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Operation Zero ZeroExplanation Bellingan admitted under cross examination that he could have given the order to shoot to kill but denied that it was a carefully planned ambush. He says the Gugulethu operation was the kind of operation that the police would carry out to pre-empt a bank robbery. ... about the cross border raids into those three towns which have been mentioned before they took place? // The Defence Force request was that this operation should be executed the second half of April. They approached me, I approached the state president, I asked his approval, I explained and he ... Towards the end of 1988 Mitchell and Terreblanche attended a meeting with Inkatha leaders including David Ntombela where it was decided to launch an operation that would clear and hold the Trust Feed area for Inkatha. On Monday the widows of the Cradock Four came back to Centenary Hall in Port Elizabeth at the start of second week of testimony from their husband’s killers. Last week they heard from Sakkie van Zyl who was the captain in charge of the operation on that fateful June night in 1985. In this quest to reclaim the land the amnesty applicants formed an APLA unit in Botshabelo and executed their first and last operation at Wesselsdal farm. // When we arrived there I knocked at the door together with my comrades and a white lady came, that is the wife of Mr. Smith. We asked her ... The operation was the brainchild of General Johan van der Merwe and approved at the highest level of the then National Party government. // General van der Merwe gave the express instruction to use the hand grenades and to make these available to activists in order to eliminate them. It was a ... ... targeted by the Defence Force, I cannot say how their thoughts went, she could have been an innocent bystander. I cannot say. If I had executed the operation I would also have killed her. // I understood that the two were together and that both were shot. I cannot explain why she was shot but ... ... security forces in the same way as Church Street, but in war, in conflict of course one can’t always be a 100 percent efficient, effective in an ... ... the reconciliation at the end. So all of that kind of financial bookkeeping. Then there was logistical work. There would every month be a resupply operation, supplying arms and various other things to RENAMO. It would happen monthly by drop, actually drop into Mozambique. I was responsible for ... Beyond the contradictory accounts and the spine chilling facts, both Mbelo and Bellingan gave an insight into the emotional effects and anger they feel now about the operation then. Firstly, he was in charge of the operation and then secondly, when the Goniwe Four were taken, Van Zyl took Goniwe, in other words physically during the kidnapping. If I have to explain the language used, I would be pleased. He was surprised because of the resistance offered by Goniwe. // Is that ... ... to attend any complaints in this area, no motor vehicle is allowed to go into this area and I asked them what’s going on. They said it’s an ... It is clear that the police are lying about the exact aim of their operation. Through the askaris they knew of the cell’s existence and did not try and arrest the group, before or later. The askaris also provided weapons to the young guerrillas. The police shooting spree on March the 3rd was ... But you ended up killing people who are not regarded as white. Could this be regarded as a botched or a messed up operation? // Sir, I cannot comment on that. We were told to go to the tavern …. I don’t know how to respond to your statement. the story. They were killed by Lotz and others in a cover up that has become known as the Motherwell bomb. Perhaps the most serious casualty of this operation was the very law and order that these policemen claimed they were so desperate to ... While operation ‘Great Storm’ was in process on the Free State and Eastern Cape platteland, a white policeman shot and killed a black man arrested for killing an aged couple on a farm outside Kroonstad. The policeman asked for amnesty in Bloemfontein this week because he says he killed in ... ... Silverton bank siege. This is the only instance in which cadres of Umkhonto we Sizwe took hostages. There were three cadres who were going on some operation. They realised that they had been spotted by the police, and ran into a bank. They got into the bank and they tried to move all the ... ... for those seniors who today are saying there was nothing wrong, they did not know me. Today I accept full responsibility for this whole ... ... extensively patrolled by the South African Defence Force and also by the Area Protection Units known by the term ‘commandoes.’ Most of those operations, landmine operations, were in the border areas, the areas that were patrolled very, very effectively. I think it is common knowledge to ... ... from the outbuilding one by one for interrogation and this is where the story starts to diverge. Joe Mamasela, an askari who was involved in this operation, sings a completely different song to all the other amnesty applicants. He says the men were removed and over the next two days were ... |
