TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
AMNESTY HEARING
DATE: 05.11.97
HELD AT: PORT ELIZABETH
NAME: JOHAN MARTIN VAN ZYL
CASE NO: 5637/96
DAY 3
_________________________
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Chairman, my name is Wim de Villiers, I
appear for Mr J.M. van Zyl.
Before I continue with the application, I would like to make a
few amendments. On page 43 of the Bundle and specifically
paragraph 9(a)(3) where the places are indicated. Page 43,
paragraph 9(a)(3) where the places are indicated, it has been
numbered 1 to 4. Number 1 should be Port Elizabeth and Cradock,
that must be included there, and number 2 is Port Elizabeth.
Number 3 the entire area of the RSA and number 4 Port Elizabeth.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
JOHAN MARTIN VAN ZYL: (sworn states)
EXAMINATION BY ADV DE VILLIERS: Thank you Mr
Chairperson. Mr Van Zyl, you are an applicant in this matter and
you are applying for amnesty for the acts mentioned on page 43 of
the Bundle, paragraph 9(a)(1) to (5)?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: And I read these. Point 1, abduction, killing
and disappearance of the Pebco, namely S. Hashe, Galela and
Godolozi?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 2, malicious damage to property that
relates to the vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 3, the possession of an unlicensed
firearm?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 4, defeating the ends of justice by
means of the destruction of a weapon?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: And number 5 any other civil or criminal
liability which may arise from that particular act?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: And the acts were committed in the period or
periods mentioned under 9(a)(2). Number 1, 8 May 1985 abduction
and malicious damage to property?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 2, 9 May 1985, murder?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 3, in the period 1975 to 1985?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 4, during 1986?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: The places where these acts were committed,
1, Port Elizabeth and Cradock?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 2, Port Elizabeth?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 3, the entire territory of the Republic
of South Africa, Port Elizabeth and Cradock?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Number 4, Port Elizabeth?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Van Zyl, in your application and
specifically from pages 44 onwards, 44 at the top of the page up to
paragraph 9 on page 45, you sketch the political situation which
existed in the Eastern Cape and this political background was also
sketched by Major Du Plessis to this Committee, do you confirm
that?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Major Du Plessis, in his application also
testified and gave a much wider picture, a broader picture of the
political situation in the Republic of South Africa and more
specifically in the Eastern Cape, do you agree?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: When did you arrive in the Eastern Cape?
MR VAN ZYL: In January of 1984.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you perceive the situation to be as
sketched by Major Du Plessis?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Do you agree that the situation and the
possible actions on management level were discussed and that the
conclusion was reached that action had to be taken?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: How do you know that Mr Van Zyl?
MR VAN ZYL: When I arrived in Port Elizabeth in January of
1984, the situation was developing and the situation in the
townships of Zwide, KwaZakhele and New Brighton was according
to my view at the time, was becoming very politicised. I am not
saying that the people hadn't at that stage been politicised, but in
1984 to 1985 there was a great increase in the political activities
which amounted to the chaotic burning down of buildings such as
schools and attacks on the homes of policemen, attacks on persons,
the blockading of streets and general chaos and defiance and we as
the Police and Security Police, realised by the middle of 1985, that
we simply could not enter these townships during the day.
We had to drive in convoy, we couldn't enter these areas in
single vehicles and we could only enter these areas in convoy with a
certain measure of safety.
ADV DE VILLIERS: One day, before the 8th of May 1985, Major
Du Plessis, called you to his office and he told you that it was
essential to eliminate three Pebco leaders namely Mr Hashe, Galela
and Godolozi?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE JAGER: Mr De Villiers, as far as this aspect is
concerned, it would seem as if it is possibly in dispute that these
three names, or that there were only three names. If there are
aspects which are in dispute, you must please not put any leading
questions on anything in dispute. You must please just let the
witness answer in his own words.
ADV DE VILLIERS: On this occasion Mr Van Zyl, certain
instructions were given to you.
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. Major Du Plessis, at that stage
explained to me and it wasn't the first time that we had discussed the
situation, it was discussed on a daily basis. We discussed it in depth
and we were all aware of the desperate situation in the townships at
that stage.
Major Du Plessis told me that there was no other way, no
other legal way to try and stabilise the situation other than to
eliminate these three people, Mr Hashe, Galela and Godolozi.
ADV DE VILLIERS: You then asked Major Du Plessis, how and
where this should take place, his answer was at Post Chalmers and
that the people should disappear. He also added that the only way
which he could think of was to shoot the people and then to burn
their bodies?
MR VAN ZYL: I asked him how this should take place and how we
should make it look as if they had disappeared in the vicinity of Port
Elizabeth, because at that stage I wasn't that familiar with Port
Elizabeth. He suggested that the bodies be burnt.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was there any discussion regarding vehicles
or what should happen to a vehicle if a vehicle was to be involved?
MR VAN ZYL: That was apparently part of the modus operandi
that a vehicle, if a vehicle was involved in this kind of operation,
should be taken to the Lesotho border, it should be left there and
then should form part of our misleading tactics to try and pretend
that these people had left the country illegally.
ADV DE VILLIERS: What was your personal view regarding this
instruction?
MR VAN ZYL: I was aware of the situation in Port Elizabeth at
that stage and I felt that it was a decision that wasn't taken lightly.
And I agreed with it. I agreed that it was the only option and
the fact that Colonel Du Plessis told me that he had discussed it with
Colonel Snyman, created the impression with me that if it came from
Colonel Snyman, then it most probably came from even higher
authority.
I am not trying to offend Colonel Snyman, but I did not think
that Colonel Snyman was entitled to make such a decision on his
own. I respected Colonel Snyman greatly and regarded him as a
very religious, very conservative man and a very responsible person.
He gave me the impression that he was the kind of man that
would only take such a decision if he was authorised to do so from
higher authority. That was my inference, the inference which I drew
and I hope that I was correct at the time.
ADV DE VILLIERS: How did you know Major Du Plessis
personally? How was he as a person?
MR VAN ZYL: Major Du Plessis was also a responsible person in
my view. I never saw him commit any acts of violence. I didn't
know whether he was an advocate of violent methods and the fact
that he gave me such an instruction, further confirmed for me that
the order had probably come from a higher authority.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Weren't there any other options that could be
exercised?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't think so. We discussed all the alternatives
and options on a regular basis and I agree with what has already
been mentioned, that we at that stage, were convinced that
detentions would be counter productive as a result of the fact that it
would lead to further unrest and violence and that would escalate
and the other methods mentioned, would also not prove to be
effective.
The situation had become desperate and it is very difficult to
actually describe it today. If a person wasn't there during those days
and in those townships and areas, it is very difficult to explain it. It
is very difficult to understand what the situation was at that stage.
Mr Nyoka asked Mr Du Plessis yesterday why couldn't you
consider rather assaulting these people or bombing their houses, do
you have any comment about that?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't think assault was ever considered for
obvious reasons and to bomb the houses, was also not considered.
All that I can say at this stage is that innocent people could have
been killed in that case and that would definitely have been counter
productive.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was it the task of the Security Branch to
combat terrorism and to uphold the State?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you protect the State from communist
expansionism as identified in the liberation movements and their
military wings?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, that was my calling and my vocation at the
time, it was my career and as I said, that was what I saw as my task
to maintain the government of the day and I think at that stage we
also saw it as a form of patriotism and now, in retrospect, we realise
that our patriotism was misplaced and that in fact, we were actually
just propping up the government of the day.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was Pebco part of these organisations?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct, yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Do you confirm the political objectives of the
Security Branch as set out on page 48, paragraph 10(a)(1) and
further?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: I am going to read it to you from
subparagraph (1)(i), these objectives as such were the political
objectives of the Security Branch and the objectives can be further
defined as follows: the protection and maintenance of the
government and the legal institutions established by the government,
the protection of the integrity of the former government to thereby
ensure that the community should not loose its confidence in the
government as a result of acts of terror and propaganda coming from
the communist orientated organisations. South Africa and its
western capitalist society was to be protected from a violent take
over by a communist orientated liberation movements which had as
an objective to make the country ungovernable. These above
mentioned objectives namely the normal western democracy, we had
to maintain and protect that and in this specific instance, the
activities of Pebco had to be neutralised. The activities of the
members could not be combat in any other way than to eliminate
them.
MR VAN ZYL: That was my view at that stage, yes.
ADV DE JAGER: I have a bit of a problem here. Are you reading
from page 48, paragraph 10(a)(1)?
ADV DE VILLIERS: That is correct, yes.
ADV DE JAGER: Please continue, perhaps I missed something,
mine looks different, this page 48.
ADV DE VILLIERS: It is paragraph 10(a), page 48 Mr De Jager
and I read as far as paragraph 1.4, just above (b) on page 49.
ADV DE JAGER: Then my document differs from yours.
ADV DE VILLIERS: These are the documents furnished to us and
that is the way they were paginated Mr De Jager.
ADV DE JAGER: Can your Attorney just please come and assist
me so that we can assure that our pages correspond.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr De Jager, it is the same, they do
correspond.
ADV DE JAGER: So, then I have no sub-paragraph (4) under 10(a)
at all. Paragraph 10(a)(1) then sub (1)(i), sub (1)(ii), then 1.2.1 and
1.2.2.
ADV DE VILLIERS: That is correct, I thought I made that clear
but apparently not.
ADV DE JAGER: You were referring to subparagraph 4?
ADV DE VILLIERS: 1.4 on the next page which concluded the
piece that I read.
ADV DE JAGER: Yes, so that continues on to page 49?
ADV DE VILLIERS: Correct. Why did you think that the Security
situation would be improved if the leadership of Pebco was
eliminated?
MR VAN ZYL: As I said, it wasn't my decision, by I agreed with it
because according to the information at our disposal, these three
people, the three deceased, were very active and they were so
effective in fact, that they were directly and indirectly involved in
the organising which then created the vacuum which nearly replaced
the (indistinct) government in the townships and we also had certain
information at our disposal which we got from our informers, which
linked them to certain activities and we also had certain non-physical
sources, in other words technical, surveillance methods and the
monitoring of telephone conversations of which we had transcripts
etc.
So all these things persuaded us at that stage, that they were
probably the three most effective organisers in the townships.
ADV DE VILLIERS: How do you associate this operation or
action with the carrying out of your duties at that stage?
MR VAN ZYL: At that stage? I accepted the order, the instruction
because I thought it would play some part in stabilising the situation
even if it was only on a temporary basis.
The legal methods which we had at our disposal, were
apparently no longer effective and had no positive results.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Were you in any way advantaged, or did you
benefit financially or otherwise by your actions?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
ADV DE VILLIERS: During this incident, you were a Captain and
the Unit Commander of the section focusing on terrorist activities?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: And you fell under the component of Black
Affairs and you were under the command of Major Du Plessis?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: On the morning on the 8th of May 1985, you
had a discussion with Major Du Plessis, what was this discussion
about?
MR VAN ZYL: The discussion with Mr Du Plessis had the
following substance, namely that there would be an opportunity
during the next day or the following day at which these three people,
Mr Godolozi, Mr Hashe and Galela could be abducted in a way
which could possibly not be traced and that I should speak to
Lieutenant Nieuwoudt about this matter.
And that I should get together a team to actually plan the
operation to abduct and eliminate them.
ADV DE VILLIERS: During May of 1985 Captain Roelf Venter,
Warrant Officer Gert Beeslaar and a team of so-called askaris from
Vlakplaas, were at work in Port Elizabeth?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: They were tasked to gather intelligence
regarding terrorist activities in this region?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you then decide to make use of Venter's
team?
MR VAN ZYL: We decided to make use of the askaris. Captain
Venter was obviously in charge of the askaris and the idea was that
the askaris, because they weren't known in the area, and because
their vehicle wasn't known, that they should actually carry out the
abduction and that would then mean that no member of the Security
Branch would be implicated in the abduction.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you also give Lotz and Nieuwoudt
instruction to assist in this operation?
MR VAN ZYL: Lieutenant Nieuwoudt would obviously have been
involved, and I also asked him to assist and I also asked Sergeant
Lotz to help.
ADV DE VILLIERS: These last mentioned members, in what
capacity were they employed at the time?
MR VAN ZYL: Lieutenant Nieuwoudt was in charge of the
intelligence gathering component also in the Black Affairs
component and Sergeant Nieuwoudt worked under me on the
terrorism desk.
ADV DE VILLIERS: The circumstances leading to getting the
three members to the airport, that was all manoeuvred by
Nieuwoudt?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Can you recall how it came about that they
went to the airport?
MR VAN ZYL: I know that it was done by means of a telephone
call and most of the detail information I have only recently re-read,
but what I can recall is that there was to be a false telephone call
from a source or an informer to I think Mr Hashe personally, to try
and entice them to go to the airport.
I can't remember what the excuse was to have been, but I
think it had something to do with the British Consul or Embassy and
that that was then the ostensible reason why they should go to the
airport.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you and Lieutenant Nieuwoudt go to the
airport in a vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: I can't recall exactly whether Nieuwoudt and I
were together in a car, but I can recall that we sat near the airport in
a car, it is a long time ago and I suspect that we drove in different
vehicles and I must add that I am speculating on this because I can't
remember exactly.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Were askaris and Venter in other vehicles?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: The askaris were in a minibus, I cannot
remember the make and Mr Venter and Beeslaar were in a Nissan
Safari.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you see that the askaris approached the
three activists after they had climbed out of their vehicle and picked
them up?
MR VAN ZYL: The three weren't approached at the same time.
The askaris were in radio communication with us. We monitored the
movements of the three activists near the airport and gave the
askaris the sign when they arrived as well as a description of the
vehicle.
Photo's of the activists were given to the askaris. Lieutenant
Nieuwoudt was in communication with them by radio and as I recall,
the two askaris had got out first. The two activists who climbed out
of the bakkie first were intercepted. The driver went to park the
vehicle, at which time they stopped alongside him and forced him
into the vehicle.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Were the activists then taken to the minibus
by the askaris?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did one of the askaris then drive the Pebco
3's vehicle to where the others were?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: How did it come about, or what was the
decision what was to be done with the vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: The initial decision was that the activists' vehicle
was to be taken to the Lesotho border to make it seem as if they had
left the country. Lieutenant Nieuwoudt reported to me that the
askari who drove reported to him that the mechanical condition of
the vehicle was such that it would never reach the Lesotho border
and I gave an impulsive order which boiled down to the fact that he
had to get rid of the vehicle in whatever way he thought fit, burn it
out.
I asked him whether he knew of a place where to get rid of it
and he proposed an area in KwaZakhele.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was that done?
MR VAN ZYL: It was done, I was not present. It was reported to
me later that he and Sergeant Lotz did this.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did you and the others then go to a disused
police station at Post Chalmers near Cradock?
MR VAN ZYL: I went ahead to unlock the place and to prepare it
and the askaris came after me. I can't remember how long after me
it was, I was under the impression that Captain Venter and Mr
Beeslaar went with them to bring them safely to there, but I am not
quite sure of that.
At Cradock I went to the Commander's house, at that stage. I
woke him and asked him for the key of the police station at Post
Chalmers. I brought him under the impression that we were busy
doing source debriefing. He gave me the keys at which I then left. I
unlocked the house, there were candles which I then lit.
ADV DE VILLIERS: At the old police station itself, the askaris
took the activists to the garage behind the building?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Where was Nieuwoudt at that stage?
MR VAN ZYL: He and Sergeant Lotz arrived later by vehicle.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did Lieutenant Nieuwoudt speak to one of
the activists in the building?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, he did. He spoke to him in the lounge. It
was one of the activists. I can't remember whether he spoke to all
three of them during the course of that evening, but when he spoke
to them, it was one by one.
It was normal interrogation which deal with Mr Hashe's links
to a foreign suspect. As Sergeant Nieuwoudt can speak Xhosa and
the conversation was therefore in Xhosa and English so that I did
not quite understand it from time to time.
At that stage I was busy unloading things from the vehicle,
baggage etc.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Can you recall that one of the other persons
participated in the interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: It is possible that the askaris participated in the
interrogation at that stage, but it wasn't quite necessary for them to
become involved at any stage. At that stage their task had been
completed and they were only used to spend the night there, because
they had to be under the impression that they had participated in the
abduction and that the three activists had only been abducted for
means of interrogation.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Who was present in the house, was it you,
Captain Venter, Lieutenant Nieuwoudt, Beeslaar and Lotz? Is that
correct?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: And the askaris were in the garage?
MR VAN ZYL: Most of the time, yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Allegations were made yesterday that some of
the activists had been assaulted, do you have any comment on this?
MR VAN ZYL: They were not assaulted. There was no purpose in
assaulting these men. At that stage we were in the position where
we had to wait for Mr Du Plessis to monitor the situation in Port
Elizabeth. He had to report back to us whether any one of us had
been identified at the airport.
He was in the position of gaining information very quickly in
this regard and we could not afford to injure any one at that stage
and then to have to release them again if he came to us with a report
that the situation in PE was such that we could not continue with the
operation.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Were the activists then locked up in the
garage later after they had been given beds and blankets?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: The next morning Lieutenant Nieuwoudt
continued with the interrogation and informed you at one stage that
each one of the activists were prepared to act as informers but that
he could not trust them?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember whether each one of them was
prepared to be an informer, but at one stage he did tell me that one
or two spoke to him about this, about the possibility of becoming
informers, and he could possibly affirm this, but it is true that he
said that he would not be able to trust them.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was the same procedure used in the
interrogation as the previous evening?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes. Lieutenant Nieuwoudt had a wide knowledge
of what was happening in the townships, he confronted the activists
with this in general and we hoped that this would be sufficient
intimidation to make them give us new information.
We did however feel that we knew everything about their
activities and that we could not get a great deal of new information.
At one stage, I do not know whether it was the morning or the
afternoon, one of the accused had a story of the AK47 gun, but we
followed it up within a few days and it seemed as if it was false.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Later you ate together and in the afternoon
Venter, Beeslaar and the askaris left for Port Elizabeth?
MR VAN ZYL: That is as I can recall.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Major Du Plessis arrived approximately at
twelve o'clock that day and you reported back to him about what
had happened?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did he give you any information?
MR VAN ZYL: He said that the situation in Port Elizabeth was
positive, that nobody was apparently aware of the abduction and that
the operation to eliminate these activists had to go ahead.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Can you remember who was present at this
stage when Major Du Plessis arrived? In other words, were the
askaris still there?
MR VAN ZYL: I think that at stage they had already left.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Yesterday you heard that statements were
made to Major Du Plessis that during this day assaults took place,
do you want to comment on that?
MR VAN ZYL: No assault took place on these three activists.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Is it possible that assaults could have taken
place which you did not have any knowledge of?
MR VAN ZYL: I was not present all the time, but the activists
showed no signs of having been assaulted. They seemed at ease.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Is it correct that you gathered wood during
the day and continued with the interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: The interrogation was done mainly by Lieutenant
Nieuwoudt, Lotz and I gathered wood and at one stage he left to
buy food.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Is it correct that your recollection is that you
did not find out anything new during the interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Is it also correct that by early evening the
three activists were given coffee which contained a sleeping pill?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Can you remember what it was and where it
had been obtained?
MR VAN ZYL: I provided it. I did service in the operational area,
Ovamboland for many years and at the beginning of 1985 I was in
Ovamboland for a period of service.
Due to the fact that I did a lot of semi-military work, I had
this in my possession. I had to put up drips and basic para-medical
assistance which I had to provide and this sleeping pill was part of a
small supply of medical equipment that we had found in the suitcase
of a guerilla fighter of SWAPO which was given to me.
I learnt from the Medical Doctor exactly what it was, they
were in glass (indistinct) and he told me that it was more a sleeping
pill than a painkiller. I put it in my own medical case and kept it
there for in case I should need it.
As I had nothing else, that is what I used.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did they have the necessary effect?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Do you confirm that after the three activists
were asleep, that you shot one of the activists in the back of the
head and in this way killed him?
MR VAN ZYL: I did.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Can you remember who was the person whom
you killed?
MR VAN ZYL: I could not remember, I spoke to Lieutenant
Nieuwoudt yesterday and he gave me an idea of whom it could have
been.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Who do you think it was?
MR VAN ZYL: It think it was Mr Hashe.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Did Lieutenant Nieuwoudt and Sergeant Lotz
each kill one of the other activists in the same way?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. I do not know to whom I gave the
weapon at that stage. After that each of the persons were carried
out into the backyard and were shot in the back of the head in the
same way.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Can you indicate what type of weapon was
used?
MR VAN ZYL: It was a weapon that I provided myself, that was a
weapon of .22 calibre which I brought from the former Rhodesia
after my period of service there in 1975. It was an unlicensed
weapon.
ADV DE VILLIERS: What did you do with the weapon
afterwards?
MR VAN ZYL: I sawed it into pieces and threw it into the sea.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was that in 1986?
MR VAN ZYL: Approximately 1986, yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: After this the three bodies were placed on a
pile of wood, diesel was poured over them and they were set alight?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Is it your recollection that after
approximately six hours they bodies had been burnt to ash?
MR VAN ZYL: It could have been a bit longer, it carried on the
whole night.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was the ash scraped together after that and
placed in black bags?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Is it true that Lieutenant Nieuwoudt removed
these bags with the ashes and reported back to you later that he had
thrown the bags in the Fish River?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: You and Sergeant Lotz left for PE together
in your vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: And you reported to Major Du Plessis that
the operation had been completed?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Do you confirm any part of your application
which has possibly been left out in this evidence before the
Commission?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Van Zyl, the question has also been asked
about why Mr Du Plessis should apply for amnesty. Can you tell us
why you applied for amnesty?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, at the stage which I applied for
amnesty, I was still in Angola when I considered it last year. After
the incident took place, from that time onwards, I think that any
person has a need for forgiveness, it doesn't matter how strong, how
macho an operative you are, but I found and I felt that all the deeds,
all the illegal deeds that I had committed, that if I spoke up about
them, that I would get the forgiveness from God and I think it is
necessary to be forgiven. And this was my greatest motivation.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Van Zyl, we know what your profession
was in 1985, what are you doing at present?
MR VAN ZYL: As from 1991 I have been involved in humanitarian
mine sweeping.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Why do you think that you were requested to
do this task with regard to the Pebco 3?
MR VAN ZYL: I do not know why Mr Du Plessis chose me. I
think that I can just speculate that he thought that I was best
equipped to plan such an operation. Personally, I chose Lieutenant
Lotz and Nieuwoudt for exactly the same reasons because they were
balanced people, or are balanced people, and do not have any
psychopathic tendencies and that I thought that they would be
prepared to do it.
ADV DE VILLIERS: What was the specific purpose of this
operation?
MR VAN ZYL: The purpose as I can remember, was to remove the
three activists from society so that they could no longer participate
effectively in organisation and be either directly or indirectly
responsible for the unrest in the townships.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Was the interrogation that took place
therefore instrumental or secondary to this purpose that you had just
described - the interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: The interrogation as I have already said, was
mainly to bring the askaris under the impression that this was the
purpose for abducting the activists. At no stage did the askaris
know that they had to be eliminated.
Colonel Venter and Beeslaar did not know this at that stage
either, but they could have suspected it at a later stage, I am not
sure. It was therefore in addition to the ultimate purpose of the
operation which was the elimination of the activists, that is all.
ADV DE VILLIERS: You also told us that if you think back there
was maybe excessive patriotism. Can you give us a bit of
background why you would have had this patriotism at that stage?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I think I speak for most of the
Security Police, they grew up in this Security Branch where we got
our culture from the more experienced people and continued with
this ourselves, a culture of discipline and especially of not
questioning. We never questioned anything.
Maybe as a result of the discipline and in retrospect, possibly
as a result of an exaggerated sense of responsibility or patriotism as
we interpreted it.
ADV DE VILLIERS: The image was created yesterday that these
activists were not dangerous, can you comment on that?
MR VAN ZYL: The activists as such physically were not dangerous
because they did not have the training or the background to be
dangerous in themselves, but their influence and the influence that
they had, was according to our information and our convictions at
that stage, was such that they could be linked directly and indirectly
to a great deal of the activities that took place.
Some of them were also involved in the recruitment of recruits
for terrorist training abroad which had as its purpose to violently
overthrow the government of the day.
ADV DE VILLIERS: You also mentioned to me in consultation
about some of the incidents that some of the other members of the
community had to deal with in this period. Can you give us more
information about some of these incidents?
MR VAN ZYL: I mentioned it yesterday because rent boycotts
were referred to yesterday, there were many consumer boycotts.
Apart from the other actions, murders committed and cases of arson
which took place.
During the consumer boycotts we actually saw these things
and we listened to complaints where people who had simply had to
go and buy their supplies in areas controlled by for instance Pebco,
these people were forced to actually eat all those supplies, for
instance frozen chickens and the like, they were actually forced to
eat these things.
I know of a case where a bag of flour was eaten and oil was
consumed after that. This was as a result of the intimidation from a
side of people such as these activists.
ADV DE VILLIERS: What is your feeling, there was also a
question yesterday that do you think that you would have been
charged criminally if the ordinary Police knew of these deeds?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Thank you Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV DE VILLIERS.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Booyens?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ADV BOOYENS: Thank you Mr
Chairman. It has been suggested that you had to report in all
directions. This type of operation, although you were under the
impression that they were "authorised", they were clandestine
operations, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV BOOYENS: Did you want to say anything else?
MR VAN ZYL: I am not sure if I know what you are referring to,
but it could be that you are referring to the Joint Management
Council. I heard the question yesterday, if they were being referred
to in the overt manner in which the question was asked, they would
become conspirators the moment they did that, there was no purpose
in creating co-accused or conspirators in this structure, it was
therefore a clandestine operation.
ADV BOOYENS: With this principle of clandestine operations
hand in hand with this goes the need to know principle, surely?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, absolutely.
ADV BOOYENS: Is this also the reason why the askaris were not
trusted to be present during the elimination of these people?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. We did not know them personally
and therefore we did not know whether we could trust them, we did
not know what there convictions were. Although at that stage we
did not think that we had to doubt their loyalty, it was such a
delicate operation that we did not want to involve them.
ADV BOOYENS: When we are talking about this type of
clandestine operation, was it a type of situation which one or was
the impression one of do the operations, but remember if you get
caught, you are on your own, we know nothing about it, coming
from the authorities?
MR VAN ZYL: That was definitely the impression that I had and
perhaps this had no basis and this was the impression that from a
higher authority there was approval whether direct or indirect for
this type of operations.
ADV BOOYENS: And also that in as far as it was possible, that
they would cover up for you but that if the situation arose that you
were caught, then you would have to deal with the problems
yourself.
Did you realise that that was the case?
MR VAN ZYL: I did realise that, yes.
ADV BOOYENS: Is that how clandestine operations work?
MR VAN ZYL: I think that is how they work throughout the
world.
ADV BOOYENS: Thank you Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV BOOYENS.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Du Plessis?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, Mr
Chairman, my learned friend Mr Lamey indicated to me that he
wants to after me today, so I will go first.
Mr Van Zyl, can you recall exactly what was said to Captain
Venter before the operation, were they specifically told that the
operation had as its purpose to interrogate the activists?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. I think that is what the words
implied.
ADV DU PLESSIS: You had been asked about this, I just want to
ask a few more aspects. You said that one could not really trust the
askaris and that one had to work on a need to know basis, is that
correct?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not say that one could not really trust them, I
said we did not know whether we could, we did not know them
personally and it was unnecessary to make them accomplices in this
regard.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, perhaps I did not formulate it correctly.
Is it correct to say that under those circumstances, you would not
even consider any serious assaults taking place on the activists in
the presence of the askaris?
MR VAN ZYL: There was no purpose in assaulting these people.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Therefore you would not allow it that
eliminations take place in the presence of the askaris?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Did I understand you correctly, the askaris
were therefore used basically only to assist you in the abduction, is
that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: It was their task that they would abduct the
activists and transport them to Post Chalmers.
ADV DU PLESSIS: And the bus in which you travelled, would be
used to transport them?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DU PLESSIS: And they would have been used during the
transport to watch over the activists/
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DU PLESSIS: And this specific bus was also used because
the windows were blacked out?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember that they were tinted.
ADV DU PLESSIS: If I put it to you that Mr Beeslaar is going to
testify that the windows were tinted, you won't argue about that?
MR VAN ZYL: I will accept that.
ADV DU PLESSIS: When you arrived at Post Chalmers, was
anybody there or was there nobody?
MR VAN ZYL: There was nobody at Post Chalmers.
ADV DU PLESSIS: You testified that with regard to the askaris
and Captain Venter and Beeslaar, that you can recall that they spent
the night there and that they left the next morning, is that correct
that is what you can remember?
MR VAN ZYL: That is as I can recall.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Did I understand you correctly in your
evidence in this regard, that it is possible that regarding this aspect,
you might not be correct and that it is possible that what Beeslaar
said, or what he will say when he testifies, that he and Captain
Venter only arrived later that afternoon, that this might possibly be
correct?
MR VAN ZYL: It is a long time ago, my focus was on the
operation itself. It was an extremely unpleasant experience and it is
possibly so that with regard to the additional members, I could have
made a mistake.
With regard to the askaris, they were definitely there.
CHAIRPERSON: On what basis, on what reasonable basis then did
you distinguish between Venter and Beeslaar because it would mean,
it would suggest that what you are saying is that you were aware
that Venter left and your recollection Beeslaar remained.
ADV DU PLESSIS: No Mr Chairman, that is not how I understand
the gist of my question or his answer.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry.
ADV DU PLESSIS: That is not how I understood the gist of my
question or his answer. What I understood from him is that he did
not distinguish between Venter and Beeslaar, what I asked him was
does he concede that he may be wrong in respect of when Venter
and Beeslaar arrived there, namely that they didn't spend the evening
there, but that they arrived later the afternoon, which was the
evidence of Colonel Venter and which will be the evidence of Mr
Beeslaar.
And as I understood him, he conceded that possibility.
CHAIRPERSON: That is his own version of which he is not sure. I
accept that his recollection may be wrong, but what is the witness'
recollection about the event? What is your recollection about the
event?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, why I distinguished between Colonel
Venter and Mr Beeslaar on the one hand and the askaris on the other
hand is solely because they travelled in two different vehicles and I
know that the askaris followed me at a distance with the three
activists.
What I am not sure about is whether Mr Venter and Beeslaar
had followed in their car as well. My recollection is that they were
there, but I am not sure sir. And I do know that the askaris were
there.
CHAIRPERSON: I think it answers my question because then you
could have made a mistake in respect of Beeslaar because he
travelled with askaris, he was associated with the askaris to a
certain extent.
MR VAN ZYL: No sir, not in this instance. He travelled with Mr
Venter in his car, in the Nissan.
CHAIRPERSON: To the place?
MR VAN ZYL: That is my recollection, but as I said I concede that
I may have made a mistake in that respect Mr Chairman.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Mr Chairman, maybe I can just clear this up.
Colonel Venter's evidence and the evidence of Warrant Officer
Beeslaar, Colonel Venter has already given evidence and Warrant
Officer Beeslaar will give evidence, is that the askaris travelled in
the minibus to Post Chalmers immediately after they got hold of the
activists.
Colonel Venter and Warrant Officer Beeslaar returned to
Glenconnor, they did not go with that same evening. They only
went through to Cradock the next afternoon. That is only Beeslaar
and Venter and they arrived at Post Chalmers late that afternoon.
Now the evidence of Mr Van Zyl was as I understood it, was that
Captain Venter and Warrant Officer Beeslaar, as far as he
remembers, travelled together with the askaris on the same day to
Post Chalmers, that they spent the evening there and that they left
the next morning.
But the concession that he made which I asked him to make, is
that in respect of Beeslaar and Venter, he may be wrong, meaning
that it is possible that Venter and Beeslaar as they testified and will
testify, arrived there only the afternoon. So it is just a question ...
(intervention)
CHAIRPERSON: I may have misunderstood.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, that is a concession that I asked of Mr
Van Zyl. Do I understand you correctly that is the concession you
made?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. Yes, and as I said my own focus
at that time was on the operation that had to follow and that was
probably going to be that evening and it was very, very unpleasant
and I was not looking forward to it and I think it is possible that I
could have made a mistake.
I know that Venter and Beeslaar were at Post Chalmers, but if
I had made a mistake about the time, then it is unfortunately
possible.
ADV DU PLESSIS: I also want to put it to you in all fairness that
I discussed the matter thoroughly with Beeslaar and that in turn he
says that his recollection is as I put it to you but it is also possible
that after all these years, that he is wrong and that this will be his
evidence.
ADV DE JAGER: Mr Du Plessis, perhaps you should put of the
other microphone and not move your hands, because it seems to
affect the microphone.
ADV DU PLESSIS: I did not know that it is so sensitive. Perhaps
I should use Mr Lamey's microphone. Mr Van Zyl, do you
understand what I am saying?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Let's go over to another point. Did you ever
get any feedback from the Commanders regarding this operation in
the form of any criticism?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Did you accept that everyone was satisfied
with what you had done and that you had not been reprimanded?
MR VAN ZYL: In the first place I had to carry out the operation,
but regarding the operation, the decision I took to burn out the
vehicle was a very big tactical mistake.
ADV DU PLESSIS: What I want to know is that you were never
criticised, nobody ever came back to you and said that it was an
unauthorised operation and why did you ever do it, what was wrong,
why did you do it?
MR VAN ZYL: No one knew about the operation as far as I knew,
apart from Colonel Du Plessis and Snyman.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Regarding your political motive, were you a
supporter of the National Party at that stage?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not actually have any political affiliation. I
supported the government of the day and although I was not a
member of the National Party as far as I can remember, I most
probably was a supporter of the NP.
ADV DU PLESSIS: One last question. You testified with regard
to the involvement of the three activists in several events, especially
at meetings - are you of the opinion that the involvement of the
activists could have originated from criminal deeds which people
could have committed who attended those meetings?
MR VAN ZYL: It was the general opinion, because it wasn't only
about what was said at these meetings, there were many private
conversations between these people and people overseas and other
activists which were definitely related to criminal deeds and violent
deeds and the recruitment of people for terrorist training overseas.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Do I understand you correctly if I say that
although the activists only acted at meetings sometimes, do you say
that it is a possibility that those actions led to criminal actions of
other people, among others violence?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Thank you Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV DU PLESSIS.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Lamey?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR LAMEY: Thank you Mr
Chairman. I see it is now ten to one. Is it possible that we can have
an adjournment at this stage? There is certain aspects that I just
want to clarify before I start with cross-examination?
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, but what has been so drastic in here, isn't
everything that should normally be covered in consultation?
ADV LAMEY: Mr Chairman, I can start.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, start on other aspects of the matter which
don't require consultation and then we will see how far we can go.
ADV LAMEY: As it pleases you Mr Chairman. Mr Van Zyl, you
testified here that your memory is a bit vague on certain aspects,
including the question of whether Captain Venter and Warrant
Officer Beeslaar had been or arrived at Post Chalmers that evening,
whether they arrived together?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Is your memory also vague as regards the question
of when the elimination took place?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
ADV LAMEY: Are you quite sure that it took place on the next
day?
MR VAN ZYL: The day after the abduction, definitely yes.
ADV LAMEY: And what time in the evening?
MR VAN ZYL: It was about sunset.
ADV LAMEY: Sunset?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes. It was dusk.
ADV LAMEY: Did you have a braai that evening?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
ADV LAMEY: Are you quite certain of that?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, very certain.
ADV LAMEY: Are you sure that Warrant Officer Beeslaar and
Captain Venter did not arrive later that afternoon at Post Chalmers
as they would state in their versions?
MR VAN ZYL: I have conceded that I am not sure exactly when
they arrived there. My initial recollection was that they arrived just
after the askaris because they travelled just behind the askaris.
ADV LAMEY: Now if that is your recollection, why then do you
concede that you possibly could be wrong?
MR VAN ZYL: Because this happened such a long time ago, it has
been a long passage of time.
ADV LAMEY: Yes, but if that is your recollection in your own
mind, then why had you made the concession that you could possibly
be wrong on that point?
MR VAN ZYL: Because Venter and Beeslaar's roles in this
operation were very small and because the askaris' roles were a bit
bigger and because my purpose with the operation was the
elimination of these people. The interrogation was only an
additional reason for bringing the askaris under the impression that
the people had been abducted for that reason.
ADV LAMEY: Was Venter and Beeslaar fully informed as to the
objectives of the operation?
MR VAN ZYL: They were informed as to the purposes for the
abduction, namely the interrogation.
ADV LAMEY: Why were they only briefed on that aspect of the
operation?
MR VAN ZYL: Because it wasn't necessary to give then any
further information. They were not involved in the elimination at all
so therefore it wasn't necessary to make them accomplices.
ADV LAMEY: If you then have that recollection but you make the
concession that they possibly did not arrive there on that same
evening, why then can you be so sure regarding your recollection
about when the elimination took place?
MR VAN ZYL: Because I took part in the elimination and because
the elimination made a far greater impact on me than the arrival or
departure of Venter, Beeslaar or the askaris.
ADV LAMEY: I can understand that the elimination made a great
impression on you, but the passage of time and the day on which it
took place, isn't it possible that you actually are making an error as
far as that is concerned?
MR VAN ZYL: No, not at all.
ADV LAMEY: Why not?
MR VAN ZYL: Because that is the way I remember it.
ADV LAMEY: Yes, but the question is why do you remember it so
specifically? Because Major Du Plessis, during cross-examination
conceded that it could possibly have taken place a day later, it could
have been a day later that he arrived there?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't hear that. I didn't hear Major Du Plessis
conceding that point. But then if he did so, then that is his
recollection.
ADV LAMEY: To put it in full, my recollection of Mr Du Plessis
evidence was that it was also his recollection that it was the next
day, but under cross-examination he conceded at some point that it
could have been later, especially when he was asked about the fact
that he first wanted to make sure that there were no problems and
that the elimination had to be postponed for that reason and to a
further question he said that it was possible that it could have been a
day later.
MR VAN ZYL: No.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, let's put it this way. Isn't it so that the
true reason why you concede that you may be wrong, is simply
because Venter's version and Beeslaar is different from yours?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it is not the only reason why sir. Mr
Chairman, I wanted to get that operation over and done with as soon
as possible. Major Du Plessis reported back the next day at about
midday, that as far as he was concerned the coast was clear in Port
Elizabeth and that we could go ahead with the operation, there was
no way that I would postpone that until the next day.
An operation like this is a very unpleasant experience and to
postpone it for another day, would have meant putting all three of us
through the same tension and I was trying to get it over and done
with as soon as possible.
ADV LAMEY: If your memory is not quite clear on this point and
you have conceded that, then if Mr Mogoai who is an askari or was
an askari, and Mr Koole who is a permanent member of the Force, I
am specifically stating that Mr Koole wasn't an askari, if they who
served directly under Venter and Beeslaar, if they came here and
testified that Captain Venter and Beeslaar were in fact present from
the very first night, would you be prepared to make the same
concession that they could possibly be correct in their evidence?
ADV DE JAGER: But that was also his evidence, that he was
under the impression that they were there from the very first
evening. Because he thought they had followed him.
So that is not a concession which he made, it is simply that
he was persisting in what he had said earlier on.
ADV LAMEY: Yes, perhaps I did not formulate my question
properly, maybe I will rephrase. These men who served directly
under Venter and Beeslaar, would you concede that their
recollection on that particular aspect would possibly be more
accurate than your own, the fact of whether Venter and Beeslaar
were there or not?
The movements of Venter and Beeslaar were not that
important to you, your focus was on the elimination, but here you
have two other people who were moving around with their
Commanding Officers and who would surely have been aware of
their presence or not?
ADV DE VILLIERS: I don't think it is fair to ask my client that
question because I think the question is being put to him does he
think that one person's recollection is better that another.
CHAIRPERSON: No, no, that is not the question.
ADV DE VILLIERS: That is how I understand it.
CHAIRPERSON: It is a very fair question.
ADV DE VILLIERS: May I then request that the question please
be repeated.
ADV LAMEY: Would you concede that in light of the fact that
your focus was on the elimination and the focus of the askaris was
not on the elimination, that they were in a better position to
remember whether Venter and Beeslaar were there that evening and
the fact that they arrived there together on that afternoon?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I said I would concede that if Venter and
Beeslaar say that they arrived there together that evening, I would
concede that. I don't need the askaris to confirm that.
I am trying to say what happened to the best of my ability.
CHAIRPERSON: That is not the question. The question is you
have got on the one hand a version put forward by Venter and
Beeslaar, on the other side you have got a version put forward by
Mr Lamey's clients, two other people.
And leaving apart what your personal recollection is, you have
got two sets of people, two on the one side, two on the other side,
they give two different versions. You have already indicated that
you are prepared to concede Venter and Beeslaar could be correct,
now the question is would you also be prepared to concede that
Mogoai and the other person could also be correct, that is the
question?
MR VAN ZYL: If they say that Venter and Beeslaar arrived the
next day and left the next day Mr Chairman ...
CHAIRPERSON: Just repeat yourself?
MR VAN ZYL: I beg your pardon? If they should say that Mr
Venter and Beeslaar contrary to what I said, had arrived the next
day and also left the next day, then I would go along with that.
ADV DE JAGER: Mr Van Zyl, they are not saying that Venter and
Beeslaar arrived the next day. What they are saying is that Venter
and Beeslaar arrived that first night with them.
MR VAN ZYL: That is what I initially said and that is how I recall
it.
ADV DE JAGER: And that is what you also said, so your
recollection and the recollection of Mr Mogoai and Koole, these
recollections correspond, you agree that Venter and Beeslaar were
present that first night?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, that is how I have it.
ADV DE JAGER: Now, Venter and Beeslaar's version differs from
yours and Mr Mogoai and Koole's version. They say they only
arrived the next day.
MR VAN ZYL: Chairman, I have already made the concession that
I can't recall exactly when Venter and Beeslaar arrived there. The
fact of the matter is that they were and that they left the next day.
CHAIRPERSON: The question is would you also concede that
Mogoai and the other person can possibly be right? That is the
question?
MR VAN ZYL: Well, I said so initially Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Was that the question you wanted to know?
Was that what you wanted to know?
ADV LAMEY: Yes, to a certain extent, but there is a further
aspect which I specifically wanted to find out.
CHAIRPERSON: Can you hold it until two o'clock if you don't
mind?
ADV LAMEY: As it pleases the Chairperson.
CHAIRPERSON: We will adjourn until two o'clock.
COMMISSION ADJOURNS
ON RESUMPTION
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Lamey, please continue.
JOHAN MARTIN VAN ZYL: (s.u.o.)
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ADV LAMEY: (cont)
Thank you Mr Chairman. Before I proceed, I have noticed
that the bundle of the verbatim evidence of Mr Venter which forms
part of the Committee's bundle is incomplete.
I am in possession of a complete bundle and I am going to ask
my colleague to hand it up as well as to hand copies to the evidence
leader and the family of the victims.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, I think we do have the copies.
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Mr Chairman. Mr Van Zyl, before the
adjournment we were busy with your recollection about Captain
Venter and Warrant Officer Beeslaar on the first evening after your
arrival and this will also be valid for the next day at the old police
station at Post Chalmers.
In your evidence you said that it was your recollection that
they were there but on the question from my learned friend, Mr Du
Plessis, I got the impression that you had also made a concession
that your information or your memory could possibly be faulty in
this regard, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. The reason for that is that Mr
Venter and Beeslaar played a very small role at that stage.
ADV LAMEY: I did not have my headphones on, I could not hear
your reply.
MR VAN ZYL: I repeat it is correct Mr Chairman, and the reason
why I was unsure is because Mr Venter and Beeslaar's role in this
operation was less important.
ADV LAMEY: If Mr Mogoai and Koole say and this will be their
evidence that Captain Venter and Beeslaar were there, will this
strengthen your recollection to such an extent that you will be less
inclined to make that concession?
MR VAN ZYL: It makes no difference to my recollection, at this
stage I am not very sure about that point.
CHAIRPERSON: Perhaps the question should have been that if
they should testify, would it have influenced you in any way?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman.
ADV LAMEY: I do not understand why you are making that
concession that you are making that concession, but at the same time
you are saying that it is your recollection that they were there?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, it was my recollection as I
mentioned in my statement. At that stage I did not feel that I was
speculating. It is a long time ago and as far as I am concerned, it
was a less important aspect of the operation and that is why as a
result of the period of time that had lapsed, I am unsure about this.
ADV LAMEY: Was any arrangements made at any stage, I believe
that you were actually in control of the execution of this operation?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Was there an arrangement made with you at any
stage that the command of the askaris would be left to you at any
stage?
MR VAN ZYL: I do not think that this was done directly.
ADV LAMEY: Are you saying no?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember positively that there was such
an agreement.
ADV LAMEY: Would you have remembered it if such
arrangements had been made?
MR VAN ZYL: Probably yes.
ADV LAMEY: Can you remember exactly ... (intervention)
ADV DE JAGER: But were all the men not under your command,
Venter and Beeslaar, weren't they also under your command with
regard to the abducting of the people?
MR VAN ZYL: Indirectly most probably yes, but no such decision
was made that I was in command and who was second in command,
etc.
ADV DE JAGER: But you would have been in the position to say
stop and everybody would have had to stop?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Van Zyl, I can understand and this is not
disputed that the leadership of the operation regarding the abduction
and questioning or interrogation and the departure to Post Chalmers
was under the initiative and leadership of the Port Elizabeth Security
Branch, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: But the askaris were under the command of Captain
Venter?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV LAMEY: And they were in the area under his command as
well?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: And they were just to go with or were they
involved in the operation?
MR VAN ZYL: They had to carry out the execution of the
operation.
ADV LAMEY: But the direct line of command between the askaris
and their Commander was with Captain Venter?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Can you recall exactly and I am now asking you
whether your memory is quite clear on this point, when the askaris
departed from Post Chalmers, according to you when was this?
MR VAN ZYL: I would say that it was just before lunch time on
the second day.
ADV LAMEY: In other words the very next day?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: And you are certain of this?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: And Captain Venter and Beeslaar?
MR VAN ZYL: I would say approximately the same time, but once
again I am not quite sure as far as they are concerned.
ADV LAMEY: If you say that you are not sure, is it possible that
they could have left a bit later?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, that is possible.
ADV LAMEY: When would Captain Venter and Beeslaar have left
the next day at the very latest?
MR VAN ZYL: I would have to speculate about that.
ADV LAMEY: Can you not recall?
MR VAN ZYL: No, actually I cannot.
ADV LAMEY: But you testified that if I understand correctly that
Captain Venter and Beeslaar were not present at the elimination?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Nor did they know about it?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: You said that the people were eliminated at dusk of
the following day?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: And you are sure about that?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: Between the stage that the askaris departed and
Captain Venter and Beeslaar departed, when should they have
departed in all certainty? If you take those scenarios of which you
are sure, if you get them together, when did they have to leave?
MR VAN ZYL: Then they should have left late that morning.
ADV LAMEY: Late morning, but you say that they were definitely
not there by late afternoon, round about dusk, not that evening
either?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Are you sure of that?
MR VAN ZYL: I am.
ADV LAMEY: I want to refer you to what Warrant Officer
Beeslaar said in his evidence. I am referring to page 78 where
Beeslaar says that Captain Venter and I went to Cradock the next
day of the day thereafter and then he carries on to saying that they
then arrived there at the old police station.
How they arrived there is not necessary for purposes of
questioning. What he said in paragraph 2 of that page, it was
already late afternoon, but the sun was still shining. Captain Venter
and I spent a few hours there and among others, we braaied and
enjoyed a few drinks. There were three black men present,
approximately five metres from where we were standing. I just want
to stop there.
If Beeslaar now says that they left the late afternoon, at the
top he says the next day or the day afterwards, if he says that they
arrived late that afternoon, they spent a few hours there and that
amongst others they braaied and enjoyed a few drinks, what do you
say about that?
MR VAN ZYL: I do not think that the statement says that he
arrived there late afternoon of the next day, perhaps he can just
assist me in this regard.
CHAIRPERSON: Of any day?
MR VAN ZYL: All that he says is that the next day or the day
thereafter we went to Cradock. He did not say that they arrived
there that afternoon.
CHAIRPERSON: The first sentence of the second paragraph. He
is reading it in conjunction, he is reading these two sentences in
conjunction.
MR VAN ZYL: As it pleases you Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: He is reading these two sentences in conjunction.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I definitely recollect one braai and
that was late that morning when we had meat and the activists ate
with us. We did not eat again that day.
I cannot recollect if Mr Venter or Beeslaar were there when
we were eating, but my recollection is that Mr Venter and Beeslaar
had left at least by early afternoon, but definitely during the first
part of the day.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, I don't know how you want to deal with
this, but maybe you should take it step by step because it is a little
bit convoluted the way you are dealing with this aspect. I mean
shouldn't you deal with the first sentence on the top of the page and
then move on to the next paragraph which seems to be an
independent aspect and you know, not just deal with them in this
way?
I am sure you know how best to deal with this, but it is a little
bit confusing to the witness and indeed to us as well. For my own
sake, can I just ask the witness, you have seen the first sentence on
page 51?
MR VAN ZYL: I have.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, there is a suggestion or there is a
concession possibly on the part of the person who makes this
statement, that he could have arrived there not just the following
day but in fact possibly the day thereafter, what do you say to that?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I have already conceded that it is possible that
they arrived the next day, in other words the second day sir. What I
do not concede is that it could have happened even a second day
after that, it did not happen another day later. So that is as far as I
am concerned, this is correct, they did not arrive two days after we
abducted the activists.
CHAIRPERSON: As he suggests?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. I am saying that I have conceded
that it is possible that they arrived the next day, but sir, it was
definitely not the day after that as he is saying in his statement.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes.
ADV DE JAGER: And if we speak of the second day, then the first
day is when the abduction took place and the second day was the
day on which the elimination took place?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE JAGER: You are thus differing, or there is no possibility
as far as you are concerned, that the abduction took place on the
first day, that the second day just passed and that the elimination
took place on the third day?
MR VAN ZYL: I keep to it that it was the second day. There is no
way in which I would allow this operation to carry on for an extra
day.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes Mr Lamey?
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Mr Chairman. Mr Van Zyl, did I
understand you correctly that the remains of the deceased, the ashes,
were thrown into the river on the 10th, and that you reported it
then?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Why would that have taken place on the 10th?
MR VAN ZYL: Because the whole night of the 10th we were busy
with the extremely unpleasant task of burning those people.
ADV LAMEY: Would it not have been urgent?
MR VAN ZYL: It was a remote place and in the early morning
hours of the next morning this occurred.
ADV LAMEY: I want to refer to Warrant Officer Beeslaar's
statement. The crux of his statement as I read it in context is that
he says that if you look at the previous page, page 77, he and
Captain Venter went back to Glenconnor after the abduction was
carried out at the airport.
And then it carries on to page 78, where he said that the next
day or a day thereafter, he and Captain Venter went to Cradock.
What he is saying here is in paragraph 2 of page 78, before I put it
to you, you testified that you ate braaivleis during the day?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Can you remember when this took place?
MR VAN ZYL: I said it was more or less late in the morning,
middle of the morning.
ADV LAMEY: Were the askaris already gone by that time?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I think they were still there.
ADV LAMEY: Now Beeslaar states that it was already late
afternoon, but the sun was still shining. Captain Venter and I spent
a few hours there and braaied and enjoyed drinks.
MR VAN ZYL: Under no circumstances would I have allowed
anybody to have drinks during such an operation, that is the first
point. Secondly I recall this differently, the afternoon we gathered
wood and we were alone with the activists, except for Deon
Nieuwoudt who interrogated them most of the time.
ADV LAMEY: As you said yourself, with regard to the askaris,
here was an element of misleading, they were not supposed to know
what the ultimate purpose was, is that true?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: Would it not have been more probable if they had
said that they had been there the following evening as well and that
they did braai and enjoyed drinks?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't get the point.
ADV LAMEY: Your evidence states that you would never have
allowed alcohol at such an occasion, my question to you is if it was
part of the planning of the operation, and there was an element of
deception, would it not have created a measure of normality for your
presence at Post Chalmers in the eyes of the askaris, to have this
braai?
MR VAN ZYL: If the use of alcohol is a normality among the
askaris, it was not amongst us, not during any of our operations and
especially not there.
ADV LAMEY: No, that is not the question the question is if your
evidence was that deception was part of the plan as far as the
askaris were concerned?
MR VAN ZYL: Is this with regard to the purpose of the operation,
they were not necessary for any interrogation, therefore it was not
necessary for them to remain there any longer, they did not have the
background, they did not speak Xhosa and they could be of no
further use to us.
ADV LAMEY: If you wanted to bring about this deception, then
surely you had to do this in a convincing way?
MR VAN ZYL: I thought we were very convincing.
ADV LAMEY: I want to put it to you that it was done with
conviction to such an extent that the people were interrogated
intensively the evening for a bit when they arrived and especially the
next day and that their evidence is that a braai was held and that
drinks were enjoyed the next evening?
MR VAN ZYL: That is wrong.
ADV LAMEY: The Pebco 3 were not arrested at the airport, is that
correct?
MR VAN ZYL: They were arrested right in front of the airport.
ADV LAMEY: Were they arrested or just grabbed and abducted?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they weren't arrested, they were abducted.
ADV LAMEY: Now, we have the situation that you want to
mislead the askaris as far as this operation is concerned and the
reasons behind it. Your evidence is that you grabbed the people at
the airport, or that they grabbed them and that they abducted them
and that they were informed as regards the abduction and their role
there?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Now, they were taken to a place, a remote place as
Major Du Plessis said approximately 280 kilometres from Port
Elizabeth?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: An old police station?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: The persons arrived there and you said that they
were merely interrogated superficially, no assaults took place?
MR VAN ZYL: That is true.
ADV LAMEY: And the next morning, during the course of the
morning, the askaris were requested to depart?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: And the Security Branch members remained behind
in your presence or in the presence of the detainees?
MR VAN ZYL: That is right.
ADV LAMEY: Do you really think that people who are busy
planning an operation, who wants to mislead others as to the
purpose of their detention at Post Chalmers, that they would just be
asked to leave the next morning? That they were never asked to
help with the interrogation, the purpose was to assist with the
abduction?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I think it is completely natural.
ADV LAMEY: What conviction would you have been able to
create amongst them in that short period that they were there? What
would have happened if they started to wonder what they were doing
there, if they had just thought that they were assisting with the
abduction, what the purpose was behind this abduction, did you not
think that that question would arise?
MR VAN ZYL: But I told you that as far as they were concerned,
the objective was interrogation. I did not discuss the length of time
these people would stay there.
ADV LAMEY: But I understood your evidence that they would
only be involved in the abduction and that was all they were told,
not the interrogation. The reason for the abduction was the
interrogation, but were the askaris told this?
MR VAN ZYL: I think so.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Lamey, I think with your permission, I am
going to intervene at this stage because this thing keeps on coming
time and again about misleading the askaris, and the reason given. I
think I should ask you Mr Van Zyl, the people are asked to abduct
somebody for the purposes of interrogation, according to you.
They were made to believe that that was for interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct sir.
CHAIRPERSON: You expected them to believe that solely for the
purpose of interrogating a person, you need to abduct him? Did you
in the past abduct people to go and interrogate them?
MR VAN ZYL: No, we did not sir.
CHAIRPERSON: But did you really, did you really think that these
people would believe that just for the sake of interrogating
somebody, you need to abduct him? You can go and fetch him from
his house so that his family can see that he is being taken away by
the police, after all he is going to come back?
MR VAN ZYL: That seems logical now sir, after 12 years, I cannot
say what our train of thought was at the time, but I concede that
that is logical now.
CHAIRPERSON: Even then it was logical? I can't understand how
you can keep on saying that you didn't trust the askaris, you mislead
them into thinking that the people are being abducted solely for the
purposes of interrogation, they would have to be less than wise to
believe that.
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct sir, but in a way I was also
protecting them knowing about the operation, about becoming
accomplices.
CHAIRPERSON: And this aspect of not trusting them. If you
didn't trust them about the question of elimination, how could you
trust them enough to involve them in the abduction?
Surely they would know that those people eventually were
killed, wouldn't they know that?
MR VAN ZYL: They could have surmised that afterwards, of
course.
CHAIRPERSON: Of course they would have known, I can't
understand why you keep on saying that they cannot have been
involved there because you did not trust them, when in fact you used
the very same people to abduct the people you are going to kill.
If they were not trustworthy, did you not think that they
would spill the beans?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not say that they were not trustworthy Mr
Chairman, I said that we did not know them, we did not know
whether we could trust them to that extent and that is why I did not
want to involve them in the final operation.
CHAIRPERSON: But you trust them enough to involve them in the
initial operation which is directly linked with the disappearance of
the people?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
CHAIRPERSON: How do you explain that?
MR VAN ZYL: I concede your point sir, as I say after 12 years, it
looks ridiculous now.
CHAIRPERSON: Okay, continue now Mr Lamey.
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Mr Chairman. You see Mr Van Zyl, the
whole point of the rendition of the two applicants who I am
representing, is that they were not even informed that there would
be an abduction. They received their orders from Captain Venter
merely to pack clothes for three days.
They were briefly told that they had to wait at a certain point
near the Security Branch offices where they arrived from Glenconnor
and that they then had to follow a vehicle to the airport and there
they were simply told that they had to park their minibus and their
evidence is that the people who were involved in the physical
abduction of these people, were Captain Venter whom they saw and
they referred to about four or five white men.
While these people were walking to the entrance of the
airport, there was a movement and they were merely just gathered
together, and taken to the minibus where Mr Mogoai, Koole and
Mamasela were waiting for them.
MR VAN ZYL: That is completely false. What is the purpose then
that they with us if we could have abducted them ourselves, we
would have transported them ourselves.
We would not ask them only to transport these people for us.
ADV LAMEY: But I want to put it to you that only you will know
whether this is the truth, but the probability is that the askaris were
involved in the identification of terrorists in the area and that there
was probably a plan as you say, to eliminate them in the end, but
before that elimination, you wanted to get maximum information
from these people regarding the movements of terrorists, arms that
were hidden because their evidence would be that this is what
happened during the interrogation and this is the nature of the
interrogation that took place at Post Chalmers?
MR VAN ZYL: The askaris were not equipped to interrogate these
three activists.
ADV LAMEY: I am not saying that they did it on their own or that
they undertook to do this, but this is the nature of the interrogation
that took place.
ADV DE JAGER: Just reply to that please.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, Deon Nieuwoudt did the
interrogation. The askaris did not have the background to
interrogate anyone from the PE area. They could not work in our
black townships and they were not a success in that operation and
they were only used because they could assist with the abduction.
ADV DE JAGER: Can I just get this quite clear? Are you clients
say that they parked at the airport, they did not leave their vehicle,
they remained in the vehicle and that other persons, four or five
white men, grabbed the other people with violent means, I don't
know how, but they never left the vehicle, they just sat there
waiting?
ADV LAMEY: What they are saying is that they were mainly given
instructions by Captain Venter at the scene as to where to park.
They waited in the vehicle and from the position from where they
were parked, they could see how the white men grabbed,
apprehended these people on their way to the entrance of the
airport. No violence was used.
It was rather strangely normal the way this has occurred, they
were just as if they were assisted to the minibus where the askaris
were waiting for them. And from there they got further instructions
as to where to go.
Were Captain Venter and Beeslaar part of this plan of
deception, surely they should not have know what was to happen
either?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: But they were informed about the abduction?
MR VAN ZYL: That is right.
ADV LAMEY: Are you saying that they were told that the people
were to be interrogated at Post Chalmers?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Do you know whether the askaris were told that the
people were to be interrogated?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I cannot recall that specifically. I think that it
might be the case.
ADV LAMEY: Why do you say that you cannot remember?
MR VAN ZYL: Because I was not there when Captain Nieuwoudt
interrogated them.
ADV LAMEY: No, I am asking. I know that they were there when
they were interrogated, I want to know whether they were informed
that interrogation were to take place?
MR VAN ZYL: I am not sure.
ADV LAMEY: Did they have any idea - I will get back to this
later.
Captain or Colonel Venter, in his evidence before the Amnesty
Committee, said and I am referring to page 218 of his evidence, it is
not in the document that you have, but I will request that this bundle
be marked as an Exhibit H.
Mr Venter says on page 218 between lines 20 and 30, he says
I knew at least that they would be assaulted in order to extract
information from them and they would be intensely interrogated.
ADV DE JAGER: Maybe you should just read the whole sentence -
that much I knew from previous experience.
ADV LAMEY: As it pleases Mr Chairman. I want to ask you
whether you agree that it was normal practice and I would like to
refer later to the specific passage because it was normal practice in
the Security Police that people were assaulted during interrogation,
and he says he knows it as a result of previous experience, do you
agree with that?
MR VAN ZYL: No. Yesterday we also had the case that
interrogation was confused with torture. There are different types
of interrogation and if the askaris did the type of work which
sometimes requires them to assault people, then it was probably
normal because they tried to get other information. They most
probably caught terrorists which they had to get information from
urgently regarding murder, arms caches etc, other contact persons or
information which had to be gained from them urgently, then it is
possible that assaults took place.
I do not want to say that there was never any assaults taking
place during interrogation, but it is not normal and it was not the
rule and that is definitely so. Interrogation also means questioning.
Not only interrogation with torture.
ADV LAMEY: But you were also part of a terrorist tracing unit?
MR VAN ZYL: We had nothing to do with terrorists.
ADV LAMEY: Why do I then understand when you said that you
were in command of the unit that dealt with terrorists?
MR VAN ZYL: I was in command of the desk which kept up the
data base regarding illegal exiles in this whole region from Port
Elizabeth until where the section ended. This went together with the
gaining of information with regard to every terrorist that we referred
to as a terrorist at that time.
They did not necessarily have any training. This was
documented, reported to Head Office and often we got information
from other areas and this information was shared with us, this was
the norm at that stage.
This is what kept me busy at the terrorist desk. The tracing
of insurgents was also part of this as well as the recruitment and any
accompanying activities.
ADV LAMEY: Would you say that your work was a bit more
general than that at Vlakplaas?
MR VAN ZYL: I would say so.
ADV LAMEY: But it also included the tracing and tracking down
of insurgents and MK soldiers, exiles who had come back to South
Africa, who had been active in the area?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: You have also testified that in such cases with such
persons, that it was not excluded that assaults would take place from
time to time?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: The askaris who were mainly involved with us,
surely as Captain Venter was a member of Vlakplaas, they would be
exposed to assaults during interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: That is possible.
ADV LAMEY: That is why I want to refer to your point again and
the tactics of deception which was used. Would it not have been
more convincing if these people, you have this plan to eliminate
them, but they do not know about it due to certain risks linked to
the elimination, but they were not to suspect why these people were
to be taken to Post Chalmers and the most logical reason was to be
skip the interrogation, assault the people which the askaris were
exposed to and then request them at one stage, to leave if no
information was to be gained so that afterwards you could say that
in any case no new information was gained ?
MR VAN ZYL: It did not happen as you said.
ADV LAMEY: Their rendition will be that this is how it happened,
that these people were interrogated and that they were assaulted
during interrogation. And you say that this is not true?
MR VAN ZYL: This is untrue.
ADV LAMEY: Can you tell us a bit more about this AK47? Which
one of the detainees spoke about the AK47?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember which one it was.
ADV LAMEY: What was said in this regard and how did it come
up?
MR VAN ZYL: Lieutenant Nieuwoudt told me that there was
information that one of them had said that he knew about a hidden
AK47 in a house of a family member and we made a note of this of
the address, and we followed this up and this was not true.
ADV LAMEY: When did you follow this up?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I cannot remember.
ADV LAMEY: In your evidence you previously said that it was
quite a few days afterwards, did you determine that?
MR VAN ZYL: I think it was a few days later.
ADV LAMEY: Was it not important that if that information was
given, that it would be followed up immediately?
MR VAN ZYL: We did not attach a great deal of value to that
information at that stage. We did not think it was true.
ADV LAMEY: Why not?
MR VAN ZYL: Because we knew about these peoples' activities.
ADV LAMEY: But can you tell us how it happened that this
information was just tendered?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I was not personally there.
ADV LAMEY: Will Mr Nieuwoudt be able to tell us more?
MR VAN ZYL: That is possible.
ADV LAMEY: You see Mr Mogoai and Koole will testify that after
the assault on one of these people and I will revert to that a little bit
later, perhaps say who gave that information, I maybe wrong, but I
think it was Mr Hashe who came forward after he had already been
assaulted and said that he knew about an AK47 which had been
concealed at a family member's house, but he later told one of the
askaris that he made a mistake.
Let me correct myself, he later said that that was not the truth
regarding the AK47 and that the white members overheard this and
that they were very angry about this. After this emerged, the fact
that the hadn't told the truth about it, that he was further assaulted?
MR VAN ZYL: That is not true.
ADV SANDI: Sorry, Mr Lamey, can I just interpose for a moment
here. Mr Van Zyl, if you say these people were not subjected to any
assault why should a person lie and say there is an AK47 somewhere
when that person is not being subjected to pressure?
Doesn't this suggest that somehow pressure in the form of
assault may have been used against such a person to the extent that
he would even end up telling a lie?
MR VAN ZYL: I can see your point Mr Chairman, but we thought
that the pressure brought on them by Lieutenant Nieuwoudt's
knowledge of their activities, was enough to gain information out of
them.
ADV LAMEY: You certainly or surely didn't know about all the
information which these people possessed.
MR VAN ZYL: It would have been impossible to know everything
that they knew, but we had a fairly good coverage of their
movements and their activities.
ADV LAMEY: Wouldn't it have been necessary, in the light of
your own evidence, that you didn't know about everything that they
knew about and that you were specifically tasked with tracking down
the infiltrators in the area and also in the light of Major Du Plessis'
evidence and your own evidence, that these three people played a
key role in the unrest in the Port Elizabeth area.
Wouldn't it have been essential to have extracted the
maximum information from them before elimination?
MR VAN ZYL: If we had specific information about any incident
regarding what one of these people would have known about, then
we would have exerted specific pressure on them, but at that stage
we didn't have any such specific knowledge.
ADV LAMEY: But the pressure could also have been brought to
bear without any prior knowledge of certain incidents, in other
words to force a person under pressure, to coerce a person to
actually give certain information? Is that not the purpose of assault
during interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: As I said we didn't need any such information so
urgently. The fact is that the decision was taken to eliminate them
as a result of their general conduct of actions in the preceding
months and which had led to the situation of unrest in Port
Elizabeth.
ADV LAMEY: These are three very important leaders in this area.
You've said that they may have possessed valuable information
which you at that stage didn't yet know that they had possessed?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: No, your evidence was that you conceded that you
weren't aware of everything and all the bits of information and
knowledge that these people knew about?
MR VAN ZYL: I said it was possible.
ADV LAMEY: But it must be possible, and you must know that it
is possible.
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV LAMEY: For that reason if we look at that part of your
evidence, you knew that these people probably possessed
information that you didn't yet know about. Wouldn't it therefore
have been extremely important to get that information out of them
before you eliminated them?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it wasn't that important.
ADV LAMEY: If the people were eliminated without that
information having been extracted, and also in view of the fact that
they were very important leaders in the area, then your version
actually amounts to the fact that they were sent to their graves
without you ever having obtained this information to try to perhaps
try to combat further unrests and incidents later on?
MR VAN ZYL: That was not the purpose of this operation.
CHAIRPERSON: It might not have been of course, but it would
have been the effect of the operation. The effect of the operation
could well have meant that they died with information, valuable
information in fact?
MR VAN ZYL: That is possible Mr Chairman, but it didn't mean
that they were the only people who knew about whatever the
gentleman is referring to.
The purpose of the operation was to eliminate them and as I
have said before, the interrogation was a secondary factor. I wanted
to get it over with as soon as possible and it may sound feeble, but I
also want to get it over as humanely as possible, there was no point
in me putting any more pain into the whole situation for everybody
and that includes us by assaulting or torturing them.
CHAIRPERSON: They would not have known that you were
eventually going to kill them? It could not have been torture. The
thought of dying could not have been torture to them unless you had
told them that you were going to kill them any way?
MR VAN ZYL: No, of course we didn't.
CHAIRPERSON: So it could not have been. The thought of being
killed could not have constituted a torture.
MR VAN ZYL: I am not talking about their knowledge that they
were going to be killed, because they didn't know that sir. What I
was referring to is our knowledge that we had to do that by the end
of that day and it was as I have said, a very, very unpleasant event
in my life and I would not have been able to put them through
unnecessary physical pain on that day.
CHAIRPERSON: Either you or Colonel Du Plessis mentioned that
these people even had contacts overseas?
MR VAN ZYL: They had contact in neighbouring countries Mr
Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: And you didn't think that they could be
interrogated in that regard, it could yield valuable information in
that regard?
MR VAN ZYL: It is possible that Lieutenant Nieuwoudt
interrogated them, I cannot remember that Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: As far as you are concerned, did you not think
that they could give valuable information in that regard, as far as
you are concerned?
MR VAN ZYL: At the time I was not very concerned with what
they were saying because of the importance and as far as - it was an
enormous operation that was laying ahead of me to take their lives.
CHAIRPERSON: And you were not interested in the information
that they might give, however valuable it might be with regard to
their contacts overseas?
MR VAN ZYL: I would have been very interested of course sir. I
was not prepared to exert physical violence on them to get that out
of them.
CHAIRPERSON: Did you try to get it out of them without physical
violence?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes sir, Mr Nieuwoudt spoke to them for hours on
that day.
CHAIRPERSON: Was it on your request that he did that?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes sir.
CHAIRPERSON: Did you want that information from them, from
the deceased, if they had any?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, of course Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: But you never spoke to them yourself?
MR VAN ZYL: I might have, but very little, because Lieutenant
Nieuwoudt had more background about the area, about the suspects
and also because he speaks Xhosa very well.
CHAIRPERSON: We know that when people are interrogated,
often notes are taken and then one comes back again to question
them again and then you compare previous notes with what they say
and so on and so forth?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Did that process happen?
MR VAN ZYL: Lieutenant Nieuwoudt took notes Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Did you ever read those notes?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
CHAIRPERSON: Did they contain any useful information?
MR VAN ZYL: Not much more than we already knew Mr
Chairman.
ADV DE JAGER: You testified that you went to gather wood?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV DE JAGER: How long did that take?
MR VAN ZYL: It took more or less the whole afternoon.
ADV DE JAGER: So there was a long period during which you
were not present with these detainees?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. Sergeant Lotz and myself went to
gather wood.
ADV DE JAGER: Is it possible that they were assaulted whilst you
were not present there?
MR VAN ZYL: If they had been assaulted, I certainly saw no signs
of it when I returned.
ADV SANDI: Do you recall anything that was being said in those
notes Mr Nieuwoudt gave you?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't, it handled generally with the general affairs
of Pebco, of personalities and the situation in the Eastern Cape. I
am sorry, Mr Chairman, it is 12 years ago, I do not remember any
detail about the interrogation.
CHAIRPERSON: Would it be fair to say that strictly speaking you
really did not have any interest in interrogating those people?
MR VAN ZYL: It was of secondary interest Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: We were told, I can't remember whether it was
you or not or Colonel Du Plessis, that it was a superficial
interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: As it was a secondary interrogation, I suppose one
could say that, Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Lamey?
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Mr Chairman. Mr Van Zyl, I hear that
you say that the interrogation was of secondary importance in the
context of the entire operation and that the primary objective was to
eliminate them, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: Once again, I must put it to you that the issue or
the primary objective of the interrogation was not created as such in
the eyes of the askaris?
MR VAN ZYL: I thought we had done enough in that regard. I
was not aware of the fact that the askaris were so aware of
interrogation taking place accompanied by violence that they
wouldn't be misled.
ADV LAMEY: The persons, you testified that they were
interrogated separately, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: It is correct as far as I can remember, yes.
ADV LAMEY: Whilst one person was being interrogated, where
was the other one?
MR VAN ZYL: Ii think in the garage behind the house.
ADV LAMEY: Are you sure that that was the only place?
MR VAN ZYL: Perhaps they were sitting outside.
ADV LAMEY: There were old cells there at that police station?
MR VAN ZYL: The cells were completely to the one side of the
house, and I didn't have the keys to the cells.
ADV LAMEY: The applicants will testify that upon arrival that
night, the instruction was given that one of them should be taken to
a cell, one or more of them. But that there was definite mention of
a cell.
MR VAN ZYL: Who said that?
ADV LAMEY: I can go back to my statement and check it up. Mr
Mogoai on page 34 of his statement says, paragraph 9,
approximately two hours after leaving Port Elizabeth we arrived at
an old farmhouse. No lights were on and we were shown where to
park and candles were lit inside the house.
The three men were taken out of the car and one said that
Galela should be taken to the cells?
MR VAN ZYL: I have no knowledge of that.
ADV LAMEY: Is it possible though that Galela was taken to a cell
or that somebody had said that he should be taken to a cell?
MR VAN ZYL: We didn't make use of the cells.
ADV LAMEY: Did you read the statements of Mr Koole and Mr
Mogoai completely, in its complete versions?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Mogoai also says in paragraph 11 on page 35,
that Godolozi at some point was assaulted. He didn't want to
cooperate, that was the crux of the statement, I am not going to
read it verbatim, just to save time, and afterwards he was taken back
to his cell. That was that same evening after their arrival at Post
Chalmers?
MR VAN ZYL: We did not use the cells. All three men slept in the
garage.
ADV LAMEY: Were you saying that all three these people were
locked up in the garage that night?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: The applicants will say that in the house at the old
police station, there were certain rings in the floor and that Mr
Hashe who had been handcuffed was further cuffed to these rings
fastened into the floor.
They said it was an old police station, but it actually looked
like a house and in this house there was a room and in this room
there were rings in the floor and that Hashe specifically was
handcuffed to these rings that night?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't recall these rings. I can recall that there
was a pole or a post or something to which horses might have been
tethered in the past but I can certainly not recall any rings inside the
house.
ADV LAMEY: Are you saying that your legal representatives had
not discussed the contents of Mr Koole and Mr Mogoai's statements
with you at all?
MR VAN ZYL: Only to a very limited extent.
ADV LAMEY: So, to this day you are not aware of what their
versions are?
MR VAN ZYL: I have read it, but that was months ago. I only
returned from Mozambique last week. It is possible that I have read
it, without knowing exactly what it was.
ADV LAMEY: I would like to return to what Mr Beeslaar says.
He says, I am returning to page 78, he says at paragraph 2, that on
that day they spent a couple of hours at that place and you have said
that that evidence of Beeslaar must be incorrect, because according
to you Venter and Beeslaar had already left, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: He further says on paragraph 3, that he actually
kicked one of these prisoners somewhere on his body?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not see that.
ADV LAMEY: He also says in the last paragraph, that they only
returned to Glenconnor later that evening at about nine o'clock, him
and Captain Venter?
MR VAN ZYL: That is impossible. At that stage the operation was
virtually complete.
ADV LAMEY: Yes, that is how I understand your evidence, unless
you are making a mistake as to the day on which it happened?
MR VAN ZYL: That is not so.
ADV LAMEY: In fairness I want to put it to you that the two
applicants will testify that they spent two nights at Post Chalmers
and they slept in their minibus and that on the morning of the third
day, if you start counting from the day on which the abduction took
place, that they left Post Chalmers and that Captain Venter and
Beeslaar left after them and went back to Glenconnor.
MR VAN ZYL: I am sorry, but that is wrong.
ADV LAMEY: How did the askaris and the minibus arrive at Post
Chalmers, were they a long distance behind you or did they follow
your vehicle directly?
MR VAN ZYL: They followed me directly, or they followed me, I
can't remember whether they were directly behind me, but I can
recall that I asked them to wait at some point in Cradock, I think it
was near the sports ground, near the recreation centre. They had to
wait whilst I went to fetch the keys for the house and after which
they then followed me to the house.
ADV LAMEY: Can you recall whether there was a roadblock on
the way there that night?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I can't recall a roadblock.
ADV LAMEY: They say that they can recall that they were stopped
at a roadblock and that they were behind another vehicle and that
arrangements were made with the people manning the roadblock, to
let them through?
MR VAN ZYL: I can't recall that.
ADV LAMEY: Do you know how the people were lured to the
airport?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I would have to speculate. I don't have all the
detail. I think Mr Nieuwoudt would be in a better position to testify
as to that.
ADV LAMEY: But you were in charge of this operation on the
ground? Wasn't it important for you to know exactly how it was to
proceed?
MR VAN ZYL: He was in charge of the informer and he assured
me that he would definitely be able to lure one of these people,
activists to the airport.
ADV LAMEY: Only one?
MR VAN ZYL: He said at least one of the three activists had been
targeted, he would be able to get to the airport.
ADV LAMEY: Now, what would have happened if only one had
arrived at the airport, would only this person have been eliminated?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I think so.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, when did he tell you that, that he expected
to find at least one?
MR VAN ZYL: During the course of that day Mr Chairman, the
day that we actually abducted them.
CHAIRPERSON: Did he tell you which one? Did he give you the
name?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, he did say that at least that Mr Hashe would
be there sir.
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Mr Chairman. I read somewhere that
the person used as bait or the pretence used, the ruse used was that
these people were to go the airport to fetch somebody from the
British Embassy, do you have any knowledge of that?
MR VAN ZYL: That is what I learnt yes, that is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Did you know whether it would be a black or a
white person?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't know.
ADV LAMEY: In this scenario namely that one or more members
of Pebco were expected to arrive at the airport and that they were
expected to meet somebody from the British Embassy, and they were
then to be intercepted, grabbed beforehand, would you not have
expected that to have caused some measure of consternation?
MR VAN ZYL: In what sense?
ADV LAMEY: Do you know what consternation means?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, obviously but what do you mean at the airport
itself or as a result of the abduction or what?
ADV LAMEY: I meant at the airport itself. What I mean is that
these people were to arrive at the airport and they were grabbed at
some point before meeting this person they thought they were
meeting?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes?
ADV LAMEY: Did you not expect that there would be a measure
of consternation if these people were intercepted or abducted by
strangers whilst they were ostensibly going to the airport to meet
somebody from the Embassy? Don't you think that some form of
resistance was to be expected from these people at the airport?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, but that is why we had the askaris to do it.
The askaris were used to a lot more severe resistance than what
these people could possibly offer.
ADV LAMEY: But such a consternation at the airport would have
caught the public eye?
MR VAN ZYL: If that was the case, I would have aborted the
operation.
ADV LAMEY: But Mr Van Zyl ... (intervention)
ADV DE JAGER: Mr Lamey you are busy speculating. Could you
please give me an indication of the following. The people were
abducted, are we now speculating on whether there was a
consternation or not, the point is they were abducted, they were
taken away and they were killed, so what is the point of all this
speculation?
ADV LAMEY: Perhaps I should explain Mr Chairman. There is a
factual dispute as to how this actually happened. And what we are
dealing with here are the probabilities of how it happened.
ADV DE JAGER: Yes, well then put your client's version to him.
Say there was a consternation or there wasn't. Because what we are
doing now is purely to speculate whether there was or wasn't a
consternation and when are you actually going to get to the point?
ADV LAMEY: My instructions were that there was indeed not any
form of consternation.
ADV DE JAGER: Well, if there wasn't, then what is the purpose of
your questions?
ADV LAMEY: The purpose of the question and I have to reveal
the relevance here, is the following. In the view of my applicants'
version, this abduction aspect had to have been so orchestrated at
the airport that it should create an illusion of normality.
ADV DE JAGER: Well, I think that is common cause Mr Lamey.
Surely these people wouldn't have done the abduction in such a way
as to publicise the fact to all and sundry, surely they would have
tried to do it in an unobtrusive way.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Van Zyl ... (intervention)
CHAIRPERSON: I know what you want and I know why you want
to put that. But shouldn't you find out from the witness as far as he
knows as to how these people were gotten into the car? Or have
you already established that?
MR VAN ZYL: I have actually given evidence to that effect sir.
ADV LAMEY: Okay, could you perhaps repeat that evidence of
yours? What happened there at the airport? Or let me first ask you,
can you specifically remember what happened at the airport, were
you in a position to see what was happening and can you recall what
happened?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I had a fairly good recollection of what
happened.
ADV LAMEY: Can you tell us exactly what happened?
MR VAN ZYL: The vehicle entered the airport entrance and the
three activists were inside this car. We had radio contact with the
askaris.
I can't remember exactly where they were at that stage. Their
vehicle was moving. Mr Godolozi and Mr Galela were put off at
some point, they got out of the car. It was somewhere between the
arrival and departures halls if I remember correctly.
The askaris then after Mr Hashe left to go and park the
vehicle, they grabbed them or intercepted them and placed them in
the minibus. They then drove to where Mr Hashe parked the car and
after he had parked or stopped the car, they also placed him in the
bus.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, how did they get them into the car?
MR VAN ZYL: They grabbed them and pulled them into the car,
sir.
CHAIRPERSON: Violently?
MR VAN ZYL: Not really, it was not really necessary. It did not
look as if they were resisting at the time.
CHAIRPERSON: You see, that is exactly the point where there are
different versions and I think this is what Mr Lamey was driving at.
What I want to know, what I am curious about is were they
talked into getting into the car, which I think is one of the versions
which we came across and then once in the car, forced down to lie
on the car or were they physical, violently grabbed and pushed into
the car?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it seemed more like they got in voluntarily. I
had the idea that the askaris actually had their hands on them, but
there was no violent action.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Van Zyl, you testified that you went to the
airport in your own car?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: And Captain Venter and Beeslaar drove in a
different car?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV LAMEY: Were these Police cars?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: Who was with you?
MR VAN ZYL: I was alone. Lieutenant Nieuwoudt was also in a
vehicle, and at a stage we sat together in one vehicle, I cannot
remember whose it was.
ADV LAMEY: So there was the minibus plus three extra vehicles?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Nieuwoudt's vehicle, was that also a Police
vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes. Police vehicle in the sense that it was a
government vehicle, it was a civil vehicle. I cannot remember the
make, model and colour but it was a normal sedan vehicle.
ADV LAMEY: The normal vehicles that were used by the Security
Branch?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: With the registration number as well?
MR VAN ZYL: Normal registration numbers.
ADV LAMEY: Was it your ordinary vehicle, the ordinary vehicle
that you used?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: And that of Mr Nieuwoudt also?
MR VAN ZYL: Most probably also.
ADV LAMEY: Was there no danger that the Pebco 3 who were
approaching the airport could notice the vehicles and suspect
something?
MR VAN ZYL: There were a few vehicles in the parking area.
ADV LAMEY: But what would have happened if they had arrived
there and they saw that there were vehicles of the Security Branch?
MR VAN ZYL: It was dark and they were quite a distance from us.
ADV LAMEY: What kind of distance are you talking about?
MR VAN ZYL: Approximately 75 to 80 meters.
ADV LAMEY: What was that far from you? You are talking about
a distance of 75 meters, what are you saying?
MR VAN ZYL: He came in at the entrance to the airport, he drove
up towards the arrival and departure hall to the parking area, that
was about 40 to 50 metres from where we had parked.
ADV LAMEY: Where were you and Mr Nieuwoudt specifically
with regard to the entrance to the building, not the entrance to the
airport but to the building?
MR VAN ZYL: We were on the parking area, where the taxi area is
today.
ADV LAMEY: But you did not know which route these people
were going to follow, they could have seen you driving passed?
MR VAN ZYL: They did not park directly where we were.
ADV LAMEY: But they could possibly also have been looking for
parking?
MR VAN ZYL: Then we could have intercepted them there Mr
Chairman.
ADV LAMEY: Where was the minibus parked?
MR VAN ZYL: I can't remember. It moved but I do not know
where exactly they waited at that stage, but we were in radio
communication with them.
ADV LAMEY: And Captain Venter?
MR VAN ZYL: Captain Venter was possibly also there. Lieutenant
Nieuwoudt and I were together and I think Captain Venter and
Beeslaar were either with us or they were in the car next to us.
ADV LAMEY: Why was it not part of the planning that Captain
Venter would also assist in intercepting these people?
MR VAN ZYL: Because then a white person would be involved.
ADV LAMEY: But the evidence of Major Du Plessis was that the
idea was that members of your Security Branch would not be
identified?
MR VAN ZYL: That is true.
ADV LAMEY: Here we now have Captain Venter, we brought him
in and he is a strange person?
MR VAN ZYL: But still, I said that it would have been a white
man who would have been involved in the abduction.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Lamey, I think we are entitled to know what
are we busy with so that we can follow proceedings with you.
Really I am trying to grasp the point that you are busy with, I am
not able to follow what point you are making.
You may have to explain to us, so that we may also, you
know, be with you.
ADV LAMEY: I will come directly to the point. You see Mr Van
Zyl, I also wondered if the two applicants who are applying for
amnesty for abduction and assault, why would they then given other
factual evidence with regard to how this occurred at the airport that
these people ended up in their minibus, and the first logical
explanation if I can - they said that they were waiting in the minibus
and that these people were apparently intercepted quite normally at
the entrance to the airport and led to the minibus.
Captain Venter was among them and one of the applicants,
one or two said that he remembers that Nieuwoudt was also one of
them, but they do not know the identity or Mr Koole does not know
the identity of the other local members of the Security Branch, he
only knows of Mr Nieuwoudt, and in view of Major Du Plessis'
evidence, these three members, these Pebco 3 were fearless.
He even said that they sometimes visited the Security Branch,
in other words the impression that I get when I look at what the
applicants are saying is that these persons were lured in one or other
way, they did not know how it was to happen, but while they
approached the entrance, you appeared. You were moving around in
the inside and you simply just approached them and they are not
aware of what happened between you, but you simply just took
them to the minibus.
MR VAN ZYL: It did not happen in that way.
ADV LAMEY: I want to put to you that what must have happened
is that you must have told these people that they were to come with
you for interrogation and what they would have done, because they
had nothing to fear from you?
MR VAN ZYL: That is not true.
ADV LAMEY: And that is why they offered no resistance?
MR VAN ZYL: Unfortunately it is not so.
ADV DE JAGER: Mr Lamey, why were the askaris and the
Policemen then present, what was their role then? Surely they must
have been unnecessary then?
ADV LAMEY: Mr Chairman, they themselves do not know what
their roles were because they were not informed. But the
importance of what happened later is their involvement in the
interrogation when the information was to be gained.
MR VAN ZYL: That is not what happened, or what was obvious,
we did not need them with the interrogation, they had no
background with regard to the Eastern Cape activities and we did
not need them to assault these people. Their purpose was to do the
abduction and to bring these people to the Post Chalmers police
station.
CHAIRPERSON: There is a version that the Policemen who
confronted these people, identified themselves as Police and or
produced some kind of identification and that is why these people
followed?
MR VAN ZYL: I could not see that from where I was that they
were saying that they were Police or how, what they told them or
what they said to them, from that distance.
ADV LAMEY: You see Mr Van Zyl, this also has to do with the
previous testimony that an impression of deception had to be created
among the askaris and that this whole objective would have been
miscarried if it took place other than a normal arrest, if it seemed as
if it was not a normal arrest?
MR VAN ZYL: Is that what you suppose?
ADV LAMEY: I say this is what happened. It is probably so in the
light of your rendition that the purpose was to mislead them in order
to arrest them. If deception was the objective, then surely the
illusion also had to be created that the person was arrested in a
normal manner?
MR VAN ZYL: No, then we would have done it ourselves. Then
we would not have needed to mislead anybody or to create an
illusion.
ADV LAMEY: But I want to say that they did that because so that
the deception could be successful in the eyes of the askaris, and that
it seemed as if these people were arrested normally at the airport?
They were lured there, but they were arrested there in a normal
manner?
MR VAN ZYL: And that would have lessened the role of the askari
to that of merely a taxi driver to Cradock?
ADV LAMEY: Or their presence at the interrogation when there
was information which they could follow up?
MR VAN ZYL: I have already said that the askaris were not
successful in the Eastern Cape because there was not one Xhosa
among them, that was a mistake to bring them to the Eastern Cape
to do pseudo work in this area. Pseudo work means that you act as
if you are a terrorist and under that cover, you come into the area
and you gain information which then in turn might lead to an arrest.
It didn't work in the Eastern Cape in this way.
ADV LAMEY: But information could have come forward which
they could have followed up?
MR VAN ZYL: We had our own interrogation team, or
investigative team and we could have got the information from them.
ADV LAMEY: Why then, did you make the askaris come to PE?
MR VAN ZYL: We did not ask how the team was to be compiled.
I did not even know whether there were Xhosas among them, and we
hoped that they would be able to operate here, but we learnt the
hard way that it did not work here.
ADV LAMEY: Are you saying that there were no Xhosa speakers
in the total askari team?
MR VAN ZYL: I am not saying that, I am saying that if there was a
Xhosa they were not a big success in this area.
ADV LAMEY: If you say that they are not Xhosa speaking, are
you speaking about the two applicants Mogoai and Koole or are you
talking about the whole group of askaris who were assisting in PE?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't say that they were not Xhosa speakers, I
said that there were not any Xhosa speakers under the askaris who
were here at that stage. As far as I can remember, that was the
reason why they were not successful and they were really not
successful.
Elsewhere they were used very successfully and made many
arrests in other parts of the country, but in the Eastern Cape this
was not successful.
ADV LAMEY: But hot information, information that can be
followed up regarding houses where people were hidden and arms
that were concealed, surely that does not need Xhosa speakers to
follow that information, do you agree with that?
MR VAN ZYL: They did not know Port Elizabeth. If we were to
approach a house in which there were armed terrorists, we would
have used the Internal Stability Unit or the Unrest Unit to assist is.
We had positive information that terrorists were concealed in
a house where there were weapons, at that stage I never worked
with the askaris, I did not know what their ability was, how they
would be able to act in a difficult situation. I would not have gone
into a terrorist situation with them.I would not have known what
was behind me.
ADV LAMEY: I find that really surprising that a specialist task
team of the Security Police at Vlakplaas, that if their abilities were
doubtful that they were even asked to come to PE.
MR VAN ZYL: I said this is the first time that we ever made use of
their services. We hoped that with the assistance of pseudo work,
that we would be able to get them to do arrests.
ADV LAMEY: But surely you would not have used their services,
if they did not have a good service record?
MR VAN ZYL: That is what I said, elsewhere in the country they
were very successful.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Chairman, may I just get instructions from my
clients.
ADV SANDI: Mr Van Zyl, can I ask you. When you say you do
not recall the roadblock one of the two applicants is talking about,
are you suggesting that there was no such a roadblock at all?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, no. What I can recall definitely, I
don't mind stating, but I cannot recall the roadblock on the road. I
am not saying that it wasn't there, I am just saying that I simply
cannot recall a roadblock on the road, because once again it was not
important to me and that is probably why I am not remembering it.
ADV SANDI: Surely if there had been a roadblock on the way as
the applicant has said, that must have posed some kind of a danger
to the prospects of success for this operation and you would
remember that?
MR VAN ZYL: No, not at all. Mr Chairman, if there had been a
roadblock, I was an Officer at the time, and I would probably have
spoken to the people and said, also told them to let the next car
through and therefore I don't see that as a big obstacle.
I am speculating because I cannot remember this roadblock. I
am not saying that it wasn't there.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Van Zyl, Mr Du Plessis' testimony was that you
informed him on the 10th of the destruction of the vehicle, is that
correct? Is his evidence correct?
MR VAN ZYL: It could have been the 9th, but I cannot recall this
specifically.
ADV LAMEY: In his testimony it was the 10th?
MR VAN ZYL: Then perhaps it could have been the 10th, if he can
remember so well, but I cannot remember exactly when I told him
about the vehicle. I did tell him on the 10th that the operation had
been completed, and it is possible that on the 10th I could have told
him about the vehicle again.
I just find it strange that I did not tell him about this on the
9th, when he came to us. But I am speculating, I cannot recall this
specifically.
ADV LAMEY: Unless things only came to completion on the 10th,
the elimination and that he was only then informed about everything?
MR VAN ZYL: I have said this over and over again that this was
finished on the 10th and we left on the morning of the 10th, after we
had cleaned up.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Van Zyl, can you think of any reason why the
two applicants whom I am representing, will request amnesty here
and expose themselves to the risk of possibly not obtaining amnesty
or being granted amnesty and to say of their involvement of assault
when it did not even take place?
MR VAN ZYL: The same is valid for me. Can you say why I
would ask for amnesty for murder and then deny a lesser crime such
as assault?
ADV LAMEY: Yes, I can think of a reason and I will tell you what
that reason is.
The reason is that you must offer justification for the plan to
eliminate and that you will have problems if this was the objective
and the instructions from higher ranking officials, then you will have
problems with your amnesty application to justify assaults which
took place prior to this. That is the reason.
MR VAN ZYL: The reason why your clients are saying what they
are saying, is that they are confusing these events with other events
in which they have participated.
ADV LAMEY: Can I just have a moment Mr Chairman. Mr Van
Zyl, in my cross-examination in my opinion I stated most of the
renditions of the two applicants, I just want to know from Mr
Chairman I've got no further questions and I don't think there is
anything further that I wish to put to this witness, unless the
Committee feels that there are important things that I may have
missed out which I should put to the witness, in all fairness to him.
CHAIRPERSON: Not that I can think of, but if you feel that you
have left out something, you will know what to do, I am sure.
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV LAMEY:
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ADV NYOKA: Good afternoon
Mr Van Zyl.
MR VAN ZYL: Good afternoon, sir.
ADV NYOKA: I just wanted to know where are you based, where
were you based between 1990 and 1997, that is your residence,
because I heard you saying that you were in Angola and now last
week in Mozambique, exactly where are you based residentially?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I live in Pretoria. I have been
involved in humanitarian landmine clearance in various parts of
Africa since 1991. I am currently involved also in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and we are doing a contract in Mozambique as well,
which I am overseeing.
ADV NYOKA: I must concede you are doing a very wonderful job.
Humanitarian landmine cleaning, it is contrary to what you did
before, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Yes. If that is the case and the amnesty process
started in 1995, why did you not apply immediately as you were
doing a noble job now of clearing landmines and getting involved in
Bosnia, why did you not apply at the very first instance Mr Van Zyl?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, in 1995 I started a contract in
Angola which lasted for 14 months. I was at the time very ill
informed about the Truth Commission and its pros and cons and as I
grew up in a both military and Security Branch background, I was in
a culture where I had to decide whether the system would really
bring about reconciliation in this country and whether the system
would really bring about forgiveness in this country and whether the
system was not just causing more bitterness by the actual facts that
were coming to light.
Those were the things that I struggled with during that time.
I had no source of information really to inform me about the as I
say, the pros and the cons of the system. But during 1996 towards
the end of 1996, I started to feel, well I was convinced that there
was no other way for the future of this country but to take part in a
process like this and if it is so, because I have also since seen Bosnia
and Croatia, and it is so that if people are not willing to forgive each
other and forgive the past, the future is impossible.
And that was the main reason why I applied for amnesty.
ADV NYOKA: When did the right time actually click, that this is
the right time? I am clear in my mind that I should now go forward
in 1996, when?
MR VAN ZYL: September, October last year.
ADV NYOKA: You see, why I asked that, it coincides with the
fact that Mr Venter applied for amnesty and testified in November
last year and shortly after that, you applied, because you were
mentioned in his application? That is a strange coincidence?
MR VAN ZYL: That is not so Mr Chairman. In my case, I was
also under the impression that it would be best if the whole group
that was involved, came forward as a team. I thought it would also
have the best impact on all of their family lives and to move together
in a group and tell the truth about what happened.
ADV NYOKA: Sorry, do you deny the fact that ... (intervention)
MR VAN ZYL: No, I am getting to the point, sorry Mr Chairman,
and so I was away most of the time. The only time I came back
from Angola was to attend conferences on landmine clearance
abroad and I had to get in touch with all my colleagues who are
sitting next to me and who are applicants at the moment as well, and
to get their feelings as well and we had to speak about it.
So it is a case of there was certainly some late action on our
part, but then again, it did happen long before the deadline of 10
December.
ADV NYOKA: Is that the reason why your statement being based
in Pretoria, having your own Attorney, is so identical in the
background with the four that are based in Port Elizabeth, almost
paragraph to paragraph is identical. That is why I asked you where
you were based?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, as far as the political
background went, we agree on what is being said there, it is a
motive that we also all feel and agree about. And therefore we did
not think that it would be to our detriment if we filed it like that.
We all inspected each other's motives, political motives and
we jointly decided on a political motive.
ADV NYOKA: So the two legal firms worked together in drafting
the statements?
MR VAN ZYL: I think it could be said, I can speak for myself and
the other applicants, that we did see each other a few times and we
agreed on the political motives as they stand there.
ADV NYOKA: If you said, if as you said you had already
apologised to God, but what I find strange is that you had not
apologised to the families particularly. You are not seeking amnesty
from God, but from people on earth, why had you not made the
opportunity?
Doing a wonderful work as you are currently doing, I am
going to seek this family and I am going to apologise to clear my
conscience so that this does not come back to you in your
engagements in Angola and your engagements in Bosnia? Any
comment about that?
MR VAN ZYL: I have got nothing against meeting the family at
any time. At the stage we were advised by our legal counsels that it
was not feasible before the amnesty hearings and personally, I am
speaking for myself, I would very much like to see everybody that
was effected by my actions.
CHAIRPERSON: Do you have a problem if he starts with God
first?
ADV NYOKA: I beg your pardon?
CHAIRPERSON: Do you have any problem if he starts with God
first?
ADV NYOKA: Your Worship, because the decision will be made
on judgement day, we all know the decision, but here on earth he
must do it immediately, I've got that problem.
ADV NYOKA: On a light note. Mr Van Zyl, you said, are you
finished?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, you said you were advised not to do that
before, what about during or after the amnesty? Can't you do that
now?
I will suggest something very dramatic, can't you walk out
from where you are sitting and come over and apologise to them,
just to be melodramatic for a change, can't you do that?
MR VAN ZYL: Sir, one of my colleagues have tried that already in
private and I wouldn't mind doing it in private, if you don't mind.
ADV NYOKA: So I see that you looked at your Attorney and he
nodded, he said no. I saw you looking, apparently wanted to ...
(intervention)
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Nyoka, I called my client and I told him
not to do it. He didn't look at me and then got my attention.
ADV NYOKA: You did look at your legal representative, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I looked at my legal representative.
ADV NYOKA: Yes, it doesn't matter if it was before or after, but
you did look at him, no so?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I did. But it does not mean that if, whatever
my answer was, that I am not prepared to meet any of the victims'
families at any time.
ADV NYOKA: Did you want to say something Mr De Villiers?
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Nyoka, perhaps you must address the
Chairman and I wanted to say that I think you are going to make this
into a circus, we are trying to determine a very important matter
here. Maybe we can deal with that afterwards or later.
ADV NYOKA: I am not reducing this to a circus, this means a lot
to my clients. You may reserve your circus statement in your
argument, thank you.
When Mr Du Plessis, Mr Zyl motivated the abduction and
murder plot, did he attribute the destabilisation to specifically these
three persons, Pebco persons, and say they are solely responsible,
exclusively responsible for this?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I don't think he said that they were solely or
exclusively responsible Mr Chairman, what he had said was that they
were the main people responsible for the situation and for the
conditions in the township at that time and that their elimination was
the best chance that we had of establishing stability in the area.
ADV NYOKA: Were you not curious to find out why them, not the
rest of the other five Executive members?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, no. I did not question that.
ADV NYOKA: Was it not of interest to you because you are going
to embark on something very major, taking someone else's life, was
it not important to ask that just to satisfy yourself?
MR VAN ZYL: We grew up as I said before, in the Police and the
Security Branch, in a disciplined culture of not questioning senior
instructions and yes, of course it was very important and because I
had also access to the files and the reports that were coming into
our office, every day we had meetings about that, I have already
admitted sir, that I agreed with this order at the time, on its merits.
ADV NYOKA: Did you state from what period they were
responsible for this or whoever say from January to that May 1985
or any other period, did you state that?
MR VAN ZYL: I arrived there in January 1984 Mr Chairman, and I
was aware of their activities from about that date, so before that, I
could only read their files and listen to other members' comments
and after that, I didn't know.
ADV NYOKA: So they may have been responsible for
destabilisation even longer than 1985, the three that you identified,
not so?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I cannot comment on the time before
I arrived there.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, I won't be long on that. Did you say that
these three were being identified because of their positions in the
Executive if Pebco or just because of their role in the community?
MR VAN ZYL: I think it was a combination Mr Chairman. About
the influence that they could exercise by their positions in the
community as well as after hours, which were very important and as
far as I can recall, all three of them had been reported on numerous
occasions to be involved in organising after hours, not necessarily at
meetings and so on.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, can you turn to page 140, that is the
Executive, page 140 the last paragraph. There it is stated that on
the 20th of November 1983, there were 15 Pebco Executive
members and out of that up to the 26th of March 1985, that is a
month and a half before the elimination, if you can note there is only
the President, Mr Godolozi who had influence and the organiser, Mr
Galela. At that stage Mr Hashe was just an additional member, he
did not have influence up to the 26th of March, that is a month or so
before.
How could he be therefore involved in that if that was the
case?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, to be specific, I have been away for
- it happened 12 years ago and I cannot remember the exact grounds
on which they were prioritised. All I can remember is that at the
time I agreed with it, I admit that and that I was satisfied at the time
once again, that this action would have the desired effect.
ADV NYOKA: Maybe I was narrowly focusing on the Executive,
basing decision on Executive. I am seeing the vice-President,
general Secretary, assistant Secretary and Treasurer were not
identified, the only two people identified in the entire Executive and
out of an Executive of 15, my problem is why only three were
identified out of 15 and only two of whom exercised influence?
MR VAN ZYL: I can only assume sir that the reports about their
activities were of such a nature that they were not, the others were
not as active as the three that were prioritised.
ADV NYOKA: Pebco worked as a collective cadreship, not
individually. Do you not know about that as a former Security
Policeman?
MR VAN ZYL: I am sure formally they did sir, but there was also
informal and individual actions, that were reported by various
sources and as I said both technical and people that reported
information about their activities.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, I won't be long on that. When he told you
about the killing of these three, did you immediately know them or
did photographs have to be shown to you of these three?
MR VAN ZYL: I had met Mr Hashe before, and I had spoken to Mr
Hashe. Mr Godolozi and Mr Galela I had not known personally
because my involvement on the terrorism desk in which they at the
time did not feature.
ADV NYOKA: So you knew Mr Hashe well?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not know him well, I met him once or twice
sir, and I spoke to him.
ADV NYOKA: But you could remember his face, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV NYOKA: My problem is that why is it when you said you
don't know who you killed, you had to be reminded yesterday by Mr
Nieuwoudt, why is it that you didn't know the person that you
killed, if you had met him before?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't know, it is Mr Chairman, it was a very
traumatic incident to me and I wanted to get it over with as soon as
possible and we had never spoken about this again in detail and I
asked Deon Nieuwoudt yesterday if he could remember because I
could not and he said that he though that is who it was and I
accepted it.
ADV NYOKA: Can I assume that you were dizzy before you shot
him?
MR VAN ZYL: I was ... (intervention)
ADV NYOKA: Or something like that?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I was not dizzy.
ADV NYOKA: Why is it that you could not know someone who is
asleep, unconscious because of the sleeping pill, you took a gun
consciously, you knew where the trigger was and you fired a shot,
but you don't know the face but you could remember pulling the
trigger, how is that possible?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't know Mr Chairman, but it was
unfortunately a fact.
ADV NYOKA: Mr Van Zyl, you said that on the 8th of May Mr
Nieuwoudt had told you that at least one person could be present at
the airport, but Mr Du Plessis said it was made for certain that three
will be there. There is a contradiction there, do you agree with me
that that version fits with the version that any Pebco leadership
members who were there, were going to be eliminated, it was just by
chance that these three were there, would you agree with me on
that?
MR VAN ZYL: Not correct Mr Chairman. I don't think Deon
Nieuwoudt was certain that these three were going to be there, but
he said to me that at least one of them would be there and that if
anybody else had turned up with say Mr Hashe, I would have called
the operation off. I would have aborted the operation.
And if we had only one person and he arrived alone, I would
have probably gone ahead with the operation and the other two
members might, and I am speculating, might have been eliminated at
a later date, but this is speculation.
ADV NYOKA: Why would you go ahead if there was one person
because three were identified the other two would have instead in
going (indistinct)
MR VAN ZYL: Because it would be very difficult to get all three
of them at another time together again.
ADV NYOKA: You mentioned a source at the airport, do you mind
sharing this secret with us. Do you mind sharing that secret with us
as to who the source is?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't say that the source was at the airport Mr
Chairman, I said it was a source of Deon Nieuwoudt's who would
have lured the three activists under false pretences to the airport.
ADV NYOKA: Let me check your statement.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Chairman, I see it is four o'clock, I don't
know if it is an opportune time to adjourn at this stage?
ADV NYOKA: Can I just finish?
CHAIRPERSON: I think that suggestion cannot come from you, it
should come from the person who is busy with the questioning.
I am saying this because you are the best person to know at
which point it would be most convenient to adjourn and please do so
when you get to that point.
ADV NYOKA: Yes, I will just after finishing the source part, not
before.
In your statement it is said here as far as I can remember the
source lured the activists by means of a telephone call to the airport
and accompanied Lieutenant Nieuwoudt in a vehicle to the airport.
Unless you are not stating it as a fact, you are saying you assume,
you don't recall correctly, but you said he accompanied Mr
Nieuwoudt to the airport.
ADV NYOKA: No, I never said that. I said at the time that I
actually accompanied Lieutenant Nieuwoudt, but that was a mistake,
I used my own car Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Mr Chairman, when is the time to adjourn because
we can go on, but I am not going to be long. I was not going to be
longer than 30 minutes.
CHAIRPERSON: Now is the time.
ADV NYOKA: Then we can adjourn.
CHAIRPERSON: We will adjourn until half past nine tomorrow
morning.
COMMISSION ADJOURNS
ON RESUMPTION ON 06-11-1997 - DAY 4
CHAIRPERSON: It is the 6th of November, we are continuing with
the same application.
JOHAN MARTIN VAN ZYL: (still under oath)
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Nyoka?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ADV NYOKA: (cont)
Thank you Mr Chairman. Firstly Mr Chairperson, I just
handed in a bundle but that relates to Mr Snyman later on. That
bundle incorporates the documents that Mrs Hartle handled
yesterday. I have given it to the relevant applicants' representatives.
Thank you.
Can I continue, Mr Chairman, thank you. Mr Van Zyl, we
were still talking about the source. Was the source present at the
airport that day of the abduction, 8th of May?
MR VAN ZYL: Not to my knowledge Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Did you get to know the source at any stage before
or after?
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman, it was not a rule that we ever
met each other's sources or informers.
ADV NYOKA: But I thought that as a person in charge of the
operation, it was the professional thing to do to ensure that the
entire operation was well organised and executed, that you would
know who and what each participant was going to do and how he or
she was going to do it, not so? Including in the case of Mr
Nieuwoudt, who he source was?
MR VAN ZYL: Not at all, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Why was that not done?
MR VAN ZYL: Because Mr Nieuwoudt was a professional, because
he handled sources professionally and I had full trust in his
discretion.
ADV NYOKA: So you were not curious to find out who the source
was?
MR VAN ZYL: Not at all, we were not curious about each other's
sources at all Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I find that very strange. Any comment?
MR VAN ZYL: Not at all, it would have been a breach of trust to a
source if Mr Nieuwoudt had to reveal it to all and sundry around
him sir.
ADV NYOKA: You were not all and sundry, you were his
immediate superior and in charge of him?
MR VAN ZYL: It could still have influenced me Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: How would it have influenced you?
MR VAN ZYL: In the handling of other sources maybe Mr
Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: How was that?
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Nyoka, I don't know, but you see even the
source himself would not feel comfortable if more and more people
happened to know of him as a source. I don't think it worked like
that. Maybe it is because I didn't know how it worked.
ADV NYOKA: You said I know this point was laboured yesterday,
you said you decided to use Mr Venter's team for the abduction only
and that you communicated that instruction or suggestion, to your
superior, Mr Du Plessis, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: It was communicated by Mr Du Plessis to ourselves
and we decided jointly that that is how it would happen, Mr
Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: And who communicated that to Mr Venter?
MR VAN ZYL: I would think that either Mr Du Plessis or myself
had communicated that to Mr Venter.
ADV NYOKA: And he understood it in that sense that his role or
mandate was only to abduct?
MR VAN ZYL: I am sure that was the case Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: What I find strange is why would he then say in his
application "it had been requested that my askaris were to assist the
Branch with regard to further interrogation and investigation and I
left them under the command of Sergeant Van Zyl." Why would he
say that if the instruction was clear abduct only, do nothing further?
MR VAN ZYL: I do not know why Mr Venter said that Mr
Chairman. The instructions were clear that the askaris had to help
with the abduction and to convey the activists to Post Chalmers.
ADV NYOKA: And there was an understanding that he will be in
charge of his team, is that not so?
MR VAN ZYL: He was in charge of his team, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: You were in charge of the rest of the team, he was
in charge of the abduction team, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: He was in charge of them while they were in Port
Elizabeth Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: You came to the question that I was coming to.
Why did he then not go along with his team if he was in charge, go
to Cradock?
MR VAN ZYL: As I told yesterday, it was my recollection that Mr
Venter did actually accompany the team to Cradock, but I also made
a concession that my recollection might be mistaken and that they
actually only arrived the next day sir.
ADV NYOKA: And were you involved in the Goniwe incident
which occurred two months later?
MR VAN ZYL: I have asked for amnesty for that as well sir.
ADV NYOKA: So you were involved?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV NYOKA: Were you also the mastermind in planning the
operation?
MR VAN ZYL: I was in charge of the operation Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: What I find strange is why this operation was not
similar to the one at Cradock because there those people were taken
to Blue Water Bay and killed and it was left as if the world had to
see that the Police were responsible for that.
In this case the involvement was concealed and people were
taken to PE, why was there such a discrepancy?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I have given my full cooperation to
the Committee. I have also made a statement and during the hearing
I will deal with it in full. There were reasons and I was given an
instruction with particular regard to the matter that you are asking
me about.
ADV NYOKA: No, I am not trying to probe about the Cradock
matter, I want to put it to you that the Pebco people did not die at
Cradock, they died almost or after the Cradock killing. There was
no difference in the operation.
MR VAN ZYL: I beg your pardon sir, they died after the Cradock
... (intervention)
ADV NYOKA: During or after the Cradock people were killed.
MR VAN ZYL: You are wrong sir.
ADV NYOKA: That is what you are saying. And why is it if you
trusted Mr Nieuwoudt as a person who implemented schemes, he
was not involved with the Cradock one because he is not applying
for amnesty for that one?
MR VAN ZYL: He was not involved in that occasion.
ADV NYOKA: Why did you not involve him?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember what the conditions were Mr
Chairman, why he was not involved.
ADV NYOKA: When these people were taken from the airport,
were their heads covered? There is evidence that their heads were
covered, their legs shackled, do you know anything about that?
MR VAN ZYL: Ii was not in that kombi Mr Chairman, I do not
know what happened to them inside the kombi.
ADV NYOKA: But you won't dispute the fact that that could have
been the case?
MR VAN ZYL: It may have been the case Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: And at Cradock, were their heads at any stage
covered?
MR VAN ZYL: It wasn't necessary to cover them Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: No, I am not asking about necessity, I am asking
whether or not their heads were covered?
MR VAN ZYL: They were not as far as I can recall Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Thank you. The evidence of other people is to the
effect that their heads were covered as soon as they were abducted
at the airport and their legs shackled.
MR VAN ZYL: It did not happen in my presence Mr Chairman, and
at Cradock they were definitely not covered.
ADV NYOKA: But you did testify to the fact that they did not
resist at the airport?
MR VAN ZYL: That is as far as I could see from the distance
where I was, it was dark although electrically lit, that is as far as I
could see sir.
ADV NYOKA: If they did not resist, why was it necessary that the
entire team go with them to Cradock if at Cradock you sat with
them, you, Mr Nieuwoudt and Mr Lotz sat with them and even drank
or ate together? Why was it necessary for the entire team to go
there if the people were not assaulted, if the people were not
interrogated extensively?
MR VAN ZYL: The entire team only consisted of four people as
far as I can recall Mr Chairman. We did not have the transport to
take them back to their living quarters where they were staying and
we did not see that as unnatural for them to move together. There
were three activists and I don't think it was out of course to take
four people with them.
ADV NYOKA: I am sure it would have been easier for transport to
be arranged before the abduction, for them to go back to their
quarters rather than going with you, because their presence was not
necessary really?
MR VAN ZYL: We thought that it was sir, to transport them to
Cradock.
ADV NYOKA: Were you afraid that they could perhaps fight
against you? I want to understand why did they go with you, you
could have managed with you, Mr Nieuwoudt and Mr Lotz, why did
they go?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember why exactly they had to go.
They went and that was the plan that they were used in the
abduction and that they would transport the people to Cradock.
ADV NYOKA: And their role there, what was it before?
MR VAN ZYL: Their role was really finished at that time.
ADV NYOKA: And at Cradock?
MR VAN ZYL: They could have actually come back Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: No, what was their role at Cradock briefly on
arrival?
MR VAN ZYL: Their role would have been to guard the activists
when they were outside the garage if we were not busy speaking to
them and that was it Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: But you don't know that, you are not sure? You
say their role could be, you are not sure?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot think of any other role that they played
there Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Right. Whilst you were sitting with them as you
said, did they not ask you Mr Van Zyl, what was all this drama of
yesterday, this abduction, this our being driven about two hours, yet
now we are sitting nicely and cooley and chatting, did they not ask
that?
MR VAN ZYL: No, not that I can recall Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: They did not ask why they had to be abducted?
MR VAN ZYL: They did not ask me that Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: They did not ask why they were not charged
formally or being informed that they were detained in terms of the
Security Laws?
MR VAN ZYL: They did not, not in my presence Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: And that they had to be driven about 260
kilometres, not taken to a local police station and interrogated
there, they did not ask that?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they did not.
ADV NYOKA: And if it is true that their heads were covered, they
did not ask why did you cover our heads?
MR VAN ZYL: As I say, they were not covered in my presence Mr
Chairman. They did not ask that, no sir.
ADV NYOKA: And they did not ask who are these four Security
Policemen whom we don't know? They did not ask even that?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they did not.
ADV NYOKA: And you say despite all that, they were at ease with
themselves?
MR VAN ZYL: They seemed at ease Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I put it to you that it will be unnatural for any
person under such circumstances to be at ease with himself.
MR VAN ZYL: They seemed to be at ease Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: You are not detained as normal, you are not
arrested, you are taken far away to a place at night, covered and
they did not even bother to ask what happened to our vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: Not that I can recall Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: You said that you did not wish to waste time, you
wanted to be clinical and do the job quickly. Why did you not do it
as soon as you abducted them at the airport, take them to the beach
and kill them?
MR VAN ZYL: Because my instructions were that we had to get
rid of the bodies Mr Chairman and that could not just be done at the
beach.
ADV NYOKA: But it was done with the Cradock 4?
MR VAN ZYL: Those were different instructions and also the
instructions to me was given by a different person, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Yes, but you could have killed them at the beach
and get rid of the dead bodies later or as you did, you threw your
firearm in the sea, you could have thrown that body in the sea, not
so?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't think so Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I put it to you that you took them there, because
you wanted first to interrogate them and brutalise them.
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman, they were taken there, it was
suggested to me that they be taken there because the place is far
from civilisation as it be.
ADV NYOKA: All right. Okay, at arrival at Cradock, why after
the first round of interrogation by Mr Nieuwoudt, did you not say
Mr Nieuwoudt, my instructions are clear, we are here now, we have
finished our first round, let's kill them now. That very night, why
did you not do so?
MR VAN ZYL: Because the askaris were still there Mr Chairman
and I did not plan to have the askaris as part of the operation.
ADV NYOKA: So when did the askaris leave, not in the morning?
MR VAN ZYL: They left during the morning, yes.
ADV NYOKA: Then why did you stay with them that afternoon
and kill them only at night, because the askaris were not there in the
afternoon?
MR VAN ZYL: Because the chances were there that somebody else
from the Security Branch, the Police or whoever may arrive there
unannounced and I did not want to be busy with that task during the
day for them to see it, I thought the night was better Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Could that not have been done in the garage and
the bodies be left there in then disposed at night? I am not saying
that it is nice to say what I am saying, but I am trying to follow your
logic, could that not have been done in the garage and the bodies
left there and then burnt later on?
MR VAN ZYL: I suppose it could have.
ADV NYOKA: Then why was it not done?
MR VAN ZYL: Because it was done that evening, that was what I
decided to do. I cannot answer why I didn't do it earlier sir.
ADV NYOKA: I therefore put it to you that you were not a man in
a hurry to do the job if there were such delays, as you suggested
yesterday. Any comment?
MR VAN ZYL: You are wrong, Mr Chairman, that was my
intentions and those were my motives at the time.
ADV NYOKA: Mr Chairman, I am not going to labour the point.
And if the three leaders were never assaulted, I assume at some
stage you went to gather wood, why did the interrogation take so
long? Evening, morning and early part of the afternoon, after
twelve?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Nieuwoudt mainly talked to them Mr Chairman,
and Mr Nieuwoudt has got a very broad background about the
activities around the Port Elizabeth organisations and I can only
assume that he covered all of them. It was also known to us that Mr
Hashe had visited Lesotho the previous or two years before, maybe
three, and Mr Nieuwoudt obviously asked him, talked to him about
that visit as well.
ADV NYOKA: Despite all that length of talking, there was no new
information gathered?
MR VAN ZYL: No major information, no Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I wonder why it was long, if there was nothing
new? I do not understand if I talk to someone, I do not get anything
new, I talk at length at length with him or her. Let me not be sexist
here, him or her.
MR VAN ZYL: I do not see anything strange in that Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I find it very, very strange.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, is your evidence that at the time when
these people were killed, I believe it was the second evening, am I
right?
MR VAN ZYL: It was the evening after they were abducted, Mr
Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Are you saying it was your earliest possible
moment to can kill them?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, at the time I thought it was Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: And if the evidence is correct that their heads were
covered at the airport, I don't say you said that, if it was correct,
why would their heads be covered if at all eventually they were
going to be killed?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, maybe it was the modus operandi of
the askaris to do that when they picked up, arrested or abducted
people. I cannot answer for that.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, I will ask them that later on. You
mentioned the issue of the AK47. Did you get to hear that or did
you hear from someone else?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Nieuwoudt told me that one of them
volunteered information about that Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: He just volunteered information without being
pressured?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot comment on how he volunteered it Mr
Chairman, but as I said yesterday, Mr Nieuwoudt's knowledge about
the activists was thought to be enough pressure on them to bring
about new information.
ADV NYOKA: And when did you hear of that AK47 story, in the
morning or that very evening or in the afternoon?
MR VAN ZYL: No, that I can't remember Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Can't remember? If people are just talking casually,
I find it strange that someone who doesn't know that he is going to
be killed eventually, will just volunteer something that may land him
to imprisonment unless he was pressured, do you agree with me?
You don't have to agree with me, but do you agree with me
that it is strange that when people are talking nicely and then
someone will just out of the blue, without having been pried or real
evidence against him, will just say look there is something I know
about an AK47.
MR VAN ZYL: It depends I think if someone wants to waste time
or just want to lead you on a false path, he may also volunteer
information like that Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: But it was not the first time Mr Van Zyl, that these
people were detained. They could have done that earlier on in their
detention and the charge of terrorism could have been laid against
them and a conviction even on a single evidence, resulting? I find it
strange that all of sudden they will do that at Cradock and not
earlier on, even they had previous detentions? Would you agree
with me?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember when any of the three were
detained during my time in Port Elizabeth Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Do you dispute the fact that they were never, ever
detained?
MR VAN ZYL: Of course not, but during my time in 1984 and
1985 I cannot remember them being detained.
ADV NYOKA: What circumstances, Mr Van Zyl, did you meet Mr
Hashe. You said yesterday you had met Mr Hashe before?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct. I can recall that I met Mr Hashe in
his house, at his house Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: What were you doing in his house, were you there
to arrest him or interrogate him or what?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, at the time I can recall that we
had actually had information about somebody that had visited him
and that we went to the house at night and we actually searched the
house Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Can I ask a question about this AK47 story? As I
recall your evidence it was later learnt that the AK47 story was not
true?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Were the three gentlemen confronted about that or
anyone of them who had volunteered the information as you had just
said?
MR VAN ZYL: About the fact that it was not true Mr Chairman, I
am afraid they were not alive by then Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: If that information did not lead anywhere, I find it
strange that someone will volunteer that information but lying in
doing so if he was not pressured?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, if I remember correctly, Mr
Nieuwoudt did not put a lot of weight, he did not believe the story
himself at the time very much, and the way he conveyed it to me was
that he wasn't at the time thinking that it was a true story, but we
had to - took the address and we had to follow it up.
ADV NYOKA: I accept that, that may not have been reliable, but
the point is if someone is talking casually, volunteering information,
why will he volunteer a lie? He would rather have not said anything
than lie, unless he was pressured to do so?
MR VAN ZYL: I was not there, I was not there Mr Chairman, I
cannot speculate on why he volunteered the information at the time.
ADV NYOKA: Did you not go to him and asked him about this
yourself?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I did not Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Why not?
MR VAN ZYL: Because I knew what the conditions were at the
time and I did not see it fit for myself to speak to him about it as
well.
ADV NYOKA: What conditions were those?
MR VAN ZYL: I had the address of the people that he had
mentioned at the time and I cannot remember where or who it was.
ADV NYOKA: Did you at any stage interrogate the three persons?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I did not Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: In his written statement Mr Lotz will say, he is
going to testify after you, that you, Mr Nieuwoudt and the askaris
participated in the interrogation that very first night, yet you say it
was only Mr Nieuwoudt, what do you say about that?
MR VAN ZYL: The fact that I was present, probably prompted him
to say that I also interrogated them.
ADV NYOKA: No, I don't think Mr Lotz is a fool. He would have
said you were present, but not interrogated. There is a difference
between the presence of a person and someone interrogating.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, it is possible that I had asked Mr
Nieuwoudt to ask them one or two questions as well, but as far as I
can remember Mr Nieuwoudt was conducting the questioning at the
time.
ADV NYOKA: So you could have interrogated via Mr Nieuwoudt?
MR VAN ZYL: That is possible Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Or perhaps you intervened Mr Nieuwoudt
interrogated the persons? Then you don't answer to that? Further
than that Mr Mogoai and Mr Koole also said that you participated in
the interrogation, confirming what Mr Lotz is going to say?
MR VAN ZYL: As I said it is possible that I asked them one or
two questions through Mr Nieuwoudt Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, but how would you describe your role?
Would you describe it as participation in the interrogation because
they are describing it as participation in the interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: I would describe it as very secondary, as Mr
Nieuwoudt had much more knowledge about the activities that he
was asking them, I could not really add to that Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, but the impression you gave us that you did
not participate in the interrogation?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not mean to mislead you, I meant Mr
Chairman that I was there and it is possible that I asked some
questions through Mr Nieuwoudt as well, but it must have been a
few, I have no recollection of that, but it is possible.
CHAIRPERSON: I am not sure that I can say that you are saying
you participated or you did not participate. I don't know whether
you are saying you participated or you did not participate?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, the fact that I was present some of
the time while Mr Nieuwoudt interrogated them, could also have
meant that at some time I had asked something to add to his
questions, so in fact it would mean that at some times I did
participate.
ADV NYOKA: Thank you. I am moving on to assault Mr Van Zyl,
did you assault these people?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I did not Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I am informed that you are not the type that
assaults people. Mr (indistinct) Jack said that he was being
assaulted in June a month after that and you came and intervened on
his behalf, but you took him to the beach and told him that you dealt
with so-called terrorists in the army, you saved him from being
assaulted, do you remember that incident?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I don't recollect that Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: You don't, it is in your favour. You don't assault?
MR VAN ZYL: I still do not recollect the incident Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Mr Jack just informed me today telephonically, and
he is present, and he is very grateful to you and he said I must say
that. I know I am diverting now, but he is very grateful to you for
that, but you deny that incident?
MR VAN ZYL: I do not deny it, I do not recall it Mr Chairman. I
can remember arresting Mr Jack once during the state of emergency
in July of August of that year probably because that was when the
state of emergency was called out.
I did not assault him, that I know when I arrested him, but I
do not recollect taking him to the beach and telling him what he said
sir.
ADV NYOKA: So you must have been intervening in many assaults
for you not to remember this one, which occurred to you?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, I did not regard it as very
important.
ADV NYOKA: Okay. Let me move away from that. Mr Mogoai
and Mr Koole said that the three activists were assaulted especially
when they cried, saying that they are not going to say anything, they
would rather die. Then the policemen pounced upon them and
assaulted them.
They were brave in death, what do you say about that?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, that is not how it happened at all.
ADV NYOKA: In particular Mr Godolozi and Mr Hashe. They
said we are not talking, we would rather die and immediately people
angered assaulted them, including them.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I cannot comment on the askaris'
knowledge even of the people. It did not happen like that, not when
I was there.
ADV NYOKA: And someone was crying in the garage, you did not
hear anyone, one of the activists crying in the garage?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I wonder why they will say that if that was not the
case? Are you saying that they made that up?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot comment why they say that Mr Chairman,
but it is not how it happened.
ADV NYOKA: So they made the stories up?
MR VAN ZYL: It is false.
ADV NYOKA: At least we agree on something. You commented
about only two less drastic legal options, assault and bombing, but
you said these were not - you commented about bombing, but you
said that there were problems with that, but you did not comment
about assault, why it was not considered. Can you elaborate?
MR VAN ZYL: I commented on bombing and assault yesterday
before, because you had actually mentioned it the previous day sir.
Assault would have been out of the question, it would have
served no purpose and I thought it was clear to everybody that that
would have had no effect at all.
I cannot think that one can intimidate a motivated person like
that at all by assaulting him.
Bombing the house would have served no purpose at all,
because innocent people could have been killed, and it was never
considered. What was considered on just about a daily basis, were
the other legal actions that we could have taken, and that was
discussed.
We were not the only officers at the Port Elizabeth Security
Branch, we were quite a big staff and we had daily meetings about
the information that came in through the night. These people
worked night and day and information was sent to Security Branch
Head Quarters in Pretoria on a daily basis with our comments and
that included detention and restrictions Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I will assume that nt one person was assaulted
during that ear because as far as I know, Mr Nieuwoudt who applied
for amnesty, assaulted Mr Jack and Mr Mogoai and Mr Koole. How
can you say an assault would not have had the desired results, if it
was never tried at all, just to be tried because he or she, as a human
being feels pain, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I was never present, during my
entire career in the Police, that somebody had suggested that assault
be used to curb a person's activities.
ADV NYOKA: Regarding bombing, Mr Du Plessis mentioned
yesterday that if there was a decision that only three people be
killed, abducted, that decision is complied to to the letter, because
of the professionalism of the Police.
I am certain that if there was the scaring method of bombing
the house without people inside, due to the monitoring of the
Security Police, the bombing could have occurred when the
occupants were not inside because of the expertise of the Police, do
you agree with me?
MR VAN ZYL: That was never considered Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: That could have been done to ensure that when
there was no one in the house, let's just scare them.
MR VAN ZYL: I don't think so, Mr Chairman, I think it would
have had the same results as detention.
ADV NYOKA: You did not mention other less drastic methods like
threats through the mail or telephone or leaving of death threats at
the entrance doors, things like those? Were those not considered?
MR VAN ZYL: Those were not part of my modus operandi at any
part of my life.
ADV NYOKA: You never thought about that?
MR VAN ZYL: Never sir.
ADV NYOKA: I wonder where I got them from, because that is the
information that we are obtaining as being used by the Police before.
MR VAN ZYL: I have no knowledge of that Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Did each of you use the same weapon in firing the
person?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: That was your weapon? That was your weapon, a
rifle?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Why is it that not one person shot each and
everyone, why did you have to exchange the gun around or the
weapon around, it is not a gun? The weapon around?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, that was probably the way that I
intended to do it, but I can remember I handed the gun to the next
person after I shot the first person.
ADV NYOKA: You know, this is not nice even to me Mr Van Zyl,
but it seems to me as if it was like a game, kill your own person, not
so? That is how it seems to me when I am reading your statements?
MR VAN ZYL: Not at all, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: And were you not afraid that there could be a
sound coming out of this gun and alerting people around?
MR VAN ZYL: That is why it was a remote spot that was
suggested to me, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: How did it sound when you fired the shot, was it
loud?
MR VAN ZYL: The gun was a silenced gun Mr Chairman, it was ...
(intervention)
ADV NYOKA: I must confess, I was trying to trap you I thought
you were going to say it was a loud noise, because someone said it
was a silencer. You are alert Mr Van Zyl.
MR VAN ZYL: I am just recalling what happened there Mr
Chairman, I am telling the truth.
ADV NYOKA: No, I am not fighting with you about that, I was
just commenting.
You said you possessed this weapon, unlicensed from 1975,
that is for ten years?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Why did you keep it for so long?
MR VAN ZYL: Because I had intended to actually license it at
some time, because at the time I was collecting firearms, I was very
interested in firearms, have been all my life and I am an armourer,
qualified and at the time I brought it out because it was a curious
weapon.
I brought it out illegally on a military flight from Rhodesia,
now Zimbabwe and I kept it and hid it for these years.
ADV NYOKA: Had you used it before that incident at all, between
1975 and 1985, did you use it?
MR VAN ZYL: I used it just to make sure that it worked, and I
worked on it because as I say I am an armourer. It was not totally
fixed when I had it, when I first got it, I remember I did some work
on it to make it into a working order.
ADV NYOKA: Before using it, going to Cradock, did the other
gentlemen have their own weapons?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, we are all issued with service
weapons?
ADV NYOKA: Then why did they not use their own weapons
rather than yours?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I took this weapon because it was
unlicensed, I could get rid of it if I had to and because it was
silenced.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, and you said you got rid of it the following
year, 1986 by throwing it into the sea not so?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Why did you dispose of it then?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, because I did not want that weapon
with me any more.
ADV NYOKA: You know, I am curious, if you wanted to dispose
of it, why did you not dispose of it when the fire was burning that
night? Why waited till 1986?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember why I waited Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I put it to you that you just destroyed that weapon
especially when criminal investigation was launched about this
incident, not in 1986, you just destroyed it now. There is not reason
why you should pick up 1986, when you had regained the initiative,
there was a state of emergency, activists were in prison? Not so?
MR VAN ZYL: No sir.
ADV NYOKA: This sleeping pill, are you sure it came from you
and not from Mr Nieuwoudt?
MR VAN ZYL: It came from me Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Why I am saying that is because last month Mr
Nieuwoudt said he supplied the pill when drugging Mr Mthimkhulu
Madaka and coincidentally a sleeping pill is used in 1985?
MR VAN ZYL: I have no knowledge of that, it was not a sleeping
pill. As I said yesterday it was a glass (indistinct) filled with a
liquid substance.
ADV NYOKA: Did you know that you were taking it when you
took it from PE to Cradock, because in your statement you are not
sure where this pill came from according to my interpretation in
English?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I said I recalled in my statement, that it came
from my medical bag, from my time of service in Ovamboland and I
was always travelling with a medical bag, I still travel with a medical
bag wherever I go Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Did you tell the others of this method, that you had
this thing that was going to be used?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot recall telling them before the time or when
I told them Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: So they were not curious to find out how we are
going to implement this on our arrival at Cradock?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it was not decided before the time that we
would give them sleeping pills as far as I can recall Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: This is the last portion Mr Van Zyl, it is about
following orders. You said that having a military background, you
are trained to follow orders?
MR VAN ZYL: I think everybody in the Police is as disciplined or
more disciplined than I am Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Whether those orders are unlawful or not, they
have to be followed?
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman, I have also said that I
specifically agreed with what happened at the time and I admit that.
ADV NYOKA: Yes, you agreed about an unlawful order. My point
was do you obey an order, whether it is lawful or not, I don't say
you agreed with it. You agreed about an unlawful order, the order
was unlawful?
MR VAN ZYL: I know that Mr Chairman. At the time the
situation was so desperate and deteriorating every day, that those
drastic actions were decided on because the other measures were not
regarded as effective.
ADV NYOKA: So whether the motive, whatever the motive was, as
long as it was an order that came from above, and you more or less
identified with it, it didn't matter what the motive was, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman, that was one of the only orders
like that I ever received in my life. And I did obey them, yes.
ADV NYOKA: Did you agree immediately?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember when I agreed, I had discussed
it certainly with Colonel Du Plessis and as it, he first told me a week
or two before this incident that it was decided upon and yes, I did
probably agree the same day.
ADV NYOKA: I assume it was not necessary for you to argue with
him about other legal options like suggesting a state of emergency,
the removal of the activists to another area, further detention
(indistinct), it was not necessary?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I have already said that at that time
we had discussed alternative options every day until then, and as far
as the state of emergency is concerned, that was in the hands of the
Minister of Law and Order.
We had no idea at that time, that there would have been a
state of emergency two months later.
ADV NYOKA: But if your conscience told you that this is unlawful
and I am not going to do it, you could have asked to be removed
from that Security Branch department to an ordinary Police
department, you had that choice? You had no obligation to follow
unlawful orders?
MR VAN ZYL: I was also a very motivated person, who believed
at the time that we were moving very fast towards the violent
overthrowing of the system at that time, and I did not believe that
that should happen. I believed in the order of that day, I served the
government of that day and I believed that it would make a
difference, a positive difference and it was not only for the whites,
there were a lot of blacks suffering at the hands of activists in those
days in the townships as well, Mr Chairman.
It was not only the black policemen either, I believe there
were a lot of moderate blacks in these townships. I also believe
that, while we are here, we should also spare a thought for the
victims of a lot of people that died here whose murderers were never
found because of the breakdown of the law and order at the time
because investigations could not be followed up in the normal
manner, and that happened.
And those were the things that added to the situation that we
regarded as most drastic at the time.
ADV NYOKA: You have made a speech Mr Van Zyl, I must
commend you on that. That situation was brought about by the ANC
in exile, not so through the Pebco, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: What makes me to wonder now is why these people
were suffering through this activities, they would in 1994 give the
ANC 62 percent of the vote if they were suffering under it? I find
that very, very strange?
MR VAN ZYL: 62 Percent?
ADV NYOKA: Yes, 62 percent of the vote, and you said they were
moderate blacks?
MR VAN ZYL: I think the remainder of the 38 percent might be of
the people that I am referring to Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: We don't know who that 38 percent is?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I can only speculate Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: We will have to wait for 1999, it may be more than
that.
CHAIRPERSON: I am going to urge you to get to the real issue.
ADV NYOKA: You said you thought that with due respect to Mr
Snyman, the order may have come from higher authority?
MR VAN ZYL: I had that distinct impression at the time because
of my opinion of Colonel Snyman and Major Du Plessis Mr
Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: I want you to assist me in this, I have four levels of
authority higher than Mr Snyman. The first one is the Regional
South African Police Commissioner, Brigadier Swart, not so, after
Mr Snyman?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Then the second one is the South African
Commissioner National, am I correct?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Then the third one is the ministerial level of the
Minister of Law and Order?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
ADV NYOKA: The fourth one is the cabinet, or parallel to the
State Security Council, those four levels, not so?
MR VAN ZYL: Correct.
ADV NYOKA: One of those four levels, the authority must have
come from then, not so because you said it came from higher
authority - you can choose which authority.
MR VAN ZYL: I did not say it came from higher authority, I said
that taking into regard Mr Chairman, the personalities of Major Du
Plessis and Colonel Snyman as I knew them, I honestly did not think
that either of them would take such an order on their own and that is
I assumed, that it came from a higher level.
ADV NYOKA: You may have been correct in your assumption Mr
Van Zyl, because firstly Mr Le Grange was in Cradock and said the
Police must make a plan and secondly, and most importantly, on the
7th of May, before the abduction Mr Le Grange was in Port
Elizabeth.
I would like to take this opportunity of circulating a ten
sentence report from the Eastern Province Herald which said Mr
Louis Le Grange paid a brief visit to Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage
on Tuesday, that is the 7th of May.
Lieutenant Colonel Gerry van Rooyen, South African Police
Liaison Officer for the Eastern Cape, last night confirmed that Mr
Le Grange paid a flying visit to the African townships in the area.
Was that not a coincidence?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot comment on that, I did not know that Mr
Chairman. There was no way that Mr Le Grange would tell me, at
my level of I was Captain at the time, and confirm that he had
actually given permission for this act to happen. It just did not
work like that.
ADV NYOKA: Were you not aware that he came to visit?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I was not Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: He may have paid a courtesy call to the Regional
Commander Mr Snyman, he can't just go to the township without
coming to the Security Branches?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not know about that Mr Chairman, I cannot
confirm it.
ADV NYOKA: I put it to you that it is a strange coincidence that
Mr Le Grange will come the day before and then these people
disappear, if he did not know?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot comment on that, I did not see him and I
did not know of the knowledge of his visit either.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, I accept that you may not know, but will you
agree with me that it has been a tradition in politics that the cabinet
meets or met weekly, once a week?
I know you are not a politician, but that is the tradition, they
met once a week?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't know exactly how often they meet Mr
Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Okay, just have faith in me. If that is the case,
would you agree with me that the following week the cabinet may
have met, and confronted Mr Le Grange and said Mr Le Grange, this
had been publicised that you are going to be in our hearing, that
these people disappeared. Did you have anything to do with that, it
could have happened, not so? During the following weekly meeting
of the cabinet?
MR VAN ZYL: It could have, I can really not speculate on what
happened Mr Chairman.
ADV NYOKA: Yes, all right. Finally Mr Van Zyl, and I am saying
this sincerely, I wish you all the luck when you go to your overseas
trips and I want to say that you belong to this country.
I am not joking, you belong to this country, come back and
then we sort out these problems, thank you.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV NYOKA.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS HARTLE: Mr Van Zyl, what are
the other applications that are before the Amnesty Commission, in
relation to what other incidents are you applying for amnesty?
MR VAN ZYL: It relates to an incident that happened in 1980 Mr
Chairman, that is also a murder and apart from this application, the
Cradock 4 and one other incident in Cape Town where there were no
lives or damage to people involved Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Why did you resign from the South African Police?
MR VAN ZYL: I actually wanted to at the time, wanted to undergo
a selection course for reconnaissance commando, Special Forces and
that is why I resigned.
MS HARTLE: I notice you are one of a few applicants who have
not retired from the Police Service on the basis of ill health, have
you suffered any post-traumatic stress as a result of these incidents?
MR VAN ZYL: My stress have been very private and I have not
gone to any medical facility for help, if that is what you are referring
to Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: In this application, you do not make mention of any
criminal prosecutions, are there criminal prosecutions to be pursued
against you or that are being investigated against you?
MR VAN ZYL: Not that I am aware of Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And if there were to be a civil claim for
compensation made against you in your personal capacity, would
you be able to afford to meet a claim for compensation?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't think so Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Why is that?
MR VAN ZYL: Because my income is not in any higher bracket
than the normal person's position, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Do you have any assets capable of attachment?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I have a house.
CHAIRPERSON: This is not an insolvency enquiry.
MS HARTLE: Mr Chairman, with respect, I would like to persist
with the questioning, because it is relevant to what is at stake for
this applicant. I would like to make the suggestion in my
submissions later on, that he has nothing to loose, whether he gains
amnesty or not.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, bring it in line. Explain to us how it is
related to these proceedings.
MS HARTLE: Mr Chairman, I will rather leave that, this line of
questioning.
Are you referred to as Sakkie van Zyl as well?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Now, it is true that you are only applying for
amnesty in respect of this incident, after you were named by Colonel
Venter when he testified and in his submissions to the Commission in
October last year?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And I think you stated that it wasn't a coincidence,
you were out of the country at the time?
MR VAN ZYL: I beg your pardon, why wouldn't it be a
coincidence?
MS HARTLE: I am putting it to you that the reason why you did
not apply for amnesty prior to Colonel Venter naming you in
October last year, was a mere coincidence. In other words, you
would have applied for amnesty before, except that you were out of
the country if I understood you correctly?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I did not say that. I said that at the time I was
out of the country, and at the time I was trying to gain as much
information about the system as possible and that I was still making
up my mind.
MS HARTLE: But you felt even then that you couldn't bring the
application without consultation with your colleagues?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I just said that I felt that it would have been
better if all of us went forward because of the bitter taste that it left
with me that I was implicated.
MS HARTLE: You see, I must question why you felt it necessary
to get together to discuss your feelings and to speak about that, this
application for amnesty, particularly your application for amnesty in
relation to your own involvement and complicity?
MR VAN ZYL: I felt responsible for the people who worked under
me Mr Chairman, and I still feel guilty about involving them because
it probably wrecked their lives mentally at least, in a similar way to
my own.
MS HARTLE: You see, you have told us just now that your stress
is a very private thing, likewise a confession is a very private thing.
MR VAN ZYL: There is no facility for a private confession here
Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You see, you wouldn't go to a confessional for
example, with all of your colleagues and confess your sins there
before God. It is a very personal thing, that is what I am saying to
you?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: I find it strange that you found it necessary to
discuss with the other applicants exactly what they were going to be
doing in relation to the amnesty proceedings.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, in all the Forces, there is a bond, a
camaraderie and I felt it was fair to them to tell them what I am
going to do and to hear if they felt the same, if they agreed with me.
MS HARTLE: Would the purpose of your discussions be perhaps
to warn them that you might be naming them in your amnesty
application?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it is like I just told you Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You see Mr Van Zyl, isn't it so that you wanted to
contrive a common truth as it were? You would want to concoct a
version which would be simple, it would be short, it would be
lacking in detail and it would be easy to commit to memory, and it
wouldn't necessarily implicate the name of any of your colleagues?
MR VAN ZYL: Not at any stage, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You see, but there is a sense in which you protect
your colleagues, your old colleagues. You have spoken about a
bond, a camaraderie, that exist between you.
MR VAN ZYL: I don't need to protect them. I feel protective
towards my junior officers, because I involved them, but I also felt
that it was fair Mr Chairman, to tell them what I was going to do
and to consult with them, whether they felt the same at the time.
MS HARTLE: Because you see the Pebco operation as it was
carried out, is very similar in detail to that involving Mthimkhulu
Madaka and to a certain extent also Mr Kondile.
MR VAN ZYL: I have no knowledge of those operations, I did not
even follow the proceedings that happened here recently, because I
wasn't even in the country Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: The similarities that exist are the abduction, the
shooting while they were drugged and then the burning of the
bodies.
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot comment on the previous operations that
you are mentioning, Mr Chairman. As I told you in my evidence, I
asked Colonel Du Plessis what we should to, he suggested that these
people had to disappear completely. I asked him how that could be
done and he actually said to me that in the way that I described.
MS HARTLE: I just want to examine for a short while your brief
that was given to you by Mr Du Plessis. What exactly, or let me just
ask you this first, you were given the instruction as I understand you
evidence on the 8th of May 1985?
MR VAN ZYL: The final instruction that we should go ahead, that
there was an opportunity because he had obviously spoken to Mr
Nieuwoudt who had his source alerted to something like this.
MS HARTLE: So there was a previous discussion in relation to a
general operation?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Du Plessis discussed this with me a week
or two earlier in which he told me that this was, the situation was so
desperate that it should happen like I said.
MS HARTLE: Now, the fortnight before the incident, when you
discussed it with Mr Du Plessis, what exactly were your instructions
at that stage? I am not interested in what your instructions were on
the 8th of May, what were your initial instructions two weeks before
the incident?
MR VAN ZYL: That the leader element of Pebco should be
eliminated and in particular Messrs Hashe, Galela and Godolozi.
MS HARTLE: Now, at that stage, I assume had no knowledge that
those three persons would be at the airport at the same time on the
8th of May?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I had no knowledge, no.
MS HARTLE: And I find it improbable that Mr Du Plessis would
have had that knowledge at that stage, that the three would be
together at that place?
MR VAN ZYL: He should not say that we should abduct them from
the airport Ma'am. He said that we should plan an operation to
abduct and eliminate them.
MS HARTLE: Those three persons specifically?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
MS HARTLE: They were named?
MR VAN ZYL: They were named.
MS HARTLE: None of the other Pebco leaders were named?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
MS HARTLE: So your task was to eliminate those three persons?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And how were you to eliminate them?
MR VAN ZYL: At the time, as I said, I asked him what we should
do and he said that they should disappear. In other words, that we
should get rid of the bodies, that it could not be traced. And I
asked him how to do it, as I said, and that he told me.
MS HARTLE: So you asked him how to do it?
MR VAN ZYL: I asked him how we should get rid of the bodies,
Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Did you ask him how to eliminate them, or how you
should eliminate them?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't recall that Mr Chairman, it was not
necessary.
MS HARTLE: It was not necessary? Sorry, did I hear you
correctly?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not regard it as necessary Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Are we to assume from that that you would take
care of those details?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I can think we can assume that Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Is that in fact what you believed when you were
given the instruction, that how you eliminated them was entirely up
to you?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, I just told you, it was discussed
and it was suggested either by myself of Mr Du Plessis, that we
probably shoot them, but I cannot remember that he told me
specifically that he told me specifically to shoot them.
What he specifically told me was that we could burn the
bodies at a remote place.
MS HARTLE: At that stage that you had the discussions, was the
remote place already agreed upon?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Did you have several discussions, or was there only
one prior to the 8th of May?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it is possible that we had more than one, I
cannot recall.
MS HARTLE: I am not asking what is possible, I am asking you
what your evidence is.
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember more discussions than the one
in which initially he told me about, and when he told me that we
should go ahead.
MS HARTLE: What was your discussion in relation to the motor
vehicle? Let me just ask you this first, you obviously didn't discuss
necessarily what would happen to a vehicle at that stage, because
you didn't know where or how you would find your victims?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't think at the early stage we discussed the
vehicle, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Now were you in given that assignment, informed
that you would be working with anyone in particular in order to
carry out that operation?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, he told me to select a team.
MS HARTLE: Was it your decision to select the Vlakplaas Unit?
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman, that was done impulsively on the
day of the 8th, because they were in the area and because we
thought they could be used for that.
MS HARTLE: And prior to the 8th, had you identified certain
persons who you could use in the operation with you?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Lotz and Mr Nieuwoudt.
MS HARTLE: They were your personal choice?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Is there a reason why you selected those persons?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I just thought they would be strong
enough to stand up to a traumatic operation like that.
MS HARTLE: Why did you believe that?
MR VAN ZYL: Because I had worked with them for more than a
year until then, Mr Chairman. Sergeant Lotz, excuse me was also in
the operational area for a short while years before that, I had
actually met him there at the time.
MS HARTLE: Now, if I recall your earlier evidence, you said that
this was the first time that you had actually been given an
instruction of this nature?
MR VAN ZYL: To burn somebody, that is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: To?
MR VAN ZYL: To burn a body to ash, that is correct.
MS HARTLE: Now, this method of burning wasn't new to the
Security Forces in Port Elizabeth at the time?
MR VAN ZYL: I had never used it until then.
MS HARTLE: Had you heard that it had been used?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I don't think so, I don't know anything about
these previous operations.
MS HARTLE: I am not suggesting that you had any complicity in
the previous operations, Mr Van Zyl, I am just saying that you
worked very closely together as a Unit, you were aware of what was
going on. The earlier incidents Mthimkhulu Madaka for example,
that happened prior to the disappearance of the Pebco 3?
MR VAN ZYL: I did not know of those operations, I did not know
of those people at the time.
MS HARTLE: Was there any discussion in relation to previous
methods tried and sort of fool proof tested methods for example the
burning of the body, I mean this was the first time you were going to
be burning a body. Had you actually known what it would entail?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I asked Mr Du Plessis at the time and he told
me.
MS HARTLE: What did he tell you?
MR VAN ZYL: He told me that we should use wood and fuel.
MS HARTLE: Did he tell you how long it would take?
MR VAN ZYL: No, he did not.
MS HARTLE: Did he tell you how much wood you would require?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, not that I can recall.
MS HARTLE: Did you discuss it with your colleagues, to whether
or not that kind of attempt would be successful?
MR VAN ZYL: I may have, I do not recall that Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Why don't you recall? I mean this was the first time
you were given an instruction of this nature, surely you must have
agonized over it, you must have considered it fully and you must
have gone over the various aspects of the plan before you could put
it into operation?
MR VAN ZYL: It is possible that we spoke about it, it is more
than 12 years ago. My memory, what stands out in my memory is
what actually happened and what happened, and I took part in that,
and that I remember very well.
MS HARTLE: Now, on the 8th, the instruction to you was
confirmed that you were to abduct the three persons?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Now coincidentally the three happened to be
together and you were informed that they were going to be at the
airport?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, as I said yesterday the way I recall
it Mr Nieuwoudt told me. I think when Mr Du Plessis told me he
said to me that the three would be there. When Mr Nieuwoudt told
me, he said to me that he knew that at least one of them would be at
the airport, but it is possible that all three would be there.
MS HARTLE: In the two weeks prior to the 8th, had you, between
the three of you, discussed various manners or ways, methods in
which you could draw them away, draw them to a place together?
MR VAN ZYL: It is possible, I do not recall anything like that Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You see Mr Van Zyl, this is the problem that the
families have with your application, it is so lacking in detail. These
issues must have been on your mind, they must have played on your
mind.
MR VAN ZYL: The issues that were really at stake about what
happened on the scene, have been on my mind. It has been on my
mind for a long time. But I did not think about it, we never spoke
about this again, it is like an unspoken thing between us because it
was a serious matter and there was nothing to talk about.
MS HARTLE: When did Mr Nieuwoudt inform you of the three's
presence at the airport, the arrangement, the fact that they were to
be lured?
MR VAN ZYL: During the course of the day of the 8th, Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Did you then communicate with Mr Du Plessis again
in that regard?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I think we did.
MS HARTLE: Now, after you were informed by Mr Nieuwoudt of
an opportunity that existed, how did you then go about planning or
putting into operation the final stages of your plan?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I can remember that we had a
meeting in Mr Du Plessis office at which Nieuwoudt, myself and
Captain Venter was definitely there during the course of the day in
the offices, I am not sure whether he was at that specific meeting, at
which Mr Nieuwoudt informed us that he had a source that would
call Mr Hashe at a number that was not generally used and that he
would lure him to the airport.
MS HARTLE: Was that the only meeting that you had prior to the
abduction on that day?
MR VAN ZYL: The only?
MS HARTLE: Meeting that you had prior to the abduction, on that
day?
MR VAN ZYL: It is possible that we had another meeting, but not
a formal meeting, because we were together during the day.
MS HARTLE: Who was together?
MR VAN ZYL: At various stages, the group, but there could have
been one or two missing.
MS HARTLE: Which of you were present again, I need to
understand how many meetings were held because you had to plan
this operation in the minute detail?
MR VAN ZYL: That I cannot remember Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You were given new facts and you had to then fit
everything into place as it were in order to settle the final
arrangements.
MR VAN ZYL: The final arrangements were that the askaris would
be used, that they would meet us at an arranged place in (indistinct),
and that from there we would move to the airport, shortly before the
people arrived.
Mr Nieuwoudt was in charge of that, and he monitored their
movements as well. We had our radios and shortly before the time,
we went and parked at the places like I described.
MS HARTLE: What was the arrangement with regard to the motor
vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: We then decided that the motor vehicle would be
taken to the Tele Bridge, near the Lesotho border, to make it look
as if the activists had actually left the country.
MS HARTLE: Mr Van Zyl, I put it to you that you couldn't have
known at that stage, that they would arrive in a vehicle.
MR VAN ZYL: How else would they get to the airport Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You wouldn't know that they would arrive in their
own vehicle, which would be left behind.
MR VAN ZYL: So it was a plan that if they arrived with a vehicle,
that is how we would do it Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Is there any reason why you have not dealt in your
submissions with the plan to create the impression at the end of the
day, that the Pebco 3 had left the country, in other words the
placing of the vehicle on the border?
MR VAN ZYL: No, there is no reason for that Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Because you see, if you read your submission in
paragraph 10 at page 46 of the record, the sixth line from the
bottom of paragraph 10, the three activists accompanied the askaris
to the askaris' minibus which was parked nearby and one of the
askaris drove the Pebco 3's bakkie to where or vehicles were.
I asked Captain Nieuwoudt whether he knew of a suitable
place where we could get rid of the bakkie and he suggested that it
be taken to KwaZakhele and be burnt there.
I put it to you Mr Van Zyl, that that is inconsistent with your
suggestion that there was a prior arrangement to dispose of the
vehicle in a particular manner.
MR VAN ZYL: I just did not manner that there was a prior
arrangement Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Sorry, I can't hear what you are saying.
MR VAN ZYL: I said I just did not mention, I do not know for
what reason, that there was a prior arrangement. I only asked
Lieutenant Nieuwoudt to destroy the vehicle after he had reported to
me that the mechanical condition of the vehicle was such that it
would not reach Lesotho border or even near that.
MS HARTLE: Mr Van Zyl, you see, you don't mention in your
submissions that that transpired, that there was a prior plan, you
then discovered that the vehicle wouldn't make it to the border and
then there was a change of plan.
I put it to you that the only reason why you've raised it in
your evidence, your oral evidence yesterday, was because Mr Du
Plessis mentioned it in his evidence.
MR VAN ZYL: Not at all Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: You want to bring your version in conformity with
his, I put it to you that that is what you are trying to do.
MR VAN ZYL: That is not true.
CHAIRPERSON: Could this be a convenient point for an
adjournment until eleven o'clock.
MS HARTLE: That is convenient.
COMMISSION ADJOURNS
ON RESUMPTION:
CHAIRPERSON: You may continue, Ms Hartle.
MS HARTLE: Thank you Mr Chairman. Mr Van Zyl, if I may just
take you back a step. I asked if there had been any criminal
prosecutions against you. Were there at any stage any criminal
investigations into your involvement into the deaths of the Pebco 3?
MR VAN ZYL: It was probably investigated from the time that it
was reported. Do you mean was I approached?
MS HARTLE: Were you approached, yes?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I was approached.
MS HARTLE: Were you approached by the Attorney General,
D'Oliviera?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, that is correct.
MS HARTLE: Were you summonsed by him?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Would it be correct Mr Van Zyl, that you denied any
complicity in these acts, complicity with these acts in relation to the
death of the Pebco 3?
MR VAN ZYL: It was an unofficial talk as I recall it, and it was
just before I was going to apply for amnesty Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Is it correct that you denied complicity with these
acts?
MR VAN ZYL: I did deny it Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Why did you not feel constraint at that stage to tell
the truth?
MR VAN ZYL: Because it was a totally different matter, I was
going to apply for amnesty Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: So your real intention is only to seek
indemnification as it were?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I don't regard myself as a criminal,
these acts were committed with an absolute political motive at the
time when this country was in dire straits as I recall it. And it was
political, therefore i felt that I had the right to apply for amnesty.
MS HARTLE: Should you not have taken the Attorney General
into your confidence at that stage and assisted him in bringing the
perpetrators to book for these offences?
MR VAN ZYL: I was advised not to, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Because I put it to you Mr Van Zyl, in reality the
purpose of your seeking amnesty is really to get indemnification
from prosecution. That is the real purpose of your being here today.
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: To come back to the operation itself at the airport,
is there a reason why you yourself attended at the airport when the
three were abducted?
MR VAN ZYL: I would think that I wanted to oversee the
operation from a distance Mr Chairman. We were using VHF radios
for which one had to be in within line of sight for proper
communications.
MS HARTLE: And the vehicle in which you were conducting these
activities from, was it - did it have darkened windows?
MR VAN ZYL: My own vehicle?
MS HARTLE: That you were driving in, yes?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: So you were clearly visible to the activists, if you
want to put it that way?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, I was in the parking area, away
from the entrance and the exit path.
MS HARTLE: And if they had seen you there, at least Mr Hashe
would have recognised you, and would have perhaps taken flight?
MR VAN ZYL: That is possible.
MS HARTLE: Much has been asked about whether or not it was a
coincidence whether these particular three persons were at the
airport on that day. You are aware of the article which forms part
of the papers of Mr Nieuwoudt's application. I can refer you to
page 253.
I can't make out the date, but it is an extract from what
appears to be the Evening Post, it is an article by Mr Jimmy Matco
which states that ANC MP, Henry Fasie and former United
Democratic Front Regional President, Esra Ngowi were lucky to
miss the trip to the death garage in Cradock nine years ago.
MR VAN ZYL: I have never seen this report before Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Now, my instructions are that they may have been
with the Pebco 3 at the airport on that day in question, but for the
obligations which they had.
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot comment on that, I did not know that Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Let me ask you this Mr Van Zyl, if the five had
arrived at the airport together, would you have abducted all five and
eliminated all five?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I would have aborted the operation then Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Why?
MR VAN ZYL: Because the three people targeted were not by
themselves Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Mr Van Zyl, did the thought occur to you at all in
your planning operations, and particularly that morning when you
had made the last and final details, that these three members would
not arrive at the airport?
MR VAN ZYL: Of course it did. As I said Mr Nieuwoudt told me
that at least one of them would arrive at the airport, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And would you have been happy to get one if one of
them had arrived?
MR VAN ZYL: At the time, I believe, yes.
MS HARTLE: But if one of them plus Mr Fasie perhaps and
somebody else would have arrived there, you would not have carried
out your operation?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I would have called it off.
MS HARTLE: Was your instruction only to abduct and eliminate
those three persons?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Major Eric Winter at Cradock, was he aware of the
operation?
MR VAN ZYL: Not at all.
MS HARTLE: What was he made aware of?
MR VAN ZYL: I visited him that night, with no notice given at all
and I asked him for the keys of the house which he had, and I told
him that we were going to speak to sources or debrief sources, I
cannot remember, but it had to do with informers.
MS HARTLE: He came to the house the following day?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
MS HARTLE: Now I believe in Captain Venter's evidence, if the
Committee would just bear with me, I will find the relevant place in
a moment, but on my reading of the papers, Colonel Venter testified
that he had actually been shown to the house by Eric Winter?
MR BRINK: It is correct that that is what Colonel Venter had said
at one stage, but it was put to him when further questions were
asked that he may well have been mistaken and that Winter was not
involved.
ADV DE JAGER: And I must point out, you wouldn't be aware of
it, but Winter himself turned up on his own and I don't know
whether he gave evidence, or whether he tendered an affidavit, but
he denied that he had been there at all.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Yes, Mr Chairman, may I also come in here.
I just want to make a point that Colonel Venter conceded during the
evidence, that he may have been wrong with referring to Winter and
as far as I can remember, Winter introduced an affidavit denying his
involvement.
MS HARTLE: I am indebted to the Committee. Now, you said in
your evidence in chief, you were quite emphatic about the fact that
you had medication which you had brought from your past activities,
that you had with you in your possession.
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Was it within your contemplation, that that was
what you would use to drug your victims before shooting them?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember when I thought of it, but the
stuff was in my bag, and I had the bag with me and it could have
been the same day or it could have been decided on days before. I
can speculate on when I decided to use it, I cannot remember that
Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Mr Van Zyl, I put it to you that you must recall
whether or not that was within your contemplation, because you
were either going to murder somebody in cold blood, while they
were awake and in their full senses or you are going to wait until
they were sleeping, or you were going to administer some drug to
them which would render them less aware of what was happening.
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot remember when the decision was taken Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Now, ironically similar procedures were adopted
with Mthimkhulu Madaka's death and Kondile's death, the victims
were drugged.
MR VAN ZYL: I did not know of that.
MS HARTLE: You didn't discuss that with your colleagues?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
MS HARTLE: And it wasn't presented to you as a fool proof
method, so to speak?
MR VAN ZYL: No, it was my decision.
MS HARTLE: You see, I put it to you that the drugging, my
clients instructions are to put it to you that it is no more than an
attempt to make this Committee believe that you wanted to be
humane in carrying out your operation.
In the same way that you testified that they were given camp
cots with bedding, and that they were given food.
MR VAN ZYL: Those were absolutely true, and Mr Chairman, Mr
Hashe was a dignified person at the times when I met him. The
other two gentlemen I did not know.
And those were the reasons that I could not get myself to kill
them without them not knowing about it.
MS HARTLE: Now before I leave the aspect of the medication, I
want to refer you to page 14, at page 47 of the papers. The fifth
line down. It is on page 47 of the papers before you Mr Chairman,
paragraph 14 in the middle of the page, it is the submissions of the
applicant.
In the fifth line down you say I can't remember what exactly
what the drug was or where we had got it from.
MR VAN ZYL: I wrote this statement in September, October of
1996 Mr Chairman, and I have refreshed my memory as I have
refreshed my memory on many other things that I think is quite
natural after such a long time.
And when you speak to people also, they tell you of
something and if you genuinely remember it, you remember it. And
if you don't, you don't.
MS HARTLE: These submissions that various of the applicants
have filed, have been amplified during the course of the proceedings,
they have been updated, and new information has been furnished. Is
there any reason why you didn't amend your papers in relation to
both that aspect and the aspect concerning the motor vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: I thought that it would be sufficient if I speak
about it at this hearing Mr Chairman.
ADV DE JAGER: Mr Van Zyl, I would like to read the entire
sentence to you, it may be misleading to refer only to half of it. I
can't remember exactly what this drug was or where we had obtained
it from, but it is possibly that it formed part of a military medical
kit which I still had from the time that I worked in Ovamboland.
MR VAN ZYL: It refers to the medicine which I referred to.
MS HARTLE: On the issue of refreshing your memory, you
testified yesterday in relation to Mr Hashe, you said that you knew
him from a previous meeting but you stated that when you shot the
person who you killed, you don't recall who that person was.
If I understood your evidence correctly, you were not familiar
with Mr Godolozi and Mr Galela, but you knew Mr Hashe?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, that is correct.
MS HARTLE: And you said that you had never spoken about this
in detail, prior to, I assume prior to bringing this application, you
hadn't discussed who shot who?
MR VAN ZYL: No, we did not.
MS HARTLE: But I submit that you must have, I put it to you that
you must have spoken about this at least at the time the applicants
collaborated together to finalise or settle the applications for
amnesty.
MR VAN ZYL: We were still asked by our various lawyers to give
our own versions of the story Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And how was it that Mr Nieuwoudt refreshed your
memory about who it was you shot?
MR VAN ZYL: Because I asked him.
MS HARTLE: You don't recall who you shot?
MR VAN ZYL: No. He told me who he shot and I assumed that I
shot Mr Hashe.
MS HARTLE: You merely assumed that you shot Mr Hashe?
MR VAN ZYL: I have a blank on that Mr Chairman. I assume that
and if I could remember it clearly, I would have said so.
MS HARTLE: I put it to you that it is most improbable that you
would not recall at least the face of the victim whose life you have
taken.
Where did you shoot the persons, where in relation to the
house etc were they actually shot?
MR VAN ZYL: It was at the back of the house Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Outside, outdoors?
MR VAN ZYL: Outside, outdoors on the lawn.
MS HARTLE: Now, is there any reason why you did that out in the
open if your whole purpose in going to Post Chalmers was to do so
secretively?
MR VAN ZYL: It was nearly dark at the time, and it was a very
remote place Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: If I recall your evidence, it was dusk.
MR VAN ZYL: It was nearly dark.
MS HARTLE: Dusk.
MR VAN ZYL: That is right, it means the same thing Mr
Chairman.
MS HARTLE: It was not absolutely dark and if anybody ...
(intervention)
MR VAN ZYL: I said it was nearly dark. No, anybody could not
have just walked in on there. The house is situated as such that we
would have known if anybody was approaching.
MS HARTLE: Then I put it to you Mr Van Zyl, that you could
have taken them out at any stage of the day if it was that private?
MR VAN ZYL: I suppose we could Mr Chairman, but the chances
were more remote that somebody would arrive at night, than during
the day.
CHAIRPERSON: But if they were to be killed when it was dark,
does it matter whether the place is remote or not? If it is dark, it is
dark any way?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman, but it also meant that shortly
after that we had to make a fire that lasted hours, and that anybody
could have walked onto us while we were making that fire during the
day.
CHAIRPERSON: I see, thank you.
MS HARTLE: Now who made the fire?
MR VAN ZYL: The three of us made the fire Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: That would be you, Lotz and Mr Nieuwoudt?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct.
MS HARTLE: And the material that you needed to make the fire,
the fuel that you needed for the fire, where did that come from, who
obtained that?
MR VAN ZYL: Lotz, mainly Lotz and myself during the course of
that afternoon Mr Chairman, it was dry wood that we collected in
the dry river bed area behind the house.
MS HARTLE: And what else?
MR VAN ZYL: And diesel.
MS HARTLE: And the tyres?
MR VAN ZYL: No tyres.
MS HARTLE: You mentioned tyres.
MR VAN ZYL: No I didn't.
MS HARTLE: Can you explain to us how you went about your, I
know this is not very nice for the family to hear, but they have to
hear, how did you go about incinerating their bodies?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, we stacked some firewood in quite a
big heap, about a meter high and we put the three bodies, next to
each other, on top of this. We put some diesel on it and we lit it.
We had to put more and more wood on it as the night proceeded and
until the bodies were totally burnt out.
MS HARTLE: How long did this process take?
MR VAN ZYL: At least six hours Mr Chairman.
ADV DE JAGER: I don't want to keep you from asking the
questions, all I want to know is whether in fact the family asked you
to ask these details? If they did, I am satisfied that you are asking.
But it could be disturbing to them, but if they want to know
it, they are entitled to know it and you are entitled to proceed. But
I am concerned about their feelings and whether they in fact wanted
to hear all the gruesome details.
MS HARTLE: Mr Chairman, there is another reason why these
questions must be asked and that is because the family, my
instructions are, that their loved ones were not killed in this manner.
My instructions are that they were sighted elsewhere and in asking
Mr Van Zyl the detail.
ADV DE JAGER: You could proceed if that is your instructions.
I've got no qualms about it if it is your instructions, you should
proceed, it is your duty.
MS HARTLE: As the Committee pleases. I am sorry Mr Van Zyl, I
don't recall your last answer, how long did the process take?
MR VAN ZYL: I said at least six hours, but into the early hours of
the morning Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And at the time when the bodies were being burnt,
were only the three of you present?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: And you three personally, physically carried out this
operation and you three put the ashes into black bags?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
MS HARTLE: Now this isn't evidence, it is evidence in the Section
29 proceedings, concerning Mr Joe Mamasela he says that the bodies
were removed from the scene in a brown I think, if I recall it,
Toyota motor vehicle he said.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, if Joe Mamasela was one of the
askaris that was used to abduct these people, he was definitely not
present at the scene.
MS HARTLE: If I can just refer you to the relevant page of Mr
Mamasela's evidence, page 15 of the separate bundle of papers,
called the supplement.
This is what he says happened. I am reading from
approximately the middle of the fuller paragraph, it is the third
paragraph down the page, unnumbered paragraph. He says this that
after they were killed, we even cleaned the ground on which there
was blood. While we were busy cleaning up, a brown Toyota kombi
arrived and the three deceased were loaded in. Not ashes, he refers
to bodies.
MR VAN ZYL: It sounds to me like a totally different incident Mr
Chairman, Mr Mamasela was not there.
MS HARTLE: Were any of the other askaris there?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they were not.
MS HARTLE: Mr Chairman, I have nothing further, thank you.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MS HARTLE.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Brink?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR BRINK: Thank you Mr
Chairman. Captain, I won't keep you long, you will be happy to
hear, but I just want to deal with another aspect. You said that
before you brought your application for amnesty, naturally enough
you discussed these events with your colleagues, Colonel Snyman,
Colonel Du Plessis, and the others, is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman.
MR BRINK: And presumably the Pebco 3 featured very strongly as
well as the other matters, but this featured very strongly in those
discussions?
MR VAN ZYL: They were discussed Mr Chairman.
MR BRINK: Did you discuss the chain of command relating to the
giving of the orders to kill, you see, because your evidence was that
at that stage, you were told by Du Plessis to do it, because he had
told you that Colonel Snyman had told him to do it. I presume now,
you are out of the Police Force, there is no question of rank to be
concerned about, you are all in concave so to speak and you would
then presumably go to Colonel Snyman and say Colonel who gave
you the instruction?
MR VAN ZYL: I have never had the opportunity to speak to
Colonel Snyman personally, unfortunately Mr Chairman, I spoke to
Major Du Plessis.
MR BRINK: So Colonel Snyman didn't take part in the discussions
which you held prior to your making application for amnesty?
MR VAN ZYL: Not when we met with the others, no sir.
MR BRINK: So did you never meet him again after this incident?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I met him once in I think it was November of
1996, there was a meeting at the South African Police College
addressed by Police Advocates, the ex-Commissioner of Police,
General van der Merwe and about 300 Policemen and Colonel
Snyman was there as well.
We did not discuss anything in detail at that time.
MR BRINK: Was there any reason for that?
MR VAN ZYL: It was a meeting to explain to us what the TRC is
about and what our rights are and but with no advice to what we
should do, we still had to decide for ourselves.
MR BRINK: Was that after you had made your application or
before you made your application?
MR VAN ZYL: That was before.
MR BRINK: Just before?
MR VAN ZYL: That was just before.
MR BRINK: You had obviously been told about the relevant
provisions of the Act relating to amnesty?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I have Mr Chairman.
MR BRINK: And I paraphrase it, you know one have to establish
some sort of order given by one's superior and that sort of thing, to
commit a criminal offence?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, it is in that regard that I spoke to
Major Du Plessis about.
MR BRINK: Now, I want to know, having regard to the fact that
Major du Plessis as he then was, had told you that he had had
authorization from Colonel Snyman, why you didn't use that
opportunity because you had in mind to bring an application for
amnesty, why you didn't approach Colonel Snyman in private and say
Colonel, who gave you the order or who approved the order which
you gave Du Plessis?
MR VAN ZYL: I was satisfied that my application as it was,
contained the evidence as I remembered it.
MR BRINK: Didn't you want to find out more? I mean, after all
you have only had Colonel Du Plessis' word that Snyman had
authorised this. I am not suggesting that you weren't entitled to
believe Colonel Du Plessis, but what I am suggesting to you is that
it is strange that you didn't when you had the opportunity, broached
the matter with Colonel Snyman to ascertain from whom he received
the orders or approval for these murders.
MR VAN ZYL: Well, I did not, I do not regard it as strange Mr
Chairman.
MR BRINK: Thank you Mr Chairman.
RE-EXAMINATION BY ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Chairman, may I
perhaps before any re-examination, just place a fact on record for
the Committee's purpose and perhaps for everybody else concerned,
which may be important in this matter. It may also be important
when Colonel Snyman gives evidence.
It relates to the reference to the Minister Le Grange. You
will recall that in the zero hand grenade incident, in respect of which
evidence was given, evidence was given by Colonel Venter and
Brigadier Jack Cronje that Minister Le Grange gave the order for
that operation. You will recall that evidence and I want to place on
record, that that order was given approximately in June 1985 by
Minister Le Grange.
The relevance of that is that I intend to argue in this matter
that where Colonel Snyman and reference was made by Mr Van Zyl
about that now, where Mr Snyman is going to testify about the
discussion he had with Minister Le Grange during May 1985, and the
fact that Minister Le Grange authorised an operation such as zero
hand grenades in June 1985, that it indicates that from the
government's side there was a concerted effort or a plan or
instructions given throughout the country, to operate in this fashion
and to do operations in this way.
I just want to place that on record Mr Chairman, because I
think that is an important fact to take into account and maybe I can
just ask Mr Van Zyl, do you know anything about that operation,
the instruction of Minister Le Grange to Brigadier Cronje relating to
the zero hand grenade incident?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Chairperson.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Thank you for the opportunity Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR DE VILLIERS.
ADV DE JAGER: The learned Attorney referred to the incident of
Mr Jack, do you recall that incident?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, I recall it vaguely, it was during the
emergency regulations of 1985.
ADV DE JAGER: He said that Mr Jack asked him to put it to you
that you intervened and prevented him from being assaulted?
MR VAN ZYL: I said that I cannot recall that, what I can
remember is that I arrested him during that period of time. I cannot
remember that I actually intervened at any assaults.
ADV DE JAGER: Can you not recall that you ever intervened at
any assaults?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I cannot.
ADV SANDI: Mr Van Zyl, you said yesterday as well as this
morning that when Mr Nieuwoudt mentioned the AK47 story to you,
he said he did not even believe it, am I correct?
MR VAN ZYL: That was the gist of his report, that is correct.
ADV SANDI: Did he say he believed anything else that was being
said by these three gentlemen?
MR VAN ZYL: He did not comment on anything else that I can
remember Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: He didn't point out to you anything that was said by
these three gentlemen or anyone of them which thing he believed?
MR VAN ZYL: He obviously did, but only those things that he also
knew about Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: Can you remember any specific thing which he said
had been said by one of the three gentlemen which he believed?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I cannot Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: Did you say one of the things Mr Nieuwoudt told
you was that one or two of them had offered himself to work as an
informer?
MR VAN ZYL: I recall that Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: Mr Nieuwoudt did not believe that one either?
MR VAN ZYL: He did not believe that either.
ADV SANDI: You mean to say that he did not believe that such an
offer was genuine?
MR VAN ZYL: That is what I would think Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: What kind of pressure in those circumstances, could
compel a person to offer to become an informer, does this not
perhaps suggest that they may have been assaulted to the extent that
the offer was made?
MR VAN ZYL: It did not happen in my presence Mr Chairman, I
cannot speculate on that. There was no sign of assault when I saw
them.
ADV SANDI: You testified that you had to wait for Mr Du Plessis
to contact you and inform you that everything was in order, you had
not been detected in the abduction is that correct?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman, which is also the
main reason why we only eliminated them the following night and
not during the day.
ADV SANDI: Would you exclude any opportunity of an assault
after Mr Du Plessis had accordingly informed you that your
abduction had not been detected, you could proceed with the plan?
MR VAN ZYL: There was no assault Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: Even after Mr Du Plessis had informed you that you
had not been detected?
MR VAN ZYL: Not in my presence Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: Lastly, let us talk about the vehicle. Who gave the
report that the vehicle was not in a good condition to travel such a
long distance?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Nieuwoudt told me that, he had received a
report from the askari that had driven that, that is my recollection
and that I just on the spur of the moment then said, well, get rid of
the vehicle and burn it out if you have to.
ADV SANDI: What did Mr Nieuwoudt say that askari had said to
him, what exactly did that askari say to Mr Nieuwoudt concerning
the condition of the vehicle?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they did not go into detail of the problems that
the vehicle had, they just said that this vehicle would never get near
Tele Bridge and that we should not even attempt the drive of that
distance.
ADV SANDI: Thank you, thank you Mr Chairman.
MR VAN ZYL: Excuse me Mr Chairman, that is what Nieuwoudt
told me.
ADV SANDI: Yes, but you see the reason why I am asking this
question is we have been told that the askaris were not supposed to
know that the idea was to eliminate these gentlemen.
MR VAN ZYL: It is not the askari who told him that it would not
reach Tele Bridge, Nieuwoudt told me that the vehicle would not
reach the Lesotho border. The askari just told him that it is in a
very bad condition.
ADV SANDI: Maybe we can ask the question to Mr Nieuwoudt
when he testifies, thank you.
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
CHAIRPERSON: Why did you tend not to believe information
which was given freely and voluntarily?
MR VAN ZYL: Are you referring to the AK47 information Mr
Chairman?
CHAIRPERSON: Correct.
MR VAN ZYL: I don't know, Mr Nieuwoudt said that his
impression was that he doubted the information.
CHAIRPERSON: Why didn't you believe it?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't say that I didn't believe it. We made a note
of the address and the name of the people in the house that was
given to Mr Nieuwoudt, Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, did you believe it?
MR VAN ZYL: You never know what to believe Mr Chairman, I
had no reason to believe or disbelieve it, it had to be investigated.
CHAIRPERSON: Where did you stand in relation to that
information? Because you can't both disbelieve and believe it?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I did not say that Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, were are you standing, did you believe it or
did you not believe it?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I do not know what my opinion was
of the information at the time, as I say it had to be investigated to
be proved or disproved.
CHAIRPERSON: Was it difficult to believe it?
MR VAN ZYL: No. No Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Was it difficult to disbelieve it?
MR VAN ZYL: No Mr Chairman, it was probably untrue because at
the time, there were not many AK47's in this area and it had to be
investigated to be proved or disproved.
CHAIRPERSON: So in summing it up, that ambivalent and
uncertain position you adopted whether to believe it or not to
believe it, what do you say will be the reason for you not quite
straight away believing it?
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, as I say just to believe something
that is unproved, was not our way. It had to be investigated. It had
to be taken seriously but it still had to be investigated sir.
CHAIRPERSON: You must have found it strange that Nieuwoudt
said he didn't believe it without even investigating it?
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot recall questioning him on it Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Captain Venter told us, I am referring to page 4
of the small bundle, line 23, he says it had been requested that my
askaris were to assist the Branch with regard to further
interrogation.
ADV DE VILLIERS: Mr Chairman, we can't seem to find the page,
can you just say that again.
CHAIRPERSON: Page 4.
ADV DE JAGER: Typed page 190.
ADV DE VILLIERS: We found it, thank you Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Captain Venter says it had been requested that
my askaris were to assist the Branch with regard to further
interrogation and investigation.
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot recall asking Captain Venter to leave his
askaris there to help with the interrogation Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: In fact this would be contrary to your evidence
that the askaris were not supposed to help with the interrogation,
that is what you testified, am I right?
MR VAN ZYL: They had no background to ask anything about the
Port Elizabeth area Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: That may be so, I am saying this will be contrary
to your evidence?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: He goes on to say and I left them there under the
command of Sergeant Van Zyl. Is this a correct statement?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I don't agree with that Mr Chairman. He left
them there under my command, it is possible, I have conceded that
he may have left them there, but I cannot recall asking him to help
me question or help Nieuwoudt question the activists, no.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, if Captain Venter left them at that place,
would they not have remained under your command?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, they would Mr Chairman, that is correct. I
am sorry I misunderstood you there.
CHAIRPERSON: On the next page, the top thereof, the
Commander at Cradock was to take me to Van Zyl, where I was also
to meet with my askaris and regain command over them. You agree
with that statement?
MR VAN ZYL: No, the Commander of Cradock never visited me at
that time Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Now, let's leave the Commander of Cradock and
get the second leg of the sentence. Where I was to regain my
command over the askaris?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I don't agree with that Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Though this would be perfectly consistent with
the previous sentence which I read to you that he had left the askaris
under your command and now he says he is coming back to regain
the command?
MR VAN ZYL: As I conceded yesterday Mr Chairman, I wasn't
sure whether he was there right from the start. So if he arrived
again, he obviously regained command over them again.
ADV DE JAGER: And if he had been there all the time?
MR VAN ZYL: He would have been in command of them, Mr
Chairman.
ADV DE JAGER: He would have been in command throughout?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct, Mr Chairman, of his askaris.
CHAIRPERSON: Then the next paragraph, a day or two later we
went to Cradock. Now, a day later in the way that you understand
the course of events, a day later would be the 9th the abduction
having taken place on the 8th, am I right?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: And two days later in the way that you
understand the course of events, would be the 10th?
MR VAN ZYL: Of course, yes Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: We do know though that while there may be
other different versions, you version would be that as far as the 10th
is concerned, there were no askaris and there was no Venter, there
was no Beeslaar?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: The next paragraph, we had a barbecue and had
some drinks. Did you have some drinks?
MR VAN ZYL: No, Mr Chairman, I would never allow drinks at
any of my operations.
CHAIRPERSON: So in your view, Captain Venter's statement is
not correct?
MR VAN ZYL: I think he is confusing it with another barbecue and
another place Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: But he doesn't seem to be confusing it because he
goes on to say and the three captives were with us.
MR VAN ZYL: We fed the three captives late morning on the day
of the 9th Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Now, he goes on to say that their faces were
covered.
MR VAN ZYL: Their faces were never covered when I was there.
CHAIRPERSON: So again here you disagree with him?
MR VAN ZYL: That is correct Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Then he goes on in the same paragraph, Deon
Nieuwoudt or Sakkie van Zyl told me that the investigation or
interrogation had gone well and that much information had been
gained? Did you tell him that?
MR VAN ZYL: I do not recall telling him that either Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, it could have been Mr Nieuwoudt because
he is not sure here himself, but let us look at the last leg of that
sentence, where he says that much information had been gained.
According to him much information was gained through
interrogation. Do you agree with that or do you not agree with
that?
MR VAN ZYL: Well, in the first place we did not gain any
information really Mr Chairman, and in the second place I do not
recall that I had said that to him and I cannot say for what reason
Deon Nieuwoudt would have told him that, if he had said that to
him.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, as far as you are concerned, you have
problems with that sentence that much information was gained?
MR VAN ZYL: I have Mr Chairman.
ADV SANDI: Can I ask Mr Van Zyl, why do you say in reply to
this question we did not gain any information, didn't you say you
were not part of the process of trying to extract any information
from them?
MR VAN ZYL: Excuse me, are you asking Mr Chairman, if I was
part of the interrogation?
ADV SANDI: I am trying to understand your answer to the
question that is being asked to you by the Chairman. Your answer is
as follows: we did not get any information from them. I thought you
said this morning that you were not part of that process of trying to
get any information and you said maybe you have referred one or
two questions through Mr Nieuwoudt?
MR VAN ZYL: The fact that I was in charge Mr Chairman, meant
that Mr Nieuwoudt would have reported to me what was being said
and that is why I say we as a group. I did not mean that I took part
in the interrogation all the time and that that meant we, I meant we
in the sense that we were there as a team and that Nieuwoudt had
reported to me that there was not much information gained.
ADV SANDI: Would it not then have been appropriate for you to
say according to Mr Nieuwoudt not much information had been
obtained?
MR VAN ZYL: That would have been more correct Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: If you look at the next paragraph on that same
page, the sentence reading later that evening I went along with
Beeslaar, back to Glenconnor and the Vlakplaas askaris joined us
that evening or the next morning. Let's start first that evening.
Again if his evidence is that he came there a day later, it
would mean that the askaris joined him the evening of the 9th, if he
did come on the 9th? Then that evening would refer to the evening
of the 9th, if he did come on the 9th and not on the 10th in other
words?
MR VAN ZYL: It would seem so Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: To the extent that he is suggesting that the
askaris joined him only in the evening, I am going to ask you
whether the askaris were there on the evening of the 9th?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they were not there Mr Chairman. They left
by midday, they were not there that whole afternoon.
CHAIRPERSON: So if his evidence is correct that the askaris
joined him only in the evening, and yours is also correct that they
left mid morning, it could well suggest that the askaris might have
gone to some places between they left you and when they joined him
in the evening?
MR VAN ZYL: That is a possibility Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: And he says or the next morning?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Now, if he was there on the 9th and he speaks of
the next morning of the 9th, he would mean the 10th?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes, Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: And according to you the askaris were not there
on the 10th?
MR VAN ZYL: No, they were not.
CHAIRPERSON: Which would be contrary to some of the evidence
by the askaris, it would be contrary to the evidence of one or two of
the askaris?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't know about their evidence Mr Chairman.
ADV DE JAGER: Mr Van Zyl, I understand that Joe Mamasela will
possibly testify. There is a statement contained which is made by
him and no questions were put to you about what he might possibly
say, so if he does testify and if he keeps to this declaration, then I
think I should ask you a few questions with regard to what he is
saying.
He says among others that there was an interrogation and that
Mr Hashe, it is from page 13 over to page 14, among others that he
was in possession of 17 AK47's which was concealed in his sister's
house. They are no longer speaking about one AK47, but of 17
AK47's. Did they ever speak about 17 AK47's?
MR VAN ZYL: No, I have no knowledge of 17 AK47's.
ADV DE JAGER: He continues to say that Mr Koole, was Mr
Hashe the older man?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV DE JAGER: That Mr Koole kicked him in the face and that
the Warrant Officer Koole kicked him hard in the face, so that there
was foam coming out of his mouth. After that everybody assaulted
the man by kicking him and jumping on him.
MR VAN ZYL: That is very false. What would have been the
reason for a whole lot of people to assault him without any reason.
ADV DE JAGER: Then he also says that Warrant Officer Koole's
clothes were covered with blood as well as his shoes.
MR VAN ZYL: That is false.
ADV DE JAGER: He says thereafter they went to fetch Mr
Godolozi out of the garage and when he saw the condition of Mr
Hashe, he said that he would cooperate fully. He said that he would
become an informer but initially Lieutenant Nieuwoudt did not want
to know anything about this but later he did decide that they would
give him a chance and that he would wait a while.
MR VAN ZYL: I know nothing about this.
ADV DE JAGER: He says then Galela was fetched from the
garage. And at that stage Mr Hashe and Godolozi were back in the
garage again. I remember that Warrant Officer Koole did not throw
Sipho Hashe, how was according to me dead by that stage, throw
him in the garage. We started to interrogate Galela, but he did not
have a great deal of information, he was the general Secretary of
Pebco.
Then he says that Beeslaar assaulted Galela by squeezing his
testicles and by strangling him. He says that between five o'clock
and six o'clock the next afternoon Galela had already died and the
other two had died earlier and Galela was placed with them in the
garage.
Then he says that they remained there that day and that they
left the next morning while the bodies remained behind.
MR VAN ZYL: That is false Mr Chairman. I do not know what his
motives was with this declaration and this detail, but I can say that
it is totally false.
ADV DE JAGER: If there is evidence, I just wanted to put it to
you because this is evidence which could be led at a later stage.
CHAIRPERSON: I think I should also draw your attention to what
Mr Beeslaar says in his documents, page 78 of the big bundle. He
says that is the second paragraph, let us read the first paragraph, the
opening sentence thereof where he says, he talks of the following
day or a day thereafter.
Let's look at the next paragraph which reads it was late in the
afternoon already, but the sun was still shining. Captain Venter and
I spent a couple of hours at this place and we had a barbecue and we
had some drinks.
You see, this issue is cropping up again of the braai and some
drinks. Now I think it is coming from Mr Beeslaar.
MR VAN ZYL: As I said before Mr Chairman, I would not have
allowed any drinks at an operation like this, and as I also said they
were not there during that afternoon. So I don't agree with that
statement sir.
CHAIRPERSON: In fact not only does he say that they arrived late
afternoon, but he says thereafter they actually spent a few hours?
MR VAN ZYL: That was not on that day sir, that did not happen
like that.
CHAIRPERSON: And he says there were three black people there
about five meters away from where we stood and their heads were
covered. I assumed that it was for identification purposes.
MR VAN ZYL: I cannot see what his point is there Mr Chairman.
When we fed them it was late morning, and I cannot see why their
heads would have to be covered, because we knew who they were
and if they were standing around with their heads covered, surely
they would have sat somewhere.
CHAIRPERSON: But one would also wonder why he would say so,
that their heads were covered, especially if two people say that?
MR VAN ZYL: Well, their heads were never covered in my
presence Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: And in the next paragraph he says he tried to
speak with them and then he says I kicked of these prisoners on their
bodies.
MR VAN ZYL: That did not happen in my presence Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Well, he says you were five meters away?
MR VAN ZYL: Not in my presence I am sorry, Mr Chairman, that
did not happen.
CHAIRPERSON: I would regard, if these people were assaulted
five meters away, you were only five meters away, I would say that
you were present.
MR VAN ZYL: If I was present, I would have seen that Mr
Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: You denied emphatically the question of assault.
Are you aware that there was a tendency on the part of members of
the Security Branch to assault the detainees?
MR VAN ZYL: I know of it, yes Mr Chairman.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Mr Chairman, may I perhaps just in respect of
what you put out of the affidavit perhaps just make one or two
points clear which will be cleared up in evidence by Mr Beeslaar, in
respect of what you put out of his affidavit.
The one aspect that I would want to make clear about the
evidence that he will give is he says ... (intervention)
CHAIRPERSON: As long as you don't interpret what stands there
because it is for the witness to come and testify about that.
ADV DU PLESSIS: No, if you will allow me to, to put what he is
going to testify in amplification.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, you can tell us, as long as you don't
interpret.
ADV DU PLESSIS: No, interpretation, it will be evidence Mr
Chairman. Just for record purposes towards Mr Van Zyl in all
fairness towards him and towards you as well, the important point
that I want to make is with reference to the kick where he says I
kicked some of the prisoners on the bodies.
His evidence will that it was one kick and that he did that to
attract the attention of that specific person, because he wanted to
speak to him. That will be his evidence.
CHAIRPERSON: It doesn't matter what his explanation is, the fact
is that he says he kicked them.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, yes, there is no denial about that. I
just wanted to place it in context Mr Chairman, thank you.
CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, repeat what you told us.
ADV DU PLESSIS: His evidence will be that he kicked the
person once, because he wanted to attract his attention to speak to
him. He couldn't attract his attention otherwise, because his head
was covered.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr Du Plessis, I read the sentence to say I
kicked some of these prisoners.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, Mr Chairman, I am just saying to you
what his evidence will be and obviously he can be asked questions
about that. But that is what his evidence will be.
ADV SANDI: That seems to be an interesting way of attracting
people's attention when you want to speak with them.
MR VAN ZYL: Mr Chairman, I do not know whether I am
expected to testify now.
ADV SANDI: You don't have to respond do that.
ADV DU PLESSIS: Yes, Mr Chairman, he will testify and I am
sure he will be able to answer the questions.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr De Villiers, do you have questions in re-
examination?
ADV DE VILLIERS: I have no questions Mr Chairman, thank you.
NO FURTHER EXAMINATION BY ADV DE VILLIERS.
ADV LAMEY: Mr Chairman, may I just be permitted, there are
just certain aspects that I just want to put as what my clients will
say with regard to a certain aspect which I just want Mr Van Zyl's
comment on and which I have omitted to put to him.
CHAIRPERSON: Why did you omit to put them to him Mr Lamey?
ADV LAMEY: Mr Chairman, it is with regard to the radio in the
vehicle, which I have taken instructions after that and then also with
regard to photographs that were shown to my clients.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, you mean you left them through an
oversight.
ADV LAMEY: May I proceed Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Did you omit putting those questions to him
when you had the opportunity to do so, through an oversight on
your part?
ADV LAMEY: Yes, I have also taken subsequent instructions after
his evidence to clear these things up and I have been supplied, but I
have also omitted another aspect in view of an oversight from my
part.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, try to cover aspects Mr Lamey, because
there is so many legal representatives here and if each time we have
to go back again and again, we will start moving in a circle, we will
never finish.
ADV LAMEY: I will be very brief Mr Chairman.
CHAIRPERSON: Yes, you can do that.
FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION BY ADV LAMEY: Mr Van
Zyl, I would like to place it on record very briefly that it is also the
two applicants for whom I appear here, it is their version, that they
were blindfolded on the way to the old police station and that the
blindfolds were only removed at some stage at the police station and
during interrogation? I want your answer to that please?
MR VAN ZYL: I can't recall seeing them blindfolded.
ADV LAMEY: So your answer is that you can't recall?
MR VAN ZYL: I never saw them with blindfolds on, if they were
blindfolded in the minibus, I wouldn't have known about that.
ADV LAMEY: No, but the point is that they arrived there wearing
these blindfolds and after they got out of the vehicle and were
interrogated at the old police station?
MR VAN ZYL: I didn't see that, I can't recall seeing that.
ADV LAMEY: So you simply can't recall that?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: You said that there was a radio in the vehicle, that
the askaris used?
MR VAN ZYL: I said that we were in radio contact with each
other.
ADV LAMEY: Yes, that is the point that I want to clarify. Is it
possible that you were in contact with anybody else, because my
information is that they didn't have radios in the cars?
MR VAN ZYL: I don't know what the position was with the radios
in the cars, but as far as I can recall Sergeant Lotz took the askaris
from Glenconnor to the airport and he had a radio in his car, or a
hand held radio.
ADV LAMEY: Do you say that Lotz was in the car with them on
the way to the airport?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes. That is how I recall it.
ADV LAMEY: Now my instructions are that that is not the case,
but that one or two of the white men were in the vehicle with them
on the way to the airport, but that they drove to the airport
themselves and on the way to the airport there were only these three
askaris in the car. It was only after the departure from the airport
that one white person entered the vehicle.
MR VAN ZYL: That is not how I recall it. Sergeant Lotz was
supposed to have fetched them from Glenconnor to show them where
the airport was and where our rendezvous would have been near the
airport.
ADV LAMEY: My instructions are further that no photographs
were shown to the askaris specifically relating to the identity of the
Pebco 3.
MR VAN ZYL: As far as I can recall, we gave photographs to
Captain Venter to show to them.
ADV LAMEY: Did you give it to Captain Venter?
MR VAN ZYL: Yes.
ADV LAMEY: You don't know whether he gave it to them?
MR VAN ZYL: No.
ADV LAMEY: Thank you Chairperson, I have no further
questions.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV LAMEY.
CHAIRPERSON: Mr De Villiers did you want to re-examine or put
questions in the light of Mr Lamey's questions?
ADV DE VILLIERS: I have no questions Mr Chairman.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY ADV DE VILLIERS.
CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr Van Zyl, you may stand down.
MR VAN ZYL: Thank you Mr Chairman.
WITNESS EXCUSED.
--------------------
ADV DE VILLIERS 220 J M VAN ZYL
PORT ELIZABETH HEARING AMNESTY/EASTERN CAPE
ADV BOOYENS 247 J M VAN ZYL
ADV DU PLESSIS 255 J M VAN ZYL
ADV LAMEY 313 J M VAN ZYL
ADV NYOKA 358 J M VAN ZYL
MS HARTLE 387 J M VAN ZYL
MR BRINK 392 J M VAN ZYL
412
COMMITTEE J M VAN ZYL