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Operation Zero ZeroExplanation But for those instances where civilians were hit, Mbeki expressed the ANC’s deep regret. He named a list of operations that did not go strictly according to ANC rules. The first was an operation that was never intended to be. ... He also showed remorse for the murder of two children during the raid on the house of Sam Chand in Botswana. I still have a problem with this operation. I think of the children who were shot and I don’t live comfortably with this ... 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. Janni Mohapi says that he was travelling with Vuyo Charles after an operation when they saw a roadblock at Brandfort. Vuyo got out of the car, but the police had seen the car slowing down and went after him. // So I presume that he blew himself up with a hand grenade, although the police were ... I think you probably get damaged and you probably start becoming a devious person intrinsically and I won’t recommend it. But I was effectively in operation for only just over a year and that still took me some recovering from, because I was hiding my true nature from my Defence Force employers ... 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. For Susan van der Merwe knowing how her husband died has not answered the question of why he had to die. // If it was a military operation, for instance if my son who was in the army, if they had told me he had lost his life it would have been different. Because he was a trained soldier fighting ... ‘On 2 December 1988, New Hanover police Captain Brian Mitchell ordered the elimination of a group of UDF members. The operation went wrong. Eleven people attending a night vigil were killed.’ // It was just I think the driving force behind it, behind the motives of the security establishment ... And the decision was in the conduct of war it is not possible to avoid civilian losses. // After the few incidences where civilians were caught, the president called us in and asked us to put a stop to this method of operation. I gave the instructions to all our forces to stop using the landmine. Then you went back to Vlakplaas where you gave orders to Martinus Ras, Snyman and Vermeulen to prepare for the operation. What precisely did you tell them? // I can’t give you specific details, but the gist of it was that people would be killed and specifically that policemen would be killed. // ... 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 ... Mamasela is a self confessed killer. He’s one of the Vlakplaas operatives who took part in the Pebco Three operation. He has not applied for amnesty but will testify before the Truth Commission once all the amnesty applicants have been heard. He has a very different account of the killings. ... we know has a long history of helping Vlakplaas cover up their legal problems and Johan van der Merwe was involved in at least one Vlakplaas operation. The head of the ANC’s legal department, Mathews Phosa remarked afterwards that De Klerk sat in Pretoria and knew everything that went on ... ... that has been adduced before us. We know that we are not approaching this as we would approach a trial, we don’t have the advocarial system in operation here. So, we take part in the investigation, we call for information that we think might assist us or might assist an applicant and we ... One of the reasons why the operation went smoothly was because there was no popular support. There was no spontaneous reaction from the population. I suspect that everything is calm by now. appear that you in fact succeeded in doing so. What do you say about that? // After we set up the original ambush for them we then withdrew from the operation. Thereafter they shot at us first, they attacked us and we must have been a lot more successful in actually countering this attack. ... ... piece of bone that we know is existing in any part of the length and breadth of this country. But our mandated period, certainly our period of operation as the TRC, may expire before we have done all the work that needs to be done. As I speak, I’ve been told that there are no less than ... Cadres were under strict instruction to carry out reconnaissance properly so that military patrols were the primary target of the landmine operations. This arose, Chairperson, out of what the regime was doing at the time when it incorporated areas: white farms and white farmers in the border areas ... Joe Mamasela, self-confessed political serial killer was one of the Vlakplaas askaris who participated in this operation. // It was brutal; it was what in Afrikaans people call ‘broekskeur.’ It was terrible. // Were they tortured? // They were tortured severely. They were savaged; they were ... ... 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 ... |
