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ERASMUS, JJAge Description Then former security policeman Paul Erasmus told the Commission that during the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a disinformation and dirty tricks campaign against Madikizela-Mandela. // Using the existing intelligence STRATCOM network I turned a massive information or negative propaganda on a ... There were no rules in this game we were busy with. // You passed sentence of death on a man and you and your colleagues then take precautions to make sure that nobody comes to know about it. That is an awesome power. Did you realize that? // That is so yes. Frans Stefanus Erasmus and William Basil Harrington were 18 when they joined the police. After their basic training they were posted to war torn KwaZulu-Natal. Here they worked in a riot unit with another young policeman, special constable Nhlanhla Philemon Mdlala. Four years later these three ... The police version cracked even further when former security policeman, Paul Erasmus spoke out in July 1995. // He was brought through to John Vorster Square and during interrogation, physical interrogation, he died and his body was disposed of down a disused mineshaft. Nhlanhla Mdlala, Billy Harrington, and Frans Erasmus are in prison for killing an ANC youth in 1990, soon after the seven day war. They killed on behalf of the IFP and the National Party government. They were told by their seniors that if they murdered UDF and ANC supporters they would not be ... the nation to unravel the secrets surrounding the deaths of Eastern Cape student leader Siphiwo Mtimkulu and his friend Topsy Madaka. General Gerrit Erasmus who gave the order for the killing; General Nick van Rensburg, a multiple killer who assassinated one of the young men; Colonel Hermanus du ... Du Plessis and Van Rensburg presented a plan to General Erasmus to have the two activists eliminated. // And what is the ultimate conclusion which the three of you reached? // Our final conclusion was that there was no other way, detention or any other thing than to eliminate this people. // And ... It must have caused you some considerable concern, Mr. Erasmus? // It was a difficult situation, it was uncomfortable. It was an embarrassment for the South African Police. // Yes highly embarrassing and highly dangerous, would you agree? // That is correct. // And it was two days after that ... This April Charity Kondile told the Truth Commission about the disappearance of her son, Sizwe in 1981. The first time Dirk Coetzee heard the name Sizwe Kondile was in London in 1989. During lengthy debriefing by the ANC it became clear that Kondile had been one of Coetzee’s nameless victims. ... They argued that as riot policemen in KwaZulu-Natal they had to assist the IFP. They said the police was openly involved in IFP gun running and third force activities. // There were weekly meetings and discussions between Inkatha leaders and high ranking officers of the unrest squad. And that is ... Back to the amnesty process now. Four Eastern Cape Security Policemen this week told the amnesty committee that Port Elizabeth activist Sizwe Kondile had to be eliminated because he was a trained ANC terrorist who knew too much about their intelligence network. The men all claim that they were ... But the real story seems to be much, much simpler. // Tell me about Stanza Bopape. // The first thing that happened to me was that I was put under a lot of pressure by some of my agents about what had happened to Stanza Bopape. And I had to defend myself because I had never heard of the guy, I’d ... Each shift that I worked, on each of these shifts there were assaults and if you want me to estimate the number I would say a 1000 plus people in my career, in my short career in the police. // I did as I pleased. I had the power in my hands. It was so obvious that a former Lieutenant Meyer called ... They believed that they would not be prosecuted for killing an ANC member. // When I joined the riot squad our commanding officer was Major Terreblanche. He informed me that the ANC, we had to fight the ANC with all our might, that they were our enemies and that if we should be prosecuted or get ... There are different versions of what happened to the body of Stanza Bopape. In an interview with the Special Report last year a former security policeman gave us one version. // I was put under a lot of pressure by some of my agents about what happened to Stanza Bopape and I had to fend this off ... When he was released he was a wheelchair case. // That is correct. // At the time of his death he was still hobbling around with the aid of a stick, he couldn’t walk properly. // That is correct. // Is this the man that you considered so potentially dangerous as an activist that he should be ... I stood up straight with my one foot on his chest and his throat. Dlamini had his shotgun with him. I told Nhlanhla to shoot the ANC dog. // Of course I had this will of killing Mr. Jama. Because I wanted him to die as well, to follow those people whom he killed, it was IFP members. That’s when I ... That the whole of South Africa and the people of Natal can see that there was a war against the ANC. That there really was a third force… there was a third force. Senior officers can deny it but those of us who were involved in it can testify. There is no other word for it. // People who still ... Let’s look at these lies, denials and cover-ups. On the same day former policeman Paul Erasmus made these statements about Stanza Bopape I asked the former Commissioner of Police, Gen Johan van der Merwe about his allegations and charges made by the Goldstone Commission about dirty tricks. Because I made a confession today, here I leave today as a marked man. For the rest of my life I will be stigmatized which will declare to the world that I am a traitor, but had myself, Erasmus and Mdlala we would ever think that we would walk out of here scot free. |
