to the first infiltration, is that correct? MR PRINSLOO No, my information was that they would usually go in pairs of two. MR LAMEY Very well. If you look at page 58 up to and including page 59 and page 60 as well, I'm not going to quote this verbatim to you, but paragraph 10, there Constance states that three black men arrived. CHAIRPERSON Is that bundle 3 Mr Lamey? MR LAMEY That's bundle 3 yes. And the crux of what I want to put to you is that Patrick Mahlangu was last seen in the presence of three black men and that he departed with them. If you read to page 59, paragraph 13 and that the vehicle in which they travelled was a blue motor vehicle. From the perspective of Constance Mahlangu, Patrick Mahlangu then disappeared along with these three men and later she states that a letter arrived, paragraph 17, a letter arrived a month later, which was in the handwriting of Patrick. Then she continues, paragraph 19 and she states something about two person, in fact it is paragraph 18 over into 19, she mentions two men who arrived later. In paragraph 19 she gives a description. She states that they took clothing belonging to Patrick with them, which Queen gave them. Queen, as I understand from these statements, is the wife of Patrick. Then she states "One was slightly built and yellow by complexion. He said his name was Chris. The other person was of a big build and he said his name was Empempe" Now upon reading this statement, I would like to put the following to you. She has given a very clear description of the two persons who were there and nowhere else in her statement is any connection made with any idea that these two persons were members of the first group of three persons who arrived there initially and taking into consideration that this is a prosecution statement, I drew the inference that if there was any connection between Chris Mosiane and the so-called Empempe, who is connected to his disappearance, she would have stated that and for this reason, I approached the legal representative of the family and asked for instructions, if possible, from Mrs Constance Mahlangu about this. Mr van Heerden has done so in the meantime and what I've heard from Mr van Heerden is that Chris and the second person, or at least let us refer to Chris, Chris was not a member of those first three who disappeared with Pat Mahlangu and I put it to you that this correlates with my instructions from Mr Mosiane that at a stage he did indeed go to the family, as he has stated in his statement in paragraph 2 and further on, I will not repeat it verbatim, that he was involved in an attempted infiltration. If one deduces this from the context of his statement, that they were to win over the confidence of Patrick's sister and that among others, they were involved in the clothing which he pretended would have been taken to Patrick in Botswana. The point is, after I've said everything to you, I can reconcile myself with Mr Ras's evidence because Mr Ras is not very clear or certain about this, but I want to put it very clearly that Mosiane was not involved in the abduction and the fact that you spoke to him about the abduction and that your inference was that he was involved in it, due to your discussion with him, is completely incorrect. MR PRINSLOO I will stand by what I stated, Chairperson. MR LAMEY I just want to check my notes please. I would just like to place the following on record as well, Mr Prinsloo. I have instructions from Mr Mosiane with regard to the question whether he had been involved in the initial infiltration before he saw Mr Mahlangu at the farm and my instruction on that question was no, he was not. He'd confirmed his instruction to me, as he has stated it in his affidavit on page 234 and 235. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I can only stand by what I have already testified. MR LAMEY I would just like to ask you with regard to Mr Mathebula, where would Mr Mathebula have received the information that the sister of Patrick Mahlangu was an active member of the ANC in Mamelodi if it did not come about at Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO He may have received it at the office, anywhere, but I never had that information available to me, that Patrick Mahlangu's sister was an active member of the ANC and had been involved in ANC activities as you put it. MR LAMEY But if somebody like Mathebula had that information, how does it arise that you don't know of it, as the Commander of his? MR PRINSLOO Because I don't have any recollection of, I had knowledge of one Connie Mahlangu. If I recall correctly it was a Soshanguve incident and not Mamelodi. If I recall correctly, he worked with W/O Chris Putter at that stage. It may be possible that he gained that knowledge there. MR LAMEY Is it not interesting the situation that we have here, that Mathebula who has never been to Mamelodi with regard to these infiltrations, that it is indeed so that there is a Constance and there is another woman by the shorter name of Connie Mahlangu, who is the sister of Patrick, and as I understand, Connie Mahlangu was also a member of the ANC and that there is a connection with regard to Patrick Mahlangu. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, as far as I can recall, there was no indication in the information to my availability, that the sister of Patrick Mahlangu was an ANC member or active in ANC activities. MR LAMEY I have no further questions thank you. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR LAMEY MS VAN DER WALT May I just for my certainty find out, a reference was made to a bundle 3 page 57, that is this Constance Mahlangu. Is this the statement to which Mr Lamey has referred, which would be Connie Mahlangu? Is it his evidence that the inference that he has drawn is that Connie may be Constance as well, because it is written here. MR LAMEY No, Mr van Heerden will assist me here, but my recollection is that I was informed that Constance was also known as Connie Mahlangu. MS VAN DER WALT So that was told to you Mr Lamey, by the legal representative, it is not written here. I would like to place that on record. CHAIRPERSON Thank you. Does that conclude your questioning, Mr Lamey? MR LAMEY Yes, indeed. CHAIRPERSON Thank you. Mr van Heerden, do you have any questions to put to Mr Prinsloo. MR VAN HEERDEN Yes, Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON You may proceed to do so. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR VAN HEERDEN Mr Prinsloo, how long did you know Patrick Mahlangu before he was killed? MR PRINSLOO I would say approximately two or three days, Chairperson. MR VAN HEERDEN And before these two or three days, you were only aware of his existence. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN Of the person Patrick Mahlangu's activities. How long were you aware of his activities? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, it's difficult to say. I would say it was several months before I requested the assistance of members of Vlakplaas, when I realised that I could not get, or make any headway with the present informers which were tuned into Patrick Mahlangu. MR VAN HEERDEN How many months would you say? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall. MR VAN HEERDEN The informer whom you referred to, was it an informer who you recruited yourself? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON On a point of clarity, Mr Prinsloo, I've actually been hearing you referring to an informer and informers. Are you talking of one person or more than one person? MR PRINSLOO There was more than one informer in this specific instance. In other words there are various degrees. One could say basically tuned in on a friendship basis, the other one is tuned in in this regard, in the training of people. CHAIRPERSON So you relied on information received from several informers? MR PRINSLOO Yes and added to that, as I have said Chairperson, the postal interceptions which were applied. CHAIRPERSON I'm asking this question in response to the question put by Mr van Heerden to you, which only related to a single informer, and I wanted that to be quite clear, whether you only relied on one informer or relied on several informers. MR PRINSLOO I refer to two informers, Chairperson. MR MALAN I beg your pardon, did you recruit both of them personally? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR MALAN But I think the one that Mr van Heerden is referring to, is the one of the identity. You recruited that one as well? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN May I continue? MR MALAN Please. MR VAN HEERDEN The person who was closest to him, can you recall this person? The person who was the closest to Patrick Mahlangu. Can you recall who was that? MR PRINSLOO Are you now speaking of informers? MR VAN HEERDEN Yes. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN Would you like to clear that up for us? MR PRINSLOO I would say the one who was tuned in deeper, the one who was involved in some or other manner in the training, is that the one you want to know about? MR VAN HEERDEN Yes. Was it a family member of Patrick Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I'm not prepared to disclose that information. I have a moral obligation towards those informers. MR VAN HEERDEN Are you not prepared to disclose the identity of any one of the two informers MR PRINSLOO No. MR VAN HEERDEN Do you know whether both are still living? MR PRINSLOO I cannot comment on that, Chairperson. I have retired from the police service a long time ago. MR VAN HEERDEN The postal interception which you have referred to, can you please tell us how that worked? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, there was legislature which arranged for it, according to which one applied. There was a judge who was the Executive Officer, whom on the grounds of information, an application was submitted for the application of the operation to legally intercept postal items without the knowledge of the suspects who were involved. In that manner the application was made and authorization was received and that is how the postal items which were relevant, came into my possession. MR VAN HEERDEN Are you now referring to the relevant postal items with regard to Patrick Mahlangu? Was it more than one postal item? MR PRINSLOO At that stage all postal items were checked which were addressed to him, because you must keep in mind that the people work according to a code and the postal item has to be decoded and analyzed. Those that were relevant, those were expressively certain instructions and conveyances were given to him. MR MALAN But the question was whether there was more than one postal item which was intercepted. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR MALAN And while I have now interrupted, did you at any stage receive a letter, the one that was allegedly written at Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO No, Chairperson at that stage I had ceased everything. MR MALAN In other words, one has to give notice and then it is ceased and then other instances become involved? So after his death you ceased all interceptions. Why? MR PRINSLOO It served no purpose any longer. MR MALAN Could you then not receive information, more information from letters which were sent to him afterwards? MR PRINSLOO No from my vantage point, no Chairperson. MR MALAN Thank you. MR VAN HEERDEN Are you able to say which instructions, or what type of instructions Patrick Mahlangu received in the mail? MR PRINSLOO This was in regard to, amongst others, the collection of training material and the information was confirmed by other information that it was AK47 rifles and hand grenades and there was a further letter where it was mentioned that people from Botswana would visit him and these persons would be MK members. MR VAN HEERDEN Was it specified in the postal item what the material was that he had to collect? MR PRINSLOO No, that is why I say it was confirmed by an informer's information that it was indeed hand grenades and AK47 rifles. MR VAN HEERDEN Do you now refer to the informer who have already been in place? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you have regular contact with this informer? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN Why did you decide on a further infiltration? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, as I have already mentioned in my evidence, that there were MK members who would make contact with Mahlangu. These members were from Botswana and I would like to place it in the correct context that when MK members infiltrate, they have to find a safe base and have contact persons from where they can operate and people who can led assistance to them and in this context I was looking for terrorists who had infiltrated from Botswana, who were to operate in the Mamelodi, Pretoria, Soshanguve, Winterveldt area. MR VAN HEERDEN So was the infiltration ... MR PRINSLOO The infiltration was to send in trained askaris who had more knowledge of the background of how these people acted and to see if we could not connect into this group that infiltrated. MR VAN HEERDEN So the informer that was already in place could not supply you the same information? MR PRINSLOO He was not trained in that way? MR VAN HEERDEN Well, how was the informer trained? MR PRINSLOO The training that Patrick Mahlangu had given him in AK 47s and hand grenades. MR VAN HEERDEN Was the informer trained by Patrick Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN Do you know where the training had taken place? MR PRINSLOO Various places in Mamelodi. I have to depend on my memory now. There was a soccer field in Mamelodi that they used at some stage and if you refer to training, it was not extensive training and I think at a stage the informer was at a place where he lived and in his room it was explained to him how the hand grenade is used, how the detonating mechanism is placed into the hand grenade, how the pin is pulled out, how it is thrown, so it is not like army training where you spend days on it. AK47 rifles on the same basis, how to take it apart and put it back again, how to clean it, load it with ammunition. MR VAN HEERDEN And from what I understand from you it is superficial training? MR PRINSLOO Yes, we used to call it instant training. MR VAN HEERDEN Was it then easy to receive such instant training? MR PRINSLOO It depends on the person being trained. MR VAN HEERDEN Certainly there was no opportunity to see whether the training was successful. MR PRINSLOO Not at that stage, not according to the information I had available. MR VAN HEERDEN You were aware of the first penetration, did I understand you correctly? MR PRINSLOO Yes, they only told me that they had made contact. MR VAN HEERDEN And did any relevant information come forward? MR PRINSLOO No, Chairperson and I did not expect it. One cannot expect to receive all the relevant information on the first contact, one has to win trust and then have to make contact with what they are busying themselves with. MR VAN HEERDEN How did you regard Patrick Mahlangu at that stage? Was he a senior person in the hierarchy of the ANC? MR PRINSLOO The fact that he had trained people and that he had received training himself and his contact in Botswana, I would say yes. I would not say in the hierarchy in Mamelodi, I speak of the line of communication from Botswana, insurgents and the people he trained. You have to recall the circumstances reigning in Mamelodi, Mamelodi specifically at that stage, the unrest and so forth and hand grenade incidents which had taken place. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you place the informer in place yourself or did you know beforehand of Patrick Mahlangu? I speak now of the knowledge you had beforehand. MR PRINSLOO The informer was put in place ...(intervention) CHAIRPERSON Maybe before you respond, maybe you should rephrase your question, Mr van Heerden. Maybe ask how the informer was recruited, he might be able to respond more pointedly. MR VAN HEERDEN I will do so, Chairperson. What I would like to know is if you heard of Patrick Mahlangu by means of informers? This is the initial knowledge or whether you knew of him and then sent in informers? MR PRINSLOO As far as I can recall Chairperson, the initial information was about the training that was given to people of informers and his name came about and because of that informers were zoomed in on him. CHAIRPERSON May I just find out exactly what you mean, Mr Prinsloo? How did you know about Mr Mahlangu's activities? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, as I've already said, it started with the training, the instant training which was given using hand grenades, at that stage it was only hand grenades...(intervention) CHAIRPERSON No, no how did you know about those activities? How did you know that he was involved in the training? Where did you obtain that information? MR PRINSLOO Then I have to explain the process. As to Patrick Mahlangu, he came to my knowledge because of his political activities through another unit at the Security Branch, Northern Transvaal. Amongst others, his activities in the Mamelodi Civics organisation...(intervention) CHAIRPERSON May I stop you before you proceed further? I am merely trying to ascertain the source of your information. MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson, I would just like to explain how it came about. That is how I understand the question, how the informers were put in on Patrick Mahlangu. Did I have knowledge beforehand of Patrick Mahlangu. I would just like to explain the situation that he as an activist, we regarded him as an activist. The information which was obtained by other units which were focused on the labour market or focused on the Civics, this information, especially where there was an ANC connotation, the information is channelled to my desk and this is where the name of Patrick Mahlangu came about and at that stage there was an informer, a far off informer, that had contact with him. In other words who had contact with Patrick Mahlangu, not with regard to a specific instruction that he had to focus in on him. After that information came to my knowledge, I tasked the informer and asked him to ascertain what was going on. I asked him to find out what can he find about other activities of Patrick Mahlangu, which led to the second informer also being sent in without the knowledge of the first informer and it is the second informer who then became the confidant of Patrick Mahlangu and received the training in the hand grenades and the AK47s. At some stage he even went to fetch these arms. ADV MOTATA Know when you say he has been involved in the Civic organisation or Civic activities, what was his hierarchy? How prominent was he in these Civic organisations or activities? How prominent was he? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, I can only comment on the information reports which were sent from other units to my desk. In other words...(intervention) ADV MOTATA Before you answer, I'm aware that the information is not first hand, you obtained it from other people like for instance the other units within the Security Branch. What I want to know, the information in your possession, what did it say about his prominence or positions held within Civic activities or organisations? MR PRINSLOO At that stage, if I recall correctly, his activities were that he was very active within the Mamelodi Civic organisation or association. He played a prominent role and this was an organisation which caused much problems in the under situation which reigned at that stage, specifically in Mamelodi and the information which was also at hand was that he was, he possibly had ANC contacts abroad from where he received his instructions and the moment when that happens, the information comes to my desk and on the grounds of that information, I then started sending in informers to Patrick Mahlangu, as I have described it here. ADV MOTATA Now this problematic Civic organisation, what was it called, within Mamelodi? MR PRINSLOO Mamelodi Civic Association, or Organisation, I cannot recall exactly. ADV MOTATA Thank you Mr van Heerden, you may proceed. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you. Do I understand you correctly that contact that Patrick Mahlangu had abroad was the catalyst of this focused attention on him by yourself? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is the information which I had available. MR VAN HEERDEN And this information you received by means of a letter which was intercepted? MR PRINSLOO No. That is the information as I have just explained, which I initially received from other desks or units and this is where this, because of this the WH10 system was set in and after I started focusing informers in on him. MR VAN HEERDEN Was that the catalyst for your action, the fact that people from abroad were coming in? MR PRINSLOO The catalyst for what? MR VAN HEERDEN For your attention on Patrick Mahlangu. Did you then decide to launch an operation with the assistance of Vlakplaas members? MR PRINSLOO Yes, because the informers themselves, they were not trained abroad and they do not have the background knowledge. CHAIRPERSON May I interpose Mr van Heerden? MR VAN HEERDEN Certainly. CHAIRPERSON I'm getting a little confused. Can you just clarify to us, Mr Prinsloo, what information the second and important informer was tasked to obtain around Mahlangu's activities? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, as I've already said, it was about what his activities exactly entailed, specifically with the objective or in regard to the information that was received from other sources that he had contact with ANC abroad and all that the informer at that stage could surmise, up to the time that Vlakplaas members arrived there, was that he was training persons and the informer was also involved in receiving training, but he could not get any further than that. In other words, Mahlangu did not want to trust him totally and tell him who his contact persons were, so it was limited. The source's intelligence was limited, to what I have stated here now. CHAIRPERSON So your main interest was to obtain more information with regard to the identities of the people who were visiting, particularly the MK from Botswana? MR PRINSLOO That's correct, yes. And those who were already inside the country, because incidents had taken place already, so there were units of MK active in the specific area. CHAIRPERSON Yes. So the purpose of the infiltration was to obtain information concerning the identities of MK's from Botswana and those who had already infiltrated the country and were operating in certain cells or units? MR PRINSLOO Who possibly had contact with Mahlangu. CHAIRPERSON Yes. Mr van Heerden. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you Chairperson. MR MALAN I beg your pardon, Mr van Heerden, before you continue. Did you have any information from the informer about other persons who had undergone training from Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR MALAN Were there many of them or were there few at that stage? MR PRINSLOO I do not want to speculate, it was a small group. I think most of them were only trained in the use of hand grenades. MR MALAN If you placed the informer as you say, did you tell him what to do, to look for training himself, or what is the position? MR PRINSLOO That is one possibility. MR MALAN I'm not asking you what the possibilities are, I asked you what did you do? MR PRINSLOO In this instance I instructed the informer to link up with Mahlangu and become involved in activities and to see how far we can get with the intelligence. As the Chairperson put to me which I confirmed just now and this is where the training came about and he was then in a position of trust and he underwent this training. MR MALAN But there are many others who had undertaken this training, you know of a small group? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I referred to that small group, there must have been 4 or 5 or 6, somewhere around there. MR MALAN Thank you. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you want to launch a court directed investigation? MR PRINSLOO That was the initial objective, yes. MR VAN HEERDEN Court oriented investigation against whom? Patrick Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO I wouldn't say at that particular point in time, by nature of the circumstances, due to the limited level of training that had been given to persons, I could launch a court oriented investigation, but this was about externally trained MK members who were underway and those who were already in the country, where there was a strong suspicion that he may have had contact with them due to the fact that he had already trained persons in the use of hand grenades. MR VAN HEERDEN So everything depended upon the circumstances? MR PRINSLOO If I could arrest the group of terrorists, it would mean more to me and then yes, he would be charged as a collaborator, so then the evidence would be there. MR VAN HEERDEN But the ultimate objective was to trace those MK unit members in the country. You have stated that you discussed the matter with Brig Cronje, did I understand you correctly? MR PRINSLOO At which stage? MR VAN HEERDEN When you realised that you could not undertake a deeper penetration? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you convey all this information to him? MR PRINSLOO Yes, in broad terms. MR VAN HEERDEN Did he then have to establish contact with the Vlakplaas members? MR PRINSLOO By nature of the situation, that is what he had to do because he was the Divisional Commander and the request for the application of those members had to go through. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you have to obtain permission from Brig Cronje, or did he himself state that this was what you would do? MR PRINSLOO No, I told him directly that I required the assistance of Vlakplaas members. MR VAN HEERDEN And then after a while Ras and Vermeulen came to see you? MR PRINSLOO That is correct. CHAIRPERSON On that point, Mr van Heerden, did you not make contact with Vermeulen directly? MR PRINSLOO No, Chairperson, it was only after they had reported to my office that we liaised directly with one another. CHAIRPERSON Yes. And how long after you had spoken to Brig Cronje to convey your request about Vlakplaas assistance in your operation, how long did they contact you? MR PRINSLOO I would say that it was a few days. I cannot be precise regarding that aspect because it also depended upon the availability of the persons, whether or not they were available, so I cannot say precisely. CHAIRPERSON So it was a few days after your discussion with Brig Cronje that you were then contacted by the two of them? MR PRINSLOO Yes. CHAIRPERSON That's Vermeulen and Ras. MR PRINSLOO Yes. CHAIRPERSON Thank you. Mr van Heerden. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you, Chairperson. During this initial meeting with Ras and Vermeulen, I assume that you then explained the problem. MR PRINSLOO Yes in broad terms, I sketched the background and what the problem was, that it was impossible to obtain deeper penetration by means of the existing informers and that one specifically required the background knowledge and experience of those former MK members to see if it was possible to progress any further with the intelligence gathering process. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you leave the initiative over to the other two with regard to the operation? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR VAN HEERDEN Just with regard to another point, you stated that the Bophuthatswana intelligence officers were contacted by you. MR PRINSLOO Yes, I was in contact at that stage? MR VAN HEERDEN Was this regard to this operation as well or merely in general terms? MR PRINSLOO No it didn't have anything to do with Mahlangu per se. MR VAN HEERDEN Why were members from the Bophuthatswana Intelligence Services present at Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO At that stage there was an agreement of non-official co-operation between Security Branch and the Intelligence Services of Bophuthatswana, due to the fact that the areas of Ga-rankua, Winterveldt and Mabopane and further were regarded as safe havens by terrorists, from which they could commit acts in the RSA and then flee back to their places of shelter. As a result of these circumstances, one would exchange and correlate certain aspects of information with these people, that would be the Bophuthatswana Intelligence Services and in co-operation with them, one would also study certain intelligence gathering operations. That is why we co-operated with them. It was easier to co-ordinate operations from there for the RSA and Bophuthatswana. MR VAN HEERDEN How long after your initial meeting with Vermeulen and Ras, did the operation begin? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall. I cannot recall whether the member, or whether some of my members were already at the homestead on the farm or whether they had first gone out with Ras and Vermeulen. I really cannot recall when Ras brought them to the farm at Soutpan. MR VAN HEERDEN Are we referring to days or weeks? MR PRINSLOO No this would be a matter of days. MR VAN HEERDEN I understand that Ras and Vermeulen then continued independently with the operation? MR PRINSLOO Yes. They had the particulars and the request was to infiltrate in order to obtain further information and then they would give me feedback with regard to the progress of the operation. MR VAN HEERDEN Did they give you any feedback before you arrived at Soutpan and saw Mahlangu there? MR PRINSLOO Yes, the initial contact which was established by the members who were sent in, this was reported to me by Ras. He stated that they had indeed established contact and that the story was progressing quite favourably. MR VAN HEERDEN You must certainly have thought of how important Patrick Mahlangu was to you and expressed this to Ras in terms of the existing information? MR PRINSLOO These people were zoomed in on Patrick Mahlangu. MR VAN HEERDEN Yes but Ras told you that the members had made contact with Mahlangu. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN And that everything was going well. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN In other words that it was going successfully. MR PRINSLOO Well that the point of inception had been successful. MR VAN HEERDEN When did you again hear of this operation after this discussion with Ras? MR PRINSLOO I cannot say precisely, all that I can recall is that Ras told me that the thing was underway and the infiltration or operation itself was something that you could measure by time. I left it up to them. If something were to happen they would have reported it to me and the first time that I arrived again at Soutpan was when I saw Mahlangu there. MR VAN HEERDEN So nothing was reported to you between the initial report that Ras gave you and when you coincidentally saw Mahlangu at Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO If I recall correctly, I think Ras mentioned to me but the information that we had, which I had placed at the disposal at that stage to him and Vermeulen in my office, this information had been confirmed. I think it was about the training of persons in the use of hand grenades and AKs. MR VAN HEERDEN When did Ras report to you? Was it when? MR PRINSLOO It's difficult to say. It was in the course of events. You must recall that I was also involved in various other operations and investigations which were not only limited to Soutpan and from time to time I would travel to Soutpan. The underlying understanding was that if something were to happen which had to be followed up immediately, they would of course inform me. MR VAN HEERDEN Wouldn't you have expected that the abduction of Patrick Mahlangu would be something that would have to be reported immediately? MR PRINSLOO Yes, in retrospect. ADV MOTATA Sorry to interrupt you Mr van Heerden. The - whilst you were asked questions by Mr Lamey, he brought to your attention the statement of Constance Mahlangu and in this instance the sister to Patrick. Even though it was obtained for other purposes, the import of the impressions created by that statement is that only on the first contact with Patrick, that's when he was taken away and never seen again, that's the important - am I wrong? I want you just to comment on that because I'm following your evidence that you later received information that contact has already been made with Patrick Mahlangu and subsequently he was abducted. What I understand, you may correct me if my impressions are wrong, is that contact was made, it could be days before and subsequently was thereafter abducted, but if I read the import of that statement which was for different purposes, is that on the first contact, that's when he was abducted, would I be wrong in reading that statement in that sense? MR PRINSLOO Yes. According to my knowledge and my recollection, yes, then I would have known that he did not contact me first because it was completely contra, or counter productive. It was not part of the order. I would have known if he had been abducted with the first meeting already because it would have been senseless to continue any further with the operation. ADV MOTATA Thank you. MR VAN HEERDEN So what you are saying now is that in retrospect it was a mistake not to tell you that Mahlangu had been abducted? MR PRINSLOO Yes, because the first time that I became aware of it was that morning when I arrived at Soutpan on the farm and saw the man there and determined then that he had been abducted. MR VAN HEERDEN How long had he already been there? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall. CHAIRPERSON Did you not ask, Mr Prinsloo? MR PRINSLOO It may be that I asked, but I cannot say now how long he had already been there when I arrived there. CHAIRPERSON Did you have a serious discussion about how he was brought there with Mr Ras? I imagine you would have. MR PRINSLOO Yes. As I have stated, I was very unsatisfied with the entire operation which was terminated as a result of his abduction or arrest, which was never supposed to be like that. CHAIRPERSON Can you not remember whether he mentioned over what period he had already been in Soutpan by the time you arrived? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, he may have mentioned it to me, but I really cannot commit myself and say a day or two or three. I don't believe that it would have been longer than that, but that is only an inference that I'm drawing, because periodically from time to time I was there at Soutpan, but this was the first time that I saw him there and I cannot recall how long it was before I had been there. CHAIRPERSON Mr van Heerden. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you. Was he bound? Was he cuffed or anything like that? MR PRINSLOO I really cannot recall whether or not he was bound, all I know is that I saw him lying in one room. That is what fixed my attention on the person, that is when I ask, who is this person lying here? And that is when it emerged, the rest of the story emerged. I would be lying if I were to say whether he was bound or not, I know he lay there. I think he was sleeping as far as I can recall. ADV MOTATA Do you think it may be correct to say that he was bound by leg irons as he lay there? MR PRINSLOO It could be correct. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you recognise him as he lay there? MR PRINSLOO No. It was only after I had spoken to Ras and later spoken to the person myself, that I determined that it was indeed Patrick Mahlangu. MR VAN HEERDEN If you hadn't seen him lying there, do you think Mr Ras would have reported to you that Mahlangu was on the farm? MR PRINSLOO Yes, I believe so. If I recall correctly, I stopped, walked through to a room, I think it was a room where Vermeulen and Ras or some of the other people slept and as I walked in through the entry, I noticed the person. So this was before I even reached them. MR VAN HEERDEN And what did Mr Ras tell you? MR PRINSLOO I asked him, "Who is this person" and he said it is Patrick Mahlangu. MR VAN HEERDEN And then you questioned him about the matter? MR PRINSLOO Yes and he explained to me what gave rise to the situation, why he was there, then we discussed the notes and he told me that he had interrogated him, showed me the notes that he had taken from the interrogation and then I also had the discussion with Chris Mosiane. MR VAN HEERDEN I don't wish to revisit the aspect of the notes, I feel that it has been sufficiently analyzed in your evidence, but I would once again like to discuss your discussion with Chris Mosiane. Did you regard him as a confidant? MR PRINSLOO Logically Chairperson, all of those persons worked within a situation of trust. One would have to trust all of them. MR VAN HEERDEN What was the length of your discussion with him? MR PRINSLOO I cannot recall. MR VAN HEERDEN Who said that a plan would have to be made with Patrick Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO It was me, I said it. MR VAN HEERDEN It was not Mr Ras's suggestion? MR PRINSLOO No. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you tell Ras to make a plan? MR PRINSLOO Yes, in discussion with him I said: "Yes, well we're going to have to make a plan with this man" and in terms of our language or jargon, to say that we would have to make a plan with someone would mean that we would have to take him out or eliminate him. MR VAN HEERDEN The information and notes which were shown to you by Ras, did they disclose any information that you had been previously aware of, or was it a confirmation of knowledge that you already possessed? MR PRINSLOO To a certain extent it was a confirmation. If I recall correctly, there was a name or two that was mentioned, belonging to MK members, with which he had contact, who operated in the Mamelodi area at that stage. MR VAN HEERDEN Was there new information? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN And you could have learned much from Patrick Mahlangu regarding ... MR PRINSLOO Yes, I suppose one could have, but my impression was that this was the maximum quantity of information that he had at his disposal at that stage. MR VAN HEERDEN Why did you think that this was the maximum information? MR PRINSLOO I also asked him a number of questions and furthermore relied upon what Ras had told me about the interrogation that he had conducted, so it would have been senseless to walk the same path with the same interrogation. I believed that Ras knew what the man had said. MR VAN HEERDEN So according to you, it would have been meaningless to allow the interrogation to continue for a few more days? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you report to Brig Cronje that Mahlangu had been abducted? MR PRINSLOO Yes. I think it was on one occasion, that is after the discovery of Patrick on the farm at Soutpan and what happened in conjunction with that, I had a discussion with Brig Cronje during which I suggested to him that this man would have to be eliminated. MR VAN HEERDEN Did he agree with you? MR PRINSLOO Yes, he agreed. MR VAN HEERDEN How long did it then take up to the evening upon which Patrick Mahlangu was killed? How many days past? MR PRINSLOO I would say two or three days. MR VAN HEERDEN Was there any further interrogation? MR PRINSLOO Not that I was involved in, not that I am aware of. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you not ask them to attempt to obtain further information from him? MR PRINSLOO I did not regard it as necessary, as I've already stated, at that stage I relied on Ras and I trusted that they had extracted all possible information from the man. MR VAN HEERDEN The only option that you had in mind was then to kill him? MR PRINSLOO That is correct, due to the reasons that I have disclosed. MR VAN HEERDEN Wasn't there any possibility of recruiting him, for example as an askari? MR PRINSLOO No, I don't believe so, because then I would have made definite attempts. I believe that I was convinced that it would not be viable to apply him as an askari. CHAIRPERSON Why was he not a potential askari? Why couldn't he be trained? He was a prominent person. He had contact with MK members. He could have provided valuable information for you. Why couldn't he have been a potential askari? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, at that stage I did not regard him as a potential informer, or an askari. CHAIRPERSON Yes, I want to know why he couldn't be eligible for such a position in view of the fact that he had these contacts that you so wanted. You were interested in the identities of the MKs in Botswana as well as those who had established cells inside the country? MR PRINSLOO You see, Chairperson, it would take quite a while before one would be able to recruit a person as an informer. One would have to have complete confidence in such a person. MR MALAN I beg your pardon. The question was to recruit him as an askari, not an informer, in other words someone who would be reporting for work full-time, who would have turned. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, there's a difference between an askari and an informer from my perspective. CHAIRPERSON We are well aware of the difference. We are talking about you turning him into an askari, not an informer. MR PRINSLOO No, I would not have recruited him as an askari. At the very most I would have recruited him, if he was suitable material and if there was sufficient time, I would have recruited him as a regular informer. CHAIRPERSON Why could you not have recommended that Vlakplaas take him as an askari? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, at that stage according to my knowledge, all the members of Vlakplaas who were classified as askaris, were members of MK or Apla who had received external military training and who knew precisely how they functioned and operated and my information at that stage was not that Patrick Mahlangu was such a trained person who could then become an askari. CHAIRPERSON Wasn't he trained in Botswana? Wasn't that your evidence? ADV MOTATA He received instant training, that's your evidence. MR PRINSLOO Yes, but there is a vast difference as I regarded it between a man who received instant training and a man who had received intensive foreign training. ADV MOTATA Mr Prinsloo, I just want follow this in line with what the Chairperson has asked. In your affidavit you said he provided certain information and later you also obtained this information, that for instance Masenya, Masongo, Botsane, Makula, who had killed Mulupe in the then Bophuthatswana, where he was with a friend, wouldn't you regard this as valuable information that a person of this nature could be of assistance, if he is recruited as an askari? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, once again, no, it was not an option for me at that stage. He was not a trained person, at least not from my perspective. He was not a candidate that could be trained as an askari. His background and his political motivation according to which he conducted his activities in Mamelodi did not lead me to believe that this man could be an informer, or could be recruited as an informer. ADV MOTATA Why was he then a big fish? Why was Mahlangu a big fish then, if he's not somebody who could be utilised in that fashion? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, it was to determine precisely what the role was that he fulfilled. How deeply involved he was with ANC MK activities. That is why these members of Vlakplaas were enlisted due to the knowledge that they had, which a local informer would not possess and they would be able to use this knowledge to determine exactly where he fitted into the picture and what role he fulfilled. At that stage, as I have stated, the information indicated that MK units from Botswana would establish contact with him. At the stage of his abduction it had not yet taken place. So that is another question that is pending, were they there or not? Because there was talk that he had had contact with one or two MK members who were already in the country. ADV MOTATA Are you aware that for instance Ting-ting Masongo was a person placed in high intelligence within the MK structures? Did you know that? MR PRINSLOO As far as I know, I interrogated him personally and handled him and investigated his case, he was a political Commissioner. His Commander was Masenya, so he wasn't as high up in the hierarchy. ADV MOTATA And you know as well that when they killed Mulupe, for instance, high intelligence work was required because he was not only a friend they befriended, or killed Mulupe at a friend, it was at a girlfriend's place. MR PRINSLOO That is correct, that is what I said. ADV MOTATA Ting-ting had actually fallen in love with a friend to the girlfriend of Mulupe. Such high-up people and these people are known by Mahlangu for instance, that you cannot utilise him in any other way, or refer them to Mr de Kock for instance and say: "Hey, can't you train us this person, he's very available". MR PRINSLOO I have never said that Mahlangu had contact with Ting-ting Masongo and company. I have never said that here. I gave two names...(intervention) ADV MOTATA Just a minute, perhaps we can clarify this. Look at page 327 paragraph 3. "There was also information that a group of ANC members who were militarily trained, were hiding in the Pretoria/Ga-rankua area and that this group was possibly responsible for acts of terrorism which had been committed in Pretoria and Bophuthatswana. As a result of information which Mahlangu later disclosed, as well as other information and investigative work, Masenya, Masongo, Kotsane and Makula were arrested". MR PRINSLOO That is correct. ADV MOTATA What do you want me to read into that paragraph? MR PRINSLOO Please allow me to offer an explanation. MK members would come in and they would have contact persons that they would go to. It could be one or two even 100. With every person he would use a false name, a combat or an MK name, but it was a false name. Mahlangu gave two names of MK members who, according to him, he had had contact with. At that stage those names did not refer directly to Masenya and the others, it was only subsequent to this that other information was collected and further investigation was conducted when it emanated that they were known by that name, that they were in the Winterveldt area. What I am saying here is not that I received this information directly from Mahlangu, that it only came from him with regard to the names of these persons and that as a result of this they were traced. That is not what I'm saying. ADV MOTATA No, listen carefully. "As a result of information which Mahlangu later disclosed," let us just make a point of that. What is the later information which was disclosed, because you have said as far as you are concerned, you simply knew that he was involved with hand grenades, if I understand your evidence correctly so far. Now what is the other later information which you received from Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO This was the interrogation which was conducted by Ras and the information which was conveyed to me and also the later interrogation that I conducted with Mahlangu himself, I think it can't even have been half an hour that I interrogated him. From that information certain names were brought forward of persons. ADV MOTATA Was it difficult for you, you only spoke of the hand grenades which were used in houses and so forth? MR PRINSLOO With respect Chairperson ...(intervention) CHAIRPERSON May I protect you? May I protect you? I think you have later on indicated that you were able to get one or two MK names as a result of the interrogation conducted by Ras. You did indicate that. MR PRINSLOO Yes, that is correct, Chairperson and to the names which were supplied, if you read further in the application, I say because of information that Mahlangu later supplied, as well as other information and investigative work, those persons were arrested. CHAIRPERSON Yes, you indicated that those people were operating in Mamelodi and they were MK members. This is the information that you have, which really makes Mahlangu to be a potential person to be turned. MR PRINSLOO I beg your pardon. CHAIRPERSON This is the kind of information, in my opinion, that would have made him to be a perfect candidate for being turned as an askari. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, no, at that stage I did not regard it as such. He was not suitable for my purposes. That idea did not even come about in my mind. MR MALAN I have heard your explanation that askaris, according to your knowledge, were former MK members, former MK or Apla members, which were trained. Did I hear you correctly that your comment on page 57 of Connie Mahlangu's statement on paragraph 3 where she says that from 75 to 78 she underwent MK training, that you did not know of this? MR PRINSLOO Not at that stage Chairperson, only afterwards. MR MALAN And you also did not have knowledge that he was used as a state witness in another matter? Maybe it's not relevant, but I cannot understand that you would not check the name against the record, what is our knowledge of the man, because he has to be somewhere in the register or in the records. You never correlated it. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, it came to my knowledge later that he was indeed a trained man. This was an Eastern Transvaal matter then, there was no indication then that the man had already given evidence. What reasons were there, I do not know. MR MALAN But at that stage in 1986, C Section already had a register of MK members who were known to them, activists, Apla members. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, with respect, you refer to C at Head Office. Unit C was the divisional, divisions, if one recruits an informer and you send him in to a person, one would want to know what does, what do we know of this person. We went to the records and there was nothing at central records. MR MALAN So are you saying that central records did not have his name? MR PRINSLOO I could draw the inference because of the fact that the man acted as a state witness and that his name not be placed on record. MR MALAN Very well, thank you. CHAIRPERSON Mr Prinsloo, may I just, for my own clarity, find out how he would not have been in the central record of H.W. if you yourself had received a report from other units as a result of his activities? Other units must have investigated him? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, that is why the information came to my desk. He was indeed on what we call an index. His name was there and then his local activities. Nothing of the other activities to which Mr Malan has referred, his previous training that he had undertaken, that he had been arrested and that he had given evidence. I can only draw inferences that he had been protected because he had given evidence in that matter and that there was nothing on record. CHAIRPERSON Would you regard such a person as a high profile activist? MR PRINSLOO At that stage, I could not say what high profile he maintained because we were in the process of getting to know more about him. CHAIRPERSON Did Mr Cronje give an indication whether an investigation should be conducted with regard to such activities, with a view of classifying him? MR PRINSLOO Not necessarily. The Commander of the unit or desk officer, if that information is channelled to you, one has to evaluate it and one has to look into the broader context, with regard to the region where one operates. How does this fit into the strategy of the ANC in this case and according to that one makes a valuation and says X and Y have to be watched more, so that we can find out what their activities are and it is on that basis that Mahlangu came to my attention. I don't know if you understand. CHAIRPERSON I do understand, though I'm still slightly in the dark, this being caused by the fact of the previous evidence we have heard, when we were hearing the first cluster of the Cronje hearings, as to what determined people to be high profile activists and as to what would then immediately happen to people who were classified as high profile activists and how that classification was conducted. It's information which may not be highly relevant, may not be highly relevant in this hearing, but it's causing me some problems because your explanation does not seem to be tying up with the evidence and I must say, substantial evidence that was tendered during those hearings. MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, with respect, I don't know to what you are referring. I hear what you are saying and I also do not know in which context those people did the classification. CHAIRPERSON Yes. MR PRINSLOO There were several factors to which one had to look at and now I'm only speaking on a local level, not even a regional level. I speak of Mamelodi, the branch level and then the provincial level. I'm speaking of the branch level at which we had a look. CHAIRPERSON Yes. No the information, I think, at this stage is not sufficiently relevant to warrant us to further explore it. Mr van Heerden, you may proceed. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you Chairperson. I see it's quarter past one at this stage. It might be a convenient time to adjourn. COMMITTEE ADJOURNS ON RESUMPTION CHAIRPERSON Mr van Heerden, you may proceed. HENDRIK JOHANNES PRINSLOO (s.u.o.) CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR VAN HEERDEN (cont.) Thank you Chairperson. Mr Prinsloo, just to continue with your evidence before the adjournment, you received new information from Mahlangu's interrogation and you also received confirmation of previous information. Is that correct? MR PRINSLOO Yes and it was a relatively brief interrogation of Mahlangu by myself yes, and also by Ras. I don't know how long Ras interrogated him for. MR VAN HEERDEN A day or so? MR PRINSLOO I am not able to say. MR VAN HEERDEN If one looks quickly, it would seem as if Mahlangu gave his co-operation during the interrogation. MR PRINSLOO I would assume so because of the information that Ras conveyed to me that Mahlangu provided. MR VAN HEERDEN You have also testified earlier that the only injuries you saw were his swollen eye and that his lips were swollen. MR PRINSLOO Yes, it was superficial injuries. MR VAN HEERDEN So there was no brutal assault on him, according to you? MR PRINSLOO I would not be able to say internally, but I can only testify to the external injuries that I observed. I would not say it was brutal. MR VAN HEERDEN If you look quickly, it would seem it was not a very serious assault. MR PRINSLOO No, I would not say so. MR VAN HEERDEN And we also do not speak of a questioning that took place for weeks on end? MR PRINSLOO No. MR VAN HEERDEN The information which you received from him, why did you not make further use of it by, for example, taking him to places for possible pointings out or identifications? MR PRINSLOO I don't understand entirely. Identifications of what? MR VAN HEERDEN MK members. MR PRINSLOO He did not know where they were hidden, all that he knew was that they were in the Winterveldt area. The only two names that he supplied and he only mentioned names, he did not say it was Piet van der Merwe and Jan Nel, he mentioned the pseudonyms of these persons. CHAIRPERSON May I interpose, Mr van Heerden? MR VAN HEERDEN Yes, Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Did I understand you correctly Mr Prinsloo, when you say he mentioned names of people in the Winterveldt area? MR PRINSLOO MK members to which he referred to. CHAIRPERSON Is Winterveldt and Mamelodi the same? MR PRINSLOO No, Winterveldt is in Bophuthatswana and Mamelodi is a township here in Pretoria. It's approximately 50 to 60 kilometres apart. CHAIRPERSON I thought your earlier evidence was to the effect that the two MK names he mentioned were those of person who were operating in Mamelodi. MR PRINSLOO That's correct. CHAIRPERSON That's why I'm asking this question because now it is Winterveldt and no longer Mamelodi. MR PRINSLOO Mamelodi, Winterveldt vicinity. In other words, they hid themselves in Winterveldt. CHAIRPERSON Mr van Heerden. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you Chairperson. So you simply did not take the information any further? MR PRINSLOO I could not take it any further. If you see it in the context, what the objective of the operation was, the initial infiltration into Mahlangu, this was indeed to try and see if he could not identify people and find out where they lived. MR VAN HEERDEN Were any fingerprints taken of him? MR PRINSLOO Of whom? MR VAN HEERDEN Of Mahlangu. MR PRINSLOO No. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you not try to find out whether there were still some outstanding cases pending against him? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson, the only document, I only consulted our reports that we had and I think we had a C26 chart. This is in the charge sheet where his photo and identification number and his fingerprints would also have been there. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you not investigate new matters because of this information? MR PRINSLOO I don't understand entirely, new cases. I was looking for MK units that had already been active in the Pretoria/Bophuthatswana area and I was working against time. We worked under immense pressure. What investigation could I launch? I was looking for those terrorists, trying to find them and preventing further acts of terror and to charge them and to investigate matters about, acts that had already been committed. MR MALAN I beg your pardon Mr Prinsloo, you say on the C 26 chart there was such a chart with a photo and his fingerprints? MR PRINSLOO That's correct. MR MALAN And those fingerprints were not transferred to the first training, or to him being a state witness? MR PRINSLOO That is what I referred to Chairperson ...(intervention) MR MALAN You must please answer my question and leave it at that because I want to arrive at a second point. And the second point is, where did you think his fingerprints came from, if you had no record other than the information that you heard? Where would they have obtained his fingerprints from? MR PRINSLOO Are you referring to the C26 chart? MR MALAN Yes. MR PRINSLOO To clear up any confusion, I speak of the Evidence Bureau, that is where they had the chart not the Criminal Bureau. MR MALAN Thank you very much, I misunderstood you there for a second. CHAIRPERSON Mr van Heerden, proceed. MR VAN HEERDEN Thank you Chairperson. I'm going to make somewhat of a jump. A decision was taken to kill Patrick Mahlangu. I understand that you received instructions from Brig Cronje to do that? MR PRINSLOO I made a proposal and said it was the only option and he agreed. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you then convey the instruction to Messrs Ras and Vermeulen? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN They did not tell you themselves? MR PRINSLOO Tell me what? MR VAN HEERDEN That Mr Mahlangu must be killed. MR PRINSLOO No, I initially said that this man has to be taken away, taken out, it was only afterwards that I discussed it with Cronje. MR VAN HEERDEN And then you left the planning to Ras and Vermeulen? MR PRINSLOO Yes, because I did not have any explosives to my availability. MR VAN HEERDEN Why was it decided, or shall I ask it as follows, why was it decided to take Patrick Mahlangu to another branch, away from Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO Logic. One would not go into the area where one was working and launch such an operation and not within my area of control, to kill a person, that is why Ras took a decision to take him to another region or another province and in other words, these were people who did not know about this person or the incident that had taken place there at the railway line. MR VAN HEERDEN Could you then not pass over the problem to another district or region? MR PRINSLOO I cannot comment on that. Those arrangements were left to Ras and Vermeulen. They would have identified the place and I drove there on their instruction. MR VAN HEERDEN On the day of the 25th, when you received the instructions? MR PRINSLOO The evening when we drove from Soutpan, that was the road yes. MR VAN HEERDEN You use the term instructions? MR PRINSLOO Directions, then, or recommendation. Directions which I had to follow to get to them, the road. I did not know exactly where we were on our way to. MR VAN HEERDEN Why did you have to accompany them? MR PRINSLOO I beg your pardon? MR VAN HEERDEN Why did you have to accompany them? MR PRINSLOO It was only logical. I was in command of the whole group there and it was my proposal that this man be killed. MR VAN HEERDEN Did you want to make certain that things ran smoothly there? MR PRINSLOO Yes, that amongst other things. MR VAN HEERDEN I understand that you were driving in a kombi? MR PRINSLOO That's correct. MR VAN HEERDEN Was this a Volkswagen kombi? MR PRINSLOO No, it was a Hi-Ace minibus, I cannot recall how many seats it had. MR VAN HEERDEN And how far away from Soutpan were you when the person was along the road with Patrick Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO I'm not able to say, it was quite a way from Soutpan. CHAIRPERSON Mr van Heerden, hasn't this aspect of your inquiry been covered by previous testimony and in particular by Mr Ras, who was able to give us more precise details? MR VAN HEERDEN Yes, Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Let's move on. MR VAN HEERDEN There is just one more aspect which I would like to discuss with you. You have mentioned that, and I apologise for returning to this point, but you have mentioned that the informer was in grave danger after Patrick Mahlangu was abducted. Would an easier solution not have been to simply take the informer away from his position? MR PRINSLOO I beg your pardon, but I think the statement is not correct. It was not said that his life was in danger because he was abducted. MR VAN HEERDEN Then I understood the evidence incorrectly. MR MALAN You can follow up the question, but I think the statement was that his life was in danger after the abduction because things that were put to him were found out and he found out who the informer was, that was the evidence and I think that is what you want to follow up on. MR VAN HEERDEN Could the informers not simply be taken away? MR PRINSLOO No Chairperson, the informer had dependants and you have to recall, during that time there was no such thing as relocation programmes and the like, that a simple informer could make use of. This was only in extreme cases that a person or persons would be relocated but not in this specific instance. MR VAN HEERDEN Just to return to another aspect. In your application you say that Patrick Mahlangu was severely assaulted. MR PRINSLOO That is what I observed and now you - earlier you spoke of a brutal assault and a brutal assault I would regard as a person as he was killed there. The assault is what I explained in my application. MR VAN HEERDEN So you regarded that as a serious assault? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR VAN HEERDEN And one aspect which I have clear instructions on is that Chris Mosiane, according to Constance Vusisizwe Mahlangu was not present when Patrick Mahlangu was abducted. I would like to hear your comment? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson I will stand with my evidence as I have testified. MR VAN HEERDEN I then have no further questions, thank you Chairperson. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR VAN HEERDEN CHAIRPERSON Mr van Heerden are you going to lead evidence in relation to the point which was put to Mr Prinsloo? MR VAN HEERDEN Chairperson if it is necessary I will do so. CHAIRPERSON Do you have evidence which ...(intervention) MR VAN HEERDEN I will speak with Mr Lamey also in this regard ...(intervention) CHAIRPERSON Do you have instructions? MR VAN HEERDEN The witness is available. CHAIRPERSON Yes. Do you have instructions with regard to the abduction itself? MR VAN HEERDEN Nothing further Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Do you have any instruction with regard to the abduction? MR VAN HEERDEN Chairperson the only instruction I have is that there were three black people present, driving a blue motor vehicle. CHAIRPERSON Yes. And was Miss ...(intervention) MR VAN HEERDEN And Chris Mosiane was not one of those people. CHAIRPERSON How would the person who witnessed the abduction know whether Mr Mosiane was there or not? Is he known to them? MR VAN HEERDEN Chairperson apparently they met him in 1995 or 1996 at an investigation unit of the Attorney General. CHAIRPERSON Yes. Did Miss Mahlangu witness the abduction? Do you have instructions whether Miss Mahlangu witnessed the abduction? MR VAN HEERDEN Yes Chairperson. CHAIRPERSON Thank you. Mr Hattingh have you had an ample opportunity to consult with Mr de Kock? MR HATTINGH Indeed Chairperson, thank you. CHAIRPERSON Are you now able to put through questions to Mr Prinsloo? CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR HATTINGH Thank you Chairperson. Mr Prinsloo the information which you had available with regard to Mr Mahlangu before you requested assistance from Vlakplaas did you convey that information to your commander, Brigadier Cronje? MR PRINSLOO In broad terms, as I have said Chairperson. MR HATTINGH Was it not expected of Security branches to report in writing about information that they collect about acts of terror? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson the situation worked on provincial and branch levels and if information was collected by a unit or the branch, and then it is put in writing and channelled and the qualification is attached to it whether it is only applicable in the Province and used further or whether it be promoted with other provinces and whether it be promoted with head office. MR HATTINGH Yes I would like you to regard my question as one that not only has regard with Mr Mahlangu's activities. You did not only have information about his activities, you had information about other persons so-called terrorist activities in your area. MR PRINSLOO That's correct Chairperson. MR HATTINGH And you must have reported about that to your commander so that information could be promoted to head office for further distribution? MR PRINSLOO Yes, once again it depended on the person who was the commander of the specific unit. After the evaluation is made it has to be promoted to head office or at first receives more attention at branch level or provincial level before it can be promoted to head office. MR HATTINGH The reason why I ask this question I will put this to you, is that Mr de Kock's recollection is that when Brigadier Cronje, when he approached him for assistance in this regard, that he showed him documentation which contained information about so-called terrorist activities within your command area. MR PRINSLOO That might be possible Chairperson. I was not present. MR HATTINGH And he says in the documents that were shown to him several names appeared. He cannot recall what the names were and he cannot even recall whether Mr Mahlangu's name was on that list that was shown to him. Is it possible that such documentation does or did exist? MR PRINSLOO Yes I have already made that concession. I think it would have been the overview of what was ongoing in the specific province and what activities was on-going and what progress was being made with certain investigations MR HATTINGH Good. In this regard may I just put to you that I think in Mr de Kock's application - I don't see it, would you please grant me a moment Chairperson. Thank you Chairperson. Mr Prinsloo another aspect. In passing you have mentioned that your unit had used the house at Soutpan for approximately two to three weeks, is that correct? MR PRINSLOO That is correct, Chairperson. MR HATTINGH And the operation with regard to Mr Mahlangu specifically only lasted a few days, is that correct? MR PRINSLOO That is correct. MR HATTINGH Is it then correct that the Vlakplaas members who were sent to you, including the askaris, were also of assistance in regard to other incidents which had no direct link to Mr Mahlangu. So it was a simple request of Vlakplaas for assistance for possible identification of MK members? MR PRINSLOO That's correct. MR HATTINGH Was there a person attached to your unit by the name of Dos Santos? MR PRINSLOO Yes, Chairperson. MR HATTINGH What was his position? MR PRINSLOO He was a warrant officer at that stage. MR HATTINGH And did he serve under your command? MR PRINSLOO Yes he did, Chairperson. MR HATTINGH And did you often closely work with him? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR HATTINGH Was he in any way involved in the activities at the homestead at Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO Yes Chairperson. All the members, except for one or two were deployed in the field in order to collect information and to follow up information which was obtained in order to see if we could not trap these terrorists. MR HATTINGH Your members that were involved in the operation did they also stay at the homestead at Soutpan? MR PRINSLOO As far as I can recall some of them did stay there and some of them lived at their houses in Pretoria. MR HATTINGH Can you recall what the position was with regard to Mr dos Santos? MR PRINSLOO It is difficult. No I cannot recall. I would have to lie. I cannot recall. MR HATTINGH Can you recall whether he was involved in the interrogation of Mr Mahlangu? MR PRINSLOO No, not that I am aware of. MR HATTINGH Can you not recall or are you saying he was not involved? MR PRINSLOO No because I would have asked him what he had extracted from Mahlangu. So I cannot imagine at all that he had participated in the interrogation of Mahlangu. MR HATTINGH The interrogation - this has emanated from your evidence already, but the interrogation with regard to Mr Mahlangu, was this directed at information about terrorist activities? Is that correct? MR PRINSLOO Yes that is correct. MR HATTINGH Thank you Chairperson. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR HATTINGH CHAIRPERSON Thank you Mr Hattingh. Mr Steenkamp do you have any questions to put to Mr Prinsloo? NO CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR STEENKAMP CHAIRPERSON Thank you. Ms van der Walt, do you have any re-examination? NO RE-EXAMINATION BY MS VAN DER WALT CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR WAGENER I have one or two questions concerning Mr Roslee. Mr Prinsloo you have testified that Mr Roslee was the most junior member there, how long was he with you according to your memory? MR PRINSLOO I would have to speculate. I would say approximately a year, a year and a half or so. I speak under correction, Chairperson. MR WAGENER Why did you choose him if he was the most junior person to go along with you as commander? MR PRINSLOO Chairperson the members who served under my command were selected members. Roslee had background of terrorist activity and tracking and the vehicle which was available that we needed, he drove that minibus. MR WAGENER Mr Roslee's background does not include the killing of people. MR PRINSLOO Not that I knew of at that stage. MR WAGENER Did you not know that he was attached to Koevoet? MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR WAGENER And that was a large part of the activities. MR PRINSLOO I was not aware that he was involved with people that had been killed. MR WAGENER So you did not have knowledge of Koevoet's activities? MR PRINSLOO I knew of Koevoet, but I am speaking of Roslee as a person. MR WAGENER Very well. And how long did he stay with you before he left after this incident, can you recall that? Let me ask you this. Where did he go when he left you? MR PRINSLOO No I cannot now say Chairperson. MR WAGENER If I tell you according to his particulars when he left you he went to Vlakplaas. MR PRINSLOO That's right, that's right. MR WAGENER And reasonably shortly after this incident. MR PRINSLOO Yes. MR WAGENER Can you recall how this transfer came about? MR PRINSLOO No, no idea. MR WAGENER Thank you. No further questions. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR WAGENER CHAIRPERSON Thank you Mr Prinsloo, you are excused. MR PRINSLOO EXCUSED