 |
News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
|
News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
Operation Zero ZeroExplanation ... between 5 and 10 000 lives and at least one of the people who is in Chikurubi now as a convicted prisoner was very directly involved in the secret operation that orchestrated that conflict between ZAPU and ZANU and created such suffering in our country in the early 1980s. So many many thousands ... 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. 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 ... ... 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 were simply a lot more successful in actually countering this attack. That’s ... ... man, Johan du Preez was off duty. But he was quick to comply with the request. As soon as he arrived with his machine the torture plan swung into operation. Du Preez stayed on to help and Col At van Niekerk stood by ... Casselton set up his European operation with this man, Major Craig Williamson. The two men rented a luxury flat in North London from where they ran their spy network. 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 ... 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 ... ... 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 ... I asked for Joe Mamasela to come down to assist in the operation because he was the main operator I would say, with Almond Nofemela of course, but a sober guy. A non-smoker, a non-drinker, had the killer instinct, super fit. 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. // ... 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. ... 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 ... ... 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 ... ‘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 ... ... 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 ... ... you to eliminate these people? // That is so Your Honour. // You told me that the second sentence here should read. ‘He then suggested that this operation be directed in such a way that the ANC would be blamed for the elimination.’ // That is so Your Honour. // The way it reads at the moment ... ... 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 ... 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. ... 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 ... |
