TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 1

Subsection 27

Directorate of Covert Collections-linked applications

299 . The applications from Directorate of Covert Collections (DCC) personnel indicate that the SADF’s involvement in the destabilisation of the homelands did not end with Operation Katzen. However, as two of these applications were withdrawn and the third was decided in Chambers, little new detail emerged regarding the incidents in question.^{9 2}

300 . Besides these applications, a further two operatives linked to the DCC, Johan F rederich Verster and Leon Flores, formerly a Vlakplaas member, applied for amnesty for various operations aimed at discrediting the ANC in the 1990s.

301. The role and functions of the DCC came under the spotlight after a raid on DCC p remises by the Goldstone Commission in November 1992. Following this raid, then President de Klerk ordered an investigation headed by South African AirForce general Pierre Steyn. Drawing on two earlier investigations conducted by the SADF’s Counter-Intelligence Unit as well as the NIS, General Steyn concluded that DCC personnel were involved in a range of unlawful activities. These included the planning and execution of coups in the Ciskei and Transkei; manipulating important role players in the Transkei and Ciskei; involvement with the IFP; fanning unrest through killing, arming of political factions and intimidation actions; participation in planning to escalate violence in order to thwart the government ’s reform initiatives, and corruption with regard to illegal arms deals.

3 0 2 . The investigation by General Steyn also revealed that several members of the CCB, including its second in command, Dawid Fourie, Wouter Basson, ‘Staal’ Burger and ‘Chappies’ Maree, had been employed by the DCC following its dismantling .

303. The applications by DCC personnel provided some confirmation of these allegations.

CCB Region Six

304. The activities of Region Six of the CCB surfaced during the investigations into the Lubowski and Webster killings. According to evidence presented to the Amnesty Committee, the SADF decided to establish an internal region of the CCB, namely Region Six, in 1988.

305. Eight applications for amnesty were received in connection with the activities of Region Six.^{9 3} These involved the attempted killing of UDF Western Cape Chair Abdullah Omar, the planned killing of Mr Gavin Evans, an End Conscription Campaign member, the bombing of the Early Learning Centre in Athlone Cape Town on 31 August 1989, and the harassment of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town in 1989.

306. Applicants from Region Six claimed that the operations applied for were the only internal operations of Region Six. They stressed that the CCB had been a long-term plan, the fruition of which was cut short by the disbandment of the organisation in 1990.

307. The identity of Region Six had remained top secret even within the network of CCB operatives. Because there was only one amnesty application, there is still very little knowledge about the internal operations of the CCB.