AC/2001/162

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

AMNESTY COMMITTEE

APPLICATION IN TERMS OF SECTION 18 OF THE PROMOTION OF NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ACT, NO.34 OF 1995.

MARTHINUS DAVID RAS APPLICANT

(AM5183/97)

DECISION

The Applicant, a former member of the Security Branch, applied for amnesty for a range of incidents, the majority of which were dealt with at hearings. The remaining matters do not constitute gross violations of human rights within the meaning of the Act and will be dealt with in chambers.

The abovementioned chamber matters relate to the following incidents:

INCIDENT 1 : REMOVAL OF WEAPONS FROM NAMIBIA TO VLAKPLAAS

During 1985 while stationed at the Security Branch Head Office the Applicant was one of a group of policemen under the command of Colonel Dave Baker who went to Oshakati in Namibia to fetch a large quantity of weapons of Russian origin. The weapons were arms used by Swapo in the border conflict. The weapons were taken to Pretoria and handed to Col. Eugene de Kock who locked up the weapons in a store at Vlakplaas. Apart from subsequent rumours the Applicant has no knowledge of what the weapons were intended for or what had become of them.

The Committee is of the opinion that this incident does not disclose an offence for which amnesty can be granted. The Applicant acted in the ordinary course of his duties when he assisted in the transportation of the arms and amnesty in respect of this incident should therefore be REFUSED.

INCIDENT 2 : UNLAWFULLY TAKING AN AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS MEMBER INTO THE RSA

During 1986 the Applicant assisted in unlawfully smuggling an unidentified member of the African National Congress across the Swaziland/South African border. The person concerned was reportedly willing to co-operate and work with the South African Security Branch. He was clandestinely taken across the border at Oshoek so as to protect his identity. On the South African side he was handed to Warrant Officer Dan Greyling. The Applicant does not know what became of him but suspect that he was used as an informer by the Eastern Transvaal branch of the Security Police.

INCIDENT 3 : SHOOTING INCIDENT AT QUEENSWOOD, PRETORIA

During 1989/1990 Applicant was instructed by his commander Eugene de Kock to participate in an attack on a number of houses in Queenswood, Pretoria, the address of which the Applicant is unable to identify. The inhabitants of these houses were perceived to be African National Congress sympathisers and the objective was simply to intimidate them by shooting at the windows. The Applicant who regarded the operation as "senseless" only shot at the roof of the house. Although the shooting at other houses by his colleagues was reported in the press nothing was reported about the incident in which the Applicant was involved.

INCIDENT 4 : CONCEALMENT OF FIREARMS AT ZEERUST

During 1990 the Applicant received a cache of arms from his commander Eugene de Kock together with a number of his colleagues. They were told to conceal the arms for possible further use in the event of future Nuremberg trials. He transported the arms to his house but after his arrest in the Motherwell case he buried the arms on the farm Draailaagte where he later pointed it out to the D'Oliviera investigation team. He had no purpose for the weapons but did not know how to rid himself of it at that stage without getting into trouble. The Committee finds that in this incident the Applicant acted unlawfully to protect his own interest. There is no indication that the above act/actions were associated with a political objective as envisaged in the Act.

INCIDENT 5 : THEFT OF MOTOR VEHICLE

During 1988 the Applicant applied for a motor vehicle for one of the informers he handled while he was stationed at Security Branch Head Office in Pretoria. There were no funds available and he discussed the matter with De Kock indicating that the fact that the informer did not have transport of his own, caused him, the handler, endless problems. De Kock suggested that he got in touch with one Peter Casilton a former policeman and friend of De Kock's. Casilton assisted him to obtain a vehicle, a Toyota "bakkie", which was the property of his (Casilton's) former girlfriend who had left the spare key at Casilton's home. The car was stolen from a parking are in Johannesburg. When, on the same day, it came to the Applicant's knowledge that the police were looking for him, he discussed the matter with De Kock who instructed him to get rid of the vehicle. He abandoned the vehicle near a hostel in the East Rand to give the impression that it had been stolen by a hostel resident.

INCIDENT 6 : HOUSEBREAKING

During 1986 the Applicant and two other members of the Security Branch, Leon Floris and Japie Kok, were instructed by Colonel Eugene de Kock to search the parental home and holiday home at Rooi Els of the parents to Hein Grosskopf a political activist for whom the police were looking. In Cape Town they were given information that the Grosskopfs would not be home on a particular evening. Japie Kok picked the lock of the house in Stellenbosch, they entered the home and searched it. The Applicant's main function was to act as a guard during the time that the search took place. The following evening the house at Rooi Els was broken into and searched.

INCIDENT 7 : HOUSEBREAKING IN PIETERSBURG

During 1986 the Applicant was informed of an investigation against a security branch policeman in Pietersburg, Deon Retief, who was suspected of having been involved in the smuggling of vehicles across the Zimbabwean border. He was informed that there was a photocopy machined in the Pietersburg office of the Security Branch which had been stolen during an operation. He assumed that it was a machine stolen from a trade union office. The Applicant did not disclose his knowledge of the stolen machine and is applying for amnesty for defeating the ends of justice.

INCIDENT 8

Applicant submitted a number of false claims to the government secret fund through the commander of C Section (a section at the Security Branch Head Office in Pretoria) in order to obtain funds for covert operations. He is unable to give full details of such fraudulent claims but states that this was a general practice and that generally it would be stated on the fraudulent claim forms that the money was to be for the payment of informers. These offences were committed during the period 1985 until the end of 1990 while the Applicant was stationed at the Vlakplaas Unit and the Security Branch Head Office in Pretoria, respectively.

After having perused the voluminous documentation submitted to the TRC by the Applicant, the Committee is satisfied that the Applicant has complied with all the formal requirements for amnesty, that the acts and offences relating to the incidents summarised above were acts and offences associated with a political objective as defined in the Act and that he has made a full disclosure of all relevant facts.

1. Accordingly, amnesty is GRANTED to Marthinus David Ras for all acts and offences directly associated with or flowing from the following incidents :

1.1 Unlawfully taking a member of the African National Congress across the border at Oshoek border post on the Swaziland/South African border in or about 1985;

1.2 Unlawfully shooting at an unidentified house at or near Queenswood in Pretoria during or about 1989/1990;

1.3 The theft of an unidentified Toyota "bakkie" motor vehicle from a parking area in Johannesburg which was subsequently abandoned near a hostel on the East Rand during or about 1988;

1.4 Breaking into and entering the parental home of a political activist Hein Grosskopf as well as their holiday home at Rooi Els during or about 1986;

1.5 Defeating the ends of justice in respect of an incident of housebreaking in or near Pietersburg relating to the theft and eventual destruction of a photocopying machine presumably stolen from an unidentified trade union during or about 1986;

1.6 The submission of false and/or fraudulent claims to the Government secret fund during or about 1985 - end of 1990 in order to obtain funds for covert operations.

2. Amnesty is REFUSED in respect of the unlawful concealment of firearms on the farm Draailaagte at or near Zeerust during or about 1990.

3. No offence is disclosed in respect of the unlawful transportation of firearms from Namibia to Vlakplaas during 1986.

DATED AT CAPE TOWN THIS 10TH DAY OF MAY 2001

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