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COETZEE, MPAAge Description Dirk Coetzee’s death squad revelations in the weekly newspaper Vrye Weekblad in November ’89. According to Coetzee he and his four man death squad assassinated this man, Griffiths Mxenge in 1981. ‘Nonsense’, police said. ‘The man was crazy, Vlakplaas never killed ... Dirk Coetzee was the main witness against Gen Lothar Neethling when he sued me for defamation after the expose about the use of poison. Eugene de Kock and his Vlakplaas men decided to kill Coetzee and sent him a bomb in a tape recorder. The bomb later killed lawyer Bheki Mlangeni. At the amnesty ... Despite Mamasela’s very recent confession he is the state witness against Coetzee. The three policemen who spilled the beans on police atrocity seven years ago are being charged. Mamasela refuses to apply for amnesty, while the other three have done so. // Mamasela only came out recently ... ... // Shortly after the morning’s â€Sanhedrin’ meeting at eight o’ clock, where the section chiefs met with General Johan Coetzee and Brigadier Jan du Preez, his second in charge, General van der Hofen personally congratulated me on the successful mission without him ... During his amnesty hearing Dirk Coetzee hopes to tell his story for the last time. But he will not be able to bury it. // There’s one thing I will have to live till the day I die, is the corpses that I will have to drag with me to my grave, of the people whom I’ve killed. Remorse I ... ... squads in South Africa in a South African court with the South African laws. It was just impossible. And the way they dealt with people like Dirk Coetzee; they made you part of the atrocities then once they push you to the side you’re isolated. If you might stand up and speak out inside ... ... This week Joe Pillay was in Canada, but he sent the Truth Commission an affidavit detailing his treatment at the hands of the police. Dirk Coetzee made no attempt to refute it. // I mean he wasn’t given VIP treatment; that I can assure you and he would have been taunted. ... I don’t expect the Mxenge family to forgive me because I don’t know how I ever in my life would be able to forgive a man like Dirk Coetzee. They weren’t the best behaved guys we had. They all smoked and all drank heavily. And everyone that smoked also smoked dagga. // You were not smoking at that stage? // No, I was not smoking, but drinking a lot. // Pillay was delivered into the hands of Dirk Coetzee at Vlakplaas. Alright, thank you, let’s go to the first question, Adri. // Adri Coetzee from Beeld. Mr. Ntsebeza, to follow up on that, are we ever going to know what happened in neighbouring states? Is that being investigated? // Yes it is being investigated. In fact, I have been in discussions with ... ... was killed yes, certainly and for that reason it’s important for us to at least protect his version in that respect. // On this aspect Mr. Coetzee would be an essential witness. ... In November last year Dirk Coetzee described Sizwe Kondile’s death to the Amnesty Committee in Durban. // Now, drops were administered to Sizwe Kondile in a drink whilst we were sitting around drinking ourselves, opening beer and whatever other drinks, alcohol. And after about 20 minutes to ... Human rights lawyer and United Democratic Front activist, Griffiths Mxenge was killed by three askaris: Almond Nofemela, David Tshikalanga and the late Brian Ngqulunga. Dirk Coetzee and David Tshikalanga were convicted for the killing. Both have been granted amnesty. When he addressed the Committee, Dirk Coetzee stuck to his story that Sizwe Kondile had been killed because the Eastern Cape security police had not wanted another Steve Biko case on their hands. // Getting rid of him was because he sustained injuries while being tortured, dived through a window ... I don’t expect the Mxenge family to forgive me because I don’t know how I ever in my life would be able to forgive a man like Dirk Coetzee. Gen van der Merwe’s predecessor Gen Johan Coetzee said that he had no knowledge of unlawful operations being carried out within the country and denied ever having issued an illegal instruction. // I did not, I did not sir, give any policeman any illegal instruction, unlawful instruction: ... Former Vlakplaas boss, Dirk Coetzee declared in 1989 already that he fetched poison from the head of the forensics laboratory Gen Lothar Neethling in 1981 and gave it to two activists Vusi Mavuso and Peter Dlamini. Neethling denied this and said he never developed poison, a statement later ... But for a witness like Dirk Coetzee the nightmare that started eight years ago when he first spoke out is still continuing. // There might be an attempt at any time on my life so I’m always armed. At home of course it’s always a problem because then I’m on my own. Mister Coetzee, do you know the name Ace Moema? // Yes I do Mr. Chairman. // From where do you know this person? // It was the name of an ANC cadre who came to Vlakplaas in the late 1980s, in the 1981s, towards the end of the year as a person that has been debriefed already through all the relative ... ... to activists in order to eliminate them. It was a specific instruction from him. He told me that the instruction had been approved by General Coetzee, with the knowledge and approval of Minister Louis Le Grange and President PW Botha. ... |