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Operation Zero ZeroExplanation ... 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 ... 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. 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. 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 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 ... ... 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 ... The aim of the operation was to recruit her as soon as possible as an informer and to send her back to Swaziland immediately. Much success has been achieved with this method in the past. She still did not want to cooperate. After consideration and weighing all options Maj Gen Steyn gave Gen Taylor ... 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 ... ... discussed these ideas with different right wing groups and individuals, both inside and outside South Africa. NSP members launched their first operation after taking a blood oath, swearing that they would give their lives for their objectives. The organisation needed money and ... ... 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 ... We’re aware of the fact that in the early 1990s there was a, if you like, a general cleaning operation; motivated, so we’re informed, on the basis that much of that material is no longer relevant to current policing activities, particularly records of the security police. There was fairly ... 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. ... 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. ‘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 ... 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 ... 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. // ... 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. 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. ... cross for bravery, one of three medals for bravery that De Kock had received in his 27 year career in the police. Those who knew about and approved operations, De Kock said, were PW Botha, former ministers of law and order Louis Le Grange and Adriaan Vlok, former police commissioners Mike ... 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. |