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VAN DER MERWE, JMAge Description A day after Erasmus told me this I asked the then Commissioner, General Johan van der Merwe, for his reaction. // I am not aware of one murder committed while being commissioner, and even before. I am not aware of a single murder, or of someone responsible for murder. At the amnesty hearings this week Gen Johan van der Merwe and Brig Jack Cronje told the nation why the grenades were booby trapped and who gave this order. It was a time when the ANC had stepped up the armed struggle. General van der Merwe said it was a reaction to an intensifying people’s war. ... The following segment deals with other state lies, denials and cover ups and includes interviews with former commissioner of police, General van der Merwe - one of the generals applying for amnesty for his part in Bopape?s death - and FW de Klerk, who denies knowledge of death squad activities ... It began in November 1978, a warm summer’s day that began like any other for Susan and Jaap van der Merwe on their farm Swartklip at Thabazimbi near the Botswana border. Susan left for a teaching job and Jaap went to a nearby farm to shoot a buck. He left a note saying he might be late, but he ... I can state unequivocally that I was not aware of one murder that took place while I was commissioner or even before that. // Van der Merwe is now asking for amnesty for his part in the cover-up of the Bopape murder. Last week it became known that Vlakplaas satellite groups in KwaZulu-Natal ... Mr. Chairman and members of the Commission. You have heard many stories of astonishing things. You have heard stories of people who hurt others without batting an eyelid. You have crept into the hearts of wounded and sometimes damaged people. My story and that of my children is small in comparison ... Former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe, representing five former security policemen, at the TRC and the Defence Force’s TRC submission. After analyzing the situation in the Republic during 1983 and again in 1985 the ANC came to the conclusion that the masses had entered a new era in their struggle. It foresaw political demonstrations followed by semi-armed actions by the masses using rudimentary weapons at first, such as sticks, ... strategy. Deputy chairperson Alex Boraine highlights the serious omissions in the SADF submission. Former commissioner of police, Gen Johan van der Merwe?s testimony at the amnesty hearing in Johannesburg reveals the line of command in incidents like ?Operation Zero Zero? and the bombing of ... The operation was the brainchild of General Johan van der Merwe and approved at the highest level of the then National Party government. // General van der Merwe gave the express instruction to use the hand grenades and to make these available to activists in order to eliminate them. It was a ... ... members. // Nortje states that all the Maseru killers received the police star for bravery for the murders, from Police Commissioner Johan van der ... ... former ministers of law and order Louis Le Grange and Adriaan Vlok, former police commissioners Mike Geldenhuys, Johan Coetzee and Johan van der Merwe and a host of senior police generals and officers. Testifying about the bombing of COSATU house in the late 1980s De Kock said he was told that ... Gen van der Merwe challenged former State President FW de Klerk’s claim that the National Party government had never authorized human rights crimes. // If that is denied that the previous government in this case, specifically the State Security Council, did not have knowledge of certain unlawful ... ... three former police commissioners had a voluntary meeting with the Truth Commission. Generals Mike Geldenhuys, Johan Coetzee, and Johan van der Merwe said they represented a large group of former ... Francois van der Merwe is Niewoudt’s attorney, but he also represents several other former policemen. // What is your impression of their perceptions of the Truth Commission process? // Well Max from the outset I have to say that it… the perception I think is… it would be correct to describe ... For Susan van der Merwe knowing how her husband died has not answered the question of why he had to die. // If it was a military operation, for instance if my son who was in the army, if they had told me he had lost his life it would have been different. Because he was a trained soldier fighting ... And like so many others who have come to the Truth Commission with the stories of their loved one’s disappearance Susan van der Merwe’s one wish is to be able to lie to rest her husband’s remains. // My story, Mr. Chairman and Commission members, is actually just the story of a woman who ... ... of our husbands and children got thrown here in plastic bags our God, by the Boers. Forces that had immense power like Niewoudt our God, like Van Rensburg our God; forces that imposed ... ... of our husbands and children got thrown here in plastic bags our God, by the Boers. Forces that had immense power like Niewoudt our God, like Van Rensburg our God; forces that imposed tyranny…’ ... The State Security Council was the body under chairmanship of the state president and this body coordinated all security matters of national interest. |
