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Operation Zero ZeroExplanation 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. // ... operatives when they supplied faulty hand grenades to COSAS members in the course of 1985. At least eight persons were killed and seven maimed. This operation was authorised and approved by the former Commissioner of Police and the Minister. // Whoever authorized that was guilty of a very gruesome ... 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. 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. 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. 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. ‘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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... ... 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 ... The aim of the operation was to question them, to get information from them and to remove them from the area and to neutralize their involvement. The whole operation went wrong, where the wrong people became victims. // The community of Trust Feed has also requested me to advise the Amnesty Committee that they would try to forgive mister Brian Mitchell if he becomes actively involved in the reconstruction of the community that he was ... ... was not prepared to comment. Charles Lloyd was then in Military Intelligence and while he must have been involved in the planning of the Seychelles operation, when he came to the TRC earlier this year he shared no new light on his or the military’s involvement. According to Dolinschek, while he ... ... 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 ... was convenient for the RSA and that’s why they sent in … to say ‘we’ve got nothing to do with this.’ But using their forces and the covert operation not from RSA soil to launch attacks against that that they deemed to be a big problem at the time. And then how do you counter a mass ... ... years? And above all, they must be able to tell the Truth Commission whether politicians like Adriaan Vlok and PW Botha knew of and ordered certain operations. General Engelbrecht was known as the Vlakplaas sweeper. He was the policeman who had to cover up police death squad operations ... The clearest element about the Gugulethu Seven massacre is its murkiness. What we do know is that of the 22 police involved in the operation, some have taken responsibility for some of the deaths. But whether police shot and killed the young men has never been the issue. The question is whether the ... It was decided that South Africa would hire mercenaries recruited and led by Hoare to pull off a coup to oust René and put Mancham back in power. At this stage, according to Dolinschek, the operation fell under the control of the National Intelligence Service headed up by Dr Niel Barnard. |
