 |
News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
|
News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
SNYMAN, ABGAge Description They also heard from Nic van Rensburg who passed the execution order down from Harold Snyman to the men who would carry it out. This week there was more detail from Eric Taylor and Gerhard Lotz, who together with Sakkie van Zyl stopped their victims on the road from Port Elizabeth to Cradock and ... Elizabeth Airport. They were taken to Post Chalmers, a disused police station in Cradock and eliminated. Five Eastern Cape security policemen Harold Snyman, Hermanus du Plessis, Johan van Zyl, Gideon Niewoudt and Gerhardus Lotz are now asking for amnesty for the killings of the men who have become ... Afterwards Biko’s widow held an impromptu media conference. // From the very onset everybody could hear what Snyman is saying. In fact, I think he’s lying even more than he did in the inquest. So, it doesn’t change our attitude to the fact that we’ll oppose the amnesty. When you reported that death to Mr. Snyman you were speaking about something you do not have factual knowledge of, because you did not witness it - the death. // That’s correct. // I put it to you that the applicants accepted Mr. Koole and Mr. Mogoai and to a lesser extend Mr. Beeslaar did ... 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 ... Harold Snyman is seriously ill. The amnesty committee’s doctors are checking on his ability to testify. The amnesty committee also considered the role of the Eastern Cape Joint Management council, a body which coordinated the enforcement of security in the area. The JMC or GBS consisted of ... ... were responsible for the killings but that he was unable to identify the murder or murderers. This week, they identified themselves. Colonel Harold Snyman, Superintendent Gerhardus Lotz and Colonel Eric Taylor will tell us later this year exactly how the Cradock Four died. Perhaps they will tell ... ... or ordered to do so? // No Mr Chairman. // Your application indicates that you committed these crimes as a result of being ordered to do so by Col Snyman, Lt-Col Van Rensburg and Col Du Plessis. // That’s correct. // Is that the truth? // That is the truth Mr Chairman. // You were at liberty ... Biko’s interrogation team was headed by Colonel Harold Snyman; it included Brigadier Daantjie Siebert, Warrant Officers Rubin Marx and Johan Beneke and Gideon Niewoudt, better known now as the Motherwell bomber. These men are now applying for amnesty. The missing application is perhaps that of ... Then you went back to Vlakplaas where you gave orders to Martinus Ras, Snyman and Vermeulen to prepare for the operation. What precisely did you tell them? // I can’t give you specific details, but the gist of it was that people would be killed and specifically that policemen would be killed. // ... Van Zyl was ordered by his immediate superior, Lt-Gen Nic van Rensburg who in turn said he received his order from the commander of the Eastern Cape security branch, Col Harold Snyman. This week Harold Snyman was still too ill to testify. A second problem for the applicants is how to explain the killing of Sicelo Mhlauli. The three men targeted by Port Elizabeth security police were Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto and Fort Calata. But the fourth victim that night was Mhlauli. Was ... Col Snyman did not give a direct instruction but he did say that he realized that there were no other options, that nothing else did work and that I had to proceed and do the best I could in the interest of the country. // And you interpreted that as instruction to go ahead and eliminate. Is that ... Mr. Snyman told me that he had a private conversation with Minister Le Grange and that Le Grange had told him that the situation in the Eastern Province needed attention and should be addressed. ... of activists like Steve Biko, Siphiwo Mtimkulu, Sizwe Kondile, the Pebco Three or the Cradock Four. Gideon Niewoudt, Nick van Rensburg, Harold Snyman, Gerhardus Lotz, Daantjie Siebert, Ruben Marx and Eric Taylor. Perhaps the dramatic part of this story is the amazing web of lies the state ... |
