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D’ATH, GeorgeAge Description Mr van Zyl, 63 stab wounds were inflicted on the four people you murdered on the night of the 27th 1985. Do you agree with the District Surgeon’s report with that? // I cannot disagree with that Mr Chairman. // Do you agree that the 63 stab wounds is evidence of barbaric conduct? // Mr ... Did you lie in order to protect your husband? // I did. // Are you not lying now through your teeth in order to get amnesty for your husband? // Definitely not Bizos. When I first started photographing this process I didn’t know what was going on. It was a totally new and novel experience. I think the biggest shock for me was when I had to photograph Capt Benzien showing how he tortured people. I know Winnie. She wasn’t as bad as she is at the moment. She used to be a mother; she used to be a loving person. You’d go to Winnie with your grievances; she would help you if she can. But what has turned now lately, I don’t know what happened to her. Nobody is above the law. If the law ... On Thursday Advocate Bizos continues his relentless cross examination of Snyman and puts it to him that it was not Biko’s refusal to answer questions that led to him being injured or beaten up but simply his determination to remain seated after his white interrogators had ordered him to stand. // ... Under cross-examination, Advocate Bizos asked Snyman why Biko had been spread eagled and chained to an iron grill after it was clear that he’d been injured? // It is possible that we acted in an inhumane manner. // Well that is one of the franker answers that you’ve given the Committee. Can we ... Two ministers who were close to the family informed them about his death. At the mortuary police prevented them from going inside to identify his body. They were only allowed to view the head of the corpse through a window. // Through the window we could see Benji’s head, it was swollen, you ... … Because in my mind a murder docket is never closed, it is always alive and it will receive attention sporadically. If anyone were to suggest that Mr. Mhlauli was unknown to the security police in Port Elizabeth, what would you say to that? // I would have differed with that. // You would say that he was well known as a leading activist in close contact with Goniwe and others and a dangerous person. // That’s ... Have you apologised about wasting a valuable life that might have made a valuable contribution to the people of South Africa? // No, how can I ever apologise for an act of war. War is war. So you are telling me that the South African police service is involved, or has been at least in this occasion, on oiling the palms, greasing the palms of convicted murderers for the purpose of establishing a case against somebody else. // The investigators indicated to me that it was very ... Your evidence was that Col Snyman reported that there was discussion at the JMC in which the Defence Force people put in the JMC, put the security police under pressure and suggested that the security police were unable to stabilize the position. Do you recall that? // Yes. // Now ... of this ... Did you lie to your attorney? // I did Mr. Chairman. // Nobody compelled you to lie to your attorney? // No one compelled me Mr. Chairman except for the fact that I was busy with an armed struggle and I was determined to give as much opposition as possible under any circumstances. // What support ... It has been brought to my attention Mr. Chairman that according to media reports on 24 October 1997 Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has alleged before this Commission that the president of South Africa, President Nelson Mandela, had instructed me as National Commissioner of the South African Police ... Young Benjamin Oliphant was constantly on the run from police. In December 1986 he was betrayed by a police informer, he was arrested. When his family went to look for him at the Klerksdorp police station, they were told that he had already been released. On their way home, they saw something which ... But telling the truth is not enough for amnesty. Derby-Lewis must prove that he was working within the structures of an accepted political organisation. // Let me read the words that you would no doubt have come into your notice Mr. Derby-Lewis when you committed this murder as to the policy of the ... We oppose the applications of all the applicants for amnesty Mr Chairman and members of the Committee. And want to say at the outset that we do so primarily because we consider their applications an attempt to clear their names with a self defence story in order that the record should be expunged, ... No plan, no envisaged plan, no joint venture of that nature was ever discussed with me at all. // I’m not aware of any case where the Defence Force and the police would have acted together internally and where people had been killed and had not been discussed with me. // I in my more than 35 ... By the time of Mr. Hani’s death, more than three months had passed since you wrote that list of 19 names. // Yes. // Did you write a letter to anyone of the 19 asking for an appointment? // No. // Wouldn’t a simple telephone call to them, whether they would be prepared to give an interview ... There is a perception amongst NGO’s and amongst certain members of the legal fraternity that a large degree of impunity exists in KwaZulu-Natal in terms of the lack of prosecutions and a lack of convictions. What’s your response to that? // I would like an opportunity to discuss that with the ... |
