Sapa W Cape Ag to Decide on Botha Prosecution Next Week

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CAPE TOWN Jan 2 - SAPA

W CAPE A-G TO DECIDE ON BOTHA PROSECUTION NEXT WEEK

Any decision on whether to prosecute former state president PW Botha, for failing to obey a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, would be taken next week, the office of Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn said on Friday.

On December 19 Kahn had announced that Botha and his legal adviser Ernst Penzhorn had until January 2 to make written representation showing why he (Kahn) should not lay criminal charges against Botha.

A spokesperson for Kahn's office said "a decision will be taken on this next week".

Earlier this month Kahn said that should he decide to prosecute, Botha, through his lawyer, had undertaken to obey any summons issued under the Criminal Procedures Act. The summons would give Botha 14-days notice to appear in court.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 4 - SAPA

PW SAYS TRC HAS THE KNIFE IN FOR HIM

Former president P W Botha on Sunday accused the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of having the knife in for him.

In an interview with the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport, Botha was quoted as saying that he was still not prepared to appear before the TRC.

He had done nothing wrong, he claimed.

He said he went to great lengths in giving a written reply to all questions put to him by the TRC concerning the (former) State Security Council in an 1800-page document.

Yet the TRC laid a charge against him with the Attorney-General which showed that it had the knife in for him.

"I have done nothing to them but they have started prosecuting me," Botha said.

Botha said if he was charged because it was held that his failure to personally appear before the TRC was a criminal offence, he would duly make his appearance in court because he had respect for the law.

He claimed to have received a great deal of support for his stance, including support from former generals of the old SA Defence Force, who had told him they had started a fund to assist him.

Legal advisers representing Botha on Friday held confidential discussions with Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn before whom the TRC laid its complaint concerning Botha.

Kahn has indicated that he could make a decision on whether or not to prosecute Botha during the coming week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 5 - SAPA

FARRAKHAN CRITICISES SA'S TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION PROCESS

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Monday criticised South Africa's truth and reconcilation process which was being used to sully the reputation of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom he called the "mother of a great struggle" and "warrior for justice".

Farrakhan - in Johannesburg on the 13th leg of a 52-nation world friendship tour - was speaking at a press conference at Madikizela-Mandela's Orlando-West home.

Madikizela-Mandela was known throughout the "black world as a fighter for justice," he said.

On Madikizela-Mandela's marathon appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last year, Farrakhan warned against a situation in which "the oppressed who fought the oppressor doesn't become the victim of a process that is supposed to bring peace and reconciliation".

Madikizela-Mandela, who requested the public hearing, was called in November to answer claims that she and members of her Mandela United Football Club were linked to at least 18 gross human rights violations.

"We're not saying in the struggle we don't make mistakes, but the oppressed in the scheme of reconciliation must not bear the burden of such a horror as the nine days that Mrs Mandela went through and (former State President PW) Botha can thumb his nose at such Truth and Reconciliation Commission and it appears as though nothing may happen.

"This is wrong," Farrakahan said.

It was also not right that the oppressed should suffer, while the oppressor could say "I'm sorry" and go free.

"This is why you had the Nuremburg trials after the (Second World) war so that those who were criminals could be brought to justice.

"Those who fight for justice are not criminals ... They are fighting for the right that God has said each human being deserves."

Farrakhan also questioned the motivation for Madikizela-Mandela's appearance before the TRC.

"Is it designed to destroy her credibility, so that she may not be a political force in this country for geunine change?.

"If that is so, lets reconstruct, lets have a genuine peace and truth and reconciliation commission."

Peace and reconciliation would not be possible until there was a genuine change in the status between whites, who still monopolised economic power, and blacks, he said.

Whites also had to atone to blacks for the sins of the past. The mere acknowledgment of past wrongs and repentance was not enough.

Although he believed South Africa could become one of the greatest nations in Africa, it was currently "sitting on a volcano of human suffering", he said. If this was not solved and "if the hope of a black president leads to despair because the results are not seen, unfortunately South Africa can go the way of other societies in Africa".

However, President Nelson Mandela's inability to make good on his socio-economic promises was not through any fault of his own, but because white business who had offered to assist him in the past had broken its promise.

There were also counter-forces who were bent on ensuring that Mandela and the forces of progress failed.

"There are forces who want to prove that black people in power can't run things well."

Maikizela-Mandela, who introduced Farrakhan as "my dearest brother", said the Muslim leader's visit to South Africa came during "one of our most difficult periods in our history".

South Africa was facing problems "perhaps more difficult than when we were throwing stones", she said identifying increased crime, corruption, and the recent spate of jailbreaks as obstacles.

"We suddenly realised that democracy is far more expensive than the struggle itself," she said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 7 - SAPA

PW BOTHA TO BE CHARGED FOR DEFYING TRC

Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn on Wednesday announced that former state president PW Botha would be prosecuted for failing to obey a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last month.

Kahn told a news conoference that throughout the consideration of this matter, Botha's personal circumstances had weighed heavily on him.

"He is almost 82 years of age and no attorney-general in any civilised country lightly decides to prosecute a person of his age, especially given Mr Botha's medical history."

Kahn said he had considered all the circumstances, including the voluminous documents upon which the TRC wished to question Botha at a public hearing, and had decided that a prosecution was warranted in law and in the public interest.

Botha would accordingly be charged in the George Regional Court. He would be summonsed to appear on January 23.

Kahn added that the TRC had decided not to press charges in relation to media references to its standing, and there would be no further charges.

Botha was subpoenaed to appear before the TRC on December 19 but failed to turn up after saying earlier that he did not intend to appear.

Botha has called the Truth Commission a circus and a witch hunt against apartheid leaders, and said repeatedly he would not testify. He failed to appear before the commission three times.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked that Botha be charged because he refused to appear before the commission.

Earlier, Botha's lawyers delivered 1,700 pages of documents tot he TRC in which the former president denied knowledge of killings, torture or bombings carried out by security forces.

Earlier this month Kahn said that Botha had undertaken to obey any summons issued under the Criminal Procedures Act. The summons would give Botha 14 days' notice to appear in court.

Botha faces a possible two years in prison or a fine of R20000 if convicted on the main charge of failing to appear before the TRC.

The alternative charge is hindering the commission in the execution of its duties.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 7 - SAPA

BOTHA'S PROSECUTION SHOULD BE RESPECTED AND ACCEPTED: OMAR

South Africans should respect and accept the decision by Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn to prosecute former president PW Botha for failing to obey a lawful subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Wednesday.

"It is vital that we establish the rule of law in South Africa," he said in a statement.

One of the problems of the past, which still remained, was that too many people regarded themselves as being above the law.

"The rule of law requires that all law must apply equally to all persons irrespective of status, position or standing. Nobody is above the law," Omar said.

However, it was also important that justice should be done according to law. "Whether Mr Botha is guilty or not is for the court to decide."

Omar said the country's judiciary was independent and he was confident that the court would take into account all relevant facts.

This included the seriousness of the matter as well as Botha's personal circumstances, especially his age and state of health.

"It is my wish that justice should take its course and that the South African public will see it in the same light," he said.

The National Party said that in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, Kahn had no choice but to prosecute the former party strongman.

"The NP believes that the law now has to take its course and appeals to Mr Botha to respect the law and the courts," NP spokesman Daryl Swanepoel said.

However, the NP believed the TRC had acted wrongly in forcing the issue to the current point.

"We are convinced that this situation could have been avoided if the TRC had accepted the NP's proposal to work through Mr Botha's submission before deciding to subpoena him."

The TRC's actions against Botha were in sharp contrast to the accommodating attitude towards ANC leaders who were granted blanket amnesty contrary to the commission's founding legislation, Swanepoel said.

"The different ways in which the roleplayers of the past are handled by the TRC, and the lack of a uniform standard for all, substantially undermines the remaining integrity of the TRC."

The African National Congress said Kahn's decision put to shame those political parties who had questioned the TRC's independence and integrity, and criticised the country's administration of justice.

The decision would reinforce the confidence of the majority of people in the TRC process, spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.

It was unfortunate that so much effort and resources had had to be deployed to ensure Botha was brought before the doors of the Truth Commission.

"Kahn's decision in this regard will send a clear message that those who show contempt for the feelings of victims of gross human rights violations, and the TRC processes, will bear the consequences of their own actions," said Mamoepa.

The Conservative Party on Wednesday said it would support Botha.

The CP had from the start expressed its opposition to the way the TRC was acting against Afrikaners, CP spokesman Pieter Aucamp said.

"It is clear that (Archbishop Desmond) Tutu and (Dr Alex) Boraine have made it their goal to belittle the Afrikaner, while Winnie Mandela is tearfully begged to merely say things went wrong."

Botha, who had supplied the TRC with answers to specific questions, was 100 percent correct when he said the TRC wished to belittle him, he said.

"The Afrikaner is fed up with being the target of the government and its lackey, the TRC. We are sick of receiving the blame for everything."

The Afrikaner had made the biggest contribution to South Africa's development as a first world country, Aucamp said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 7 - SAPA

TRC APPEALS TO BOTHA TO APPEAR BEFORE IT

Truth and Reconciliation Commission deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine on Wednesday made a late appeal to former president PW Botha to change his mind and agree to appear before the commission.

Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn earlier on Wednesday announced his intention to prosecute Botha for his refusal to appear before the commission.

The TRC had hoped that the issue would not reach this eventuality, Boraine said at a news conference.

Botha had been given every opportunity to co-operate with the TRC, which held no animosity towards him, and it should never have ended in a court of law, he said.

The TRC would inform Botha through his lawyers of its 11th-hour appeal to him to appear. If he refused the law had to take its course. Nobody was above the law.

If Botha agreed to appear, the TRC would approach the Attorney- General to withdraw the charges, Boraine said.

It was not the commission's intention for him to be punished or to go to jail. "We have to respect our own Act", said Boraine.

The TRC believed that Botha with his experience and information as Defence Minister, Prime Minister and State President, could give vital information for the commission to fulfil its mandate.

It was clear that as chairman of the former State Security Council, Botha had information, knowledge and opinions the commission needed to weigh up and which were critical to complete its work.

If he did not testify, the quality of the TRC's final report would be affected. "Our job is to make it as complete as humanly and physically possible," Boraine said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 7 - SAPA

FIRST APARTHEID PRESIDENT TO FACE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION

Former president PW Botha on Wednesday became the first apartheid head of state to face criminal charges after Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn announced he would prosecute the 81-year-old for ignoring a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine made a late appeal on Wednesday for Botha to reconsider, saying the TRC would approach Kahn to withdraw charges should he agree to appear before the TRC.

The decision to prosecute follows a public battle of wills between Botha and the TRC, in which he failed three times to appear before the commission: initially because he was ill, but later because it was a "circus" and a "witchhunt" against apartheid leaders.

After his second refusal the TRC wanted to charge him but Kahn ruled the subpoena was flawed. Third time around, Botha defied another subpoena.

Kahn told a news conference earlier on Wednesday that in considering whether to proseucute, Botha's personal circumstances had weighed heavily on him.

"He is almost 82 years of age and no attorney-general in any civilised country lightly decides to prosecute a person of his age, especially given Mr Botha's medical history."

However, he had eventually decided that a prosecution was warranted in law and in the public interest.

Kahn said he had not bowed to any political pressures in deciding to prosecute, and had not consulted any politician or persons outside his office.

A summons would be served on Botha at his Wilderness home, ordering him to appear in the George Regional Court on January 23.

Botha's attorney Ernst Penzhorn told Sapa on Wednesday that Botha would accept service of the summons and would appear in court on January 23 to answer charges.

Penzhorn said his client had decided not to make any other public statements about the matter.

Boraine told reporters the TRC had hoped that the issue would not reach this eventuality, as Botha had been given every opportunity to co-operate with the TRC.

The TRC bore no animosity towards Botha and the matter should never have ended in a court of law, Boraine said.

It was not the commission's intention for Botha to be punished or to go to jail. "We have to respect our own Act", Boraine said.

The TRC believed that Botha, with his experience and information as defence minister, prime minister and state president, could give vital information for the commission to fulfil its mandate. It was clear that as chairman of the former State Security Council, Botha had information, knowledge and opinions the commission needed to weigh up, and which were critical for it to complete its work.

Justice Minister Dullah Omar urged all South Africans to respect and accept Kahn's decision, and said it was vital that the rule of law be established in South Africa.

One of the problems of the past, which remained, was that too many people regarded themselves as being above the law, Omar said.

Nobody was above the law, he said, echoing previous statements by President Nelson Mandela.

The African National Congress hailed the decision as one which would reinforce the confidence of the majority of people in the TRC process.

It was unfortunate that so much effort and resource had been deployed to ensure Botha was brought before the doors of the TRC, said ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa.

The Conservative Party repeated earlier statements that the TRC was bent on undermining Botha and belittling the Afrikaner, who had made the largest contribution to South Africa's development as a first world country.

The National Party said that in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, Kahn had no choice but to prosecute the former NP strongman.

Appealling to Botha to respect the law and the courts, the NP said the law would now have to take its course.

However, the NP believed the TRC had acted wrongly in forcing the issue to the point it was now at.

Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen said the issue was not against Botha alone, but impacted on the entire Afikaner volk.

He urged all Afrikaners to give Botha moral support, and said the action against the former state president was not something he could accept.

"It is not morally correct, and will definitely not contribute anything to making South Africa more acceptable."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 7 - SAPA

R500,000 OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY PAID TO PW'S LEGAL TEAM

The state has to-date forked out more than R500,000 rand to pay the legal team of former state president PW Botha in his battle with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but on Wednesday the State Attorney's office announced the taxpayer may no longer foot the bill due to Botha's "obstructive" attitude towards the commission.

The announcement coincides with the decision on Wednesday by Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn to go ahead with the procecution of Botha for failing to respond to a subpoena to appear before the TRC.

Botha's legal team, which comprises a senior counsel advocate, a junior counsel and an attorney, are being paid inflated fees after apparently refusing to represent Botha for less.

According Ben Minnaar of the State Attorney's office in Pretoria, the deviation from the guidelines on tariffs contained in the State Attorney's Act was approved by the State President's office to encourage Botha's co-operation with the TRC.

According to Minnaar, by August last year the State Attorney's office had already paid out more than R520,000 in fees to Botha's team for services rendered, and was anticipating a further hefty account.

The lawyers initially requested the higher fees to assist Botha to answer in writing a set of questions posed by the commission.

The commission judged the answers to be inadequate and subpoenaed Botha to appear publicly before a special inquiry into the workings of the State Security Council.

Botha initially ducked the subpoena on health grounds, then the commission botched a second subpoena by providing a date but failed to specify the time for Botha to appear. Finally, late last year, the commission got the subpoena right, but Botha ignored it.

Botha labelled the commission a "circus" and a witch-hunt against him and Afrikaners in general.

Truth Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu then asked Kahn to prosecute Botha under the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. Kahn announced on Wednesday that Botha would be summonsed to appear in the George Regional Court on January 23.

Botha will apparently have to fund his defence.

"An exception was made in the case of Mr Botha because his legal representatives were not at the time willing to act for him on the basis of the approved set of tariffs," Minnaar said.

"So either Mr Botha did not co-operate with the commission or we paid for his legal team to draw the answers (to the commission's questions). It was decided that Mr Botha's co-operation with the commission was important enough to warrant the higher fees.

"The legal representation for Mr Botha was intended to assist him to assist the commission. Now that he did not appear before the commission as ordered the legal representation will be reconsidered - and quite possibly terminated," said Minnaar. "The Office of the State President approved the legal representation, and the State Attorney will in the near future advise the Office of the State President as to whether the legal representation should continue," Minnaar said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 7 - SAPA

PW SUBPOENAED AT WILDERNESS HOME

Former state president PW Botha was on Wednesday ordered to appear in court to face criminal charges for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Two senior police officers travelled from Cape Town to a serve a subpoena on Botha at his Wilderness retirement home after Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn announced he would prosecute the 81-year-old former president.

The police officers said Botha received the subpoena in person and "in a friendly manner".

Botha is to appear in the George Regional Court on January 23.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine made a late appeal on Wednesday for Botha to reconsider, saying the TRC would approach Kahn to withdraw charges should he agree to testify before the TRC.

After his second refusal the TRC wanted to charge him but Kahn ruled the subpoena was flawed. Third time around, Botha defied another subpoena.

Kahn told a news conference earlier on Wednesday that in considering whether to proseucute, Botha's personal circumstances had weighed heavily on him.

"He is almost 82 yers of age and no attorney-general in any civilised country lightly decides to prosecute a person of his age, especially given Mr Botha's medical history."

However, he had eventually decided that a prosecution was warranted in law and in the public interest.

Kahn said he had not bowed to any political pressures in deciding to prosecute, and had not consulted any politician or persons outside his office.

Botha's attorney Ernst Penzhorn on Wednesday indicated that Botha would appear in court on January 23 to answer charges.

Penzhorn said his client had decided not to make any other public statements about the matter.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 8 - SAPA

PAC WILL RECONSIDER PARTICIPATION IN TRC: DE LILLE

The Pan Africanist Congress on Thursday said it would reconsider its participation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's proceedings if the commission failed to act evenhandedly.

The PAC was responding to reports that former state president PW Botha's lawyers had been paid generous amounts of taxpayers' money for making written submissions to the commission.

The high amounts paid by the state to lawyers representing Botha and the African National Congress' lawyers in the Chris Hani amnesty application were completely unacceptable, PAC MP Patricia de Lille said in a statement.

She said before the amnesty hearings into the murder of Amy Biehl and the St James Church massacre last year, the PAC had raised its objections with the TRC concerning the payment of legal representatives appearing on behalf of Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army cadres.

"The legal representatives appearing on behalf of Apla cadres continue to be paid in terms of the legal tarrif of the TRC," she said, adding they were R250 per hour for consultations up to a maximum of R1500 and R750 a day.

De Lille said these amounts were way below the fees paid to lawyers representing former Cabinet ministers and former state presidents.

"Thus for example, the senior counsel for PW Botha is paid R600 per hour and R6000 per day and the junior counsel is paid R400 per hour and R4500 per day."

De Lille said the higher tariff, in accordance with the State Attorney Act, was also applicable to all other senior and junior counsel representing former security force members, including former army generals and policemen like Jeff Benzien.

She said lawyers representing Hani's famiy in opposing his killers' amnesty applications were also paid the higher tariff.

"We are told that this is done in terms of S3(3) of the State Attorney Act on the ground of `public interest'," she said.

The PAC was shocked that all other amnesty hearings did not appear to be in the public interest.

"Surely the TRC is meant to function in the public interest in order to promote reconciliation.

"It follows that the TRC should treat all individuals equally, including providing them with proper and effective legal services under the TRC Act."

De Lille said her party had no objection if all legal services were provided in terms of the tariff laid down by the TRC.

"Why is the revelation of the `truth' in the Chris Hani amnesty hearings and the expected revelations by PW Botha more important for truth and reconciliation in this country than the revelations of what happened to Amy Biehl, in the St James Church or in any other incident where ordinary South Africans had been killed during the struggle for liberation?" De Lille also complained about the commission's perceived failure to decide on amnesty applications made by former Apla cadres in July last year.

She said this had to be contrasted with the haste with which the amnesty committee granted amnesty to senior ANC members.

"The PAC demands that the TRC acts evenhandedly and fairly in its dealings with all who appear before it. Failure to do so will lead to the PAC reconsidering its continued participation in TRC proceedings."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 8 - SAPA

NP DELAYS COURT ACTION AGAINST TRC OVER AMNESTY TO ANC MEMBERS

The National Party on Thursday decided not to proceed with its Cape Town High Court action to contest the amnesty granted to 37 African National Congress members.

The 37 were granted blanket amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee, a move the NP's legal counsel said was unlawful.

The TRC is to meet on January 12 and 13 to decide on the legal steps which have to be taken regarding the amnesty committee's decision.

In a letter to the commission on Thursday, NP legal division head Piet Matthee said his party had instructed its lawyers to bring the court application to have the amnesty set aside, but would not proceed pending the outcome of the TRC meeting.

"We were in fact going to issue and serve the necessary legal documents today (Thursday)," he said.

Matthee reminded TRC legal department head Hanif Vally that the amnesty committee's decision was initially staunchly defended by the commission and committee officials.

It was only after pressure from the NP and a legal opinion by NP senior counsel, which was submitted to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that the commission decided to reconsider the issue.

"It is therefore clear that the TRC would not have reconsidered this issue if the National Party had not focused public attention on it and had not brought pressure to bear upon the TRC."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Jan 8 - SAPA

HNP ASSOCIATES ITSELF WITH BOTHA'S STAND AGAINST TRC: MARAIS

Herstigte Nasionale Party leader Jaap Marais on Thursday said his party associated itself with former state president P W Botha's refusal to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn on Wednesday said Botha would be prosecuted for failing to obey a subpoena to appear before the commission in December.

Marais said in a statement that Kahn's decision to prosecute Botha was "apparently the politically correct action as it dealt with the authority of the commission as an instrument of the ANC/SACP government".

"At the same time it reflects the quarrel which the commission is waging to keep Afrikaners in the dock and on the defence," he said.

Marais said the decision to prosecute Botha was "a double-edged sword". Although there were serious political differences between Botha and the HNP, there was in this matter "no problem for the HNP to associate itself with Mr Botha".

Marais said Botha's description of the commission as a "circus" and his refusal to appear before it expressed the resentment felt by thousands of Afrikaners and many others against the commission.

The judicial steps taken against Botha would contribute largely to a polarisation of Afrikaners against "the ANC/SACP regime" and a feeling of solidarity against a common enemy, he said.

"If Mr Botha is found guilty, it will be an opportunity for Afrikaners to show their solidarity against the ongoing psychological war to break their sense of honour and self-respect," Marais said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 8 - SAPA

BOTHA MUST ANSWER QUESTIONS ON SECURITY COUNCIL: MBEKI

Former state president PW Botha's appearance before the Truth Commission remained crucial to answering questions relating to the former government's state security machinery, parts of which could still be used by those opposed to change, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.

"The truth about the operations of this state security machinery, including its agents, needs to be told," Mbeki told reporters at the African National Congress' 86th anniversary celebration in Johannesburg.

He said it was disappointing that, despite all sorts of persuations, including requests by President Nelson Mandela and interventions by General Constand Viljoen, Botha had refused to appear before the commission.

The newly elected ANC president said he believed the decision of the Western Cape Attorney-General, Frank Khan, to prosecute Botha was correct, as "there is need for him answer questions about the State Security Council, which we ourselves, the ANC, have raised in our submissions to the TRC."

Mbeki said it was also crucial for people like Roelf Meyer, former National Party Cabinet minister, who also had dealings with the State Security Council to tell truth about its operations.

He said it was worrying that the truth about the council's operations was not being revealed, adding there was a threat that it could still be used by elements opposed to change.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RUSTENBURG Jan 9 - SAPA

WINNIE TO SPEAK AT ANC BIRTHDAY RALLY AFTER TOUGH YEAR

African National Congress Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will address the organisation's 86th anniversary rally in Phokeng near Rustenburg on Saturday.

This would be her first public speech since her appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and her failed attempt to become the ANC's deputy president at its congress in Mafikeng last month.

Madikizela-Mandela will be joined at the rally by North West premier Popo Molefe.

Molefe will on Sunday also address a rally near Brits with ANC national chairman Patrick Lekota.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 9 - SAPA

TRC NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PW BOTHA'S LEGAL FEES: BORAINE

Truth and Reconciliation Commission deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine on Friday said the commission was not responsible for the legal fees of former state president PW Botha.

Boraine was responding to criticism from the Pan Africanist Congress following reports that Botha's lawyers had been paid generous amounts of taxpayers' money to assist him in making written submissions to the commission.

"I want to place on record that the TRC is not responsible for the legal fees of former state president PW Botha, as is alleged by the PAC," Boraine said in a statement.

Payments that had been made to Botha's legal team fell under the State Attorney's Act of 1957, whereby the state was contractually bound to assist employees and former employees of the state according to tariffs which were adapted from time to time by the state.

Boraine stressed that the TRC was not involved in this process; the matter rested with the Department of Justice.

Boraine said the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act stipulated that the TRC was obliged "to assist people who are not financially capable of appointing a legal representative, and if it is of the opinion that it is in the interest of justice that the person be represented by a legal representative".

These provisions applied to both amnesty applicants and people subpoenaed to appear before the human rights violation committee or amnesty committee of the TRC.

The Legal Aid Board also administered a means test to ascertain whether a person qualified for legal assistance. If it was found a person could afford his or her own legal fees, legal aid would not be approved. However, the TRC was not involved in either the approval or the tariff payable.

Earlier it was reported that the state had paid more than R520,000 to Botha's legal team. However, the State Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday that funding for Botha's legal team might be cut because of his "obstructive" attitude towards the commission.

The PAC on Thursday said the high amounts paid by the state to lawyers representing Botha and ANC lawyers in the Chris Hani amnesty application were unacceptable.

PAC MP Patricia de Lille said legal representatives appearing on behalf of Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army cadres during the amnesty hearings into the murder of Amy Biehl and the St James Church massacre were paid fees way below those paid to lawyers representing former Cabinet ministers and former state presidents.

Boraine said the TRC had on several occasions made representations to Justice Minister Dullah Omar urging that members of former liberation movements be afforded the same legal aid tariffs as state employees.

As a result, access to such funding was now open to them in consultation with the Department of Justice, he said.

BOTHA'S LAWYER RESPONDS TO "MISLEADING" REPORTS ON LEGAL COSTS

Former state president PW Botha's lawyer, Ernst Penzhorn, on Friday said media reports dealing with Botha's legal costs in his dispute with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were "false and misleading in several aspects".

In a statement, Penzhorn said Botha had applied for legal assistance in terms of the State Attorney's Act in December 1996, as he was entitled to do as a former employee of the state.

Penzhorn said the Act contained no guidelines on tariffs.

Botha's application, including the structure of fees and expenses, was approved by the Office of the President in June 1997, he said.

"The agreed advocates' fees are in line with the minimum recommended fees of their professional body. The usual fees paid by the state attorney to advocates of similar seniority exceed these agreed fees," he added.

Penzhorn said, until now, this agreement was regarded as strictly confidential at the request of the state attorney, who also acts as attorney for the TRC.

"The leak of the agreement at this stage appears to be an attempt to establish an atmosphere for the withdrawal of Mr Botha's legal assistance in order to make it as difficult as possible for him to defend himself in his dispute with the TRC," Penzhorn said.

"Persons in Mr Botha's position are usually granted legal assistance on condition that, if convicted, the legal fees are repayable by them. Any deviation from the normal approach would be unconscionable."

Media reports on Thursday said Botha's lawyers were being paid inflated fees after they refused to represent Botha for less.

The reports quoted Ben Minnaar of the State Attorney's office in Pretoria as saying the arrangement was approved by the President's Office to encourage Botha's co-operation with the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MOUTSE, Mpumalanga Jan 10 - SAPA

BOTHA ATTEMPTING TO PROVOKE RIGHTWING SENTIMENTS: PHOSA

Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa on Saturday questioned whether former State President PW Botha's refusal to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was aimed at provoking rightwing sentiments.

Addressing the African National Congress's 86th anniversary celebrations Phosa asked whether Botha was committed to nation building and reconciliation.

"These are serious questions which need serious attention not just from the ANC, but from all peace loving South Africans," he said.

"It... is important for all of us to guard against those people who are still nostalgic about the past, who will grab every opportunity to derail the process of transformation and democratisation of our country."

Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn on Thursday announced that Botha would be charged for failing to respond to a subpoena to appear before the TRC.

He is due to appear in the George Magistrate's Court on January 23.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 10 - SAPA

WINNIE NOT TO TESTIFY AT TRC HEARING

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela would not be asked to testify at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing into her relationship with apartheid police, the TRC said on Saturday.

The TRC also confirmed that former security policemen have been subpoenaed to appear before the hearing.

TRC chief legal officer Hanif Vally said Madikizela-Mandela had been invited to the hearing, but would not have legal representation and was not expected to testify.

"Winnie Madikizela-Mandela does not have to appear at the TRC hearing in person but she has the right to be there if she so wishes," Vally said.

Johannesburg newspaper Saturday Star reported that the commission has subpoenaed a dozen police officers, including former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock - sentenced to 212 years for various crimes in defence of apartheid - to ask "outstanding questions" resulting from the November and December hearings into the activities of the Mandela United Football club.

Former football club members and their trainer Jerry Richardson accused Mandikela-Mandela in last year's hearings of working "hand in hand" with the security police between 1986 and 1989.

She was also accused of being the lover of Themba Mabote, an alleged police spy, who was later murdered by De Kock.

The new hearings were expected to reveal the extent of police surveillance of Mandikela-Mandela and her supporters and the number of police informers in her entourage.

Richardson himself admitted to being a police informer.

The hearings have been set down for three days and the TRC will decide early next week when they will commence.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GRAAFF-REINET Jan 10 - SAPA

BOTHA'S BLONDE FIANCEE CRITICISES TRC FOR HANDLING OF HIS CASE

The fiancee of former state president PW Botha on Saturday criticised the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's handling of the Botha case.

Blonde Graaff-Reinet businesswoman Reinette Te Water Naude, 46, said the hearing served no purpose and was the ANC's way of campaigning for the next election.

She said the TRC was wasting a lot of money finding out "the truth about something which no one can change anyway".

Naude suggested members of the commission donate some of their earnings to more pressing problems like the plight of the Eastern Cape pensioners, who spent Thursday "hoping for a few cents to carry them through the month".

"It seems so silly to waste time and money on something of the past which the country does not have to worry about anymore. You can't change it anyhow," she said.

"While they are bickering about getting Mr Botha to appear before the TRC, the country is in turmoil and chaos because of the high crime rate, murder and no money for our pensioners."

Naude said she found the issue of Botha's TRC appearance boring.

"Mr Botha made it quite clear through his actions long ago that he is not interested in appearing before the TRC, or have anything to do with it. He said from the beginning that he would be willing to appear in a court of law," she said.

"He has now agreed to appear in court on February 23, so why go on about it?".

Botha, 81, whose wife Elize passed away in June last year, and Te Water Naude became engaged late last year.

Te Water Naude owns the popular Kingfisher Lodge in Graaff-Reinet.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 10 - SAPA

INTERNAL DIVISIONS WITHIN TRC OVER AMNESTY DECISION - CLAIM

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to hold emergency talks on Robben Island on Sunday over the granting of amnesty to 37 African National Congress leaders, the Johannesburg Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper claimed on Sunday that differences within the TRC over the granting of amnesty threatened to tear the commission apart and wreck its credibility.

There were differences, according to the Sunday Times, between a faction led by commission co-chairman Alex Boraine, who believed the the TRC was wrong to grant the amnesties, and another led by commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza, who defended the decision.

The meeting was an attempt to resolve these differences, the newspaper said.

Not invited to the meeting, the Sunday Times said, was the amnesty committee headed by Judge Hassan Mall, which approved amnesties for Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and 36 other ANC leaders.

The ANC's political rivals, the Democratic Party and the National Party, have claimed that the ANC leaders failed to satisfy the law, in that they did not specify or publicly testify on the acts for which they applied for amnesty.

Justice Minister Dullah Omar said the TRC should not prejudice anyone or deal in a special way with any particular persons.

"My understanding is that there has been no such special treatment," Omar said.

Commission lawyer Hanif Vally said he knew nothing about allegations of division within the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 12 - SAPA

TRC MEETING ON TRACK

The special meeting of Truth and Reconciliation Commission commissioners on Robben Island was expected to finish some time on Tuesday, TRC spokeswoman Christelle Terreblanche said on Monday.

The 17 commissioners gathered on the island on Sunday for a three-day retreat to discuss a number of issues.

Formal discussions began on Monday morning and were expected to continue throughout the day and most of Tuesday, she said.

Included on the agenda is the issue of the Amnesty Committee's decision to grant a blanket amnesty to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and 36 other ANC leaders.

After a public outcry about the decision, the TRC sought legal advice and agreed to review the matter.

Both the National Party and the Democratic Party have indicated that they are willing to take the matter to court to have the decision overturned.

Also on the agenda is the committee's decision to grant amnesty to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu's son, Trevor, who was serving a jail sentence for making a bomb threat at East London airport in 1989.

A media briefing is expected to be held after conclusion of the meeting on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 12 - SAPA

NP OBJECTS TO PHOSA'S SECRET GRAVES ACCUSATIONS

The National Party on Monday objected to ANC accusations which link the NP to the graves of activists executed and secretly buried by security forces during the apartheid era.

NP's chief spokesman Daryl Swanepoel insisted that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission deal with the issue and hold the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable for their deeds.

Swanepoel was reacting to Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa's speech at the reburial of former Umkhonto we Sizwe combatant Andrew "Magic Bones" Madi at Marapyane in Mpumalanga on Sunday.

Phosa said the NP's continued denial that it knew about gross human rights violations in South Africa should be rejected with comtempt.

"The silence of the National Party on the issue of secret graves is deafening. I invited Mr PW Botha, Mr FW de Klerk, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk and other NP members to join the TRC as it continues to exhume our comrades if they are sincere about their ignorance of these graves.

"I am still waiting for their response. I would like to repeat the call. It does not help to run away from the truth. They must come and witness what was done in the name of the whites of this country," Phosa said.

Swanepoel in a statement said the NP appealed to Phosa not to make cheap politics out of human tragedy.

He challenged the African National Congress to accept that under its direct command gross human rights violations had occurred.

He said if the ANC leadership were so innocent, then they should volunteer to have the blanket amnesty granted to them withdrawn in favour of amnesties granted to them as individuals, and for specific deeds which should be fully accounted for in the TRC process.

Swanepoel further challenged the ANC to point out the graves of the victims of its Quatro camp in Angola who were allegedly executed and murdered in foreign countries.

Swanepoel said accusations and counter-accusations as to who was the most evil in the past would not serve South Africa's building and reconciliation, but would only serve to harden division.

"We call on the ANC to accept that serious wrong-doings were committed on all sides, for which organisations, including the NP, have honestly apologised. The toil for this new South Africa will be rewarded by the taking of hands and the joint building of a better future for the generations to come," said Swanepoel.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN 13 Jan - SAPA

TRC TO GO TO HIGH COURT OVER AMNESTY GRANTED TO ANC 37

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to approach the High Court to establish whether amnesties granted to 37 African National Congress members conformed with the commission's governing Act.

The TRC announced its decision on Tuesday following a "beginning-of-year retreat" for commissioners on Robben Island.

Newly elected ANC president Thabo Mbeki was among those granted amnesty.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said of the controversial amnesties: "We have carefully considered our own concerns in this regard, together with an appreciation of the clear public interest that exists.

"We have also had close discussions with the (TRC's) amnesty committee (which granted the pardons), several of whose members have been present at our meeting here."

He said the TRC would, as a matter of urgency, "approach the High Court to seek a declaratory order, or such other relief as counsel may advise, to ascertain whether or not the decision made by the amnesty committee conformed with our governing Act".

He said the step would be taken "in consultation with the counsel whose opinion we initially sought. His opinion has guided our decision to go to the court."

The amnesty committee had been kept fully informed of the TRC's discussions, Tutu said, adding the committee supported the TRC's course of action.

"....Both we and they will, of course, abide by the decision of the court."

Tutu told reporters at the end of the retreat that the TRC had "full confidence" in the amnesty committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 13 - SAPA

TRC TO SEEK COURT RULING ON AMNESTY TO ANC 37

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday announced that it is to refer the controversial decision by its Amnesty Committee to grant amnesty to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and 36 other ANC leaders to the High Court for a decision on its validity.

Addressing a media conference on Robben Island after the commission had had a two-and-a-half day retreat there, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the commission had carefully considered their own concerns together with an appreciation of the clear public interest that existed.

"We have also had close discussions with the Amnesty Committee, several of whose members were present at the Robben Island meeting."

The decision to get a court ruling had been unanimous.

Tutu said the TRC would as a matter of urgency aproach the High Court to seek a declaratory order, or such other reliefs as counsel may advise, to ascertain whether or not the decision made by the Amnesty Committee conformed with the commission's governing Act.

"We will do this in consultation with the counsel whose opinion we initially sought. (Wim Trengove, SC). His opinion has guided our decision to go to court."

Tutu added that the Amnesty Committee had been kept fully informed of the discussions and the decision.

The committee supported this course of action and both the commission and the committee would abide by the court's decision.

Tutu said he would like to reaffirm the TRC's full confidence in the Amnesty Committee and its operation.

"Because our Act gave the committee absolute autonony in its deliberations, the only option we as a commission have in this matter is to act as we have done and go to court.

"We remain confident that this process will quickly and effectively resolve the current impasse."

At the conference, Tutu squashed media reports of any serious dissension or disagreement among commissioners on the matter.

However, he said the commission was not a homogeneous group, and naturally differences of opinion would arise from time to time.

This was healthy, he said.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said the TRC was satisfied all provisions had been taken into account regarding the amnesty granted to Archbishop Tutu's son, Trevor, for his 1989 bomb threat at East London airport.

It would not take the matter any further. Regarding the forthcoming court appearance of former State President PW Botha for rejecting a subpoena to appear before the TRC, he said everybody had democratic rights.

The matter was now sub judice.

The TRC had done what its founding Act allowed it to do.

The judicial process now had to take its course.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 13 - SAPA

ANC WELCOMES TRC DECISION TO REFER ANC AMNESTY TO HIGH COURT

The African National Congress on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ask the High Court for a ruling on the validity of the blanket amnesty granted to 37 ANC members.

"We hope that the courts will lay the matter to rest once and for all, particularly in the light of concerted efforts from certain political quarters to undermine the integrity of the TRC and thereby bring the entire truth and reconciliation process into disrepute," said Ronnie Mamoepa, the party's national spokesman.

Announcing the decision by the TRC earlier on Tuesday, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the TRC had carefully considered its own concerns and the clear public interest that existed in the matter.

"We have confidence in the ability of the judiciary to arrive at a decision which will be in line with the law," Mamoepa said in a statement.

The blanket amnesty was granted to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and 36 other ANC leaders by the the TRC's amnesty committee.

To ascertain whether or not the decision conformed with the TRC's governing Act, Tutu told a news conference in Cape Town the commission would as a matter of urgency aproach the High Court for a declaratory order, or such other relief as counsel may advise.

"The ANC commits itself to respect and abide by whatever findings the court may arrive at," Mamoepa said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 13 - SAPA

NP, DP STRESS IMPORTANCE OF EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW BY TRC

The National and Democratic parties on Tuesday welcomed the Truth Commission's decision to refer the amnesty committee's decision to grant amnesty to 37 African National Congress leaders to the High Court for a decision on its validity.

Both parties stressed that the principle on which they based their monitoring of the controversial decision was that of equality before the law.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the TRC's decision confirmed the NP's viewpoint that the blanket amnesty granted to the ANC leaders was illegal.

The party's lawyers would study the TRC's court application to determine the exact nature of relief sought.

"The application must have as its main focus the restoration of the principle of equality before the law. We cannot have a situation where there is one set of rules for the ANC and another for other South Africans," Van Schalkwyk said in a statement.

This view was supported by the DP's TRC spokeswoman, Dene Smuts, who added the DP would be approaching the commission for discussions on the matter. The party had decided to join forces with victims of ANC acts and to take the Amnesty Committee's decision on review.

The Freedom Front also welcomed the announcement, saying it hoped the TRC had learnt its lesson and would in future act objectively.

It said in a statement it was a pity the TRC had waited so long to refer the decision to the High Court and that pressure first had to be exerted.

"With this decision, the TRC is acknowledging that it had acted in favour of the ANC."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 13 - SAPA

SAPS DIR MOLABA NOT THE ONE REFERRED TO IN TRC STATEMENT

Former SA Police Services detective Soweto Molaba, referred to in a Truth and Reconciliation Commission statement on Monday, was not police Brigadier A Molaba, his attorneys said on Tuesday.

Monday's TRC statement on the issuing of subpoenas to another 17 people by the TRC's investigative unit, to give evidence and/or answer questions relating to the commission's investigations into the Mandela United Football Club, included a certain "Soweto Molaba, of the former SAP detective services".

Attorneys David H Botha, Du Plessis & Kruger stated their client, A Molaba, was a member of the African National Congress' former armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and went into exile during 1976 after taking part in the June 16 Soweto uprising.

Molaba returned to South Africa in 1993 to take up a position with the ANC's department of intelligence and security, based at the ANC's national headquarters in Shell House, Johannesburg.

In 1995 Molaba joined the police with the rank of Colonel, stationed in Pretoria.

"He was subsequently promoted to Brigadier, which position is currently known as Director," the attorneys said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 13 - SAPA

TRC TO SEEK COURT RULING ON AMNESTY TO ANC LEADERS

In a bid to end controversy over the granting of a blanket amnesty to 37 African National Congress leaders, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on Tuesday it would ask the High Court to rule on its validity.

The ruling ANC and opposition partis welcomed the decision, which followed a two-and-half day retreat by the commission on Robben Island.

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki was among the 37 leaders granted amnesty by the TRC's amnesty committee, sparking accusations that the legislation convening the TRC was being bent in favour of the ANC.

The acts for which the ANC leaders were being indemnified for were not specified, neither did the individuals appear before the amnesty committee.

Truth commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu made the announcement to refer the matter to court at a news conference in Cape Town.

He said the TRC would as a matter of urgency approach the High Court to seek a declaratory order, or such other relief as counsel may advise. He said the decision was unanimous.

The move, he said, was to ascertain whether or not the decision made by the amnesty committee conformed with the commission's governing legislation.

"Because our Act gave the committee absolute autonony in its deliberations, the only option we as a commission have in this matter is to act as we have done, and go to court," Tutu said.

"We remain confident that this process will quickly and effectively resolve the current impasse.

"We have also had close discussions with the amnesty committee, several of whose members were present at the Robben Island meeting."

Tutu denied reports of serious dissension or disagreement among commissioners on the matter.

The National Party, Democratic Party and the Freedom Front welcomed TRC's decision to go to court.

"The TRC's decision confirms the National Party's viewpoint that the 'blanket' amnesty granted to 37 ANC leaders (was) illegal," party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a statement issued in Cape Town.

He said the TRC bowed to pressure from his party and others after initially defending the amnesty.

"If the court application is not unambiguous in seeking relief to set aside the 'blanket' amnesty, the National Party will have no option but to enter as a party," Van Schalkwyk said. "The application must have as its main focus the restoration of the principle of equality before the law. We cannot have a situation where there is one set of rules for the ANC, and another set of rules for other South Africans."

The Democratic Party's TRC spokeswoman, Dene Smuts, said the DP would approach the commission for discussions on the matter. She said party had decided to join forces with victims of ANC acts, and to take the amnesty committee's decision on review.

The Freedom Front said it hoped the TRC had learnt its lesson and would in future act objectively.

"With this decision, the TRC is acknowledging that it had acted in favour of the ANC," a statement said.

The Pan Africanist Congress said the court application was a waste of taxpayers' money.

The ANC said it would abide by the court ruling, and hoped it would end controversy over the matter.

"We hope that the courts will lay the matter to rest once and for all, particularly in the light of concerted efforts from certain political quarters to undermine the integrity of the TRC, and thereby bring the entire truth and reconciliation process into disrepute," said Ronnie Mamoepa, the party's national spokesman.

"The ANC commits itself to respect and abide by whatever findings the court may arrive at," he said.

Tutu told the news conference the commission had carefully considered its own concerns and the clear public interest that existed.

Tutu reaffirmed the TRC's confidence in the amnesty committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 14 - SAPA

HEIDELBERG THREE SHOULD GET AMNESTY: COUNSEL

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee should grant amnesty to three applicants for the December 30, 1993, Heidelberg Tavern killings, counsel for the three said on Wednesday.

Vuyisile Madasi, Luyanda Gqomfa and Zola Mabela, currently serving lengthy prison sentences for their part in the attack which left four dead and several wounded, are seeking amnesty for what they say was a politically-motivated act.

They are former Apla cadres and members of the Pan Africanist Congress, and maintain that the attack was carried out at the instructions of the Apla High Command.

Addressing the amnesty panel chaired by Judge Hassan Mall during an amnesty hearing in Cape Town, the three's lawyer, Norman Arendse, said the committee should only consider whether they had made a full disclosure of events or not.

He submitted that the three applicants had indeed done so by admitting responsibility for the attack and for causing the deaths of four people, thereby being guilty of gross human rights violations.

All three had also expressed remorse and regret for what they had done.

They had all been sentenced to lengthy jail terms and it was in their own interest to make a full disclosure, he said.

The committee now had a full picture of what happened and the applicants had fulfilled the requirements of TRC legislation to tell all, Arendse said.

He asked that the committee reach a decision, one way or the other, as soon as possible.

TRC evidence leader, Paddy Prior, told the committee that the attack should be seen against the light of the political situation in December 1993.

The PAC was party to the political negotiations underway about South Africa's future.

He submitted that the attack had not been sanctioned by the Apla High Command because of a breakdown in communications.

The decision had been made by local Apla commanders.

It was simply an act of reprisal for what was happening in black townships at the time and did not further the PAC's political objective of regaining the land for the people.

The intention had been to cause as much death as possible, as evidenced by the nail-studded grenade launched into the tavern, but which did not explode.

The applicants had also not fully disclosed their motivation for shooting one of the victims some distance from the tavern while making their getaway, Prior said. Arendse said the applicants did not attack the Heidelberg Tavern on their own accord or for their own benefit.

He added that, at the time of the attack, the PAC had not yet renounced the armed struggle and the applicants were under the impression that the tavern was frequented by members of the security forces, which unfortunately proved to be untrue.

Judge Mall said the committee would make its decision known in due course.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN Jan 14 - SAPA

DP, IFP CALL FOR INVESTIGATIONS INTO ALLEGED ROGUE ANC UNIT

The Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Party in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday called for urgent investigations into allegations in a newspaper report that a rogue ANC unit was running amok in Pietermaritzburg's townships.

On Tuesday morning, the Natal Witness quoted an unnamed source who alleged that a group of former African National Congress guerillas was responsible for numerous rapes, murders and armed robberies in and around Pietermaritzburg.

According to the source, the unit - known as the "ANC Select" - reported directly to a senior ANC MEC, known to the paper but not named in the report.

IFP safety and security spokesman Philip Powell said allegations that a provincial MEC was involved warranted an independent commission of inquiry and a special witness protection programme to encourage people to come foward with information.

Wessel Nel of the DP said: "For the sake of all South Africans affected by violence and fear, and also to safeguard our international reputation, it is essential that the government be seen to be unafraid to expose the truth.

"The appropriate response to this situation is so vital that the Democratic Party has called on the speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal parliament to convene an urgent special sitting of the provincial legislature to publicly debate the issue and initiate urgent procedures to expose the full truth."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 16 - SAPA-AFP

BLACK MAGISTRATE TO HEAR CASE AGAINST APARTHEID PRESIDENT

Black magistrate Victor Lugaju will hear the case against apartheid's chief enforcer, ex-president P W Botha, when he appears next week on charges of snubbing South Africa's truth commission, Lugaju's office said Friday.

Lugaju is the senior district magistrate in Western Cape province - still a bastion of the National Party which long presided over apartheid - and was appointed because of the prominence of the case, his office told AFP.

Botha was served with a court summons earlier this month after repeatedly refusing to testify to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on his role as former head of the now-defunct State Security Council and on bloody cross-border raids into neighbouring territories.

He is due to appear in court in the Western Cape coastal town of George on January 23.

Botha ruled South Africa from 1978 until 1989, and came to be hated and feared by blacks for his iron-fisted enforcement of the apartheid system of racial segregation, which earned him the nickname "Groot Krokodil".

Under Botha's regime, blacks were prevented from rising to the rank of magistrate.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE Jan 17 - SAPA

PROTESTS PLANNED FOR PW COURT APPEARANCE

The African National Congress plans to hold a "peaceful protest" when former State President PW Botha appears in the George Regional Court next week for ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena, according to the Beeld newspaper.

It said Botha's supporters were also planning similar action.

However, ANC regional secretary Ismael Lavangee warned that it would be a recipe for conflict should rightwing groups decide to "interfere with us".

George magistrate Erna Grobler said she would make a decision early next week on whether to allow the ANC protest, Beeld said.

Meanwhile, acting town clerk Andre Smit said no other applications had been received, although Botha's supporters apparently had similar plans.

"Our people have orders to be tolerant, but we expect strong steps from the police against illegal action by other groups," Lavangee said.

The ANC and its allies, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, were prepared for any confrontation with Botha's supporters, he said.

Botha is due to appear in court on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Jan 17 - SAPA

FUND PLANNED TO HELP FORMER SADF MEMBERS IN DEALINGS WITH TRC

A fund is to be established to help former SA Defence Force members and possibly former state president PW Botha in their dealings with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The fund's co-ordinator, Lieutenant-General Raymond Holtzhausen on Saturday said in a statement the fund's objective was to help those former members who had been refused legal aid by the State.

The fund would also look after institutions and individuals who supported the SADF and served it in its legal objections.

He said the decision to start the fund was taken after a symposium between former members on August 31 last year.Senior former SADF commanders expressed their willingness to serve as board members.

These members included former defence minister General Magnus Malan, Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen, General Jannie Geldenhuis and General Kat Liebenberg.

These commanders as well as several other high ranking officers served in the SADF's upper structure during the apartheid years between 1980 and 1990.

Regarding Botha, Holtzhausen said he had received various requests from people who would like to donate money to help him.

He said, however, that the planned fund did not make provision for conditional donations and contributions for Botha's legal costs could be made into a current trust account.

Holtzhausen added that help from the fund for Botha was not excluded, but that he did not want to pre-empt a decision by the fund's board.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 18 - SAPA

ANC VICTIMS HOPE TO JOIN TRC AMNESTY CASE IN HIGH COURT

Two victims of African National Congress acts of terror are hoping to join the Truth Commission in its application to the High Court to rule on the validity of the amnesty committee's granting of amnesty to 37 ANC leaders.

The two have asked the Truth body to carry their legal costs, the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper, Rapport, reports.

They are Dirk van Eck, who was injured in a landmine explosion near Messina in 1985 in which several members of the Van Eck and De Nyschen families died, and Chris Barnardo, who was seriously injured in the Pretoria Church Street bombing in 1983.

Truth Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced on Tuesday the commission had decided to refer the amnesty committee's decision to grant amnesty to the 37 ANC leaders, including deputy president Thabo Mbeki, to the High Court for a decision on its validity.

Van Eck and Barnado want to become co-applicants with the TRC against the amnesty committee, the newspaper said.

"We want to know who gave the orders for the acts. I will not be able to rest until I know. This fight is still not over," Van Eck was quoted as saying.

He said the amnesty was granted unilaterally without anyone knowing the reasons why.

He pointed out that he had to go through the trauma of telling the commission his story.

"It was also expected of many others. If a person's family is almost totally wiped out - just me and an 18 month old baby survived - this thing boils in you. I needed a lot of courage to appear before the TRC. It is traumatic for anyone, because you must tell everyone how your family was blown to bits. It is totally unfair and actually shocking that the 37 ANC leaders received amnesty just like that".

He said he wanted to ask the ANC leaders who gave the order to plant the landmine.

"That is most certainly the aim of the TRC. The TRC has fallen off the chair with its granting of amnesty to the ANC leaders," Van Eck said.

He believes it is the state's duty to carry the cost of the victims' application.

Barnardo, 37, said by granting the ANC leaders amnesty collectively, his rights as a victim to be part of the amnesty application were being denied.

"Other people who applied for amnesty had to make full disclosure."

He said the public might now never know who gave the order for the bomb to be planted.

"I think the case is going to be referred back to the TRC for a decision. If the TRC wants to act honourably towards me and other victims, it must protect us and pay our legal fees," Barnardo said. Foundation for Equality Before the Law spokesman General Johan van der Merwe said the victims would have to get involved in the application or the TRC would be able to place anything before the court.

Because the court was only obliged to rule on what was placed before it, there was a possibility that a "skew finding" could be made, he warned.

The victims were entitled to making sure that full disclosure was made, as in the case of the apartheid crimes.

"Victims can only receive compensation if the ANC leadership accepts responsibility for a specific deed. If they don't do it, the victims' rights are threatenened in possible future legal actions," Van der Merwe said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Jan 18 - SAPA-AFP

APARTHEID GENERALS COME OUT IN SUPPORT OF BOTHA

Eleven apartheid-era military generals have come out in support of former president Pieter Botha just days before he is to stand trial for snubbing the truth commission, a report said Sunday.

Afrikaans-language Rapport newspaper said the generals plan to attend the trial in the south coast resort of George on Friday, and have established a fund to help pay Botha's legal fees.

The generals, who headed the military in the 1980s when Botha was president, are anxious to give moral support to their former commander-in-chief, the newspaper said.

It named some of the generals as former defence ministers Magnus Malan and Constand Viljoen and former chief of the defence force Jannie Geldenhuys.

One of the generals, Raymond Holtzhausen, told the newspaper that a trust fund had been established to help the 82- year-old Botha meet his legal costs.

"Former South African Defence Force members are unhappy about the one-sided action of the truth commission in connection with military actions of the past," Holtzhausen said.

The fund would also look after the interests of all former soldiers who served the interests of the apartheid-era defence force and its objectives, he added.

The Truth and Reconciliation (TRC), which is probing human rights abuses during the apartheid era, is perceived by many Afrikaners to be a witchhunt against former members of the apartheid security forces, a claim the commission strenuously denies.

Botha was served with a court summons on January 7 after repeatedly refusing to testify to the TRC on his role as former head of the now-defunct State Security Council.

The council is accused of masterminding a brutal reign of terror in South Africa's black townships in the 1980s and of planning cross-border strikes by South Africa's apartheid defence force.

Botha, who furnished the TRC with a 1,700-page report detailing the workings of his government claims the commission wants to humiliate him and to use him to "get at" Afrikaners.

He has labelled the TRC a "circus" and has persistently refused to appear before it, despite being summonsed three times.

His trial, ironically, will be presided over by a black magistrate, Victor Lugaju, who would never have been allowed to rise to that position under Botha's rule, which disenfranchised blacks and reserved senior government posts for whites.

Botha ruled South Africa from 1978 until 1989, and came to be hated and feared by blacks for his iron-fisted enforcement of institutionalized racial segregation.

Rightwingers have said they will turn up in their "thousands" to show support for Botha outside the court house. Members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) have said they, too, will be outside the court protesting against the man whose reptilian snarl earned him the nickname "Great Crocodile."

Police have said they will impose tight security in George on Friday during what is expected to be a very short case.

Magistrate Lugaju has indicated he will postpone the hearing until a later date, when TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu is expected to give evidence.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Jan 18 - SAPA

BOTHA'S SUBPOENA JUST A SHOW OF FORCE AGAINST AN OLD MAN: FF

The Freedom Front on Sunday said PW Botha's subpoena to appear in court was nothing more than show of force by the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission against an old man in the final years of his life.

Botha is to appear in the George Regional Court this week on charges of failing to obey a subpoena to appear before a special hearing of the TRC, where he would have been questioned on his involvement in the State Security Council.

In a statement Freedom Front leader General Constant Viljoen called on ex-Security Council members to attend the trial in a show of support for Botha. He made the same appeal on a political level.

"We must show Mr Botha that he is not alone," Viljoen said, adding he would also be attending the trial.

Viljoen said Botha was not being obstinate when he refused to appear before the commission.

"He was willing to work with the TRC to the extent that he submitted a 1800 page reply to questions by the commission," he said.

"Mr Botha's refusal to attend the hearing was a matter of principle."

Viljoen said the hearings for security police and soldiers had been "much longer and more difficult" than the ANC process.

He said Botha's hearing was "yet another unfair and one-sided" move on the part of the TRC.

Viljoen appealed to the TRC not to continue with its case against Botha, which he said did the commission little credit.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE January 19 1998 - SAPA

ANC PLANS LARGE ANTI-PW PROTEST

Municipal officials will decide on Tuesday whether to allow the ANC to stage a placard protest near the George Regional Court when the trial of former state president P W Botha gets under way on Friday.

Botha stands accused of ignoring a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The party wanted to protest at Botha's reluctance to co-operate with the commission, Southern Cape African National Congress secretary Ismail Lavangee said on Monday.

Local authorities were initially asked for permission for 200 people to take part in the demonstration, but Lavangee said he planned to ask to increase this to 500.

He said he hoped the protest - on a traffic island about 100 meters from the court - would be peaceful.

George acting town clerk Andre Smit said the ANC was the only organisation to apply to hold a demonstration in the town.

However, other organisations had held unplanned protests in the past and had been accommodated where possible, he said.

Right-wing groups have indicated they would demonstrate in support of the 82-year-old Botha.

Strict security is being planned for the hearing and George police are to meet on Tuesday to finalise their plans. Organising the hearing is causing a major headache for officials in the usually quiet southern Cape town, even though the case is expected to be remanded after just a few minutes.

Victor Lugaju, Cape Town's regional court president, who is hearing the case, is expected to put the proceedings on hold so he can study the charge sheet - which is more than 1000-pages long.

Media reports at the weekend suggested that court officials were considering hiring the town hall to accommodate a large media contingent, political party representatives and members of the public who want to attend the high profile trial.

But acting chief magistrate Erna Grobler said on Monday the idea had been shelved because it was not practical, and security arrangements could pose a problem.

George has seven courts, but none of these can accommodate more than 60 people

Grobler said Botha had indicated members of his family would attend the trial. According to a report in the local George Herald newspaper Botha's fiancee, Reinette te Water Naude, will also be there to give him support.

Court officials will meet on Tuesday morning to finalise media arrangements. They were adamant that no cameras would be allowed inside the court building.

Botha submitted a 1700-page document to the Truth Commission but ignored orders to appear in person at a TRC hearing to answer questions on the State Security Council.

This prompted Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn to issue a summons against him on January 7.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 19 1998 - SAPA-AFP

BLACK JUDGE PROMISES EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE FOR PW BOTHA

A black judge set to preside over the court hearing of former President P. W. Botha promised Monday to dispense even- handed justice to the man who governed apartheid South Africa through some of its most violent years.

Victor Lugaju, 49, will conduct the Jan. 23 hearing where Botha is expected to be charged with contempt for refusing to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"We dispense justice to all persons in the same way. We do not differentiate," Lugaju told The Associated Press on Monday.

The president of the Western Cape Regional Court, Lugaju confirmed he chose to take the case himself as the top magistrate in the Western Cape province.

"I can take any case. There is nothing special about it," he said, adding his decision was based on the full schedules of other magistrates instead of any personal desire to handle the case of one of apartheid's most notorious leaders.

During his 11 years in power, Botha enacted emergency laws to crack down on anti-apartheid groups fighting for equal rights for blacks. There were no black judges when Botha was in power, and blacks lacked the right to vote or live where they wanted.

He was ousted by fellow National Party leader F.W. de Klerk after suffering a stroke in 1989.

Now 82 and hobbled by fragile health, Botha could be imprisoned for two years and fined if convicted. Because of his age and physical ailments, a fine is considered the likely penalty. No pre-trial limit has been set on the amount.

Lugaju said he was aware of Botha's health problems, including a hip operation last year, and would keep that in mind during court proceedings.

A soft-spoken man with a trim moustache and shaved head, Lugaju was born in the Eastern Cape province and worked as a magistrate in Umtata, part of the former Transkei black homeland, until 1996. He was a law lecturer at the University of the Transkei.

Botha's court appearance was expected to draw huge media interest for the case of a former white leader facing a black magistrate. It will take place in George, near where Botha lives, about 400 kilometers (240 miles) east of Cape Town.

South Africa had no black judges until after political reforms in 1990 that led to the 1994 election that brought President Nelson Mandela's African National Congress to power and ended apartheid.

The first black judge was appointed in 1990. The vast majority of judges today are white.

Botha ignored three subpoenas to appear before the Truth Commission, set up by Mandela's government in 1995 to investigate apartheid-era human rights abuses.

He has submitted more than 1,700 pages of written answers to its questions and accuses the panel of wanting to humiliate him by forcing him to appear in person. The commission has been criticized from all sides for alleged bias. Whites accuse it of carrying out a witch hunt against apartheid figures while blacks were angered that Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, underwent a nine-day hearing before the panel while Botha has never appeared.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 20 1998 - SAPA

PW's CASE COULD DRAG ON `FOR YEARS', SAY LAWYERS

Legal sources say the court case against former state president PW Botha, who has refused to appear before the TRC, could drag on for years.

Lawyers this week raised the possibility that one tactic his legal team could employ to drag out proceedings could be to point to the refusal by some judges last year to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

His team could also hand in medical certificates and appeal to the High Court, Appeal Court and the Constitutinal Court, they told newspapers in the Nasionale Pers stable.

Botha is to appear in the George regional court on Friday on a charge that he disobeyed a subpoena from the TRC to appear before it.

A legal source said this week the case could last "for years".

The TRC had been driven into a corner because certain judges had refused last year to testify before it about the legal system under apartheid.

Botha's legal team could ask that these judges recuse themselves should they be appointed to handle his case on appeal, the source said.

Another source said: "There are tens of thousands of ways to let criminal cases drag on."

Another one said there was a chance the prosecution against Botha would not be completed by the time the TRC's life expires in June.

The magistrate who is to preside in Friday's hearing, Victor Lugaju, regional court president in Cape Town, has indicated that he will postpone the case on Friday to give himself time to study the court documents.

Botha's attorney, Ernst Penzhorn, told the newspapers he and his team would not oppose this.

In a letter in last Friday's Cape Times, prominent neuropsychiatrist Professor Frances Ames wrote that it was no secret, and thus no breach of medical confidentiality, that Botha "sustained fairly severe brain damage due to a stroke some years' ago". (She was referring to his stroke early in 1989 which led to him losing the presidency to FW de Klerk later that year).

If he was finally driven into a legal corner, he could extricate himself easily by claiming defective memory on medical grounds, she wrote.

"I, as a neuropsychiatrist, would feel fully justified in furnishing him with a certificate to that effect after detailed neurological and neuropsychological assessment of his cerebral state."

Ames wrote further that the TRC's "expensive, time- and energy-consuming vendetta against Mr PW Botha is ludicrous". © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE January 20 1998 - SAPA

STRICT SECURITY PLANNED FOR PW BOTHA TRIAL

George police will deploy all available staff to ensure that a potentially volatile situation is kept under control on Friday when former state president PW Botha begins his trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

"We will be prepared for any scenario," police spokesman Captain Andre du Plessis said on Tuesday.

Botha's trial is scheduled to begin at 9am in the George Magistrate's Court, which is situated in the middle of the town on the corner of the two biggest streets.

It is one of the most high-profile events ever staged in the small southern Cape town, which was established as a timber outpost for the Dutch East India Company in 1776.

George's acting chief magistrate, Erna Grobler, said George's other courts would be operational on Friday and everyone entering the building would be searched.

Du Plessis said the police would not be heavy-handed, but that the case was an extremely sensitive one.

"We request the support and co-operation of the media and the public to enable us to do our job," he said.

Grobler said she had granted permission for about 200 members of the African National Congress to stage a demonstration near the court building.

The ANC plans to hold a placard demonstration on a traffic island about 100m from the court building to show its distaste at Botha's refusal to co-operate with the TRC.

No other organisations have applied for permission to demonstrate, but rightwing groups have indicated they will protest in support of Botha.

Du Plessis said the police would decide how to deal with any unplanned protests, and try and accommodate them if they were peaceful.

The 82-year-old Botha, who ruled South Africa from 1978 to 1989, ignored three subpoenas from the Truth Commission to appear in person at a hearing to answer questions about the now-defunct State Security Council, which he headed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA January 21 1998 - SAPA

UDM CALLS FOR RESPONSIBILITY OVER PW BOTHA CASE

The United Democratic Movement on Wednesday criticised the manner in which some political parties were planning to protest the court appearance in George of former president PW Botha scheduled for Friday.

Botha will be facing charges of failing to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to answer questions over his role in the now defunct State Security Council, which he headed during his rule in the 1980s, despite being subpoenaed to do so.

UDM spokeswoman Annelize van Wyk said in a statement the African National Congress' planned protest outside the courtroom Friday and the call by the Right for Botha supporters to mobilise were both irresponsible.

She accused the National Party, the Freedom Front and the Conservative Party of making inflammatory statements ahead of Botha's appearance in court.

"Political parties, especially, need to be sensitive when dealing with and commenting on issues that are a threat to our fragile democracy.

"The UDM calls on South Africans to realise this for what it is, and not to let them get drawn into this game of political opportunism.

"The law must take its course. Let us not forget what the TRC is all about and let us embrace that spirit of reconciliation in our actions," she said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA January 21 1998 - SAPA

FORMER CCB MEMBER LODGES COMPLAINT AGAINST SABC

Former Civil Cooperation Bureau member Slang van Zyl has lodged a complaint against the SABC for an alleged defamatory report broadcast on December 21, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA said on Wednesday.

It said in a statement a hearing into the matter would be held in Craighall Park on Friday morning.

The report stated that gangs in the Western Cape and Pagad were heading for a violent clash, and that former CCB members, including Van Zyl, were allegedly training gang members in the use of weapons and explosives.

In a letter to the SABC from Van Zyl's attorneys, the broadcaster was requested to reveal its sources, and to rectify the perception they said was created by the report.

Van Zyl objected to the broadcast, saying it could lead to financial losses for his security and private investigation company, Tactical Risk Control.

"Mr Van Zyl has since his resignation from the CCB in September 1989 not associated himself with, or participated in, any crime or illegality of any nature," his attorneys said.

"Mr Van Zyl has no knowledge of explosives, and would not be able to supply such training."

Van Zyl has applied for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for acts carried out while he was still a CCB member.

His attorneys said Van Zyl was on holiday, and only heard about the SABC report when a client contacted him to discuss the matter.

They also warned their client might sue the broadcaster for damages incurred due to what they said was the tarnishing of his image.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE, Southern Cape January 21 1998 - SAPA

DOOR TO BE KEPT SHUT ON PW BOTHA'S PAST

When former state president PW Botha begins his trial for defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena on Friday, staff at the George museum will have the day off.

The museum, situated just a few hundred meters from the George Regional Court where the case is to be heard, has an entire wing filled with Botha's memorabilia, and police feel it would be better to keep it closed for the day, in case there is any trouble.

The Botha exhibit is already a minor source of controversy in the town with several members of the community in favour of scaling it down and rewriting some of the material to present a more balanced perspective of his reign.

The museum currently falls under the control of the Western Cape provincial authorities, but there are plans to deproclaim it from April 1 and give control to a board of trustees who would represent the local community. Any decision on the fate of the exhibit is unlikely to be taken before this happens.

Botha served as MP for George for nine consecutive terms, from 1948 to 1984, when he took over as prime minister from B J Voster.

Apparently in 1991 Botha, who was by then state president, allocated state funds to build the new wing on to the museum building, with the proviso that it be used to display his mementos. A 20-year loan agreement for the several hundred items was drawn up when the wing opened in 1992.

The collection comprises such treasures as a hand-carved ivory AK47 rifle, presented to Botha in the 1980s by Unita rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, and some mounted animal heads - the spoils of the former president's hunting trips.

Some of the records of Botha's reign at South Africa's helm on display can hardly be described as the hallmark of historical accuracy.

One poster, headed the "The Black Community" declares: "First as Prime Minister and then as State President, Mr Botha was closely involved in the government's initiatives to improve relations with black communities, to raise their standard of living and to accommodate them politically".

It also accredits Botha with adopting a policy of power-sharing between the different population groups in 1986, "which implied an undivided country, one citizenship for all, equal opportunities and participation in government".

One entire cabinet in the display is devoted to South Africa's relations with Taiwan, one of the few countries which did not regard South Africa as a pariah state under Botha's rule.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 21 1998 - SAPA

TRC HAS RECEIVED STATEMENTS FROM 20,000 VICTIMS

The human rights violations committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday said it had received more than 20,000 statements concerning gross violations of human rights over the past two years.

TRC spokesman John Allen said about 5000 last-minute applications for reparations from victims in KwaZulu-Natal were received shortly before the December 15 cut-off date last year, following a softening of the Inkatha Freedom Party's stance towards the TRC.

"Only those declared victims in terms of the Act governing the TRC will be eligible for the reparations which have been suggested to the government by the reparation and rehabilitation committee of the TRC," Allen said.

He said 2300 submissions had been processed to date.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG, January 21 1998 - SAPA-AFP

SOUTH AFRICAN BANK IN APARTHEID PAY-OUT TO EMPLOYEES

A South African bank announced Wednesday it would retrospectively pay employees it discriminated against during the apartheid era.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa said it would pay those it had victimised under apartheid in terms of the salaries they could have been earning if it had not been for the racist system.

The bank said two million rand (around 500,000 dollars) had been set aside for the payments.

Its chief executive, Ian Goulding, said the move should not be seen as a reparation for apartheid: "We can only do what we think is right for our institution," he told state broadcaster SABC.

"This is not reparation in the sense of making up for the legacy of apartheid, Bantu education and all the other horrors of the apartheid system.

"All we are doing is saying within the bank, we would pay for the job irrespective or race or gender."

Under the government's offical policy of separation of the races during the apartheid era, blacks were given vastly inferior education compared to whites, for which, unlike whites, they had to pay. It became known as bantu education.

The issue of big-business reparations for revenue earned under apartheid has been raised before.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission probe into apartheid-era crime heard testimony last year from academics and businessmen that a tax should be levied on the white elite who grew rich under apartheid.

One white Afrikaner, Johan Rupert, chief executive of the multinational Rembrandt Group, told the truth body that he would consider paying an apartheid reparations tax.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 21 1998 - SAPA

NP CONDEMNS PLANNED ANC PROTEST AGAINST PW

The National Party on Wednesday condemned the planned protest by the southern Cape branch of the African National congress on Friday, when former State President PW Botha is due to appear in the George Regional Court.

"Seeing that the ANC governs the land and Minister (Dullah) Omar is the political head of our courts, it is their duty to see that Mr PW Botha receives a fair and just hearing," NP spokesman Jacko Maree said in a statement.

"It is astounding that the ANC government and Mr Omar in particular could be so impudent and obtuse to allow the ANC to hold a protest at PW Botha's hearing," Maree said.

The ANC plans to show its unhappiness at Botha's reluctance to co-operate with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, following the 82-year-old's refusal to comply with a subpoena ordering him to appear before the commission.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 22 1998 - SAPA

TRC DOCUMENTARY BIASED SAYS NP

The National Party has lashed out at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission documentary film which was screened on SABC TV on Wednesday night, saying the programme was biased.

While the programme, titled "That crazy thing called grace", dealt extensively with security force atrocities, it did not highlight a single African National Congress atrocity, murder, bomb, landmine, or other human rights abuse, NP MP Daryl Swanepoel said in a statement on Thursday.

"The perception created is that atrocities occurred at the hands of the security forces only. Mistakes were, however, made on all sides," he said.

Whereas the NP supported dealing with the past in order to reconcile and heal the nation, this should be done in an unbiased, balanced, fair and constructive manner.

Failure to do this would result in more harm and polarisation than good, and division rather than reconciliation would be promoted.

As a public broadcaster the SABC had a duty to ensure that coverage with regard to the TRC reflected, in equal measure, the wrongdoings attributable to the sides involved.

"The SABC has a duty to exercise self-regulation to ensure that the past is confronted constructively and that one-sided wrong perceptions are not created."

It should guard against manipulation and sensational reporting, Swanepoel said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE January 22 1998 - SAPA

GEORGE FEELS THE PRESSURE AS PW'S DAY DRAW NEAR

Tension is mounting in the small southern Cape town of George, as former state president PW Botha's appearance in the George Regional Court on Friday morning draws near.

Police confirmed on Thursday evening that permission had been granted for a pro-Botha protest by the rightwing Concerned Citizens Action group, but were unable to say how many people they expected to participate.

The African National Congress also plans to protest, but against Botha's refusal to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and say that as many as 4000 people could participate.

Police say the two groups will be kept apart and plan to cordon the court building in the town centre with razor wire.

Botha is charged in terms of the Promotion of National Reconciliation Act for refusing to appear before the TRC.

George's acting chief magistrate, Erna Grobler, has said the case will probably be postponed after just a few minutes.

Nevertheless, the 82-year-old Botha is almost certain to attend in person and is expected to address the media after the court adjourns.

Botha appeared in good spirits on Thursday and joked with reporters outside his home in the Wilderness - a 15-minute drive from George.

He said he would wait and see what happened in court on Friday.

"I have made my statements about the TRC. I cannot live my life by repetition," he said.

Botha will be accompanied to court by his fiancee, Reinettee Te Water Naude. He will be represented by his Pretoria- based lawyer Ernest Penzhorn.

Cape Town Regional Court president Victor Lugaju, who is to preside over the case, was due to fly into George on Thursday evening. He has promised Botha a fair trial.

There has been a clamour for seats in the 60-seat courtroom. Botha's family and friends have been allocated 12 and the media will get six.

The proceedings will also be transmitted via close-circuit television cameras to several dozen other journalists in a boardroom in the court building.

Representatives from 15 organisations, including the African National Congress, the Freedom Front and the National Party, have been allocated 33 courtroom seats, with the balance to be occupied by legal representatives and policemen.

Among those expected to attend are TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen and former defence minister Magnus Malan.

The National Party will be represented by Jacko Maree, its spokesman on the TRC. NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Thursday appealed to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to call the ANC protest off.

Appealing to Mbeki in his capacity as ANC leader, Van Schalkwyk said the protest would not contribute towards obtaining a fair verdict and could turn the case into a political football.

In a later statement the ANC dismissed Van Schalkwyk's call and accused him of double standards for not calling on rightwingers to call off their demonstrations.

Botha was summonsed three times by the TRC to answer questions on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he headed, but he refused, prompting Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn to charge him.

If convicted, Botha faces a two-year jail sentence or a fine.

Botha did submit a 1700-page document to the TRC on the activities of his government, in which he claimed no knowledge of any human rights abuses.

He has described the TRC as a "circus" waging a vendetta against the Afrikaner people.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE January 22 1998 - SAPA

ANC EXPECTS LARGE TURNOUT FOR ANTI-PW BOTHA PROTEST

As many as 4000 people could turn out to protest against former state president PW Botha when he appears in court on Friday following his refusal to co-operate with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the ANC said on Thursday.

Addressing a media conference in George, the party's southern Cape regional secretary Ishmail Lavangee said attempts would be made to keep the number of protesters to under a 1000, but more could arrive.

The African National Congress said it understood that rightwingers, under the banner of the Concerned Citizens Action Group, had made a last minute attempt to get permission to also stage a protest - in support of Botha.

The ANC claimed the application was made by a Freedom Front councillor and asked why the party was hiding behind the Action Group.

Police spokesman Superintendent Vicus Holtzhauzen confirmed that permission had been granted for an Action Group protest but could not give any indication of the number of people involved.

A number of senior provincial ANC leaders, including MPLs Cameron Dugmore and Embrahim Rasool, are expected to attend the protest, along with ANC national executive committee member Phillip Dexter.

There is also a possibility that Congress of South African Trade Unions president John Gomomo might attend along with ANC MP Tony Yengeni.

During Botha's term as MP for George, people in the southern Cape had suffered greatly at the hands of the National Party, the ANC said in a statement.

There had been a number of brutal forced removals in the area and coloured and African people had been systematically marginalised.

Botha's refusal to co-operate with the TRC did little to contribute towards nation-building in South Africa, the ANC said.

Botha ignored a TRC subpoena to answer questions at a hearing on the state security council, which he headed during the height of apartheid oppression.

His court case gets under way at 9am on Friday at the George regional court.

The ANC plans to protest on a traffic island opposite the court buiding, while the right-wing protest is expected to be held around the corner in a street facing the court building.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE Jan 23 - SAPA

RIVAL GROUPS AWAIT PW COURT ARRIVAL

A group of about 350 chanting, toyi-toying placard-bearing ANC supporters and a silent group of about 20 rightwing PW Botha supporters awaited the arrival of the former state president outside the George Regional Court on Friday morning.

While a police helicopter hovered above, the police had erected barbed wire barricades to separate the two rival groups.

Botha was expected to arrive at the court building in George's business centre shortly before 9am to appear on a charge of failing to heed a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

African National Congress supporters stood behind the barbed wire barrier on a traffic island opposite the court buildings on the corner of York and Courtney streets.

The ANC supporters, whose numbers seemed to be steadily swelling, had put placards against George's memorial to the first and second world war dead.

Their placards commemorated the deaths of anti-apartheid fighters including Neil Aggett, Ruth First, Botswana women and children, Griffiths Mxenge, Steve Biko and the Cradock Four.

All the banners proclaimed at the bottom "PW guilty."

The group of rightwing supporters masquerading under the name "Moral support of PW Botha", stood silently behind their barricade waving an old South African flag.

A huge security force presence was bent on keeping the two groups apart.

Prominent rightwing leaders who arrived at the court building to attend the hearing - expected to be postponed by magistrate Victor Lugaju - included Conservative Party leader Dr Ferdi Hartzenburg and former CP Cape leader Jan Hoon.

Dr Lapa Munnik, a former minister in Botha's Cabinet and a former administrator of the Cape, also arrived, as did Kallie Kriel, leader of the Freedom Front youth movement.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE Jan 23 - SAPA

CARRIED OUT LEGAL COMMAND - BOTHA

Former state president P W Botha Friday said he stood by all those who had carried out legal commands in the struggle against the revolutionary onslaught against South Africa which would have resulted in anarchy.

Addressing a media conference after his appearance in the George Regional Court, he said institutions and people like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and certain parties conveniently had forgotten about the deeds of terror which were perpetrated by those trying to destroy order in South Africa.

In a lengthy speech in the courtroom packed with local and international media Botha said he was not ashamed of his actions to free South Africa of racial discrimination.

Also he was not prepared to apologise for the struggle against those who were trying to destroy peaceful co-existence.

Botha said chaos and disorder were occurring in large sections of Africa, the Middle East and countries around the Black Sea and in Jerusalem.

Botha said he was not a perfect person - there had only been one in history - Jesus Christ - but he believed that South Africa currently was on a most dangerous path.

South Africa was currently heading for an abyss. It was a disgrace that pensions in many cases were not being paid to the poor and the elderly, that farmers were being murdered - people could not live without food - and tourists were being murdered in South Africa.

Unemployment was escalating at an alarming rate and nepotism and corruption were the order of the day.

Botha said this was all being laid at the door of apartheid but people should read his speeches.

Reconciliation would not be engendered in South Africa by the denigration of the leaders of certain groups. What was now needed in South Africa was the unity of all those who wished to oppose chaos.

"Reconciliation is not achieved by the humiliation of the leaders of any group, but rather through the mutual respect and understanding for the views of opponents of the past. Unity and nation-building are not achieved by accentuating differences, but rather through the promotion of the common loyalty to the country."

All those who were opposed to the forces of chaos, communism and socialism now needed to unite.

"Afrikaners should unite and thereafter join forces with groups of similar conviction and principles, so as to oppose that which is wrong in our country."

Botha said he wished to thank all those who had taken the trouble to be present at the court on Friday to show their support to him in the prosecution the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had instituted against him.

"I also have understanding for the thousands of my supporters who have communicated with me over the last couple of days and have (maybe wisely) decided not to attend so as to avoid possible conflict." Botha said he had during the last couple of months received overwhelming support from all layers and groupings of the population for his standpoint not to participate in the TRC's "attempts to humiliate me and my people any further."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE Jan 23 - SAPA

PW BOTHA CASE POSTPONED

Former State President PW Botha's trail for defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena was postponed until February 23 in the George Regional Court, when he will asked to plead.

If Botha pleads not guilty, the case will go to trail on April 14.

This was decided after a 21-minute hearing in the George Regional Court on Friday morning.

"Due to circumstances beyond out control this case has been postponed, presiding magistrate Victor Lugajo said.

Botha's advocate, Lappe Laubscher said media speculation that Botha would try and drag out the case was untrue.

"Neither myself nor my team has any such intentions. Our client's express wish is to arrive at the crux of this case," he said.

"Our client's desire is to continue with his life and not to protract this case unnnessecarry. The only overriding precondition is that his trail must be a fair one,' he said.

Laubscher said there wa a complicating factor in the case because the government had decided to end all financial assistance to Botha for his legal representation.

"In the preent case a fair trial will also unfortunately be a relatively expensive trial," he said.

"Our client has to consider his position whether he wishes to incurr the costs to take the decision of the government on revue."

This could be time-consuming and delay the trial considerably, Laubscher said.

If Botha decided he did not want to risk his limited funds on doing this, other alternatives would have to be considered.

Laubscher said Justice Minister Dullah Omar's recent call on the Legal Aids Board to make further funds available for Dr Alan Boesak's defence to ensure a fair trial could point to a possible change in attitude by government towards Botha, who was also entitled to a fair trial.

He said Botha's legal team intended issuing a subpoena against the TRC on Friday (today) to acquire the documents it needed to prepare for the trial.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Jan 23 - SAPA

FF LEADER CONDEMNS ANC PLACARDS AT BOTHA COURT APPEARANCE

The Freedom Front on Friday said the African National Congress displayed provocative and antagonistic placards of PW Botha during the former state president's court appearance in George earlier in the day.

Botha appeared in the George Regional Court for ignoring a subpoena to appear at a Truth and Reconciliation Comission hearing.

"The FF is pleased to see that the Afrikaners who attended the hearing heeded my appeal to them to act with dignity, despite the undignified reaction of the African National Congress demonstrators," FF leader General Constand Viljoen said in a statement.

"The positive aspect of the hearing is that, besides myself, three other generals, old NP members and the leader of the Conservative Party were present. This is an indication that out of these humiliating circumstances a unifying influence is being exercised on the Afrikaner,"

Viljoen said the FF found it unthinkable that a magistrate who acknowledged he was not in command of Afrikaans had been appointed for a hearing that would be held mainly in Afrikaans.

"The situation will have to be reconsidered," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE, Southern Cape Jan 23 - SAPA

PW BOTHA HIS OLD DEFIANT SELF

The case against former State President P W Botha for ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena was on Friday postponed in the George Regional Court to February 23, as tensions ran high between rival groups demonstrating outside the court buildings.

A characteristically defiant Botha told a lengthy press conference attended by hordes of journalists in the court room after the brief hearing he stood by all those who had executed lawful commands from his government in its struggle against the "revolutionary communist onslaught against our country".

"This comprehensive onslaught was conducted in all avenues of life and consisted of the most gruesome violent acts against the civilians of our country. It would seem as if these violent deeds are presently conveniently being ignored and forgotten by the TRC, and some politicians."

Waving his finger in the air, Botha said he was not prepared to apologise for actions he had taken to remove racial discrimination in South Africa.

"Similarly, I am also not prepared to apologise for lawful actions of my government in its struggle to curb the violent onslaught against our country at this time."

He became very agressive with reporters who questioned whether he did not owe the thousands of people who suffered under apartheid an apology.

Botha said he had warned President Nelson Mandela about waking the tiger in the Afrikaner, but he was afraid the government was doing just this. The tiger would fight back if oppressed, he said and Afrikaners had already begun organising.

Botha, who wore a navy suit, was vociferously booed by a crowd of about 400 placard-waving, toyi-toying African National Congress demonstrators who had been granted permission to gather on a traffic island across the road from the court buildings.

As he alighted from his metallic grey BMW at 8.46am, accompanied by his fiancee Reinette te Water Naude, he smiled and waved to a band of about 20 supporters gathered at the other side of a three-metre razor wire barrier from the ANC demonstrators.

One of Botha's supporters waved about an old South African flag. The court hearing lasted just 22 minutes. When Botha arrived in court he gave a little salute to his supporters.

They included former Defence Minister Magnus Malan, Freedom Front leader and former Defence Force chief, General Constand Viljoen and former Defence Force chief General Jannie Geldenhuys.

Also present were the former administrator of the Cape Dr Lapa Munnik who served in Botha's Cabinet, Conservative Party leader Dr Ferdie Hartzenberg and Botha's daughter Elanza Maritz and her daughter Jeanelize.

National Party TRC expert, Jacko Maree, MP, represented his party. ANC representatives included national executive committee member Philip Dexter and MPLs Cameron Dugmore and Ebrahim Rasool. The hearing was presided over by black magistrate Victor Lugaju. Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher dismissed media reports that an attempt would be made to drag out the trial.

"Our client's desire is to continue with his life and not to protract this case unnecessarily. The only over-riding precondition is that his trial must be a fair one."

Laubscher said the case could be complicated by the fact that the government had decided to end all financial assistance to Botha. A fair trial would be an expensive one and Botha would have to decide whether he would challenge this decision.

Laubscher added Botha accepted unconditionally that he would receive a fair trial.

"Our client's express wish is to arrive at the crux of this case, namely ... the breach of agreement on the part of the TRC and the male fides on the part of the TRC."

There were no objections to the postponement, which will allow all interested parties to access the necessary documentation. If Botha pleads not guilty, the case will go to trial on April 14.

Botha clearly enjoyed all the media attention and his lawyers were hard pressed to get him leave the post-trial press conference.

A strong security force presence, including a police helicopter hovering in the sky above, kept a close watch on proceedings.

Police spokesman Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen told Sapa afterwards the police were reasonably happy with the proceedings.

There had been no incidents necessitating any arrests and no charges had been laid with the police.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE Jan 23 - SAPA

DEFIANT PW BOTHA WARNS OF AFRIKANER BACKLASH

A defiant former state president PW Botha on Friday warned that the Afrikaner people would fight back if threatened and said they were already organising to ensure the protection of their rights.

After appearing briefly in the George Regional Court on Friday morning on charges of ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena, Botha delivered a tirade against the government, the TRC, the African National Congress and others.

Botha wagged his finger at a large and unruly media conference inside the court after the trial was adjourned and insisted he had nothing to apologise for.

More than one journalist remarked that Botha, who suffered a stroke in 1989, was out of touch with reality as he ranted and raved about the onslaught being waged against Afrikaners and defended apartheid as an Afrikaner term which meant "good neighbourliness".

The 82-year-old Botha clearly enjoyed all the attention and brushed off attempts by his lawyers to bring the hour-long press conference to an early close.

"Afrikaners should unite and thereafter join forces with groups of similar convictions, so as to oppose that which is wrong in our country," he said.

He claimed the government was placing South Africa "on a very dangerous road", and accused the TRC of being the "biggest culprit" when it came to stoking racism.

Botha said he stood by all those who had executed lawful commands from his government in its struggle against the "revolutionary communist onslaught against our country".

"This comprehensive onslaught was conducted on all avenues of life and consisted of the most gruesome violent acts against the civilians of our country. It would seem as if these violent deeds are presently conveniently being ignored and forgotten by the TRC, and some politicians."

Botha was charged after ignoring a TRC subpoena to attend a hearing to answer questions about the now-defunct State Security Council, which he headed.

The court hearing, presided over by magistrate Victor Lugaju, lasted just 21 minutes, before being adjourned to February 23 when Botha will be asked to plead.

The postponement was granted to allow all parties access to the case documentation.

If Botha pleads not guilty, the case will go to trial on April 14.

Botha's lawyers stressed that he had no intention of delaying the trial unnecessarily.

"Our client's express wish is to arrive at the crux of this case, namely ... the breach of an agreement on the part of the TRC and the patent unreasonableness of the TRC. Our client's desire is to continue with his life and not to protract this case unnecessarily," his advocate Lappe Laubscher said.

Chris Cillier, appearing for the Western Cape attorney-general, agreed that the interests of justice would best be served if the case was dealt with speedily.

Doubt has been cast to how Botha will pay for his defence given the government's decision to withdraw financial assistance for his legal representation.

Laubscher said Botha would still have to decide whether or not to challenge the government's decision, because this would be time-consuming and could delay the trial considerably.

Botha, who was smartly dressed in a navy suit, white shirt and homburg hat, arrived in court accompanied by his fianacee Reinette te Water Naude,

A number of his former charges, including former defence minister Magnus Malan, Freedom Front leader and former SA Defence Force chief General Constand Viljoen and former SADF chief General Jannie Geldenhuys, attended the trial.

Also present were the former administrator of the Cape Dr Lapa Munnik, who served in Botha's Cabinet, and Conservative Party leader Dr Ferdie Hartzenberg.

Botha saluted them as they stood up to greet him.

Botha's daughter Elanza Maritz and her daughter Jeanelize also attended the trial.

About 400 ANC members staged a peaceful protest outside the court building. They were separated from a handful of pro-Botha supporters by a three meter high razor wire barricade.

Tensions ran high but a large police contingent kept the situation under control.

Police spokesman Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen told Sapa afterwards that there had been no incidents necessitating any arrests and no charges had been laid with the police.

The Freedom Front later said the ANC protesters displayed provocative and antagonistic placards.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Jan 23 - SAPA

GOVERNMENT AWAITS TRC'S REPARATION RECOMMENDATIONS: OMAR

The government wanted to assist victims of human rights violations in need of urgent relief but was dependent on the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Friday.

He was responding to recent statements on reparation by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the chairwoman of the reparation and rehabilitation committee, Hlengiwe Mkize.

He said the government accepted the broad policy approach of the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee but could not make any final commitment with regard to the financial aspects.

"In other words, the amount of money available will determine the extent of reparation," Omar said.

He said he reached agreement with the reparation and rehabilitation committee several months ago that immediate steps be taken to provide interim relief in appropriate cases.

In terms of the law, the president can take a decision on the basis of the resources available without parliamentary consent.

In respect of final reparation, he said the recommendations in the policy document submitted to the government by the committee in late 1997 had "huge financial implications".

"It is a matter that will have to be taken to Parliament and Parliament will have to decide. Obviously the government will submit its own provision to Parliament for consideration. In this regard, no recommendation has yet been submitted to me."

He said, with regard to interim relief, he had not received any recommendations or list of names from the reparation and rehabilitation committee.

It appeared that the committee had decided on a procedure which would require the promulgation of regulations and the completion of a detailed and complicated prescribed form, he said.

The committee had requested that the regulations be promulgated, which the government was now promoting, he said.

"The government desperately wants to assist those in need of urgent relief but is dependent upon the recommendations of the TRC. It is hoped that such recommendations will be forthcoming without further delay so that the government may consider them," Omar said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE January 24 1998 - SAPA

I HOPE MAGISTRATE WILL READ ALL DOCUMENTS: PW

Former South African president PW Botha on Friday said he hoped the magistrate presiding in his trial for ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena will read all the documents handed to him.

Speaking exclusively to The Herald at his Die Anker home in the Wilderness, Botha said it would be a mammoth task for the magistrate, who is black, to work through all the documents.

"Most of it is in Afrikaans and as (magistrate Victor) Lugajo is mainly English-speaking he faces an uphill battle, but I am sure he will be able to cope," Botha said jokingly.

After his brief appearance in the George Regional Court, Botha and his fiancee, Reinette Te Water Naude, hosted some of the former defence generals and Cabinet ministers who attended the trial, to tea.

He was relaxed and in high spirits.

It was clearly evident that he had relished the opportunity to show glimpses of his old self again.

Botha said he was not fazed by the "stampede" of photographers at the start of his press conference after the postponement of the trial.

"I am used to this, it is not so bad here as in other parts of the world. Some people there don't know how to behave themselves."

He said he and his legal team were busy with final preparations for the trial until late on Thursday night.

"We have put in many hours of preparation the past few weeks. I am happy with my legal team, they are highly efficient," he said.

When getting ready to pose for a picture, Botha teased his fiancee saying he was "soon going to fetch" Te Water Naude from Graaff-Reinet, where she is the owner of the popular luxurious Kingfisher Lodge guest house.

"Just listen to this," a beaming Te Water Naude said.

The couple plan to get married in the next few months.

Te Water Naude, who came down specially for the start of the trial, said Botha was calm and relaxed. The protesting outside the court and the appearance itself had not unsettled him in any way.

Tensions reportedly ran high between an African National Congress group who were demonstrating outside the court and a Botha moral support of mainly Afrikaners.

The group was separated by a massive cordon thrown by police. No violent incident was reported.

© South African Press Association, 1998 This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 25 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA SUMMONSES TUTU TO APPEAR IN COURT

Former President PW Botha has summonsed Truth and Reconciliation chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu to appear in person in the George magistrate's court when the case against Botha resumes on February 23, a Sunday newspaper reported.

Rapport said the summons warns Tutu that failure to adhere to the summons could render him liable to a fine of R300 or three months' imprisonment. The date given on the summons is January 23.

TRC spokesman Phila Ngqumba said in response: "The matter is out of our hands now and in the hands of the court. We, as the commission, will be directed by the court as to what the next step will be."

In the annexure to the summons, Botha requests the TRC to provide the court with, among others, the commission's concept reports of December 5 and December 19, 1997, and transcripts of the commission's questioning of former President FW de Klerk, former cabinet ministers Pik Botha, General Magnus Malan, Roelf Meyer and Leon Wessels, and former intelligence chief Dr Niel Barnard.

Transcripts are also requested of the TRC's questioning of, among others, ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and former Ciskei military ruler Oupa Gqozo.

Botha appeared in the George Magistrate's Court on Friday after he refused to appear before the TRC to testify on thpartheid-era state security council, which he headed.

Botha has insisted that he reached an "agreement of co-operation" with Tutu during a meeting in George in November 1996.

He claims he undertook to provide the TRC with written replies to questions posed to him in writing.

He provided the TRC with his replies, amounting to about 1700 written pages, last year.

Botha claims he has kept his side of the agreement and that the TRC has been malicious in summonsing him to appear in person before the commission and in charging him for refusing to do so.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 25 1998 - SAPA

AFRIKANERS WILL REJECT BOTHA'S "NEFARIOUS POLITICAL OBJECTIVES":ANC

The African National Congress on Sunday dismissed claims by former State President PW Botha that Afrikaners were organising to ensure the protection of their rights, saying the Afrikaans community would reject attempts to use their name for "nefarious political objects".

Reacting to comments made by Botha following his appearance in the George Magistrate's Court on Friday for refusing to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation, ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the party remained convinced that most Afrikaners saw their future as inextricably bound up with the rest of South Africa's people.

"Never before has Afrikaner language, culture, and religion been so protected than they are now under a democracy," said Mamoepa.

The challenge, however, lay with Afrikaner leaders across the political spectrum to state whether they were part of the organisation Botha was referring to, Mamoepa said.

Mamoepa said Botha's comments vindicated the TRC's attempts to subpoena the apartheid-era leader to account for the activities of his State Security Council and national security management system.

"It is ironic that a leader of a party which nurtured and developed apartheid and separate development could be so presumptious to lecture a new democratic government on the dangers of racism," Mamoepa said, reacting to Botha's remark that the TRC was fuelling racism.

"We express our confidence in the ability of the TRC to contribute to the process of national reconciliation, peace and nation building."

Meanwhile Joel Netshitendze, aide to President Nelson Mandela, on Sunday said the government had set up the commission to get the truth about what happened in the past, as well as to achieve reconciliation.

"The commission is exposing the terrible things that happened to the people of this country... In this way it is giving a lesson that this should not happen again, and in that sense it is assisting in the democratic process in the country," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA January 27 1998 - SAPA

LAUGHABLE TO SAY AFRIKANER FEELS PROTECTED: CONSTAND VILJOEN

It was laughable to suggest Afrikaners felt protected in the new South Africa, Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen said on Tuesday.

"We see the African National Congress to an increasing extent as an oppressing majority sowing racial divisions between black and white," he said in a statement in Pretoria.

ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa on Monday said most Afrikaners saw their future as inextricably linked the that of other South Africans.

He dismissed claims by former state president PW Botha that Afrikaners were organising to ensure the protection of their rights.

Botha appeared in the George Magistrate's Court on Friday for refusing to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mamoepa said Afrikaner culture, language and religion were enjoying unprecedented protection under the new democracy.

This was disputed by Viljoen, who said Mamoepa's assertions were "untrue and laughable". Afrikaners were, in fact, upset about the disregard of their language in virtually all public and government institutions.

"We are disconcerted about education standards and the fact that we have been robbed of culturally oriented schools in our mother-tongue. We are astounded by the crime situation and attacks on our farming communities."

Viljoen rebuked Mamoepa for saying Botha was using the Afrikaner cause for his own political purposes.

"Mr Botha is not allied to any political party at the moment," Viljoen said.

He said Mamoepa should take note that leaders and members from the National Party, the Conservative Party and the FF were sitting shoulder to shoulder at Botha's court appearance.

This meant that Botha was enjoying the moral support of the entire Afrikaner political spectrum.

"The show support is not about the interest of political parties, but about being an Afrikaner. Mr Botha is defending a major matter of principle, and we back him," Viljoen said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 27 1998 - SAPA

TRC WORK NOT COMPLETE BY JUNE 30: TUTU

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee would not complete its work before its June 30 deadline, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Tuesday

He said the TRC was studying two options:

- to amend the law to keep the amnesty committee in existence after the commission had closed down in July; and

- to replace the TRC's amnesty process with another mechanism for hearing and deciding on outstanding amnesty applications.

Tutu said the amnesty committee still had to deal with 4471 amnesty applications, of which 1387 would have to be heard in public hearings.

TRC investigative unit head Dumisa Ntzebeza said former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock's amnesty application alone - which runs into about 4000 pages and covers 141 incidents - could take two to three months to process.

"This case illustrates that it is impossible to say how long the amnesty commission needs," Ntzebeza said.

Tutu also revealed for the first time that the TRC had received amnesty applications from African National Congress members for the 1983 bombing of the South African Air Force headquarters in Church Street, Pretoria, as well as for a spate of explosions at Wimpy Bars in the mid 1980s.

He said Inkatha Freedom Party members were seeking amnesty for hitsquad killings, while former security force members had confessed to involvement in the June 1985 raids into Botswana, the December 1985 Maseru raid, and the March 1982 bombing of the ANC's London office.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 27 1998 - SAPA

MANDELA UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB ENQUIRY RESUMES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's inquiry into the activities of the Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths which acted as unofficial bodyguards to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, resumes on Wednesday, with a number of former security policemen set to testify.

The three-day inquiry is due to start at 9am at the Johannesburg Institute of Social Services hall in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

Last year the TRC held a 10-day day hearing into the club's activities, at which a succession of witnesses implicated Madikizela-Mandela and club members in several human rights violations cases dating back to the 1980s. Madikizela- Mandela denied any wrongdoing.

The TRC said in light of the evidence obtained during that hearing and in its subsequent investigations it had decided the former security branch members' evidence would be central to its probe into the club.

The former policemen would be questioned on several issues, including a smear campaign they allegedly conducted against Madikizela-Mandela and whether or not they spied on her.

They would also be quizzed about their investigations into some of the alleged violations, like the death of Soweto doctor Dr Abubaker Asvat and the disappearance of Soweto youth Lolo Sono.

Members of the TRC's investigative unit and its legal team will conduct this week's proceedings, at which 15 former security force members, including former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock, are expected to testify.

Ten are former members of the Soweto Security Branch. They are Ignatius Coetzee, Wilhelm Coetzee, SP Nienaber, Hume du Toit, Jan Potgieter, Anton Pretorius, Jan Augustyn, DFM Bosman, Louis Watermeyer and Louis de Jager.

The other former policemen are: Andre Kritzinger, formerly of the Soweto murder and robbery unit; Soweto Molaba, of the former SA Police detective services and Norman Lemmer, the officer who investigated some of the cases linked to the club.

Advocate Van Vuuren, the former deputy Attorney-General of the Transvaal, is also due to testify.

Media interest in the case is running high, with more than 50 journalists having indicated they will attend.

The TRC announced on January 12 that 17 people had been subpoenaed by its investigative unit to give evidence on the club's activities.

But two of those were agents from the National Intelligence Agency who could not be identified, and thus would testify in camera.

Madikizela-Mandela was not subpoenaed to this week's hearing, but has the right to attend with her legal representatives and to question those subpoenaed.

Madikizela-Mandela's lawyer, Ismail Semenya, said he would take advantage of the opportunity, but it was unlikely Madikizela-Mandela would attend the hearing in person.

During last year's hearing, the football team's former coach Jerry Richardson, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of 14-year-old activist Stompie Sepei, confessed to having been a police informer.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 27 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO MEET OMAR OVER REPARATION PAYMENTS

A senior Truth and Reconciliation Commission official was expected to meet Justice Minister Dullah Omar in Pretoria on Wednesday to discuss ways of expediting the payment of grants to human rights abuse victims in need of urgent interim relief.

The chairwoman of the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee, Hlengiwe Mkhize, has been tasked with presenting the commission's case to Omar.

"The minister has indicated that if we are able to provide him with the names of people who qualify... he thinks it will be possible to circumvent normal procedures (for grant payments)," TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said on Tuesday.

"For a very long time we have felt an enormous pressure on us, because many of the victims (in need of relief) appeared before us a year or so ago and are still waiting for some tangible response from the commission."

The commission hoped Wednesday's meeting with Omar would help to cut through red tape and allow payments to be made within weeks, he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 27 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY PROCESS SET TO DRAG ON INDEFINITELY

The process of hearing thousands of amnesty applications, already nearly two years old, seems set to drag on indefinitely. Senior Truth and Reconciliation Commission officials on Tuesday admitted for the first time that the TRC's amnesty committee would not meet its June 30 deadline.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said it was impossible to say how much more time the amnesty committee needed to process the nearly 4500 remaining applications.

"It could take months, it could take years," he told journalists after day-long talks with his 16 fellow commissioners in Cape Town.

TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza said former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock's amnesty application alone, which runs to nearly 4000 pages and covers about 141 incidents, could take two to three months to complete. Vlakplaas was a police hit squad base.

How to manage the amnesty process as the TRC prepares to shut down and submit its final report to President Nelson in July was one of the main issues preoccupying commissioners' at Tuesday's meeting.

At the meeting, amnesty committee officials handed over a memorandum detailing the huge amount of work still to be completed.

While they were able to report that the committee had processed 36 percent of the 7046 applications received, the bad news was that 4471 applications remained and that these were unlikely to be processed by the June 30 deadline.

Of these 1387 would have to be heard in public because they involved gross human rights abuses. The committee said these applications alone were for about 7000 different incidents.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a news conference after the meeting that commissioners accepted the committee would not finish its work in time. As a result, they discussed two alternatives:

-amending the law to keep the amnesty committee in existence after the commission closes down in July; and

- replacing the TRC's amnesty process with another mechanism for hearing and deciding on outstanding amnesty applications.

He said the options would be discussed with the amnesty committee and also with the Justice Department.

Tutu said the commission was committed to closing down in July and would not consider extending its lifespan while the amnesty committtee continued its work.

Boraine said since the information emerging from amnesty applications would have an important bearing on the TRC's final report, the amnesty committee had been requested to prioritise the remaining cases so that the more important ones could be heard before the July deadline for the final report.

Amnesty application decisions made after the report was published would probably form part of an appendix, he added. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 27 1998 - SAPA

PW'S LAWYERS SERVES SUBPOENA ON TUTU

Lawyers for former state president PW Botha have served a subpoena on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Archbishop Desmond Tutu requiring him to hand over certain TRC documents.

Botha appeared in the George Magistrate's Court last week in connection with charges relating to his refusal to appear before the TRC in December.

Tutu said on Tuesday he had received the subpoena on Monday and that it was still unclear whether it required him to attend Botha's court case when it resumed on February 23.

"It is a particular kind of subpoena. Our legal team are looking at it. It basically requires sets of minutes at which the questions of Mr PW Botha was discussed.

"They also want transcripts of some of the hearings, including that of Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela," Tutu said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 27 1998 - SAPA

IFP'S REPLY TO TRC LOST IN POST, SAYS TUTU

The Inkatha Freedom Party's written replies to questions from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission appear to have been lost in the post, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Tuesday.

Tutu said he and his deputy Dr Alex Boraine had raised the issue of the replies in a meeting with IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and other party officials last year.

"We were told that the answers were already in the post. It is very slow post. We have not yet had them. We will be asking again for them," he told journalists in Cape Town.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 28 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE WAS UNTOUCHABLE IN THE 1980'S: SECURITY COP

Winnie Madikezela-Mandela was "untouchable" in the 1980s because of her high political profile, a former security policeman said on Wednesday.

Superintendent Andre Kritzinger was testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Mayfair, Johannesburg, on human rights atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the notorious Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths who acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguard.

In a previous hearing last year, TRC witnesses described the activities of Madikizela-Mandela and the football club in Soweto in the 1980s as a reign of terror.

During that hearing, Madikizela-Mandela shrugged off evidence from several witnesses linking her to atrocities and claimed she was innocent.

Kritzinger on Wednesday said charges of high treason had been investigated against Madikizela-Mandela by police during the apartheid era.

A docket in this regard was handed over to the attorney-general, but it had been lost, he said. He provided little other detail.

More information about the high treason charges are expected to come to light during the course of the two-day hearing.

Kritizinger denied knowledge of any criminal activity by the club, which was believed to have been infiltrated by police informers.

He said Madikizela-Mandela's high political profile prevented security branch members from interrogating her about, among other cases, two murders at her home in Soweto.

"During my career in Soweto, experience taught me that when you go to Mrs (Madikizela) Mandela's house to attempt to investigate an issue, she would have actually shown you the door," Kritzinger said under cross-examination by TRC chief legal officer Hanif Vally.

"At no stage would she have talked to you nor co-operated with whoever was in her house," he said.

Kritzinger, a former captain in the security branch, said despite serious offences allegedly committed at the Mandela home, no statements were taken from her.

"She was a person that you needed to deal with carefully, and one would have needed instructions from head office before you could arrest her."

He said she was not interrogated about the murder of two people in her house, although the office of the attorney- general was informed.

He did not pursue the matter further as there was no instruction from the A-G's office. Kritzinger denied the Soweto security branch had conducted a disinformation campaign to discredit Madikizela- Mandela.

He dismissed claims at the previous hearing by security policeman Paul Erasmus that the campaign had specifically targetted the Mandelas.

"I only know of Paul Erasmus..never met him...even he was to appear in front of me, I would not recognise him," said Kritzinger.

Questioned by the TRC on various matters, including the torture of detainees by the security branch, Kritzinger's stock answer was that he had no knowledge of such events.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MAYFAIR, Johannesburg 28 - SAPA

ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO PROSECUTE WINNIE FOR TREASON, SAYS COP

There was sufficient evidence to prosecute Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for high treason and other offences in 1989, but her "high profile" protected her, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told on Wednesday.

The TRC is hearing evidence in Mayfair, Johannesburg on human rights atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the notorious Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths who acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguard in the late 1980s.

At a previous hearing last year, TRC witnesses described the activities of Madikizela-Mandela and the football club in Soweto as a reign of terror.

During that hearing, Madikizela-Mandela denied evidence from several witnesses linking her to atrocities.

On Wednesday Superintendent Andre Kritzinger, formerly an investigating officer for the Soweto security branch, said: "There was sufficient evidence for a prima facia case against Mrs Mandela, but because of her high political profile, the attorney-general decided not to prosecute her."

A docket detailing the high treason case against Madikizela-Mandela was handed over to then Transvaal Attorney- General, Klaus von Lieres on April 3 1989, but the docket was lost, Kritzinger said.

"I only make recommendations to the attorney-general, the prosecution does not lie in my hands," he said, adding that the AG felt it would be politically incorrect to charge the "untouchable" Madikizela-Mandela under the Internal Security Act.

Kritzinger admitted that the telephone at the Madikizela-Mandela home in Soweto was tapped and that he had personally read transcrips of her conversations.

But he denied that the alleged criminal activities of the club and the "behaviour" of Madikizela-Mandela suited the security branch during the apartheid era and that was why there was never a thorough investigation.

Kritzinger further denied that Madikizela-Mandela had worked with the security police.

"This is news to me and I deny this categorically. I cannot believe it," he replied to a question by TRC chief investigation officer, Dumisa Ntsebeza.

Kritziner also dismissed as unbelievable suggestions that the security branch police were happy with the continued violence in Soweto.

"I don't believe there was any member of the security police who would have liked to see the furtherance of violence. People were being killed, maimed and properties were being destroyed."

Asked by commissioner Fazel Randera whether there had been different rules for dealing with "terrorists" and "high profile" people, Kritzinger replied in the affirmative, but said this should not continue in South Africa's new dispensation.

"I wish that in future all people should be treated equally... even if they are high profile persons. The PW Botha matter is a case in hand," he said.

Wilhelm Coetzee, another security policeman based in Soweto at the time, denied all knowledge of police informers being placed in Madikizela-Mandela's house.

Coetzee, who served in Soweto from 1981 to 1987, said the football club's activities did not fall under his jurisdiction.

Coetzee said he had been responsible for training informers and that they would have been placed in a person's household if this was possible.

"I never had any informers with regard to Mrs Madikizela-Mandela," he said.

Convicted murderer Eugene de Kock, a former commander of the Vlakplaas security police base, attended Wednesday's hearing. De Kock is scheduled to testify on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA January 28 1998 - SAPA

TUTU WILL BE WITNESS, NOT ACCUSED, IN PW BOTHA TRIAL: OMAR

Archbishop Desmond Tutu would testify in the trial of former state president PW Botha if he was subpoenaed, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Wednesday.

In a statement in Pretoria he said statements by Botha's lawyers on the matter needed to be clarified.

Botha faces charges in the George Magistrate's Court in the Western Cape for refusing to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

After his first court appearance, his lawyers said they intended summoning Tutu in his capacity as TRC chairman.

Omar said an accused in a criminal trial or his legal representative had the right to subpoena witnesses.

"In the present matter, it is possible that Archbishop Tutu may testify as a witness, but the accused remains Mr Botha."

Omar said Tutu would attend the trial in any event as the complainant on behalf of the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 28 1998 - SAPA

SECURITY BRANCH FAILED TO PENETRATE MANDELA HOME"

The Soweto police Security Branch failed to "penetrate" the Orlando West home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the 1980s, and as a result could not get the information they wanted, former security branch Captain Louis de Jager told the Truth Commission in Mayfair, Johannesburg on Wednesday.

He testified that despite the fact that the household was bugged, the police could not "get" Madikizela-Mandela.

"Bugging a telephone was common in South Africa at the time... She is a clever woman... In transcripts from her household telephone she said `let's not talk because the boers are listening to us'," said De Jager, now a Cape Town businessman.

He concurred with his former colleagues who testified on Wednesday that Madikizela-Mandela was treated with "kid gloves" because of her high political profile and also because she was a formidable woman.

The former policeman also said the police had other problems to deal with.

"There was a state of emergency at that time, violence was escalating and there were many organisations that had to be monitored."

De Jager denied that as one of the senior policeman in Soweto at the time, he failed to protect people, especially four youths that were kidnapped by members of the Mandela United Football Club.

Asked about the murder of youth activist Stompie Seipei, he said he only learnt of it in media reports. Seipei was murdered by Jerry Richardson, the football club's "coach".

De Jager said the murder happened after he had left Soweto for Cape Town in December 1988.

He however admitted to working closely with convicted murderer Eugene de Kock's Vlakplaas security police group, but said its focus in Soweto was on the possible arrival of returning "terrorists" at places like railway stations.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 28 1998 - SAPA

NATS BLUNDER IN THEIR LIST OF ALLEGED ANC RIGHTS ABUSES

A National Party list of alleged African National Congress human rights abuses, released on Wednesday, includes the 1986 murder of KwaNdebele cabinet minister Piet Ntuli - a crime for which several former apartheid security policemen are seeking amnesty.

"Who killed him (Ntuli) and who gave the orders?" the NP asked in a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, while its former security operatives were telling the TRC that Ntuli was assassinated because he had become a political embarrassment to the NP during the apartheid era.

Former Vlakplaas hitsquad commander Brigadier Jack Cronje has told the TRC that Ntuli was assassinated in a carbomb explosion after the NP government lost control of him and he became a political embarrassment.

Cronje, who has applied for amnesty for Ntuli's murder, said the one-time home affairs minister was targetted for assassination after he formed a personal army called Mbokotho which conducted a reign of terror in the region.

He said Mbokotho's activities were perceived as an obstacle to KwaNdebele becoming independent and Ntuli came under suspicion as a double agent working for the ANC.

The decision to kill Ntuli in a controlled bomb blast had been taken after South Africa's then Constitutional Development Minister Chris Heunis opposed a proposal to detain him in terms of security legislation.

In its list of alleged ANC abuses forwarded to the TRC on Wednesday, the NP said the ANC had claimed responsibility for Ntuli's death in Radio Freedom broadcasts from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1986.

"Who killed him and who gave the orders?," the NP asked.

Among the other incidents the NP wants the TRC to investigate is the 1986 Magoos Bar bombing, necklacings, torture and deaths in ANC exile camps, as well as the alleged involvement of senior ANC politicians such as Joe Modise, Jacob Zuma, Alfred Nzo and Ronnie Kasrils in human rights abuses.

Explaining the decision to forward the list to the TRC, the NP's Jacko Maree said the ANC had recently launched an unprecedented attack on the "old National Party" about alleged human rights abuses.

"They have assumed a `holier than thou' attitude, presumably in an attempt to cover up their own bloody and violent past which is increasingly coming under the spotlight."

In a letter to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Maree asked for reassurance that ANC violations would receive the same attention and prominence as security forces human rights abuses had received.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 28 1998 - SAPA

NP SLATES TRC REQUEST FOR MORE TIME

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's admission that its amnesty commitee would not complete its work before its June 30 deadline was an indictment of the TRC's management and effectiveness, the National Party said on Wednesday.

The TRC's request for an extension of time for the committee had direct implications for the finalisation of the TRC's report, NP spokesman Jacko Maree said.

"The TRC's view that the final report will be finalised in July 1988, while the amnesty process can continue beyond that date is strange indeed and in direct conflict with previous views expressed by the TRC.

"The key question is how balanced and correct a final report can be without containing facts that will be revealed in the amnesty process."

He said the TRC's announcement that ANC members were seeking amnesty for the 1983 Church Street bomb in Pretoria and the spate of Wimpy Bar explosions in the mid-1980s was also surprising.

"During the entire controversy around the illegal blanket amnesty granted to 37 ANC leaders, the TRC never said a single word about applications for amnesty for specfic deeds being received from ANC members.

"The TRC should say why the illegal blanket amnesty was granted .. before ANC applications for specific deeds have been heard."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 28 1998 - SAPA

"A-G SQUASHED EVIDENCE REFUTING WINNIE'S STOMPIE ALIBI"

The Attorney-General did not use evidence refuting Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's claim that she was in Brandfort when teenage activist Stompie Seipei was killed, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told on Wednesday by a policeman.

Madikizela-Mandela was acquitted in 1992 of assaulting Seipei, but was convicted of kidnapping him. The court accepted her alibi that she was in Brandfort when he was beaten.

Daniel Bosman, a former Soweto security police lieutenant, said he was in charge of tapping of her telephone and she had been recorded speaking on it during the weekend of December 29 to 31 - when she claimed to have been in Brandfort.

"She was in Soweto during that weekend. They said it was too sensitive to use, they did not want to make it public."

Bosman said he did not know who gave the order to suppress the evidence.

He said that in 99 percent of cases he had only read transcripts of taped telephone conversations and had not listened to them personally.

He told the commission when the security police tapped phones on weekends, the tapes were left to run and the time of any calls were not recorded.

Madikizela-Mandela claimed during her trial that she left her home at 6.30pm on Friday, December 29 and returned at about 6.30pm on Sunday, December 31.

The police were sure it was Madikizela-Mandela's voice that they had recorded, as it was easily recognisable, Bosman said.

He said he had reached the conclusion that the whole country was scared of her, and that she was untouchable.

"If the Attorney-General refused to prosecute, we did not know what to do."

All records of phone tapping and transcriptions were destroyed just before the April 1994 elections, on the instructions of a Brigadier van der Merwe from police headquarters, he said.

The phones of about 70 Soweto activists had been tapped, he said.

Bosman said he had heard "love conversations" between Madikizela-Mandela and a member of the Mandela United Football Club, Johannes Mabotha.

Mabotha, according to evidence gathered by the TRC, was allegedly sent by Madikizela-Mandela to the Northern Province to lay a false trail on the whereabouts of Seipei, who was killed by club coach Jerry Richardson early in 1989.

Mabotha, a trained guerilla, was captured by the security police near the Botswana border and handed over to Vlakplaas hit squad commander Eugene de Kock, who shot him and blew his body to pieces with explosives. Bosman said one of the conversations involved Madikizela-Mandela telling Mabotha she was sorry he had fallen off the bed and hurt himself.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA January 28 1998 - SAPA

TRC SHOULD EXPEDITE AMNESTY HEARINGS OF ANC MEMBERS: FF

Public hearings on amnesty applications by ANC members for the 1983 Church Street bomb blast in Pretoria and explosions at Wimpy Bar restaurants in the 80s should be expedited, the Freedom Front said on Wednesday.

In a statement in Pretoria it said the hearings should be held before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission started finalising its report.

"This would ensure that the TRC report is not one-sided. Amnesty applications heard so far were mostly related to the activities of former government structures," FF spokesman Rosier de Villiers said.

"It is time to also expose abuses by members of the African National Congress."

Should this not happen, the TRC would be used to blame the Afrikaner for all the mistakes of the past.

De Villiers also expressed his party's concern over the possible extension of the amnesty committee's lifetime.

"The odds are that the committee will continue to be used as an instrument of propaganda against the Afrikaner," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 28 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE'S STOMPIE ALIBI DIFFICULT TO PROVE: POLICEMAN

It would have been difficult to prove Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's whereabouts on the weekend when youth activist Stompie Seipei was assaulted, Superintendent Louis Hendrik Watermeyer told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday.

Madikizela-Mandela said during her 1991 trial for the kidnapping of Seipei that on January 29, 1988 - the day youth was said to have been assaulted - she travelled to Brandfort and returned on January 31.

On Wednesday Watermeyer, a former policeman with the Soweto security branch, told the commission's hearing into the activities of the Mandela United Football Club that although there were transcripts of telephone bugging of the Mandela home in Soweto, it would have been difficult to confirm her whereabouts.

Watermeyer's former colleague Daniel Bosman earlier told the commission that from the information in the telephone tapping it could be shown that Madikizela-Mandela was not in Brandfort as she claimed, but was in Soweto.

Watermeyer, who worked in Soweto from 1986 to January 1991, said the circumstances leading to the death of police sergeant Fanie Pretorius, following a tip-off from Jerry Richardson, were questionable. Richardson, the club's coach, was a police informer and Pretorius was his handler.

Watermeyer said they received information from Richardson that two trained Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadres, were in his house.

On Novembr 9, 1989 Pretorius, who was familiar with the layout of the house, was called, and together with other policemen they drove to the Orlando West home to arrest the suspects.

The plan was that Pretorius would show the police the house as they drove past it, but Watermeyer said on that day he behaved strangely - perhaps driven by over-eagerness.

Upon arrival at the house, Pretorius stopped the car with screetching tyres, jumped from the car and ran to the back of the house.

"Pretorius behaved strangely on that day... but I would not say he disboyed the orders. Perhaps I would can sum it by saying he was driven driven by an enthusiasm of identifying (MK) cadres," Watermeyer said.

Pretorius and the two cadres were killed during a shooting into the house.

Watermeyer admitted that Pretorius' actions could have impressed on the cadres that an attack was launched, but denied the sergeant was on a suicide mission.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 28 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE WAS POLITICALLY UNTOUCHABLE, TRC HEARS

There was ample evidence to successfully prosecute Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on several charges including high treason in the 1980s, but she was regarded as untouchable because of her high political profile, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

A former policemen at the Soweto security branch also testified that the Attorney-General did not use evidence refuting Madikizela-Mandela's claim that she was in Brandfort in the Free State when teenage activist Stompie Seipei was assaulted in her Soweto home in 1988.

The TRC is holding a two-day hearing in Mayfair, Johannesburg, into human rights atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the notorious Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths who acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards in the late 1980s.

Superintendent Andre Kritzinger, formerly an investigating officer for the Soweto security branch, said: "There was sufficient evidence for a prima facie case against Mrs Mandela, but because of her high political profile the Attorney- General decided not to prosecute her."

A docket detailing the high treason case against Madikizela-Mandela was handed to Transvaal Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres on April 3, 1989 but no action was taken and the docket dissappeared, Kritzinger said.

"I only make recommendations to the Attorney-General, the prosecution does not lie in my hands," he said.

Daniel Bosman, a former Soweto security police lieutenant, said he was in charge of tapping Madikizela-Mandela's telephone and she had been recorded speaking on it during the weekend of December 29 to 31, 1988 - when she claimed to have been in Brandfort.

The Attorney-General did not use this evidence, said Bosman.

Madikizela-Mandela was convicted of assaulting and kidnapping Seipei in 1991, but the assault charge was overtuned on appeal in 1993. The court accepted her alibi that she was in Brandfort when Seipei was beaten.

"She was in Soweto during that weekend. They said it was too sensitive to use, they did not want to make it public," Bosman said.

He said he did not know who gave the order to suppress the evidence.

Bosman admitted that in 99 percent of cases he had only read transcripts of taped telephone conversations, and had not listened to them personally.

He told the commission that when the security police tapped phones on weekends, the tapes were left to run and the times of any calls were not recorded.

Madikizela-Mandela claimed during her trial that she left her home at about 6.30pm on Friday, December 29 and returned at about 6.30pm on Sunday, December 31. The police were sure it was Madikizela-Mandela's voice that they had recorded because it was easily recognisable, Bosman said.

He also said he had reached the conclusion that the whole country was scared of her, and that she was untouchable.

All records of phone tapping and transcriptions were destroyed just before the April 1994 elections, on the instructions of a Brigadier van der Merwe from police headquarters, he said.

The phones of about 70 Soweto activists had been tapped, he said.

Bosman said he had heard "love conversations" between Madikizela-Mandela and a member of the football club, Johannes Mabotha, who was later shot by Vlakplaas police hit squad commander Eugene de Kock.

Bosman's former colleague, Superintendent Louis Watermeyer, told the TRC that despite the telephone bugging of the Mandela home in Soweto it would have been difficult to confirm her whereabouts.

Several of the policemen who testified on Wednesday acknowledged that Jerry Richardson, the former football club coach who was convicted of killing Seipei, was a police informer, a fact which he has personally ackowledged.

No evidence was led of any other spies being present in the household, or of Madikizela-Mandela having worked hand- in-hand with the security police, as claimed by football club members during a hearing last month on the club's activities.

The policemen also denied any knowledge of there having been a campaign to discredit her, as claimed last year by security policeman Paul Erasmus.

TRC chief legal officer Hanif Vally said it appeared that the seven policemen who testified on Wednesday, who all had the same lawyer, had colluded when determining what they would say to the TRC, and had been less than co-operative with it.

The hearings continue on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 29 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE PLANNED TO FOOL PRESS THAT STOMPIE WAS ALIVE IN BOTSWANA

On his arrest in 1989 an associate of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was found in possesion of documents in her handwriting which claimed that murdered Soweto activist Stompie Seipei was alive in a Botswana refugee camp, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told on Thursday.

Former security policeman Colonel Hume du Toit was testifying before the TRC hearing in Mayfair, Johannesburg into human rights atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths who acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards in the late 1980s.

Madikizela-Mandela was implicated in the atrocities at a previous TRC hearing by several witnesses who said the club conducted a reign of terror on Soweto residents in the 1980s.

Madikizela-Mandela denied the allegations, one of which was that she was involved in killing Seipei.

Du Toit on Thursday told the TRC that Johannes "Themba" Mabotha was arrested on February 22, 1989, because he was an askari (a turned ANC cadre) who had mutinied and had been involved in other illegal or political activities.

When Mabotha was arrested in Groblersdal, police found documents in his possession which were in Madikizela- Mandela's hand-writing, Du Toit said.

These were to be faxed to various South African newspapers from Botswana.

"The message Mabotha was to send to the newspapers, including City Press, the Sowetan and Citizen was that Stompie Seipei was in a refugee camp in Botswana," said du Toit.

Seipei was killed by football club coach Jerry Richardson in 1989.

"After arresting him (Mabotha) we took him to Marble Hall and informed Vlakplaas hit squad commander Eugene de Kock," he said.

Du Toit said Mabote was handed over to De Kock. He said De Kock told him that a Colonel Potgieter had instructed De Kock to kill Mabote.

Du Toit, now a businessman in Tzaneen, said he read in newspapers that Mabote had been blown up by explosives.

In a written statement to the commission, Du Toit denied the existence of a disinformation campaign against the Mandela family and the liberation movements.

He admitted the Mandela house was bugged and watched, but said that he was not involved in the surveillance.

On Wednesday former Soweto security policeman Daniel Bosman told the TRC said he had been in charge of tapping Madikizela-Mandela's telephone, and claimed he heard "love conversations" between her and Mabotha.

SECURITY POLICEMEN SHARE LITTLE WITH TRC AT WINNIE HEARING

Reticence on the part of former members of the Soweto Security Branch is not helping the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its efforts to find out more about the activities of the Mandela United Football Club and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The commission is holding a two-day hearing into the activities of the club, which served as a bodyguard to Madikizela- Mandela and terrorised Soweto residents in the late 1980s.

Hume du Toit, a former colonel with the Soweto Security Branch, was the first witness to testify on Thursday. Like his former colleagues who testified on Wednesday, he claimed little or no knowledge of events and said he could not remember what happened.

TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine said Du Toit's evidence was inadequate and the commission would have to investigate the matter further.

Du Toit was quizzed about the death of Mandela United Football Club member Johannes Mabotha in 1989.

Mabotha, according to evidence gathered by the TRC, was allegedly sent by Madikizela-Mandela to Northern Province to lay a false trail about the whereabouts of child activist Stompie Seipei, who was killed by football club "coach" Jerry Richardson early in 1989.

Richardson is serving a life jail sentence for the murder. He claimed at a TRC hearing last month that Madikizela- Mandela ordered him to carry out the killing because 14-year-old Stompie was a police spy.

Mabotha, a trained guerrilla, was captured by security police near the Botswana border, handed over to former Vlakplaas security police base commander Eugene de Kock, who then shot him and blew his body to pieces with explosives.

Du Toit said Mabotha was arrested on February 22, 1989 because he was an askari (guerilla-turned-policeman) who had mutinied and had been involved in other illegal or political activities.

He said when Mabotha was arrested in Groblersdal, police found documents in his possession claiming Seipei was alive in a Botswana refugee camp.

These documents, in Madikizela-Mandela's handwriting, were to be faxed to various South African newspapers from Botswana.

"The message Mabotha was to send to the newspapers, including City Press, the Sowetan and The Citizen, was that Stompie Seipei was in a refugee camp in Botswana," said Du Toit.

Madikizela-Mandela was at the time under a cloud of suspicion concerning the whereabouts of Seipei and it later transpired that the youth had already been dead for about seven weeks.

"After arresting him we took him (Mabotha) to Marble Hall and informed Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock," Du Toit said. Du Toit said Mabotha was then handed over to De Kock and he was made to believe that he was then taken to Soweto.

He said De Kock had told him that a Colonel Potgieter had instructed him to kill Mabotha.

But he denied any knowledge of Mabotha being assulted on a Marble Hall farm, because he had fully co-operated with the police.

Du Toit said he had taken a statement from Mabotha at the Protea police station in Soweto, and there was no sign of him having been assulted.

Du Toit, now a Tzaneen businessman, said he only read of Mabote's death in the newspapers.

TRC commissioner Jasmyn Sooka said she found it difficult to understand Du Toit's testimony, which contradicted that of three previous witnesses, who claimed Mabotha was badly beaten.

De Kock is to testify later on Wednesday on Mabotha's death.

De Kock's lawyer, Schalk Hugo, said De Kock would testify that Mabotha's interrogation was one of the worst he had ever attended.

On Wednesday former Soweto security policeman Daniel Bosman, who was in charge of tapping Madikizela-Mandela's telephone, claimed he had heard "love conversations" between her and Mabotha.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 29 1998 - SAPA

ANC OPPOSED WIMPY BAR BOMBINGS

The African National Congress had never supported military operations aimed at purely civilian targets, including Wimpy Bar restaurants, ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said on Thursday.

Mamoepa's statement follows the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's announcement earlier this week that ANC members had applied for amnesty for the Wimpy Bar bombings.

"Throughout the history of Umkhonto weSizwe, cadres were expressly instructed to avoid civilian targets but to hit at installations associated with the apartheid regime, as well as personnel in the police, defence and intelligence and other institutions," he said.

In this context the Wimpy bombings had never been in line with ANC policy.

As a result of these attacks, the late ANC president Oliver Tambo had instructed MK commanders to visit units inside South Africa to explain ANC policy and to bring an end to such operations.

Mamoepa said ANC members responsible for Wimpy Bar attacks had misinterpreted the leadership's decision to intensify the armed struggle by taking it into white areas.

"This misinterpretation of policy was then exploited by agents of the then apartheid regime to carry out `false flag' operations against civilian targets, including Wimpy Bars, to discredit the ANC."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 29 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE THOUGHT SHE WAS ABOVE THE LAW, TRC HEARS

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela believed she was above the law during the 1980s, but it was nonsense to say she was untouchable and that everyone was afraid of her, a former security policeman said on Thursday.

Jan Potgieter, who headed the Soweto Security Branch investigative unit between 1987 and 1989, told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Mayfair, Johannesburg that he had never received instructions to accord Madikizela-Mandela special treatment.

The commission is holding a two-day hearing into the activities of the Mandela United Football Club, whose members acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards and were implicated in a number of human rights abuses in Soweto during the 1980s.

Potgieter's statement contradicts testimony on Wednesday by other security policemen who said that Madikizela- Mandela's high political profile protected her from prosecution.

Potgieter said he handed over a docket, in which Madikizela-Mandela was implicated in high treason against the apartheid state, to then Transvaal Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres. He said a prima facia case against her existed.

However Von Lieres wanted to prosecute Madikizela-Mandela for "a common law offence and not a statutory offence", he said.

The high treason docket subsequently disappeared.

"I concluded that the time of political change had caught up with us and it wasn't desireable to prosecute her at that stage."

Potgieter said copies of tapes made of Madikizela-Mandela's conversations linked to the high treason charges were still available.

Potgieter collaborated earlier testimony that there was no evidence that former football club member Johannes Mabotha was assaulted by security force members in 1989.

Mabotha, according to evidence gathered by the TRC, was allegedly sent by Madikizela-Mandela to Northern Province to lay a false trail on the whereabouts of child activist Stompie Seipei, who was killed by club coach Jerry Richardson early in 1989.

Richardson who is serving a life jail sentence, claimed at a TRC hearing last month that Madikizela-Mandela ordered him to carry out the killing, claiming 14-year-old Seipei was a police spy.

Mabotha, a trained guerrilla, was captured by security police near the Botswana border. Two months later was brought to the Soweto police station where Potgieter was based.

Potgieter said there was no sign that Maboha had been tortured, as claimed by three other witnesses before the TRC.

Mabotha was later handed over to De Kock, who has admitted to having shot him. Mabotha's body was then blown to pieces with explosives.

Potgieter said he had had a good relationship with Mabotha and never had any reason to have him killed.

De Kock, who is due to testify later on Thursday afternoon, has watched the hearings showing little emotion.

He is expected to dispute much of the testimony given by the former security policemen.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 29 1998 - SAPA

TRC CONSIDERS CALLING FORMER AG KLAUS VON LIERES

Former Transvaal Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres may be called to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following evidence presented on Thursday by former security policemen.

Their claims that Von Lieres was presented with enough evidence to successfully prosecute Winnie Madikizela- Mandela, for high treason against the apartheid state and other offences in the late 1980s, was sufficient reason for the then Transvaal A-G to be called to appear, TRC head of investigations, Dumisa Ntsebeza, said on Thursday.

The two-day TRC hearing is into human rights atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Mandela United Football Club, who acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguard in the 1980s.

Former security policemen said Von Lieres was given a docket detailing the charges against her.

These charges would also have included contravening Section 29 of the Internal Security Act and Section 42, which prohibited the protection or harbouring of terrorists.

Madikizela-Mandela would have faced these charges because, among others, the football club was allegedly made up of trained UmKhonto We Sizwe cadres.

The security branch regarded Madikizela-Mandela, then wife of jailed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, as "untouchable" during the late 1980s.

The policemen said they believed that could have influenced Von Lieres not to consider a prima facia case against her.

On Thursday, Ntsebeza told Sapa: "I think it will be a great failure of justice if the commission will not call Von Lieres by way of Section 29 (to appear in camera) or public hearing."

There was need to follow up allegations by the security policemen in spite of the "blush" testimony they gave.

"My primary impression is that they have not been totally candid with the commission...but this does not mean I have already made a conclusion..," said Ntsebeza.

He said it seemed that the same criterion should be used to call Madikizela-Mandela's daughter, Zinzi Mandela- Hlongwane, who was implicated in atrocities by witnesses who testified before the commission on Wednesday and in November last year.

In testimony on Thursday, another former policeman, Jan Potgieter, said trying Madikizela-Mandela could have been a political embarrassment for the National Party government.

"I concluded that the time of political change had caught up with us and that it wasn't desireable to prosecute her at that stage."

© South African Press Association, 1998 This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN January 29 1998 - SAPA

NP CRITICISES AMNESTY FOR TRC CEO

The National Party on Thursday questioned the decision by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to grant a "blanket" amnesty to its own chief executive officer Dr Biki Minyuku.

Minyuku was one of 37 African National Congress members granted amnesty by the TRC in a controversial move last November. The TRC now plans to challenge the amnesties, granted by its amnesty committee, in the High Court.

The NP's TRC spokesman Jacko Maree said Minyuku's application had only just come to the attention of his party.

"In granting illegal blanket amnesty to Dr Minyuku the TRC is dumped into yet another credibility crisis," Maree said.

How had it been possible for the TRC to appoint Minyuku in such a sensitive position without realising the apparent conflict of interest?, he asked.

"This issue once again focuses the attention on the political affiliation of people in senior positions in the TRC.

"No institution claiming to be objective and even-handed can tolerate a situation like this.

"One can only conclude that they have given up caring about their own objectivity."

In his amnesty application, Minyuku, a former exile, described himself as former deputy chairman of the ANC's regional political committee in the United States between 1987 and 1991.

He said the acts for which he was seeking amnesty had occurred in the US.

Asked to specify the act, omission, or offence for which he was applying, he replied: "Implementation of policies and decisions of the ANC which led to various civil disobediences, mass actions, economic sanctions and boycotts against South Africa."

Responding to Maree, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the commission had not excluded members of any political party from employment.

"If an employee has applied for amnesty, the amnesty committee is bound by law to consider and decide upon the application," Tutu said in a statement.

The acts for which Minyuku applied for amnesty were listed in his amnesty application published in November last year.

Minyuku was not a commissioner, so he did not decide on policy, investigations, or the final report.

"He is in charge of administration and is the accounting officer," Tutu said.

DE KOCK BEGINS TESTIMONY AT WINNIE TRC HEARING ON HIS BIRTHDAY

Convicted mass murderer Eugene de Kock on Thursday afternoon started testifying before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing on the activities of the Mandela United Football Club, which is alleged to have commited a string of atrocities in Soweto in the 1980s.

De Kock, former commnder of the notorious Vlakplaas security police hitsquad, is serving a 212-year prison sentence for 89 crimes, including a number of murder counts.

Dressed in a olive-green prison uniform, he has sat through the two-day hearing showing little emotion.

De Kock is expected to refute much of the testimony given on Wednesday and Thursday by former security policemen, who have shed little new light on an alleged disinformation campaign against Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and wrongdoings by football club members.

At the start of his testimony, TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine wished De Kock a happy birthday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MAYFAIR, Johannesburg January 29 1998 - SAPA

DE KOCK DESCRIBES KILLING MK CADRE

Convicted mass murderer Eugene de Kock on Thursday described to the Truth Commission how he killed Umkhonto We Sizwe cadre Johannes "Themba" Mabotha after his release from the De Deur police station in October 1989.

"I shot him two shorts (rounds) into his heart.. one after another. Then we placed his body on 25kg of plastic explosives," said De Kock, former commander of the notorious Vlakplaas security police hitsquad.

He was testifying before the TRC's hearing in Mayfair, Johannesburg on the alleged human rights atrocities committed by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and members of her Mandela United Football Club.

De Kock and others collected Mabotha upon his released from the De Deur police station and took him to the Penge mine, where he was shot.

De Kock said he did not participate in blowing up the body.

"Exploding bodies were not in my line," he said.

De Kock has applied for amnesty in connection with the killing.

According to De Kock, Mabotha had been recruited by the secuity police as an informer and was based at Vlakplaas near Pretoria headquarters, but he deserted after a short time.

According to evidence gathered by the TRC, Mabotha was allegedly sent by Madikizela-Mandela to Northern Province to lay a false trail on the whereabouts of child activist Stompie Seipei, who was killed by club coach Jerry Richardson early in 1989.

De Kock said Mabotha was recaptured and taken to a farm in Marble Hall where he was tortured.

"It was rough and it was bad," he said, describing how Mabotha was strangled, hit and kicked.

"He was also hung upside down. He was seriously assaulted."

Despite this, Mabotha stuck to his story that he had been kidnapped and used as a sex slave by Madikizela-Mandela, De Kock said, adding that he did not believe this.

He said he and five members of the Soweto Security Branch took part in the assault.

When he returned to Pretoria, Colonel Jan Potgieter of police headquarter telephoned to tell him that Mabotha could not be set free.

De Kock said this gave him "the indication that this man had to be killed," and there was no way he could have misunderstood.

He described the killing as carrying out a favour.

Under cross-examination de Kock said when he shot Mabotha "he was dead before hitting the ground". His body had to be burnt to destroy the evidence.

De Kock said Mabotha was never a member of the South African Police, but at one stage was a source of information for police headquarters and received a salary equal to that paid to a police constable. This was drawn from a secret police fund.

On the gruesome interrogation he said: "The mentality at that time was not to be forced to participate... people actually queued... not for promotion but to ensure that terrorism never occured in South Africa".

He claimed that security policemen had to be "dedicated to the National Party, a total patriot," but it was not only secuity policemen who were involved in torture.

Asked why Potgieter wanted Mabotha killed, de Kock said it was in order to ensure he was not involved in acts of terrorism again.

"I must say I agreed with him."

On Madikizela-Mandela de Kock said: "The impression I had was that they couldn't touch her because of her profile."

He described her as a very strong person, a friend of mine.

"You could throw her from an aeroplane at 30,000 feet and nothing would happen to her."

The tesimony continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 29 1998 - SAPA

FORMER A-G SAYS HE IS WILLING TO APPEAR AT TRC

Former Witwatersrand Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres on Thursday said he was more than willing to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission if obliged to do so.

Von Lieres was responding to developments at this week's TRC hearings in Johannesburg in which former state security policemen tesitified that Von Lieres was given enough evidence to prosecute President Nelson Mandela's former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, for high treason and other offences in the late 1980s.

This, according to TRC chief investigator Dumisa Nzibenza, was sufficient reason to call Von Lieres before the commission.

The TRC is holding a two-day hearing in Mayfair into human rights atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the notorious Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths who acted as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards in the late 1980s.

Policemen on the witness stand this week said Von Lieres declined to prosecute Madikizela-Mandela for the murder of teenage activist Stompie Seipei during the late 1980s despite being provided with investigative dockets proving she was in Soweto on the day Seipei was murdered.

When accused of Seipei's murder in last year's TRC Johannesburg hearing into her activities in the late 1980s, Madikizela-Mandela claimed she was in Brandfort in the Free State on the day of the killing.

Speaking from his Randburg, Johannesburg home on Thursday Von Lieres said at the time, in his opinion, and that of his colleagues, there was not enough evidence to prosecute Madikizela-Mandela.

He said he did however succeed in prosecuting her in the same case later.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 29 1998 - SAPA

DE KOCK EVIDENCE CONTRADICTS THAT OF SECURITY POLICEMEN

Former Vlakplaas hit squad commander Eugene de Kock on Thursday described to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission how he tortured and killed a former member of the Mandela United Football Club in 1989.

De Kock told the Johannesburg TRC hearing that the orders for the killing Thomas Mabotha - a trained UmKhonto we Sizwe cadre who later became a police informer - came from Colonel Jan Potgieter of the Soweto security branch, a claim strongly denied by Potgieter who testified before the commission earlier on Thursday.

The commission is holding follow-up hearings in Mayfair, Johannesburg, into the alleged atrocities committed by the football club and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela during the late 1980s.

De Kock is currently serving a 212-year sentence after being convicted on 89 counts of murder in the Pretoria High Court last year.

Speaking in Afrikaans, De Kock, who celebrated his birthday on Thursday, testified to shooting Thomas Mabotha. He said Mabotha was taken to Vlakplaas headquarters, but deserted shortly after, later claiming he was kidnapped and made to serve as a sex slave to Madikizela-Mandela.

According to evidence gathered by the TRC, Mabotha was allegedly sent by Madikizela-Mandela to the Northern Province to lay a false trail on the whereabouts of child activist Stompie Seipei, who was killed by club "coach" Jerry Richardson early in 1989.

Mabotha was captured, and, according to De Kock, was taken to a farm in Marble Hall, Mpumalanga, where he was tortured.

"It was rough and it was bad," he said, describing how Mabotha was strangled, hit and kicked. "He was also hung upside down, he was seriously assaulted."

Despite this, Mabotha stuck to his story that he was kidnapped and used as a sex slave, De Kock said, adding that he did not believe him.

He claimed he and five members of the Soweto security branch had taken part in the assault.

Later De Kock said he was phoned by Potgieter, who told him Mabotha could not be set free.

De Kock said this gave him indication that Mabotha was to be killed. De Kock said there was no way he could have misunderstood this instruction.

De Kock and others collected Mabotha from the De Deur police station and took him to the Penge mine in the Northern Province, where he was shot.

"I shot two shots into his heart... one after another. Then we placed his body on 25kg of plastic explosives," said De Kock.

He claimed he had not participated in blowing up the body. "Exploding bodies were not in my line," he said.

De Kock denied claims that Mabotha was killed for being an informer who had mutinied.

"It was incorrect to say Mabotha was killed for deserting Vlakplaas. He was no threat at all to the centre's operations," he said.

Potgieter earlier on Thursday denied any knowledge that Mabotha was tortured, or that he would have wanted him killed, because he had had a good relationship with him.

TRC investigative head Dumisa Ntsebeza on Thursday said former Witwatersrand Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres may be called to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following evidence presented on Thursday by former security policemen.

"I think it will be a great failure of justice if the commission will not call Von Lieres by way of Section 29 (to appear in camera) or public hearing."

In the stand, former security policemen said Von Lieres was given dockets detailing the charges against Madikizela- Mandela. These charges included contravention of Section 29 of the Internal Security Act and Section 42, which prohibited the protection or harbouring of terrorists.

The witnesses said the security branch regarded Madikizela-Mandela as "untouchable" during the late 1980s. They believed that this could have influenced Von Lieres not to consider a prosecuting her.

Von Lieres on Thursday night said he would be happy to appear in front of the TRC if obliged to do so.

He said both he and his colleagues thought there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Madikizela-Mandela successfully at the time. He also claimed that he did not bend to political pressure not to do so.

"No politician ever told me who to prosecute or not," he said from his Randburg home on Thursday. He said he prosecuted the president's ex-wife for the kidnapping of Stompie Seipei some years later.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG January 29 1998 - SAPA

MARATHON TRC HEARING INTO MANDELA UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB ENDS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing into alleged atrocities commited by members of the Mandela United Football Club and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Soweto in the late 1980s ended just after 10.30pm on Thursday.

The last two witnesses to testify were two police generals who commanded the Soweto security branch at the time.

Ignatus Coetzee and Sarel Pretorius agreed with previous testimony that police had handled Madikizela-Mandela with kid gloves.

But they denied the security police ever condoned or allowed a "reign of terror" to be conducted by the club, as claimed by many Soweto residents and community leaders.

The two also flatly rejected suggestions by TRC chief legal officer Hanif Vally that they should shoulder ultimate responsibility for the fact that complaints that Soweto youths Lolo Sono and Siboniso Tshabalala had been abducted were not followed up, which facilitated their murder.

Football club coach Jerry Richardson later claimed to have murdered Sono and Tshabalala, but their bodies were never recovered.

The boys' parents claimed they had reported their sons abduction to the police but they were not taken seriously.

Coetzee and Pretorius also rejected any responsibility for their staff not having investigated the alledged kidnapping of four boys from the Soweto Methodist manse, including teenage activist Stompie Seipei, who was murdered in 1989. Richardson was convicted of the murder in 1991.

Coetzee claimed that many of the club's activities were never investigated because Soweto residents never reported them to the police.

Nienaber, when asked why no steps were taken said: "I cannot answer you that".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jan 30 - SAPA

DP SLATES NP OVER `CLOWNISH' TACTICS ON TRC

The Democratic Party on Friday criticised what it called "clownish" attempts by the National Party to "bash" the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the African National Congress.

The DP's TRC spokeswoman, Dene Smuts, said her counterpart in the NP, MP Jacko Maree, had scored an own goal when he released a list of alleged ANC human rights abuses earlier this week.

One of the cases he asked the TRC to investigate was the 1986 murder of KwaNdebele cabinet minister Piet Ntuli - a crime for which several former apartheid security policemen, including former Vlakplaas commander Brigadier Jack Cronje, are seeking amnesty.

Smuts also tackled Maree on his belated criticism this week of the so-called blanket amnesty granted last year to TRC chief executive officer Dr Biki Minyuku. Minyuku is one of 37 ANC members who were granted amnesty last November.

"The list (of ANC applicants) has been available since early December and the DP commented on Dr Minyuku's inclusion when it was first reported at the end of November."

She also questioned Maree's estimates on the cost of the TRC, saying his party had been among those which had supported the extension of the cut-off date for amnesty.

"No-one wants the TRC to be institutionalised. It can be discontinued as planned. But amnesty is a constitutional requirement and a mechanism which can cope with the flood of applications will have to continue.

"Parliament's Justice committee will have the final say on the form this takes," Smuts said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 2 1998 - SAPA

GUGS SEVEN HEARING TO RESUMES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing for two former Vlakplaas security police operatives who are seeking amnesty for their part in the 1986 Guguletu Seven incident in Cape Town, is set to resume on Tuesday.

The hearing was postponed in November last year when the amnesty committee decided to give one of the witnesses - former Vlakplaas operative Jimmy Mbane - an opportunity to obtain legal representation before being questioned.

The two amnesty applicants are a former sergeant at Vlakplaas, Wilhelm Riaan Bellingan, and Constable Thapelo Johannes Mbelo.

Both men were previously questioned about the incident by the TRC's Western Cape investigative unit, in closed Section 29 inquiries.

The hearing is scheduled for three days in the Adderley Street, Cape Town offices of the TRC.

Mbane will be present to help clarify aspects of the applicants' testimony.

Seven young men died, allegedly in a shoot-out with the police, on March 3, 1986 in Guguletu. Two consecutive inquests cleared the police of any wrongdoing.

During the TRC's special event hearings on the deaths of the seven - held in November 1996 and February 1997 - evidence uncovered by the investigative unit suggested that the former security police's Section C, better known as Vlakplaas, might have been involved in the shootings.

The seven men, who became known as the Guguletu Seven, were: Zandisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Godfrey Jabulani Miya, Themba Mlifi, Zabonke John Konile and Christopher Piet.

The families of some of the victims first made human rights violations statements to the TRC in early 1996, urging the commission to determine the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 2 1998 - SAPA

DP QUERIES TRC'S HIGH COURT AMNESTY ACTION

The Democratic Party on Monday urged the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to exercise caution in deciding which legal route to follow in challenging the recent amnesties granted to 37 African National Congress members.

The TRC announced last month that it would ask the High Court to rule on the validity of the amnesties granted to, among others, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Cabinet ministers Joe Modise and Alfred Nzo.

The amnesties have been widely slated by opposition political parties complaining that the applicants failed to specify the offences for which they were seeking amnesty.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said the commission intends approaching the High Court to seek a declaratory order, or "such other reliefs as legal counsel might advise", to establish whether the amnesties comply with the TRC's governing Act.

DP Gauteng MPL and lawyer Peter Leon, however, on Monday questioned the wisdom of seeking a declaratory order.

"It amounts to little more than a legal opinion about whether the TRC complied with the Act," Leon told a media briefing.

"If the TRC goes for the wrong remedy, the effective decision (of the court) will be pretty meaningless. Why are they seeking a declaratory order? They should be seeking a judicial review."

A High Court review of the amnesty committee's decision could result in the amnesties being quashed, he said.

Leon and fellow MP Dene Smuts met TRC chief legal adviser Hanif Vally on Monday to discuss the party's concerns.

Afterwards Leon said it was not clear what form the the TRC's court application would finally take.

If it was limited to a declaratory order, the DP would be bound to intervene with its own court application for a review of the amnesty committee's decision, he said.

"We agreed with the TRC this morning that once they bring the application we will have sight of their papers, and we will then talk about what action we will take as a political party."

Reacting later on Monday, TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said the commission's lawyers were busy drawing up papers for the court application.

It was envisaged that the TRC would ask the court to make a declaratory order on whether the amnesties were valid, he said.

If found to be invalid, the court should remedy the situation by referring the matter back to another panel of the amnesty committee.

He said this had been explained to the DP delegation at Monday's meeting. "At the end of discussions, the DP appeared to be satisfied with our explanation of the legal basis upon which we were approaching the matter."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 2 1998 - SAPA

COURT TOLD WHERE WEBSTER MURDER GUN WAS THROWN

The Pretoria High Court on Monday heard that former Civil Co-operation Bureau member Ferdi Barnard killed Wits academic David Webster as part of a CCB project and later showed his girlfriend where he had thrown the murder weapon.

This evidence was given by Amore Badenhorst, a 29-year-old former brothel keeper, and mother of Barnard's two-year- old daughter.

Badenhorst told Judge Johan Els that Barnard had first blamed the murder on fellow CCB operative Carl Casteling (Callie) Botha.

But he later allegedly admitted to her he had done it and had disposed of the weapon in a dam between Nylstroom and Vaalwater.

Webster was shot dead outside his Troyeville, Johannesburg home on May 1, 1989. No motive was found during the inquest and a subsequent inquiry into his death.

Barnard is currently serving a 10-year sentence for a R10 million diamond robbery in Klerksdorp.

He is now facing several charges, inclduing two for murder, three of attempted murder or conspiracy to murder, seven under the Arms and Ammunition Act, seven of fraud, and possession of explosives and teargas, as well as of defeating the ends of justice.

A total of 118 witnesses, including Justice Minister Dullah Omar, are due to testify on behalf of the State.

Badenhorst's statement on Monday was the first she made in court. She was previously quoted on her relationship with Barnard in newspaper reports, for which she was paid R50,000 by a Sunday newspaper, and this resulted in her being placed under the State's witness protection programme.

She said Barnard, who had been her lover since 1992 and for whom she had once had the greatest respect because he had saved her from drugs and alcohol, had in 1993 told her that the Webster inquiry "had drained him to such an extent that he told her to stay with her parents because the media could be looking for her".

She admitted in court to using cocaine and other drugs, including crack, while with Barnard.

"I asked him if he was involved in the murder and he said he had not been involved but said that Webster was a CCB project and that Botha was the project leader."

Barnard allegedly admitted that another former girlfriend, Brenda Milne, had been with him when he and other members of the CCB had kept Webstr's house under observation.

Over the following months, the killing had been discussed at home, and she found out that while Botha had been present, so also had CCB general manager Joe Verster.

It was only when Badenhorst and Barnard went to Nylstroom in 1996 to visit his parents, that the alleged truth came out. "We climbed a hill near the town, and looked down at a dam. Ferdi told me that this is where he had thrown the gun with which he had shot Webster," Badenhorst said.

She gave a graphic account of life with Barnard and other CCB members and operatives of Military Intelligence's Directorate of Covert Collection.

"Some of these people did not do `normal work'," she told the court. "I do not know what they did."

They were however involved in establishing brothels to compromise political figures "including ANC (African National Congress) people", diamond smuggling in Angola, precious metals smuggling in Swaziland, illegal currency deals, swindling, deals with policeman, and the free spending of thousands of rands during weekends in Durban.

Webster's girlfriend, Maggie Friedman, attended the court proceedings on Monday.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG February 3 1998 - SAPA

SIX, INCLUDING APLA MEMBERS, TO APPEAR AT TRC IN 'MARITZBURG

Six people, including two Apla members, will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee during a five-day hearing in Pietermaritzburg next week.

A TRC statement on Tuesday said Walter Falibango Thanda and Andile Shiceka, who claim to be members of the Pan Africanist Congress' former military wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army, applied for amnesty for an attack on a disco in Newcastle in 1994.

One person was killed and several were wounded at Crazy Beat Disco on February 14, 1994.

Bongani Malevu, who said he was an ordinary PAC member, also applied for amnesty for the attack.

"The applicants say they attacked the disco because it was frequented by white patrons. On the night, they say they fired several shots at people inside through an entrance to the dance floor," the TRC statement said.

Salomina Gerbrecht van Wyk was shot in the chest and died at the scene.

The TRC said two members of the Inkatha Freedom Party applied for amnesty in connection with the murder of several people in Ndaleni and Magoda in Richmond in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.

Mduduzi Gumbi and Robert Zuma, whose application was partly heard by the amnesty committee and then postponed in July last year, said their acts were politically motivated in the struggle between the IFP and the African National Congress.

Gumbi and Zuma were convicted on several counts of murder and attempted murder, and were sentenced to nine and 12 years' imprisonment respectively.

They were part of a group of heavily-armed IFP supporters who attacked villages in Ndaleni and Magoda on June 23 1991. The dead included children.

Also to appear before the amnesty committee is Dumisane Mthembu, whose case was also partly heard last year.

Mthembu applied for amnesty for the murder of two policemen in September 1992 in the Empangeni district. He also applied for amnesty for the illegal possession of a firearm an ammunition.

He alleged that he was the bodyguard of Congress of SA Trade Unions official Vincent Shandu at the time.

He said he was awoken in the early hours of the morning by several shots being fired by unknown assailants at the home of Shandu.

"Believing that his charge was under attack, he said he returned fire in the direction of the attack," the TRC said. Mthembu later realised the two victims were policemen.

Mthembu's criminal trial is pending the outcome of his amnesty application. The hearings in the Pietermaritzburg city hall will start on Monday next week and will be chaired by Judge Andrew Wilson.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 3 1998 - SAPA

EX-GIRLFRIEND TELLS COURT OF LIFE OF ABUSE WITH FERDI BARNARD

Former CCB agent Ferdi Barnard's ex-girlfriend on Tuesday told the Pretoria High Court she had decided to testify about his activities because she felt driven by her conscience, and wanted to make amends to the people hurt by Barnard and herself.

Amore Badenhorst, who was the first witness called by the State in the trial of Barnard, on Tuesday faced lengthy cross- examination by Barnard's advocate, Faan Coetzee.

Barnard has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges ranging from murder and attempted murder to fraud and intimidation. The charges include the murder of human rights activist David Webster and the attempted murder of Justice Minister Dullah Omar in 1989.

Badenhorst, 29, said she was scared of Barnard and his friends, but still loved him. He was the only man she had ever trusted and even now, when she experienced times of stress, she always thought of Barnard first.

She admitted that she felt bitter about the way Barnard had treated her - one cold winter when he refused to pay for her water and electricity and she had to cook her food on an open fire outside stood out in her memory - but said she had never meant to harm him.

She stressed her decision to sell her story to the newspaper Rapport for R50,000 had been motivated by financial considerations.

She had at first not considered the consequences of her actions but later, when she was interviewed by the police, she realised she had no choice but to talk as she had incriminated herself.

She said her situation had come about out of desperation, because she wanted to get away from Barnard and from the drugs he had introduced her to.

She said she had given up drugs when she left Barnard but admitted that, after telling her story and joining the witness protection programme, she had gone back to the streets to buy crack. She had also developed a serious drinking problem, for which she was still receiving treatment.

Badenhorst admitted she had a violent temper. She had once thrown a video machine at Barnard out of frustration, had tried to shoot him and had also chased him with a knife and scissors.

She also admitted to breaking her stepmother's arm when she was in a state of severe depression. She had tried to commit suicide at the time by slashing her wrists, but was stopped by her brother.

She said Barnard had also hit and abused her. He did not allow her to have any friends, so she became totally dependent on him, and he supplied her with drugs on a regular basis. He often swore and screamed at her and humiliated her in front of her family.

"When I left him and talked to the police and to the newspaper, I feared he would harm me. He once told me that if he wanted to get to someone, he would sit back in Cape Town with a smile, while they fell in Johannesburg," she said. Badenhorst said she decided to talk because she was tired of all the lies and fraud and she wanted help for her drug problem.

She explained that she had twice left the witness protection programme to go back to Barnard because she felt desperate and depressed and did not know who else to turn to.

However, she was very disappointed in him. He was always using dagga and did not take care of her as she had hoped.

She denied that her evidence was "a pack of lies" in order to get back at Barnard.

"I am a Christian. When I swear that I will tell the truth, I tell the truth," she said.

About her claims that Barnard had given her a stolen Mercedes-Benz to drive, which he eventually set alight, Badenhorst said it did not bother her to use a stolen car, because people who "were raised on the street were tough".

She admitted that she had shared in the proceeds of an alleged false currency transaction, in which Barnard and his accomplices allegedly tricked a former Pretoria attorney into paying them R200000.

She said she had bought a car with the cash given to her by Barnard.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WINDHOEK February 4 1998 - SAPA

LUBOWSKI FAMILY WANT ASSASSINS TO BE PUT ON TRIAL

The upcoming second inquest into the assassination in September 1989 of Swapo activist Anton Lubowski suffered a blow on Wednesday when the family of the late lawyer withdrew their support for the hearing.

The Lubowski family said they wanted the murderers to be brought to trial.

Speaking on behalf of the late Lubowski's parents, children and sister, his former wife Gabrielle told The Namibian they wanted the killers to face trial and not another inquest.

"So far the findings of the first inquest have been ignored. We don't want another inquest. We want the men who were implicated in plotting his murder to be put on trial," Mrs Lubowski said from Pretoria.

The inquest starts on February 9 and is expected to last for four days, according to the Windhoek High Court roll. Senior advocate Kobus Miller will be the prosecutor.

Mrs Lubowski said the family wanted Irish mercenary Donald Acheson and Civil Co-operation Bureau operatives Ferdi Barnard, Chappie Marais, Calla Botha, Slang van Zyl, Joe Verster, Staal Burger, Wouter Basson and Johan Niemoller, who were all implicated during the first inquest, to stand trial.

At the conclusion of the first inquest in 1995 Judge Harold Levy found that Acheson, hired by the CCB, assassinated Lubowski.

Levy also found that former CCB managing director Joe Verster and the other CCB operatives were prima facie accomplices in the murder.

In January 1996 Prosecutor-General Hans Heyman announced that he would reopen the inquest into Lubowski's murder because there was insufficient evidence to warrant the institution of a prosecution against any of the persons implicated by Levy.

Heyman said he would propose to the judicial officer, Judge Nic Hannah, that certain witnesses be recalled and that other witnesses in South Africa be subpoenaed.

Mrs Lubowski said: "Judge Levy's findings are being ignored. We don't know why. Are there people in high positions who are scared of what might come out because these people (the killers) were only used and they have nothing to lose when they come out with the truth?"

She denied allegations that her former husband was a South African spy. "To accuse such a man of being a spy is outrageous. It is like believing that Mahatma Gandhi was an agent of the British Empire or that Steve Biko was a member of the South African security forces."

The Prosecutor-General's office does not yet have a clear idea on who will testify at the second inquest. There is also no certainty on whether the CCB operatives or Acheson, detained shortly after the killing, will be present.

CONFUSION AT GUGS AMNESTY HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing for two former Vlakplaas security operatives involved in the 1986 Guguletu Seven incident adjourned in confusion on Wednesday morning over two inconsistent statements made by a key witness.

During cross-examination of witness Jimmy Mbane, a former police Askari, it became apparent that the statement he was using was different to the statement being used by Kobus Booyens, the lawyer for amnesty applicant and former Vlakplaas sergeant Wilhelm Riaan Bellingan.

It appeared that the statement in Booyen's possession was an earlier version made by Mbane in Johannesburg in 1996, while the one that Mbane was referring to during his cross-examination was one made in Cape Town on November 17 to a TRC official, Zenzile Khoisan.

Mbane said he'd made the second statement after realising there were some errors on the earlier one.

It appeared that none of the lawyers present had any knowledge of the later statement, and the hearing was adjourned for copies to be made and distributed.

Booyens wanted to know why this statement had been deliberately withheld.

The matter was taken up with amnesty committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 4 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY HEARINGS FOR FORMER VLAKPLAAS OPERATIVES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings for two former Vlakplaas security police operatives, seeking amnesty for their part in the 1986 Guguletu Seven incident, was told on Wednesday that the original group of four youths were harmless, untrained, and did not pose a threat to anyone.

The witness, former police askari Jimmy Mbane, told the committee he had got the impression that the police had intended to deliberately set them up to be killed.

The two amnesty applicants are Wilhelm Riaan Bellingan, a former sergeant at Vlakplaas, and Constable Thapelo Johannes Mbelo.

During cross examination by Bellingan's legal representative, Adv Kobus Booyens, Mbane said it was only after a fifth member - who had been trained locally and was in possession of an AK47 - joined the group that he contacted Bellingan and another security police officer, William Liebenberg, and told them that the four youths were not trained and not in possession of any weapons.

It was then agreed that he and fellow askari Eric Maluleke would provide the group with training in weapons and basic military combat work.

He agreed that the information he and Maluleke had been given - that the group were carrying out destabilising actions - was not true.

The four youths were just like any other four youths in the township.

Mbane stressed that throughout the whole period before the incident in which seven young men died in an alleged shootout with police in Guguletu on March 3 1986, he was reporting directly to Liebenberg and Bellingan.

Questioned by Booyens about the three informers allegedly sent by Liebenberg to infiltrate the same group, and who had been killed after it was discovered that they were police informers, he said he had informed both officers as to why they had been killed.

After he had shot the first informer, who had been found to be carrying a hidden tape recorder, Mbane said he had asked Liebenberg and Bellingan not to send any more informers because they would also be killed.

However, two more had been sent and they were also killed.

Mbane said Liebenberg had denied sending any informers at all.

Booyens put it to Mbane that Liebenberg had told him that he had not sent any informers, nor had Mbane told him about them being killed.

Asked for his comment on this, Mbane said: "I would say the same thing if I were in Liebenberg's shoes."

Asked how he knew that the informers had been sent by Liebenberg and Bellingan, Mbane said they were the only two people who knew their whereabouts and therefore they could have been the only people who could have sent the informers.

He could not explain why further police informers had been sent when he and Maluleke had already infiltrated the group

Mbane said Liebenberg and Bellingan knew their whereabouts because he had been instructed to wear a white cap and sit on top of a car reading a newspaper outside the shack in Khayelitsha, so that a police helicopter could fly overhead and establish where they were.

This had duly happened.

Mbane said that if he had had an opportunity to warn the group the police knew about their planned attack on a police minibus, he would have done so. However, he did not because he feared for his own safety; if a police mission such as this had failed, his life would have been endangered.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 4 1998 - SAPA

EX POLICE GENERALS SEEK AMNESTY FOR ACTIVIST'S MURDER

Four former security policemen, including two retired generals, go before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee next week to tell how they killed student activist Sizwe Kondile in 1981 and then burnt his corpse.

The committee has already heard one amnesty application relating to the murder, that of former Vlakplaas hitsquad commander Captain Dirk Coetzee, who testified in November 1996.

Coetzee will be one of four witnesses giving evidence at the amnesty hearing of former colleagues Gen Nic van Rensburg, Gen Gerrit Erasmus, Johannes Raath and Colonel Herman du Plessis, in Cape Town next week.

Du Plessis first testified about Kondile's death before the Harms Commission of Inquiry in 1990, when he denied that Kondile had been shot and his body burnt as Coetzee alleged.

Du Plessis claimed that Kondile had co-operated with the security police after being detained. After taking the activist to Bloemfontein, where he was released on October 10, 1981, he had never seen him again.

However, Coetzee told Judge Louis Harms a different story, and it was one he repeated when he appeared before the amnesty committee.

Coetzee said the decision to kill Kondile, the son of Port Elizabeth's present chief magistrate Dumile Kondile, had been taken after he sustained brain damage while in detention at Jeffrey's Bay police station in the Eastern Cape between May and July 1981.

Kondile had been severely injured when he jumped out of a window with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Van Rensburg, then a senior officer in the Port Elizabeth security branch, had told him that a "plan would have to be made for Kondile".

"He told me they had brought in a doctor friend (to look at Kondile). He told them there was blood on the brain and that if they wanted to avoid a second Steve Biko case, they would have to do something about it."

Kondile had been taken to Bloemfontein where a show was made of releasing him from custody. However, as he left the police station he had been abducted by security police.

Coetzee said he later obtained knockout drops from police forensic laboratory head General Lothar Neethling - who sued Vrye Weekblad newspaper when it published this claim - to render the activist unconscious.

Kondile had been taken to Komatipoort, where he was shot in the head with a silenced Makarov pistol and his body burnt on a pyre of wood and tyres for more than seven hours.

"The buttocks and upper parts of the legs had to be turned frequently to ensure they were reduced to ashes," Coetzee said.

The amnesty committee has yet to rule on Coetzee's application. The other three witnesses due to testify at next week's hearing are Coetzee's former hitsquad colleagues David Tshikilange and Almond Nofomela, and former policeman Geoffrey Danster, who claims he was present when Kondile was tortured.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 4 1998 - SAPA

GUGS SEVEN INITIALLY HARMLESS: ASKARI

Former police Askari Jimmy Mbane on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that a group of "comrades" that he and colleague Eric Maluleke had been sent to infiltrate in Khayalitsha, Cape Town, had been untrained, unarmed and harmless.

Giving evidence in the amnesty hearing for two former Vlakplaas security police operatives, seeking amnesty for their part in the 1986 Guguletu Seven incident, Mbane said it took only a few days for him and Maluleke, after they had made contact with the four-man group early in 1986, to determine that the youths were harmless and posed no threat to anyone.

The two amnesty applicants are Wilhelm Riaan Bellingan, a former sergeant at Vlakplaas, and Co Seven young men died in a shoot-out with police in Guguletu on March 3, 1986.

During cross examination by Bellingan's legal respresentative, Adv Kobus Booyens, Mbane said they had been told by Bellingan and another security police officer, William Liebenberg, that the youths were involved in destabilising actions.

However, this turned out to be untrue and they were "just like any other four township youths".

A fifth man - who had been locally trained and was in possession of an AK-47 - then joined the group, after which Mbane met Bellingan and Liebenberg and gave them his impressions of the group.

He and Maluleke were then instructed to train them in weapons and military combat, and they were supplied with weapons and ammunition.

Mbane also related how three police informers, allegedly sent by Liebenberg to infiltrate the group, were either shot by himself or on his (Mbane's) instructions.

However, two more had been sent and they were also killed.

Booyens put it to Mbane that Liebenberg had told him he had not sent any informers, nor had Mbane told him about them being killed.

Asked for his comment on this, Mbane said: "I would say the same thing if I were in Liebenberg's shoes."

He could not explain why further police informers had been sent, when he and Maluleke had already infiltrated the group.

The group subsequently grew to nine, and after about two months training decided to attack a police minibus transporting police to the Guguletu police station - information he relayed to Bellingan and Liebenberg, who asked him to try and prevent it. He managed to delay the planned attack, but not prevent it. He showed Bellingan and Liebenberg the scene of the planned attack and told them the plan.

However, last-minute changes were made the night before, which he was unable to prevent or relay knowledge of to the police.

Questioned extensively by Booyens, Mbane admitted that Bellingan had asked him to try to keep all the attackers in the kombi they would travel in.

He was unable to dall shot during the shoot-out.

Although anything could happen during such an operation, Mbane said he was unaware that they would be shot, since he expected them to be arrested in an ambush.

He maintained that the police could have arrested them at any time while they were being trained, as well as before the attack, since they knew the group's whereabouts.

The hearing continues on Thursday

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 4 1998 - SAPA

CALL ON TRC TO HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING FOR RIGHT-WING PRISONERS

The Bond van Boere-Krygsgevangenes said in a statement on Wednesday it had requested the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to proceed with arrangements to hold a public hearing for right-wing political prisoners.

A Bond spokesman, Dries Kriel, said these prisoners had given the organisation a mandate to act on their behalf.

He said the Bond had already approached various experts to testify on behalf of the prisoners about the struggle of the Boerevolk.

Evidence would also be led about the torture, kidnapping and detention of prisoners by the former government under Article 29, he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 5 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY HEARINGS CONTINUE IN CAPE TOWN

Former police askari Jimmy Mbane told the Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty committee on Thursday that although he thought it unusual to be instructed to train untrained township youths in weapons and military combat work, he nevertheless followed orders and did so.

Mbane was giving evidence in the amnesty hearing of two former Vlakplaas security police operatives seeking amnesty for their part in the Guguletu Seven incident in which seven young men died in a shootout with police in the township on March 3 1986.

The two amnesty applicants are Wilhelm Riaan Bellingan, a former sergeant at Vlakplaas, and Constable Thapelo Johannes Mbelo.

During cross-examination by Bellingan's legal representative Kobus Booyens, Mbane said he did not know why Bellingan and another security police officer William Liebenberg had instructed him and fellow askari Eric Maluleke to train the group of "comrades" they had been sent to infiltrate into Khayelitsha.

Mbane earlier testified that he had found the group to have been totally untrained, unarmed and harmless, bar one who had received some local training.

He had conveyed this information to Bellingan and Liebenberg but had still been instructed to provide them with military training.

Booyens showed the committee the video of an SABC programme in which an unidentified man claimed to have been part of the group who set out to attack a police minibus in Guguletu on that morning.

The man claimed to have tossed a handgrenade at the police, which sparked off the shootout and said he had subsequently managed to escape from the scene.

Mbane denied knowing the man or that he had been part of the group.

What the man claimed in the video was untrue, he said.

Mbane maintained that he had been in charge of the group and knew exactly who had been there and what had occurred.

Under further cross-examination, Mbane said that although he had lived outside the Vlakplaas base during his eight years as an askari, he never attempted to leave the country because he feared the police would go after him and bring him back.

He admitted that he had been in possession of a legal passport, as well as several illegal passports.

Earlier, proceedings were interrupted for one of the amnesty committee judges, Mr Justice Selwyn Miller, to see a doctor.

Miller then had to leave so that he could be admitted to hospital. It is thought that he had suffered a mild heart attack.

Another member of the committee, Sisi Khampepe, also had to leave the proceedings due to a viral infection, which made it impossible for her to continue.

This left Judge Andrew Wilson and Advocate John Motata to continue with the hearing.

Wilson said it had been agreed that the two of them would continue with the hearing but all four committee members would consider the evidence after it had been transcribed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 5 1998 - SAPA

AMORE BADENHORST RETURNS TO THE STAND IN WEBSTER TRIAL

Amore Badenhorst, former lover of Ferdi Barnard, returned to the witness stand in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday to face cross questioning by Barnard's lawyer, advocate Faan Coetzee.

Coetzee said Barnard would deny confessing to her that he had killed Wits activist Dr David Webster in 1989.

Barnard, a former member of the SA Defence Force's Civil Co-Operation Bureau, is on trial for the murder of Webster and a certain Mark Frances, attempts to murder Justice Minister Dullah Omar and others, various fraudulent diamond and other transactions and a number of robberies, thefts and acts of intimidation.

He has pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges against him.

Coetzee on Thursday confronted Badenhorst, 29, with his client's version of events, but Badenhorst repeated the damning evidence she gave on Wednesday, when she said Barnard had confessed to her that he killed Webster.

Coetzee said Barnard would never have made such confessions to her, because he had not shot Webster.

He would also deny telling Badenhorst that he and a friend, Eugene Riley, had in 1991 killed Mark Frances by luring him into a deserted alley and hitting him with a baseball bat.

Badenhorst said according to her information, Frances was killed because he could implicate Barnard and Riley in a robbery.

Barnard told her he had afterwards chopped up the bat and burnt his bloodied clothes.

Coetzee confronted Badenhorst with Barnard's version that for a long time she had manipulated him by threatening to go to the newspapers if he threw her out.

Barnard had told her to go ahead, because he knew that nothing she could say would be the truth, he said.

Badenhorst swore that she was telling the truth and said she would not have been in the witness box if she had made it all up.

Coetzee said a brothel that Badenhorst claimed she started for Barnard and former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock, "so that they could get a hold over certain people" was actually used for debriefing African National Congress members who had given information to the security forces.

The "girls" arranged by Badenhorst, were used as a front for Barnard's real activities, he said.

Badenhorst said Barnard had always brought his friends to the brothel, and she used to arrange girls and parties for them.

She did not know what Barnard's intentions were with these people.

Badenhorst denied claims by Barnard that she had often said she would rather see him dead or in jail than with another woman.

Badenhorst denied that she had sold all of the jewellery given to her by Barnard for drugs, and said Barnard had given most of the jewellery to his "drug lord".

She admitted that Barnard had a huge income from his interests in various casinos, night clubs and escort agencies and that he had often given her money.

She denied that she had used money he had given her for her children to buy drugs and said her children always came first.

She also denied Barnard's claims that she had often left her children with her parents while she went out partying.

Badenhorst claimed Barnard was constantly under the influence of dagga and cocaine and had changed completely after she had told her story to a newspaper.

She said Barnard's claim that she had "run up enormous liquor bills" at all the hotels where he had paid for her to stay might be true, because she had an alcohol problem.

She said she also became addicted to pills because Barnard had fed her various pills at the same time.

The trial continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 8 1998 - SAPA

DIRK COETZEE TO TESTIFY TO TRUTH COMMISSION IN CAPE TOWN

Former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee will testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Cape Town next week when four former security policemen apply for amnesty for the 1981 murder of Eastern Cape activist Sizwe Kondile.

Coetzee, who has already applied for amnesty for the murder, will testify about the details of Kondile's death.

He says the murder was planned by security policemen.

Coetzee has told the committee a decision was made to kill Kondile after he suffered brain damage during detention at Jeffery's Bay in the Eastern Cape in 1981.

Coetzee claims Kondile was released in Bloemfontein but later abducted and murdered at Komatipoort on the Mozambique border. His body incinerated under a pile of wood and tyres.

Four policemen, including retired generals Nic van Rensburg and Gerrit Erasmus, along with Colonel Herman du Plessis and Johannes Raath, are applying for amnesty for Kondile's murder.

Du Plessis denied that Kondile was killed by police when he testified before the Harms Commission of Inquiry in 1990.

However if Du Plessis and the other policemen continue to deny involvement in Kondile's death, the evidence will come into direct conflict with Coetzee's account of Kondile's last days.

Coetzee has already given extensive testimony to the TRC and his story this week is likely to be the focal point of the hearing.

Other witnesses expected to testify are Coetzee's former colleagues at Vlakplaas, David Tshikinlanga and Almond Nofomela. Geoffrey Danster, a policeman who claims to have been present during the torture of Kondile, is also expected at the hearing which begins at the TRC offices in Cape Town on Monday morning.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 9 1998 - SAPA

FORMER SECURITY POLICE COLONEL ADMITS PART IN DEATH OF ACTIVIST

Former security policeman Colonel Herman du Plessis, who is applying for amnesty for the murder of Sizwe Kondile in 1981, on Monday admitted playing a part in the murder of the former Eastern Cape activist who was shot and his body burnt to ashes.

Du Plessis is one of four policemen applying for amnesty for the murder of Kondile, who was the son of the present chief magistrate of Port Elizabeth, Dumile Kondile.

Du Plessis told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Cape Town on Monday that he interrogated Kondile in the Jeffrey's Bay police cells in July 1981.

He admitted assaulting Kondile with his open hand and with his fists, but said the attack was not brutal.

He denied using electricity to shock Kondile.

Du Plessis said Kondile co-operated with him and supplied information about African National Congress activities in Lesotho and Transkei.

Du Plessis said he considered Kondile an ideal candidate for becoming a police informer because of his knowledge of ANC movements in the Lesotho and Eastern Cape areas.

He was also a confidante of former Umkhonto we Sizwe leader Chris Hani and had information of possible attacks being planned from Lesotho.

Du Plessis told the committee that Kondile agreed to become an informer in spite of expressing fears about the dangers of being exposed as a police collaborator.

Sketching the political situation in the Eastern Cape at the time, Du Plessis said it had been extremely unstable and was marked by bomb attacks by operatives in Lesotho.

After trying to recruit Kondile as an infomer, Du Plessis later realised that Kondile was not trustworthy and remained loyal to the ANC. He concluded this after finding messages the activist was planning to send to his superiors in Lesotho.

From the messages it was clear that Kondile had no intention of co-operating with the security police. Du Plessis said he realised that Kondile could endanger the whole counter-insurgency network in the Lesotho/Eastern Cape area.

He also felt betrayed by Kondile's decision to remain loyal to the ANC and felt that he had miscalculated in trusting the activist.

Concerned that information Kondile had in his possession would fall into the hands of the ANC, Du Plessis, along with his superiors General Nic van Rensburg and General Gerrit Erasmus, decided there was no alternative but to kill the activist.

They contacted former Vlakplaas security police base commander Dirk Coetzee, who had the means to dispose of Kondile and arrangements were made for him to be handed over. Kondile was taken to Komatipoort where Du Plessis met Coetzee. They drove to a remote spot near the Mozambique border.

Kondile's car, which was being held by police, was also taken to the area and abandoned near the Swaziland border.

Du Plessis said Kondile, who was handcuffed to a tree while the policemen prepared food and drinks, suddenly slumped forward when a Sergeant Roy Otto, who was with Coetzee, shot Kondile.

The body was then placed on a pile of wood and burnt to ashes. The policemen spent the night at the place and Du Plessis later returned to Port Elizabeth.

He said it was the first time he had witnessed somebody being shot and said he still bore the scars of the experience. The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 9 1998 - SAPA

BOEREKOMMANDO COMMANDER GRANTED AMNESTY

The commander of the Boerekommando, Carel Willem Andries van der Merwe, has been granted amnesty.

Van der Merwe, 46, bombed the Melkrivier Primary School in the Vaalwater district in Northern Province in January 1992, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in a statement on Monday.

Van der Merwe, of Grootvlei near Pretoria, also received amnesty in relation to the illegal possession of explosives at the time. Nobody was injured in the attack, but damage to the entrance and offices of the school was estimated at R12000.

The amnesty was granted in chambers as the bombing did not involve any gross human rights violations as defined by the Act governing the TRC.

Van der Merwe said in his amnesty application he was ordered to carry out the attack by a Boerekommando superior at Hendrina in Mpumalanga in December 1991.

His political objective was to overthrow the government of former president FW de Klerk. He said he carried out the attack to place pressure on the government not to open the school to black pupils.

The applicant was due to stand trial for an act of terrorism and illegal possession of explosives last year in Middelburg in Mpumalanga.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 9 1998 - SAPA

SECURITY POLICE INFILTRATED UN OFFICE FOR REFUGEES

The security police network in the Eastern Cape in the early 1980s included informers in the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Lesotho, who supplied a list of African National Congress exiles who left South Africa.

This emerged during an application for amnesty by former security policemen Colonel Hermanus du Plessis for taking part in the murder of Eastern Cape activist Sizwe Kondile in August 1981.

Du Plessis told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Cape Town on Monday that the security police had a highly developed counter-insurgency network in the region which included a 200 to 300 page "photo album" of all ANC activists who had crossed the border into Lesotho.

He said this had been obtained from informers working for the UN High Commission for Refugees in Maseru.

In this way the police had been able to follow the movements of ANC operatives in the region.

Du Plessis said he tried to recruit Kondile as an informer because he had links with high profile ANC leaders, including Chris Hani, and had valuable information about planned attacks from across the border.

When he failed to secure Kondile's co-operation, it was decided to eliminate him because the information he had would have proved catastrophic for the Eastern Cape.

Kondile was sent to Komatipoort on the Mozambique border where he was handed over to Vlakplaas security policemen, who shot him and burnt his body to ashes.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 9 1998 - SAPA

EIGHT NEW MEMBERS APPOINTED TO AMNESTY COMMITTEE

Eight new members have been appointed to the Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty committee, Justice Minister Dullah Omar announced on Monday.

The appointments, which are expected to help overcome the huge backlog in amnesty cases, increase the committee's size from 11 to 19 and will enable six three-person panels, each chaired by a judge, to operate simultaneously.

The new appointees are Judge R Pillay, of the Eastern Cape High Court, Judge JJ Ngcobo of the Cape High Court, JB Sibanyoni from the Community Law Centre in Pretoria, Port Elizabeth attorney Dr MW Tsotsi, advocates F Bosman and S Sigodi, Welkom attorney KJ Moloi, and Elan Lax, a member of the TRC's reparations committee.

An estimated 1400 amnesty applicants still have to have public hearings.

By law, the committee has to complete its work by June this year, but the TRC indicated at its last monthly meeting that this was not possible. It and the government are exploring alternative ways of dealing with outstanding amnesty applications.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 9 1998 - SAPA

ACTIVIST KILLED AFTER REFUSING TO BE POLICE INFORMER, TRC TOLD

Eastern Cape ANC activist Sizwe Kondile was murdered in 1981 after he refused to be an informer for the security police, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

Former Eastern Cape security policeman Colonel Barend du Plessis told the TRC's amnesty committee Kondile initially agreed to co-operate with the police after being arrested while crossing into South African from Lesotho.

He later reneged on his pledge to become an informer and remained a loyal member of the African National Congress. Information passed on to him by the police, and his high profile in the ANC structures in Lesotho, required that he be eliminated, Du Plessis told the committee.

"We had no alternative, and after consulting with my superiors we contacted Vlakplaas (a police hit squad) to make the necessary arrangements," he said.

Kondile was handed to Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee and was taken to a remote spot near the Mozambican border where he was handcuffed to a tree while the policemen, including Du Plessis, prepared food and drinks. Kondile was also given a drink and passed out before being shot by Sergeant Roy Otto.

Du Plessis said Kondile's body was burnt to ashes and his car, which had been driven from Bloemfontein where he had been arrested, was abandoned close to the nearby Swaziland border.

Under cross-examination by Imrann Moosa, who appeared for Kondile's mother, Charity Nongqalelo, Du Plessis denied he and other policemen killed Kondile because he had suffered brain damage.

Coetzee has told the amnesty committee Van Rensburg told him the young Eastern Cape activist had burst blood vessels in his brain after being beaten during interrogation.

However Coetzee said Kondile appeared healthy when handed to him in Komatipoort shortly before his death. Du Plessis denied torturing Kondile by way of electric shocks, the tube-over-the-head method, or sleep deprivation.

He conceded that he struck him with the open hand and maybe a fist, but said the assault had not been brutal.

Du Plessis claimed the experience of seeing Kondile shot and burnt before his eyes scarred him for life, and agreed it was a callous and inhuman way to treat someone.

"Unfortunately that is how it happened, and I cannot wish it away," he said. He accepted that it must have been a bitter experience for Kondile's family.

He explained at length how he grew up in a conservative Afrikaner family who blindly supported the National Party. "I now realise to what extent the NP conditioned and influenced us as police force members to obtain our loyalty and support," he said.

He said that during the years of conflict with the ANC a great deal of harm was done on both sides because the politicians were not doing their jobs properly. Asked by Moosa why it had been necessary to kill the activist instead of charging him under the law, Du Plessis said the information Kondile obtained was valuable, and would have found its way back to the ANC.

"If the ANC structures in Lesotho had found out the names of informers working inside the network they would have been killed," he said.

The internal network inside Lesotho would have been cut off, with catastrophic consequences for the Eastern Cape, where the situation was highly volatile at the time.

Du Plessis said an informer network was working at the time within the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lesotho, from where ANC exiles were identified, and information was passed back to the security police.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG February 9 1998 - SAPA

MOM WON'T FORGIVE IPF MEN FOR HER SON'S DEATH: TRC HEARS

The mother of one of 14 people killed in 1991 by two Inkatha Freedom Party supporters on Monday said she refused to forgive those who killed her son.

Lilian Basi was a spectator at the Truth and Reconciliation Commision's amnesty committee hearing in the Pietermaritzburg city hall.

Robert Zuma, 28, and Mduduzi Gumbi, 26, were applying for amnesty. They were convicted in 1992 and sentenced to 12 and nine years' imprisonment respectively for the death of 14 people in an attack at Ndaleni near Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal on June 23, 1991.

The men's legal representative, Lourens de Klerk, described the attack as a politically-motivated reprisal for an earlier attack by an African National Congress group.

Their appearance before TRC commissioner Andrew Wilson was brief as he was due in hospital almost immediately afterwards.

De Klerk asked witness Judith Dlamini why she did not mention during the criminal trial that there were police in a vehicle she saw on the evening of the attack?"

"I'm telling the truth now," she replied.

De Klerk later explained that her answer was critical to his clients' submission, all the more so because no police involvement was mentioned at the criminal hearing.

Wilson adjourned the hearing until Tuesday for written submissions.

After he left the families called on the two applicants to ask for forgiveness.

After some hesitation, Zuma said: "I feel that all of them have forgiven me, and that includes members of my family who are among them."

He clarified his comment, saying "I had to attack even members of my own family because of the political situation prevailing in the area at the time".

In contrast, Gumbi appeared all smiles as he shook hands with his victims' families. He said most of them agreed that he should get amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 10 1998 - SAPA

KONDILE RELEASED TWO DAYS AFTER PORT ELIZABETH BOMB BLAST

Murdered Eastern Cape activist Sizwe Kondile was released from detention two days after a bomb blast in Port Elizabeth in July 1981, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Tuesday.

Colonel Hermanus du Plessis and three other security policemen have applied for amnesty for the death of Kondile, who was abducted in Jeffrey's Bay, taken to the Mozambique border and shot dead.

Du Plessis on Tuesday told the TRC's amnesty committee under cross examination by Rudolph Jansen, who is appearing for former Vlakplaas security police base commander Dirk Coetzee, that a bomb exploded at the Constantia shopping centre in Port Elizabeth.

He agreed that Kondile was released two days later and then abducted and killed. However, he denied Kondile had anything to do with the blast and said his release and subsequent murder had nothing to do with the incident.

Du Plessis claims that he "turned" Kondile and convinced him to become an informer. However, Kondile changed his mind and remained loyal to the African National Congress and therefore had to be eliminated because of the information he had in his possession, Du Plessis told the commission on Monday.

He said Kondile had been given the name of the principal security police agent in Lesotho who would have been killed if his identity was revealed to the ANC.

Du Plessis denied the claim made in earlier testimony to the amnesty committee by Coetzee that Kondile was killed because he suffered brain damage during violent interrogation.

Du Plessis denied that Kondile was tortured, but admitted slapping and possibly punching him during interrogation.

Kondile was shot dead near Komatipoort on the Mozambique border and his body burnt on a pile of wood.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 10 1998 - SAPA

AZAPO CRITISES APPOINTMENT OF ADDITIONAL TRC MEMBERS

The Azanian People's Organisation on Tuesday critised the government for appointing eight additional members to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"Azapo regards the appointments as very unnecessary and in fact, calls for the closing of the curtain as the TRC is a farce," it said in a statement.

"There is still an outcry for a better education system, delivery of housing and improvement of health conditions, yet the ANC government is all intent on bringing on board those of their buddies who had still not tasted the gravy."

Azapo said instead of appointing one commission after the another, it had hoped the government would employ programmes to help uplift the abject conditions black people find themselves engulfed in.

The appointments were anounced by Justice Minister Dullar Omar on Monday.

The commission's size was also increased from 11 members to 19 and will enable six three-person panels, each chaired by a judge, to operate simultaneously.

"The appointment of eight extra members to the TRC is very much unnecessary... The circumstances in the country and the economy dictates that everybody tightens the belt," Azapo said.

The organisation said the appointments were also ill-timed as it came at a time when black people were disillussioned with the TRC which was hell bent on assuaging the feelings of the perpetrators of violence rather than the victims themselves.

"The appointment come against the background where monies are free flowing in the government and those in the commission are earning astronomous salaries."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1998 - SAPA

VILJOEN WARNS OF GROWING DIVIDE IN SA

Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen on Tuesday warned of growing divisions within South Africa, with minorities finding themselves increasingly isolated and under threat.

Speaking in the debate on President Nelson Mandela's opening of Parliament address, Viljoen accused the African National Congress of increasing arrogance towards any form of opposition.

Racially-based intolerance and polarisation of blacks and whites was on the increase, Viljoen said.

He said his party remained committed to self-determination for its constituency.

"The result of the process of transition has been, for us, disempowerment at all levels of society.

"But we are a socio-political unit that cannot just be dissolved."

It was obvious that the Afrikaner people had to carve out their own future in the new South Africa, Viljoen said.

Turning to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Viljoen said it was obvious the commission would not be able to complete the amnesty process before its mandate expired. He suggested that Parliament investigate another mechanism for the granting of amnesty.

"A working group, consisting of representatives of the combatants on both sides, should consider ways and means of reconciliation for consideration by Parliament."

Viljoen criticised the ANC government's over-emphasis on socialistic spending, saying it was neglecting the elimination of poverty through encouraging economic growth and job creation.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 10 1998 - SAPA

KONDILE COULD HAVE HELPED COPS ARREST HANI IN '81: TRC TOLD

ANC cadre Sizwe Kondile could have led police to assassinated SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani in Lesotho in 1981, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Tuesday.

The TRC's amnesty committee heard that Kondile double-crossed the police and was killed.

High ranking former security policemen told the committee in Cape Town that Kondile was a key figure in the African National Congress' Lesotho operation and had close links with Hani.

The committtee heard that Kondile was driving Hani's car when he was arrested crossing the border from Lesotho into the Free State in June 1981.

Former police generals Nic van Rensburg and Gerrit Erasmus, along with Colonel Hermanus du Plessis, are applying for amnesty for arranging Kondile's murder in July 1981.

Erasmus and Du Plessis told the committee Kondile was killed when he failed to co-operate with police by infiltrating the ANC in Lesotho.

Du Plessis said he persuaded Kondile to become a police informer and supply information about Hani's planned operations. Du Plessis said after giving Kondile the name of the principal police agent in Lesotho, the cadre reneged on his word and remained loyal to the ANC.

Du Plessis said he found a note by Kondile to the ANC expressing his loyalty to the organisation and realised the cadre had double-crossed him.

Du Plessis discussed his dilemma with Van Rensburg, who agreed the only option was to eliminate Kondile. The policemen contacted self-confessed hitsquad commander Dirk Coetzee, who made the arrangements for Kondile to be shot and burnt to a cinder on the Mozambique border.

Du Plessis and Van Rensburg both denied testimony given to the amnesty committee by Coetzee that Kondile was killed because he suffered brain damage during violent interrogation.

Coetzee told the committee in earlier evidence that Van Rensburg told him the police did not want another Biko scandal on their hands.

Black consciousness leader Steve Biko died while in police detention.

Both Du Plessis and Van Rensburg said the decision to kill Kondile was taken to prevent the information given to him from falling into the hands of the ANC.

Coetzee is to appear before the committee this week to explain his version of the events leading to Kondile's death.

It also emerged during Tuesday's hearings that a bomb blast occurred in Port Elizabeth while Kondile was in detention. Du Plessis admitted under cross examination by Imrann Moosa, appearing for Kondile's mother, Charity Kondile, that Kondile was released from detention two days after the blast and was killed soon afterwards. Du Plessis denied that Kondile was interrogated about the bomb blast and claimed that Kondile knew nothing about it. He said later it was established who planted the bomb and they were not connected to Kondile.

Van Rensburg told the committee he accompanied Du Plessis when Kondile was taken to Komatipoort near the Mozambique border to meet Coetzee. He said Kondile did not speak throughout the journey. He was handcuffed and had a balaclava over his head.

Van Rensburg said he could not explain why Kondile did not ask where he was being taken and why he was being handcuffed. When Moosa put it to Van Rensburg that he took part in the "brutal killing of a young man... in a picnic atmsophere", Van Rensburg replied that he did not expect to be forgiven but could only apologise.

Erasmus began his testimony on Tuesday with a lengthy account of his service in the police force. He told the committee he spent more than 20 years of his career dealing with violence and intimidation amongst the black population.

He said he witnessed scenes of bomb blasts which made a lasting impression on him.

He will continue his testimony on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 10 1998 - SAPA

EX-SADF CHIEFS WANT TRC TO WITHDRAW "UNSAVOURY" COMMENTS

Four former SA Defence Force chiefs want the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to withdraw earlier "unsavoury" comments about the old defence force, an SADF spokesman said on Tuesday.

They conveyed this in a submission handed to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town on Monday, SADF Contact Bureau convener Gen Dirk Marais said in Pretoria.

Generals Magnus Malan, Constand Viljoen, Jannie Geldenhuys, and Kat Liebenberg objected to commission members having labelled the old defence force an apartheid military machine.

"We don't accept that, and we never will. We want an apology," Marais said.

He said the submission was in pursuance of a motion adopted by former SADF members at a symposium in Pretoria on August 30 last year.

In the resolution they expressed support for reconciliation, but complained that the reputation of the SADF had been tarnished by some TRC members. The meeting appealed to the four generals to intervene.

Marais said the former SADF chiefs pledged themselves to the process of reconciliation in the submission, but also conveyed the concerns of the former soldiers.

"Complaints against the unreasonable treatment of the SADF are also part of the document. These complaints are defined and abundantly amplified and substantiated by quotes and references."

Marais said the generals made a number of proposals to the TRC to enhance reconciliation.

The proposals included wanting unsavoury comments and statements by TRC commissioners withdrawn, and suggested the TRC improved its ability to absorb submissions with a military connotation by consulting specialists.

The generals suggested the TRC should make an effort to clear up legal aspects on legal military action and cross-border raids. It should also extend its spectrum beyond the counter-revolutionary activities of the previous regime.

Marais said the submission emphasised that the command structure of the SADF had had empathy with the ideals of liberation fighters, but could not agree with the way in which they fought the war against apartheid.

"We were compelled to treat them as enemies because of the methods they employed. Many liberation soldiers were also not aware of the fact they were being used by international expansionists," Marais said.

The four generals last week lodged a complaint with the Public Protector against what they described as the one- sidedness of the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG February 10 1998 - SAPA

1994 DISCO KILLERS APPEAL FOR AMNESTY

Three killers responsible for a St Valentine's Day attack on the Crazy Beat Disco in February 1994 appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commision in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday to apply for amnesty for the murder of one person and the attempted murder of several others.

The applicants, Bongani Malevu, Walter Falibango Thanda and Andile Shiceke, are serving prison sentences for the attack.

In his evidence, Malevu said the disco was identified as a target because it was frequented by whites. He said orders for the attack came from a high commander of the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army, known only as Jones.

According to the three applicants, Jones said the unit should identify a locality where white people met and attack it. Thanda said the attack was carried out in order to coerce the apartheid government to give in to the demands of the black majority.

Defence advocate Norman Arendse said the TRC should follow the trial court's findings that the attack was politically motivated and that its perpetrators gained nothing from it.

Malevu and Thanda expressed a desire to apologise to the victims' families. Thanda said he would like to get together with the government, the Pan Africanist Congress, and the victims' families so that there could be true reconciliation.

The victims' families said they did not oppose amnesty for the convicted trio.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 10 - SAPA

SECURITY POLICE GENERAL HAD POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH, TRC TOLD

A former security police general on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he exercised his "power of life and death" when ordering the murder of African National Congress cadre Sizwe Kondile.

General Gerrit Erasmus is applying for amnesty for ordering the elimination of Kondile, who was shot and burnt to a cinder on the Mozambique border in July 1981.

Erasmus told the TRC's amnesty committee in Cape Town that he made the decision after being told by his officers that an attempt to "turn" Kondile had failed and that the ANC cadre had been given vital information that would have compromised security police agents in Lesotho.

Erasmus said there had been no alternative but to eliminate Kondile to prevent him from passing on the information.

"I believed it was the right thing to do, I knew it was not legal but I believe it was right at the time and in the circumstances," he said.

Erasmus said the decision to kill Kondile was not reported to police headquarters in Pretoria because it was a clandestine operation that was not to be revealed to anyone.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall put it to Erasmus that he wielded "an awesome power".

"You had the power of life and death over a man. You were acting on information given to you by your junior officers. You had no way of verifying this information... You made no effort to meet Kondile and make your own assessment of the man. You just passed the sentence of death over the man," Mall said. Erasus replied that he trusted his officers and made the decision on that basis. He said he realised he had vast powers, but exercised them as a policeman who believed he was acting in the best interests of the society.

"The man (Kondile) was a trained terrorist who infiltrated the country. I saw the chaos caused by the bomb blasts carried out by these people. He was a terrorist, not a scholar," he said.

Erasmus said the security police were the last bastion in the struggle against terrorism.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 11 1998 - SAPA

NEW INSTITUTE HOPES TO FURTHER WORK OF TRC

A new organisation is to be formed which hopes to further the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when it disbands later this year.

Known as the Institute for Change, Memory and Reconciliation, it will focus on doing advanced research into the TRC's final report, educating people about the TRC's work and helping government and other organisations implement the TRC's recommendations.

It will also become involved in the global debate about the significance of the TRC for transitions in other countries.

Driving force behind the institute is Professor Charles Villa-Vincencio, head of the TRC's research unit.

"I have been approached by scores of people, both within South Africa and abroad, asking what should be done after the life of the TRC," he said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"It has become abundantly clear that it would be a tragedy if all the interest, energy, commitment and information generated by the TRC is allowed to fade away once it has submitted its final report.

"After consultation I have decided, as a person who has been intimately involved in the life of the TRC, to establish an institute which I hope will start functioning soon after the end of the TRC."

A number of prominent South African figures had agreed to serve on the institute's board, among them TRC deputy chair deputy Dr Alex Boraine, Constitutional Court Judge Richard Goldstone, the Archbishop of Cape Town Njongkulu Ndungane and Leon Wessels, former deputy chairman of the Constitutional Assembly.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu had agreed to be the institute's patron.

Villa-Vincencio stressed that the institute did not intend to monopolise work relating to the TRC and would work in close partnership with other organisations in helping disadvantaged communities.

"The institute will have no special or privileged relationship with the TRC and should therefore be viewed as totally separate from the TRC."

All TRC documentation would be lodged with the state archives, and all organisations and individuals would have access to it.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 11 1998 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGERS TO SEEK INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT ON SA PRISONS

A campaign to seek international support against alleged human rights violations in South African jails would be launched next week, the League of Boer Prisoners of War said on Wednesday.

"This will be a last-ditch attempt to improve the conditions in which rightwing political prisoners are being held," league vice-chairman Dries Kriel said in Pretoria.

The league would on Monday release a list of alleged abuses in prisons to the media, to diplomats, and to Amnesty International. This information had already been submitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Kriel said the league's first priority was to have what it regarded as political prisoners separated from other criminals.

"The TRC has made representations to this end on our behalf but this yielded little or no results."

Kriel listed a range of other abuses, which he claimed were mostly taking place at Leeuwkop prison.

"These include incidents of warders urinating on the food of prisoners, of black prisoners sodomising their white counterparts, and of a single white prisoner being placed between 30 and 42 black prisoners."

Women visiting rightwing prisoners were also being subjected to humiliating body searches, Kriel said. He claimed that the gloves prison officials used for this purpose were not being changed.

Correctional Services spokesman Rudi Potgieter reacted by saying: "As far as the department is concerned, there are no political prisoners. We treat all inmates the same."

He said it was inevitable that white prisoners would be in the minority.

"About 90 percent of our inmates are black, which is in line with the demographic realities in our country."

On the sodomy allegations and claims of warders urinating in the food of rightwingers, Potgieter said evidence was required before prison authorities could act.

"We don't tolerate such violations."

Potgieter said the complaints of women being body-searched with dirty gloves had been brought to the attention of the prison authorities.

"We do make more than one pair of gloves available to officials."

The searches, he said, were prompted by information that goods were being smuggled to prisoners.

The wives of three rightwing prisoners on Monday said they were subjected to body-searches which were akin to indecent assault.

Potgieter said nobody else had lodged similar complaints. "We find it strange that the three women were the only visitors who objected," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 11 1998 - SAPA

CONCERNS OF FORMER SADF CHIEFS ABOUT TRC UNDERSTANDABLE: ANC

It was understandable that former SA Defence Force chiefs were worried about the eventual findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the African National Congress said on Wednesday.

However, all parties had been given ample opportunity to state their views to the TRC, the ANC said in a statement in Johannesburg.

It said it believed the TRC would in its final analysis give careful consideration to all facts put before it.

Four former SADF chiefs on Monday handed a submission to the TRC, proposing that commissioners withdraw earlier "unsavoury" comments about the SADF in the interest of reconciliation.

In the document, generals Magnus Malan, Constand Viljoen, Jannie Geldenhuys, and Kat Liebenberg expressed support for reconciliation, but complained that the reputation of the SADF had been tarnished by some TRC members.

They said commissioners who had labelled the old defence force an apartheid military machine should apologise.

The ANC welcomed the generals' pledge to support reconciliation, describing this as a positive point of departure.

"Given this commitment to playing a positive and constructive role in national reconciliation... it is understandable that the former SADF chiefs are worried about the eventual findings of the TRC, " the ANC said.

This concern found its expression in their misgivings about the even-handedness of the TRC.

"The ANC must repeat its view that the TRC process has proved to be a worthwhile and binding exercise," the ANC said.

The four generals last week lodged a complaint with the Public Protector against what they described as the TRC's one- sidedness.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PARLIAMENT February 11 1998 - SAPA

SA DELIVERED MORE THAN EXPECTED: RASMUSSEN

South Africa had delivered more than what the rest of the world could have expected from it, visiting Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen told a joint sitting of Parliament on Wednesday.

It was now important to say "let's go the next mile together" to solve all the social and economic problems which ould not be solved overnight.

South Africa, with its peaceful humanitarian revolution, was one of the greatest lights of this century, Rasmussen said.

Men and women of good faith had come together to build a better future for all and Denmark had never doubted that South Africa would "make it".

South Africa's strong, gracious and patient people had built a nation of diversity and strength in a very short time.

Rasmussen appealed to all South Africans to stick to the road of social and economic development under democracy.

He said the world should never forget the story of the apartheid years. This was necessary to ensure it never happened again.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a dignified way for the country to deal with its tortured past.

He hoped other nations would follow this example.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 11 1998 - SAPA

NP GIVES TRC SEVEN-DAY DEADLINE ON AMNESTY FOR ANC 37

The National Party on Wednesday handed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a letter giving it a seven-day deadline to say what it was doing regarding a review of the blanket amnesty granted to 37 African National Congress leaders in December last year.

Announcing this at a media briefing in Cape Town, NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said his party would await the TRC's response before deciding what further action to take.

He said a month had passed since the TRC committed itself to taking the issue to the High Court on review, and it was almost two months since the NP had given the commission its view - garnered from Senior Counsel - that the blanket amnesty was illegal.

The NP wanted details from the TRC within seven days on the nature of the relief it was to seek in the courts.

Van Schalkwyk said the TRC was in a dead-end street legally, politically and administratively and, in a phase when reconciliation should be top of the agenda, it was being bogged down in two vital court cases which could lead to a "lot of emotio in the country".

The one was that of seeking a court order on the validity of the amnesty given to the 37 ANC leaders and the other was that against former State President P W Botha.

Van Schalkwyk said Botha was not above the law and the NP would never be part of any right-wing initiative to rally support for him, but he believed the TRC had made a mistake in taking him to court.

It was putting the whole process of reconciliation on trial in a court of law, where it did not belong.

Van Schalkwyk said Botha, as a leader of the past, would not be a rallying point for millions of people, but the trial could further contribute to feelings of alienation in the country.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 11 1998 - SAPA

I DECIDED TO SPEAK AGAINST BARNARD AFTER HIS ARREST:FRIEND

Ferdi Barnard's former "business partner" on Wednesday told the Pretoria High Court that he decided to speak out against Barnard only after the ex-CCB agent's arrest late last year because he feared for his life and his family.

"After his arrest, I got together with my advocate and we drew up a statement, that was handed to the state," Johan Kruger told the court.

"I know him well. I know he's violent. When I was approached by the state in April last year, I said I would not talk until Barnard had been arrested because I feared for my own life and that of my family," said Kruger

Kruger claimed Barnard had boasted to him and two other diamond prospectors at a braai that he shot academic Dr David Webster and had described with glee how Webster lay on the pavement, drowning in his own blood.

Webster killed by a shotgun blast outside his Troyville house in 1989.

Barnard has pleaded not guilty to Webster's murder, as well as 31 other charges, ranging from attempted murder to robbery and fraud.

Barnard's former girlfriend, Amore Badenhorst, earlier testified that Barnard had confessed to her that he killed Webster.

Kruger also linked Barnard to a number of fraudulent diamond transactions in which he allegedly defrauded not only the police, but also a number of diamond prospectors introduced to him by Kruger. ruger said on one occasion he had posed as a diamond expert representing a British diamond dealer at Barnard's request.

Barnard's advocate Faan Coetzee put it to Kruger that he was deliberately trying to incriminate Barnard in crimes of fraud and murder.

Coetzee argued that Kruger was trying to scale down his own involvement in illegal diamond transactions by dragging in a made-up story about Webster because he wanted to become a state witness.

Kruger knew he had to return to the prospectors' community in order to make a living as an electrical contractor, Coetzee said.

He said Barnard would deny confessing Webster's murder to anyone because he was not responsible for Webster's death.

Kruger said he was telling the truth and denied that he had given false evidence in order to avoid prosecution. He said he at first believed that Barnard's transactions were legal and only realised that he was committing fraud when Barnard boasted that he had "knocked" (defrauded) two diamond prospectors.

Superintendent Siebert Myburgh of the police's diamond and gold branch testified that he met Barnard at a Johannesburg hotel in January 1993. He said Barnard made a statement to the effect that he had information about a British diamond smuggler, known as Ron Cummins, who had R5 million available to buy uncut diamonds in South Africa.

Myburgh said Barnard offered to act as a go-between in a police trap so they could catch Cummins and his South African "diamond expert", Kruger.

A trap was set during which Barnard, Kruger and a third man viewed diamonds provided by the police. No transaction was concluded.

Barnard promised Myburgh they would be back the next day to talk about the price of the diamonds, but never returned.

He later informed the police that he had problems with the man in London. Myburgh said he was made to believe that Cummins really existed and that the police would be able to make an arrest.

He was not aware of a similar unsuccessful trap set by the diamond and gold branch in Pietersburg on information supplied by police informer, the late Corrie Goosen, about "Ron Cummins".

Barnard and Goosen allegedly used diamonds supplied by the police to convince diamond prospectors to give them millions of rand.

They allegedly took the money and later told the prospectors they had been robbed.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 11 1998 - SAPA

POLICE INVOLVED UP IN COVER-UP OVER KONDILE'S DEATH, TRC TOLD

Senior Eastern Cape policemen staged a massive cover-up of the murder of ANC activist Sizwe Kondile in 1981, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Cape Town on Wednesday.

The four policemen, including two former generals, have applied for amnesty for taking part in the murder of Kondile.

He was shot and his body was burnt near the Mozambique border in July 1981. They claim he was killed because he had been given information which they did not want to fall into the hands of the ANC.

Imrann Moosa, for Kondile's mother Charity Kondile, asked the TRC's amnesty committee to reject the policemen's account of the murder. Moosa alleged Kondile was killed because he suffered brain damage during violent interrogation.

Moosa put it General Gerrit Erasmus, who admitted to making the final decision to eliminate Kondile, that he a authorised a massive cover-up to conceal the fact that the activist had been seriously injured while in detention.

Erasmus denied this. He said Kondile had to be eliminated because he had been given vital information, which if purveyed to the ANC, would have caused chaos in the Eastern Cape.

He said Kondile had been supplied with the name of a principal police agent in Lesotho. He was given the information during an attempt to recruit him as a security police informer.

Kondile was taken from the police cells in Jeffery's Bay in the Eastern Cape to Komatipoort near the Mozambique border where he was shot and burnt to death. His car vehicle was left nearby in an attempt to given the impression that the ANC activist had fled across the border.

Erasmus conceded it was illegal to arrange the murder of a detainee, but said he believed at the time it was the right one.

He admitted he had not told police headquarters in Pretoria of his decision because it had been a clandestine operation that should not be revealed to anyone.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the policemen misled police headquarters about their actions.

In a letter handed to the committee, one policemen applying for amnesty, Colonel Hermanus du Plessis, told police headquarters that Kondile had been released from detention and had not been heard of since. The letter was dated 8 October, 1981 - two months after Kondile was killed.

Du Plessis admitted the letter was a smokescreen to hide the real fate of Kondile.

The other policemen who have applied for amnesty for Kondile's death are General Nic van Rensburg and Sergeant Johannes Raath.

Raath was cross-examined by Rudolph Jansen, appearing for Dirk Coetzee, who has also testified about the murder of Kondile. Jansen said he found it strange that all four policemen applying for amnesty reproduced an identical account of events, from which they were unwilling to deviate. He said these accounts conflicted in many respects from Coetzee's account of the last days of Kondile's life.

Coetzee is expected to testify later this week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 11 1998 - SAPA

VILJOEN WARNS ON `AFRIKANER BASHING'

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was not impartial and even-handed, and its long-expected report would therefore be one-sided and damaging to the Freedom Front's constituency, FF leader General Constand Viljoen said on Wednesday.

The TRC's court action against former state president PW Botha amounted to "Afrikaner-bashing", and therefore the FF supported Botha, Viljoen told a briefing for diplomats and the media in Cape Town.

Botha had sound political and personal arguments for his actions and the issue was becoming a rallying-point for Afrikaner nationalism.

"The whole issue was not well-handled by the government and the TRC, and confrontation will lead to a hardening of attitudes.

"The general perception is that the TRC and the government are busy with Afrikaner-bashing."

Viljoen said his party's main mission remained that of seeking self-determination for Afrikaners, and it would support the desires of other cultural groups for this as well.

The FF would participate in the 1999 general election and "I will still be at the service of my people if they want me".

Viljoen said if he ever got the impression the ANC government was being dishonest in its approach to the FF's striving for self-determination, this could lead to a breakdown between Afrikaners and Africans, and "this will be a disaster for the country".

Asked whether the FF would consider resorting to violence, he said it would be "easy for us to start an IRA-type war", but this would not be wise.

If the achievement of self-determination took too long, a future generation would in decades to come have to decide on its options.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG February 11 1998 - SAPA

MARITZBURG AMNESTY HEARING FOR PAC DISCO BOMBERS POSTPONED

The TRC amnesty committee hearing of three Pan Africanist Congress members who attacked a disco in Newcastle was postponed in the Pietermaritzburg city hall on Wednesday.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission spokesman Mdu Lembethe said: "The hearing has now been adjourned pending the decision which will be handed down by Judge Bernard Ngoete and his assistants, advocates Denzil Potgieter and Ntsiti Sandi, possibly within a week."

Bongani Malevu, Walter Tanda and Andile Shiceka were convicted for a St Valentine's Day attack on the Crazy Beat Disco in Newcastle in 1994.

A woman was killed and several other people were wounded.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 12 - SAPA

KONDILE "TAUGHT A LESSON" BY POLICE, TRC HEARS

Eastern Cape African National Congress activist Sizwe Kondile had his brains blown out to teach him a lesson, the Truth and Reconciliation heard on Thursday.

Former policemen Ginotry Danster told the commission's amnesty committee in Cape Town that he and five other policemen tortured Kondile in the Jeffery's Bay police station after he was arrested near the Lesotho border in July 1981.

Danster said after a series of bouts of torture by suffocation and electric shocks, Kondile was taken away by Sergeant Johannes Raath.

Danster said Raath returned a few days later and said Kondile had been taken to Komatipoort and taught a lesson. "His brains were splashed all over," Raath is allege to have told Danster.

Raath, former police generals Gerrit Erasmus and Nic van Rensburg and Colonel Hermanus du Plessis have applied for amnesty for Kondile's murder. They have admitted to arranging to have Kondile shot and his body burnt near the Mozambique border.

Danster disputed evidence by the four policemen that Kondile had agreed to assist the police by agreeing to become an informer after his arrest.

"He told me that Chris Hani trusted him and he could never work for the police," Danster told the committee. Kondile was believed to be a close confidante of Hani, who headed ANC operations in Lesotho at the time.

Van Rensburg, Du Plessis, Erasmus and Raath all allege that it was decided to murder Kondile after he agreed to become an informer but later reneged on his pledge. Kondile had been given information about security police agents in Lesotho and the policemen claimed they had no choice but to eliminate him to prevent the security police network being compromised.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 12 1998 - SAPA

MANDELA SAYS CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOSTILITY TO TRC

President Nelson Mandela on Thursday said he had difficulty in understanding the unremitting hostility of some opposition parties towards the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"Reconcliliation, like corrective action, is part and parcel of the consensus that underpinned the negotiations through which we brought the new order into being," he said, in reply to debate on his opening of Parliament address.

The African National Congress had never thought that striving for a shared account of the country's history would be an easy task.

"But for anyone to go into a state of denial; to celebrate the weaknesses of the TRC processing, hoping as a result to delegitimise its essence, is to bury one's head in the sand," Mandela said.

Visiting dignitaries had consistently expressed appreciation for what South Africa had achieved, especially the progress made in reconciling a nation once locked in bitter and destructive conflict.

Many had hailed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a model for the world, he said.

"One cannot help asking whether some of our opposition parties are not busy isolating themselves, not only from the majority of their fellow South Africans, but from the world and from many of those they claim to represent."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 12 - SAPA

DIRK COETZEE RETURNS TO TRC TO CLARIFY KONDILE'S LAST DAYS

Self-confessed hitsquad leader Dirk Coetzee was recalled to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday to clarify contradictory evidence about the final days of murdered activist Sizwe Kondile.

Coetzee first made revelations about the murder of Kondile to the Harms commission of inquiry in 1990, when he said the activist was shot and burnt near the Mozambique border in 1981.

The policemen implicated in the murder at first denied Coetzee's claims, but have subsequently admitted arranging Kondile's murder and have applied for amnesty.

The TRC's amnesty committee this week heard several versions of the time and circumstances in which Kondile was killed.

Generals Nic van Rensburg and Gerrit Erasmus, Colonel Hermanus Du Plessis, and Sergeant Johannes Raath have all said Kondile was killed on 11 August, 1981 after being released from detention and then adbucted.

They all claim Kondile at first agreed to co-operate with police, but after being given vital information he reneged and remained loyal to the ANC. This necessitated his elimination to prevent the information from reaching the ANC.

Coetzee was recalled to the amnesty committee by Imrann Moosa, appearing for Kondile's mother Charity Kondile, in an effort to ascertain the circumstances of the murder.

Coetzee claims Kondile was killed in late October or early November of 1981 after suffering a head injury while trying to escape interrogation.

He told the committee Van Rensburg asked him to steal an Audi car from a trade union activist and to travel to Jeffreys Bay.

Coetzee said when he arrived at Jeffreys Bay police station Van Rensburg showed him Kondile's car and said the detainee had suffered a head injury after diving through a window while handcuffed.

He said Van Rensburg told him he did not wish to have another "Biko scandal" on his hands.

Coetzee agreed to arrange to have Kondile shot and burnt near the Mozambique border and to abandon Kondile's car nearby to make it appear as if the activist fled into Swaziland.

Coetzee was closely cross-examined by Kobus Booysen, for Van Rensburg and Du Plessis. He was asked about dates and police records. At one stage Booysen put it to Coetzee that he had on many occasions changed records and had not followed correct procedures.

At that point committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall said: "There are many others with similar talents, too."

Coetzee often appeared to have difficulty explaining discrepancies in the various accounts of Kondile's death he had made since his initial revelations. On several occasions he said the errors were "a slip of the mind". Booyens also put it to Coetzee that he made the revelations about hit squad murders to escape the difficulties he was in at the time.

Coetzee replied that he could easily have taken the easy option by denying claims by his colleague, Almond Nofomela, in a confession about involvement in hit squads hours before going to the gallows for an unrelated murder.

Coetzee said he also had business plans which would have made him millions if he had decided to stay in the country, instead of fleeing to make his hit squad revelations abroad.

Coetzee will continue his testimony under cross-examination on Friday.

A former policeman, Ginotry Danster, who has not applied for amnesty, earlier told the committee he was present when policemen including Du Plessis and Raath tortured Kondile, using suffocation and electric shocks. This has been denied by Du Plessis and Raath.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WINDHOEK Feb 13 - SAPA

NAMIBIAN EDITOR JAILED IN LUBOWSKI INQUEST

Hannes Smith, editor of Nambia's Windhoek Observer newspaper, was sent to jail on Friday after he failed to hand over certain documents to the second inquest into the 1989 murder of Swapo activist Anton Lubowski.

The inquest in Windhoek ended on Friday with the judge deciding no new evidence had been presented he findings of the first inquest were incorrect.

A packed courtroom heard tearful women plead for the 65-year-old Smith, telling the court he was not in possession of documents which identified Lubowski's killers.

Judge Nic Hannah refused to hear an appeal of Smith's four-month jail sentence for contempt of court until next Thursday.

Hannah earlier suspended the sentence - passed on Thursday - on condition that Smith produce the documents by 9am on Friday.

Hannah also refused a request from Andrew Corbett, representative for the Lubowski family, to have the inquest postponed until after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings into the murder in June.

Lubowski was gunned down outside his Sanderburg Street home in Klein Windhoek in September 1989.

On Thursday Smith testified that, desite an intensive search, he had been unable to find the four documents wanted by the inquest.

These apparently included a piece of paper with the names of seven assassins involved in Lubowski's murder, and the names of Namibian police officers Inspector Jumbo Smith and General Foffie Badenhorst, who were implicated in the first inquest.

Smith said this was a dark chapter in his life and said he only hoped he would be treated well in jail since he was no longer a young man.

After ceremoniously handing his watch and keys to two women, he reminded them to "just bring my nosedrops, tablets and my books".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 13 - SAPA

DIRK COETZEE CHALLENGES TOP COPS TO TAKE LIE DETECTOR TEST

Self-confessed police hitsquad leader Dirk Coetzee on Friday challenged four police officers seeking amnesty for arranging the murder of Eastern Cape activist Sizwe Kondile to undergo lie detector tests.

Appearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Cape Town, Coetzee said the four policemen were telling only three quarters of the truth when recounting the murder of Kondile in 1981.

Coetzee, who has given the committee a different version of the circumstances in which Kondile was killed, asked that both he and the policemen be allowed to undergo lie detector tests to establish who was lying.

Generals Nic van Rensburg and Gerrit Erasmus, Colonel Hermanus du Plessis and Sergeant Johannes Raath are applying for amnesty for the abduction and murder of Kondile, who was shot and his body burnt near the Mozambique border.

They claim a decision was taken to kill Kondile after he reneged on his pledge to become a police informer. The policemen said they had provided Kondile with vital information about police informer networks in Lesotho which they could not risk being passed on to the ANC.

Coetzee claimed that Kondile was killed because he suffered injuries during interrogation.

He said Van Rensburg had told him that Kondile dived out of a window while handcuffed to escape his interrogators, and landed on his head.

After this Kondile's behaviour turned peculiar and Van Rensburg said he wanted to avoid another "Steve Biko scandal".

Coetzee said he agreed to assist Van Rensburg by eliminating Kondile near the Mozambique border and leaving his car nearby to create the impression that the ANC activist had fled the country.

Coetzee told the committee that it was a "sorry state of affairs" that the four policemen had come so close to telling the truth but had stopped short of disclosing the whole story.

The committee is expected to complete its hearing in Cape Town on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 13 - SAPA

POLICE UNDERCOVER MURDERER WAS HARMS COMMISSION INVESTIGATOR

A policeman who is applying for amnesty for the clandestine murder of an ANC activist in 1981 was an investigator for the Harms commission of inquiry into hitsquad activities.

This emerged during the hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Cape Town on Friday during the amnesty application of four policemen who have admitted playing a part in the abduction and murder of Sizwe Kondile in August 1981.

One of the applicants, Colonel Hermanus du Plessis, has admitted assaulting Kondile during interrogation and later taking part in his murder on the Mozambique border.

He has admitted it was an illegal act but claimed it was carried out in as part of a "clandestine operation" to prevent Kondile from leaking vital information about security police informer networks.

He initially denied any part in the murder when it first came to light in revelations made by self-confessed police hitsquad leader Dirk Coetzee in 1989.

Du Plessis worked as an investigator for the 1990 Harms commission of inquiry into the allegations of state-sponsored hitsquad or third force activities as alleged by Coetzee.

The Harms Commission concluded that there was no evidence to support Coetzee's claims that police operated a hitsquad which eliminated opponents of the government.

Testifying before the committee on Friday, Coetzee admitted that he had once offered his services as chief investigator in any proposed "South African Nuremburg trials".

Coetzee said the task would have been easy to perform because of his knowledge of how the police operated.

"I would have been able to get right to the bottom of it all, not like Du Plessis who was the investigator in the Harms Commission" he said.

Coetzee said he had made "not one cent" from his revelations about police hitsquads and was motivated only by the need to tell the truth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 13 - SAPA

KONDILE TRUTH HEARING ENDS WITH CHALLENGE TO POLICEMEN

Four policemen applying for amnesty for involvement in the murder of Sizwe Kondile were on Friday accused of withholding the truth about their reasons for killing the young Eastern Cape ANC activist in 1981.

They claim a decision was taken to kill Kondile after he reneged on his pledge to become a police informer. The policemen said they had provided him with vital information about police informer networks in Lesotho which they could not risk being passed on to the ANC.

Self-confessed police hitsquad leader Dirk Coetzee, who first exposed police killings during the apartheid era, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Cape Town that the generals were not telling the complete story about Kondile's death.

He said Van Rensburg had told him Kondile suffered head injuries while trying to escape during police interrogation.

Coetzee said he recalled Van Rensburg saying, "We dont want another Steve Biko case on our hands" after Kondile hurt his head in the escape attempt and started behaving peculiarly.

Coetzee's version of the circumstances in which Kondile was killed differ in many respects to that given by the policemen applying for amnesty.

When Coetzee first made his revelations about police hitsquads, he included his account of Kondile's murder and named the policemen now applying for amnesty as being involved.

The policemen denied any involvement when called before the Harms commission of inquiry set up in 1990 to investigate Coetzee's allegations.

It emerged during Friday's hearing that Du Plessis in fact worked as an investigator for the Harms Commission.

Coetzee was closely cross-examined by lawyers appearing for the four policemen about discrepancies between his initial revelations to Vrye Weekblad reporter Jacques Pauw, and subsequent accounts he gave to the Harms Commission and in other legal forums.

Coetzee admitted making some mistakes of detail, but attributed these to "slips of the mind".

When it was suggested he was "embroidering his evidence", he challenged the four policemen to undergo a lie detector test to which he would also submit to determine who was telling the truth.

Coetzee said he agreed to assist Van Rensburg by eliminating Kondile near the Mozambique border and leaving his car nearby to create the impression that the activist had fled the country.

Coetzee told the committee it was a "sorry state of affairs" that the four policemen had come so close to telling the truth but had fallen short of disclosing the whole story. The committee completed its hearing in Cape Town on Friday and the various legal representatives have two weeks in which to submit their arguments on whether the four policemen should be granted amnesty for Kondile's murder.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association KING WILLIAM'S TOWN Feb 13 - SAPA

APLA MEN'S CASE POSTPONED PENDING TRC DECISION

The trial of Major Thembelani Xundu, accused of the King William's Town golf club attack in November 1992 in which two couples were killed and 17 people injured, was postponed to May pending a decision by the TRC's amnesty committee.

Prosecutor NJ Govuza informed the magistrate's court on Friday that the office of the attorney-general asked for the postponement because Xundu's amnesty hearing had not been completed.

Mr L Mbandazayo, for Xundu, told the court the Truth and Reconciliation Commission normally gave preference to cases where the amnesty applicants were in custody.

Seeing that Xundu and his co-accused, Lance-Corporal Thobela Mlambisa, were out on bail, their case would not enjoy preference.

He said Xundu did not appear in court as he was attending an officer's course in Bloemfontein and Mlambisa was in Pretoria doing the same.

Magistrate Anton Nel accepted the explanation, but nevertheless authorised a warrant of arrest which would be held over until the next date of appearance before court.

He postponed the case to May 29 for the outcome of the amnesty hearing.

Xundu was allegedly part of a group of Azanian People's Liberation Army members responsible for the attack at the golf club.

It is alleged that the men burst into the clubhouse during a Christmas dinner party, spraying the room with bullets and hurling handgrenades.

A third member of the alleged attackers, Major Sikhumbuzo Nonxuba, was killed in a car accident in 1996.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 16 1998 - SAPA

EX-POLICE CHIEF TO APPEAR IN AMNESTY HEARINGS

Retired police commissioner Johann van der Merwe is among ten former policemen applying for amnesty for offences arising from the death in detention of an African National Congress activist in Johannesburg in 1988.

The policemen are to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee during a five-day hearing at Vista University in Mamelodi near Pretoria next week.

The ten are seeking amnesty for offences related to the death of ANC activist Maisha Johannes Stanza Bopape, who disappeared mysteriously after being detained.

Police claimed at the time that Bopape escaped from custody while those guarding him had been out on an investigation.

Among the applicants are Lt-Col Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, and Constables Hendrik Mostert, Jacobus Engelbrecht, and Johan Ludwig du Preez.

According to a TRC statement, the policemen claim Bopape was arrested in Hillbrow and taken on June 10, 1988 to John Vorster Square, where he was held without trial.

He was subsequently tortured and killed, the statement said.

Two amnesty applicants, Brig Schalk Visser and Capt Leon van Loggenberg have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Together with Van der Merwe, two former police generals - Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit - have also applied for amnesty for conspiring to defeat the ends of justice by covering up the circumstances of Bopape's death.

The applicants were based at John Vorster Square in Johannesburg, as well as at Pretoria and at Middelburg in Mpumalanga at the time the killing is alleged to have occurred.

The TRC amnesty committee panel will be chaired by Judge Selwyn Miller.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 17 1998 - SAPA

FORMER SECURITY POLICEMEN TO TESTIFY IN CRADOCK FOUR CASE

Seven former security policemen who have applied for amnesty for the killing in 1985 of four United Democratic Front activists, will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Elizabeth next week.

Convicted murderer Eugene de Kock is among the seven who are due to testify before the commission's Amnesty Committee.

The other six are Eric Alexander Taylor, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Nicholas Janse van Rensburg, Harold Snyman, Johan Martin van Zyl and Hermanus Barend du Plessis, the TRC said in a statement on Tuesday.

Activists Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli - who after their deaths became known as the Cradock Four - were abducted while returning to Cradock from a meeting in Port Elizabeth.

They were allegedly taken to Olifantshoek Pass and later to Port Elizabeth, where they were assaulted and killed. Their bodies were found on June 27, 1985, in the burnt-out remains of the vehicle in which they had been travelling.

Three security policemen - a Sgt Faku, Sgt Mgoduka and one Sakati - who allegedly took part in the murder of the activists, were later killed in a car bomb blast at Motherwell in 1989.

Two inquests were held following the killing of the Cradock activists.

During the second inquest in 1994, evidence was led which pointed to the involvement of the then South African Defence Force in the killings. The evidence related to a signal which was allegedly sent by Col Lourens du Plessis, recommending the "permanent removal" from society of the activists.

However, the court was unable to make a finding, on the basis of evidence before it at the time, as to who was responsible for the killing.

The Amnesty Committee panel will be chaired by Judge Ronnie Pillay. George Bizos SC will appear for the victims' next of kin, while Cobus Booyens will represent the applicants. The hearing is due to start at 10h00 at Centenary Hall, Ntshekisa Street in Port Elizabeth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 17 1998 - SAPA

PW ALLOCATED R1,6 MILLION TO FUND TRC SUBMISSION

Former state president PW Botha had been allocated about R1,6 million to fund his submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday.

Briefing parliament's finance committee on the adjustments estimate budget, Manuel said that after lengthy debate in Cabinet it had also been decided to allocate R549000 to fund privileges for former president FW de Klerk. This money would be used to pay for two staff members, a travel allowance, telephone services and office equipment.

The allocations were queried by African National Congress MP Rob Davies, who called for clarity on the privileges afforded to both former presidents.

The adjustments estimate budget enables Parliament to approve additional funds to those already allocated in the main Budget.

State expenditure director-general Cassim Gassiep described how the fiscus had clamped down on departments requesting more funds.

Of the R1,29 billion applied for, only R472 million had been allocated, he said. The South African National Defence Force, for example, had asked for an extra R355 million, but this was refused.

Manuel said Cabinet's treasury committee took into account five criterion when deciding whether to allocate extra funds, as laid out in the Treasury Act, but the key was whether the expenditure was unforeseen and unavoidable.

Negotiations between the national and provincial governments for a slice of the R1,5 billion, set aside in the adjustments estimate budget, would start this week.

Manuel said he was concerned provinces were not doing enough to collect their own revenues.

Provinces were wary of impending legislation which would allow them to impose a surcharge on personal income tax, he said.

Those needing the extra revenue the most could ultimately do themselves more harm if they imposed higher rates of tax, as they could scare off taxpayers from wanting to live there.

Finance director-general Maria Ramos said it was not foreseen that the increase in the budget deficit, from four percent to 4,3 percent, would affect debt servicing costs.

Government had revised its inflation forecasts for 1997/8 to about eight percent, she said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 18 1998 - SAPA

TRC LAST CHANCE FOR WHITES TO DEAL WITH GUILT: TUTU

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday made an impassioned plea to white South Africans to accept the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a last opportunity to deal with their burden of guilt about the past.

Addressing the Press Gallery Association in Parliament, Tutu called on whites to acknowledge the "dastardly things" that were done to the majority in the past.

The TRC, which he chaired, offered whites an opportunity to join all the country's people in dealing with the past together. He warned that the opportunity would not come around again.

"I feel for you white people - if you reject the TRC you will carry your burden of guilt to your graves ... the truth will come out, even if it comes out in your children.

"You have an opportunity now to say `we are sorry' and the onus will then be on the black people ... and most will forgive you."

It seemed there were many Afrikaners who still had a great deal of nostalgia about the past.

"They still long for the time when they were running the show," Tutu said, warning it would never return.

He was deeply saddened by what appeared to be an admiration among Afrikaners for the way in which former president P W Botha had defied the TRC.

"I get the feeling many people were thinking that this is the kind of man we need to lead us," he said.

He denied claims that the TRC was trying to humiliate PW Botha and Afrikaners in general. The TRC could have subpoenaed Botha in 1996 but did not so.

Instead he had begged Botha to cooperate but the former president had taken 12 months to supply written answers to questions put to him.

President Nelson Mandela had offered to accompany Botha to the TRC hearings, but this had not persuaded him to attend, Tutu said.

Just as the fight against apartheid had united blacks in South Africa, Afrikaners were looking for a common enemy to create unity among themselves. He believed they had identified the TRC as just such an enemy.

He again singled out Die Burger and Rapport as newspapers intent on discrediting the TRC and impeding the healing process in the country. He accused the newspapers of telling lies about the TRC and challenged them to take him to court for saying so.

Tutu said he had spent many years of his life working towards reconciliation and had even been personally attacked and villified among the black community for some of his actions towards this end. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 18 1998 - SAPA

FREEDOM FRONT, DEMOCRATIC PARTY ROUND ON TUTU'S SPEECH ON TRC

The Freedom Front on Wednesday said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission should rather examine itself than criticise Afrikaners for their indifference towards the commission.

Freedom Front justice spokesman Advocate Rosier de Ville was reacting to a speech by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town on Wednesday in which he made an impassioned plea to white South Africans to accept the commission as a last opportunity to deal with their burden of guilt about the past.

Addressing the Press Gallery Association in Parliament, Tutu also said there were many Afrikaners who still had a great deal of nostalgia about the past and admired the way in which former president PW Botha had defied the commission.

De Ville said if the commission had pursued its work objectively, Afrikaners would have shown a greater readiness to take part in its activities.

Instead, the commission's work had on various occasions degenerated into a witchhunt against Afrikaners, De Ville said. He singled out the PW Botha affair as a case in point.

In its reaction, the Democratic Party said Tutu did not serve the truth and reconciliation process well by blaming Afrikaners for discrediting the TRC and telling white South Africans that the TRC was their chance to repent.

DP spokeswoman Dene Smuts said gross human rights violations, on both sides, formed the subject of the TRC - "not who was right and who was wrong, but what went wrong".

"The legacy of security systems on both sides who became a law unto themselves and spawned criminals is all around us now," she said.

"All of us will sort the problems out together when the TRC is long gone, because it is human nature to sink to depravity but also to rise to reconciliation."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Feb 19 - SAPA

TUTU AN ENEMY OF AFRIKANERS: CP

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu is an "absolute enemy" of the Afrikaner, says the Conservative Party.

On Thursday it rejected as ridiculous his call on Afrikaners to accept the TRC as a vehicle to unburden their guilt about the past.

"Tutu's outburst has confirmed his bias against whites. He is an absolute enemy of whites, and Afrikaners in particular," CP spokesman Pieter Aucamp said in a statement in Pretoria.

He adjured Tutu to not forget that the lives of many people were destroyed by landmine and bomb explosions during the apartheid years.

"Whether Tutu likes it or not, the Afrikaner rejects the TRC. We don't have to apologise for having built South Africa into a first-world country, where crime was under control," Aucamp said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 19 - SAPA

MANDELA SHOULD NOT PLACATE RACISTS: PAC

President Nelson Mandela was on Thursday criticised by the Pan Africanist Congress for needlessly trying to placate white racists and for pandering to their dubious fears.

It was reacting to Mandela's offer to accompany former state president PW Botha to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"If it is true that the president has made this offer, it would be a demonstration of contempt for the feelings of all the people who lost their loved ones during the struggle against apartheid..."

The offer fell within the context of the ANC's and TRC's unfortunate attitude of needlessly placating white racists and for pandering to their dubious fears, the PAC said.

It did not believe reconciliation could be forced from outside.

"But President Mandela has been bending over backwards - to the annoyance of many Africans - in trying to bring recalcitrant racists such as Botha into the net of reconciliation."

On Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's recent statement that the state had paid R1,6 million in legal fees for Botha's TRC matter, it said: "We cannot understand how Mr PW Botha could be bankrolled... when nothing was given to freedom fighters, who, unlike Botha, are willing to ask for amnesty."

It also criticised a Cabinet decision to pay former state president FW de Klerk R540,000 to cover staff, travel and telephone costs.

Such gestures to racist oppressors were not only a travesty of justice, but an insult to the historically oppressed people in South Africa, the PAC said.

"Our children cannot attend school and our teachers are retrenched because the government says there is no money, yet large sums are given to oppressors as a reward for having got away from facing responsibiilty for their apartheid crimes.

"Nobody has a right to use our hard-earned taxes to pay our oppressors."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PARLIAMENT Feb 19 - SAPA

TUTU TRYNG TO DIVERT TRC'S OWN CREDIBILIY CRISIS: NP

Archbishop Desmond Tutu's call for Afrikaners to apologise for the past was a ploy to divert attention from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's own credibility crisis, the National Party said on Thursday.

TRC chairman Tutu this week made an emotional appeal to whites and particularly Afrikaners not to reject the commission, but to use it to deal with the guilt of the past.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Thursday that Tutu's "outburst" had surprised him because political leaders, including former NP leader FW de Klerk, had already appeared before the commission and apologised for the mistakes of the past.

He said it appeared Tutu was dealing with the commission's credibility crisis by trying to transfer the blame. He warned that attempts to apportion collective guilt on whites and Afrikaners for what happened in the past could only lead to friction in the country.

"Individuals must be called to account for their actions and apply for amnesty in the required way," he said.

"The attacks on the credibility of the TRC came about as a result of the unlawful way in which it granted amnesty to 37 ANC leaders," he said, adding that the NP would continue to call on the TRC to account for its decision.

He said the TRC had agreed to take the matter to court to obtain a declaratory order, but if they did not, the NP would approach the courts for a ruling.

Van Schalkwyk said he was also concerned that Tutu's remarks this week were pre-empting the TRC's final report, because he was making judgments about who was to blame before all the evidence had been considered.

Earlier this week, Tutu told the Press Gallery Association that the TRC offered whites and particularly Afrikaners a final chance to deal with their burden of guilt.

He warned that if whites did not make use of this opportunity, their guilt for supporting a system that committed dastardly acts would be passed on to their children.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 20 - SAPA

PW TO PLEAD IN COURT ON MONDAY

Former state president PW Botha is to appear in the George Regional Court on Monday to plead to charges relating to his defiance of a subpoena to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to explain the workings of the former state security council.

He is expected to plead not guilty, according to legal sources close to him.

The 9am hearing is a sequel to one on January 23, when the Western Cape's chief magistrate, Victor Lugaju, postponed the matter to February 23 for the plea hearing and to April 14 for trial.

Monday's hearing is expected to be short.

Botha is not expected to hold a press conference in the court room - as he did after his January court appearance - according to Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen of the South African Police Services, who is co-ordinating security arrangements.

Only the local branch of the African National Congress had applied for permission to demonstrate outside the court building on Monday (no right-wing groups have applied), but the necessary security arrangements would be in force again.

The clamour from local and international media for seats in the court room had also been considerably less this time, Holtzhausen said on Friday.

- The Freedom Front, among right-wing groupings, have indicated they will turn out again to demonstrate at the trial in April.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 20 - SAPA

IFP SAYS TUTU IS BLAMING WHITES FOR ILLS OF THE PAST

The Inkatha Freedom Party criticised Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday, accusing him of blaming the white community, and Afrikaners in particular, for the ills of the past.

IFP spokesman on justice MA Mzizi, citing statements Tutu made to the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association on Wednesday evening, called for the abolition of the TRC, which is nearing the end of its work.

"The IFP notes with concern the recent statement made by... Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in which he attempts to throw the blame for the events of the past entirely on South Africa's white community in general, and on Afrikaners in particular," Mzizi said in a statement.

Tutu called on whites to acknowledge the "dastardly things" that were done to the majority of South Africans in the past.

"I feel for you white people - if you reject the TRC you will carry your burden of guilt to your graves... the truth will come out, even if it comes out in your children," he said.

Mzizi said Tutu was whitewashing the role of others during the apartheid era.

"If the intention of the TRC is... to bring about reconciliation in South Africa by developing understanding of the past, it seems counter-productive for the TRC to be targeting one group of the country's citizens as uniquely guilty while, by implication, absolving all others from blame," Mzizi said.

"The TRC, which has done little to repair relationships among South Africa's various peoples, seems to have reached its nadir. It should be abolished now."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN 20 Feb - SAPA

AMNESTY REVIEW TO BE DELIVERED TO ANC 37 `SOON': TRC

Documents dealing with a review of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's decision to grant blanket amnesty to 37 African National Congress members would soon be delivered to the applicants' attorney, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Friday.

Speaking at a media conference in Cape Town, Tutu said the TRC had received the draft papers from its lawyers and would now submit them to Wim Trengove SC, who was dealing with the case.

He said the TRC would approach the High Court for a declaratory order as to whether the Amnesty Committee had acted legally in granting amnesty to the ANC members.

"We feared at first that we would encounter logistical problems in serving the papers on the 37 applicants, who are all over the country and some are even overseas," he said.

This problem had been solved, however, because one attorney was now dealing with all 37 applications and the papers could all be served on him.

The decision to grant blanket amnesty to the 37 ANC members caused a furore when it was announced last year, and political leaders, including National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk and Democratic Party leader Tony Leon, warned that it would affect the credibility of the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN 20 Feb - SAPA

PLANS FOR NEW INSTITUTE TO REPLACE TRC PUT ON HOLD

Plans for a proposed new institute to replace the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been put on hold because of a potential conflict of interest with the existing body, deputy TRC chairman Dr Alex Boraine said on Friday.

Speaking at media conference in Cape Town, Boraine said it had been decided that it would be unwise for the proposed institute to be formed during the life of the present TRC.

The decision sprang from the recommendations of a sub-committee which had been appointed to investigate whether there was a potential clash of interests between the TRC and the proposed new body.

The proposed new body - to be known as the Institute for Change, Memory and Reconciliation - is the brainchild of Prof Charles Villa-Vincencio, head of the TRC's research unit.

A number of prominent South African figures have agreed to serve on the institute's board, including Constitutional Court Judge Richard Goldstone, the Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongkulu Ndungane, and Leon Wessels, former deputy chairman of the Constitutional Assembly.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu has agreed to be the institute's patron while Boraine has also been approached to join the new body.

Denzil Potgieter, who headed the sub committee appointed to investigate a possible clash of interest, said although it was deemed unwise for the initiative to continue while the TRC was still functional, the integrity of those involved was not in question.

Villa-Vincencio said at Friday's media conference that he had undertaken not to pursue the initiative until after the TRC had disbanded, at the end of July this year.

He said he would also refrain from any further fund raising during the lifespan of the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 20 - SAPA

TRC TO BE SUSPENDED AFTER JULY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to recommend to the justice ministry that it be put into a state of suspension when its deadline expires at the end of July this year.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said at a media conference in Cape Town on Friday that he had discussed with Justice Minister Dullar Omar how the TRC would cope with its outstanding business after the July 31 deadline.

The TRC is due to be dissolved, but the Amnesty Committee will continue hearing amnesty applications for some time after the expiry date.

Boraine said he had proposed that the TRC be suspended during that time, with the option of being reformed after the completion of the Amnesty committee's work.

He said the TRC as a whole had agreed to the proposal, which would now be officially given to Omar.

Boraine said the TRC offices would be closed down and members would not receive any benefits after July 31 this year.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Feb 20 - SAPA

INCOMPLETE PAC AMNESTY APPLICATIONS TO BE REJECTED: TRC

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday said it faced the unfortunate prospect of having to reject half of all amnesty applications received from people claiming allegiance to the Pan Africanist Congress.

"Of the approximately 260 applications received from the PAC, 132 provide only codenames and political affiliations of applicants," said TRC spokesman John Allen.

"No real names or specifics of acts in respect of which amnesty is sought are given, nor is there sufficient information to enable the commission to establish further particulars without further help from the party and/or individuals," Allen said in a statement.

He said if further particulars were not provided to the amnesty committee expeditiously, the applications - being incomplete - would have to be rejected in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

Allen said a letter was sent to the PAC secretary-general, Mike Muendane, on November 26 last year. It noted that a previous attempt to secure the necessary particulars had been unsuccessful, and urged him to help the commission by providing the outstanding information.

The letter included the full list of amnesty applicants by code name, and in addition, a list of the incomplete applications was handed over to an office bearer of the party.

"A reminder was sent on January 21 this year, with a copy of the November letter. To date we have received neither replies to nor acknowledgements of either letter," said the TRC spokesman.

In terms of Section 20 of the TRC Act, an amnesty applicant has to make out a case for amnesty, including a full disclosure of the act(s) for which amnesty was sought. If disclosure was not made, the Amnesty Committee had no option but to refuse the application in terms of Section 19 (3) of the Act.

Allen said the commission was grateful to the PAC for its co-operation in other matters, and Friday's meeting noted that the amnesty committee had resolved to make a final appeal to the party to ensure applications from their members met the requirements of the Act.

The other applications from PAC members had been identified as hearable matters and were being prepared for hearings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Feb 20 - SAPA

IFP RESEARCHER TO APPEAR BEFORE TRC

A researcher for the Inkatha Freedom Party, Nicky Britz, is to appear before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on March 3, a TRC spokesman said in a statement on Friday.

Britz was originally subpoenaed before an investigative inquiry on January 20 but provided the TRC with a doctor's certificate and asked for a postponement.

TRC spokesman John Allen said she would assist with investigations into the deaths of 422 IFP office-bearers who died in KwaZulu-Natal violence.

The list has been under investigation for nine months.

At a meeting with the IFP in September last year, party secretary general MZ Khumalo instructed Britz, the alleged compiler of the list, to provide the TRC with further details to enable full investigation.

In spite of repeated requests, they have never been forthcoming.

The list names the office-bearers but in only some instances gives details of the victim's position in the IFP, the date and place of the killing, the case number and remarks on the investigation.

Allen aid, "Further investigations are continuing because the allegations about the killings are an important element in the history of violence in KwaZulu-Natal."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 22 1998 - SAPA-DPA

MANDELA IN LAST-MINUTE PLEA TO BOTHA FAMILY

South African President Nelson Mandela met the family of apartheid-era president PW Botha last week in a final attempt to secure Botha's co-operation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a Sunday paper reported.

But neither Mandela's office nor the Botha family would disclose the outcome of their discussions, the Sunday Independent report said.

Botha is to appear in the George Regional Court on Monday to plead on charges of defying a subpoena of the truth commission which is investigating human rights violations during the apartheid years of racial segregation.

In December the TRC laid charges against the 82-year-old Botha because he failed to appear in Cape Town at a hearing for which he was subpoenaed to testify on the activities of the former state security council.

Botha chaired the council at the height of the apartheid regime's crackdown on political opponents in the late 1980s.

Under national law, anybody who has been subpoenaed but does not appear before the commission without sufficient reason faces a fine, up to two years in jail or both.

If Botha - as expected - pleads not guilty on Monday, the trial will formally open on April 14.

The meeting between Mandela and the Botha family became known after disclosures by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that Mandela had offered to accompany Botha pesonally to the commission's hearings in an attempt to change the ex-president's stance, the Sunday Independent reported.

Botha used his last court appearance on January 23 for a lengthy speech in the courtroom where he said that he was not ashamed of his actions to free South Africa of racial discrimination. He was also not prepared to apologise.

He said institutions and people like the TRC and certain parties had conveniently forgotten about the deeds of terror which were perpetrated by those trying to destroy order in South Africa.

Botha said he believed that South Africa currently was on a most dangerous path and heading for an abyss.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 22 1998 - SAPA

PAC APPEALS TO TRC TO BE PATIENT WITH ITS CADRES

The Pan Africanist Congress on Sunday appealed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be patient with its cadres who have applied for amnesty.

PAC secretary-general Mike Muendane said, unlike former state president PW Botha, who was being helped financially, the PAC had to travel countrywide to consult with their cadres.

The plea follows a TRC appeal to the party to provide it with full details of its cadres who have not disclosed all the necessary information in their amnesty applications.

The TRC on Friday said it faced an unfortunate prospect of having to reject half of all amnesty applications received from people claiming allegiance to the PAC.

"Of the approximately 260 applications received from the PAC, 132 provide only codenames and political affiliations of applicants," TRC spokesman John Allen said in a statement.

He said a letter was sent to Muendane on November 26 last year. It noted that a previous attempt to secure the necessary particulars had been unsuccessful, and urged him to help the commission by providing the outstanding information.

Muendane on Sunday said if they were to persuade their disillusioned members to continue participating in the TRC process, they required the commission's assistance.

He said the TRC had given Botha R1,6 million for financial assistance, while the PAC needed far less than that to persuade its cadres to participate in the amnesty process.

Muendane reiterated claims by his party that the commission was biased against PAC's former military wing, Apla.

The prejudice against the PAC members had led them to lose faith in the TRC process.

Muendane said the cadres did not believe they had a chance of being treated justly by the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 23 1998 - SAPA

GONIWE KILLED BECAUSE OF HIS SKILL AS ACTIVIST; TRC HEARS

Security police killed United Democratic Front activist Matthew Goniwe in 1985 to "cut off the head" of the forces causing chaos in the Eastern Cape at the time, the Truth and Reconciliation Comission heard on Monday.

Former security police captain Johann Martin van Zyl told the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth that police were desperate to stabilise black areas, which were being controlled by UDF structures.

He said Goniwe was identified as the most effective activist in the region and it was decided to eliminate him and his closest associates.

"We had to chop off the head of the destabilising forces in the area," Van Zyl said.

Van Zyl is one of seven former security policemen applying for amnesty for the 1985 murder of Goniwe and three other activists. The other six are Eric Taylor, Gerhardus Lotz, Hermanus du Plessis, Nicolas Janse van Rensburg, Eugene de Kock and Harold Snyman.

Snyman will not appear at the hearing becaue o serious ilnes.

The policemen are applying for amnesty for killing Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli, known as the Cradock Four, on the road between Port Elizabeth and Cradock in June 1985.

Van Zyl told the committee of the frustration experienced by police at the time at being unable to wrest control of township structures from street committees and peoples' courts.

He said chaos reigned in the areas both day and night and the police were unable to deal with the situation through the courts.

He said after discussing the matter with former security police General Nic van Rensburg, it was decided that the only way to stabilise the situation was to eliminate "Goniwe and his lieutenants".

He said the necessary plans were then made to ambush Goniwe on one of his many trips around the Eastern Cape area.

The hearing is continuing.

The amnesty committee is being chaired by Judge Ronnie Pillay and is expected to hear testimony over the next two weeks.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 23 1998 - SAPA

FORMER POLICE OFFICER WAS PUZZLED BY BOPAPE'S DEATH, TRC HEARS

A former police officer was puzzled by Mamelodi activist Stanley Bopape's death under electric shock torture in 1988, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

"I was puzzled. I could not believe he had died because of the electrical shocks we gave him," Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk testified in Pretoria.

"We only shocked him. We never assaulted him."

Van Niekerk said Bopape shook and jerked with each shock, but the activist never spoke.

"He did not say anything," Van Niekerk told the commission's amnesty committee sitting at Vista University in Mamelodi.

Police later learned that Bopape had been treated for a suspected heart condition. In an attempt to cover-up his death in detention, police claimed Bopape disappeared after escaping from custody.

Van Niekerk and nine other former policemen are seeking amnesty for offences arising from the death of Bopape, an activist of the then-banned African National Congress.

The applicants include retired police commissioner Johan van der Merwe.

Five of the 10 applicants are seeking amnesty for the killing of Bopape. They are Van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, and Constables Hendrik Mostert, Jacobus Engelbrecht and Johan du Preez.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, want amnesty for covering up Bopape's death in police detention.

Van Niekerk on Monday said Bopape, at the time chairman of the Mamelodi Civic Assocation, was arrested in Hillbrow, Johannesburg on June 9, 1988.

Police suspected he was involved in a group called Maponya, which was thought to be responsible for several bomb attacks in Pretoria.

These included a bomb explosion at a creche in Proes Street, and another at a Juicy Lucy restaurant in Vermeulen Street.

Van Niekerk said Bopape was transferred to John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg on June 10, where he was held under section 29 of the Internal Security Act.

On June 12 he was taken from his cell to the security branch offices on the 10th floor for questioning. Van Niekerk said Bopape refused to co-operate with the police and he Zeelie, Mostert and Engelbrecht decided "to give him a bit of a fright".

Van Niekerk said he agreed to a proposal that Bopape be subjected to electric shock treatment, adding the use of forceful methods to make people talk was not unusual in the police.

Bopape was tied to a chair.

"We wrapped the ends of the electrical wire in cloth to prevent any burning marks on his skin," Van Niekerk said.

The activist was shocked three times over a period of two to three minutes.

"Bopape was asked whether he had anything to say. But his head only fell forward. I immediately realised something was wrong."

Van Niekerk said they untied Bopape and Du Preez tried to administer emergency treatment.

"It was clear that Bopape was dead. Later we ascertained that he was earlier treated for a possible heart condition in hospital. We were not aware of this fact at the time."

Van Niekerk said he and the other policemen felt Bopape's death could have political consequences for the former government.

He then contacted General Erasmus, who was a brigadier at the time. Erasmus said he would take up the matter with police head office.

Bopape's body was wrapped in a blanket and locked in an office.

That afternoon, Erasmus told Van Niekerk and Zeelie that the security branch in the former Eastern Transvaal would dispose of the body.

"Erasmus also ordered us to conceal Bopape's death by faking an escape," Van Niekerk testified.

He said he and his four co-applicants delivered Bopape's body to Eastern Transvaal police officers at Bronkhortspruit that night.

The five policemen then returned to Johannesburg to plan Bopape's fake escape from De Deur near Vereeniging.

"False statements and information were compiled and passed on through head office and other branches," Van Niekerk said.

Photographs of Bopape were also released after the so-called escape.

A member of the public later "recognised" Bopape from his photograph and gave the police a statement.

"The officer who took that statement did not know that the escape was not genuine," Van Niekerk said.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 23 1998 - SAPA

SA NEEDS NEW INSTRUMENT FOR RECONCILIATION: VAN SCHALKWYK

Church leaders should begin a process which could eventually lead to reconciliation among South Africans, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had failed to achieve this, National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday.

"I don't see any sign that the TRC has really achieved anything with regard to reconciliation," he said after visiting the District Six museum in Cape Town.

The TRC was no longer the appropriate instrument to achieve reconciliation as it had lost credibility with a large number of South Africans.

"Maybe religious leaders, political leaders and other leaders in the community should start a process to discuss what instrument we would like to bring about that can achieve the vital aim of reconcilation," Van Schalkwyk said.

This process should be preceded by talks among church leaders, as they had played a vital role a few years ago in the process leading up to the peace accord.

Van Schalkwyk, who was accompanied by his wife Suzette and two senior coloured NP members - Abe Williams and Kobus Dowry - said he had visited the museum in his capacity as NP leader and leader of the opposition.

The museum commemorates the forced removals which took place in District Six after the suburb was proclaimed a white group areas in 1966 by the then National Party.

Van Schalkwyk, who a few months ago visited the Vroue Monument in Bloemfontein, and who also plans to visit Robben Island, said: "I think its important to know the history of our country and especially to understand its lessons".

"The lesson for me, where we see a lot of new racism or reverse racism in South Africa, is that racism can never be good and that it will always end in things like District Six."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 23 1998 - SAPA

CLASH BETWEEN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS OVER GONIWE REVEALED

Former National Party education minister Sam de Beer recommended that Matthew Goniwe be reappointed to his position as a teacher in Cradock at the time police were plotting to kill the UDF activist, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

This apparent conflict between the two departments in President PW Botha's government in 1985 emerged durng n amnety application by former security policemen Johan van Zyl in Port Elizabeth.

Van Zyl has admitted planning and taking part in the attack in which United Democratic Front activists Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were stabbed, shot and their bodies burnt.

Six other policemen, Eric Taylor, Gerhardus Lotz, Hermanus du Plessis, Nicolas Janse van Rensburg, Harold Snyman and Eugene de Kock, have applied for amnesty for killing the Cradock Four, as they became known.

George Bizos, who is appearing for the families of the dead activists, on Monday quoted from an official document stating that Goniwe should be reappointed to his post. Bizos said then education minister Sam de Beer had considered Goniwe's reappointment as a key to putting an end to the unrest in the Cradock area.

At the same time senior policemen in Port Elizabeth were planning to murder Goniwe, who was seen as the kingpin in UDF activities in the region.

Van Zyl said he as old by Snyman an Van Rensburg that the only solution to the desperate situation which prevailed in black areas in the region at the time was the elimination of "Goniwe and his lieutenants".

Van Zyl said he could not say who gave the order to kill Goniwe, but he carried out the attack on the basis that he believed Snyman and Van Rensburg would never have given the order without official sanction from police headquarters.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 23 1998 - SAPA

TRC MAY NEED MORE MONEY: OMAR

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission may have to approach the justice department for further funding to meet its legal costs, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Monday.

He was speaking during debate on the Adjustments Appropriation Bill, which provides for the TRC to receive an extra R29,425 million than was budgeted for in 1997/8.

Omar said the TRC's suggestion that it be put into a state of suspension when its deadline expires at the end of July this year was a possible option, in order to give its Amnesty Committee time to complete its work.

The TRC would submit its report to President Nelson Mandela in July as planned, and could then submit an addendum covering the committee's work.

The department had originally budgeted for the TRC to complete its work by July, but this would have to be reassessed.

Omar said in his view the TRC had done an outstanding job in promoting reconciliation.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine told a media conference on Friday he had proposed that the TRC be suspended in July, with the option of being reformed after the completion of the Amnesty Committee's work.

Boraine said the TRC offices would be closed down and members would not receive any benefits after July 31 this year.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 23 1998 - SAPA

TWO FORMER POLICEMEN TELL TRC ABOUT ACTIVIST BOPAPE'S DEATH

Two former policemen on Monday recounted their shock and surprise when they realised in June 1988 that they had killed Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape under torture.

"We knew we now had a problem," Constable Hendrik Mostert told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, who was the senior officer, testified that he was puzzled at Bopape's death.

"I could believe not that he had died from the electrical shocks. We only shocked him. We never assaulted him."

Van Niekerk said Bopape was subjected to three electrical shocks.

Before being tortured, Bopape was tied to a chair to prevent him from getting hurt, Van Niekerk said.

Van Niekerk, Mostert and eight other former policemen are seeking amnesty for offences arising from the death of Bopape of the African National Congress.

The applicants include retired police commissioner Johan van der Merwe.

Police initially claimed Bopape escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging by police.

Five of the 10 applicants are seeking amnesty for Bopape's death. They are Van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, and Constables Hendrik Mostert, Jacobus Engelbrecht and Johan du Preez.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, are seeking amnesty for covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death.

The Bopape family opposed the applications, contending that the former policemen had not disclosed all the facts.

Van Niekerk on Monday said Bopape, at the time chairman of the Mamelodi Civic Assocation, was arrested in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, on June 9, 1988.

Police suspected he was involved in a group which was behind several Pretoria bomb attacks in the 1980s.

These included a bomb explosion at a creche in Proes Street and another at a Juicy Lucy in Vermeulen Street.

Van Niekerk said Bopape was on June 10 transferred to John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg, where he was held under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act.

On June 12, a Sunday, he was taken from his cell to the security branch offices on the 10th floor for questioning.

Van Niekerk said Bopape earlier in the morning refused to co-operate with police. When he continued to do so, Van Niekerk, Zeelie, Mostert and Engelbrecht decided "to give him a bit of a fright".

Van Niekerk said he agreed to a proposal that Bopape be subjected to electrical shocks. He said the use of force to make people talk used to be commonplace in the police.

"We wrapped the ends of the electrical wire in cloth to prevent any burning marks on his skin," Van Niekerk said.

The cloth was wet to increase the severity of the shock.

Van Niekerk and Mostert said three shocks over a period of two to three minutes were applied.

"Bopape was asked whether he had anything to say. But his head only fell forward. I immediately realised something was wrong," Van Niekerk said."

He said they untied Bopape and Du Preez tried emergency treatment.

"It was clear that Bopape was dead. Later we ascertained that he was earlier treated for a possible heart condition in Princess Clinic."

VanNiekerk sad he and his colleagues felt Bopape's death could have political consequences for the former government.

He then contacted Erasmus, who was a brigadier at the time. Erasmus said he would take up the matter with police head office.

Bopape's body was covered with a blanket and locked in an office.

In the afternoon Erasmus told Van Niekerk and Zeelie that the security branch of former Eastern Transvaal would dispose of the body.

"Erasmus also ordered us to conceal Bopape's death by faking an esape," Van Niekerk said.

He said he and his four co-applicants delivered Bopape's body to Eastern Transvaal police officers at Bronkhorstspruit that night.

The five applicants returned to Johannesburg to plan Bopape's fake escape from De Deur near Vereeniging.

"False statements and information were compiled and passed on through head office and other branches," Van Niekerk said.

Photographs of Bopape were also released after the so-called escape.

A member of the public later apparently recognised Bopape from his photograpgh and gave the police a statement.

"The officer who took that statement did not know that the escape was not genuine," Van Niekerk said. "This was a coincidence in our favour."

Van Niekerk said he did not know what caused Bopape's death.

Gys Rautenbach, for the Bopape family, said he would submit that Bopape had actually been treated for a sinus problem in the Princess Clinic.

Van Niekerk replied that he would not dispute this.

He denied that the electrical shocks were more severe and extensive than the applicants said. Van Niekerk said he felt guilty about Bopape's death. "We never wanted death. That is all I can tell you," he said.

The hearing at Vista University in Mamelodi continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 23 1998 - SAPA

POLICE KILLED GONIWE WHEN MINISTER WANTED HIM REINSTATED

Police arranged to eliminate Matthew Goniwe, an excellent school teacher and popular figure in Cradock, because of his status as an efficient activist, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

Goniwe and three others were stopped while travelling between Port Elizabeth and Cradock, and were killed in June 1985.

Former policeman Johan Martin van Zyl told the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth the decision was taken to eliminate "Goniwe and his lieutenants" because they were deemed to be responsibile for the situation in the area at the time. He said the were desperate at not being able to implement a Joint Management Centre system, and were losing ground to street committees.

He said Goniwe had been identified as the most effective activist in the region and it was decided to eliminate him and his closest associates.

"We had to chop off the head of the destabilising forces in the area," Van Zyl said.

Van Zyl is one of seven former security policemen applying for amnesty for the 1985 murder of Goniwe and three other activists. The other six policemen are Eric Alexander Taylor, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Hermanus Barend du Plessis, Nicolas Janse van Rensburg, Eugene de Kock - and Harold Snyman, who will not appear at the hearing because of serious illness.

The policemen are applying for amnesty for killing Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli, known as the Cradock Four.

George Bizos, SC, for families of the deceased, produced documentation that showed Sam de Beer, the National Party government's education minster, at the time recommended that Goniwe, who had been suspended from his position as a school teacher, be reinstated. De Beer saw this as the solution to the unrest that was troubling the Cradock area.

"At the same time you and your group of murderers decided to go ahead and do your own thing and kill Goniwe," Bizos said to Van Zyl.

Van Zyl denied this, and insisted he had received orders from Snyman which he believed had been passed down from higher levels of command.

Bizos also put it to Van Zyl that officials in the local education department considered Goniwe an excellent mathematics teacher and believed he should not have been suspended from duty. Van Zyl replied that police had identified him as being behind the activities which were destabilising the Eastern Cape region.

Bizos also put it to Van Zyl that one of the Cradock Four, Sicelo Mhlauli, had not been activist at all but was a school teacher in Oudtshoorn and had been merely taking a lift back to his home town of Cradock.

Bizos said that in transcripts of wiretaps made on Goniwe's telephone, Mhlauli's name was never mentioned in conversations about UDF activities. Bizos said the Cradock security police commander Major Eric Winter had also never seen or heard of Mhlauli before the killings. Van Zyl replied that Mhlauli was also an activist who was planning to implement Goniwe's plans in Oudtshoorn, and his killing was therefore justified.

He said chaos reigned in the areas both day and night and the police were unable to deal with the situation through the courts.

He said that after discussing the matter with former security police general Nic van Rensburg it was decided that the only was to stabilise the situation was to eliminate "Goniwe and his lieutenants".

He said the necessary plans were then made to ambush Goniwe during one of the many trips he made around the Eastern Cape. The car the men were in was stopped and the four occupants were handcuffed and taken to a dark spot near Port Elizabeth.

Van Zyl said he took Mkonto in the back of his vehicle with the intention of stabbing him to death. Mkonto had resisted and during the scuffle he shot the activist, first in the body and later in the head.

He then ordered a Sergeant Faku to stab the dead man and to set the body on fire. Van Zyl said the plan was to make the killing look like an attack by vigilantes or Azapo (Azanian People's Organisation) supporters.

The amnesty committee is chaired by Judge Ronnie Pillay and is expected to hear testimony on the Cradock Four over the next two weeks. The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 23 1998 - SAPA

VLOK DENIES COVERING UP ACTIVIST'S DEATH

Former Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok on Monday denied involvement in the 1988 cover-up of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape's death.

In a statement read by his lawyer to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria, he said he only recently learned the truth about Bopapa's disappearance.

Ten former policemen, including retired commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are seeking amnesty for offences arising from the death of Bopape on June 12, 1988. olice initally claimed that Bopape escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging by the police.

It later emerged that he died in police detention after he was subjected to electrical shocks

Louis Visser, for Vlok, said his client's (earlier) statement to the TRC dealt with a reply he gave in Parliament in 1990. Vlok at the time said Bopape had escaped, and that the police were searching for him.

In his statement on Monday, Vlok said he had acquired this information through normal departmental channels.

He only realised it was not correct when he learned of the amnesty applications of the police who had been involved.

Van der Merwe and two other former generals are seeking amnesty for their role in covering up Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 24 1998 - SAPA

SECURITY POLICE HAD NO RECORD OF MAN MURDERED WITH GONIWE

Police had no official record of one of the Cradock Four, who were murdered in 1985 because they were regarded as agitators, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

The committee is hearing an application for amnesty by seven policemen who were involved in the killingof activists Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli in 1985.

George Bizos, acting for the families of the Cradock Four, produced evidence at the hearing showing that no security police file existed for Mahlauli, a schoolteacher in Oudtshoorn.

Former security policeman Johan Martin van Zyl, who has admitted planning and taking part in the killing of the Cradock Four, told the hearing there may not have been an official file but an informal one existed.

Bizos suggested to Van Zyl that Mhlauli was never politically involved but was killed to conceal the fact that the operation was carried out by the police.

Van Zyl denied this and said he was convinced Mhlauli was an activist.

Bizos also cross-examined Van Zyl at length about who gave him the order to carry out the killings.

Van Zyl has said the instruction was passed on to him by General Nic van Rensburg, Colonel Hermanus du Plessis and Colonel Harold Snyman by way of an order to "make a plan" about Goniwe and his lieutenants.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 24 1998 - SAPA

CONSTABLE TELLS TRC HE WAS AGAINST DISPOSAL OF BOPAPE'S BODY

A former police constable took part in a 1988 plot, against his will, to secretly dispose of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape's body, he told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday.

"I did not think it was right thing to do. It was against my principles," Hendrik Mostert testified before the TRC's amnesty committee in Pretoria.

He said he did not raise his objections, claiming this would not have been appropriate in the circumstances.

"It would have been foolish of me to disagree," Mostert said.

He and nine other former policemen are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death in detention.

Bopape died at John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg on June 12, 1988 after police tortured him with with electric shocks.

Police suspected Bopape was part of a group responsible for several bomb attacks in Pretoria in the 1980s.

In an attempt to cover up his death, police got rid of Bopape's body and claimed the activist escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Mostert on Tuesday said he helped load Bopape's body into the boot of a police vehicle on the night of his death.

The body was then delivered to former Eastern Transaal policemen at Bronkhorstspruit.

Mostert said he was never told what happened to Bopape's body but when he applied for amnesty he found out that it was thrown into a river.

Earlier in the day, Mostert testified that senior police officers tacitly approved the use of torture to make detainees talk during the 1980s.

"As long as you got the information," he said.

Mostert said the aim of such interrogations was to prevent more bomb attacks, which were commonplace at the time.

"Seeing people torn to shreds in a bomb explosion made one realised how important is was to get information. "That does something to you as a person."

Mostert said Bopape was questioned in an attempt to get information which would help police pre-empt more bomb attacks.

He said the decision to shock Bopape was taken after the activist refused to co-operate.

According to earlier evidence, Bopape died after he was shocked three times over a period of two to three minutes.

Reiterating that Bopae's death was unexpected, Mostert said the deceased had appeared to be healthy. "There were no signs that he had been assaulted earlier."

The amnesty applicants include retired police commissioner Johan van der Merwe

Five of the 10 applicants are seeking amnesty for the killing of Bopape. They are Mostert, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, and constables Jacobus Engelbrecht and Johan du Preez.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, want amnesty for covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death.

The Bopape family is opposing the applications, contending that the former policemen have not disclosed all the facts about Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 24 1998 - SAPA

KOEVOET POLICEMEN PLANNED CRADOCK FOUR KILLING

The killing of the activists known as the Cradock Four in 1985 was planned and carried out by a former Koevoet policeman who was tranferred to the Eastern Cape shortly before the operation, the Truth Commission's amnesty committee heard in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

Johan van Zyl, who along with six other policemen is applying for amnesty for the murder of the Cradock Four, told the hearing he was transferred to the police security branch in Port Elizabeth from the Koevoet unit in Ovamboland in early 1985.

Van Zyl has admitted planning and carrying the police operation in which Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli were shot and stabbed to death in June 1985.

It was also revealed during the hearing that another Koevoet officer, Major Eric Winter, was transferred to Cradock at the same time.

George Bizos, acting for the families of the Cradock Four, put it to Van Zyl that Koevoet members, who had a reputation for being ruthless, were sent to the Eastern Cape to deal with the unrest in the area.

Van Zyl disputed this and said he had asked to be transferred. He added that Winter played no part in the operation in which Goniwe was killed.

Van Zyl was later asked if he had ever told Colonel Eugene de Kock, who was in Koevoet at the time, about the Goniwe killings.

Van Zyl replied that he could not remember discussing it with De Kock, but denied ever saying that he personally shot Goniwe.

De Kock, new serving a life sentence for murder, is also applying for amnesty for his part in covering up the Goniwe killings. In a statement he made to the committee he said Van Zyl had discusssed the incident in some detail with him.

De Kock, who is at the amnesty committee hearing in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, is due to testify later in the two-week hearing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 24 1998 - SAPA

POLICEMAN REVEALS ACTIVIST'S "LACK OF PERFORMANCE" TO TRC

Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape's comrades were apparently dissatisfied with his performance, according to a statement handed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria on Tuesday.

The document also indicated there was no information linking Bopape to terrorism in Johannesburg before his 1988 death in detention.

He was arrested in Hillbrow on June 9 of that year and died three days later after being subjected to electrical shocks.

Police initially claimed Bopape escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging. They secretly disposed of his body.

Ten former policemen, including retired commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death.

The statement handed in on Tuesday was signed by Captain Cornelius Bezuidenhout of the Krugersdorp police.

Gys Rautenbach, acting for the Bopape family, said it was obtained on Sunday. A second statement was signed on the same day by former policemen Johannes Kleynhans, also from Krugersdorp.

They indicated that Bopape was arrested for at most having had a telephone conversation with Elen Mogale, Rautenbach said. Mogale was linked to a group accused of several bomb attacks in the 1980s.

Harry Prinsloo, acting on behalf of some of the applicants, said he did not accept the contents of these statements.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller ruled that the statements would be regarded as evidence only after the two policemen were cross-examined.

Bopape was suspected to be linked to a group which was at the time standing trial for being behind several bomb attacks in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Bezuidenhout, who helped arrest Mogale, said she told police that Bopape was controlling a group in Johannesburg.

"There was no specific information which linked him to deeds of terrorism in Johannesburg.

"Further questioning of Mogale revealed that there was dissatisfaction because Bopape was not actively enough involved," Bezuidenhout said.

He said there were also no explosive devices found in Bopape's Johannesburg flat when he was arrested.

Earlier in the day former Constable Hendrik Mostert testified that he unwillingly took part in the plot to dispose of Bopape's body.

"I did not think it was the right thing to do. It was against my principles."

Mostert said he did not voice his objections as this would not have been appropriate in the circumstances. "It would have been foolish of me to disagree."

Mostert said he helped load Bopape's body into the boot of a police vehicle on the night of his death.

It was then delivered to former Eastern Transvaal policemen at Bronkhorstspruit.

Mostert said he was never told what happened to Bopape's body.

When he applied for amnesty he learned that it was thrown into a river.

Asked about Bopape's torture, Mostert said senior police officers tacitly approved the use of force to make people talk during the 1980s. "As long as you got the information," he said.

Mostert said the aim of such interrogations was to prevent more bomb attacks, which were commonplace at the time.

"Seeing people torn to shreds in a bomb explosion made one realise how important is was to get information," he said. "That does something to you as a person."

Five of the 10 applicants are seeking amnesty for killing Bopape. They are Mostert, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, and Constables Jacobus Engelbrecht and Johan du Preez.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, seek amnesty for covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 24 1998 - SAPA

GONIWE AMNESTY HEARING TOLD OF KOEVOET'S ROLE IN EASTERN CAPE

Policemen from the paramilitary Koevoet unit were moved to the Eastern Cape during the height of political upheaval in the province in 1985, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Tuesday.

The amnesty committee is hearing applications from seven policemen involved in the killing in 1985 of four activists later known as the Cradock Four.

One of the policemen, Johan Martin van Zyl, a hardened bush fighter, told the committee he had combat experience in the former Rhodesia, Namibia, Mozambique and Angola. He said he was transferred to Port Elizabeth from the Koevoet unit in Ovamboland in early 1985.

He admitted to planning and carrying out the operation to kill Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Secelo Mhlali in June that year.

Van Zyl said he left the police in 1986 to join the SA Defence Force's special forces operating in Angola and Mozambique.

Another Koevoet officer, Major Eric Winter, was also transferred to the Eastern Cape at that time to become commander of the security police in Cradock.

Van Zyl denied that Winter took part in the Goniwe operation because he drank regularly and was not suitable for the operation.

However, Eugene de Kock, former Vlakplaas commander now serving life sentences for murder, claimed Van Zyl told him Winter was present. De Kock, who has applied for amnesty for his part in trying to cover up the Goniwe killings, is due to testify later in the hearing.

In his statement to the committee, De Kock's account of the killing differs sharply in many respects from Van Zyl's version.

Van Zyl told the committee he personally shot Mkonto who tried to overpower him while travelling in the back of a vehicle. According to De Kock, Vn Zyl told him he killed Goniwe and not Mkonto.

Under cross examination from Schalk Hugo representing De Kock, Van Zyl had difficulty explaining the apparent conradictions. He said eventually that he must have lied to De Kock but could not explain why.

Van Zyl, who is under a witness protection programme, told the hearing he had many enemies and feared he may be a target if ever granted amnesty.

Earlier the committee was given documentation of high level meetings held in the Eastern Cape to determine the future of Goniwe, who enjoyed widespread popular support.

A State Security Council document showed that the security establishment was in a dilemma as to how to deal with the Cradock school teacher who had been dismissed for refusing to accept a transfer to Graaff-Reinet. Goniwe claimed the transfer was effected to punish him for his involvement in community and political activies and refused to accept the decision.

It is clear from the documentation at the time that some officials believed Goniwe's reinstatement would put an end to the unrest in the area. Others believed he should be dealt with through the security legislation and kept in detention.

At the same time a group of policemen were coming to the conclusion that only way to deal with the activist was to eliminate him.

Among them were Van Zyl, Alexander Taylor, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Hermanus Barend du Plessis, Nicolas Janse van Rensburg and Harold Snyman, who are now applying for amnesty for arranging the killing of the Cradock Four.

Snyman will not be appearing at the hearing because of serious illness.

The amnesty committee is being chaired by Judge Ronnie Pillay and is expected to hear testimony on the Cradock Four over the next two weeks.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 25 1998 - SAPA

BOPAPE TORTURE: "I WAS ONLY DOING MY JOB," SAYS POLICEMAN

A former policeman on Wednesday said he did not enjoy torturing Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape in June 1988, and added: "I was only doing my job."

Bopape died while being subjected to electric shock torture at John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg.

Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht told the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions his actions were aimed at keeping the former government in power.

"The security branch of the police was an extension of the government," he told a TRC amnesty committee hearing in Pretotria.

Engelbrecht and nine other policeen, including retired national commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are seeking amnesty for offences arising from the death of Bopape on June 12, 1988.

In an attempt to cover-up his death, police secretly disposed of Bopape's body and claimed he escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Engelbrecht said he moved electrodes from a shocking device across Bopape's upper body during the torturing.

He denied that Bopape was assaulted beforehand.

"Bopape was stubborn and unco-operative, but we did not dare assault him."

Detainees held under section 29 of the Internal Security Act regularly received visits from a district surgeon, Engelbrecht said.

Asked whether he would agree that not assaulting Bopape required "superhuman restraint" by the police, Engelbrecht replied: "I won't say that, but he was stubborn."

He said he had often tortured suspects with electric shocks while serving in the detective branch.

Although not formal policy, this was an accepted practice.

"It wa something I just picked up in the police," Engelbrecht said.

Five of the 10 applicants are seeking amnesty for the killing of Bopape. They are Engelbrecht, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie and constables Hendrik Mostert and Johan du Preez.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, want amnesty for covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 25 1998 - SAPA

KILLING CRADOCK FOUR WAS IN INTERESTS OF THE COUNTRY: COP

Former security policeman Johan van Zyl on Wednesday told the Truth Commission he was so motivated at the time he planned the killing of the activists known as the Cradock Four that he would have "done anything for this country".

Van Zyl is applying for amnesty for his part in the killing of United Democratic Front activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli in June 1985.

At Tuesday's hearing of the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth, Van Zyl was closely questioned by George Bizos, representing the families of the victims, about the planning of the murder.

He was recalled for further cross-examination on Wednesday about the contents of another official police document.

At the end of his testimony he was asked by amnesty committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay who had the power of life and death in the security police.

"Nobody I believe," Van Zyl replied.

Asked if he could have refused to carry out the order to kill, he replied that he could have but had gone ahead and done it.

"I suppose I was so motivated at the time that I would have done anything for this country," Van Zyl.

One of the policemen who gave the order to kill Goniwe and the other three, General Nic Janse van Rensburg, will testify on Wednesday afternoon.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 25 1998 - SAPA

POLICEMAN ACTED AS DECEASED ACTIVIST IN MOCK ESCAPE, TRC HEARS

A former police lieutenant on Wednesday recounted how he had played the role of deceased Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape in a mock escape on June 12, 1988.

"I put on Bopape's shoes and ran through a maize field," Alfred Zeelie testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

"I let one end of a pair of leg irons touch the ground from time to time to leave marks."

Bopape had died earlier in the day after being subjcted to electrical shocks at John Vorster Square in Johannesburg.

Police at the time claimed he had escaped while being escorted by policemen to Vereeniging. Bopape's body was secretly disposed of.

Zeelie and nine other policemen are seeking amnesty for charges arising from Bopape's death.

Five of them - Zeelie, Lieutenant Adriaan van Niekerk, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, Sergeant Johan du Preez, and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht - were directly involved in the killing.

Zeelie said they faked Bopape's escape after they delivered his body to former Eastern Transvaal police at Bronkhorstspruit.

They travelled to De Deur near Vereeniging. After stopping, they slashed the tyre of the vehicle Zeelie was travelling in with a knife.

"The plan was that Mostert would take off his jacket and leave it on the back seat before changing the tyre," Zeelie.

"I, acting as Bopape, would have found the key to the leg irons in the jacket, and free myself."

Zeelie then put on Bopape's soes, and held one end of the leg irons in his hand while running away.

Du Preez picked him up at the other end of the maize field. The group then returned to John Vorster Square and compiled and distributed false statements about the supposed escape.

"The mock escape went without a hitch and was later investigated by the local detective branch," Zeelie said.

He was in charge of a police team which arrested Bopape and his flatmate Bheki Nkosi in on June 9, 1988.

According to a statement by Nkosi, Zeelie punched Bopape in the stomach during the arrest.

Asked about this, Zeelie said he could possible have used the necessary force to arrest Bopape, but denied that he had assaulted the activist.

Nkosi also claimed that another policemen, who kept the register, asked Bopape if he was drunk, and punched him.

The applicants who have testified so far all deny that Bopape was ever assaulted. Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Lggerenberg have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Retired police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, seek amnesty for covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 25 1998 - SAPA

SUPERIOR COP BLAMES HIS SUPERIOR FOR ORDER TO KILL GONIWE

The second in command at the Eastern Cape security police in 1985 on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission his superior at the time had authorised the murder of the Cradock Four.

General Nic Janse van Rensburg, who was a colonel at the time, is applying for amnesty for his role in the death of Mathew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli in June 1985.

Van Rensburg told the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth he had discussed the elimination of Goniwe and other United Democratic Front leaders with Captain Johan van Zyl and Major Herman du Plessis.

However, the final approval was given by the head of the Eastern Cape security police, Colonel Harold Snyman, who is presently gravely ill and is not attending the hearing.

He said the security police in the Eastern Cape at the time were being placed under increasing pressure from the State Security Council and the joint management centres to control the unrest in the region.

The so-called "G-Plan" whereby alternative structures were set up in black areas was producing significant gains for the African National Congress-SA Communist Party alliance.

Van Rensburg also quoted statements made by political leaders at the time, including president PW Botha and defence minister Magnus Malan, to the effect that "we must fight fire with fire" and "we are facing a total onslaught".

These remarks had placed even more pressure on the security police to bring the chaotic situation in the province under control.

Van Rensburg said he, Du Plessis and Van Zyl had identified Goniwe and other UDF leaders as being behind the unrest in the region. He admitted planning the operation to kill "Goniwe and his associates" in a way that it would appear that the victims had been killed in a vigilante attack.

The four activists were stabbed, shot and their bodies burnt after their vehicle was stopped near Port Elizabeth on the night of June 26, 1985.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 25 1998 - SAPA

AILING COP MUST TELL TRC WHO GAVE ORDER TO KILL GONIWE

A seriously ill former policeman who allegedly ordered the killing of the so-called Cradock Four may be brought before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee this eek to explain on whose instructions he gave the order.

Colonel Harold Snyman applied for amnesty for the murder in 1985 of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli, but he has been too ill to attend the amnesty hearings in Port Elizabeth.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay on Wednesday said attempts were going to be made to arrange Snyman's attendance at the hearing in New Brighton outside Port Elizabeth. This followed a request by George Bizos SC, acting for the families of the victims, that Snyman be called to reveal who gave him the order to kill the Cradock Four.

Bizos said the matter was so vitally important that Snyman should be brought to the hearing even if he was ill. He suggested a panel of doctors examine Snyman to establish whether he can be brought to the hearing. If not, arrangements should be made to visit Snyman to obtain the information.

After a meeting between the variosus legal representatives, Pillay told the hearing he believed Snyman was extremely ill and certain logistical problems would have to be sorted out.

Snyman was the head of the security police in the Eastern Cape at the time the decision was taken to eliminate Goniwe and other United Democratic Front activists.

Earlier in the hearing his second in command at the time, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, told the committee Snyman authorised the operation against the Cradock Four.

Janse van Rensburg told the committee he was under the impression the order came from higher up the security hierarchy, but he was unable to say who gave the order. He said Snyman did not reveal the name of the person from whom he received the instruction.

He said it was practice at the time to tell officers the minimum required for them to carry out their task.

"People, especially lower ranking officers, were briefed on a need to know basis," he said.

When asked by Bizos why he did not ask Snyman much later when the need to know system was no longer in operation, Janse van Rensburg said Snyman refused to discuss the matter.

He said the security police in the Eastern Cape at the time were being placed under increasing pressure from the State Security Council and the Joint Management Centres to control unrest in the region.

He said the so-called G-Plan, whereby alternative structures were set up in black areas, produced significant gains for the African National Congress-SA Communist Party alliance.

He said the police minster at the time, Louis Grange, asked Snyman why nothing was being done about the violence in the Eastern Cape. Janse van Rensburg said Snyman told Le Grange the police were unable to act within the law because of the methods used by the activists.

Le Grange replied that some other drastic plan had to be made to neutralise them, according to Janse van Rensburg.

In his written application for amnesty, now before the committee, Janse van Rensburg quoted utterances made by political leaders at the time, including president PW Botha and defence minister Magnus Malan, to the effect that "we must fight fire with fire" and "we are facing a total onslaught".

These remarks placed even more pressure on the security police to bring the chaotice situation in the province under control.

Janse van Rensburg said he, Du Plessis and Van Zyl identified Goniwe and other UDF leaders as being behind the unrest in the region. He admitted planning the operation to kill Goniwe and his associates in a way that it would appear that the victims had been killed in a vigilante attack.

The four activists were stabbed, shot and their bodies burnt after their vehicle was stopped near Port Elizabeth on the night of June 26 1985.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 25 1998 - SAPA

ENTIRE POLICE TOP STRUCTURE APPROVED OF TORTURE IN 80s, TRC HEARS

The entire top structure of the police in the late 80s was on Wednesday implicated in the use of electrical shocks to pry information from suspects.

Former police lieutenant Charles Zeelie told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria: "My seniors up to commissioner knew about these methods, and condoned them."

He was testifying in the amnesty hearing of 10 forme policemen for charges arising from the death in detention of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape on June 12, 1988.

Bopape died after he was subjected to electrical shocks at what was formerly John Vorster Square in Johannesburg. In a bid to cover up his death, police secretly disposed of Bopape's body and claimed he escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Zeelie on Wednesday concede it was a criminal act to torture suspects, but said he did not believe it was illegal to fight African National Congress members.

Proof that senior officers condoned electrical shocks was found in the fact that they approved the operation to conceal Bopape's death, he said.

Retired police commissioner Johan van der Merwe, and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, are seeking amnesty for their role in covering up Bopape's death.

Their legal representative, Louis Visser, disputed Zeelie's assertion that they had approved of electrical shocks, and said they would deny this.

"Our submission is that the cover-up did not amount to condonment," he said.

The generals would explain their view of the political situation in 1988, and why they opted for concealing Bopape's death.

Asked whether any of the three generals had approved the torture Bopape was subjected to, Zeelie said senior officers had been giving silent approval to such actions.

He recalled an incident where he had assaulted a suspect in the presence of Erasmus.

"There were hundreds of cases where suspects were assaulted," Zeelie said.

He said electrical shocks were used to make people talk since he joined the police in 1969. "I must have used this method ten times or more," Zeelie said.

He gave a detailed explanation of how the shocks were applied by turning the handle of a device in a metal box, and said this had never before caused the death of a suspect.

"I was very surprised when Bopape died. The only conclusion I can come to is that he died of a heart attack." Gys Rautenbach, acting for the Bopape family, said his clients suspect that Bopape was subjected to more extensive torture, and that his body was in such a condition that police had to dispose of it secretly.

Zeelie replied: "I would give anything to have his body available here now to prove to you that he was not assaulted, and that we are speaking the truth."

Zeelie and four other former policemen, Lieutenant Adriaan van Niekerk, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, Sergeant Johan du Preez, and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht, took part in torturing Bopape.

On the day of his death, Erasmus and du Toit instructed the five men to deliver Bopape's body to former Eastern Transvaal security policemen Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg at Bronkhorstspruit.

The body was then thrown into a crocodile-infested river. Visser and Van Loggerenberg are seeking amnesty for their role in this.

Later that night, Zeelie and his four colleagues faked Bopape's escape at De Deur near Vereeniging, and compiled and distributed false statements to this effect.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 26 1998 - SAPA

AILING POLICEMAN ASKED TO ATTEND AMNESTY HEARING

The former head of the Eastern Cape security police, Colonel Harold Snyman, failed to appear at his amnesty hearing in Port Elizabeth on Thursday because his doctors consider him too ill to testify.

Snyman, asked to appear the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee even though he is ill, is considered a key figure in the application by seven policemen for amnesty for the killing of the activists known as the Cradock Four in 1985.

Snyman, regional head of the security police at the time, authorised the operation to kill the four activists, according to two of the other applicants.

The committee heard on Thursday that Snyman's doctors had recommended that it would be unwise to bring him to the hearing. The doctors said subjectinghim to stress could worsen his condition. He is receiving treatment for cancer.

George Bizos, representing the families of the victims, asked that an independent doctor examine Snyman. He also requested that if it was not possible to bring Snyman to the hearing, then a statement should be taken from him and placed before the committee.

An independent doctor is to examine Snyman on Friday.

Bizos and members of the committee have said they would like to ask Snyman who gave him instructions to order the murder of United Democratic Front activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli, who were stabbed, shot and their bodies burnt.

Snyman's second-in-command at the time, Nic van Rensburg has told the hearing that Snyman approved the operation. However, he understood that Snyman had received orders from people in higher authority, but did not know who they were.

The applicants are Snyman, Van Rensburg, Johan van Zyl, Eric Taylor, Gerhardus Lotz, Hermanus du Plessis and Eugene de Kock.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Feb 26 - SAPA

FORMER POLICEMAN MAINTANS THAT BOPAPE DIED OF HEART ATTACK

A former police lieutenant on Thursday said Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape died of a heart while police were torturing him with electric shocks in 1988, but conceded he could not substantiate this.

"I formed that opinion because he died so quickly," Charles Zeelie told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee hearing in Pretoria.

He said he later heard that a superior officer had noticed in Bopape's file that the activist had received treatment at Princess hospital in Johannesburg.

"I knew heart patients were being treated at Princess, which confirmed my initial opinion on the cause of death."

Zeelie and nine other policemen, including retired national commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death.

He died on June 12, 1988 while being subjected to electric shocks at what was then known as John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg.

In a bid to cover up his death, police disposed of Bopape's body secretly and claimed he escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Zeelie on Thursday claimed the intensity of the shocks Bopape received was such that it could not be regarded as torture.

The shocks could be ruled out as the cause of death, he said.

Gys Rautenbach, acting for the Bopape family, said the family believed that Bopape died from extensive torture.

Zeelie replied: "I believe it was a heart attack, although nothing specific happened to indicate this."

Questioned about Bopape's arrest, Zeelie he could not remember whether the activist had showed any resistance, or whether he was assaulted.

Zeelie also failed to recall several aspects concerning his own conduct.

This prompted commissioner Jack Moloi to remark that it was convenient for Zeelie to fail to remember when it came to any excesses in his behaviour.

"You suffer some amnesia when it comes to the real issues," Moloi said.

Five of the applicants were involved in torturing Bopape, and are seeking amnesty for his killing.

They are Zeelie, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, Sergeant Johan du Preez, and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, want amnesty for covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 26 1998 - SAPA

STATE PLAYED A DOUBLE GAME WITH GONIWE'S FATE: BIZOS

The state played a "double game" over the fate of Matthew Goniwe by considering his reinstatement as a teacher while at the same time plotting his death, the Truth Commission's amnesty committee heard in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

Former security police officer Nic Janse van Rensburg, one of seven policemen applying for amnesty for the murder of Goniwe and three other United Democratic Front activists, told hearing the operation was planned in early June 1985.

Van Rensburg was told by George Bizos, appearing for the families of the victims, that the State Security Council was at the same time considering the reappointment of Goniwe as a teacher in Cradock.

Goniwe had been suspended for refusing to accept a transfer to Graaf Reneit.

Van Rensburg replied that he knew nothing about this development, but said the security police in the Eastern Cape strongly opposed Goniwe's reinstatement.

Bizos said it appeared from documents produced at the hearing that one arm of the state regarded Goniwe's reinstatement as a way to curtail the unrest in the Cradock area while the other arm was planning to kill him.

"Was this a case of the one hand not knowing what the other was doing or was the state playing a double game by pretending to reinstate him while plotting his death?" Bizos asked.

Van Rensburg replied that this was possible, but he could not say for certain that this was the case.

He justified the killing of "Goniwe and his cohorts" on the grounds that they were behind the anarchy that reigned in the Eastern Cape at the time.

Bizos produced documents which detailed Goniwe's movements during the weeks before his death and said they contained no evidence of subversive behaviour.

According to a report of his activies draw up as a rsult of security police surveilance, Goniwe was visited by foreign journalists and diplomats, Progressive Federal Party politicians such as Molly Blackburn and Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, and attended funerals and education meetings during this time.

Bizos said these were all lawful activities.

Van Rensburg pointed out that Goniwe had sent a telegram to the United Democratic Front on May 3, 1985 in which he said: "May Day, May Day, the workers are the backbone in the struggle under the leadership of the working class. The democratic effort is assured of total liberation."

Van Rensburg said he considered this a subversive act as the telegram contained a socialist message.

Asked if this justified killing the man, Van Rensburg said he trusted the information given to him by his staff, who identified Goniwe and the UDF leaders as being responsible for the chaotic unrest at the time.

Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were stabbed, shot and their bodies bunt.Six other policemen, Eric Taylor, Gerhardus Lotz, Hermanus du Plessis, Johan van Zyl, Harold Snyman and Eugene de Kock, have applied for amnesty for the killing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 26 1998 - SAPA

NORWEGIAN ROYALS VISIT TRC

Norway's King Harald and QueenSonja began the second day of their state visit to South Africa with a visit to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town, where they met commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his deputy Dr Alex Boraine.

The king specifically requested the meeting.

"It is wonderful to have their majesties come here, because there are some people who have wanted to discredit the commission and it is good that people are able to realise that the international community has a very high regard (for the TRC)," Tutu told journalists.

"We are glad that they are here because we are able to say to them why we have reached this point in the history of our country - because countries like Norway supported us."

The royal couple first held private talks with Tutu and Boraine, before joining the rest of their entourage for a briefing by TRC commissioners.

In separate talks with commissioners, Norwegay's Minister of International Development and Human Rights, Hilde Johnson, said the Norwegian government was prepared to continue assisting "in any way" once the TRC's lifespan ended.

Along with providing personnel to the TRC, Norway has also assisted financially.

Boraine praised the Norwegian government for ensuring that the commission's public hearings had continued to be broadcast live on radio after the SABC had run out of funds for this purpose.

"People throughout the country were able to participate in the healing of our country through your (financial) assistance," he said.

King Harald is due to tour Robben Island later on Thursday, while Queen Sonja will visit the Red Cross Children's Hospital and Khayelitsha.

Their four-day state visit ends on Saturday in Johannesburg, although they will remain in South Africa for a two-week private visit.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 26 1998 - SAPA

AFRIKANERS SHOULD EMBRACE NEW DISPENSATION: TUTU

The surest recipe for unrest and turmoil in South Africa was if the vast majority had no proper homes, clean water, electricity, good education and adequate health care, Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday.

Addressing the Pretoria Afrikaanse Sakekamer, he said the quality of life of these people had to be vastly improved, "otherwise we have had it".

He called on Afrikaners to invest in transformation and said this was not just being altruistic, it was ultimately good business.

"For your own sakes, there has to be stability otherwise the economy will suffer (and) business confidence will take a knock.

"Contribute to reparation for reconciliation, through community development, scholarships... If the disadvantaged, the poor, the homeless and unemployed become desperate, they may use desperate means to redress the imbalance.

"Be willing to share lest you end up with nothing to share; we don't want any more Vryburgs," Tutu said.

"You are a splendid people and South Africa needs you; you are gifted, you have a vibrant language and culture and identity which you tried to safeguard with some of the most vicious laws imaginable.

"But ultimately your worth as a person does not depend on any of these extrinsic things.

"God loves you and God won't allow you to go under; your worth is infinite and intrinsic," he said.

However, there did appear to be a significant segment which was quite vociferous, egged on by two major newspapers, Rapport and Die Burger.

They had sought from day one to vilify and discredit the TRC so that they would pre-emptively have discredited its report.

"They have made no bones at all about their nostalgia for a past which we ought all, corporately and individually, to lament.

"They want to recall a past when they, the Afrikaners, were in charge, even though they now claim never to have supported apartheid."

Tutu said it was necessary to embrace the new dispensation enthusiastically.

"Don't let's forever be moaning about this, that and the other.

"Do count your blessings - we could have been a Rwanda, a Bosnia.

"Yes, many things are not as they should be, but they could have been worse. "I admire Beeld newspaper immensely; they are quick to praise the good things the new government does and so when they criticise it, the government really takes notice.

"Those who are forever whining are dismissed and totally discredited," Tutu said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Feb 26 - SAPA

POLICEMAN DESCRIBES EFFORTS TO REVIVE TORTURED BOPAPE

A former police sergeant on Thursday described how he tried to revive Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape minutes after shocking him with electricity during a torture session.

"I started with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to try and revive him, but he had stopped breathing," Johann du Preez told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee hearing in Pretoria.

Du Preez said he handled the shocking device, and turned its handle a few times to generate an electric current.

"I gave it two circular turns at a time. It was not a continuous current. After the third or fourth time, I saw his head fell forward."

Bopape was untied and laid on his back on the floor before Du Preez applied emergency treatment.

Du Preez and nine other policemen, including retired national commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's deadh.

He died on June 12, 1988 while being subjected to electric shock torture at what was then known as John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg.

In a bid to cover up his death, police disposed of Bopape's body secretly and claimed he escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Du Preez described Bopape's death as a strange turn of events, saying the electrical current used was not lethal.

Fellow amnesty applicant Charles Zeelie earlier in the day said he was convinced Bopape died of a heart attack, adding this conclusion had given him some peace of mind.

"We never intended killing him," Zeelie said.

Asked what had caused the heart attack, Zeelie said Bopape might have been suffering from shock because of the circumstances he found himself in.

Electrical shocks would not necessarily cause a heart attack.

"I know of very fit people who unexpectedly died of a heart attack," Zeelie said.

Asked whether he had had any role in Bopape's death, Zeelie said he was negligent in the sense that somebody died while undergoing electric shocks.

Zeelie conceded there was no evidence to prove that Bopape had died of a heart attack.

Gys Rautenbach, acting for the Bopape family, said the family believed that Bopape died from extensive torture.

Zeelie replied that he would give anything to have Bopape's body available to prove that he was telling the truth. Five of the applicants were involved in torturing Bopape, and are seeking amnesty for his killing.

They are Zeelie, Du Preez, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, want amnesty for covering up Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 26 1998 - SAPA

PAC ANNOUNCES MARCH TO PRESIDENT MANDELA'S RESIDENCE

The Pan Africanist Congress on Thursday invited liberation movement members to march on President Nelson Mandela's residence in Pretoria next month to demand the immediate release of political prisoners, irrespective of their political affiliation.

Former Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army operations director Letlapa Mphahlele told a media briefing in Johannesburg that Mandela was once described as the world's most famous prisoner - "today he is the world's most notorious jailer".

The march, on March 10, was open to all liberation movement members, Mphahlele said. Protesters would assemble in Brown Street in Pretoria and march to the president's official residence, Mahlambandlopfu, before proceeding to Pretoria maximum security prison, where a number of Apla and Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers were being held.

According tothe PAC's records, there were about 600 political prisoners languishing in jails countrywide and the figure could be higher, Mphahlele said.

He said PAC members had met government officials on a number of occasions in an attempt to secure the release of political prisoners, but without success. Memorandums had also been issued to Justice Minister Dullar Omar, but no response had been received.

He said at one of the meetings Mandela had said no-one was regarded as a political prisoner following the release of such inmates before the 1994 general election.

Mandela was encouraging the release of servants of the apartheid regime, but "locks up Apla, MK and Azanla combatants".

Even criminals were being released and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was granting amnesty to apartheid security force members, but PAC cadres were still in jail, two years after the TRC's inception.

"It just shows you how biased the commission is," Mphahlele said.

He said all avenues had been exhausted to secure the release of political prisoners.

Other political organisations would be invited to joint the march and Azapo had already expressed its support, he said.

Apla Veterans' Association chairman Aubrey Siloto said: "We wont stop until the last political prisoner is released."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN February 26 1998 - SAPA

TRC FLOUTS PROVISIONS OF ITS OWN ACT: NP

Justice Minister Dullah Omar's statement in Parliament that the TRC may bring out an interim report at the end of July and a final report only after the Amnesty Committee had completed its work, was yet another example of the cavalier fashion in which the TRC approached its work, the NP said on Thursday.

National Party Truth and Reconciliation Commission spokesman Jacko Marree said in a statement the TRC was mandated by its governing act to submit a comprehensive report of all its activities and findings at the conclusion of its functions.

"There is no provision in the act for the submission of interim reports, and the announcement means that the TRC is willing, once more, to flout the provisions of its own act," he said.

"The TRC is reminded that they are not above the law and that in terms of the settlement reached in the High Court case between the National Party and the TRC, the TRC has acknowledged the obligations imposed upon it by the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, and undertaken to refrain from conduct which would contravene the act.

"The National Party holds the TRC to this undertaking," Maree said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA February 26 1998 - SAPA

POLICE BOUGHT FOOD FOR DEAD MAN IN COVER-UP OPERATION, TRC HEARS

Police bought food for a dead man on June 12, 1988 as part of a sham to cover up his death in detention, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Thursday.

The purchase was made while five policemen were on their way to Vereeniging to fake the escape of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape at De Deur, former police sergeant Johann du Preez testified in Pretoria.

He said police kept a record of food purchased for detainees. With this in mind the group stopped at a late-night shop in Jeppe Street, Johannesburg, to buy a meal ostensibly for Bopape.

The move formed part of evidence police faked to cover up Bopape's death, and to create the impression that he escaped from police custody while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Bopape died earlier in the day after he was subjected to electrical shocks at what was formerly known as John Vorster Square in Johannesburg.

Du Preez and nine other former policemen are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death, including the secret disposal of the activist's body.

The TRC was told five of the applicants were directly involved in torturing Bopape - Du Preez, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Du Preez said he became involved when he received a telephone call from one of the other four at home on June 12, a Sunday. He was asked to bring an electric shock device to John Vorster Square.

After picking up the machine at the Sandton security branch, where he was stationed, he drove to John Vorster and entered the building without the device.

"I first wanted to make sure the coast was clear. We were discreet in using the shocking devices. We had to create the image the police were in control and that they were the gentlemen," Du Preez said.

Bopape was told to remove his shirt before he was tied to a chair. Du Preez said he was operating the shocking device.

"I gave it two circular turns at a time. It was not a continuous current. After the third or fourth time I saw Mr Bopape's head fell forward."

The group realised something was amiss, untied Bopape, and laid him on his back.

"I started with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to try and revive him but he had stopped breathing," Du Preez testified.

Asked why he tried to save somebody regarded as the enemy, Du Preez said: "I did it instinctively. I did not want him to die."

Bopape's death in detention would also have been an embarrassment to the security police and the government, Du Preez said. He admitted that Bopape's death could have been the result of negligence on his part, and said this was the reason for his amnesty application.

"I accept responsibility for his death, and don't want to shy away by saying that he possibly died of a heart attack."

Zeelie earlier in the day maintained that Bopape died of a heart attack, and said the electrical shocks he received were not lethal.

Du Preez said he had been acting out a sense of duty to help stem what he described as a "total onslaught" against the former government.

He said he felt depressed when he went to work in Sandton the following day: "It was a traumatic incident."

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body,.

They are expected to testify on Friday.

Retired police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, seek amnesty for having covered up Bopape's death.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH February 26 1998 - SAPA

GONIWE'S FATE SEALED WHEN ASSASSINATION DECISION MADE: TRC TOLD

United Democratic Front activist Matthew Goniwe's fate was sealed when the Eastern Cape police security branch decided in June 1985 the only solution to unrest in the region was assassination.

General Nic Janse van Rensburg, second in command of the Eastern Cape security branch at the time, on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee he planned the operation in which the so-called Cradock Four were killed on June 26, 1985.

Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were stabbed, shot and their bodies burnt. Five other policemen, Eric Alexander Taylor, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Hermanus Barend du Plessis, Johan Martin van Zyl and Eugene de Kock, have applied for amnesty for their involvement in the killings.

Asked by George Bizos SC, representing the families of the victims, whether he saw no alternative but to kill Goniwe, Janse van Rensburg said at the time he believed it was the right thing to do.

Janse van Rensburg said he was surprised to hear while he and other Eastern Cape security policemen were plotting to kill Goniwe, other government officials in Pretoria, including the State Security Council, were considering reappointing him as a teacher in Cradock.

Goniwe was earlier suspended from his post for refusing to accept a transfer to Graaff-Reinet.

Janse van Rensburg said he knew nothing about this and security police in the Eastern Cape strongly opposed Goniwe's reappointment.

Asked if he was given a chance to vote on whether Goniwe should be reappointed or killed, Janse van Rensburg said he would have voted to eliminate Goniwe.

His answer drew gasps of dismay from the audience of about 500 watching the proceedings in Centenary Hall in New Brighton outside Port Elizabeth.

Janse van Rensburg repeated a previous statement made to the committee that police and the African National Congress' former military wing, Mkonto we Sizwe, were at war.

He said they did things to each other during that time. Both sides were used in battle by two political opponents, the National Party on the one side and the ANC n te othe.

Janse van Rensburg admitted to arranging the murder of the activists and trying to make it look like the work of vigilante groups or rival political groups such as the Azanian People's Organisation.

He insisted the order to kill the activists came from his superior, Harold Snyman, who in turn received instructions from higher up.

Snyman, who also applied for amnesty, did not attend the hearings because of illness. His doctors told his legal team it would be unwise for him to be placd under stres as this could harm his health even further. He is receiving treatment for cancer.

Bizos on Wednesday asked that an independent doctor examine Snyman. If it was found that he was incapable of attending the hearings, a written statement should be taken from him and handed in to the hearing.

The statement should contain the name of the person or persons who gave him the order to kill Goniwe and other activists.

The committee will decide on the issue after receiving a report on Snyman's condition.

Bizos said it appeared from documents produced at the hearing that one arm of the state regared Goniwe's reappointment as a way to curtail unrest in the Cradock area, while the other was planning to kill him.

"Was this a case of the one hand not knowing what the other was doing, or was the state playing a double game by pretending to reinstate him while plotting his death?" Bizos asked.

Janse van Rensburg said he was not certain.

He justified killing Goniwe and his cohorts on the grounds that they were behind anarchy that reigned in the Eastern Cape at the time.

Bizos produced documents detailing Goniwe's movements during the weeks before his death. He said they contained no evidence of subversive behaviour.

According to a report drawn up from security police surveilance, Goniwe was visited by foreign journalists and diplomats, Progressive Federal Party politicians such as Molly Blackburn and Van Zyl Slabbert, and attended funerals and education meetings before his death.

Bizos said these were all lawful activities.

Janse van Rensburg said Goniwe sent a telegram to the United Democratic Front on May 3, 1985, in which he said: "May Day May Day, the workers are the backbone in the struggle under the leadership of the working class. The democratic effort is assured of total liberation."

He considered this a subversive act as the telegram contained a socialist message.

Asked if this justified killing the man, Janse van Rensburg said he trusted the information given to him by his staff.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 26 1998 - SAPA

CHURCH LEADERS REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO RECONCILIATION

The Church Leaders' Forum on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to supporting and taking part in reconciliation processes, the SA Council of Churches said in a statement.

The forum is representative of all major religious denominations in Southern Africa and is facilitated by the SACC.

Critical issues identified and addressed at a meeting of the forum in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, included reaffirmation of church leaders' support and participation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in particular.

"The forum also endorsed the suggestions communicated to them by the TRC in terms of the churches' pastoral and economic empowerment responsibilities," the statement said.

"Recognising that the land issue is crucial to reconciliation and healing, member churches agreed on the need for the church to be proactive on the issue of land reform."

It said decisions were taken to form an ecumenical steering committee on church land and to identify and audit the land.

"The crisis in education, particularly at tertiary institutions, was noted with deep concern. The meeting agreed that theological education must equip pastors to provide moral leadership within the processes of social transformation."

The forum also expressed concern at the lack of consultation between government and ecumenical leadership on critical issues of national importance, and said it would like to meet government leaders from time to time as an ecumenical church body.

The forum welcomed the Reverend Charity Majiza, who took over from Dr Brigalia Bam as general secretary of the SACC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Feb 27 - SAPA

I TORTURED BOBAPE FOR THE FORMER GOVERNMENT, TRC HEARS

"I did it for the government," said former police sergeant Johann du Preez said on Friday when asked why he tortured Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape in June 1988.

He told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee hearing in Pretoria that he believed Bopape could provide vital information to the police.

This information was needed to fight what the former government viewed as a total onslaught to remove it from power.

"The statements at the time was that any method must be used to fight the onslaught," Du Preez said.

Bopape died on June 12, 1988 while being tortured with electric shocks at what was then known as John Vorster Square in Johannesburg. Du Preez operated the shocking device.

In a bid to cover up his death, police disposed of Bopape's body secretly and claimed he escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Du Preez and nine other policemen, including retired national commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death.

Du Preez on Friday said he wanted amnesty for his part in the assault that led the Bopape's death

Although a situation of guerilla warfare prevailed at the time, it was still a crime to kill an individual.

"It was not a good thing to do," Du Preez said.

The former policeman said Bopape's death was the first under such circumstances, and he destroyed the shocking device afterwards.

Du Preez confirmed that he took part in actions to cover up the death, saying he did this to save the former government embarrassment.

Publicity about another death in detention would have had serious political implications, Du Preez said.

Five of the applicants were involved in torturing Bopape, and are seeking amnesty for his killing.

They are Du Preez, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Two other applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, have applied for amnesty for their role in the disposal of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, want amnesty for covering up Bopape's death. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH Feb 27 - SAPA

STATE SANCTIONED TERRORISM TO DEAL WITH UNREST: AMNESTY COMMITTE HEARS

The government engaged in a form of terrorism in attempt to counter the rise in black political activity in the Eastern Cape in 1985, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

Former security police officer Nic Janse van Rensburg, one of seven policemen applying for amnesty for the murder of the activists known as the Cradock Four, conceded under cross-examination that the killing in June 1985 was a form of government terrorism.

George Bizos, appearing for the families of the victims, put it to Van Rensburg that although the government sanctioned terrorism at the time, all actions had to be authorised "at the highest possible level".

Reading from an official document, Bizos said the unconventional use of force had to be sanctioned from a high level to avoid it "boomeranging on the state".

Van Rensburg agreed and said the attack on Matthew Goniwe and three other United Democratic Front activists was authorised by the head of the Eastern Cape security police at the time, Harold Snyman, who in turn received orders to kill from "higher up".

Van Rensburg has been unable to tell the committee who gave Snyman his order. Snyman is seriously ill and cannot attend the hearing. His doctors have opposed attempts to have him brought to the hearing and committee officicals may try to have a statement taken from him at his bedside.

"So you knew that the attack on Goniwe had to be authorised at the highest possible level but you did not bother to find out from whom the order came," Bizos said to Van Rensburg.

The policeman replied that that was so, because he trusted Snyman as someone who would not have made such an order without the necessary authority.

Earlier Bizos put it to Van Rensburg that it appeared "most unusual" that the security police were planning a deadly attack on Goniwe at the same time that senior government officials were discussing how to reinstate him to his teaching post following his earlier suspension.

Bizos said official documents showed that Cabinet ministers, including Dr Gerrit Viljoen (co-operation and development) and Sam de Beer (education and training) were involved in discussions about Goniwe's future.

"At the same time there was a conspiracy of people aiming to kill Goniwe and trying to obtain the authority of the State for their action," Bizos said.

Van Rensburg said he could not comment because he could not remember the precise sequence of events. He claims to have known nothing about plans to reinstate Goniwe to his teaching post.

Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were stabbed, shot and their bodies burnt.

The seven policemen seeking amnesty for the killings are Van Rensburg, Snyman, Eric Taylor, Gerhardus Lotz, Hermanus du Plessis, Johan van Zyl, and Eugene de Kock.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Feb 27 - SAPA

TRC INVESTIGATORS ACCUSED OF BIAS AGAINST FORMER POLICEMEN

Truth and Reconciliation Commission invetigatos were on Friday accused of bias against 10 former policemen seeking amnesty with regard to the 1988 death of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape.

Louis Visser, acting for three former generals, told the TRC amnesty committee in Pretoria: "The TRC investigation report... has only one thing in mind, and that is to discredit the applicants."

The report even went so far as to suggest that the applicants should not be granted amnesty, he said.

The applicants include retired former national police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and two other retired generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit. They are seeking amnesty for their role in attempts to cover up Bopape's death.

Bopape died on June 12, 1988 while being subjected to electrical shocks at John Vorster police headquarters in Johannesburg.

In a bid to cover up his death, police secretly disposed of Bopape's body and claimed he escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging.

Visser on Friday asked the amnesty comittee's to authorise the applicants to make enquiries about documents relevant to Bopape's arrest and detention.

These included the occurrence book held at John Vorster Square at the time, and the detention file which includes a district-surgeon's report on Bopape's state of health after his arrest.

Andre Steenkamp, for the committee, earlier said TRC investigators were unable to trace these and other documents.

Visser said while he realised many documents were destroyed, those required for the hearing should still be around.

"I want your permission for my clients to look for them."

Visser explained that it would be inappropriate for them do so on their own while an Attorney-General investigation into the matter was underway.

"It will be embarrassing, especially for General van der Merwe, to approach the present national commissioner in this regard," Visser said.

Gys Rautenbach, for the Bopape family, said he had no objections, provided that TRC investigators were involved in the process.

Visser replied that the applicants would produce any documents they found to the committee, but stressed they would not conduct their investigation in conjunction with anybody.

After accusing the TRC investigators of bias, Visser added: "We cannot do an investigation together with such people."

After a short adjournment committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller authorised the applicants to make enquiries about the existence or whereabouts of any relevant documents.

If found, such documents should not be removed or interfered with, and the TRC investigation should be notified of their existence. The legal representatives of the applicants would then be authorised to make photocopies.

Visser indicated that the applicants were satisfied with this arrangement.

The amnesty hearing was postponed until June.

Only five applicants - those who were involved in torturing Bopape - have testified so far. They are Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, Sergeant Johann du Preez, and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

The three generals have applied for amnesty on charges of conspiracy and defeating the end of justice by covering up the real reasons for Bopape's death.

The remaining two applicants, Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg, are seeking amnesty for their role in disposing of Bopape's body.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG February 28 1998 - SAPA

NORWAY ROYALS END OFFICIAL VISIT TO SA

King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway ended their four-day state visit to South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday, although the royal couple would remain in South Africa for a two-week private visit.

Earlier in the day the royal couple attended the Norway-South Africa trade investment seminar and visited projects in Soweto.

King Harald told journalists at a news conference in Sandton the highlights of their visit were their visits to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Robben Island.

Asked about the low profile the South African media had afforded the visit, he said he could not complain bearing in mind that South Africa had 30 state visits a year compared to Norway's two.

The couple met TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his deputy, Dr Alex Boraine, on Thursday.

The king had specifically requested the meeting.

Along with providing personnel to the TRC, Norway has also assisted it financially.

King Harald toured Robben Island on Thursday, while Queen Sonja visited the Red Cross Children's Hospital and Khayelitsha.

On Wednesday they met President Nelson Mandela in Cape Town.

Speaking at a banquet in their honour, Mandela said South Africa would never forget the selfless support and unstinting generosity of the Norwegian people during the struggle against apartheid.

Along with other Nordic countries, Norway had made available humanitarian aid without any conditions or motives, apart from the fostering of democracy and the upliftment of South Africans.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 2 1998 - SAPA

MANDELA'S BOOK CHANGED HITSQUAD MEMBER WHO KILLED GONIWE

Reading President Nelson Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" and watching the film "Mississippi Burning" influenced a hitsquad member to apply for amnesty for the murder of activist Matthew Goniwe, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

Eric Alexander Taylor is applying for amnesty for his part in the killing of the so-called Cradock Four in June 1985.

A document handed to the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth on Monday revealed details of how Taylor faced the families of the people he and a hitsquad of policemen killed.

At a meeting which took place on April 21 last year, Taylor told the families of Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicele Mhlauli that the only way he could find peace was to ask for their forgiveness.

According to a record kept of the meeting, Taylor said he first realised what he did was wrong in 1989 when he saw the film "Mississippi Burning" which deals with Klu Klux Clan activities in the American South.

Reading Mandela's book also brought about a change of heart and attitude which led to him applying for amnesty. He told the meeting he wished he had read the book in 1985, the year in which the Cradock Four were murdered.

The meeting with the families of the victims was arranged by Taylor's pastor, Rev Charl Coetzee, and Rev Mcebisi Xundu of the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee.

During the meeting Taylor sketched the last moments of his victims' lives. He said they were calm at all times and "died with dignity". He told the family he talked to Goniwe, who impressed him as being well-educated and articulate.

Taylor is the third of seven policemen to testify at the amnesty hearing at Centenary Hall in New Brighton near Port Elizabeth. They are all applying for amnesty for the Cradock Four's murders.

In his application Taylor described how he struck one of the activists on the back of the neck with a heavy metal object, knocking him unconscious. He said he did not know which of the four he struck and had never met them before.

Taylor said he had photographs of the activists, which he had earlier used to indentify them.

He said black policemen, who were taken along, stabbed the activists to death to make it appear that they were killed by vigilantes, and not the police.

He said he did not see the other three being killed, but he knew their bodies were doused with petrol and set alight.

Taylor will face cross examination on Tuesday.

Earlier the hearing heard that the security police killed Goniwe, who they considered a dangerous agitator, four days after receiving evidence that he was persuading people to work for peace in Cradock.

The committee was told that according to a transcript of a conversation recorded by security police, Goniwe advised a youth not to attack the police. The youth, Thembile Lumko, told Goniwe he and other youths caught a policeman, beat him up and took his revolver.

Goniwe warned him that he was busy with a difficult battle that he could not win. "What you can do (is) try and restore peace there," Goniwe told Lumko.

George Bizos SC, appearing for the families of the victims, quoted from the transcript while putting questions to the policeman who arranged Goniwe's death, General Nic Janse van Rensburg.

Janse van Rensburg said he could not remember seeing the document or taking it into consideration when going ahead with plans to kill Goniwe and other United Democratic Front activists.

He said even if he had seen it, he would probably not have changed his mind about the need to kill Goniwe.

Janse van Rensburg insists he was acting with authority from higher up, but has been unable to identify the person who gave the order to eliminate Goniwe.

He claims the order was passed on through his immediate superior at the time, Colonel Harold Snyman. Snymal is too ill to attend the hearing.

Johan Martin van Zyl, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz, Hermanus Barend du Plessis, Harold Snyman and Eugene de Kock, have also applied for amnesty for the killing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH Mar 3 - SAPA

GONIWE'S KILLER CONVINCED HE WOULD GET AWAY WITH IT, TRC HEARS

A security policeman from a squad that wiped out the Cradock Four - in 1985 - on Tuesday showed limited knowledge of the men's organisation at the time: the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front.

Eric Alexander Taylor, a former police lieutenant, was testifying before the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Elizabeth. He has confessed to the murders.

He said the four activists were killed because they were seen as a threat to the country.

Taylor said he was having difficulty remembering the leadership structures of the UDF and its affiliates in the Eastern Cape.

He is applying for amnesty for the murder in June 1985 of UDF members Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli.

The committee has heard from two other officers applying for amnesty - Nic Janse van Rensburg and Johan van Zyl - that the Cradock Four were eliminated because they were causing anarchy in the province.

Asked by George Bizos SC, for the families of the victims, to name the executive members of the UDF in Port Elizabeth and Cradock at the time, Taylor was largely unable to do so.

He explained that at the time he knew most of the UDF activists and the positions they held, but had since forgotten who many of them were.

Taylor, who was responsible for monitoring activists in the Cradock area, also had difficulty in describing the positions held by Goniwe, Calata and Mkonto in the Cradock Residents Association, which the police also saw as a threat to security in the area.

Taylor earlier told the committee he still did not know who authorised the killing of the Cradock Four. He said he was led to believe at the time that the order came from "higher up". He says he does not know who made the decision.

"I would still like to know where this line of command stopped," he told the committee.

Taylor said he was convinced until recently that he and other members of the death squad had got away with their crime.

He told the committee it had always been the intention of the squad members to avoid being linked to the murders. Even when the inquest into the death of the Cradock Four was reopened in 1993 he was not worried about being identified.

"If they had not succeeded in solving the case in eight years it was unlikely they would ever do so. Even the (police) murder and robbery unit, who are very efficient, could not solve the case," he said.

Taylor said he began undergoing a transformation in the early 1990s as a result of the release of Nelson Mandela and the start of negotiations on the future of South Africa. He said that as a result of this process he decided to meet the families of the people he killed, and to apply for amnesty.

He said there was a "heaven's breadth" between his attitude now and what he felt in 1985.

"If we had known in 1985 there would be negotiations in five years' time (1990) we would never have acted that way," he said.

He said the meeting he had with the families of the victims in April last year had been a difficult and emotional experience.

Johann Martin van Zyl and Gerhardus Lotz were allegedly members of the squad with Taylor that killed the Cradock Four.

Policemen Nicholas Janse van Rensburg, Hermanus Barend du Plessis and Harold Snyman have also applied for amnesty for planning the murder.

Convicted killer Eugene de Kock has applied for amnesty for trying to cover up the involvement of the police.

Taylor is expected to face further cross-examination by Bizos on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 3 1998 - SAPA

TRC HAS MARGINALISED ORDINARY APARTHEID VICTIMS: ACADEMIC

Ordinary apartheid victims have been marginalised by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has inadvertently become a rescue operation for apartheid's beneficiaries, delegates attending an international conference on racism heard in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Professor Mahmood Mamdani, director of the centre for African studies at the University of Cape Town, said the TRC had looked at apartheid from a narrow perspective, from the experience of a tiny minority of political activists and state agents.

The TRC had invited beneficiaries of apartheid to join victims in a public outrage against perpetrators of human rights abuses.

"Beneficiaries can then claim `we did not know' or `if only we had known' forgetting `who we voted for time and time again'," he said.

"So beneficiaries too are presented as victims."

Describing the TRC as a "rescue operation" for apartheid's beneficiaries, he said a curious and unintended outcome of the commission was that the more apartheid's beneficiaries were outraged at the deeds of perpetrators, the less they felt responsible for apartheid.

However, TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine told the conference the TRC was to thank for the fact that many people could no longer claim that they did not know.

"It has become impossible to claim that the practice of torture by state security forces was not systematic and widespread, to claim that only a few rotten eggs or bad apples committed gross violations of human rights.

"It is also true that it is impossible to claim any longer that the accounts of gross human rights violations in ANC camps are merely the consequence of state disinformation," Boraine said.

It wasnot a question of laying the blame on the military, the police, the politicians or the liberation movements, but also on the beneficiaries of apartheid, who were largely white.

"Political accountability is important, but apartheid could never have survived without being buttressed by those who benefited from it," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 4 1998 - SAPA

ONE OF CRADOCK FOUR WAS UNKNOWN TO PE SECURITY COPS: HEARING

Sicelo Mhlauli was until this week the least known member of the so-called Cradock Four, but he is proving to be a key figure in the amnesty hearing of seven policemen in Port Elizabeth.

The policemen applying for amnesty for the murder of the Cradock Four in 1985 claim that Mhlauli was a known activist.

But George Bizos SC, representing the families of Mhlauli and the other victims, on Tuesday produced a welter of evidence that showed the Oudtshoorn, Western Cape headmaster might have been killed because he happened to be travelling with Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto and Fort Calata when they were stopped by the police death squad.

Bizos told former Lieutenant Eric Alexander Taylor he was telling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee a pack of lies about his motive for killing Mhlauli.

Taylor told the committee he had received numerous reports from informers about Mhlauli's movements in the Eastern Cape. He said he was told Mhlauli had close links with Goniwe and was planning to import resistance politics to the South Western Districts.

When asked by Bizos if he conveyed that information to his headquarters in Port Elizabeth, Taylor said he had done so on several occasions. He also claimed that he passed on the information to the Oudsthoorn security police.

"If you are saying that then it is my sad duty to tell you that you are committing perjury in this committee," Bizos told Taylor.

Bizos produced an official police document which showed that Mhlauli was not known to police headquarters in Port Elizabeth.

Taylor at first appeared stunned by the revelation, but then suggested that the document had been drawn up by the uniform branch and not the security police.

Bizos said: "I knew you were going to say that." He told Taylor to read the last paragraph which clearly stated the report had been drawn up in conjunction with the security police.

Bizos put it to Taylor that he was willing to tell even more lies to hide his real motive for killing Mhlauli.

Taylor conceded there was a discepancy of his assessment of Mhauli and that of his headquarters, and said he was at a loss to explain it.

He insisted he had received information which indicated that Mhlauli was a political agitator.

Taylor's application for amnesty requires that he makes a full disclosure about his deeds and provides a political motive for his actions.

A finding by the committee that Mhlauli was an innocent victim in the attack would have a major effect on Taylor's request for amnesty. Bizos also produced evidence which showed Mhlauli moved to Oudtshoorn because he was unhappy with the turbulence taking place at the schools in the Eastern Cape.

On the night he was killed, he left Oudtshoorn when his school closed and was travelling to Cradock with Goniwe, Calata and Mkonto.

According to a report placed before the committee, Mhlauli's parents and grandparents lived in Cradock and he was returning for the July holidays.

He had known Goniwe, who was also a teacher, for many years since growing up together in Cradock.

Taylor also had difficulty explaining his motives for killing Goniwe, who appeared to have been an excellent teacher in Cradock.

When asked by Bizos to comment on reports that Goniwe insisted on children being on time for school, discouraged smoking and visiting shebeens and condemned the burning of schools, Taylor said he could not deny this.

Taylor explained that it was his after-hours activities that concerned the police.

"He urged children to be organised and struggled for human rights for blacks. Did you find anything threatening in that?" Bizos asked.

Taylor was asked by committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay and committee member Denzil Potgieter if he believed it was wrong for blacks to strive for human rights.

Taylor said at the time he perceived the demand for human rights as a threat to the existing political order.

Pillay said the quest for human rigts went to the heart of the struggle that was being waged at the time.

Taylor said he knew now it was wrong to oppose the people in their struggle for human rights. However, he said he had been indoctrinated to believe that he was fighting against forces aimed at overthrowing the government of the day.

Taylor is one of seven policemen applying for amnesty for the murder of the Cradock Four in June 1995. The other six are Johan Martin van Zyl, Nic Janse van Rensburg, Gerhardus Lotz, Hermanus Barend du Plessis, Harold Snyman and Eugene de Kock.

The hearing continues on Tuesday with testimony by Lotz.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 4 1998 - SAPA

BARNARD TOLD EVERYONE HE KILLED WEBSTER, COURT HEARS

Former Civil Co-operation Bureau agent Ferdi Barnard told "everyone who wanted to listen" that he killed anti- apartheid activist Dr David Webster, a witness told the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday.

Barnard has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges, including the Webster murder and the attempted murder of Dullah Omar, now Justice Minister.

Willie Smit, who arranged for Barnard to be released on parole in 1987 by giving him a job as an assessor at the insurance company where he was a manager, said Barnard had repeatedly told him that he killed Webster.

Smit met Barnard through his brother, Calla Barnard, who was a teacher. Barnard left the insurance firm about three months after being released on parole and told Smit that he was working for the security police, monitoring activists. He said the police had given him R30,000 for a car.

Barnard and his brother arrived at Smit's house in the early hours of the morning in June 1989. They were panic- stricken, and Barnard said they had been arrested while monitoring a certain Bruce White, whom they wanted to "take out" - or kill - just as they had taken out Webster. They wanted Smit to give them n alibi.

"Ferdi said White was a personal friend of Webster. At that stage I had heard about Webster but I didn't know who White was.

"He said they would take out White at a later stage. He was scared that the security police were drawing a line between White and the murders of Webster and (Swapo activist) Anton Lubowski.

"I think he was a bit boastful. This was not his only murder. He even showed me a photo album with 22 or 23 people that he had killed.

"At first I didn't believe him, but I wasn't very shocked about his claims. They were the security police, after all, and our country was in such a state. They must have had their reasons for doing what they did. It wasn't for me to question them," Smit said.

Smit claimed Barnard had repeatedly told him as well as staff at his office that he had killed Webster.

Smit never mentioned Barnard's confession to anyone until he was confronted by the investigating officer into Webster's murder in November 1989.

"I was a businessman and thought it would harm my business if I became involved in such a controversial thing. Barnard has so much power. I was afraid that he would harm my children and my wife," Smit said.

He said he was visited by Barnard's brother and father - a former police colonel - after making a statement to the investigating officer. They asked him to make a further statement in which he said everything he had declared was based on hearsay.

He found it inexplicable how Barnard's family came to know about his statement. Smit testified during a 1992 inquest into Webster's death. He at first "told the truth", but later retracted his evidence.

He claimed he was approached by Lester Mouton, a close friend of Barnard, during a tea break while he was under cross-examination.

"He asked me how it was possible that I could testify against a fellow Afrikaner. He said I was playing with my children's future.

"He also mentioned an extra-marital affair that I was having with my secretary and asked if my wife knew about it. When I said no, he said it would be revealed in court after the tea break.

"He said I had to deny everything I said before and that it would be the easiest way to get out of court.

"I was on various management bodies at the time and was a reasonably wellknown businessman. I was scared that my reputation would be harmed. I just wanted to get out of that court. I conceded everything that was put to me by Barnard's attorney," Smit said.

Smit claimed Barnard often wore "a curly blond wig" when he was monitoring activists.

He said it had been his understanding that Barnard's brother had also been involved in the Webster murder, although this later proved to be wrong.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 5 1998 - SAPA

POLICEMAN MAN SAYS HE HIT GONIWE WITH A STEEL SPRING

A policeman told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Elizabeth on Thursday he hit Matthew Goniwe on the back of the head with a heavy steel spring before ordering black policemen to finish him off with knives.

Gerhardus Johannes Lotz is one of seven policemen applying for amnesty to the TRC's amnesty committee for taking part in the murder of Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto, known as the Cradock Four, in June 1985.

Lotz told the committee he pulled Goniwe, who was handcuffed, out of a car and hit him on the back of the head.

The Cradock Four - who the police have said were political activists stirring up trouble in the Eastern Cape - were travelling between Port Elizabeth and Cradock when they were stopped by a police squad. The police allegedly took them to an isolated spot near Bluewater Bay outside Port Elizabeth and killed them.

Lotz said the spring he used to strike weighed two to three kilograms and he wielded it with all his strength. He said the blow might have killed Goniwe, but he accepted a medical report that gave a stab wound to the heart as the cause of death.

Lotz said he could not explain why the medical report made no reference to an injury on Goniwe's head.

Asked by Patrick Mtshaulana, for the families of the victims, if he had left the dirty work (finishing the men off with knives) to the black policemen, Lotz replied: "I suppose you could put it that way."

Lotz denied that Goniwe put up a struggle, and said he went to his death quietly. Lotz was replying to a statement to the committee by former Vlakplaas chief Eugene de Kock, who said Goniwe put up a fierce struggle before being stabbed to death. Vlakplaas was a police hit squad base.

De Kock said he was told of the struggle by Captain Johan van Zyl, who was in command of the squad that killed the Cradock Four. De Kock has also applied for amnesty for his part in covering up the murder of Goniwe and the other three. He is also due to testify in this hearing.

Lotz said earlier he fought on the border in the former South West Africa in 1981. He was later transferred to the Eastern Cape and built up a hatred for ANC guerillas after visting bomb scenes, and seeing more than 120 necklace victims (people killed by burning tyres round their necks).

The other policemen applying for amnesty are Nicholas Janse van Rensburg, Hermanus Barend du Plessis and Eric Alexander Taylor.

The hearing is continuing in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton, near Port Elizabeth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

CAPE TOWN March 5 1998 - SAPA

DP, NP WELCOME PROPOSED TRC HEARINGS INTO ANC CAMPS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's proposed hearings into atrocities in African National Congress camps in exile were welcomed by the National Party and Democratic Party on Thursday.

They were reacting to a report in Die Burger that several ANC leaders, including Cabinet ministers, might be subpoenaed by the TRC to testify about human rights violations in ANC camps during the 1980s.

NP spokesman Jacko Maree said his party had insisted all along that the past should be dealt with even-handedly.

However, the NP was concerned that the proposed hearings would not be open to the public.

"Nobody will be any the wiser as... (to) what occurred in ANC ranks," Maree said.

The NP would write to the TRC to question why in-camera hearings had been proposed, "instead of open hearings (to) which we propose it be converted".

The DP's Dene Smuts said the TRC had recently come close to polarising the country instead of promoting reconciliation.

"This prompted our calls for decisive action on the camps."

It had to be recognised that extreme forms of torture and detention without trial had occurred under both state security forces and the ANC's security wing.

"If perpetrators on any side of the conflicts of the past are portrayed as being less culpable than those on the other of esentially identical gross human rights violations, then the TRC will fail in its statutory task of helping South Africa prevent the recurrence of atrocities," Smuts said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 5 1998 - SAPA

CCB'S BASSON FACES ANOTHER POSSIBLE TRC CHARGE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will ask Western Cape attorney-general Frank Khan to prosecute former Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) treasurer Wouter Basson for ignoring a subpoeana to appear before a closed investigative inquiry on Thursday.

The attorney-general is already investigating whether to prosecute Basson for failing to co-operate with the TRC on matters relating to the CCB's foreign operations, including the death of Swapo lawyer Anton Lubowski.

TRC investigative unit head Dumisa Ntsebeza said in a statement on Thursday that the investigating panel had waited 30 minutes for Basson (alias Christo Brits) and his lawyer to arrive.

"It was established that the lawyer was tied up in a different legal matter, but failed to inform the TRC that he and his cliet will not arrive."

Failure to respond to a subpoena is a criminal offence in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, and carries a possible sentence of either two years imprisonment or R2000 or both.

Basson, along with former CCB managing director Joe Verster, testified in closed inquiries in August last year and were warned then that they might be recalled.

Verster appeared on Monday and Tuesday, while Basson was due to testify on Thursday.

The alleged violations they have been questioned on include:

- the bombing of the Early Learning Centre in Athlone in August 1989;

- the death of Mr Edward "Peaches" Gordon and his role in the CCB; and,

- alleged cross-border atrocities, such as the 1989 assassination of Lubowski and the parcel bomb that maimed Father Michael Lapsley of the Anglican Church in Harare in 1990.

Basson should not be confused with Dr Wouter Basson of the former South African Defence Force's Seventh Medical Battalion, Ntsebeza said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 5 1998 - SAPA

ONLY HALF OF PEOPLE FEEL TRC IS FAIR AND UNBIASED: SURVEY

Only about half of all South Africans feel the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is fair and unbiased, a recent survey has found.

A mere 40 percent think the TRC will bring South Africans closer together, while barely 17 percent expect it to render people more willing to forgive.

The poll, conducted by MarkData in June and July last year, surveyed 2240 people at random.

Asked whether they felt the TRC was fair and unbiased towards all political parties, 52 percent of the respondents agreed, while 31 percent said the body favoured or was hostile to some parties.

The percentage of those satisfied with the TRC's fairness was the highest among blacks (62), followed by Coloureds (46), Indians (35) and whites (18).

About 67 percent of African National Congress and 68 percent of Pan Africanist Congress supporters gave the TRC their blessing in this respect.

The percentages among supporters of other political parties ranged from 50 (Inkatha Freedom Party), 33 (Democratic Party), and 24 (National Party).

"The findings suggest that the TRC is perceived to be impartial by a majority, but that majority is very narrow," the researchers said.

Asked if the body would bring people closer together, 27 percent of the sample said it would create hostility and 23 percent felt it would make no difference.

The researchers said there was in no major category of the population a clear majority appearing to believe that the TRC could achieve reconciliation.

They said people also seemed to doubt that the body would enhance a spirit of forgiveness.

Among those questioned, 24 percent expected people to feel more angry and bitter, 23 percent said the TRC would cause more hurt and pain. Only 17 percent predicted people would become more forgiving.

"These impressions suggest that there is fairly widespread scepticism about the effectiveness of the TRC's attempts to assist South Africans in coming to terms with the past," the researchers said.

On the issue of indemnity, they found that only about one-fifth of South Africans were convinced that amnesty granted by the TRC were justified in the cause of reconciliation.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 5 1998 - SAPA

EUGENE DE KOCK TO TESTIFY IN GONIWE AMNESY HEARING ON FRIDAY

Former Vlakplaas security police base commander and convicted murderer Eugene de Kock will be called to testify on Friday in the Cradock Four amnesty hearing in Port Elizabeth.

De Kock is applying to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty for his role in attempting to cover-up security police involvement in the murder of the Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli in June 1985.

The TRC's amnesty committee hearing in Port Elizabeth, chaired by Judge Ronnie Pilay, will hear De Kock's testimony as to how the operation to kill the Cradock Four was carried out.

De Kock has indicated in statements made to the committee that his version of how the men were killed might differ from the one offered by six other policemen applying for amnesty.

De Kock claims that soon after the four were killed he telephoned Captain Sakkie van Zyl, who was in command of the hitsquad that carried out the assassinations.

De Kock claims Van Zyl told him that he killed Goniwe after a struggle.

Van Zyl has told the committee that he killed Mkonto, while applicant Gerhardus Lotz has admitted to killing Goniwe.

De Kock's testimony is expected to conflict in these and other respects with the accounts given by the six policemen.

The others are Harold Snyman, Nic Janse van Rensburg, Hermanus du Plessis and Eric Taylor.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 5 1998 - SAPA

ANC SAYS IT HAS NOTHING TO HIDE ABOUT ITS FORMER CAMPS ABROAD

The African National Congress on Thursday said it had nothing to hide about its former camps abroad.

ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said documents describing conditions in the camps had been handed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 and 1997.

Mamoepa reiterated the ANC's view that although excesses occurred in the camps, they were not the result of a systematic policy of the ANC.

"Where such excesses were identified, the movement took steps to either demote those implicated or put into place mechanisms to avoid a recurrence of such incidents," Mamoepa said in a statement.

He was responding to queries from the media regarding the TRC decision to hold in-camera hearings concerning conditions in the ANC camps during the 1980s.

Mamoepa added reports by the Skweyiya, Motsuenyane and Stuart commissions, which investigated activities in the camps, formed part of the ANC's submissions to the TRC.

Earlier on Thursday, the National Party and Democratic Party welcomed the proposed TRC hearings into atrocities committed in the camps.

The NP and DP reacted to a media report that several ANC leaders, including Cabinet ministers, might be subpoenaed by the TRC to testify about human rights violations in ANC camps.

NP spokesman Jacko Maree said his party had insisted all along that the past should be dealt with even-handedly.

However, the NP was concerned that the proposed hearings would not be open to the public.

Maree said the NP would write to the TRC to question why in-camera hearings had been proposed, "instead of open hearings (to) which we propose it be converted".

The DP's Dene Smuts said the TRC had recently come close to polarising the country, instead of promoting reconciliation.

"This prompted our calls for decisive action on the camps," said Smuts.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 5 1998 - SAPA

KILLING ANCYL MEMBERS, BREACH OF ANC CONSTITUTION: NKOMO

An East Rand self-defence unit member on Thursday conceded that he breached the African National Congress' constitution when he took part in the killing of nine ANC Youth League members in Katlehong in the early 1990s.

Testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Boksburg, Langa Nkomo said he had perceived ANCYL members to be enemies of the community because they were involved in crime.

He claimed that he saw league members looting spaza shops and driving around in hijacked cars.

Amnesty committee members were on Thursdsay still trying to establish a political motive for the murders - a key requirement for the granting of amnesty.

However, evidence put before them by the 14 applicants continued to suggest that the execution of the nine youths was in revenge for the murders of SDU sympathiser Bulelwa Zwane and SDU member Blanco Jiyane.

The applicants maintain that they acted in defence of their community in the face of a terror campaign by the youths.

Nkomo said murders and looting in their shack settlement stopped immediately after the execution of the nine youths.

"If these people were not killed, these things would not have stopped," he said.

He also described how he hacked Alfred Buthelezi with an axe after he had been shot in the head with an AK47 rifle.

He said Buthelezi, the only adult who was executed with the youths, was still moving after the rifle shots.

"That was an indication that he was still alive and I finished him off," he said.

He and SDU commander Ntshebe Dondolo and Sugar Ramabele then proceeded to Buthelezi's house to kill Buthelezi's wife. The couple's son, Thokozani, was also executed.

Evidence also surfaced Thursday that the youths had apparently drawn up a hit-list to be used in the assassination of SDU members.

Appliant Rodrique Singo said the community would have been left unprotected if the youths were allowed to carry out their assassination plan.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 5 1998 - SAPA

COP DID NOT KNOW FATHER-IN-LAW WAS PART OF GONIWE KILLING

A policeman who was part of a squad that murdered the so-called Cradock Four in June 1985 did not know until 1996 that his father-in-law had been involved in planning the operation.

Gerhardus Lotz told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth on Thursday that General Nic Janse van Renburg, who also applied for amnesty for the killings, was his father-in-law.

He told the committee he did not know for more than ten years that Janse van Rensburg had, along with other police officers, planned the execution of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto, known as the Cradock Four.

Lotz's claim appeared to surprise some members of the committee. One member, Denzil Potgieter, asked Lotz: "Are you telling us that you did not know that this man, who was the second in command of the Easern Cape security branch and your father-in-law, was involved in the operation?"

Lotz said he only found out about his father-in-law's involvement when they both applied for amnesty in 1996.

Janse van Rensburg admitted giving the go ahead for the operation. He suggested it should be made to look like a robbery or a vigilante killing.

He said he received authority for the killing from his superior, Colonel Harold Snyman. Snyman also applied for amnesty but is too ill to testify before the commitee.

Lotz said he married Janse van Rensburg's daughter in 1984.

Lotz, who left the police for medical reasons in 1995, told the hearing he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and had been on medication until recently.

He previously worked in the police's former counter-insurgency unit Koevoet during the Angola border war in Ovamboland in 1981.

He said he was haunted by the experience of killing Goniwe. He admitted striking Goniwe on the head with a heavy steel spring, a blow he believed might have killed the activist.

He then ordered three black policemen to stab the fallen man to make it appear to be a vigilante killing.

A post mortem report showed Goniwe had been stabbed numerous times in the chest and abdomen with a variety of knives of different size. However, the report showed no evidence of a blow to the head.

Lotz said he could not explain this, but insisted he struck Goniwe with all his might.

He told the committee he took the steel spring from his garage at home before leaving for the operation. He also took his service pistol and a bayonet which he did not use.

However, he told the committee he later threw the bayonet away because it reminded him of the incident. He said he threw the spring in the Swartkops River on the night of the killing.

Lotz said he burnt his clothes the next day to remove all traces of the events of the night in question.

Lotz described to the committee how he pulled a handcuffed Goniwe out of a car and then struck him on the back of the head.

The Cradock Four were stopped by the police death squad while travelling between Port Elizabeth and Cradock. They were taken to an isolated spot near Bluewater Bay outside Port Elizabeth and killed.

Asked by Patrick Mtshaulana, representing the families of the victims, if he had left the "dirty work" to the black policemen, Lotz replied: "I suppose you could put it that way."

Lotz denied that Goniwe put up a struggle and said he went to his death quietly. Lotz was replying to a statement given to the committee by former Vlakplaas chief Eugene de Kock in which he said Goniwe put up a fierce struggle before being stabbed to death.

De Kock claimed he was told this by Captain Johan van Zyl who was in command of the squad that killed the Cradock Four.

De Kock has also applied for amnesty for his part in covering up the murder of Goniwe and the other three. He is due to testify in the hearing on Friday.

The other policemen applying for amnesty are Johan van Zyl, Hermanus du Plessis and Eric Taylor.

The hearing continues in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton near Port Elizabeth on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH Mar 6 - SAPA

EUGENE DE KOCK BLAMES SECUROCRATS FOR DEATH OF CRADOCK FOUR

Former Vlakplaas hitsquad commander and convicted murderer Eugene de Kock on Friday blamed securocrats in the National Party government for ordering the murder of political activists including the Cradock Four.

De Kock was testifying at an amnesty hearing in Port Elizabeth, where he is applying for amnesty for his role in attempting to cover-up the security police involvement in the murder of Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli in June 1985.

He told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee he had no doubt that the hawks in the government at the time had their own agenda, which included ordering the killing of people who fought against the system.

He also dismissed as a smokescreen apparent attempts by senior government figures to have Goniwe reinstated at the Cradock school from which he had been suspended.

De Kock was referring to official documents which showed that two ministers at the time, Sam de Beer and Gerrit Viljoen, had been in favour of reappointing Goniwe.

De Kock said these attempts were probablly genuine and sincere but were used by the security establishment as a smokescreen to hide government involvement in the murder of Goniwe.

He said there certainly were doves in the government but they were used by the hawks who, when they stood up in Parliament to explain Goniwe's death, could quote the statements about his reinstatement to prove the government had not killed Goniwe.

As far as Goniwe's activities were concerned, he said knew from security police reviews that the man was an effective activist and highly skilled organiser. He said he knew of no involvement by Goniwe in any murders or other unlawful activity.

Giving his evidence in mostly Afrikaans, but sometimes making remarks in English, De Kock said the securocrats used the foot soldiers to carry out their dirty work.

He said he had sympathy for the uniformed branch of the police, who were on the ground and had to "take all the flak" caused by the decisions of organisations such as Military Intelligence and the National Intelligence Service.

He said he still could not believe that he and the security forces had been so misled by politicians at the time.

"I cant believe that they had so much influence on us, and then at the first sign of problems they fled," he said.

He singled out former president FW de Klerk and former police commissioner Gen Johan Coetzee for selling out the police and most of the white people in the country.

"The security forces did not want to fight, but were urged to do so by the politicians in their quest for patriotism and with their talk about confronting the forces of evil and darkness," he said. But he added that the way in which peace was finally reached was admirable, and mercifully so.

De Kock said the politicians appeared satisfied as the citizens of the country "strangled each other".

He said he had no doubt that the orders for many of the operations conducted by the security forces at the time came from the highest level.

He quoted the example of the order to blow up Khotso House, in which the SA Council of Churches was housed in 1985. He told the committee when he asked from the order had come he was told: "From the president himself."

Referring to testimony by four policemen applying for amnesty for the Goniwe killing, De Kock pointed out differences in the account given to the committee and the one he heard.

De Kock claims that soon after the attack he spoke by telephone to Capt Sakkie van Zyl, who was in command of the squad that killed the Cradock Four. De Kock claims that Van Zyl asked him if he knew someone who could change the ballistics of a rifle that had been used in a murder.

Van Zyl later told De Kock that he shot Goniwe himself after becoming involved in a struggle. Van Zyl told the amnesty committee he shot Sparrow Mkonto, who had tried to overpower him while travelling in the back of his police vehicle.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 6 - SAPA

MK COMMANDERS TO BE QUESTIONED ON ANC ATROCITIES

Three former Umkhonto weSizwe commanders have been summoned to testify later this month at a closed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) investigative inquiry into alleged atrocities in African National Congress camps in exile.

TRC investigative unit head Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Friday that the three men - generals Andrew Masondo and John Zulu of the South African National Defence Force, and Gabriel Mthembu of the National Intelligence Agency - had been "invited" to appear.

However, he also said the three could face prosecution if they failed to attend the hearing without sufficient cause.

The inquiry would be held at the TRC's Cape Town office on March 26 and March 30.

The men would be required to answer questions or give evidence on alleged violations in detention camps in Angola, Ntsebeza said.

Issues to be raised included the death in detention of at least six people, including Timothy Seremane, the brother of chief land claims commissioner Joe Seremane.

Ntsebeza said the TRC had received several human rights violation statements from alleged victims of ANC detention facilities and these were being investigated.

In addition, several amnesty applications had been received from people involved in violations in detention camps, such as Quatro camp.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 6 - SAPA

BARNARD'S CLOSE FRIEND SAYS BARNARD SHOWED HOW HE SHOT WEBSTER

A close friend of former Civil Co-operation Bureau agent Ferdi Barnard on Friday told the Pretoria High Court that Barnard demonstrated to him how he shot anti-apartheid activist David Webster.

Barnard has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges, including the Webster murder, the attempted murder of Justice Minister Dullah Omar and the murder of a friend of Webster, Mark Frances.

Chris Ras, an awaiting-trial prisoner, testified that Barnard repeatedly told him he killed both Webster and Frances.

He said Barnard one evening demonstrated to him how he shot Webster by firing his shotgun out of a car window, shattering the display window of a car dealer.

Barnard has denied the charge of damaging the shop window and a car.

Ras said he met Barnard at a police station in 1993 and they became friends, often driving to different places to buy cocaine.

Ras said he saw various weapons at Barnard's house, including handgrenades and an Uzi machine gun hidden in a piano.

Barnard's favourite weapon was a shotgun which he called Buks Benade. He said the weapon was used in a number of operations, including the Webster killing.

He said the person who drove the car, Calla Botha, did not really know what would happen. The next moment the shotgun was pointed out of the window and Barnard killed Webster.

"The driver was very shocked. He said the order came from high - I understood that it came from ministerial or security police level.

"The accused had to go and see the security police several times. He said he worked for intelligence in Pretoria," Ras said.

He said he and Barnard were on their way to meet people for business one evening in 1995 when Barnard asked him to stop at a BMW garage in Rivonia Road, Johannesburg.

"He fired a shot with Buks Benade out of the car's window and the display window of the garage shattered. When I asked him why he did it, he said that's how Webster went. I was very uncomfortable.

"I saw the shotgun many times. The Webster incident was mentioned several times. He always used the shotgun as a starting point and then the conversation would be about Webster, how powerful the shotgun was and how Webster went through the air when he was shot," Ras said.

Ras said he also knew about the death of Mark Frances. He and Barnard one evening drove past an alley next to a hotel. Barnard told him to reverse and said that was where he had killed Frances with a baseball bat.

Frances had revealed certain information about the accused in a statement, he said. "He told it to me more than once. He used to say that's the place where Frances was sent to Jesus location. I told him I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to be in the firing line. I don't know if it bothered him or not," Ras said.

To questions by counsel for Barnard, Ras said he had always believed he and Barnard were good friends, but now realised that Barnard was only using him. He felt unhappy about it and described Barnard as a man who only thought about himself, but denied that he had a grudge against Barnard and was making up stories in order to get back at him.

Ras said he and Barnard at one stage used cocaine worth up to R10,000 per day. He found Barnard's denial that he killed Webster and Frances strange because Barnard repeatedly confessed the murders to him.

"I'm only telling the truth," he said.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 6 - SAPA

TUTU TO SAY IN A BBC PROGRAMME WHY HE TOLD OFF MANDELA

Archbishop Desmond Tutu would explain on Thursday next week on the BBC World's Hardtalk programme why he "told off" Presdient Nelson Mandela, but accorded his estranged wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, special dignity when she appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last December.

In exracts of the programme released to Sapa on Friday night, Tim Sebastian asked Tutu why it appeared that he accorded Madikizela-Mandela some kind of special dignity, and what was the advisability of having to do that to somebody who had been convicted of kidnapping and accessory to assault.

Tutu replied that the TRC was not a court, and that he had known Madikizela-Mandela for many years, she had been tremendous. She had also made a crucial contribution to the struggle for freedom at a time when her husband and other people were away (in jail).

"The commission seeks to move people... to say it's important for the healing of this country that you say sorry. That's why I went to Mr PW Botha (former state president). You could accuse me as well: `Why did you go and see him when there are so many other things that you know about him?' but you see, I am a pastor and I have to believe that in each one of us there is a saint struggling to get out, otherwise I have to shut up."

Tutu agreed that he got a very grudging apology from Madikizela-Mandela, but said that he was pleased to have gotten something from her for the first time.

The former Cape Town Anglican Archbishop was also asked about remarks he made when Mandela and his ministers took over government in 1994. Tutu said Mandela and his team had stopped the gravy train just long enough to get on it, and that it was scary to see how the new ministers wore the old clothes of their predecessors.

Sebastian asked him whether he thought they were adopting old apartheid methods and style.

Tutu replied his fears were based on a natural assumption that if people were not vigilant, it was possible for yesterday's oppressed to become tomorrow's oppressors.

"If I am Nelson Mandela's friend, as I hope I am, he doesn't want someone to cowtow to him. I have got to tell him when I believe he is wrong so that he can believe in me when I praise him... because he will say... `Well, when he praises me it must be genuine because he has told me off,'" he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 8 1998 - SAPA

FIVAZ DENIES HE TOOK PART IN POLICE CROSS-BORDER RAIDS

National Police Commissioner George Fivaz on Sunday categorically rejected news reports that he took part in cross- border raids against African National Congress members in the early 1980s.

Fivaz was appointed police chief in 1995 after the ANC came to power following South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

Fivaz said in a statement: "Allegations that I was involved in the Maseru cross-border raid in the early 1980s are not only utterly untrue, but seem highly opportunistic.

"I have no hesitation whatsoever in categorically rejecting this kind of allegations because at the time of the Maseru raid I was based at the SA Police head office inspectorate in Pretoria."

City Press newspaper on Sunday reported that former police informers told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that Fivaz was involved in the security force raids into Lesotho.

The TRC would not confirm if it was investigating Fivaz but said it was looking into raids into Lesotho in the 1980s.

Fivaz said he would welcome an incisive and transparent probe by the TRC into these allegations, as well as into the true motivation of those making them.

"I have full confidence that, following such a probe, I will be fully exonerated."

Fivaz added he had never been involved in any form of human rights abuse and, therefore, had no reason whatsoever to fear any kind of probe.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 8 1998 - SAPA

MBEKI ADMITS PROBLEM REGARDING EDUCATION, TRC AND CORRUPTION

Deputy president Thabo Mbeki admitted at the weekend that the government did not know how to handle the education crisis, corruption or the backlash against the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission, a Sapa correspondent reported on Sunday.

Speaking at a banquet hosted by the SA Communist Party in Klerksdorp on Saturday night, Mbeki said despite South Africa's many achievements there were still issues the country had been unable to address.

"We have problems, problems of education. How do we produce a non-racial education system? Is it correct to say what has historically been an Afrikaans-medium school must now become a duel medium school to make it accessible to all?" he said.

Mbeki commended North-West premier Popo Molefe and relevant roleplayers in their handling of the school dispute in Vryburg.

"All roleplayers must have an opportunity to air their views in this democratic country," he said.

Mbeki said the TRC process had left certain sectors of the population feeling "marginalised".

"What do we do about the sentiments which seem to have developed amongst some of our fellow South Africans that democracy for them means marginalisation, disempowerment and political oppression?" he asked.

Mbeki said the TRC created an opportunity for all South Africans to learn about the past and so move into the future. He warned against elements trying to discredit the commission: "If they succeed, the price we as a country will have to pay, will be very high."

Corruption too had to be addressed, and not just in government departments, he said.

There were business people who did not pay taxes, employers who followed unfair labour practices and priests who abused their position.

Molefe in his speech at the same function said the North-West government was facing corruption and dealing with it by way of disciplinary action. The details would be made known to the public next week, he said.

On a lighter note, Mbeki drew attention to the fact that South Africa had remained largely unaffected by the Asian economic crisis.

"I'm sure you have noticed that Trevor Manuel has lost a lot of hair recently, but in the last six to nine months that process of balding seems to have accelerated because the Minister of Finance was concerned that we would catch the Asian Flu," he said, adding that South Africans could be proud of the stability achieved after years of embargoes and boycotts.

"A top United states businessman we have spoken to during the last two weeks said he thought that the Rand was one of the three strongest currencies in the world, and an important feature of the world economy." Mbeki said no matter what was said about the government in the upcoming elections it has shown it has the "capacity to make a contribution".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 9 1998 - SAPA

NP LEADER SORRY SA'S HISTORY DID NOT CHANGE EARLIER

National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk during a visit to Robben Island on Monday said he was filled with a sense of remorse that South Africa had not produced a Nelson Mandela or an FW de Klerk 20 or 30 years ago.

He said he often wondered what South Africa's course of history might then have been.

Van Schalkwyk was accompanied by his wife Suzette and four black members of the NP parliamentary caucus.

He said what had happened on Robben Island was wrong, but it could never be erased from South Africa's history.

All political parties should commit themselves to reconciliation and not just leave the task to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Van Schalkwyk said he last year visited the monument in Bloemfontein to Boer women and children who died in the Anglo-Boer war and two weeks ago he visited Cape Town's District Six from which coloureds were evicted under apartheid's Group Areas Act in the 1960s.

He was struck by the fact that South Africa was dotted with monuments commemorating the suffering of its people, and perhaps the time had come to also erect monuments that really commemorated the country's successes.

People who fell in this category who could be commemorated included Albert Luthuli, Robert Sobukwe, Mandela and De Klerk.

Van Schalkwyk, the first national party leader to visit Robben Island in that capacity, said he was struck when he walked into the prison by the idea that no jail could ever curtail a powerful idea and no unjust law could suppress people for too long.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 9 - SAPA

GRUESOME FATE OF PEBCO THREE REVEALED AT PE AMNESTY HEARING

Two members of the so-called Pebco Three agreed to co-operate with security police in a vain attempt to save their lives during brutal interrogation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Monday.

Former Vlakplaas police hitsquad member Joe Mamasela revealed the fate of the three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation who disappeared in 1985.

What became of Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi had been a mystery until April last year when Mamasela confessed to being part of a squad of policemen that killed the three.

Testifying at the TRC hearing in Port Elizabeth on Friday, Mamasela gave a graphic account of how the three were interrogated, tortured and systematically beaten to death. He described how Hashe, after being severely beaten, offered to take police to his sister's home where some AK47 rifles were hidden.

Mamasela said he gained the impression Hashe was making up the story in order to save his own life. His efforts proved futile because according to Mamasela, Warrant Officer Johannes Koole jumped on to the Hashe's chest, landing on his knees, and strangled him to death. Mamasela described Koole as a "vicious bull terrier".

Godolozi, the second of the three to be interrogated, tried to tell his captors that he worked for National Intelligence Services. Mamasela said he believed this was also a ruse by Godolozi to save his own life.

According to Mamasela, they then questioned Galela. He was subjected to prolonged assault by being kicked, punched and struck with a stick and a steel pipe.

Mamasela said at one stage Warrant-Officer Gert Beeslaar squeezed Galela's testicles "until they were the size of golf balls", and then punched them with his fist.

"This was the most brutal thing I've ever witnessed. It was a dehumanising experience," he said. Mamasela said Galela later died from his injuries

Mamasela said Godolozi, who had been spared, was forced to sleep beside his dead comrades' bodies.

He said the next morning a man who wore a smart suit and looked like a gentleman arrived at the place. He was apparently from NIS and said Godolozi had provided no useful information.

Godolozi was then also beaten to death.

The applicants for amnesty in connection with the Pebco Three's murders are former Port Elizabeth security policemen Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt, Gehardus Lotz, Colonel Herman du Plessis, Captain Sakkie van Zyl and Colonel Harold Snyman, Beeslaar, Koole and askari Peter Mogoai. An askari is a former Umkonto we Sizwe member turned police informant.

Mamasela told the hearng he was sent from Vlakplaas near Pretoria to Port Elizabeth to deal with a problem police were having with activists trying to make the townships ungovernable. He described how he and a group of policemen abducted the three at Port Elizabeth airport. He said they were driven to a derelict police station near Cradock.

"A braaivleis (barbeque) was then started. I knew then that the interrogation would start because interrogations take place with a braaivleis," Mamasela said.

He described how the three were brought out one at a time and then assaulted with a steel pipe and sticks. He said they were systematically beaten to death while the policemen had drinks and ate from the braaivleis.

He said he saw the bodies later being taken and thrown on to a pile of horse fodder.

The hearing is continuing in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 9 1998 - SAPA

NP LEADER HAS `TOO MUCH RESPECT' FOR MANDELA'S CELL

National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Monday declined to be photographed in President Nelson Mandela's former cell at the Robben Island prison.

During a visit to the former apartheid jail, he told a photographer who asked him to do so that "I have too much respect to go in there".

Mandela spent 18 years in the tiny cell in the maximum security section, before being transferred to the Western Cape's Pollsmoor and Victor Verster prisons prior to his release.

Van Schalkwyk, who visited the world-famous former prison as leader of the opposition in Parliament and as NP leader, told journalists after a tour of the facility that he was filled with a sense of remorse that South Africa had not produced a Nelson Mandela or an FW de Klerk 20 to 30 years ago.

He said he often wondered what South Africa's course in history might have been had the symbiosis occurred earlier between such leaders.

He was replying to a question from a reporter as to whether he did not feel a sense of anger at what the former generation of NP leaders had done.

Van Schalkwyk was accompanied by his wife Suzette and four senior black members of the NP parliamentary caucus - John Mavuso, Charles Ntsizi, David Malatsi and Cobus Dowry.

He said what had happened on Robben Island was wrong, but it could never be erased from South Africa's history.

All political parties should commit themselves to reconciliation and not just leave the task to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Van Schalkwyk said he last year visited the monument in Bloemfontein to Boer women and children who died in the South African War, and two weeks ago he visited Cape Town's District Six (from which coloured people were evicted under apartheid's Group Areas Act in the 1960s).

He was struck by the fact that South Africa was dotted with monuments commemorating the suffering of its people, and perhaps the time had come to also erect monuments that commemorated the country's successes.

People in this category who could be commemorated included Albert Luthuli, Robert Sobukwe, Mandela and De Klerk.

Van Schalkwyk, the first NP leader to visit Robben Island in that capacity, said that when he walked into the prison he was struck by the thought that no jail could ever curtail a powerful idea and that no unjust law could suppress people for too long.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH Mar 9 - SAPA

HITMAN PAINTS GRAPHIC PICTURE OF PEBCO THREE'S FINAL HOURS

Joe Mamasela, himself a self-confessed hitsquad member, described the beating to death of the Pebco Three as some of the most savage and brutal behaviour he had ever witnessed.

Testifying before the amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth on Monday, Mamasela recounted the final gruesome hours of the three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation who mysteriously disappeared in May 1985. He painted a graphic picture of how the three were abducted at the Port Elizabeth airport, taken to a deserted police station near Cradock and then systematically beaten to death.

This account contrasted sharply with the testimony given by the policemen applying for amnesty for the deaths of Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi, the Pebco Three.

In their application for amnesty, the policemen admitted to killing the three, but said they were merely shot to death and were neither interrogated nor tortured.

The applicants are former Port Elizabeth security policemen Col Gideon Nieuwoudt, Gehardus Lotz, Col Herman du Plessis, Capt Sakkie van Zyl and Col Harold Snyman, Gerhardus Beeslaar, Johannes Koole and askari Peter Mogoai.

Mamasela was confident in his testimony and provided the gruesome details with great gusto.

During interrogation by Kobus Booysen appearing for the policemen, Mamasela was aggressive and argumentative. The chairman of the committee, Judge Bernhard Ngoepe, on several occasions asked him to restrain himself and to listen to the questions.

He also warned that the committee would form an impression of a witness, not only by the content of his testimony, but by the way he conducted himself.

Mamasela's testimony has thrown more light on what became of the Pebco Three whose disappearance was a mystery until April last year. In a dramatic conffession on televsion, Mamasela admitted to being part of a squad of policemen that killed the three.

Testifying at the hearing on Friday, Mamasela gave a graphic account of how the three were interrogated, tortured and then systematically beaten to death. He described how Hashe, after being severely beaten, offered to take the police to his sister's home where some AK47's were supposedly hidden.

Mamasela said he gained the impression that Hashe was making up the story in order to save his own life. His effort proved futile because, according to Mamasela, one of the policemen, Warrant Office Johannes Koole, jumped on to the Hashe's chest with his knees and strangled him to death.

Mamasela described Koole as "vicious bull terrier".

According to Mamasela, they then questioned Galela who was subjected to prolonged beating by being kicked, punched and struck with a stick and a steel pipe. Mamasela said at one stage, Beeslaar squeezed Galela's testicles "until they were the size of golf balls" and then punched them with his fist.

"This is most brutal thing I've ever witnessed. It was a dehumanising experience," he said adding that Galela also later died from his injuries

Mamasela said Godolozi, who had been spared, was forced to sleep the night next to the bodies of his colleagues.

He said the next morning a man who wore a smart suit and "looked like a gentleman" arrived. He was apparently from NIS and said Godolozi had provided them with no useful information.

This proved to be Godolozi's death warrant and he was then also beaten to death, Masamela said.

The hearing is continuing in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton near Port Elizabeth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 10 1998 - SAPA

MAMASELA DENIES EXAGGERATING ABOUT PEBCO THREE KILLING

Self confessed murderer and former Vlakplaas operative Joe Mamasela on Tuesday denied that he lied and exaggerated in his account of how the so-called Pebco Three were beaten to death.

Mamasela was testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Port Elizabeth in which eight policeman applied for amnesty for killing three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation (Pebco) in 1985.

He told the committee on Monday that he was part of a squad of policemen who beat the Pebco Three to death during a marathon interrogation session at a disused police station near Cradock.

It was put to Mamasela by Kobus Booyens, who is appearing for five of the policemen, that he was exaggerating and lying in his description of the beating.

"That is absolutely ridiculous," Mamasela replied.

The policemen have applied for amnesty for the death of Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi. In their application for amnesty the policemen admitted killing the three, but said they were shot dead and were neither interrogated nor torutured.

The applicants are former Port Elizabeth security policemen Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt, Gehardus Lotz, Colonel Herman du Plessis, Captain Sakkie van Zyl and Colonel Harold Snyman, Gerhardus Beeslaar, Johannes Koole and askari Peter Mogoai.

When asked where his loyalties lay, Mamasela said he had supported the African National Congress until 1981 when the organisation allegedly killed his brother. He said at that stage he became disillusioned with all politicians.

He denied ever supporting the security police and claimed the atrocities he committed while at the security police base Vlakplaas near Pretoria were under duress.

When Booyens put it to Mamasela that he had in previous inquiries and court hearings been shown to have lied, Mamasela replied: "Your clients told me to lie and I lied. It was the norm in the police to tell black people to lie, if you dont lie you get killed."

He was involved in another heated exchange with Roelof du Plessis, who is appearing for Beeslaar, and called him an unscrupulous lawyer. Mamasela's remark drew applause from the audience of about 200.

Mamasela later withdrew the remark after a request from committee chairman Judge Bernhard Ngoepe.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 10 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO HEAR IFP AMNESTY APPLICATIONS IN DURBAN

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee will later this month hear applications in Durban from nine people who applied for amnesty for the killing of at least 50 people in separate incidents.

TRC KwaZulu-Natal spokesman Mdu Lembede on Tuesday said in a statement the five-day hearing would be held at the commission's Durban offices from March 23 to 27.

He said most of the applicants were Inkatha Freedom Party members serving lengthy prison sentences for killing ANC members and supporters.

The first applicant to appear before the committee would be Goodman Musawakhe Ngcobo, who applied for amnesty for the murder of 12 people at Izingolweni near Port Shepstone between 1990 and 1992.

Ngcobo was initially sentenced to death but later had his sentence commuted.

Sandile Innocent Manana applied for amnesty for the murder of Sifiso Jili in Steadville near Ladysmith in October 1992. Manana is serving a five-year prison term.

Bongani Gilbert Ngobese and Nimrod Mbewu Mthembu were seeking amnesty for the murders of Siza Ntsele and Zondiwe Khumalo of KwaMaphumulo near Stanger on August 24, 1991.

The two also applied for amnesty for the attempted murder of Mdikivani Mkhize.

Thulani Mzokhona Myeza was applying for amnesty for the murder of three people in Eshowe. He said he acted under orders when he killed Vusumuzi Mbokazi on 20 November 1993, Joel Zikhali the following day and Nkoso Dludla on April 1, 1994.

Boy Gwamanda applied for amnesty for the murder of four people.

Mabhungu Absolom Dladla and Nkanyiso Wilfred Ndlovu killed 16 people at Enkanyezini on the March 5, 1993.

During their trial they claimed that they were avenging the killing of six schoolchildren who were ambushed and murdered in the area a few days earlier. They were sentenced to more than 60 years in prison.

The last applicant, Baba Langelihle Khomo, killed eight people and attempted to kill eight others at Ekwandeni Section 3 in Mpumalanga township near Hammarsdale on March 9, 1992. He is serving 20 years in prison.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH March 10 1998 - SAPA

MAMASELA STRUCK A DEAL TO AVOID PROSECUTION, TRC TOLD

The question of whether a secret deal was made for self- confessed murderer Joe Mamasela to avoid prosecution was raised in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

Mamasela, a former Vlakplaas (police hit squad) agent, is testifying in the application for amnesty by eight policemen who have admitted killing three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation (Pebco) in 1985.

Mamasela has admitted being part of the group that killed the Pebco Three, but has not applied for amnesty for his part in the murders.

He is therefore possible for him to be charged for the murders because he is not eligible for amnesty. Roelof du Plessis, appearing for one of the policemen, Warrant Officer Gerhardus Beeslaar, suggested that Masmasela made a secret deal with someone to avoid prosecution.

Du Plessis raised the question several times during his cross- examination of Mamasela, whose version of the killing of the Pebco Three differs substantially from that given by the policemen in their amnesty applications.

Mamasela has repeatedly denied that he did any deal to escape prosecution, and says he has nothing to gain from testifying before the amnesty committee apart from clearing his conscience.

He said he was willing to face prosecution for his actions because he believed that even if he were sentenced there would eventually be a blanket amnesty for everyone involved in political violence during apartheid.

Mamasela was a state witness when his former Vlakplaas commander, Dirk Coetzee, was convicted in 1996 of the murder of Durban lawyer Griffiths Mxenge. Mamasela was not granted indemnity at the conclusion of the case and is still technically liable for prosecution.

During cross-examination on Tuesday Mamasela said he was assisting the Attorney-General's office and was being paid between R4000 and R5000 a month for expenses incurred.

Mamasela has given the committee a graphic account of how the Pebco Three were abducted and tortured to death over a long period of interrogation. This conflicts with the account by the policemen, who say the three were shot and were not tortured or interrogated.

During heated exchanges with lawyers on Tuesday, Mamasela denied he had lied and exaggerated in his testimony.

It was put to Mamasela by Kobus Booyens, for five of the policemen, that he was exaggerating and lying in his description of the beating.

"That is absolutely ridiculous", Mamasela replied.

The policemen are applying for amnesty for the death of Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi.

Asked where his loyalties lay, Mamasela said he supported the ANC until 1981, when he claims the organisation killed his brother. He said at that stage he became disilllusioned with all politicians. He denies ever supporting the security police and claims that the atrocities he committed at Vlakplaas were under duress.

When Booyens put it to Mamasela that he had in previous inquiries, and in court hearings, been shown to have lied, Mamasela replied: "Your clients told me to lie and I lied. It was the norm in the police to tell black people to lie. If you don't lie you get killed."

He was involved in another heated exchange with Du Plessis (for Beeslaar) and called him an unscrupulous lawyer. Mamasela's remark drew applause from the audience of about 200 at the hearing.

Mamasela later withdrew the remark after a request from committee chairman Judge Bernhard Ngoepe.

The hearing continues in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton near Port Elizabeth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 10 1998 - SAPA

PAC LEADERSHIP URGED TO ENGAGE TRC ON ISSUE OF PRISONERS

The Pan Africanist Congress' leadership should seriously engage the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ensure the plight of political prisoners was prioritised in the context of reconciliation and nation building, the African National Congress said on Tuesday.

The party said the PAC leadership should avoid distortions which would result from the exploitation of the release from the country's jails of political prisoners for partisan political purposes.

The ANC was reacting to a march in Pretoria on Tuesday by PAC members who protested against the incarceration of political prisoners accross the country.

The PAC accused President Nelson Mandela of "licking the boots of white people" and demanded that he issue a blanket presidential pardon to all former freedom fighters in prison.

The protesters presented a memorandum to Mandela's office, in which they claimed hundreds of former cadres were being held in SA jails, some under inhuman circumstances.

These included liberation fighters from the PAC, ANC and the Azanian People's Organisation.

ANC national spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said it had become fashionable for certain PAC leaders to attempt to hang onto Mandela's coat-tails to help boost their organisation's fledgling image.

"Any political leader worth his/her salt will recognise that the negotiations process has put into place mechanisms to address the plight of those members of the liberation movement convicted, and currently imprisoned for acts across from the struggle against apartheid," Mamoepa said in a statement.

The TRC was under a full mandate to prioritise amnesty hearings of political prisoners.

Mamoepa said suggestions that Mandela was pandering to the white community's whimsies had long been deserted by time and serious political commentators.

PAC deputy president Motsoko Pheko said political prisoners were serving sentences ranging from 55 years to two life sentences.

Former Azanian People's Liberation Army operations director Letlapa Mphahlele referred to the TRC as the "Tutu rainbow circus", and accused it of bias against black people.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 11 1998 - SAPA

TRC WELCOMES REPARATIONS ALLOCATION

The allocation of R100 million in the justice budget vote for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's reparations programme was a significant first step towards the payment of reparations to victims of human rights violations, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Wednesday.

"The allocation is substantially more than the R50 million which we believe will be needed for interim reparations, and we are grateful that an allocation for final reparations has effectively been made even before the presentation of our final report to the president," he said in a statement.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced in his Budget speech on Wednesday that the allocation for reparations would rise to R200 million in 1999/2000 and to R300 million in 2000/01.

Tutu said he hoped very much that the allocation would be substantially increased in future years.

"We have proposed that victims should be paid a total of R500 million a year for a period of six years," he said.

The TRC's plan for final reparations includes a proposal that victims receive individual reparation grants of between R17000 and R23000 a year - the median household income in SA - for a period of six years.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH Mar 11 - SAPA

MORE COPS INVOLVED IN KILLING OF PEBCO THREE, MAMASELA SAYS

Only half the policemen involved in the murder of the Pebco Three had applied for amnesty and the rest still held high ranks in the police force, self-confessed murderer Joe Mamasela told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.

Mamasela, a former Vlakplaas (police hit squad) agent, admitted being present when a squad of policemen killed three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation in May 1985.

Eight policemen have applied to the TRC's amnesty committee for amnesty for the killing of Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi, known as the Pebco Three.

Mamasela told the committee on Wednesday that he saw 15 to 20 policemen at various times during the interrogation and torture of the Pebco Three.

He said he did not recognise all of them, but some now held high rank in the police and their identities were being protected by the policemen who applied for amnesty.

Mamasele claims that Hashe, Galela and Godolozi were tricked into going to the Port Elizabeth airport, where they were abducted and taken to a disused police station at Post Chalmers near Cradock.

He has admitted taking part in a prolonged interrogation of the three, during which they were battered to death with an iron pipe and a stick.

The eight policemen police admit in their amnesty applications they killed the Pebco Three. All but two deny assaulting the victims before their deaths.

The applicants include Port Elizabeth security policemen Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt, Gehardus Lotz, Colonel Herman du Plessis, Captain Sakkie van Zyl and Colonel Harold Snyman, and Gerhardus Beeslaar, who all admit killing the Pebco Three but deny assaulting them before their deaths. Former Warrant Officer Johannes Koole and askari Peter Mogoai have admitted killing and assaulting the Pebco Three.

Under lengthy cross-examination by lawyers appearing for the policemen, Mamasela vigorously denied the three were eliminated in "a clean killing".

"In all my experience in this hell hole (referring to Vlakplaas) I have never heard of a clean killing. That is an attempt by them (pointing to the applicants) to appear honest and decent gentlemen," Mamasela said in the loud and animated way which has been the trademark of his testimony.

"People were killed brutally and died like animals. The idea was to get as much information out of them before they died. They were subjected to pain, it was a sadistic method of killing people," he said.

Mamasela apologised to the families of the Pebco Three and offered to share some of the little money he had made with them. He did not specify how he would assist them and how much he was willing to offer.

Mamasela has told the committee that in 1992 he received a golden handshake of more than R400,000 to "to keep my big mouth shut".

The mother of one of the victims, Benediticta Godolozi, told Sapa after Masamela's testimony that she was not interested in money.

"I came here to find the truth, not to look for money," she said.

Mamasela has also thrown doubt on a claim by the applicants that after shooting the Pebco Three they burnt the bodies and threw the remains into the Fish River.

Mamasela, said he did not see what happened to the bodies of the three men, said he found it improbable that it could have happened that way.

He said he had been ordered by Nieuwoudt to stifle the cries of the victims while they were being beaten, in case the noise aroused lthe attention of nearby farmers.

He said he could not believe that the policemen would have made a large fire in an area where nearby farmers and farm labourers would have been alerted.

He said he had witnessed bodies being burnt in the past and knew that it required a large bonfire, which would have appeared like a veld fire to locals, who would have called the police or the fire services.

Mamasela had not applied for amnesty and is therefore liable to be charged for the murder of the Pebco Three.

He was a state witness when his former Vlakplaas commander, Dirk Coetzee, was charged and convicted in 1996 of the murder of Durban lawyer Griffiths Mxenge. Mamasela was not granted indemnity at the conclusion of the case and is still technically liable for prosecution.

The amnesty commitee is chaired by Judge Bernhard Ngoepe. The hearing is continuing in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton near Port Elizabeth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 12 - SAPA

NP TO CHALLENGE AMNESTIES IN COURT

The National Party is to launch a court challenge against the amnesties granted to 37 high-ranking figures in the African National Congress, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk is expected to officially announce this at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

The NP decision follos delays in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's own court application for a review of the amnesties, which were granted by the TRC's autonomous amnesty committee.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said last month that the commission hoped to finalise its papers as soon as it had completed consulting its advocate Wim Trengove.

Trengove told the commission last year that he believed the amnesties, granted without full detail of the acts or omissions for which amnesty was being sought, were faulty and should be reviewed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 12 - SAPA

MOZAMBIQUE PROBING ALLEGED ARMS DEAL AGAINST MCBRIDE: FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Mozambican police were investigating the alleged involvement of foreign affairs official Robert McBride in an arms deal, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in Pretoria on Thursday.

It said McBride was using his diplomatic passport on an unauthorised visit to Mozambique when he was arrested on Monday afternoon. He was on leave at the time.

In a statement the department said Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Nzo was shocked at the news of McBride's detention.

He was arrested in the small town of Ressano Garcia near the Lebombo border post between South Africa and Mozambique. He is being held in police custody in Maputo.

The department said deputy director-general Abdul Minty visited Maputo on Wednesday to investigate the matter and reported to Nzo on Wednesday night.

"The legal process in Mozambique will take its normal course, during which the South African government will maintain regular contact with the Mozambican government," the department said.

McBride was on leave from Monday to Wednesday and was apparently on a private visit to Mozambique. "His visit was not authorised or known to the department."

The outcome of the departmental investigation would be reported once it was completed, Foreign Affairs said.

Police spokeswoman Senior-Superintendent Sally de Beer earlier in the day said senior police officers left for Maputo on Wednesday to gather information about McBride's arrest.

Describing this as a fact-finding mission, she said the police forces of the two countries had been in contact since the arrest.

"As a result, assistant commissioner Suiker Britz was sent to Mozambique on a fact-finding mission from a police perspective," she said.

Brits is the national head of murder and robbery, illegal firearms and special projects.

De Beer said Britz was accompanied by a senior member of his team. It was not known when they would return.

Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi on Thursday said he would comment later.

Asked about the matter after signing an agreement with Russian Federation Deputy Chairman Anatoly Kulikov in Pretoria, Mufamadi said: "I will be willing at some point to talk to you about the issue."

The African National Congress on Thursday said the Department of Foreign Affairs was the appropriate agency to deal with the matter as McBride was one of its employees. In a statement in Johannesburg ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said if a crime had been committed, the legal process should run its course.

"Yet, those accused of any wrongdoing must also be presumed innocent until proven guilty," he said.

The Conservative Party accused the government of attempting to cover up the reasons for McBride's arrest and called for his suspension pending the outcome of investigations.

During the struggle against apartheid McBride was sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment, for a bomb that killed three people in a Durban bar frequented by police.

He was granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for a full disclosure of his role in the attack and those who ordered it.

McBride was last year promoted to the rank of director in charge of the Asian desk in the Department of Foreign Affairs.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 12 - SAPA

NP LAUNCHES COURT CHALLENGE AGAINST AMNESTIES

The National Party and a victim of the 1983 Church Street bomb on Thursday launched a court application to overturn the blanket amnesties granted last year to 37 African National Congress leaders, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the party believed the amnesties were llegal, and that the 37 had not gone through the same process as everyone else who applied for amnesty.

"We are not against amnesty to the 37 ANC leaders; what we are saying is we are against a special amnesty only to ANC leaders... If there is a law in this country, it must apply to all South Africans."

His party had decided to go court because the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had delayed its own application so long.

Earlier this year the TRC said it had obtained legal advice that the amnesties - which were granted without full disclosure of the acts for which amnesty was being sought - were faulty and should be reviewed.

The TRC said it would ask the High Court to review the decision made by its autonomous amnesty committee.

Van Schalkwyk said on Thursday the NP would have preferred the TRC itself to have brought an application, but suspected there was an "agenda" to drag the process out as long as possible.

If the TRC brought the application a month or two before the end of its life in June, the commission would have lost its locus standi by the time the matter came to court, and the application would fall away.

"Therefore we are forced to do what we are doing today," he said.

He said the NP was helping the second applicant, Church Street bomb victim James Simpson, with legal costs.

A legal adviser to the NP, MP Jaco Maree, said Simpson had been brought in as a co-applicant because the NP was not directly affected by the amnesty decisions.

"We just wanted to make very sure we were not thrown out of court because of a technicality," he said.

The application listed 39 respondents - amnesty committee chairman Judge Hassan Mall, the TRC itself, and the 37 to whom amnesty had been granted.

Van Schalkwyk said papers would be served on the TRC and the lawyer acting for the 37 on Thursday afternoon.

The application would be heard on April 8 if it was unopposed, and April 24 if opposed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 12 - SAPA

TRC TO PRESS ON WITH COURT APPLICATION: TUTU

The National Party's decision to challenge the amnesties granted to 37 African National Congress leaders would not stop the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from going ahead with its own court application, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday.

He was reacting to an NP announcement that it had asked the High Court in Cape Town to set aside the "clearly illegal" amnesties, on the grounds that the law made no provision for blanket amnesties.

The TRC, its independent amnesty committee, and the 37, who include Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, have all been listed as respondents.

Tutu said South Africa was now a democratic country and nothing stopped the NP from approaching the courts. It would be up to the court to decide whether the party had the standing to be heard.

"Their decision doesn't change anything at all for the TRC; we remain determined to take the matter to court as quickly as possible," he said.

The TRC was advised by a lawyer in January that the amnesties were faulty and should be reviewed, and said it would ask the High Court to review the amnesty committee's decision.

Tutu rejected as nonsense an NP suggestion that the TRC was dragging its heels.

"The delays have worked against us, not for us, and we want the matter finalised before ue close on July 31."

Pretoria lawyer Booker Mohlaba, who is acting for the 37, said on Thursday afternoon that he had not yet been served with any papers.

"As soon as one has looked at the papers and obtained instructions from clients, one can indicate whether we are opposing the application or not," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 12 - SAPA

TRC APPEALS TO FAMILY OF VICTIM TO ATTEND HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday appealed to the family of a taxi driver who was killed by a right-winger to attend an amnesty hearing where the member is due to appear in Pretoria on March 23.

A statement said Cornerlius Johannes Lottering, then a member of the Orde van die Dood (Order of Death), applied for amnesty for the killing of Potokar Franzar Makgalemele in August 1989.

"The TRC has been unable to trace Mr Makgalemele's family, who have the right to attend and be represented at the amnesty hearing," the commission said in a statement.

Lottering killed Makgalemele near Daleside Ski Club, south of Johanneburg. He was allegedly in company of an Afrikaaner Weerstandsbeweging member Fanie Goosen when he committed the murder.

In his amnesty application, Lottering claimed he saw the killing as a test to see if he could kill a person. After stabbing Makgalemele, Lottering shot him in the head to make sure he was dead.

The commission said Lottering and Goosen also faced other charges including initmidation, robbery and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

They had not applied amnesty on those charges.

Attempts to locate Goosen were unsuccessful.

"His mother has told the TRC she does not know his where he is. However, notice of the hearing has been sent to the AWB via Eugene Terreblanche, who is an implicated party in this matter," the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH Mar 12 - SAPA

EX-POLICEMAN SAYS HE WAS INCAPABLE OF ASSAULTING PEBCO THREE

A former Vlakplaas policeman accused of attacking one of the Pebco Three "like a vicious bull terrier" claims he was incapable of the assault because of a disability caused by an injury to his arm.

Warrant Officer Johannes Koole, applying for amnesty in connection with the killing of the Pepco Three, was testifying before the amnesty commitee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

He has admitted assaulting the three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation but denies throttling one of them. He claims the three were alive when he left the scene at which they were assaulted.

Former Vlakplaas (police hit squad) agent Joe Mamasela earlier told the committee that Koole jumped on to an already severely assaulted Sipho Hashe and throttled him.

Koole told the committee he was incapable of strangling or throttling anyone because of injuries to his right arm and left shoulder when he was shot during a robbery in 1980.

It was later pointed out to the committee that Koole used his arms to support his full weight when rising from his chair.

Committee chairman Judge Bernhard Ngoepe ordered that Koole undergo a medical examination to determine the usage he had of his arm.

Koole is one of eight policemen applying for amnesty involving the death of Hashe, Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi. Koole and askari Peter Mogai have applied only for amnesty for assaulting the Pebco Three.

The six others have admitted killing the Pebco Three but deny they were assaulted or tortured - they say the men were shot dead and their bodies were burnt.

They are Colonel Harold Snyman, Colonel Herman du Plessis, Captain Johan "Sakkie" van Zyl, Warrant Officer Gehardus Beeslaar, Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz and Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt.

Mamasela admitted being present during the assault and the killing of the Pebco Three, but has not applied for amnesty. He said he saw Koole unleash a "wild mule kick" on the prostrate Hashe before jumping on to his chest with his knees and throttling him for more than an hour.

Mamasela described Koole's behaviour as that of a "vicious bull terrier".

In addition to denying this assault on Hashe, Koole has also disputed aspects of a sworn statement he made to a special investigator of the Attorney-General of Transvaal in April 1996 about the abduction of the Pepco Three. In this statement he said the three activists were assaulted with "fists, shoes and slaps" over a period of about 30 hours.

In his amnesty application and testimony to the committee, he described the period of the assault as considerably shorter. He ascribed the discrepancy in the two accounts to the committee on Thursday to the improper way in which his original statement was taken.

The policeman who took the statement, Cornelius de Lange, was called to the committee hearing and testified that he wrote he statement down exactly as Koole gave it to him. He produced his pocket book in which he recorded the details of the taking of the statement.

Koole was questioned at length by lawyers appearing for the policemen and the victims, as well as committee members, about his allegation that the statement was not correct.

Koole seemed unable to expand on his claim, apart from insisting the statement did not reflect exactly what he had intended to say.

The hearing has been postponed to May 18 for argument.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 12 - SAPA

TRC READY TO GO TO COURT: DP

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had told the Democratic Party it was ready to seek a court ruling on the controversial amnesties granted to 37 African National Congress leaders, DP spokeswoman on the commission Dene Smuts said on Thursday.

She said the TRC had satisfied the DP that the form its application would take would meet the party's objections to its simply asking for a declaratory order, or judge's opinion; which had been the TRC's original intention.

"We await sight of their court papers and believe that they will do the right thing," she said.

Smuts was speaking after the National Party announced that it had launched its own High Court application to have the "clearly illegal" decision - by the TRC's independent amnesty committee to grant amnesty to the 37, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki - set aside.

The NP said ANC leaders had been given blanket amnesty, which was not provided for in law, and had not made full disclosures.

Smuts said it would do no harm for the NP to come into the matter, though clearly the party was just trying to "get in on the act".

The court would join the two applications and hear them as a single matter, she said.

"What matters is that the ANC amnesties should be reviewed, thrown out, and heard again from scratch.

"No-one is above the law, not even the TRC's amnesty committee, and certainly not the ANC elite."

The DP expressed concern last month that the TRC intended applying for a declaratory order rather than a full judicial review. The review, the DP said, would have examined the way the judges had arrived at their decision and would have resulted in the amnesties being ruled invalid.

No immediate comment could be obtained from the TRC on Smuts' statement that the commission was ready to go to court.

However, earlier in the day TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the TRC was not dragging its feet on its application, and wanted the issue resolved before its lifespan ended in mid-year.

TRC spokesman John Allen said the commission had been keeping its lawyers under constant pressure to move as quickly possible. One of the TRC lawyers, advocate Wim Trengove, had been tied up in the Sarfu case in Pretoria.

The ANC said in a statement that the NP was trying to convince the nation it was the champion of the truth and reconcilation process.

"The truth of the matter is that the NP hopes through its legal process it can undermine the integrity of the amnesty committee and thereby bring the entire truth and reconciliation process into disrepute." The ANC rejected any notion that its leaders were granted blanket amnesty without full disclosure, as claimed by the NP. The leaders had applied individually in the context of two comprehensive ANC submissions to the TRC in 1996 and 1997.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 13 - SAPA

TRC TO HEAR AMNESTY APPLICATION FOR RIGHTWING ATTACK

Two amnesty applicants, James Wheeler and Cornelius Pyper, will appear before the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission later this month for acts committed on April 27, 1994 aimed at disrupting South Africa's first democratic elections.

The hearing will held at the Idasa Democratic Centre in Pretoria from March 23 to 27, the TRC said in a statement on Friday.

On the night of April 27, after spending the day driving around various election stations, Wheeler and Pyper shot at a minibus taxi full of passengers on the road between Westonaria and Randfontein.

In the shooting, Vuyani Papuyana was killed and his brother Godfrey was injured.

The applicants are applying for amnesty in respect of the murder of Papuyana, the attempted murder of his brother and the possession of illegal weapons.

The applicants have declared that they committed the acts in the belief that they would strengthen the struggle of the Conservative Party and Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging against the African National Congress/South African Communist Party alliance.

Advocate Andre Steenkamp will lead evidence for the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 13 - SAPA

TRC ASKS COURT TO OVERTURN 37 AMNESTIES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has asked the Cape High Court to overturn the amnesties granted to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and 36 other high ranking African National Congress members and to direct the TRC's amnesty committee to consider them afresh.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine told journalists shortly after midday on Friday that an application, citing as respondents the 37 and amnesty committee chairman Judge Hassan Mall, was in the process of being filed.

The commission hoped the National Party would withdraw its own application, launched on Thursday, to have the amnesties declared invalid.

The 37 include Mbeki, five Cabinet ministers and TRC chief executive officer Biki Minyuku.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in the application that he had been advised that the amnesty decisions were invalid "by virtue of at least four irregularities".

The TRC's founding legislation suggested amnesty could be granted only for an idenitifed act, omission or offence.

"The amnesty decisions failed to identify the specific offences for which amnesty was given. I am advised... that the failure to do so renders the amnesty decisions void."

The second irregularity was that the amnesty committee, which enjoys autonomy from the rest of the TRC, had failed to decide what acts it was granting amnesty for.

Nor could the committee have satisfied itself that the 37 had made a full disclosure of all relevant facts, as required by the law.

Lastly, the committee could not have satisfied itself that there was no need for a hearing before it made the amnesty decisions.

The law said there had to be a hearing if the offence for which amnesty was being asked was a gross human rights violation.

Tutu said the ANC submissions to the TRC on which the 37 based their applications indicted that some of the offences probably did fall within this definition.

He said he did not want to leave the court with the impression that the TRC was insensitive to the difficulties confronting people who wanted to apply for amnesty for a series of actions rather than a particular incident.

"Activists who were engaged in the anti-apartheid struggle over a long perod of time may well find it necessary to apply for amensty in respect of a course of conduct. Such persons should properly be eligible for amnesty."

Tutu said the TRC had delayed filing the papers - which had been ready on Tuesday - because it was negotiating with the ANC on an order by consent. It was also hoping to serve papers on the attorneys representing the 37, rather than on the individuals personally, who included ambassadors at foreign postings.

However, when the NP filed its action, the TRC decided to go ahead with its own application.

The NP application, which cites the TRC as a respondent, complicated matters, he said. The commission hoped the party would seriously consider withdrawing it.

"The ANC's attitude in particular is one that is conducive to a resolution," he said. "The current controversy is not of their making."

Asked if the TRC would oppose the NP application if there was no agreement, TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza said the commission could not be seen to be opposing an application it had wanted to see going ahead in the first place.

"It would appear to the general public the commission is speaking with a forked tongue."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 13 - SAPA

NP ACCUSES TRC OF DAMAGE CONTROL

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's court application to overturn the amnesties of 37 high ranking ANC members was a damage control exercise, coming a day after the National Party filed similar papers, NP TRC spokesman Jacko Maree said on Friday.

The NP would not easily withdraw its application as requested by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he said in a statement.

"If the NP withdraws its application, the danger exists that the TRC can at any moment settle the matter on much weaker terms than the relief they are apparently seeking from the court."

The NP had no confidence in the manner the TRC had handled the matter to date, Maree said.

However, the NP had always been and was still wlling to discuss the matter with the TRC.

"It has been the unwillingness of the TRC to discuss this matter with the NP and to play open cards with the NP which has resulted in the NP having no alternative but to go ahead with its application."

The NP could not allow the case to be driven by others and would not easily terminate its participation, Maree said.

Tutu told a press brieing earlier, that the TRC had delayed filing the papers - which had been ready on Tuesday - because it was negotiating with the ANC on an order by consent.

It was also hoping to serve papers on the attorneys representing the 37, rather than on the individuals personally, who included ambassadors in foreign postings.

However, when the NP filed its action, the TRC decided to go ahead with its own application, he said.

The NP application, which cites the TRC as a respondent, complicated matters, he said.

The commission hoped the party would seriously consider withdrawing it.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 13 - SAPA

ANC LEADERS TO MEET ON TRC COURT APPLICATION

Top African National Congress leaders, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, would meet on Saturday to discuss the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's court application to overturn the amnesties granted to 37 members, ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said on Friday.

The ANC's national executive committee's sub-committee on truth and reconciliation, chaired by Mbeki, would meet in Gauteng to discuss the issue, he told Sapa.

Only then would a statement be issued.

Mbeki and five cabinet ministers, Joe Modise, Mac Maharaj, Pallo Jordan, Alfred Nzo and Dullah Omar, are among the 37.

Others include Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa, deputy Speaker Baleka Kgositsile, Deputy Environmental Affairs Minister Peter Mokaba, SA's Ambassador to the United Nations Jackie Selebi, Deputy Intelligence Minister Joe Nhlanhla and KwaZulu-Natal MPL Dumisani Makhaye.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 13 - SAPA

TRC INVESTIGATORS TO EXHUME BODIES OF MK MEMBERS

The bodies of 18 members of the former military wing of the African National Congress killed by apartheid security forces in the Northern Province will be exhumed in the next two weeks.

The bodies would be exhumed from various sites by Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigators, the TRC said in a statement on Friday.

On Monday, the statement said, investigators would dig out the body of Brian Ngqulunga, an askari slain at Vlakplaas allegedly under the ordersrs would dig out the body of Brian Ngqulunga, an askari slain at Vlakplaas allegedly under the orders of jailed former Vlaklplaas commander Eugene de Kock.

Ngqulunga was part of a team from the anti-terrorist unit that murdered civil rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge.

He was later tortured and killed by his own handlers at the unit in 1987 when he became "a security risk to them".

The TRC had decided to exhume his body following a request from his family who plan to give him a decent burial.

The 18 Umkhonto we Sizwe were killed in skirmishes with security forces in various parts of the Northern Province and then buried in secret graves.

Investigators will begin exhuming the bodies on Tuesday. Thirteen bodies will be dug out at Sekoto Cemetery in Louis Trichardt the week after next.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SPRINGBOK, Northern Cape, March 14 1998 - SAPA

NP WON'T WITHDRAW COURT ACTION AGAINST ANC'S TRC AMNESTY

The National Party would not withdraw its court application against the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's blanket amnesty to ANC leaders, after TRC vice chairman Alex Boraine on Friday sent a letter to the NP requesting it do so.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk told their regional conference in Springbok on Saturday morning that the letter asked the NP to consider withdrawing their court application against the TRC for granting blanket amnesty to 37 African National Congress leaders.

"I have given serious consideration to the issue, but the TRC's statement of yesterday (Friday) does not contain enough reasons for a withdrawal," van Schalkwyk said. "We believe this case must now take its course."

The NP on Thursday launched an application to have earlier amnesty applications by 37 ANC leaders declared invalid. On Friday the TRC launched its own application to the Cape High Court to overturn the amnesties and to let the TRC review their applications.

Boraine said he hoped this would make the NP withdraw its application because it might complicate their application.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Friday he had been advised that the original amnesty decisions were invalid "by virtue of at least four irregularities."

These appear to hinge on a clause in the TRC legislation stating that there had to be a hearing if the offence for which amnesty was being asked was a gross human rights violation.

Tutu said the original applications indicated that some of the offences probably did fall within this definition.

Van Schalkwyk said: "In our view the TRC's conduct up to now has not convinced us that they will properly pursue a court case against the ANC leaders and their own amnesty committee chairman.

"If the National Party withdraw, the TRC can at any stage decide to settle the court case on unacceptable terms with the ANC leaders and its own amnesty committee chairman. It must also be pointed out that one of the 37 ANC leaders is the TRC's own chief execuitive officer," he said.

He was referring to Biki Minyuku.

Other prominent amnesty applicants are: Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, Defence Minister Joe Modise, Transport Minister Mac Maharaj, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister, Pallo Jordan and his deputy Peter Mokaba, Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Nzo and Justice Minister Dullah Omar.

Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa, deputy speaker Baleka Kgositsile, SA's ambassador to the United Nations Jackie Selebi, Deputy Intelligence Minister Joe Nhlanhla and KwaZulu-Natal MPL Dumisane Makhaye were also granted amnesty.

Van Schalkwyk said their court case was an important test for the impartiality and even-handedness of the TRC and its amnesty committee. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 16 1998 - SAPA

FIREARM THAT KILLED HANI DELIVERED TO DERBY-LEWIS IN PACKAGE

A former Conservative Party member on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he had handed Clive Derby-Lewis a parcel containing the firearm used to kill Chris Hani, thinking that it contained only a jersey.

Lionel Durandt was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee to which Derby-Lewis and Janus Walusz are applying for amnesty for Hani's murder on April 10, 1993.

Durandt said he saw Derby-Lewis at a Krugersdorp town council meeting on March 10, 1993.

Durandt said Derby-Lewis told him at the meeting that a jersey would be delivered to his home. He asked that when it arrived, Durandt should deliver it to Derby-Lewis' home.

Durandt said the parcel which he thought contained a jersey was brought to his home by someone he did not know.

He said he wasection with the firearm which was used in the assassination of Chris Hani. He said he was taken to Benoni police station and told by police that he had provided Derby-Lewis with the firearm.

Durandt told the committee he denied this.

However, police brought Derby-Lewis who told Durandt the firearm which had been in the parcel was the one used to kill Hani.

It emerged from statements given to police by Durandt's wife and son that they had both gone through the parcel and realised it contained a firearm and not a jersey.

Durandt said his wife and son had not mentioned this to him until after the parcel had been delivered to Derby-Lewis.

He said under cross examination that he was not concerned at the time about the firearm being delivered to Derby- Lewis' house and had no idea for what purpose it was going to be used. He said he had not been concerned because he trusted Derby-Lewis.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 16 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY COMMITTEE WON'T OPPOSE TRC COURT BID

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's application to overturn the amnesties granted to 37 senior African National Congress figures will not be opposed by its amnesty committee.

This did not mean the amnesty committee was admitting it had erred in originally granting the pardons, the committee's executive secretary Martin Coetzee said on Monday.

The TRC has applied to the High Court to have the amnesties overturned on a number of grounds, including the fact that the ANC members did not identify the specific offences for which their amnesties had been granted.

The amnesty committee would abide by the court's decision, Coetzee said.

Those granted amnesty include Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and several Cabinet ministers.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Mar 16 - SAPA

KEY WITNESSES IN HANI AMNESTY HEARING PROVE ELUSIVE

Some of the key witnesses in the amnesty hearings of Chris Hani's killers were proving elusive, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Johannesburg on Monday.

George Bizos, SC, for the Hani family, told the TRC's amnesty committee he required Edwin Clark and Johannes Visser to testify on important aspects of the amnesty applications by Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus.

Bizos said it had been difficult to secure the presence of Clark and Visser at the hearing, but he expected them both to be present on Tuesday.

Derby-Lewis and Walus are applying for amnesty for the assassination of Hani, then leader of the SA Communist Party, outside his home in Dawn Park near Boksburg on April 10, 1993.

Bizos said he wished to question Clark, who visited Derby-Lewis' home and apparently looked after Mrs Gaye Derby- Lewis' computer.

Committee chairman Hassan Mall on Monday agreed to adjourn the hearing early but said he was doing so reluctantly, because the witnesses had also failed to appear on previous occasions.

The witnesses are being called to testify about a possible wider involvement in the plan to kill Hani than has been admitted by the applicants. Visser, who is well known in rightwing circles, has claimed that Clark tried to provide about R360,000 of stolen money for Derby-Lewis's defence.

Earlier the hearing heard that the gun used to kill Hani was an unlicensed firearm being stored in anticipation of trouble in the country before the first democratic elections in 1994.

Maureen Venter, the wife of Stephanus Venter who supplied the firearm to Derby-Lewis, told the hearing she knew her husband had the unlicensed pistol, which he was keeping with his own licensed firearms.

Venter also said she and her husband were having tea and apple tart with Clive and Gaye Derby-Lewis when she heard the news that Hani had been assassinated. She said her son telephoned her to tell her that he heard the news on the radio.

When asked what the reaction of Clive Derby-Lewis had been, she said he did not display any noticeable reaction. She could not explain why she said in a statement to the police soon after Hani's death that Derby-Lewis had looked "extremely surprised" on hearing the news.

Former Conservative Party member Lionel Durandt told the hearing that he passed on the firearm used to kill Hani in a box he thought contained a jersey. He said he had been at a Krugerdorp town council meeting when Derby-Lewis asked him if the jersey had arrived. He said it hadn't and Derby-Lewis asked him to deliver to him when it did.

Durandt said soon afterwards a man unknown to him delivered a parcel which he said contained a jersey. He took it to Derby-Lewis and his wife later told him that she had looked in to the parcel and seen that it was a pistol. Durandt said he had not been worried because he trusted Derby-Lewis.

He was later arrested on charges that he supplied Derby-Lewis with the the murder weapon. Durandt said it was then that he realised that the gun contained in the parcel was the one that had been used to kill Hani.

The hearing continues in the Johannesburg city hall on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 16 1998 - SAPA

SADF CHIEFS PLANNED TO KILL OMAR: WITNESS TELLS WEBSTER HEARING

Private investigator and former CCB agent Slang van Zyl on Monday told the Pretoria High Court a plan to murder Justice Minister Dullah Omar had been approved by the top structure in the SA Defence Force in 1989.

He was testifying in the case against former CCB operative Ferdi Barnard, who faces charges including murder and fraud. He is accused of killing anti-apartheid activist David Webster.

Van Zyl said he joined the defence force's Civil Co-operation Bureau in 1988 after spending 10 years as a police detective. He resigned in October 1989 when the private detective agency that he started as a front operation became successful.

Tasked with the maximum disruption of the enemies of the state, which included murder and intimidation, Van Zyl said he started his official operations for the defence force in January 1989.

Enemies could be any person belonging to banned organisations on the left and far right of the political spectrum, he said.

He said he was joined in a cell of the CCB by former police colleagues Ferdinand du Toites Maree and Calla Botha.

General Eddie Webb, who was part of the general staff of the SADF, was the chairman of the CCB and Joe Verster was the commander.

Wouter Basson acted as co-ordinator.

Van Zyl said he received two lists with names of persons that had to be monitored. One of the lists included the names of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and the son of Truth and Reconciliation Commission deputy chairman Dr Alex Borraine.

He said Webster's name never appeared on any of the lists. As far as he knew none of the men on the lists was ever eliminated.

After Webster's murder the CCB launched an internal investigation because Verster said the killing was not a CCB project and he wanted to know who was responsible.

Van Zyl said one of his first tasks in the CCB was to find suitable assassins to carry out his projects. One of the men he recruited was a gang leader on the Cape flats known as Peaches Gordon.

In 1989 Gordon came forward with information about Omar, who was at that stage the secretary for the United Democratic Front in the Cape and an executive member of several banned organisations.

"I was convinced that Omar fell in the category as an enemy of the state. I sent the information through to Joe Verster. The top hierarchy approved of the project to kill Omar and I received orders that Omar should be shot dead in front of his house.

"Although Gordon was in and out of jail and was involved in crime, I approved of him becoming an agent. You don't find a sharp shooter behind every bush, although you can make one of every person whose heart is in the right place.

"I received my orders from Staal Burger, regional manager of the CCB, who also gave me a Makarov pistol with a silencer for the project.

"I contacted Gordon and gave him the pistol. Gordon had to get two people to commit the murder and would have received R15000 for the project," Van Zyl testified.

When nothing came of his plans after about three months, Van Zyl on three occasions sent Barnard to the Cape to monitor both Omar and Gordon.

Barnard was aware of the plan to murder Omar and that it was an authorised CCB project.

Barnard and Gordon both reported that it was almost impossible to murder Omar because of his irregular schedule and because other people often accompanied him.

In this period Gordon came up with a plan to kill Omar with medication that had been tampered with because Omar had had a heart attack shortly before.

Van Zyl obtained a powder, which would have brought on a further heart attack, that he wanted Gordon to sprinkle over Omar's food. But the plan was never carried out.

Van Zyl said the top structure of the CCB wanted to carry out the plan to murder Omar, but he realised it was impossible. After a discussion he had with Burger, the CCB scrapped the project in October 1989. Van Zyl afterwards paid Barnard R7000 for his travel and hotel costs.

He believed Barnard was still a member of the CCB at that stage, although he was on an inactive list while awaiting orders to work on overseas CCB projects.

Van Zyl, along with other members of the his CCB cell, have applied for amnesty from the TRC for crimes including blowing up the Early Learning Centre in Athlone in Cape Town and a incident when a monkey fetus was strung up at TRC chairman Desmond Tutu's house, as well as the conspiracy to murder Omar.

He denied that the monkey fetus had been a joke.

"The CCB was not a joke. We were a highly disciplined unit. I saw it as a very serious task," he said.

Van Zyl, who also testified before the Harms Commission in 1990, said shortly before he was detained in terms of security legislation in February 1990, he was approached by General Krappies Engelbrecht, who was then head of the security police, and General Witkop Badenhorst, former military intelligence chief.

"They told me I must deny any involvement with or knowledge of the CCB. They said the matter was being sorted out on a high political level. They named senior politicians who knew about the CCB.

"They told me there would be no further CCB arrests, but I was detained in any event," he said.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 16 1998 - SAPA

MURDERED ASKARI BRIAN NGQULUNGA'S REMAINS EXHUMED AT VLAKPLAAS

The remains of murdered askari Brian Ngqulunga, who was involved in the killing of human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge, were exhumed at Vlakplaas security police base outside Pretoria on Monday.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission officials exhumed the body of the African National Congress cadre turned police informant at the request of his family, who want to bury him at a place of their choice.

When he helped killed Mxenge, Ngqulunga was part of a team led by former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee, SABC television news reported.

Ngqulunga was tortured and killed by his handlers at Vlakplaas in 1987 on the orders of convicted killer Eugene de Kock, another former Vlakplaas commander. The handlers apparently felt the askari was becoming a security risk.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Mar 17 - SAPA

TRANSPORT WORKERS DISRUPT HANI AMNESTY HEARING

Striking workers from the Transport and General Workers' Union on Tuesday disrupted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee hearing in Johannesburg where the killers of Chris Hani are applying for amnesty.

About 50 workers taking part in the national strike marched into the foyer of the city hall and tried to attend the proceedings. However the committee was sitting in camera at the time following a request by a witness to testify in secret, and the workers were not allowed in. They began singing in loud voices, making it difficult for the committee to continue its work.

The situation was resolved when murdered SA Communist Party leader's widow, Limpho Hani, addressed the workers and explained that they could not attend because the committee was sitting behind closed doors.

She told them that they would be able to attend on Wednesday when the hearing was no longer being held in camera.

The crowd thanked her for explaining the situation and dispersed quietly.

Earlier during the open part of the hearing, Mrs Hani sat with Cosatu general secretary Sam Shilowa and held up posters which said Hani's killers should remain in prison forever.

Former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby Lewis and Polish immigrant Janusz Walus are applying for amnesty for the murder of Hani outside his home in Boksburg on April 10, 1993.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Mar 17 - SAPA

WITNESS IN HANI AMNESTY HEARING TESTIFIES IN CAMERA

A witness in the hearing in which Clive Derby Lewis and Janusz Walus are applying for amnesty for the assassination of Chris Hani, was on Tuesday allowed to testify in camera.

Johannes Visser asked the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee if he could testify in secret because he was concerned about his saftey after receiving death threats.

The committee decided after hearing details of the threats to allow Visser to testify in camera.

Visser has applied for amnesty for stealing funds which he claims were intended for funding Derby Lewis' legal costs during his trial for murder.

Former Conservative Pary MP Derby Lewis and Polish immigrant Walus were convicted of killed the former SA Communist Party leader at his Boksburg home in 1993.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RUSTENBURG March 17 1998 - SAPA

TRC DISCOVERS 12 BODIES IN THREE GRAVES ON FARM NEAR RUSTENBURG

The Truth and Reconciliatin Commission on Tuesday exhumed 12 bodies on a farm near Rustenburg in North-West while searching for the remains of three African National Congress cadres killed by police.

TRC spokesman Mdu Lembede said commission investigators made the unexpected discoveries while searching for the bodies of Watson Majova, Aaron Makwe and Karabo Madiba, three Mkhonto we Sizwe members who were killed by police in Tlhabane near Rustenburg in 1985.

Employees of an undertakers' company contracted to carry out paupers' burials led investigators to the area where the three men were believed to have been buried.

The investigators found four bodies in each of the three graves they excavated on Tuesday.

Lembede said the TRC believed there could be a mass grave containing many more bodies on the farm.

He said the matter was being investigated and no further exhumations were planned.

Majova was killed when his home in Tlhabane was destroyed by a police Hippo vehicle. His two comrades were shot in the same incident.

"Our information is that the three men were secretly buried on the farm by police," Lembede said.

The body of Azanian People's Organisation member Onkgopotse Abram Tiro would be exhumed in Gabarone, Botswana on Friday. He was expected to be buried in his home village of Dinokana in Zeerest on Sunday.

Azapo spokesman Strike Thokoane said Tiro's body would be received at the border gate of Lobatse by Azapo president Mosibudi Mangena and his family.

Thokoane extended an invitation to friends of Tiro to attend a candlelight vigil in his village on Saturday night.

Thokoane said Azapo intended to launch a hunt for Tiro's killers.

"So far no headway has been made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in bringing to book his killers," he said. "Azapo believes that the Botswana government can be of assistance in this matter."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 17 1998 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGER TELLS TRC HE WOULD HAVE SHOT HANI

A rightwinger who believes South Africa has been taken over by an "atheist, communist, terrorist organisation" on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee he might have killed Chris Hani himself if he had been approached to do so.

Edwin John Clark was testifying in application for amnesty by former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis and Polish immigrant Janusz Walus, who are serving life sentences for the murder of the SA Communist Party leader on April 10, 1993.

Clark said he had been reluctant to testify because he had a moral problem with the credibility and functioning of the TRC. However, he agreed to attend Tuesday's hearing after receiving a request from Derby-Lewis' legal counsel.

He said he had always looked up to and respected Derby-Lewis and agreed to testify if it would be of assistance to his friend.

He said he had a long association with Derby-Lewis and his wife Gaye, and was proud to call them his friends.

When asked by George Bizos SC, appearing for the Hani family, if he was proud of what Derby-Lewis did by killing Hani, Clark replied that he had to admire someone who was willing to "stand up for God and country".

He said he had nothing against Hani as an individual, but during the "state of undeclared war" that prevailed at the time, Derby-Lewis was one of the people who decided to do something about the situation, rather than do nothing.

He said an "atheist, communist, terrotist organisation" was taking over the country at the time and some of the consequences were being seen today.

Clark said he was therefore not willing to condemn Derby-Lewis for what he did.

He said that he might have been asked to kill Hani himself if Walus had not been approached.

Clark was asked by Bizos if he would have carried out the killing if approached by Derby-Lewis.

He replied: "I would have seriously considered it and would possibly have said yes."

Clark denied claims made earlier during an in camera hearing by Johannes Visser that they had been involved in stealing money and collecting arms during 1993 for a war that was about to ensue.

Although Visser testified in camera, Bizos referred to his claims several times during the open part of the hearings.

Visser is applying for amnesty for stealing R360082,56 which he claims was to be used for the legal costs in the trial of Derby-Lewis.

Clark rejected Visser's testimony and denied he had ever been involved in stealing money or collecting firearms. He said he believed Visser was trying to fabricate a political motive for his crime so that he could escape going to jail. Clark claimed the money was not misappropriated from JCI as was alleged, but was in the form of a cheque that was stolen from the postal services.

The hearing continues on Wednesday with argument from legal representatives. The committee is chaired by Judge Hassen Mall.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 17 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE AND TUTU WERE ON FERDI BARNARD'S HIT LIST: EX-WIFE

Ferdi Barnard's ex-wife, Maryna Language, on Tuesday told the Pretoria High Court the Civil Co-operation Bureau supplied him with a hitlist which included ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Desmond Tutu.

Other people on the list were anti-apartheid activist David Webster, Swapo activist Anton Lubowski and SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, Language said.

She said the hitlist used to lie around in their house and shortly before Webster's murder in May 1989, Barnard told her he was a hitman for the CCB. She said Barnard told her he would be paid to take out Webster because the University of the Witwatersrand academic had a high profile in the African National Congress.

"I didn't believe him. I thought he lived in a dream world, but after Webster was killed I had to believe him," she said.

Barnard is facing charges including fraud and murder.

Language divorced Barnard in 1993, but kept close contact with him until two years ago, on occasion even helping him with his cocaine addiction.

She said that the night after Webster was murdered Barnard told her in detail about the incident.

He allegedly said there were three people in the car - Eugene Riley, the driver Calla Barnard and himself in the back seat.

"He said Webster was busy unloading plants from a bakkie and was standing in the street. He saw that this was the ideal opportunity to do the job then and there. He shot Webster with a shotgun and said Webster's wife screamed like a stuck pig.

"The accused said he wore a blonde wig. He had a short, blonde wig that he used to keep in a cupboard. An identikit compiled by an eye witness to the shooting looks similar to Ferdi wearing the wig.

"He said after Webster's death he received a R90,000 production bonus. He used the money as a deposit for a new house, to which he moved a few months after Webster's death," Language said.

She said Barnard was a member of the SA Defence force's CCB until about two or three years ago. She said although the bureau was officially disbanded, Barnard told her it never disbanded, but simply went underground.

Language said it bothered her that Barnard seemed to be a pawn in the hands of people lie former Brixton murder and robbery unit chief Charlie Landman, and that he alone was now held up as the big criminal, while the others could walk away from everything.

Language also told the court about various other incidents in which Barnard allegedly had been involved.

These included the murder of Mark Frances in 1991, blowing up the Landman's car "to boost his image in the police" and laying the blame on the Azanian People's Liberation Army. She said although Barnard never confessed to her that he killed Frances, he and Riley often joked about Frances' death, which they called "a blow, a shout". They allegedly said he was hit to death with a baseball bat in an alley.

Language was convinced that Riley, who had a grudge against Frances, and not Barnard was responsible for his death.

She told the court she accepted Barnard storing alleged stolen cosmetics in the garage of her house for quite some time because she was not in the habit of questioning him.

"There's nothing you can do. You don't ask Barnard why and you don't say no," Language said with a smile.

The cosmetics were later removed at the insistence of her father.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 18 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY FOR DERBY-LEWIS WOULD PROMOTE RECONCILIATION: LAWYER

Granting amnesty to Clive Derby-Lewis for his part in the murder of Chris Hani would promote reconciliation in South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

Derby-Lewis has applied for amnesty along with Polish immigrant Janusz Walus for the murder of the former leader of the SA Communist Party in Boksburg on April 10, 1993.

Derby-Lewis' lawyer, Harry Prinsloo told the TRC's amnesty committee in Johannesburg his client was no longer involved in politics and had no intention of getting involved in violent activities.

"Granting amnesty to Derby-Lewis will promote reconciliation in this country," Prinsloo said.

He said granting amnesty would also help to improve the perception that white males were being neglected in the country.

Prinsloo argued that the Conservative Party, which represented Afrikaners, was involved in an "undeclared war" at the time when Hani was killed.

He said CP leaders did not publicly support violence at the time, because if they did they would have been arrested. But they believed that all means should be used to prevent a takeover of the country by the SA Communist Party which, they said, controlled the African National Congress.

Prinsloo said the most obvious way to stop a movement such as the SACP was to "take out" one of its key leaders.

"One has to look at the success achieved by the ANC by using violence to force the National Party government to succumb to realise what this strategy can achieve," Prinsloo said, adding that ANC leaders never publicly advocated assassination but there was no doubt that it occurred at the time.

Walus' representative, Louisa van der Walt, said her client was convinced at the time that the country was in a state of war. He was led to believe that Hani had contingency plans to bring 10000 troops into the country to enforce a communist unitary state if the ANC failed at the ballot box.

She said Derby-Lewis and Walus had decided on Hani as a target because of his position in the SACP and because he was a possible successor to Nelson Mandela as president of the ANC.

She said Walus had also believed that Derby-Lewis, as a senior member of the CP, was acting in terms of the party's policy.

George Bizos SC, who is appearing for the Hani family, is expected to give his argument later on Wednesday as to why amnesty should be denied to Walus and Derby-Lewis.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 18 1998 - SAPA

NP ASKS COURT TO FORCE ANC LAWYERS TO ACCEPT PAPERS

The National Party on Wednesday made an urgent application to the Cape High Court to force lawyers acting for the African National Congress to accept papers which the NP had lodged with the court last week.

The papers seek to have the amnesty, granted to 37 top ANC leaders late last year by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Amnesty Committee, declared invalid.

Announcing the urgent application at a press conference in Cape Town on Wednesday, NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the case would come before the court on Friday.

The ANC lawyers had said they did not have a mandate from the ANC to accept the papers, and the NP was now seeking a court order forcing them to do so.

Van Schalkwyk said the NP was not planning to withdraw its first court case, which it had lodged last Thursday - a day before the TRC lodged its own papers.

It was clear the NP's case was more thoroughly prepared than the TRC's, and the NP's case was scheduled to come before the court two weeks before the commission's.

If anyone should withdraw their case, it should be the TRC, as their's had clearly been over-hastily prepared.

Van Schalkwyk said his party had the impression that there was "behind doors" co-operation between the TRC and ANC on the matter.

Thursday (March 19) was the last day on which the TRC and the head of its amnesty committee could give notice that they intended to oppose the NP's first application.

The TRC and its chairman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, had accepted the papers, Van Schalkwyk said.

He added that he had said from the start that the NP was prepared to have talks with TRC deputy chairman, Dr Alex Boraine.

Boraine had not (in an interview with the SABC) given a full version of what had transpired, and it seemed he was traversing "lightly with the truth".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 18 1998 - SAPA

DERBY-LEWIS AND WALUS PART OF FANATICAL CLIQUE, TRC HEARS

Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus were part of group of fanatics who acted without the support of any political party when they assassinated SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, the Truth Commission's amnesty committee heard on Wednesday.

George Bizos, SC, who is appearing for the Hani family and opposing the granting of amnesty, said during argument in the finals stages of the amnesty hearing in Johannesburg that Walus and Derby-Lewis were part of "a clique or cabal of fanatics".

Derby-Lewis and Walus have applied for amnesty for killing Hani, who was SACP general-secretary, outside his home in Boksburg on April 10, 1993. They are both serving life sentences for the murder.

Bizos said the core group of fanatics to this day still spoke of a communist takeover of the country and saw democracy as having another meaning than the accepted definition. He said they would not accept that more than 60 percent of the population had voted the present government into power.

Bizos said Derby-Lewis and Walus had tried to set themselves up as saviours of the country, acting in support of a religion by trying to portray Hani as an anti-Christ. This is was in spite of the fact that the same religion espoused peace in large parts of the world.

"But even though these fanatics were unreasonable and beyond the pale, there was nothing happening in the country at the time that entitled them to react by killing a top leader," Bizos said.

He said the assassination of political leaders had never formed part of the South African political scene. When Harry Prinsloo, appearing for Derby-Lewis, pointed out that former prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd had been assassinated, Bizos replied that as far as he knew that was not a case where members of one political party had killed the leader of another.

Referring to testimony of Conservative Party leader Dr Ferdie Hartzenberg, Bizos described it as a pathetic attempt to excuse the actions of Derby-Lewis, who was once a CP MP.

"It was a discredited politician trying to help his former partner in a discredited political party," Bizos said.

He pointed out to the committee that at the time Hani was shot, the CP were taking part in the Codesa talks.

"How could they (Derby-Lewis and Walus) think they could make things better by killing one of the leaders taking part in the negotiations and working to bring about democractic settlement change?" Bizos asked.

Bizos will continue his argument on Thursday.

Earlier Prinsloo argued that granting amnesty to Derby-Lewis for his part in the murder of Hani would promote reconciliation in South Africa.

He said granting amnesty would also help to improve the perception that white males were being neglected in the country. Prinsloo argued that the CP, which represented Afrikaners, were involved in an "undeclared war" at the time when Hani was killed.

He said the CP's leaders did not publicly support violence at the time, because if they did they would have been arrested. But they believed that all means should be used to prevent a takeover of the country by the SACP, which controlled the African National Congress.

He said the most obvious way to stop a movement such as the SACP was to "take out" one of its key leaders.

"One has to look at the success achieved by the ANC by using violence to force the National Party government to succumb to realise what this strategy can achieve," Prinsloo said, adding that ANC leaders never publicly advocated assassination, but there was no doubt that it occurring at the time.

Louisa van der Walt, representing Walus, said her client was convinced at the time that the country was in a state of war. He was led to believe that Hani had contingency plans to bring 10000 troops into the country to enforce a communist unitary state if the ANC failed at the ballot box.

She said Derby-Lewis and Walus had decided on Hani as a target because of his postion in the SACP and because he was possible successor to Nelson Mandela has president of the ANC.

She said Walus had also believed that Derby-Lewis, as a senior member of the CP, was acting in terms of the party's policy.

The hearing is expected to adjourn on Thursday and the committee being chaired by Judge Hassen Mall will then deliberate on whether amnesty should be granted. It is not clear how long the committee will take to come to a decision.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 18 1998 - SAPA

FORMER CCB MAN LIED TO HARMS COMMISSION ABOUT WEBSTER

A former Civil Co-operation Bureau member lied to the Harms Commission about the murder of anti-apartheid activist David Webster because he was intimidated by Military Intelligence chief-of-staff General Witkop Badenhorst, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.

Lafras Luitingh, a former special forces soldier who joined the SA Defence Force's CCB in 1988, was giving evidence at the trial of former CCB agent Ferdi Barnard, who has been accused of killing Webster and 33 other charges. Barnard has pleaded not guilty.

Luitingh said he failed to inform the Harms Commission that Barnard had confessed to killing Webster.

Luitingh said he was introduced to Barnard by CCB managing director Joe Verster in September 1988 and became his handler shortly afterwards.

Barnard supplied him with information about diamond, money and gold smuggling operations. He also gave information on the African National Congress and prominent leftwing politicians.

Luitingh said Barnard was appointed on a temporary basis and was fired after six months on the instructions of Verster, who told Luitingh that Barnard had committed a security breach.

In February 1989, shortly after Webster's murder, Barnard left several urgent messages for Luitingh. Believing Barnard had a problem with his pension money, Luitingh went to see him. He said he did this despite knowing that Verster would be angry because he did not like his men to be in contact with agents who had been fired.

Luitingh said Barnard confessed that he had shot Webster. Luitingh was shocked and surprised, and left as quickly as possible because he did not want to be associated with Barnard and did not believe Barnard that it had been a CCB project.

Luitingh testified that an internal investigation was launched by General Krappies Engelbrecht, former head of the security police, and Badenhorst, who was the defence force intelligence chief-of-staff in December 1989.

Luitingh suspected that the final crunch had arrived when advocate Anton Lubowski was assassinated. He said he was questioned on numerous occasions by Engelbrecht and Badenhorst, who wanted to know everything he knew about the CCB and Barnard. He said he told them Barnard had confessed to Webster's murder.

Luitingh claimed Badenhorst intimidated him. He said Badenhorst told him the Webster case was over and threatened to hit him if he ever spoke about Webster again.

After hearing Badenhorst's evidence before the Harms Commission in which no mention was made of Barnard's confession about Webster, Luitingh made a false statement to the commission. Later he told the truth to an inquest for Webster.

He claimed he, Verster and their legal team had decided he should lie to the Harms Commission. He said Judge Louis Harms was misled by members of the police and defence force. It had been regarded as being in the national interest to do so. At the time Luitingh was convinced Webster's murder had not been a CCB project, but he said he now believed it might have been a CCB project.

He said it was possible Barnard might have rejoined the CCB after being fired. There was no record of him ever being fired.

Luitingh denied Barnard was ever appointed as a hitman for the CCB.

He said Barnard was lying when he denied their conversation about Webster.

On Wednesday Webster's long-time companion, Maggie Freedman, recalled how he was gunned down outside their house in Troyeville, Johannesburg, while unloading plants from a bakkie.

Freedman said she heard a noise that sounded like a car backfiring and then a car accelerating. She saw Webster stumbling and holding his chest.

She was not hysterical, because she did not realise how serious it was.

She had not seen Webster's attackers and would not be able to identify them.

Freedman told the court Webster had been politically active in attempts to reform or overthrow the apartheid government.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 19 1998 - SAPA

WHY HAVE NO APLA CADRES BEEN RELEASED? ASKS PAC WCAPE CHAIRMAN

Despite top-level submissions to the TRC from the Pan Africanist Congress' political and military leaderships, the commission had so far given no signal it was prepared to grant amnesty to any of the about 400 Apla cadres languishing in jail, PAC Western Cape regional chairman Theo Mabusela said on Thursday.

He himself had had a number of meetings with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and some of the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army (the PAC's armed wing) members in prison had served under his command in the Western Cape, he told a Press conference in Cape Town.

Although some of the amnesty applications may not have fulfilled all the legal requirements, he found it strange that the TRC had given no sign that it was even prepared to forgive Apla members, such as those responsible for the St James Church incident.

Yet, some-one like TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu's son Trevor had been released "fairly quickly", and mass murderer Barend Strydom was walking free.

"What does that mean?... What has the PAC done?," Mabusela asked.

He appealed to all - including the media - to "properly analyse" the situation.

He said it would have been "lovely" if some Apla members could, for instance, have been released in time to attend President Nelson Mandela's inauguration in 1994.

The PAC in the Western Cape would be holding a commemoration service at the Langa Methodist Church at 10am on Saturday to commemorate those who died in the Sharpeville massacre and in Langa and other areas on March 21, 1960.

A procession would start from the Langa Flats, where people had been killed, at 9.30am.

"We need to rededicate ourselves to the cause for which our comrades died," Mabusela said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Mar 19 - SAPA

DERBY-LEWIS AND WALUS TRIED TO ENDUCE A RACE WAR, TRC TOLD

It was difficult to think of a worse act to commit in South Africa than trying to enduce a race war, as Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus had done by killing Chris Hani, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Thursday.

George Bizos, SC, arguing on behalf of the Hani family, said the act of assassinating a high-profile leader such as the general secretary of the SA Communist Party with the intention of creating chaos in the country did not qualify for amnesty.

Derby-Lewis and Walus are applying to the for amnesty - to the TRC's amnesry committee - for the murder of Hani on April 10, 1993 on the grounds that they were acting in support of a political motive.

Bizos said the applicants had not acted on the orders of a poltical party because the Conservative Party which they supported did not have a policy of violence at the time.

He said by Derby-Lewis and Walus's own admission their motive for killing Hani had been to create a state of chaos in which a right wing government would come to power by way of a security force takeover.

Bizos said the intention had been to cause a race war in which hundreds if not thousands of people would have died.

"This is an act which certainly does not fall within the provisions of the (Promotion of National Reconciliation) Act," Bizos said.

"Can one in a country which has so many hues of colour, so many religious denomininations, so many cultures and linguistic groups, think of anything worse than trying to enduce a race war in South Africa?" he asked.

He argued that they did not meeting the requirments of the legislation and therefore should be refused amnesty.

The hearing was adjourned and committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall said the committee's decision would be made in due course.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 19 1998 - SAPA

DERBY-LEWIS, WALUS, WOULD CONTINUE FANATICISM IF FREED, TRC TOLD

If freed, Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus would pursue the fanaticism that led them to assassinate Chris Hani, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Thursday.

The amnesty hearing for Derby-Lewis and Walus ended on Thursday, and the two convicted murderers will have to wait for the committee decision before knowing if they are to be freed.

Committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall said the decision would be made known in due course, but gave no indication as to how long it would take.

George Bizos, SC, representing the Hani family who are opposing amnesty for for Derby-Lewis and Walus, said the applicants had no respect for the South African constitution and were not committed to reconciliation.

"If these two men are released they will return to another little clique or cabal that will be established in Krugersdorp or somewhere else. They will then abuse the freedom of society to pursue their fanatical ideas that led them to assassination," Bizos said.

One of the committee members, Judge Bernard Ngoepe, pointed out that a decision on amnesty could not be made on the grounds of what the applicants would do if freed. He said he wished to dispel any notion that a decision on amnesty would be made on any grounds other than those contained in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

Earlier Bizos said it was difficult to think of a worse act to commit in South Africa than trying to induce a race war, as Derby-Lewis and Walus had done by killing Hani.

Bizos said the act of assassinating a high-profile leader such as the general secretary of the SA Communist Party, with the intention of creating chaos in the country, did not qualify for amnesty.

Derby-Lewis and Walus are applying for amnesty for the murder of Hani on April 10, 1993 on the grounds that they were acting in support of a political motive.

Bizos said the applicants had not acted on the orders of a political party because the Conservative Party which they supported did not have a policy of violence at the time.

He said by Derby-Lewis and Walus' own admission their motive for killing Hani had been to create a state of chaos in which a rightwing government would come to power by way of a security force takeover. Bizos said the intention had been to cause a race war in which hundreds if not thousands of people would have died.

"This is an act which certainly does not fall within the provisions of the (Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation) Act," Bizos said.

"Can one in a country which has so many hues of colour, so many religious denominations, so many cultures and linguistic groups, think of anything worse than trying to induce a race war in South Africa?" he asked.

He argued that the two men did not meet the requirements of the legislation and should therefore be refused amnesty. After the hearing, Hani's widow Limpho Hani said she was still strongly opposed to amnesty for Walus and Derby- Lewis. But she said if they were granted amnesty she would abide by the decision of the committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 19 1998 - SAPA

COURT ORDERS SERVING OF NP PAPERS ON ANC 37

The Cape High Court on Thursday issued an order empowering the National Party to serve papers on the 37 African National Congress leaders who were granted a blanket amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last year.

This followed an urgent application by the NP after lawyers acting for the ANC had said they were not mandated to receive the papers.

The NP has applied to the court to have the ANC leaders' amnesties overturned on the grounds that they had not made full disclosure of their misdemeanours.

The court order, granted by Mr Justice Viljoen on Thursday, enables the NP and a co-applicant, Mr James Simpson, to serve their papers on the ANC leaders - including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki - by means of:

- publication in the forthcoming Sunday Times;

- by serving one copy on the ANC's law firm, Mahlaba Moshoana;

- by faxing it to those ANC members in foreign postings; and

- by serving one copy on the ANC Shell House headquarters.

NP TRC spokesman Jacko Maree said in a statement his party welcomed the court order because it brought to an end the apparent delaying tactics of the ANC, who were preventing their lawyers from accepting the court papers.

The court order meant the NP's application to have the blanket amnesty of the 37 ANC members set aside, was back on track.

"It is now clear that NP's application will be the most effective way to bring this matter to a conclusion."

This was in stark contrast to the TRC's application which had clearly been compiled hastily, Maree said.

"The NP calls on the TRC, in the interest of the speedy conclusion of this case, which is paramount for the principle of equality before the law, to withdraw its application without delay."

Maree added that, following a request from the State Attorney, the NP was willing to have discussions with the TRC's legal team, provided the NP lawyers were available.

"It must however be emphasised that the NP is not considering withdrawing its application."

If not opposed, the NP application is due to be heard in the Cape High Court on April 8, with the TRC's only provisionally scheduled for April 24.

RIGHTS DAY A CELEBRATION OF HUMAN DIGNITY OVER OPPRESSION: ANC

Human Rights Day on Saturday was a celebration of human dignity over the forces of oppression, the African National Congress said on Friday.

"As we remember those who suffered in the past through the systematic denial of even the most basic human rights, we also celebrate - with the advent of democracy in South Africa - the triumph of human dignity over the forces of oppression," ANC deputy secretary general Thenjiwe Mtintso said in a statement.

The celebration takes place on the same day as the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, when 69 people were killed by police in one of the most gruesome violations of human rights in South Africa's history.

The ANC said much work had been done in establishing a human rights culture in South Africa.

"Government institutions like the Human Rights Commission and the Commission for Gender Equality have complemented the sterling work of many non-governmental organisations and community structures throughout the country who have promoted the cause of human rights in this country."

The party said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had played a central role in enabling South Africans to come to terms with the atrocities and violations of the past, and to affirm the common belief in the supremacy of human rights.

The ANC also committed itself to continue the fight against crime and corruption, which it said was an affront to the human rights and dignity of all South Africans.

The party said people should also redouble their efforts to end violence against women and abuse of children.

"If we allow violence against women and children to continue, our entire commitment to human rights will be rendered void and meaningless."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NELSPRUIT March 20, 1998 - SAPA

MK HERO EXHUMED FROM GRAVE IN MPUMALANGA VILLAGE

The body of an Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier who reportedly committed suicide rather than allow police to arrest him was exhumed from a grave in the small village of Pienaar near Nelspruit on Friday.

Robert Mokoena was buried in a marked grave in 1991 after detonating a handgrenade rather than let security branch detectives arrest him after he blew up the Cottondale railway station in Bushbuckridge on June 30, 1981.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation unit spokesman Captain Fannie Mlapo on Friday said police trapped Mokoena after one of his colleagues betrayed him to the security branch, African Eye News Service reported.

"Mokoena successfully blew up the station despite his partner backing out of the plan at the last minute. He was then picked up by undercover policemen in a minibus, but instead of opening his bag as ordered, he ripped a grenade out and blew them all up," said Mlapo.

One policeman was killed in the explosion and is buried beside Mokoena in Pienaar cemetery.

Mpumalanga health and welfare MEC Candith Mashego attended the exhumation.

Mokoena's remains would receive hero's burial in Pimville, Soweto, next week near the house he grew up in, Mashego said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 20 - SAPA

TRC TO EXHUME REMAINS OF 13 MK CADRES IN LOUIS TRICHARDT

The remains of 13 Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives, secretly buried after they were killed in combat with the security forces of the apartheid government, will be exhumed next week.

In a statement on Friday, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said the bodies were buried at the Sekoto cemetery in Louis Trichardt.

The remains to be exhumed next Tuesday are those of Jeremiah Timola, of Diepkloof, Soweto, who was ambushed and killed in Louis Trichardt in August 1986; Michael Modise, of Naledi in Soweto, killed in November 1986; Matsidiso Tsatsi of Naledi, killed in Bophuthatswana in May 1984, and Moses Khosi from Mamelodi East, who was killed in Messina in November 1986.

On Wednesday, the bodies of six people will be exhumed: Bonisile Komane of Middledrift, who was killed in the Eastern Transvaal in March 1986; Mbengeni Kone alias Zola Tati, of KwaNobuhle township in Uitenhage, killed in Soutpansberg in November 1988; Sipho Kolisi of Joza Location, Grahamstown, killed in Messina on November 1986; Mncedi Nomsi of East London, killed in Messina in 1986; Luvuyo Khehla, killed in Louis Trichardt in July 1986, and Mlungisi Velaphi of East London, killed in Motale River in March 1988.

On Thursday, the TRC will exhume the remains of Frans Gonheng of Seshego in Pietersburg, who was killed in Waterpoort in September 1987; and Oupa Molefe and Lawrence Lesemola, both killed in Soutpansberg in July 1988.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 20 - SAPA

REMAINS OF MURDERED ACTIVIST ABRAM TIRO TO BE REBURIED IN SA

The remains of former student leader Onkgopotse Abram Tiro, murdered in Botswana by apartheid security forces in 1974, will be reburied in South Africa on Sunday.

Tiro's remains were exhumed during a ceremony in Gaborone, Botswana on Friday.

Tiro, a Black Consciousness Movement activist, fled to Botswana in 1973. He was sought by police for challenging the then Bantu Education Act. In 1974 his body was blown apart in a parcel bomb explosion.

In a statement on Friday, Deputy Arts and Culture Minister Brigitte Mabandla said South Africa and its struggle for democracy suffered a great loss with Tiro's cruel and untimely death.

"His life was sacrificed, like many others, in the fight against apartheid. Yet as his spirit is brought home to rest we are moved once again to celebrate the life and legacy of this great man."

Mabandla said by bringing Tiro home to be buried in South African soil, South Africans were claiming Tiro's rightful position in the mainstream of South African history.

"It is often said that those great leaders who died fighting against apartheid nourished the soul of our people in their struggle for democracy. Onkgopotse Tiro was one such person who grew up in difficult conditions and became a leader.

"I knew him at the University of the North where he headed the students' representative council. Tiro was an inspiration to all who knew and worked with him. It must be a great solace to his family to know how many of today's leaders were influenced and encouraged by his example. In this way, he continues to play his part in building a just and humane democracy in South Africa," said Mabandla.

Tiro's repatriation was an important symbol of hope for a future built on solid understanding of South Africa's complex past.

"In remembering and honouring Onkgopotse Tiro in this way we are ensuring that his spirit continues to nourish this country which he sacrificed so much for. His life will not be forgotten," Mabandla said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Arts and Culture is formulating plans to build monuments to commemorate those who were victimised and killed by the apartheid system.

Said spokesman Andile Xaba: "Recently, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also approached the department to consider establishing memorials for those who gave their lives in the struggle to bring about a democratic South Africa. South Africa's heritage and monuments fall within the ambit of the department's responsibilities."

Xaba said the president's office had been inundated with requests to commemorate historic events and great leaders. This included a request to commemorate Tiro and the department had realised the need for developing a legacy project.

"This vision is guided by the principle that all South Africans want to claim, value and acknowledge this country's diverse heritage. This has the power to affirm all inhabitants of this country both emotionally and spiritually. "It will also enable people to explore their sense of place and identity as citizens of South Africa," said Xaba.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN March 23 1998 - SAPA

MEMBER OF IFP TELLS TRC HE WENT ON KILLING SPREE AGAINST ANC

A former IFP youth leader on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Durban that he went on a killing spree against ANC supporters who, he alleged, killed his mother in 1990.

Goodman Musawakhe Ncgobo is applying for amnesty for the murder of 18 African National Congress supporters, for which he is serving a life sentence in Westville prison.

Ncgobo is one of nine Inkatha Freedom Party members seeking amnesty for murders committed in KwaZulu-Natal during the era of conflict between the ANC and the IFP.

He told the committee he grew up in the rural area of Izingolweni near Port Shepstone, where strife between IFP and ANC supporters broke out in 1990.

He described an ANC attack on his village on New Year's Day 1990 in which his brother's shop and his family home were burnt down.

Ncgobo said he rescued his mother from the burning house but she later died of gunshot wounds sustained during the attack.

He said he was later told that the ANC members intended killing him but had killed his mother instead when they did not find him at home.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 23 1998 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGER HAD TO KILL TO PROVE HIMSELF, TRC HEARS

A rightwinger had to kill any black person to qualify as assassin for an underground movement in 1989, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

Cornelius Lottering testified in Pretoria that his commander, Dawie de Beer, wanted to test him for future assignments to murder prominent black political figures.

"He was not sure that I was suitable as I was not a violent person. The murder was a kind of initiation," Lottering said. He is seeking amnesty for three offences, including the murder of taxi driver Potoko Makgalemela in Johannesburg on August 29, 1989.

Lottering in the same year committed armed robbery and escaped from custody.

He testified that he was at the time a member of the "Orde van die Dood" (order of death), an underground movement set up by the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

When recruited by the order, he was told he would have to murder a black man to prove himself. It was up to Lottering to select a target.

"I chose the black taxi driver because he was ferrying white passengers. I felt my act would also be a protest against integration," Lottering said.

He and another rightwinger, Fanie Goosen, lured the victim away from a taxi rank near the Daleside ski club in Johannesburg.

Makgalemela was first stabbed with a knife and then shot with a 9mm pistol in the mid-section of his body.

"He fell. To make sure he was dead, I walked closer and shot him in the head," Lottering said.

He said "Orde van die Dood" had by that time separated from the AWB.

"We have lost all confidence in (AWB leader) Eugene Terre'Blanche because of his affair with (former newspaper columnist) Jani Allen."

Lottering said he assumed the Conservative Party was playing a strong leading role in the activities of the order.

This was based on statements by De Beer, who held talks with former CP leader Andries Treurnicht.

Lottering said three CP advocates, Jurg Prinsloo, Fanie Jacobs and Chris de Jager, also offered to defend him and Goosen free of charge after their arrest in December 1989.

Treurnicht instructed them to do so, Lottering said.

The three advocates withdrew from the case after the two accused changed their pleas and statements.

In his original version of events, he told police that Goosen had been acting with him. Lottering said he amended this version on instruction to protect Goosen. Goosen was acquitted in the criminal trial.

He has since disappeared.

Lottering said the first objective of the underground movement was to eliminate National Party leaders.

"We later decided that African National Congress leaders had more power, and that we should rather focus on them," Lottering said.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 23 1998 - SAPA

AWB WAS PREPARED TO KILL NP LEADERS IN 1989, TRC HEARS

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging was in 1989 prepared to kill prominent National Party figures such as PW Botha, FW de Klerk and Pik Botha, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

"They were guarded too closely. We could not put our intentions into action," former AWB brigadier Dries Kriel said in Pretoria.

He was testifying at the amnesty application of Cornelius Lottering for the killing of taxi driver Potoko Makgalemele in Johannesburg on August 29, 1989. Lottering is also seeking amnesty for armed robbery and for escaping from custody.

At the time, he was a member of an AWB breakaway group, "Orde van die Dood" (order of death). Lottering contends that he was acting on the instruction of his commander, Dawie de Beer, to further the rightwing cause for a separate Afrikaner homeland.

Lottering is serving a prison sentence of 12 years and six months for his crimes.

Testifying in support of the applicant, Kriel said he met Lottering in 1971 while they were still members of the AWB. "Orde van die Dood" was a breakaway underground organisation manipulated by AWB leaders.

Such groups were useful to the AWB as their deeds could not be easily traced back to the organisation.

"We subtly supported their plans to commit murder, and it is quite conceivable that Mr Lottering received an order to kill," Kriel said.

AWB policy at the time was that opponents of an Afrikaner homeland had to be killed. Perceived enemies included the African National Congress and former state presidents PW Botha and FW de Klerk as well as former Cabinet member Pik Botha.

"We were quite prepared to kill Pik Botha, FW de Klerk and even PW Botha," Kriel said.

Lottering earlier said when recruited by the underground movement, De Beer told him he would have to kill a black person to prove himself. It was up to Lottering to select a target.

"He was not sure that I was suitable as I was not a violent person. The murder was a kind of initiation," Lottering said.

Kriel said Lottering was also a member of Aquila, at the time the military wing of the AWB. Young men who were easily manipulated were selected to serve in Aquila.

Kriel added: "We had to teach the young men how to kill as they grew up in easy circumstances."

Lottering said he and another rightwinger, Fanie Goosen, lured Makgalemele away from a taxi rank near the Daleside ski club in Johannesburg.

The taxi driver was first stabbed with a knife and then shot with a 9mm pistol in the mid-section of his body. "He fell. To make sure he was dead, I walked closer and shot him in the head," Lottering said.

Goosen was acquitted in the criminal trial after Lottering changed his version of events to the police by saying he was acting alone. Lottering said this was done at the instruction of another rightwinger, Hennie Binneman.

Goosen has since disappeared.

Kriel said it was difficult to prove beyond doubt that rightwingers convicted of violent acts had been carrying out orders.

"The people who gave the orders are too cowardly to come and sit here in support of those people in jail."

This was why he left the AWB in November last year, Kriel said.

He said the AWB leadership told followers in the 80s to resort to robbery to sustain themselves.

Lottering was in September 1989 involved in an armed robbery in which R900 was stolen from a bottel store in Vanderbijlpark. The crime was politically motivated, he claimed earlier in the day.

Barend Strydom, who received indemnity in the early 90s for a shooting spree in which several Pretoria blacks were killed, also gave evidence in support of Lottering.

Daan Mostert, for Lottering, on Monday afternoon said he intended asking AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche to testify on Tuesday. Another effort would also be made to trace Binneman, Mostert said

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN March 23 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY COMMITTEE FOCUSES ON KWAZULU-NATAL VIOLENCE

The TRC on Monday focused on the violence in the Port Shepstone area, where conflict between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress killed hundreds of people during the early 1990s.

The Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty committee heard how an IFP youth leader stalked and killed 12 ANC members he believed carried out an attack on his village in which his mother was killed.

Goodman Musawakhe Ncgobo, 38, is applying for amnesty for the murder of 18 people, for which he is serving a life sentence in the Westville prison.

Ngcobo is one of nine IFP members applying for amnesty for murders committed in the province during the years of conflict between ANC and the IFP.

Ncgobo told the committee he grew up in the rural area of Izingolweni near Port Shepstone, where strife between IFP and ANC supporters broke out in 1990.

He said that during an attack on his village at the end of 1990 his brother's shop was burnt. He said he heard from locals that the attackers were on their way to his home to kill him. On his way home he came across his sister who had been shot but was not dead. She told him the attackers were going to kill his mother.

Ncgobo said he ran to his home which he found on fire and rescued his mother from the blaze. She had been shot and later died from her wounds. He said he was told later that the ANC members intended kiling him but had killed his mother when they did not find him at home.

He told the court he then began seeking the names of the members of the gang. He knew the identity of one member, Dan Cele, who he took at gunpoint to the Oribi Gorge near Port Shepstone and ordered him to reveal a list of names. He killed Cele and went in pursuit of the people on the list.

He said he was given a firearm by the IFP for his own protection and not for use in attacks. He said the IFP would not have approved if it had known he was planning to kill ANC members.

He said that during his time in the IFP he had been carrying out a double agenda, by mobilising support for the party on the basis that it supported peace, while carrying out murderous attacks at the same time. He said the local community would not have supported him if he told them that he was involved in killing ANC opponents.

Ngcobo described how he hunted down ANC members, mainly youths, and killed them one by one. Using a pair of binoculars he observed his prey before killing them in their homes, on streets or at bus stops.

When it was pointed out to Ncgobo that some of the people he killed were not on the list, and had not been involved in the attack on his mother, he said they were ANC members and therefore his enemies.

He told the commmittee that during his time in prison and after the Christmas 1995 Shobashobane massacre, which took place in the same area in which he had operated, he began to feel sorry for what he had done.

He said he wished to apologise to the families of the victims, to Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini, to IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi and to President Mandela.

Wearing a leather jacket and a gold wristwatch, the bearded Ncgobo read out a lengthy poem he wrote in jail about himself. Speaking in English, he read the poem in which he described himself as a soldier who was protecting his people. At the end of the poem he bowed his head and appeared to wipe tears from eyes with a handkerchief.

Ncgobo said he received training from the KwaZulu police and others at Amatikulu in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, but added that it had been defensive and not offensive training.

He conceded during questioning by the committee member Wynand Malan that he received this training after already carrying out the murders for which he was later charged and jailed.

Ncgobo said killings were rife in the area in which IFP members were in the minority, and had to be protected from ANC attacks.

Louis de Klerk argued on behalf of Ncgobo on the grounds that he had been acting in the interests of a political party. De Klerk said although revenge was an element of his motive, he had carried out attacks on people who he regarded as his enemies in the war that was raging at the time.

He argued that if Ngcobo did not qualify for amnesty there was no one involved in the state of intolerance that existed in the province at the time, who did.

The families of the victims have opposed amnesty for Ncgobo.

The committee will make its decision on amnesty for Ncgobo at a later stage.

The start of the hearing was delayed on Monday morning when the wrong prisoners were brought to the TRC offices where the amnesty committee is sitting in Durban. Committee chairman Justice Hassen Mall said he was unhappy about the delay, and requested the authorities to ensure that the other applicants were delivered promptly during this week's hearings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 24 1998 - SAPA

TRC HEARING ON 13 ANC MEMBERS POSTPONED

The hearing of 13 African National Congress members who were scheduled to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in Ermelo, Mpumalanga on Tuesday has been postponed until further notice, the commission said.

The 13 have applied for amnesty for attacks on Inkatha Freedom Party members in the early 1990s.

Commission spokeswoman Christelle Terreblanche told Sapa the postponement followed requests from lawyers of some of the policemen who were subpoenaed to appear before the commission.

The policemen were summoned because it was alleged the attackers were infiltrated by the security forces. Three policemen had been subpoenaed.

"The TRC traced the policemen and served them with summons but their lawyers said they needed time to prepare," she said.

Terreblanche said most of the 13 ANC members were serving jail sentences.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 24 - SAPA

AWB LEADER FAILS TO TESTIFY FOR RIGHTWINGER SEEKING AMNESTY

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche was not interested in testifying in support of a rightwinger seeking amnesty for murder, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Tuesday.

Daan Mosterd, acting for applicant Cornelius Lottering, told the commission he had asked Terre'Blanche on Monday night to give evidence. Mosterd also tried to get hold of Hennie Binneman, a former comrade of Lottering.

"Neither of them are interested in testifying," Mosterd said.

Lottering is seeking amnesty for three offences, including the killing of Johannesburg taxi driver Potoko Makgalemele in Johannesburg on August 29, 1989. In the same year, he committed armed robbery and escaped from custody.

At the time he was a member of an AWB breakaway group, "Orde van die Dood" (order of death). Lottering contends that he was acting on the instruction of his commander, Dawie de Beer, to further the rightwing cause for a separate Afrikaner homeland.

Lottering is serving a prison sentence of 21 years for his crimes.

After former AWB Brigadier Dries Kriel testified in support of Lottering on Monday afternoon, Mosterd said he also intended approaching Terre'Blanche and Binneman to give evidence.

The hearing was on Tuesday morning adjourned when neither turned up.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller ruled that Mosterd's written argument in support of the application should be submitted by Friday.

Kriel on Monday accused the AWB leadership of leaving members serving prison sentences in the lurch.

"The people who gave the orders are too cowardly to come and sit here in support of those people in jail," he said.

The amnesty applications of two other rightwingers, James Wheeler and Cornelius Pyper, will be heard on Wednesday.

They were convicted of murder and attempted murder after firing on a minibus taxi on the road between Westonaria and Randfontein on April 27, 1994.

Vuyani Papuuyana was killed and his brother Godfrey wounded in the shooting.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERSBURG March 24 1998 - SAPA

RAMATLHODI TO ATTEND EXHUMATION OF MK CADRES

Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi will attend the exhumation of 13 former Umkhonto we Sizwe members at Louis Trichardt this week.

The office of the premier in a statement on Tuesday said the bodies of the cadres were buried secretly after they were killed by the former apartheid security forces in the 1980s.

Four bodies would be exhumed on Wednesday, six on Thursday and three other bodies would be exhumed on Friday.

Four bodies of MK cadres were exhumed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission late last year.

Ramatlhodi said they would stop at nothing to find the perpetrators who maimed and tortured the cadres before they killed them.

He urged the TRC to find the perpetrators, saying some of the cadres were hacked and burnt before they were secretly buried.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN March 24 1998 - SAPA

TWO IFP YOUTHS KILLED AFTER TAUNTS FROM ANC SUPPORTERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday heard applications for amnesty from two IFP members who killed two ANC supprters after becoming enraged by political insults.

The commission's amnesty committee is hearing applications for amnesty from Inkatha Freedom Party supporters who have been charged with murders at different times during the years of conflict between the IFP and the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal between 1990 and 1992.

Nimrod Mthembu and Shengu Ngobese were convicted and are serving jail sentences for the murder of a woman, Zondiwe Khumalo, and a man, Siza Ntsele, at Mapamulo near Stanger in 1991.

Mthembu and Ngobese both told the committee during their applications for amnesty they were loyal members of the IFP and resented and opposed all attempts by the ANC to gain support in their area.

They claimed to have been acting in the best interests of the IFP by forcibly removing the ANC from their society.

However, they both conceded they received no orders from IFP officials to do so.

They both said they became infuriated by taunts from ANC supporters who referred to IFP supporters as "Oklova" and "Isitaki".

Asked by Committee chairman Justice Hassen Mall to explain what these words meant, Mthembu was unable to do so ,apart from saying he took them to be derogatory remarks.

He said he was able to identify the people who made these remarks as ANC supporters and he believed it was his duty to eliminate them from society.

Asked if the use of anti-IFP slogans was the only way he identified ANC supporters, Mthembu replied that Khumalo had opposed the imposition of a dog tax in the area. He said that because the tax was imposed by the KwaZulu-Natal government, which was controlled by the IFP, he took her to be an ANC supporter.

Mthembu said his animosity towards Khumalo stemmed from her being of Xhosa, descent and the Zulus and the Xhosa's were not on good terms at the time.

He said he and Ngobese attended a Zulu celebration feast and on their return Khumalo and Ntsele insulted them. He said they entered their home and shot the two and then finished them off with knives.

He admitted that he and Ngobese were at the feast, but denied they had been drunk at the time of the murders.

The committee is to consider the application and give its decision at a later stage.

The rest of the hearings continue later this week.

© South African Press Association, 1998 This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 25 1998 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGERS SHOT BLACKS TO STOP 1994 ELECTION, TRC HEARS

Two rightwingers decided to shoot blacks on April 27, 1994 in a bid to disrupt the country's first non-racial election, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

They were convinced that their actions formed part of a countrywide rightwing uprising, James Wheeler told the amnesty committee in Pretoria.

He and Cornelius Pyper are seeking amnesty for murder and attempted murder. Both crimes were committed on election day in 1994.

On the night of April 27, 1994, the two men fired on a minibus loaded with black passengers on the road between Westonaria and Randfontein on the West Rand.

Vuyani Papuyana was killed in the shooting and his brother Godfrey was wounded.

The applicants contend they were acting in support of what they labelled the struggle of the Conservative Party and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging against the African National Congress-SA Communist Party alliance.

Wheeler, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for his crimes, on Wednesday said he attended several rightwing political meetings before election day.

Leaders of the Afrikaer Weerstandsbeweging and the Conservative Party made it clear that Afrikaners would suffer under an ANC-SACP government.

On April 27, Wheeler and his wife visited Pyper at his Westonaria home. On a later drive through the town, they noticed large numbers of blacks queing at polling stations.

"This was a further confirmation of my impression that the freedom of Afrikaners and other whites was being signed away through the election," Wheeler said.

Another rightwinger, Gert de Bruyn, later in the day told Wheeler and Pyper about bomb explosions.

"He said there would be more explosions. I was convined that the struggle for freedom and survival, which the AWB spoke of, had started," Wheeler said.

After returning to Pyper's home, the men held a braai and consumed beer and brandy.

"We drank a lot, and decided we should do our part to disrupt the election and help prevent an ANC/SACP takeover.

Before they left, Wheeler caught Pyper's wife trying to warn the police. He ripped out the telephone cord.

Wheeler said he and Pyper drove along the road between Randfontein and Westonaria, earching for an opportunity to shoot blacks.

"I saw a minibus with black people in front of us. I cocked my shotgun and handed it to Corrie (Pyper)," Wheeler said. "I drove until we were next to the minibus. Corrie shot at the driver through the open window of the front door on the left."

Wheeler said he accelerated and sped away.

"In my rearview mirror I saw the minibus leaving the road gradually. I told Corrie it did not appear as if he had hit anyone."

Wheeler received a visit from the police the following day and promptly confessed to his actions.

Expressing remorse, Wheeler told the amnesty committee:" I cannot believe that I was so shortsighted."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association LOUIS TRICHARDT March 25 1998 - SAPA

RAMATLHODI ASKS TRC TO FIND KILLERS OF SECRETLY BURIED CADRES

Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi has appealed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to step up its efforts to identify the murderers of 13 Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives buried at Tshikota near Louis Trichardt in the 1980s.

"We shall stop at nothing to find the perpetrators who maimed and tortured our cadres before they killed them," Ramatlhodi said at their exhumation on Wednesday.

The bodies of the MK soldiers were buried secretly at Tshikota after they were killed by security forces more than ten years ago.

Ramatlhodi, who led a team of insurgents from Zimbabwe in the late '80s, claimed some of the MK soldiers were hacked and burnt before they were secretly buried.

Those whose remains would be exhumed during the next two days were identified as Jeremiah Timota, Matshidiso Tsatsi, Michael Modise, Moses Khosi, Bonisile Komane, Mbengeni Kone, Sipho Kolisi, Mncedi Momsi, Luvuyo Khehla, Mlungisi Velaphi, Frans Gonheng, Oupa Molefe and Lawrence Lesemola.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN March 25 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY COMMITTEE HEARINGS IN DURBAN DELAYED

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Durban, where former Inkatha Freedom Party supporters are applying for amnesty, was delayed on Wednesday because the lawyer appearing for the applicants was not available.

The commission's amnesty committee, chaired by Justice Hassen Mall, is hearing applications for amnesty from nine former IFP supporters who are all serving long sentences for murder.

The hearings were not able to proceed on Wednesday because Louis de Klerk, who is appearing for the applicants, had to attend a court hearing which had been previously arranged.

The hearings are to continue on Thursday when De Klerk will be available to represent the applicants.

The applications for amnesty all arise from the political conflict that raged between rival supporters of the African National Congress and the IFP during 1990 and 1992.

The hearings were also delayed earlier this week when the wrong prisoners were brought to the TRC offices where the amnesty committee was sitting. The prisoners, all wearing leg irons and prison uniforms, had to be returned to Westville prison and the correct prisoners brought to the hearings.

Mall said he was unhappy about the delay and requested the relevant authorities to ensure that the applicants were delivered promptly during this week's hearings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 25 1998 - SAPA

US SHOULD MAKE A TRC SUBMISSION: SACP

United States President Bill Clinton should acknowledge the role that US administrations played over many decades in supporting white minority rule in South Africa and the region, the South African Communist Party said on the eve of his state visit here.

A submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission would be welcome, it said in a statement.

Until at least the mid-1970s, the US's official but secret policy was to back minority rule throughout southern Africa, the SACP said.

It had encouraged apartheid forces in 1975 to invade Angola, and collaborated with the apartheid regime in the covert destabilisation of that country and Mozambique.

During the 1980s, US strategists close to the White House had also advised the Pretoria regime on a vicious programme of repressive reform, designed to stave off democracy.

"The SACP would welcome a submission by the US embassy in Pretoria on these and related matters to our Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

This would be a meaningful contribution to Clinton's fostering of democracy, peace and human rights in Africa, it said.

"We think that public acknowledgement of the US role in supporting numerous other dictatorships in Africa would also help to clear the air.

"Perhaps an apology for the US role in backing Mobutu (Sese Seko) in the former Zaire would be a good place to begin?"

On Clinton's intention to play a constructive partnership role in Africa's reconstruction and development, the SACP said it hoped the US leadership was guided by more than a vision of seizing opportunities and taking market advantages.

It questioned whether Clinton's trip and his newly-proffered partnership was less about an African renaissance and more about US business rivalry with former colonials powers, such as France and Britain.

The SACP urged the US, as part of Clinton's endeavours to counter Afro-pessimism, to use its influence to cancel the debt of the most impoverished African countries.

"This must be done immediately, for while Clinton speaks of an African renaissance, his own administration has been using its powers to delay implementation of the debt reduction programme under the IMF-World Bank framework for Highly Indebted Poor Countries."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PRETORIA March 25 1998 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGER ADMITS TO BEING DRUNK IN 1994 ATTACK ON BLACKS

A right-winger on Wednesday admitted he was drunk when he shot at blacks in a minibus taxi in April 1994, but denied this had prompted his actions.

"We were not inspired by the brandy. We knew exactly what we were doing," James Wheeler told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

He and Cornelius Pyper are seeking amnesty for murder and attempted murder. Both crimes were committed on election day in 1994.

On the evening of April 27 that year they attacked a minibus loaded with black passengers on the road between Westonaria and Randfontein. The driver, Vuyani Papuyana, was shot dead and his brother Godfrey was wounded.

The applicants contend that they were acting in support of what they call the struggle of the Conservative Party and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging against the African National Congress-SA Communist Party alliance.

Wheeler is serving a 15-year prison sentence for his crimes.

On Wednesday he said he and Pyper were acting to help derail the country's first non-racial elections.

They were convinced their actions formed part of a countrywide rightwing uprising to spark a state of emergency. This was supposed to have prevented the ANC-SACP alliance from coming into power.

Wheeler said he and Pyper had a braai at Pyper's Westonaria home before the shooting. They shared six quarts of beer and half-a-bottle of brandy.

"We were under the influence when we got into the car. I can't say how drunk we were, but our alcohol levels must have been above the legal limit for driving."

Wheeler said they were not acting out of drunken bravado, but to help prevent the ANC-SACP from governing the country. He said he was shocked and bitter upon realising the following day that the rightwing uprising had not materialised.

"We were part of nothing. They left us alone."

Wheeler, at the time a mineworker in Westonaria, claimed to have joined the AWB in 1993, but conceded he could not prove this. He said he applied for AWB membership and paid his dues, but received no membership card from the organisation.

Wheeler testified that he attended several rightwing meetings before election day. Leaders of the AWB and the Conservative Party made it clear that Afrikaners would suffer under an ANC-SACP government.

On April 27 Wheeler and Pyper drove through Westonaria and noticed large numbers of blacks queueing at polling stations. "This was a further confirmation of my impression that freedom of Afrikaners and other whites (was) being signed away through the election," Wheeler said.

Gert du Bruyn, another right-winger described by Wheeler as an AWB officer, told the two men about a bomb explosion at what was formerly known as Jan Smuts airport outside Johannesburg.

"He said there would be more explosions. I was convinced that the struggle for freedom and survival, which the AWB spoke of, had started," Wheeler said.

Before they left to look for black victims, Wheeler caught Pyper's wife trying to alert the police. He ripped out the telephone cord.

Wheeler said he and Pyper were driving along the road between Randfontein and Westonaria when they saw a minibus with black passengers.

"I cocked my shotgun and handed it to Corrie (Pyper). I drove until we were level with the minibus. Corrie shot at the driver through the open window of the front door at the left."

Wheeler said he accelerated and sped away.

"In my rearview mirror I saw the minibus gradually veering off the road. I told Corrie it did not appear as if he had hit anyone," Wheeler said.

While watching television the next day, Wheeler received a visit from police and promptly confessed to his actions.

Expressing remorse on Wednesday, he told the amnesty committee: "I cannot believe that I was so shortsighted."

Du Bruyn testified that he had never been an AWB officer, but said the applicants could have seen him as a leading figure. He confirmed he had told them that more bomb explosions were to follow, which could have led them to believe that a rightwing uprising was underway.

"I was shocked when I learnt of the murder they ad committed. I felt it served no purpose," Du Bruyn said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 26 - SAPA

EUGENE TERRE'BLANCHE'S APPEAL HEARING IS POSTPONED

A Pretoria High Court appeal application by Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche was on Thursday postponed indefinitely.

Mr Justice WJ Hartzenberg granted the postponement because Terre'Blanche's amnesty application before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission might affect the outcome of his appeal.

Terre'Blanche, 54, was sentenced last July in the Potchefstroom Regional Court to six years' imprisonment for attempting to murder farmworker Paul Motshabi and assaulting John Ndzima.

He was immediately released on R20,000 bail, pending the outcome of his appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Terre'Blanche is to apply for amnesty on a range of charges. His previous convictions include public violence, crimen injuria and malicious damage to property.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 26 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGER TELLS TRC OF HIS EARLY REMORSE FOR 1994 KILLING

A rightwinger in 1994 apologised to the father of a black man he murdered earlier that year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Thursday.

"I told him I understood his pain and he accepted my apology," Cornelius Pyper testified in Pretoria.

Pyper and James Wheeler are seeking amnesty for murder and attempted murder. Both crimes were committed on election day in 1994.

On the evening of April 27 that year, they attacked a minibus taxi on the road between Westonaria and Randfontein on the West Rand. The driver, Vuyani Papuyana, was shot dead and his brother Godfrey was wounded.

The applicants contend they were acting in support of what they labelled as the struggle of the Conservative Party and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging against the African National Congress-SA Communist Party alliance.

Pyper is serving a 15-year prison sentence for his crimes.

On Thursday he said he had been misled by the AWB that the April 1994 election would result in the opression of Afrikaners.

Pyper said he came to this conclusion even before his criminal trial in October 1994.

At the time, he spoke to Vuyani Papuyana's father in a meeting arranged by lawyers, and expressed his remorse.

Pyper testified that his support of AWB views in the 1980s was strenthened when his younger brother was murdered.

"Four black men shot him with an AK47," Pyper said."I saw this as a communist onslaught and feared that the same would happen to my wife and family."

The attack on the minibus was not out of revenge.

Pyper said he twice completed application forms to join the AWB, but never received a membership card.

Talk at AWB meetings was that the 1994 election should be allowed to proceed.

"It was said everybody should go out on election day and cause chaos to spark a state of emergency, which should have resulted in the election being set aside."

Pyper said he and Wheeler were travelling between Westonaria and Randfontein when they noticed a minibus taxi with black passengers. It was after dark.

They chose the vehicle as their target because the road was quiet.

"I also believed minibus taxis were used to ferry blacks to voting stations," Pyper said. "Attacking one would contribute to fear and doubt among people going to the polls." Pyper said he shot at the driver with a shotgun, hoping that this would cause the vehicle to crash.

He confirmed earlier evidence that he and Wheeler had been drinking before the shooting - to the extent that he twice fell off a chair.

"The alcohol could have given me a certain amount of courage," Pyper said.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 26 - SAPA

FATHER OF MURDER VICTIM RECOUNTS TEARFUL REMORSE OF RIGHTWINGER

The father of a black student killed in a rightwing shooting in April 1994, on Thursday recounted how the murderer tearfully asked for forgiveness five months after the incident.

"Tears were running freely down his face," Nelson Papuyana, 62, said in a statement read on his behalf to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

"I knew this man was indeed sorry for what he had done. When I offered my hand, he could not grab it quickly enough with both his hands."

Papuyana said the meeting ended with him comforting the killer, Cornelius Pyper.

Pyper shot dead Papuyana's son Vuyani on election day in 1994. Vuyani's younger brother, Godfrey, was wounded.

Pyper and James Wheeler are seeking amnesty for murder and attempted murder.

On the evening of April 27 that year they attacked a minibus taxi on the road between Westonaria and Randfontein on the West Rand. Vuyani was driving the vehicle and Godfrey was a passenger.

Both were on October 18, 1994 sentenced to 15 years in prison for their crimes.

Pyper fired with a shotgun on the minibus from a car driven by Wheeler. They earlier testified their actions were aimed at derailing the country's first non-racial election.

The Papuyana family is not attending the hearing. The father, instead, submitted a written statement which was read by Wenzel Botha on Thursday.

Underlining that his wife, Glenrose, did not support him making the statement, Nelson Papuyana said the couple was devastated at the news of Vuyani's death.

He said Botha informed him in September 1994 that Pyper had offered to pay Vuyani's funeral costs of R5200. Pyper also asked to meet the father.

Nelson Papuyana said he met Pyper and his wife in Botha's office.

"I will never forget the faces of Mr Pyper and his wife. I could see that Mr Pyper tried his best to keep his emotions under control. He requested his attorney to let them see me alone.

"Mrs Pyper sobbed so much that she could not speak properly."

Nelson Papuyana said the encounter also helped him to some extent to overcome the trauma of his son's death.

During the criminal case he learnt that Pyper was an introvert who did not show his emotions easily. "I realised that it must have been very difficult for him, and that the remorse was so intense that he could not hide it," the father said.

Pyper offered him a cheque for R5200, but Nelson Papuyana refused to take it.

"But he insisted, and I could see that it would ease his pain a bit should I accept it. I could see after I... had accepted the cheque, that he felt a lot better."

Nelson Papuyana said he eventually decided against demanding compensation from Pyper and Wheeler, adding he did not want to take anything away from their children while they were in prison.

Whether or not the two murderers had been acting with a political motive, was difficult to tell, the father said.

"Is it not so that they were drinking brandy and coke, and when they were drunk decided `to go and shoot blacks'?"

Both applicants earlier testified that they drank beer and brandy before the shooting.

They also took a mixture of coke and brandy along in a two litre bottel when they left to search for a target on the day of the shooting.

Pyper was, according to evidence, so intoxicated that he twice fell off a chair while the men were having a braai earlier on April 27, 1994.

While admitting that the alcohol might have given him some courage, Pyper on Thursday said he knew exactly what he was doing.

"I diluted my brandy and was drinking only singles," he said.

The hearing was postponed to May 28, when the counsel of the applicants will deliver arguments in support of their clients.

Their written submissions in this regard should be handed to the amnesty committee on April 30.

Nelson Papuyana said the family neither supported nor opposed the two amnesty applications.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 26 - SAPA

SIX CONVICTED AWB KILLERS APPEAR IN COURT FOR RE-SENTENCING

Six former Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging members who received the death sentence for murdering four black people in December 1993 appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday for re-sentencing.

Petrus Matthews, Martinus van der Schyff, Frederick Badenhorst, Marius Visser, Karel Meiring and Gerhardus Diedericks were sentenced to death on May 11, 1994 for murdering Tembani Nkompone, Teboho Makhuza, Theo More and 11-year-old Patrick Gasemane at a bogus roadblock.

Matthews, Van der Schyff, Meiring, Visser and Diedericks were also sentenced to an effective 18 years for attempted murder, assault and theft. Badenhorst was sentenced to an additional 15 years in jail.

The appeal court confirmed their convictions in November last year but referred the case back to Justice Dirk Marais for re-sentencing since the death sentence was scrapped in 1996. Marais will re-sentence the six next Friday.

The six have applied for amnesty. Their applications will be heard by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on April 20.

The convicts were part of a nine-man gang who set up a bogus roadblock on the Randfontein/Ventersdorp road in December 1993, unleashing terror on black travellers. Four people were mercilessly shot, hacked or burnt to death. The men hacked off the ear of one of their victims and blew half the face of another off.

In argument, advocate Jan Henning SC said the children's hysteria during the attack did not deter them. The gang was out for bloodletting, he said.

"I said in my judgment I was shocked - I am still shocked," Marais said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN March 26 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANT CLAIMS HE WAS TRAINED BY IFP OFFICIAL POWELL

An Inkatha Freedom Party supporter who carried out attacks on ANC opponents in KwaZulu-Natal before the April 1994 election on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he was trained by IFP official Phillip Powell.

Thulani Myeza has applied for amnesty for his part in the murder of three African National Congress supporters in the Eshowe area in northern KwaZulu during late 1993. He claims no one has been arrested for the murders even though one occurred in the prescence of policemen.

He told the amnesty committee he received training at Umfolozi in northern KwaZulu-Natal after being promised he could later become a KwaZulu government policeman.

Myeza said Powell had given instructions at the camp where they were taught to operate as self-protection units.

Powell is now a member of the National Council of Provinces where he is an IFP representative for KwaZulu-Natal.

Myeza said he had received orders to carry out attacks on the ANC from someone called "Dlulani" who said he was a driver and bodyguard for Gideon Zulu who now holds a high position in the KwaZulu-Ntal provincial government.

Myeza said he was told high profile ANC leaders had to be attacked because they were planning to disrupt the elections due to be held in April 1994.

He had difficulty explaining the exact sequence of events and had to be asked by the committee to repeat himself several times.

He said he had been part of group who murdered three ANC supporters in separate incidents. In one instance he had been travelling on a bus when ANC youths threw bottles at it.

Myeza said when the bus stopped he caught one of the youths and "scratched him" with a knife to teach him a lesson but the boy was later shot dead. He said this happened while the police who attended the scene stood by and watched.

When asked by committee member Wynand Malan whether any police actions was taken he replied that nobody was arrested for the murder.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN March 26 - SAPA

IFP REVENGE ATTACK KILLED ITS OWN SUPPORTERS, TRC HEARS

Inkatha Freedom Party gunmen massacred a taxiload of people, including their own supporters, in a desperate quest for revenge for the murder of six children in KwaZulu-Natal in 1993, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Thursday.

Mabhungu Absalom Dladla, who is serving a life sentence for his part in the 10 people who died in the taxi, is applying for amnesty the shooting, in the Table Mountain area near Pietermaritzburg on March 5, 1993.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee he became so engraged at the attack on a truckload of schoolchildren from an IFP-supporting area a few days before that he decided to seek revenge.

He said he and two other men - Nkanyiso Wilfred Ndlovu, who was also convicted of the taxi shooting and is applying for amnesty, and Sipiwe Zondi, who has since died - approached a man called "Makeke" for weapons to carry out the attack. He said they received an R1 rifle which he used, an AK47 rifle, and a shotgun.

The men waited in ambush for a minibus taxi they suspected was carrying ANC supporters including a man called Qede Zulu, who they suspected of being involved in the murder of the schoolchildren.

Myeza said as the taxi approached they began firing from about 10 metres away until it stopped. He said they noticed that the minibus was not carrying the people they expected, but contained ordinary members of the public - and mostly women.

However he said they continued firing because the taxi came from within an ANC-supporting area.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall why he continued shooting when he knew he had the wrong people, he said his intention was to make the people in the ANC-supporting areas "feel the same pain" that his supporters had when their children were shot.

When it was pointed out to him by John Wills, who is representing the families of the victims, that more than half of the deceased were in fact IFP supporters, Dladla replied that this was possible.

"You are now asking for amnesty for killing IFP, is that it?" Judge mall asked Ddladla.

Mall said Dladla had acted in a "totally reckless" way by simply firing at the people in the bus.

Dladla replied that it had never been his intention to hurt or kill completely innocent people, he wanted to exact revenge on the ANC.

The man who drove the minibus on the day of the attack, Welcome Mkhize, told the hearing he escaped injury during the attack and denied his vehicle had ever been used to transport only ANC people. He said the bus had transported members of community at large, and disputed Dladla's testimony that there was a demarcation of ANC or IFP- supporting areas.

Ndlovu is due to testify on Friday in his application for amnesty. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN Mar 27 - SAPA

CONVICTED MURDERER MAKES DRAMATIC CLAIM THAT HE IS INNOCENT

A man serving a 20-year jail sentence for his involvement in a KwaZulu-Natal political massacre in 1992 on Friday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Durban he was completely innocent and was mistakenly convicted.

In a dramatic plea to the commission's amnesty committee, Baba Langelihle Khomo said he had been visiting the village in the Mpumulanga area of KwaZulu-Natal when the attack took place.

He said he had himself been fired on and fled but was mistakenly identified as one of the members of the raiding party.

Khomo said he was arrested along with a group of Inkatha Freedom Party members and convicted of eight counts of murder and one of attemptedmurder.

Khomo explained that he had applied for amnesty so that he would have an opportunity to bring his plight to the attention of the commission. He said he admitted being part of the group of attackers in his application for amnesty so that he could be brought before the committee.

He said if he told the truth and proclaimed his innocence in his amnesty application he would not have been eligible to appear before he amnesty committee and would therefore not have been able to highlight his predicament.

In terms of the provisions of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, the two main requirements for amnesty are that the applicants made full disclosure of the acts they committed and that they had a political objective.

Khomo's dramatic denial of guilt seemed to surprise everyone present in the hearing including his own legal representative Chris Alberts.

Committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall asked Khomo to relate his account of the events of the night of the attack. He said he had visited the village and was spending the night with a friend when he heard gunshots. He said four gunmen had entered the hut and fired at the occupants but he had not been hit.

He said he jumped out of a window and while fleeing saw three other men firing into huts. He only found out later when he was arrested that eight people had been killed.

Mall explained to Khomo that the amnesty committee could not grant him amnesty on these grounds but said the committee would later make a decision as to what should be done about his situation.

After the hearing Alberts said he would approach Khomo's family and try to arrange an appeal against the conviction if this had not already been done.

Alberts said he could not see why Khomo would jeopardise his chances of obtaining amnesty by denying any involvement in the attack.

The committee's evidence leader Robin Brink said the matter would probably be referred back to the adminstrative authorities so it could be reviewed. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 29 1998 - SAPA

DP CALLS FOR INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF INTELLIGENCE

The Democratic Party on Sunday said President Nelson Mandela's instituting of a judicial commission of inquiry to establish the truth of a controversial military intelligence report showed proper co-ordination of South Africa's intelligence structures was not taking place.

DP spokesman on defence James Selfe called for the appointment of a inspector-general of intelligence, as is required under the Committee of Members of Parliament and Inspectors-General of Intelligence Act of 1994.

According to Selfe, the inspector-general would monitor compliance by the intelligence service with its policies and renew the activities of the service.

"Had a competant Inspector-General of Intelligence existed, the debacle in which the government currently finds itself may never have occured," he said.

The report handed to Mandela earlier this month outlined a supposed plot to overthrow the government by amongst others Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, suspected arms smuggler Robert McBride and SANDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant- General Siphiwe Nyanda.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 30 1998 - SAPA

BIKO LOOKED LIKE DAZED BOXER AFTER STRKING HEAD AGAINST WALL

Steve Biko looked like a dazed boxer after his head struck the wall during a scuffle with his interrogators in 1977, a former colonel in the security police told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday.

Gideon Nieuwoudt, who has applied for amnesty for assaulting Biko during the interrogation, was testifying at an amnesty committee hearing in Cape Town.

His application for amnesty is being heard separately from the other policemen who were involved in Biko's interrogation.

Nieuwoudt - who was convicted in 1996 for his part in the Motherwell car bomb incident in which three black policemen and a police informer were killed - has admitted striking Biko with a length of hosepipe in the security police offices in Port Elizabeth on September 6, 1977.

He told the committee he was present when Biko was brought to the offices. He was a sergeant at the time.

He said Biko, who was interrogated by Lieutenant Daan Siebert, was arrogant and aggressive and refused to answer questions. Nieuwoudt said Biko seemed to realise that Siebert had no information about him.

Siebert grabbed him by the chest and pulled him to his feet. Biko then took the chair and pushed it towards Siebert and lunged at the policeman but the blow did not connect.

Nieuwoudt said another policeman, Warrant Officer Johan Beneke, charged across the room and rugby tackled Biko who resisted and the men began exchanging blows. Nieuwoudt then took a piece of hose and struck Biko several blows while the other two policemen restrained him.

Nieuwoudt said during the struggle Biko fell back and his head struck the wall. He slid to the floor and appeared dazed after the blow.

"He looked like a boxer who had been knocked out but was not unconscious. He would have counted out on his feet...", Nieuwoudt said.

He said Siebert told him to cuff Biko's hands and feet before chaining him to the security bars in a standing position with his arms outstretched at shoulder height.

He described Biko as being in "crucified position" and said he was ordered to do this by Colonel Piet Goosen to break down his resistance.

Nieuwoudt said he later realised there was something seriously wrong with Biko because his speech seemed impaired and he lost control of his bladder and urinated in his trousers.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay why he had not unchained Biko when he realised he was not well, Nieuwoudt replied that he would never have disobeying an order from a senior officer.

The hearing continues. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 30 1998 - SAPA

EXPERTS EXPRESS CONCERN ABOUT PW BOTHA'S ABILITY TO STAND TRIAL

Two medical experts have expressed concern to the Truth and Reconciliation Commisssion about former state president PW Botha's fitness to stand trial.

The chairman of the commission, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Monday said two affidavits were submitted to him by eminent and independent medical experts. Speaking at a news conference in Cape Town, Tutu said he had sent the affidavits to the Attorney-General of the Western Cape, Frank Kahn, who is dealing with the charges against Botha.

The former president suffered stroke in 1989 and is facing charges of failing to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His trial will be held on April 14 in George in the Western Cape.

The two experts are both retired. Professor Derek Philcox, who was involved in the original assessment of Botha's stroke in 1989, was professor of neurology at the University of Cape Town, and Professor Jacquez "Kay" de Villiers was professor of neurosurgery at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital.

"Professor de Villiers approached me earlier this year to express his concern about Mr Botha. My response was that this was a matter for Mr Botha's lawyers," Tutu said.

Tutu said the commission had given its full assistance to the prosecution for the trial and he had delayed a trip to the United Kingdom so that he would be available to give evidence at Botha's trial if needed.

"However, the Constitution stipulates that decisions on prosecution ultimately lie in the hands of the independent, non- partisan office of the Attorney-General, and we will abide by his decision," Tutu said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG March 30 1998 - SAPA

NP WARNS OF INSTITUTIONAL COLLAPSE IN PUBLIC SECTOR

The National Party on Monday warned the government of President Nelson Mandela that an institutional collapse threatened the public sector.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk sounded the warning - especially in relation to the maintenance of law and order, job creation and education - at a Johannesburg news conference where he presented the party's public sector barometer.

Van Schalkwyk said in accordance with a model developed by the World Bank, the NP pointed out that the state had three core functions to fulfil: maintaining law and order, creating macro-economic stability that was conducive to job creation, and effective and affordable provision of basic infrastructure and social services, including quality education and health care.

"These are the fundamental tasks that any government has to fulfil to create wealth and to care for the interests of its citizens," Van Schalkwyk said.

"With reference to an analysis of the African National Congress government's performance in these three areas, the NP points out that warning lights of institutional collapse are flashing in this country."

The NP had recommendations on what the government's priorities should be and how these can be achieved, Van Schalkwyk said.

He said the NP called on the government to take immediate action to halt a terminal decline that could have dire consequences for socio-economic and political stability.

"It would only be a first step to replace those ministers not competent to deliver in these core areas," Van Schalkwyk said.

"The findings of the public sector barometer therefore substantiate the calls over the last few months by the National Party and various other stakeholders in society that the ministers of Education, Safety and Security and Health be replaced."

Van Schalkwyk said a second step could be to bring in two experts from outside Parliament to fill the two positions available for such individuals in terms of the Constitution.

He said one of the positions should be an appointment aimed at bringing in the necessary expertise to ensure the uncompromised implementation of the growth, employment and redistribution (Gear) strategy.

Van Schalkwyk said the barometer report findings included:

- The ANC government often embarked on transformation merely for the sake of transformation, losing sight of strategic objectives and basic management principles;

-the ANC alliance's philosophical incoherence paralysed policy implementation;

- The World Health Organisation recently declared South Africa the most murderous country in the world, with an average murder ratio of between 46 and 54 per 100,000 of the population (the world average was 5,5 per 100,000 people);

- Unacceptably low closure figures for crime cases - 60 percent for murder cases, 23 percent for robbery and 69 percent for rape.

- With 1 percent of the total Budget, the Department of Justice was underfunded by about 50 percent, yet the government was prepared to spent more than R200 million on the one-sided, unbalanced Truth and Reconciliation Commission;

- The ANC's failure to meet the target set by Gear was a result of the governing alliance never making Gear's underlying philosophy its own;

- The health care system in South Africa was in tatters, mainly as a result of over-centralisation by the minister as well as weak political leadership; and

- Education was characterised by confusion and uncertainty because of questionable political decisions at national level.

Van Schalwyk said weak political management, linked to the retrenchment of experienced public servants and the concomitant policy of unbalanced affirmative action, counted among the most important reasons for institutional collapse.

He said the examples indicated that the government was not delivering on fundamental tasks that lay at the core of every government's responsibility.

"It is clear that the ANC government cannot be trusted with maintaining law and order, providing macro-economic stability and an environment conducive to job creation, nor effectively and affordably providing basic infrastructure, social services, education and health care," Van Schalkwyk said.

He criticised Mandela, say Mandela had admitted that he was a ceremonial president and his deputy (Thabo Mbeki) was already running the country.

"Now there are uncertainties as to who is responsible for what, who do we have to approach to address problems, or who should we listen to," he said - there was no legislation allowing such an arrangement.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA March 30 1998 - SAPA

OMAR WAS LUCKY BARNARD DIDN'T KILL HIM: PTA HIGH COURT TOLD

Ferdi Barnard's former girlfriend, Brenda Milne, on Monday told the Pretoria High Court Barnard used to boast that Justice Minister Dullah Omar was lucky to be alive because he almost killed him.

Milne, the mother of Barnard's son, said the former Civil Co-operation Bureau agent confessed to her that he killed anti- apartheid activist David Webster in May 1989.

Barnard and Milne lived together from December 1987 until she left him early in 1996.

She said Barnard had told her that he almost killed Omar months after the Webster murder.

Barnard is facing 34 charges, including murder and attempted murder charges relating to Webster and Omar. He has pleaded not guilty.

Milne kept notes of everything Barnard did from January 1994. She said at that stage she firmly believed her lover would kill her, as he had threatened to do so many times.

She did not want her child to grow up with him and she wanted the truth to be known about the man if anything happened to her, she said.

"The whole lifestyle with him was a nightmare... there was a lot of crime going on, he took drugs and was an alcoholic."

Milne said Barnard was addicted to pornography and womanising.

"Life with him became unbearable," she said.

She said she spied on Barnard, taking pictures of him playing with his favourite sawn-off shotgun called Buks Benade.

"He would hold it, play with it, threaten me with it. He would take it with him when he went out on a job. He threatened people with it," she said.

Milne said Barnard, as part of his duties while working for the secret Defence Force agency, the CCB, monitored several activists.

The information would be given to his bosses, whereafter authorisation would be given to eliminate these people.

"I've seen the list. David Webster's name was on it." Other names included Anton Roskam, Bruce White, Gavin Evans, Jay Naidoo, Frank Chikane and Vali Moosa.

"I accompanied him a number of times when he monitored Dr Webster," she said.

Milne said they also monitored Anton Lubowski, Evans, White and Naidoo. This meant driving past their houses or the places where they worked.

"He already had a lot of computerised information about Dr Webster, which he got from a policeman at Brixton. On May 1, 1989, the day that Dr Webster was killed, he came home and told me had shot him." Webster was gunned down while taking a plant from a bakkie next to his house.

Milne said her white Ford Laser was used on the day Webster was murdered.

Milne said she wasn't surprised when Barnard broke the news to her, but she hadn't expected it to happen in the day time.

She said Barnard gave her different versions of what he did with the gun used to kill Webster. One was that he threw it into a dam and another was that he gave it to his father.

Milne and her son went into hiding for a week after Webster's murder and then went on an extended holiday - for which Barnard gave her R15000 - during the Webster inquest.

Barnard paid for the holiday because he did not want Milne to talk to the press or the police, she said.

Milne said Barnard went to Cape Town to monitor Dullah Omar in September 1989 on the orders of his CCB superiors. He was to kill the then African National Congress activist.

After tracking Omar's movements, Barnard waited in a garage with his silenced gun and wanted to shoot him.

Omar was saved by a woman who climbed into his car with him, an unexpected move that changed Barnard's plan.

After the aborted mission, Milne said whenever Barnard saw Omar on television, he would wonder whether Omar knew how lucky he was to be alive.

She said Wits University activist Anton Roskam's car was set alight one night.

Roskam, who is now an attorney, previously testified that he received threatening letters after his car was set alight.

One of the letters said if he continued with his left-wing activities, the same thing that happened to Webster would happen to him.

Milne said Barnard told her how he and one of his friends, Eugene Riley, killed Mark Francis with a metal baseball bat, which they called "tonk" because of the sound it made.

Frances was allegedly murdered because Barnard feared he would make a statement incriminating him in a Bophuthatswana robbery.

Milne claimed Barnard on one occasion broke into her father's home and stole family photos after a fight, during which he accused her of seeing her former husband again.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 30 1998 - SAPA

POLICE TRIED TO SET BIKO UP FOR JAIL SENTENCE, TRC TOLD

The security police tried to get Black Consciousness activist Steve Biko jailed by using his colleague and fellow activist Peter Wilson as a state witness, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Cape Town on Monday.

The plan to remove Biko from the political arena by having him charged and jailed was revealed in the application for amnesty by former security police colonel, Gideon Nieuwoudt, 45.

He has admitted striking Biko with a length of hosepipe in the security police offices in Port Elizabeth in September 1997, shortly before the activist died, apparently as a result of a beating he received in police custody.

Niewoudt's application for amnesty is being heard separately from other policemen who were involved in Biko's interrogation.

Nieuwoudt was convicted in 1996 for his part in the Motherwell car bomb incident in which three black policemen and a police informner were killed.

He did not want the same committee that heard his application for amnesty in the Motherwell bomb case to hear his application for amnesty for his assault on Biko.

He said when Biko and Jones were arrested at a roadblock near Grahamstown on August 18, 1977, the plan was to interrogate Jones first for information which could be used against Biko.

Nieuwoudt said during his interrogation of Jones he received no co-operation until he struck him with a length of hose that had been lying around the office.

He also admitted striking Biko with the same piece of hose, but denied it had been there for the purpose of beating of detainees.

"Was this not your preferred instrument of torture?" asked George Bizos, SC, who is appearing for the Biko family.

The former policeman who was a sergeant at the time denied this and claimed the hose was left there by a colleague who used it for syphoning petrol.

Nieuwoudt answered in the affirmative when asked by Bizos if the police planned to use Jones to testify against Biko, who could have been sentenced to 15 years in prison in terms of the security laws of the time.

However, although Jones had given the police valuable information about the Black Consciousness Movement's internal network, he had not co-operated to the extent that he would testify against Biko and the police were unable to proceed with the plan.

Bizos suggested to Nieuwoudt that the pamphlets the two were alleged to have been carrying at the time of their arrest were forgeries produced by the security forces to discredit the liberation movements. Niewoudt replied that it was possible, but he doubted that the security forces were capable of producing fake pamphlets at that stage. However, they had done so in the 1980s after the formation of the Joint Management Centres.

Jones is expected to testify to the amnesty committee on Tuesday.

Earlier Nieuwoudt told the hearing that Biko was brought to the security police offices in Port Elizabeth on September 6, 1977.

He said Biko, who was interrogated by Lieutenant Daan Siebert, was arrogant and aggressive and refused to answer questions.

Nieuwoudt said Biko seemed to realise that Siebert had no information about him. Siebert grabbed him by the chest and pulled him to his feet. Biko then took the chair and pushed it towards Siebert and lunged at the policeman, but the blow did not connect.

Nieuwoudt said another policeman, W/O Johan Beneke, charged across the room and rugby tackled Biko, who resisted and the men began exchanging blows.

Nieuwoudt then took a piece of hose and struck Biko several blows while the other two policemen restrained him.

Nieuwoudt said during the struggle Biko fell back and his head struck the wall. He said Biko slid to the floor and appeared dazed after the blow.

"He looked like a boxer who had been knocked out but was not unconscious. He would have been counted out on his feet...," Nieuwoudt said.

He said Siebert told him to handcuff Biko's hands and feet. He was then chained to security bars in a standing position with his arms outstretched at shoulder height.

He said Colonel Piet Goosen ordered that Biko be chained in a "crucified position" to break down his resistance.

Nieuwoudt said he later realised there was something seriously wrong with Biko because his speech seemed impaired and he lost control of his bladder and urinated in his trousers.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay why he had not unchained Biko when he realised he was not well, Nieuwoudt replied that he would never have disobeyed an order from a senior officer.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON March 30 1998 - SAPA

APLA ROBBED TRANSKEI UNIVERSITY TO FUND THE STRUGGLE, TRC TOLD

The Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army regarded the University of Transkei as one of the apartheid government's oppressive structures and a legitimate target for Apla's "repossession" attacks in the 1990s, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in East London on Monday.

Former Apla commander Thapelo Maseko is seeking amnesty for his part in a robbery at the university in 1993, in which a policeman was killed, two others were wounded and R500,000 was stolen.

Maseko on Monday said Unitra was justifiably not regarded as a normal civilian structure but "an enemy instrument for oppressing our people".

He said he had been instructed to lead a new Apla unit called Beauty Salon, charged with "financing" Apla's operations.

As a commander of the unit, he received his instructions and reported directly to Apla's director of operations, Letlapa Mphahlele.

"The funds would enable Apla to carry on the struggle to liberate the oppressed masses, alternatively to bring home to the apartheid regime that their policy was unacceptable, unworkable and had to be changed," he said.

The decision to rob Unitra followed information from a female "comrade student" known as Nolitha about registration fees collected by the university.

On the day of the raid, Maseko divided his unit of eight men into three groups, each with a specific task.

"The assault group got inside the auditorium where the money was supposed to be and the support group would secure their safe withdrawal and getaway.

"The cut-out group, of which I was a member, was positioned outside the auditorium."

His colleagues were armed with firearms, but Maseko only had a knife as they were short of guns. He said he was not meant to be present, but attended to give moral support.

While he was positioned next to a back door outside the auditorium, he heard gunfire before a plainclothes policeman appeared and shot him.

He fled to the residences where a female student bandaged him after he told her that he had been hit by a stray bullet.

His friends managed to escape with the money, which he later handed over to Mandla Lenin, Apla's regional administrator in the Transkei.

Showing occasional signs of emotion, Maseko constantly objected to the amnesty committee members calling the attack a robbery, saying the money was not for personal gain.

The hearing continues on Tuesday. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 31 1998 - SAPA

TRC LACKS COURAGE, SAYS CP

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission lacked the courage to acknowledge defeat or to stand up for itself, Conservative Party leader Dr Ferdi Hartzenberg said on Tuesday.

The commission was now attempting to stop the prosecution of former president PW Botha - for failing to appear before it - by citing medical reasons, he said in a statement.

The TRC was trying to do this by saying that a stroke Botha had suffered 10 years ago made him unfit to stand trial.

It was trying to give credibility to this by using the opinions of two retired doctors who had never examined Botha, despite the former president's legal representatives having indicated that he would not be hindered by his health.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Mar 31 - SAPA

ACTIVIST ARRESTED WITH BIKO DESCRIBES POLICE ASSAULT TO TRC

A black consciousness activist who was arrested with Steve Biko in 1997, on Tuesday described to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee a vicious assault he had received at the hands of security police.

Peter Cyril Jones who spent nearly 18 months in detention after his arrest with Biko, was testifying at the amnesty hearing of former security police colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt.

Jones said he was arrested with Biko at a road block near Grahamstown in August 1977. He said he was taken to an isolated room at the police offices in Port Elizabeth where he was interrogated by Lieutenant Daan Siebert and Major Harold Snyman.

He said all his clothes were removed and he was forced to sit in the middle of the room on a steel chair to which his left hand was manacled. He was questioned about a wide range of topics relating to his involvement in the Black Consciousness Movement and why he was with Biko when he was arrested.

When he told the police he was on his way to Cape Town on business, Siebert struck him in the face with an open hand and then with a length of hosepipe. Jones then admitted that the trip did have a political motive and Biko was travelling to Cape Town to sort out problems in the Black Peoples Convention in the Western Cape.

They then left him to make a statement about his history in politics.

Jones said he wrote a false statement that contained a story that he and Biko had agreed upon if arrested. He said the real reason for Biko's trip to Cape Town was to try and unite the liberation movements in the country but he did not mention this.

He said the policemen did not believe the story in his statement and told some coloured policemen present to "put him on the bricks". He was told to stand on two half bricks and made to lift two steel chairs above his head. He was warned that if dropped the chairs he "would get it".

Jones said the coloured policemen were told to leave and Niewoudt, who was a sergeant at the time, and warrant officers Johan Beneke and Rubin Marx were then called in while Siebert and Snyman continued asking questions about a pamphlet the activists were alleged to have distributed.

Jones said the policemen became very angry when he denied any knowledge of the pamphlet and Siebert kicked him on the leg. The chairs then fell from his hands and struck the policemen. Siebert took off his watch and rolled up his sleeves and struck him many blows with an open hand.

"A vicious attack then followed in which Niewoudt struck me on the head and back with a green hosepipe, Beneke struck me with a black hosepipe on the back and buttocks and Snyman and Marx were delivering blows to keep me aligned in position," Jones said.

"We were moving all over the room and falling. It ended up with my back turned to them facing the wall, with them panting and me moaning and groaning," he said.

The policemen asked if he was now ready to give a satisfactory statement. He agreed and prepared a second statement in which he admitted knowledge about the pamphlet.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN March 31 1998 - SAPA

ACTIVIST AMAZED THAT POLICE ARE STILL LYING ABOUT BIKO

Robert Cyril Jones, the activist arrested and beaten by police along with Steve Biko, on Tuesday told reporters in Cape Town he was amazed police were still concocting stories about how the black consciousness activist died.

Jones addressed a media conference soon after testifying before the amnesty committee at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's offices.

The committee heard an application for amnesty from former security police Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt, who admitted to assaulting both Jones and Biko in detention in 1977.

Nieuwoudt's application for amnesty is being heard separately from the other policemen who are applying for amnesty. They are Colonel Harold Snyman, Lieutenant Daan Siebert, Warrant-Officer Rubin Marx and Warrant-Officer Johannes Beneke.

Jones said he viewed his testimony in the amnesty process as purely mechanical because he had come to terms with the past and grown beyond it.

Asked how he felt about Nieuwoudt and the other policemen who had applied for amnesty for Biko's death, he replied: "I do not wish them well, but I do not wish them ill.

"But, I find it amazing that they have been able to concoct new versions before the Truth Commission and the public as to how Biko died," he said.

He paid tribute to Biko as a true champion of the country who had been destroyed by "brainless people" who were still not telling the truth.

Earlier Biko's son, Nkosinathi, said the family still maintained its position to oppose amnesty for Biko's killers. He said it was clear from the obvious contradictions in the different versions of his father's death that he had been given, that the full truth was not being disclosed.

He said the family found it infuriating that people were still lying and making a mockery of the process of unity and reconciliation. He said the nation could not absolve people who were not not willing to admit to the mistakes of the past.

Nkosinathi Biko said the family found the marathon proceedings very stressful and now realised that the only people who knew what had happened in Room 619, the room in which Biko was assaulted, were the applicants before the Truth Commission.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON March 31 1998 - SAPA

SURVIVORS OF 1993 APLA ATTACK AT UNITRA RELIVE THEIR HORROR

The two survivors of the 1993 Azanian Liberation Army attack on the University of Transkei relived their horror on Tuesday at being ambushed by men they had presumed to be honest staff members or students at the institution.

Sergeants Michael Phama and Sandla Mkizwana were tesifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in East London on the Apla shooting in which they were injured.

A Unitra security guard was killed before the attackers fled with about R500,000 cash in November 1993.

Former Apla commander Thapelo Maseko is applying for amnesty for leading the ambush.

Phama told the commission that, together with his colleagues, he had been deployed to the institution's auditorium to assist in providing security during student registration.

They were still being briefed by one of the security guards on what was to be done when three men entered the room.

"We never suspected them and instead thought they were part of the officials inside," he said.

One of the men suddenly fired a shot at the security guards, and as Phama tried to draw his pistol, the same man fired at him, hitting him in the upper left side of the chest.

He told the commission that the bullet had been lodged inside his body ever since and that his service pistol, a Z88 Parabellum, was still missing.

Cross-examined by the commissioners, he said there had been no warning or instructions from the attackers prior to the shooting.

His colleague, Mkizwana, said he was about to close one of the doors in the building when shots were fired from behind and as he tried to pull his pistol, he was shot in a leg.

One of the attackers, his face partly concealed, charged towards him and when Mkizwama tried to identify him, more shots came from behind, hitting him twice in a leg before he fell and lost consciousness.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association LAS CRUCES New Mexico April 1 1998 - SAPA-AP

FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SKEPTICAL OF NATIONAL COMMISSION

Political tensions still exist in South Africa and the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission may not make a major contribution to national harmony, said former President F.W. de Klerk.

During a visit Tuesday to Las Cruces, de Klerk said the commission has demonstrated "a lack of impartiality by showing much less fervor to investigate the transgressions and those violations of human rights from other sides, and they've concentrated rather heavily just on what the (Afrikaner) Security Forces did."

De Klerk also was critical of South African President Nelson Mandela's comments late last year that de Klerk's "new" National Party had not really changed.

It was during de Klerk's administration that apartheid ended in the early 1990s.

De Klerk was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize along with Mandela, the anti-apartheid crusader who was imprisoned for 27 years until de Klerk freed him. Mandela was elected president of South Africa in 1994.

Economic problems continue to plague his country, de Klerk said Tuesday.

South Africa needs to boost its economy - 5 percent annual growth being the target - to lower an unemployment rate that has been estimated as high as 35 percent. And it must instill confidence among investors and lower a soaring crime rate, he said.

He said a majority of South Africa's blacks still live far below the economic level of whites.

De Klerk's speaking tour has taken him from Pennsylvania and Texas to New Mexico and will take him to Florida, New York and Minnesota. Retired from politics, de Klerk said he is writing his autobiography and considering establishing a foundation that focuses on conflict resolution.

Given South Africa's relatively peaceful transition to a system of shared power, de Klerk said he is trying to share the lessons from "almost a hopeless situation where it seemed almost inevitable that there would be a clash which would end in hundreds of thousands of people dying in a catastrophe."

"We stepped away from that. ... We succeeded to achieve something which the world never expected," de Klerk said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 1 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA COMPLAINS TO SAMDC

Former president PW Botha on Wednesday handed a formal complaint to the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) about the disclosure of confidential information regarding his health and illness in January 1989.

Botha was of the opinion that the information contained in affidavits in this regard - given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the attorney general without his permission - constituted a breach of confidentiality between patient and doctor, he said in a statement issued by his lawyers.

Botha asked the SAMDC to investigate the matter in terms of their professional rules.

The affidavits made by two retired neurologists - Prof Derek Philcox and Prof Kay de Villiers - cite Botha's stroke, suffered nine years ago, as reason for the TRC to withdraw the case against him for refusing to appear before it.

Botha's statement also questioned the TRC's motives because of the manner and timing of the publication of the affidavits.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 1 1998 - SAPA

APLA CADRE APOLOGISES TO FAMILIES OF EAST CAPE VICTIMS

Former Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army cadre Dumisani Ncamazana on Wednesday told the TRC's amnesty committee he was sorry for his part in terror attacks on whites in East London shortly before the 1994 elections, and asked the victims' families for forgiveness.

Ncamazana and Zukile Mbambo are seeking amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for their roles in three military attacks in March 1994.

The two are serving lengthy jail terms for a machine gun attack on a vehicle along the Berlin-East London road, a handgrenade blast at the Highgate Hotel and an attack on a Da Gama Textiles bus transporting employees.

Ncamazana, 22, of Scenery Park, gave a detailed account of how the attacks were planned at a place known as Mama's Restaurant in Butterworth under the instructions of commander Jimmy Jacobs.

He said his accomplices, some of whom had since died, began their "total annihilation" mission with an ambush of a minibus ferrying white teachers to the Mdantsane-based John Knox Bokwe College on March 11, 1994.

When the minibus approached the ambush spot, they fired on it with an assortment of machine guns before fleeing.

Cross-examined by his attorney, Sally Collett, Ncamazana said he did not know what happened to the vehicle's occupants.

Although he was never arrested for the attack, he had decided to seek amnesty, he said.

Their next attack was on worshippers at the Baha'i Faith Mission at NU2 on March 13, where Houshmand Anvari, Riaz Razavi and Dr Shamam Bakhshandegi were lined up against a wall and gunned down with automatic weapons.

Ncamazana said that on entering the premises, they found a white man painting the door and forced him at gunpoint inside the church building, where there were about 30 people.

"TNT (Mfundisi) then shouted that the whites should move to one side and the Africans to the other. The people obeyed," he said.

One of the attackers then searched the three whites for car keys and money, and a vehicle was selected to make their getaway.

After the three men were shot dead, the group drove in one of the victims' cars to a coloured township in Butterworth, where they reported to Jacobs and left the car and weapons.

Ncamazana told the commission that as he had been stationed at the church entrance, he never took part in the shooting of the three churchmen.

Responding to a question, he said that as soldiers they were not there to differentiate between their intended victims' nationalities, "as long as they were white, they were regarded as part of the enemy and supporters of the regime". The Bahai massacre was followed by other attacks such as the shooting of the Da Gama Textiles bus ferrying about 40 employees on March 28. A policeman and two gunmen died in that attack. In an aborted grenade attack on the Highgate Hotel, no-one was injured.

The hearings continue on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 2 1998 - SAPA

FORMER UDF LEADERS MEET TRUTH COMMISSION

A delegation of ex-leaders of the United Democratic Front met the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town on Thursday to discuss the now defunct liberation movement's contribution to the commission's final report.

The former UDF leaders, who were requested to made submissions to the TRC, asked for a month's adjournment to prepare for their appearance before the commission.

The members of the delegation, led by North West premier Popo Molefe, now hold high office. They are Patrick Lekota, who is chairman of the NCOP in Parliament, Valli Moosa, Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Azar Cachalia, head of secretariat of Safety and Security, and Murphy Morobe, chairman of the Fiscal and Financial Commission.

The UDF was formed in 1983 when the National Party government approved the tricameral parliament which excluded blacks participating in the government. The UDF was disbanded at the time of the April 1994 elections.

Deputy chairman of the TRC Dr Alex Boraine said the UDF played an important role in the conflict in the country and was therefore in a position to make a valuable contribution to the compilation of the final report.

Boraine said the TRC had difficulty establishing who were the various leaders of organisations that no loner existed.

Molefe said the former UDF leaders were committed to the credibility and integrity of the TRC, and the delay in appearing before the TRC should not be construed as a a lack of respect for the commission.

Boraine agreed to the adjournment to a date late in April or in the first week of May.

He said the arranged date should be a firm agreement. He also asked that the UDF leaders submit answers to the TRC's questions in writing. He asked in particular that an account of what led to the formation of the UDF, and what it aimed to achieve, should be sumbitted in writing before the date of the appearance before the TRC of the UDF leaders.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 3 - SAPA

AMNESTY HEARING FOR CAPRIVI HITSQUAD BEGINS IN DURBAN ON MONDAY

Seven members of a Caprivi Strip trained hitsquad due to appear at an amnesty hearing in Durban next week are expected to shed light on a large number of unsolved murders that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s.

The members of the squad have applied for amnesty for a long list of atrocities they claim to have committed under orders from political leaders.

They are due to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Monday. They hearing has been set down for three weeks.

TRC spokesman Mdu Lembede on Friday said the applicants - Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, Romeo Mbuso Mbambo, i Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Bertwell Bheki Ndlovu - claim to be Inkatha Freedom Party members and registered KwaZulu policemen.

Lembede said most of the applicants, including Luthuli the commander of the squad, were part of a group of 200 IFP youths who received extensive military training from the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip and were allegedly involved in massacres and assassinations of high profile political leaders in Eshowe and Empangeni and later in Clermont near Durban.

They have applied for amnesty for 56 different incidents which involved more than 100 murders. However, only 21 of the incidents will be heard by the amnesty committee during this sitting which is to be held at the Durban Christian Centre at the corner of West Street and Warwick Avenue.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 3 - SAPA

FIRST TRUTH REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS ON WAY

People identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as victims of human rights violations would in the next few weeks begin receiving application forms for interim reparations, acting TRC chairman Dr Alex Boraine said on Friday.

This followed government approval of regulations on the payments, and their publication in the Government Gazette on Friday.

The interim reparations would be one-off payments to victims or their dependants who had suffered hardship and were in need, Boraine said in a statement.

The amount would normally be a maximum of R2000, aimed at helping victims get services such as medical care.

"They are designed to provide limited assistance while the government and Parliament are discussing their final decision on reparations, which is likely to be taken only after the TRC has handed in its final report on July 31."

The payments could not be made until a finding had been made on a statement made to the TRC by a victim or survivor. The commission's human rights violations committee was busy corroborating each of the 20,000 statements it had received.

It had made findings on more than 11000 statements and aimed to complete the rest by the end of May.

Boraine said although the regulations had been published, a number of other steps had to be taken before victims and survivors would receive any payments.

These included printing the forms and making them available to the victims.

"Within the next few weeks, people found to be victims will begin to receive letters, including reparations application forms.

"Those who have made statements to us are urged not to rush to TRC offices, but to wait until they have received their finding and the accompanying application form," Boraine said.

If a victim had suffered hardship and was in particular need, the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee would forward the application to the President's Fund, the body set up to make reparations payments.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 6 - SAPA

IFP HITSQUAD AMNESTY HEARING LIKELY TO IMPLICATE TOP BRASS

High-ranking KwaZulu-Natal officials and politicians are likely to be implicated when seven members of an alleged Inkatha Freedom Party hitsquad trained in the Caprivi apply for amnesty.

The seven IFP members are applying for amnesty for a wide range of massacres and assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal during the early 1990s.

They are due to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Durban on Tuesday.

The amnesty committee held talks with the various parties behind closed doors on Monday in preparation for the public hearings.

The applicants, who were trained by the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip in then South West Africa, are Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, Romeo Mabuso Mbambo, Brian Gcina Mkhize, Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu.

They all claimed to be members of the IFP and were registered KwaZulu Police officers at the time of the attacks.

They have applied for amnesty for 56 incidents involving more than 100 murders in the Empangeni and Eshowe areas in northern KwaZulu-Natal and in the townships of Clermont and Mpumalanga between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

The applicants claimed to have carried out the attacks on the orders of KwaZulu Police officers and IFP officials.

Luthuli, who was the leader of the hitsquad, applied for amnesty for an incident in which his squad "taught the United Democratic Front a lesson" by rampaging through an area in Mpumalanga and burning down houses and killing anyone who tried to escape.

Luthuli claimed in his submission that he did not know the exact number of people killed or injured in the attack. He claimed the order for the attack was given by senior IFP leaders to prevent the spread of UDF influence in the area.

Luthuli also claimed he received orders from a KwaZulu Police major in Ulundi. He has not yet named the officer.

The applicants also applied for amnesty for killing one of their colleagues, Sergeant Dumisani Dlamini, who was suspected of supplying information to the Goldstone Commission, which was investigating hitsquad and third force activity.

Dlamini's name appeared on a death list supplied to Luthuli and his men by their superiors.

During the hearing, which has been set down for three weeks, there is expected to be an array of legal counsel represenating the IFP, the KwaZulu government and the former SA Defence Force as well as the applicants and the families of the victims.

The public hearing begins at the Durban Christian Centre in Warwick Avenue in Durban at 9.30am on Tuesday. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 6 - SAPA

FORMER APLA MAN ADMITS TO LEADING ATTACK ON EAST CAPE GOLF CLUB

A former Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army commander and now a member of the SA National Defence Force, Thembelani Xundu, on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in East London that he led an attack on the King William's Town golf club in 1992.

Four people died and 56 were injured in the attack which took place when a group of friends sat down to an end-of-the- year function.

Network Radio Services said Xundu, Corporal Thobela Nthlambisa of the SANDF, Malusi Morrison and Lungisa Mtimpili were applying for amnesty for the attack.

Xundu said that as a senior Apla officer he played a major role in the attack on the golf club in which two couples, Gillian and David Davies and Roda and Ian MacDonald, died in a hail of automatic weapon fire.

He said he was ordered to attack by Lethlaba Mphalele.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 6 - SAPA

ANC DEFENDS BLANKET AMNESTIES

The African National Congress has given notice that it will oppose the Truth and Reconciliation Commission' court application to have the amnesties granted to 37 party leaders overturned.

TRC chief legal officer Hanif Vally on Monday said the ANC had filed a notice of opposition to the TRC's court application on Friday.

The party had yet to provide reasons why it was opposing the TRC's court bid, he told Sapa.

The TRC asked the High Court to overturn the blanket amnesty granted by its amnesty committee to the 37 ANC leaders, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Defence Minister Joe Modise, on the grounds that their amnesty applications were irregular because they failed to fully disclose their misdemeanours.

The National Party has also applied for the blanket amnesty ruling to be set aside.

Jacko Maree, the NP's spokesman on the TRC, said on Monday the ANC had also decided to oppose the NP's application.

"It is important to note that this application of the ANC in effect means they are seeking legal endorsement for the decision of the blanket amnesty, which was unilaterally granted to them," Maree said in a statement.

"It appears as if the ANC, through this action, wishes to oppose the principle of equality before the law."

Maree said the party would proceed with its court application to have the amnesties set aside, but the ANC's opposition meant that the application would now be held on April 24, instead of April 8 as planned.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 6 - SAPA

ANC ENTITLED TO OPPOSE TRC COURT BID: PHOSA

The African National Congress on Monday announced that it is to oppose High Court bids by the Truth and Reonciliation Commission and the National Party to have the amnesties which were granted to 37 of its leaders overturned.

The ANC had the legal right to oppose the court applications, ANC legal head Mathews Phosa said.

The party would abide by the High Court's ruling, but this did not mean it had to abandon this right, he told Sapa.

TRC chief legal officer Hanif Vally on Monday said the ANC had on Friday filed a notice of opposition to the commission's court application, but had not yet provided reasons why.

Phosa said this would be done soon.

"The ANC did not grant itself amnesty and we did not apply for a blanket amnesty," he said.

All the 37 ANC leaders had signed individual amnesty applications.

In addition to assuming collective responsibility for the party's actions, some of them had applied for a separate amnesty for specific human rights violations, he said.

"We have covered all the gaps."

The TRC asked the High Court to overturn the amnesties granted by its amnesty committee to the 37 ANC leaders, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Defence Minister Joe Modise, on the grounds that their amnesty applications were irregular and because they failed to fully disclose their misdemeanours.

Jacko Maree, the NP's spokesman on the TRC, said on Monday the ANC had also decided to oppose the NP's application tp have the amnesties overturned.

"It appears as if the ANC, through this action, wishes to oppose the principle of equality before the law."

Phosa denied this, saying that by the very act of contesting the issue in court, the ANC was demonstrating its commiment to the rule of law.

No other party had made such a substantial disclosure to the TRC as the ANC, he said.

REMAINS OF THREE EXECUTED MK FOUNDERS TO BE EXHUMED

The remains of three Umkhonto we Sizwe founders who were hanged in 1964 are to be exhumed and returned to their familes for proper burials.

Correctional Services commissioner Khulekani Sitole announced in Pretoria on Tuesday that legislation which declared the bodies of executed prisoners state property would be repealed soon.

This would enable the families of such prisoners to claim their remains for proper burial, Sitole said. This applied to political prisoners and common criminals.

"We are prepared for a flood of requests. If the families ask us for assistance, we will help them as far as possible," Sitole said.

Sitole made the announcement while visiting the graves of three Umkhonto we Sizwe founders at the Rebecca Street cemetery in Pretoria West with Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa.

Phosa said the bodies of the three men, all from the Eastern Cape, would be exhumed shortly and the remains returned to their families.

They would be the first three to be exhumed in terms of the changed policy.

Zinakile Mkaba, 35, Vuyisile Mini, 45, and Wilson Khayingo, 38, were hanged at Pretoria Central prison on November 6, 1964. They were found guilty on one charge of murder and 14 of sabotage.

Phosa said they were among the founding fathers of MK with President Nelson Mandela, and the first to be executed on charges related to the armed struggle.

"They paid the highest price for freedom. If they were alive today, they would have been very important leaders of the ANC."

Phosa said the families of Mkaba, Mini and Khayingo had since 1996 been asking for their remains to be brought home. They ran into one bureaucratic obstacle after another, until he was asked to intervene as the head of the ANC's legal department.

"The families won't be able to rest in peace until they know where the bones are," Phosa said.

The graves of another three MK founders who were executed in 1965, N Mpentse, D Ndongeni and S Jonas, had not yet been traced.

Once they had been found, Phosa said, an application would be made for the exhumation of all six bodies, which would then be returned to their families for proper burials.

The exhumation was expected to start in about one month, he said.

Phosa and Sitole stressed the importance of families being able to bury their loved ones themselves, especially where this was a cultural prerequisite.

"Even if someone has committed a murder, his family should have the right to bury him," said Sitole. "After all, the body is not an investment to the state."

Phosa welcomed the changed policy saying that to heal a nation, one had to unearth the truth. "You can't heal or reconcile on a lack of knowledge," he said.

Sitole said a family wishing to reclaim the remains of a loved one should contact their city council, followed by the provincial legislature and the Department of Correctional Services.

If the remains had to be transferred across provincial borders, the Department of Home Affairs should also be consulted.

Families would also be allowed to visit the gallows at Pretoria Central Prison to retrieve the spirit of their loved ones, Sitole said.

More than 4200 prisoners are believed to have been executed in South Africa since 1910, 2173 iof themn between February 1967 and November 1989.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 7 - SAPA

LENGTHY PROBE INTO PW'S COMPLAINT AGAINST DOCTOR

The South African Medical and Dental Council on Tuesday confirmed it had received a complaint from lawyers representing former state president PW Botha against a doctor who disclosed confidential information about his medical condition to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

There was a standard procedure for investigating complaints which would be followed, and this could take quite some time to conclude, council spokeswoman Louise Emerton said.

The council planned to write to the doctor involved and ask him for an explanation. He would be given between four and six weeks to respond.

A preliminary investigation would then take place and if it was found there were no grounds for charges of improper conduct, the matter would not be taken further.

If the doctor was found to have acted improperly, a disciplinary inquiry would take place. If found guilty, the doctor could face penalties ranging from a warning to a maximum fine of R10000, or even have his licence suspended.

Botha's complaint was made against retired Professor Derek Philcox, the former head of Groote Schuur hospital's neurology department who was a member of a team which examined Botha when he had a stroke in 1989.

Philcox and retired University of Cape Town professor of neurosurgery, Kay de Villiers, submitted an affidavit to the TRC last week, appealing for it to withdraw a court case against Botha because he was medically unfit to stand trial.

Botha's lawyers claimed the doctors breached the confidential patient-doctor relationship by disclosing the information without his permission.

Emerton said the council receivedd only 10 percent of these culminated in a disciplinary hearing.

The legal procedure involved in investigating complaints meant that it was "not a speedy process", she said.

Botha's trial on charges of contempt for failing to obey a subpoena to appear before the TRC to answer questions about the State Security Council is set to resume in the George Regional Court on Tuesday next week.

Botha's attorney, Ernst Penzhorn, said last week that Botha was keen towe were of the opinion that Botha, for whatever reason, was unable to stand trial or to understand the proceedings, we would have told (Western Cape Attorney-General Frank) Khan," he was quoted as saying.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 7 - SAPA

IFP HITSQUAD LEADER WAS ALBERT LUTHULI'S GRANDSON, TRC TOLD

A grandson of revered ANC leader Chief Albert Luthuli described to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Durban on Tuesday how he became the political commissar and commander of the Inkatha Freedom Party's military wing after becoming disillusioned with the ANC.

Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, 50, has applied to the TRC's amnesty committee for amnesty for more than 50 attacks carried out in KwaZulu-Natal while he was commander of a Caprivi trained hitsquad.

Luthuli left the country in 1963 and became an Umkonto We Sizwe cadre who received training in Russia. Afer being captured in 1969 he spent 10 years on Robben Island with African National Congress stalwarts including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.

He described to the committee how he became disillusioned with the ANC after being released from prison in 1979 and disapproved of the methods adopted by the United Democratic Front in its struggle with IFP. He said these methods included violent beatings and necklace murders against so-called collaboraters, a word also used to described IFP supporters.

He said he was taken to meet Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi in 1979 and although he joined the movement in that year, he only became actively involved in the organisation in 1985.

Luthuli said he maintained contact with the ANC at this time and met Chris Hani who was based in Lesotho in 1981 but later lost contact after an SA Defence Force raid in 1982 forced Hani and others to leave southern Africa.

He said by 1985 the ANC was openly supporting the "UDF comrades" who were increasingly attacking traditional Zulu leaders. He said he could not support these tactics and began openly supporting IFP and becoming involved in its organisation.

In 1986 he was approached by MZ Khumalo, who was a personal assistant to Buthelezi at the time, and told that IFP needed to form an armed wing in order to defend itself against the UDF. Khumalo proposed that Luthuli become the political commissar of the armed wing and he would be duly approached about the necesssary arrangements.

Luthuli said Khumalo told him the plan to form an armed wing had Buthelezi's approval.

Luthuli said the necessary arrangement were made and he and about 200 IFP recruits left for Caprivi from Louis Botha Airport in Durban in April 1986.

Luthuli and six other IFP members are applying for amnesty for a wide range of massacres and assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal during the early 1990s. The applicants who were trained by the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip are Luthuli, Romeo Mabuso Mbambo, Brian Gcina Mkhize, Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu. The all claim to be members of the IFP and were registered KwaZulu police officers at the time of their attacks.

The squad members are applying for amnesty for a total of 56 incidents involving more than 100 murders in the Empangeni and Eshowe areas in northern KwaZulu-Natal and in the townships of Clermont and Mpumalanga between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The applicants claim to have carried out the attacks on the orders of KwaZulu police officers and IFP officials.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 7 - SAPA

ALBERT LUTHULI'S GRANDSON TELLS OF LIFE OF POLITICAL CONFLICT

The grandson of Chief Albert Luthuli, one of the ANC's founders, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday that he turned his back on his family's organisation to join the Inkatha movement as the commander and political commissar of its military wing.

Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, 50, recounted to the TRC's amnesty committee in Durban his remarkable life in the conflict in South Africa.

Luthuli said he shifted his allegiance from the African National Congress in 1980 after a 10-year prison sentence on Robben Island with the some of the "fathers of the struggle", including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.

Luthuli claimed the ANC stalwarts on Robben Island instructed him to join Inkatha, as it was then known, because it was a front working hand-in-hand with ANC.

He said when he returned home to KwaZulu-Natal after his sentence his father had defected to Inkatha and he also decided to join the organisation.

Relations between the two organisations soured in the early 1980s and he became increasingly disillusioned with the ANC's support in KwaZulu-Natal for United Democratic Front comrades who were attacking traditional Zulu leaders.

He later decided to assist Inkatha, which later became the Inkatha Freedom Party, in countering the UDF assault.

Luthuli and six other IFP members are applying for amnesty for massacres and assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal during the early 1990s.

The applicants, who were trained by the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip, are Luthuli, Romeo Mabuso Mbambo, Brian Gcina Mkhize, Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu. The all claim to be members of the IFP and were registered KwaZulu police officers at the time of their attack.

The applicants claim to have carried out the attacks on the orders of KwaZulu police officers and IFP officials.

Luthuli claims that IFP president Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi must have known about the existence and activities of "the Caprivians", as they were called at that time. He said he received his instructions from "MZ" Khumalo, who was a close confidante of Buthlelezi.

Luthuli also claims to have met former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock during the period when Inkatha self- protection units were being trained by the SA Defence Force as well as Military Intelligence officers.

He claims that MI plotted to have him killed because they alleged he was once again working with the ANC and its armed wing - Umkhonto weSizwe (MK). Luthuli said he left the country in 1963 and became an MK cadre who received training in Russia and Tanzania.

After his capture and prison term he became disillusioned with the ANC and disapproved of the methods adopted by the United Democratic Front in its struggle with Inkatha. He said these methods included violent beatings and necklace murders against so-called collaborators, a word also used to described Inkatha supporters.

He said he was taken to meet Buthelezi in 1979 and although joined the movement in that year he became actively involved in the organisation only in 1985.

Luthuli said he maintained contact with the ANC at this time and met Chris Hani, who was based in Lesotho in 1981. He later lost contact after an SA Defence Force raid in 1982 forced Hani and others to leave Southern Africa.

He said that by 1985 the ANC was openly supporting the "UDF comrades" who were increasingly attacking traditional Zulu leaders.

He said he was approached in 1986 by MZ Khumalo, who was a personal assistant to Chief Buthelezi at the time, and told that Inkatha needed to form an armed wing in order to defend itself against the UDF.

Khumalo proposed that Luthuli become the political commissar of the armed wing and he would be duly approached about the necesssary arrangements. Luthuli said Khumalo told him that the plan to form an armed wing had the approval of Buthelezi.

Luthuli said the necessary arrangement were made and he and about 200 Inkatha recruits left for Caprivi from Louis Botha airport in Durban in April 1986.

He said that when the training commenced it was similar to the training he had already received and he played a significant role, later becoming the commander of the unit as well as the political commissar.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 7 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANT "EXCITED LIKE A BABY" AFTER GOLF CLUB ATTACK

A former Azanian People's Liberation Army operative, who is applying for amnesty for his part in the King William's Town Golf Club attack, on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when he heard the news of the attack on a pensioners' Christmas party he became excited like a baby.

Testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee in East London, 40-year-old Lungisa Ntintili of Port Elizabeth said the November 1992 attack, which left four dead and 17 injured, was appropriate.

Ntintili and three former APLA cadres are seeking amnesty for the attack.

He said the victims were among the people who had been "enjoying fruits of oppression and clapping their hands when the SADF (SA Defence Force) soldiers attacked our people".

Asked if that was sufficient justification for the killing of innocent people, Ntintili said that if a Dr Davis referred to as one of those who died in the attack was the one who had immigrated from the former Rhodesia to avoid majority rule there, then his killing was justifiable.

He said: "He was here to further the cause of colonialism and apartheid."

Mark Davis, son of Dr David Davis who died with his wife in the attack, told Ntintili he found it disturbing for him to say his father was a legitimate target as he had no connections with Zimbabwe.

Explaining his role in the attack, Ntintili, a school teacher, said he harboured the Apla operatives who were brought to his Dimbaza home by major Thembelani Xundu.

Three days after the incident, he chauffered the men who were on their way to destroy the Volkswagen Jetta used in the attack.

Ntintili said he was unaware of the planned attack and only heard about it a day later when pupils told him at a shebeen that "the settlers had been attacked in the golf club".

Ntintili said he was arrested on February 16, 1993 and tortured by the Cambridge police until he lost consciousness.

Thobela Mlambisa, who was the next to testify, told the commission he had also been involved in the St James Church attack in Cape Town and was still awaiting the outcome of his application regarding that incident.

He was the driver of the Jetta used during the golf club ambush and was armed with a 9mm pistol which he never used.

Mlambisa, now an SA National Defence Force corporal based in De Aar, said his role ended during the attack and that he was not present when the Jetta was destroyed a few days later.

The hearing continues.

TERREBLANCHE WILL TESTIFY BEFORE TRUTH COMMISSION

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terreblanche on Tuesday night said he would accept collective responsibility for any politically-motivated crimes committed by his followers before the 1994 general elections.

"I will testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission myself," he told about 300 AWB supporters at a meeting in Pretoria.

"If I am the cause and reason for any act committed by my followers, then I am guilty. I am prepared to carry the full blame for what I said and did, and I am prepared to be punished for it."

Terreblanche said he would tell the TRC what he had told his supporters.

A comprehensive statement containing full confessions by himself and his "generals", was nearing completion, and would be delivered to the TRC within a week, he said.

The statement contained what he described as surprising facts. "The TRC will have to decide whether they want to give me amnesty or if they want to charge me," he said.

Terreblanche launched an attack on former AWB member Dries Kriel, who recently accused the movement's leadership of denying that they gave the orders that landed several supporters in prison.

Kriel, Terreblanche said, was an opportunist abusing the plight of rightwing prisoners to make a hero of himself.

"He tells them he will help them, but he is unable to do this," Terreblanche said. "He cannot be trusted."

He predicted that Kriel's "treachery" would explode in his face. "The truth will be uncovered, maybe sooner than Dries Kriel thinks."

Kriel, who resigned from the AWB, is now a leading member of a body representing rightwing prisoners - the Bond van Boere Krygsgevangenes (League of Boer Prisoners of War).

Terreblanche also criticised the TRC for granting a blanket amnesty to more than 30 African National Congress members, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, while rightwing prisoners remained in jail among common criminals.

The rightwing prisoners were soldiers whose acts were politically motivated, yet they were not being granted amnesty, he said.

Terreblanche said the government was asking for a revolution by creating what he described as an environment of conflict and civil war. The government was struggling in every field, especially in policing.

Every year 25000 murders, 28000 attempted murders, 52000 rapes, 69000 robberies, 100,000 car thefts, and 249000 housebreakings were reported, Terreblanche said.

In the meantime about 1000 police members were absent without leave every day, and more than 1800 police firearms were stolen every year.

"The police are supplying robbers and murderers with weapons," he said. "While they are looking for their firearms, who is fighting crime?"

Terreblanche said this week's resignation of SA National Defence Force Chief General Georg Meiring was part of a deliberate attempt by the government to get rid of all Afrikaners in leadership positions.

"The revolution is coming," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 8 1998 - SAPA

THREE SOWETO BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MEMBERS TO APPLY FOR AMNESTY

Three Black Consciousness members will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on April 20 and 21 to apply for amnesty for killing four Soweto Students' Congress members and a white security guard in 1986.

The hearing for Joseph Hlasa, Anastasios Mphoreng and Ernest Thandakubona will be held at the Gauteng legislature's auditorium in Johannesburg.

The TRC in a statement said the hearing would be divided into two parts. The first would be on the killing of the white security guard in July 1986.

The comittee said the applicants claimed they carried out the killing on the orders of then Soweto Azanian People's Organisation leaders Thami Mcerwa and Sam Seema. Mcerwa has since died.

The second part of the hearing would be on the abduction and killing of the Soweto Students' Congress members.

Edwin Vuyani Nkomo, Mbulelo Mabena, Msilana Ronnel Sishange and Oscar Amos Mlangeni were abducted, tortured and killed in Chiawelo.

Two other students, Simon Morris and Sekano Avonly Kgase, survived the attack and Kgase later alerted the police, resulting in the applicants' arrests.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 8 1998 - SAPA

IFP HITSQUAD COMMANDER BREAKS DOWN AND WEEPS DURING AMNESTY HEARING

A former Inkatha military commander broke down and wept at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Durban on Wednesday when asked about attempts by the security police to recruit him as a governement agent.

Daluxolo Luthuli, 50, is applying to the TRC's amnesty committee for amnesty for a range of murders committed by an Inkatha Caprivi-trained squad he commanded in the early 1990s.

Luthuli, a grandson of former ANC leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, was also an Umkhonto we Sizwe cadre and spent time on Robben Island. He has admitted leading "the Caprivians", as they were called, on a reign of terror against United Democratic Front supporting areas in KwaZulu-Natal.

Luthuli appeared confident and relaxed during his testimony about murders and assassinations, but suddenly broke down and wept on Wednesday when asked about attempts to recruit him as a security police agent.

Luthuli was being questioned about by Jeff Hewitt, SC, who is appearing for Inkatha Freedom Party officials.

Hewitt asked him if the security police tried to recruit him when he was captured while a member of MK. Luthuli said they did try and recruit him to gather information about MK members in KwaZulu-Natal, but he refused.

When asked if he was offered any inducement, Luthuli replied that the way the police operated was to torture one to the point where he agreed to co-operate with them, not by choice but in order to escape any further torture.

At this point Luthuli suddenly broke down and began crying. The amnesty committee adjourned for ten minutes while Luthuli recovered his composure.

He then continued his testimony, and when asked again about the inducement offered to him by the police, he said he received no offer of payment. Hewitt said he would return to his torture by the security police at a later stage of the cross-examination.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 8 1998 - SAPA

PREPARATIONS UNDER WAY FOR PW BOTHA COURT TRIAL

Preparations are under way for former state president PW Botha's court trial on charges of defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena. The trial is due to start in the George Regional Court next Tuesday.

"All indications are that it's definitely going ahead," George deputy chief magistrate Erna Grobler told Sapa on Wednesday.

Police spokesman Superintendent Wicus Holtzhausen said conference facilities for reporters covering the high profile trial would be arranged. About 12 reporters could be accommodated inside the courtroom, he said.

Police were not expecting the large protests which marked Botha's two previous court appearances.

Holtzhausen said about 300 members of the PW Botha Support Group indicated they would gather outside the court building, and a 20-strong delagation from the African National Congress also planned to attend.

Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn on Wednesday declined to comment about the case, saying he was considering holding a press conference on Thursday.

Asked if there was any truth in speculation that the case against Botha would be dropped, he said: "Please don't listen to any rumours."

Last week retired Professor Derek Philcox, the former head of the Groote Schuur hospital's neurology department, and retired University of Cape Town professor of neurosurgery Kay de Villiers submitted an affidavit to the TRC appealing for it to withdraw the case against Botha because he was medically unfit to stand trial. The two were part of a team which examined Botha when he had a stroke in 1989.

The affidavit was forwarded to Kahn, but he subsequently said the trial would go ahead.

TRC spokeswoman Christelle Terreblanche on Wednesday told Sapa commission chair Archbishop Desmond Tutu planned to be in George on Tuesday in the event that he was called to testify.

No-one else from the TRC had been notified that they were to testify in the case, she said.

Tutu and his deputy, Alex Boraine, are on leave.

Botha refused to comply with a subpoena to appear before the TRC to answer questions about the State Security Council, which enforced his government's apartheid policies.

He claimed that Tutu had promised him he would not have to appear at the TRC hearing if he supplied it with a written submission.

The TRC argued that Tutu never had the power to give this undertaking.

AMNESTY HEARING SHEDS LIGHT ON MURDER OF REGGIE RADABE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard news evidence on Wednesday about the still unsolved murder of the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal Midlands leader Reggie Hadebe in 1992.

The former commander of the Inkatha Freedom Party's military wing, Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Durban he knew the identity of the man who shot Hadebe in a political assassination that shocked the province in October 1992.

Hadebe was shot in a well-planned ambush near Richmond when he was returning from a peace meeting with local IFP leaders in Ixopo. Police at the time described the murder as a professional hit by a trained sniper.

Luthuli named the killer as Bongani Sithole, who he said had been a member of IFP recruits trained in Caprivi as a force that would counter the United Democratic Front's advance in the province. Luthuli said he cazme to hear of the assassination after Sithole approached him to dispose of the G3 rifle that was used in the shooting.

Hadebe's murder is still unsolved. ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesman Dumisani Makhaye told Sapa he hoped KwaZulu- Natal's Attorney- General Tim McNally would "prick up his ears" about the revelations.

He said people in the province were beginning to lose confidence in the justice and something should be done to bring about successful prosecutions of the many unsolved murders, including that of Hadebe.

In his application for amnesty, Luthuli said the IFP recruits in Caprivi were trained to be snipers and many, including himself, became proficient marksmen.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 8 1998 - SAPA

IFP HITSQUAD COMMANDER BLAMES BUTHELEZI FOR KILLINGS

A former Inkatha military commander has told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he believes Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi was ultimately responsible for the mayhem caused by hitsquad attacks in KwaZulu-Natal in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, 50, is applying for amnesty for a range of murders committed by a Caprivi-trained squad he commanded.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee his orders came from high- ranking IFP officials who wanted to "eradicate the United Democratic Front" from the province.

Luthuli said his direct orders came from MZ Khumalo, who was a personal assistant to Buthlezi. He also implicated Prince Gideon Zulu, David Ntombela and Samuel Jamile, who held high positions in the IFP at the time. Ntombela and Zulu are now members of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government.

Luthuli named Buthelezi as the person who was responsible for the violence that resulted from the attacks because he said they had received his approval.

Luthuli has repeatedly said in his testimony that he had no doubt Buthelezi knew of the formation of the hitsquads and their objectives in the conflict between the IFP and the UDF.

Jeff Hewitt, SC, for Khumalo and other IFP officials and KwaZulu police officers, put it to Luthuli that he had not been acting on instructions when he carried these attacks. Hewitt also said Luthluli had at that stage disassociated himself from the IFP and was carrying out operations on his own.

Luthuli replied that although he became annoyed at the involvement of the SA Defence Force in IFP operations, he continued to receive orders from Khumalo and other IFP officials.

Luthuli, who is a grandson of former ANC leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, was a member of the armed wing of the African National Congress, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), and spent time on Robben Island. He has admitted leading "the Caprivians" as they were called, on a reign of terror against UDF supporting areas in KwaZulu- Natal.

Luthuli, who appeared confident and relaxed during his testimony about murders and assassinations, suddenly broke down and wept when he was asked about attempts to recruit him as a security police agent.

Luthuli broke down when Hewitt asked him if the security police tried to recruit him when he was captured while a member of MK. Luthuli said they did try and recruit him to gather information about MK members in KwaZulu-Natal but he refused.

Asked if he had been offered any inducement, Luthuli replied that the way the police operated was to torture the person to the point where he agreed to co-operate with them, not by choice but in order to escape any further torture. At this point he suddenly broke down and began crying.

The amnesty committee adjourned for ten minutes while Luthuli recovered his composure. Asked again about an inducement offered to him by the police, he said he received no offer of payment. Hewitt said he would return to his alleged torture by the security police at a later stage of the cross-examination.

Luthuli told the hearing he knew the killer of ANC KwaZulu-Natal Midlands leader Reggie Hadebe, who was shot in an ambush near Richmond in October 1992. He named the person as Bongani Sithole, who he said was a member of the Caprivi-trained hitsquads. The murder of Hadebe is still unsolved.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller if there were members of "the Caprivians" who were still operating, Luthuli replied he believed they were.

He said he expected that they would continue to do what they were trained for.

The hearing continues in Durban on Thursday and then will move to Richards Bay, where it will resume at 2pm.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 10 1998 - SAPA

APLA PRISONERS ACCUSE MEDIA OF BIAS.

Former Azanian People's Liberation Army combatants, imprisoned in Medium A Prison in East London, on Friday warned the media to stop using insulting terms to describe Apla soldiers.

The warning came in a statement to Sapa on Friday, to which eight signatures were attached.

If the warning was not heeded "further steps" would be taken, the statement read.

The combatants accused journalists of bias against Apla and singled out Daily Dispatch reporter Zingisile Mapazi.

Mapazi was accused of using words like "killers, murderers and robbers" when describing Apla cadres appearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The statement said journalists were not using similar language to describe other organisations like the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, the Inkatha Freedom Party and Umkhonto we Sizwe, the former military wing of the African National Congress.

According to the statement, Apla cadres were highly disciplined combatants - not hooligans, criminals or gangsters.

"We appeal to you with the biggest respect to immediately refrain from insulting us and using vulgar words against us.

"We hope that our appeal will be highly considered, otherwise we will take further steps," the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 12 1998 - SAPA-AFP

SOUTH AFRICA'S OLD AND NEW ORDERS TO CLASH AT BOTHA TRIAL

South Africa's old order confronts the new this week when apartheid president P.W. Botha challenges in court his chief accuser, truth commission head Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Botha, 82, who ruled South Africa in the turbulent apartheid years between 1978 and 1989, is accused of snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which Tutu heads.

At a brief appearance in the George magistrate's court on February 23, Botha pleaded not guilty to a charge of ignoring a subpoena ordering him to appear before the TRC in December, or alternatively of hindering the work of the commission.

The former president claims Tutu had promised him in November 1996 he would not have to appear at a TRC hearing if he supplied it with a written submission.

The TRC, which is probing human rights abuses on all sides during the apartheid era, claims Tutu had no authority to give such an undertaking, nor did he ever do so.

Tutu is expected to give his version of the pact he made with Botha when the trial begins on Tuesday.

The truth commission wants to question Botha on the workings of the now-defunct State Security Council, the driving force of the apartheid regime, and on bloody cross-border raids into neighbouring countries in the 1980s.

Botha has furnished a submission stretching to 1,700 pages on the workings of his government and claims he has fulfilled his side of the bargain.

But the TRC says it needs to cross-question the man dubbed the "apartheid crocodile" on various facets of his submission.

The trial, set down to last four days in George, a resort town on South Africa's south coast, has taken on wider political overtones.

Afrikaners have rallied around Botha, who in his two court appearances so far - he first appeared briefly in January - has lashed out at the TRC, accusing it of conducting a witchhunt against Afrikaners.

He has also sharply criticised President Nelson Mandela, warning that the president is "awakening the tiger in the Afrikaner" by allowing the TRC to target leading members of the apartheid security forces.

The TRC, on the other hand, has been accused by victims of the apartheid era of focusing too much on reconciliation and not enough on getting to the truth of apartheid's evils.

The decision to prosecute Botha was seen by many as an attempt by the TRC to show it does indeed have teeth and is not merely doling out amnesties to apartheid's overlords.

Under a deal hammered out during peace talks in the early 1990s between the apartheid authorities and previously banned liberation movements, the TRC is compelled to grant amnesty to those who make full confession of their deeds and prove a political motive.

The agreement means some of apartheid's most brutal oppressors have walked free, to the chagrin of their victims.

While Botha's defence is expected to be that he has been singled out by the TRC and that Tutu has backed out of a deal, he freely admits that he blatantly ignored the subpoena, a crime which carries a potential two-year jail term.

The real test of South Africa's new democratic order will be whether it has the will to make an example of a sickly old man who is still suffering the after-effects of a 1989 stroke.

Until now, Attorney-General Frank Khan has not wavered, ignoring an affidavit by two neurologists last month that Botha was medically unfit, and ordering him to stand trial.

Botha, as belligerent as ever, has meanwhile laid complaints against the neurologists with South Africa's medical watchdog for disclosing confidential information about his health.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 13 1998 - SAPA

LAST DITCH BID TO RESOLVE BOTHA DISPUTE

An 11th hour bid has been made to defuse the standoff between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and former state president PW Botha, but details of a possible compromise, if reached, will only be announced in the George Regional Court on Tuesday.

TRC spokesman John Allen on Monday night confirmed that discussions had taken place about the possibility of the TRC asking Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn to drop charges against Botha for defying a TRC subpoena.

"It is too early to say whether the discussions have resolved anything, the discussions have been quite detailed," Allen said.

The TRC consistently stated that if Botha was prepared to testify, it would ask Kahn to drop the case.

Newspaper reports have suggested that if a deal is reached, a special TRC hearing could be held in George for Botha to testify.

Botha's lawyer, Ernst Penzhorn, on Monday afternoon, however, said the trial would go ahead.

Penzhorn was in the southern Cape town of George, preparing for the trial which has been scheduled for four days in the George Regional Court.

Kahn, the only person with the power to withdraw the case against Botha, on Thursday issued a statement saying the trial would go ahead.

This was despite an affidavit by two retired professors - who were part of the team which examined Botha after he suffered a stroke in 1989 - that he was medically unfit to stand trial.

Penzhorn said that was the last he had heard about the matter from the prosecution.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu was due to fly to George on Monday afternoon in the event that Kahn decided to call him as a witness.

"He will be in George for the duration of the trial," Allen said.

On February 23 Botha pleaded not guilty to charges of contravening the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act by refusing to appear before the TRC.

He had been summoned to answer questions about the State Security Council, which enforced his government's apartheid policies and which he had chaired.

Botha has stated that Tutu assured him that he would not have to appear before the TRC if he made written representations to it, which he had done.

The TRC said it never had the power to give this undertaking. Penzhorn declined to elaborate on the argument Botha's legal team planned to use. The 82-year-old Botha has described the TRC as a circus and says he has nothing to apologise for.

The trial is set to get under way at 9am and will be presided over by Magistrate Victor Lugaju.

Police do not expect the large demonstrations which marked Botha's two previous court appearances, but will nevertheless maintain a heavy presence.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 13 1998 - SAPA

PW HAS AGREED TO APPEAR BEFORE TRC: SOURCES

Former state president PW Botha has agreed to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at a one-day in- camera hearing in George on Wednesday, according to highly placed sources.

Botha is due in the George Regional Court on Tuesday to face a charge of defying a subpoena to testify before the TRC, but the sources said his lawyers would ask for the trial to be postponed.

However, TRC spokesman John Allen, speaking after late-night talks on Monday aimed at breaking the stand-off between Botha and the TRC, said the suggestion that a deal had been reached was premature. "There's no finality on the matter," he said.

The sources told Sapa Botha had agreed to appear at Wednesday's closed hearing, which they described as an "information gathering exercise".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 14 1998 - SAPA

TRC DID NOT HAVE AUTHORITY TO SUMMON BOTHA: COURT HEARS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission never had the authority to summon former state president PW Botha to appear at an in-camera hearing on December 19 last year, the George Regional Court heard on Tuesday.

Prior to the case being postponed on Tuesday morning, Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher introduced several changes to Botha's not guilty plea to charges of ignoring the TRC subpoena and hampering it in its work.

Among them were that legislation extending the life of the TRC was only promulgated on December 10 last year.

The commission, accordingly, had no authority on December 5, 1997, to call on any person to appear before it on any date subsequent to December 14, 1997, Laubscher said.

He also claimed the commission had never taken a valid resolution to summon Botha, because a meeting to do this had never been duly convened.

Laubscher argued that only four of the 17 TRC commissioners had attended a meeting on December 19 which dealt with Botha's appearance before the TRC.

This did not constitutite a quorum, he said.

Negotiations are still underway to resolve the standoff between Botha and the TRC, and the court is due to reconvene later on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA April 14 1998 - SAPA

FF WELCOMES POSSIBLE TRUCE BETWEEN PW BOTHA AND TRC

The Freedom Front on Tuesday welcomed reports that former state president PW Botha might be willing to testify in camera before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"This can resolve an ugly conflict which has arisen from the TRC's ill-considered actions," FF leader Constand Viljoen said in a statement in Pretoria.

Botha's appearance before the George Regional Court in the Western Cape - for defying a TRC subpoena - was postponed earlier in the day as talks to resolve the standoff continued.

Sources were earlier reported as saying Botha had agreed to testify before the TRC in a one-day in-camera hearing in George on Wednesday. Should such a hearing proceed to the satisfaction of the TRC, it was expected the TRC would ask the Western Cape Attorney-General to withdraw the charges against Botha.

Viljoen said Botha's trial could easily degenerate into a circus, to the detriment of Botha and the Afrikaner.

"There is now an opportunity to handle the this sensitive matter in a dignified manner. The TRC has an obligation to manage the issue accordingly," Viljoen said.

Resolving the matter would be in line with the inherent traditions of conservative sections of the black population, namely that age and position should be respected.

"If the TRC was prepared to hear more evidence in camera it would probably would have received greater co- operation," Viljoen said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 14 1998 - SAPA

PW AND TRC NEGOTIATIONS ON KNIFE EDGE: TUTU

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Desmond Tutu said negotiations between PW Botha's lawyers and the TRC were on a knife edge on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking outside the George Regional Court, where Botha is appearing for defying a subpoena to appear before the commission, Tutu said: "We do not know which way it is going to turn."

He said the Attorney-General for the Western Cape, Frank Kahn, had given the TRC and Botha's lawyers until 8am Wednesday to reach agreement.

Tutu said the TRC hoped an agreement would be reached for Botha to testify at the TRC. He said the TRC would regret it if no agreement was reached.

"It is quite imperative that people realise the commission is one that was set up to do a specific job of work which we believe is a very important work for the healing of our nation," Tutu said.

He said he hoped Botha and his team would see their way clear to participating in this process. Tutu refused to discuss the finer details of the case.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 14 1998 - SAPA

IFP CAPRIVI HITSQUAD MEMBERS INFILTRATED POLICE FORCE: TRC TOLD

Hitsquad members instructed in conventional warfare were trained as special constables in the SA Police before being deployed in the KwaZulu Police to further the interests of the Inkatha Freedom Party before the 1994 election, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told in Richards Bay on Tuesday.

The TRC's amnesty committee was told that recruits trained in the Caprivi in then South West Africa used their influence in the police to cover up assassinations and random attacks on political opponents.

The insider role of the Caprivians emerged during the application for amnesty by Brian Gcina Mkhize, who was one of a seven member IFP hitsquad that has admitted being involved in more than 50 incidents of violence in the province.

The application for amnesty began in Durban last week, but moved to Richards Bay at the request of the communities of Eshowe and Empangeni who were subjected to attacks from the hitsquads in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

About 300 people arrived at the Zululand Chamber of Business hall and had to wait for the proceedings to get underway. The hearing was delayed because some members of the committee had to fly to Richards Bay from Johannesburg and then had to negotiate heavy traffic in the bustling industrial area of the port town.

Mkhize, who is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted for two murders in 1994, gave a long account of his upbringing in rural KwaZulu-Natal and his staunch support for the IFP. He also gave a detailed account of his recruitment for training in Caprivi in 1986.

When he was asked by committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller to concentrate more on the events that the locals had come to hear about, Mkhize replied that he needed to explain what led to his becoming a criminal.

He said it was the process of being taken for training in Caprivi that had changed his life from lawlfulness to one of criminality.

Mkhize said he received training in the use of Russian firearms, rocket launchers, landmines and mortars. In his application for amnesty he said he also received training in infiltration, espionage, sabotage and subversion.

He said that during the training time the recruits were visited by IFP official MZ Khumalo, who read speeches and personal messages from IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

When they completed their training, they were taken to a place near Ulundi where they were welcomed by Buthelezi. He said he did not do much until 1988 when Khumalo told the Caprivians that the IFP was accusing the SAP of siding with the African National Congress.

After a meeting between high ranking South African policemen and Buthelezi, it was agreed that Buthelezi should bring his own people into the police to clarify these allegations.

Mkhize said it was then that the Caprivians were brought into the police force and trained as special constables at Koeberg in Cape Town. He said they were warned by Khumalo not to mention that they had received previous training.

The Caprivians received two salaries, one from the SAP and one from the KwaZulu Government, where they were also employed as policemen. Mkhize said they later deserted after clashes with the SAP and were deployed in various parts of the province by the KwaZulu Police.

Mkhize said in his application that he and other KwaZulu Police officers concealed and assisted the activities of IFP operatives carrying out attacks in the townships undercover.

Mkhize is expected on Wednesday to give details of the killing spree that terrorised the residents of Esakhawini area near Empangeni in early 1992.

He is one of seven IFP members applying for amnesty for a wide range of massacres and assassinations in KwaZulu- Natal. The other applicants who were trained by the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip are Daluxolo Luthuli, Romeo Mabuso Mbambo, Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu.

The applicants claim to have carried out the attacks on the orders of KwaZulu Police officers and IFP officials.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 14 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA CHARGES SHOULD BE DROPPED IN THE INTERESTS OF ALL: NP

It was in the interests of both the accused and the State that charges were withdrawn against former state president PW Botha for defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena to appear before it, the National Party said in a statement on Tuesday.

Botha appeared briefly in the George Regional Court on Tuesday before the case was postponed to allow legal teams representing Botha and the TRC time to reach an agreement which would allow charges against the former president to be dropped.

NP spokesman on the TRC Jacko Maree said it was ironic that the TRC now appeared to be concerned about the continuation of the case, especially after "the earlier bravado" of calls by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine for Botha to be prosecuted at all costs.

"It is in the interests of both the accused and the prosecutor that the prosecution is dropped and that any outstanding questions be settled in a more acceptable manner," Maree said.

"A more acceptable way out (uitweg) will make a bigger contribution to reconciliation."

Earlier, Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn gave the TRC and Botha's lawyers until 8am on Wednesday to reach an agreement.

TRC sources said it was hoped an agreement would be reached for Botha to appear in camera before a TRC panel. If Botha agreed to testify, the TRC would ask Kahn to withdraw the charges against him.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 14 1998 - SAPA

EX-APLA OPERATIVE SAYS HE FELT PROUD WHEN HE ATTACKED HOTEL

A former unit commander of the Azanian People's Liberation Army on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in East London that he felt proud when he took part in the attack on the Yellowwoods Hotel near Fort Beaufort in March 1993.

He said he wanted to liberate Azania from white oppression.

An 18-year-old Port Elizabeth Technikon student, Johan Jerling, who was visiting his mother and grandparents in Fort Beaufort for the weekend, was killed. He was shot while sitting in the hotel bar while his friends were playing darts.

Amnesty applicant Vuyisile Madasi, who is serving 24 years for his part in the murder, said he and three other Apla members carried out the attack as soldiers after being given orders by senior Apla commander Letlape Mphahlele.

Madasi said before the attack he and his fellow soldiers - whom he knew as Mlungisi and Nceba - observed the hotel and saw that it was frequently visited by military officers.

He said an early attempt to carry out the operation was aborted after one of his comrades was arrested. He and the other comrades were then accommodated in Mdantsane,near East London.

On the Friday before the shooting, the men went to the hotel but they found it closed.

Madasi said they returned the next day.

He and Mlungisi entered through the front, while Nceba stood guard at the back door to prevent anyone leaving.

Asked whether he shot Jerling, Madasi said he could not say as he and Mlungisi were shooting at the same time.

It took them three minutes to complete the operation. They drove off and left their car near King William's Town.

The next morning they made their way independently to Umtata to report to Mphahlele.

Madasi urged the amnesty committee to speed up amnesty applications by Apla combatants, saying not a single Apla applicant had received a ruling on his application.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 14 1998 - SAPA

PW FACES ULTIMATUM

Lawyers for former state president PW Botha and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have been given an ultimatum to resolve their differences by 8am Wednesday, or Botha's trial for defying a TRC subpoena will go ahead.

The case against Botha was supposed to begin on Tuesday morning in the George Regional Court, amid a security cordon that included massive razor wire barriers, roadblocks and police snipers on the roof of the court building.

However, proceedings were postponed and delayed as the details of a last-minute compromise - which could still see Botha testify before the TR- were negotiated.

Prosecutor Bruce Morrison told the court late on Tuesday afternoon that although it appeared the two parties were very close to reaching an agreement, none had been struck. He said Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn had made it quite clear that unless the parties reached a "definite agreement" by 8am on Wednesday, the case would go ahead at 9am.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told reporters after the court adjourned at 4pm that the TRC believed an agreement was very close.

"The negotiations at present are on a knife-edge. We do not know which way it is going to turn," Tutu said. Asked if he was confident that a deal could still be struck, Botha's lawyer Ernst Penzhorn said: "It's probably always possible."

Neither side would elaborate on the reasons for the impasse, and Tutu said no more comment would be forthcoming until Wednesday morning.

Penzhorn said if it was agreed that the matter would be settled out of court, Botha could be acquitted on all charges he faced. The charges could not simply be dropped since Botha had already pleaded to them, he said.

The charges relate to Botha's refusal to testify in person on the role of the now-defunct State Security Council, which oversaw his government's apartheid policies, and which he chaired.

He has argued that Tutu assured him last year that he would not have to appear before the TRC in person if he supplied written replies to questions, which he has done.

On Tuesday, Botha's attorney, Lappe Laubscher, told the court the TRC never had the authority to subpoena Botha on December 5 last year to appear at a hearing on December 19. Legislation extending the TRC's life was only promulgated on December 10, and the TRC thus had no right to subpoena anyone to appear after that date, he said.

There was also no quorum at the TRC meeting which decided to subpoena him.

Botha, who wore a blue pin-stipe suit and white shirt, sat through court proceedings showing little emotion. There was no sign of his fiancee Reinette te Water Naude, but he was accompanied by his daughter Elanza Maritz. When he arrived at the court, he reacted to applause of his supporters with a regal wave of his hand, but did not even acknowledge Tutu's presence.

About 60 sawmill workers and one newspaper vendor, carrying his wares on his shoulder, toyi-toyied and sang outside the razor-wire barricade which had been erected outside the court building. There was no sign of a planned Freedom Front demonstration.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association KOKSTAD April 15 1998 - SAPA

KOKSTAD MAYOR AMONG AMNESTY APPLICANTS FOR POLICEMEN MURDER

Four men, including the Kokstad mayor, are due to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission next week for their involvement in the killing of two Kokstad policemen in October 1993, a Sapa correspondent reported on Wednesday.

Kokstad mayor Mlungisi Nyembezi is among the applicants for the raid, abduction and killing of Constable Bernard Nhlanhla Ngubo and Constable Eugene Mlungisi Mbele and the bombing of the Bhongweni charge office.

Both policemen were abducted from the Bhongweni police station at gunpoint while on duty during the evening of October 20, 1993 apparently by a group of "local" men known to the two policemen.

Their bullet-riddled bodies were discovered in the bushes alongside the road to Bizana the following day by a passing motorist. Both had been shot at point blank range apparently with the firearms which had been stolen during the raid.

After months of extensive investigations, police arrested a number of suspects, including a nephew of the mayor, Solomizi Momatshizolo.

The men claim their actions were a revenge attack because of an SA Defence Force raid on alleged Azanian People's Liberation Army bases in Umtata which resulted in a number of women and children being killed.

They have yet to say why they chose the Bhongweni police station and not an army base in the Eastern Cape.

News of the mayor's application for amnesty has been met with mixed reactions by the community, many of whom feel that he should resign.

Nyembezi has come under fire several times since his inauguration in July 26, 1996. His inauguration erupted into chaos and members of the National Party and Democratic Party staged a walkout because they were in favour of the first chosen mayor Mandla Mathe.

Police were forced to intervene when a group of about 500 toyi-toying people were refused entry into the inauguration proceedings.

Many claimed that Nyembezi was elected by the Eastern Cape people and not Kokstad.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE Appril 15 - SAPA

DOOR NOT CLOSED ON NEGOTIATIONS WITH PW, SAYS TRC

Even though the deadline had expired for reaching an agreement with former state president PW Botha, Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu had not closed the door on negotiations, TRC spokesman Johan Allen said on Wednesday.

Legal teams for Botha and the TRC were given until 8am on Wednesday to say whether Botha would appear at a TRC hearing, thereby avoiding prosecution for defying a TRC subpoena.

However, shortly after the 8am deadline had passed, TRC lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett told journalists Botha had effectively repudiated all that had been negotiated.

When the court resumed at 9am, Botha's lawyer immediately asked for an hour-long postponement.

Speaking to journalists shortly before 10am, Allen said Tutu still had no feedback on the reasons for the postponement.

He said he did not want to comment on the negotiations or the state of the negotiations but that Tutu would not close the door on any talks.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 15 1998 - SAPA

IFP CAPRIVI HITSQUAD INFILTRATED POLICE, TRC HEARS

A highly-trained Inkatha Freedom Party soldier told the TRC on Wednesday he and a Caprivi-trained hitsquad were sent to Esikhawini near Eshowe in 1991 to kill ANC leaders in the township.

Brian Gcina Mkhize, 35, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Richards Bay on Wednesday he rounded up a group of "well known ANC killers" and attached himself to the police station at Esikhawini.

Mkhize is one of a seven-member IFP hitsquad that has admitted being involved in more than 50 incidents of violence in the province in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He said the decision to kill African National Congress leaders and attack ANC supporting areas followed an ANC attack on an IFP rally in Esikhawini in 1992.

He said the orders for the formation of the hitsquad were received from senior officers in the KwaZulu police as well as the top leadership structure of the IFP.

He told the hearing he was directed to a house in Port Durnford where a person called Thomas Buthelezi would supply him with a 12-bore pump action shotgun, an AK47 rifle and a large number of rounds for both weapons.

During this time he attended meetings of local IFP officials who drew up a list of the ANC people they believed were responsible for the violence taking place in Esikhawini. He said he continued his duties in the KwaZulu police but did not discuss his undercover activities with the people he worked with.

The hearing heard that the event which spawini occurred in February 1992 when ANC gunmen opened fired at people attending an IFP rally. Many IFP supporters were injured in the shooting and the stampede that followed. The disruption to the rally infuriated Prince Gideon Zulu, who was one of the main speakers. Prince Zulu is MEC for welfare in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mkhize said Prince Zulu told him the ability of the ANC to attack IFP rallies was an unacceptable situation which could have serious implications for IFP support in the area. Prince Zulu decided to adopt a similar strategy to the ANC and to attack "ANC leadership and following".

Mkhize said up to this point the aim of the hitsquads had been to eliminate certain ANC targets, but after the incident at the IFP rally all ANC areas and gatherings were attacked.

About 400 people attended the hearing, being held at the Zululand Chamber of Business hall, to hear Mkhize's testimony.

The hearing is continuing. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 15 1998 - SAPA

PW PULLED PLUG ON AGREEMENT WITH TRC, SAYS TUTU

Former state president PW Botha pulled the plug at the last minute on an agreement with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told journalists on Wednesday.

Speaking shortly after Botha's trial finally got underway in the George Regional Court, he said: "I'm very deeply distressed because .... yesterday we were (close to) an agreement."

He said lawyers for Botha and the TRC had put together a statement which had found general acceptance except for one or two small amendments.

"We went to bed thinking a deal was on the cards. It has not turned out that way at all.

"This morning our counsel said that Mr Botha basically broke off any discussions, and the case is going ahead."

Tutu said he had since spoken to Botha, who was adamant he was prepared to talk only to Tutu himself, or Mandela, not to appear at a TRC hearing.

Tutu said a meeting with himself or Mandela would not meet the requirements of Act governing the TRC. The TRC was a statutory body and had to act ultimately within the confines of the legislation that brought it into existence.

He said the TRC was still ready to talk to Botha about a compromise, although this was more difficult now that the case was underway.

"Our final position would still be that our door is open. It will remain open for keeps, as it were."

Tutu said the TRC had never wanted Botha prosecuted, but wanted him to answer questions that would have been given to him in advance.

"In a few hours' time we would have dealt with him, as we tried to deal with nearly everybody else, courteously, caringly.

"I am sad."

Tutu said the TRC had never intended to belittle Botha, or put him on the spot.

Asked what Botha's ultimate objection had been, Tutu said it had "stuck in his gullet" to have any dealings at all with the commission.

"In his view we have done nothing but humiliate his people, as he says.

"I don't think anything we try to say or do would move him from that position."

Asked if Botha's trial would damage the commission's work, he said the former state president's appearance in court showed that although the TRC was a conciliatory body it had to be taken seriously.

Tutu said the TRC was seeking to look at the past, not in order to prosecute or humiliate, but ultimately for the purpose of healing.

"And he must have an interest in that.

"Ultimately it is a process where we want to have a carthasis, where we want to have healing, and he participates by not participating."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 15 1998 - SAPA

CHANGE OF STRATEGY LED TO BLOODBATH: TRC HEARS

A change in strategy by the IFP leadership in dealing with ANC opposition led to a prolonged bloodbath in the townships around northern KwaZulu-Natal's industrial areas, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

The TRC's amnesty committee sitting in Richards Bay heard how the tension between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress exploded into a prolonged bloodbath in 1992, leaving scores of people dead in a spate of random killings.

The comittee, which is hearing an amnesty application by seven members of an IFP hitsquad trained in Caprivi in then South West Africa, was told how the tension erupted in violence after an IFP rally in February 1992.

One of the members of the hitsquad, Brian Gcina Mkhize, 35, told the committee he was approached by the IFP in 1991 to do something about the conflict in Esikhawini township, which lies between Eshowe, Empangeni and the Richards Bay industrial area.

He said orders for the formation of the hitsquad were received from high ranking officers in the KwaZulu Police and top leadership structure of the IFP.

He and his hitsquad were employed as KwaZulu policeman.

He said his squad worked undercover and targeted what he called known ANC troublemakers in the area.

However, in February the IFP changed its strategy and began ordering attacks on all ANC supporting areas at random. This led to a bloodbath in the township which continued for most of 1992.

He said the change in strategy came after ANC gunmen opened fire on people attending an IFP rally in February of 1992. Many IFP supporters were injured in the shooting and the stampede that followed.

The disruption to the rally infuriated Prince Gideon Zulu, who was one of the main speakers. Prince Zulu is presently MEC for welfare in the KwaZulu-Natal government.

Mkhize said Prince Zulu told him the ability of the ANC to attack IFP rallies was an unacceptable situation which could have serious implications for IFP support in the area. Prince Zulu and other leaders decided to adopt a similar strategy to the ANC and to attack ANC leadership and its following.

Mkhize described his role in carrying out a string of attacks on ANC supporting areas during which people were shot at bus stops, in shebeens, in their homes or as they walked down the street.

In one incident a few weeks after the IFP rally he threw a handgrenade at a bus at Gundane's bus stop. The bus stop was used by buses carrying passengers from ANC supporting areas.

Mkhize said when the bus stopped and passengers tried to flee, he and other members of his squad fired at them and then fled. He said the matter was not reported to the police because ANC supporters did not wish to be seen as losing ground to a stronger force. He said he heard that people had been killed and serioulsy wounded in the attack.

The attacks continued for most the year when people were shot merely because they came from an ANC area. Mkhize said the Ntokozweni area was targeted because it was an ANC stronghold where even dogs and cats were regarded as ANC affiliates.

Finally in late 1992 three members of Mkhize's hitsquad, which he called his syndicate, were arrested for the attack on ANC leader Bheki Ntuli's house.

Mkhize said that during their application for bail, local ANC leader Wills Mchunu, testified in court that bail should not be grainted because since the arrest of the three, Esikhawini township had been calm.

Mkhize said he noticed that this was true, but the local IFP leadership then decided at a meeting that chaos should be created in the township to dispel the impression that calm had returned.

He said other members of his syndicate went into an ANC area and fired at random.

This evidence was used in the bail application and was successful in obtaining bail for the arrested members.

Mkhize was finally arrested by Empangeni murder and robbery detectives, and despite his efforts to provide alibis, he was sent to trial and convicted of two murders and kidnapping.

He is presently serving a 52-year sentence in the Westville prison.

Mkhize is one of seven IFP members applying for amnesty for a wide range of massacres and assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal. The other applicants who were trained by the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip are Daluxolo Luthuli, Romeo Mabuso Mbambo, Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu.

The hearing continues on Thursday when Mkhize will face cross examination from lawyers appearing for the victims.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 15 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA DIGS IN HIS HEELS, GOES TO TRIAL

A characteristically defiant PW Botha has vowed to fight the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the bitter end, even if it ruins him financially.

The former state president on Wednesday dug in his heels and refused to agree to a few minor concessions in a deal which could have kept his dispute with the TRC out of court.

There was still hope on Wednesday morning that a compromise could yet be reached - which would involve Botha testifying at a TRC hearing.

But it was not to be and Botha's trial, on charges of defying a TRC subpoena and hampering it in its work, got under way shortly after 11am in the George Regional Court.

If convicted he faces a R20,000 fine or two years in jail.

On Wednesday Botha, 82, wore a formal dark suit and sat in his customary seat next to, rather than in, the dock.

During a recess in proceedings he told reporters he was still adamant he would not testify before the TRC. He had repeatedly responded to its queries and would not do so again. Impressions that he was running away from the court case were false, he said.

Asked if he was worried about what his defence would cost him, Botha said: "Even if they destroy me, they cannot destroy my soul and my convictions."

The Legal Aid Board has refused to fund Botha's defence. His lawyer Ernst Penzhorn on Wednesday told Sapa that the board had been asked to review its decision, but no funding had been forthcoming thus far.

He declined to comment on whether Botha would appeal if he lost the case, saying only: "Justice will prevail."

Botha, who spoke with a clear voice and walked without the aid of a cane, said he was only prepared to meet TRC chairman Desmond Tutu and President Nelson Mandela.

Addressing a media conference outside the court buildings after the trial finally commenced, Tutu said Botha pulled out of an agreement with the TRC at the last minute.

"I'm very deeply distressed because... yesterday we were (close to) an agreement," Tutu said.

He said lawyers for Botha and the TRC had put together a statement which had found general acceptance, except for one or two small amendments.

"We went to bed thinking a deal was on the cards. It has not turned out that way at all.

"This morning our counsel said Mr Botha basically broke off any discussions, and the case is going ahead."

Tutu said a meeting between Botha and himself or Mandela would not meet the requirements of Act governing the TRC. The TRC was a statutory body and had to act ultimately within the confines of the legislation that brought it into existence.

He said the TRC was still ready to talk to Botha about a compromise, although this was more difficult now that the case was under way.

"Our final position would still be that our door is open. It will remain open for keeps, as it were."

Tutu said the TRC had never intended to belittle Botha, or put him on the spot.

Asked what Botha's ultimate objection had been, Tutu said it "stuck in his gullet" to have any dealings at all with the commission

"In his view we have done nothing but humiliate his people, as he says. I don't think anything we try to say or do would move him from that position."

Asked if Botha's trial would damage the commission's work, he said the former state president's appearance in court showed that although the TRC was a conciliatory body, it had to be taken seriously.

TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl, the only witness to be called thus far by state prosecutor Bruce Morrison, told the court the TRC wanted to question Botha about the State Security Council.

Minutes of SSC meetings indicated that the body may have authorised gross human rights violations, including the elimination "or killing" of government opponents, Van Zyl said.

The TRC was not saying that this had happened, but if it did, the matter would fall within the ambit of te TRC's investigations.

Botha chaired the now-defunct SSC, the highest decision-making structure on the previous government's security policy, from 1978 to 1989.

The TRC also wanted to ask Botha about the bombing of Khotso House, Johannesburg headquarters of the South African Council of Churches.

Former police minister Adriaan Vlok has claimed that Botha authorised the bombing - an allegation he has denied.

Morrison has said he will be obliged to call Tutu as a witness.

The trial is set to resume at 9am on Thursday, and Morrison said it will probably carry on until Friday, when a postponement is likely until all the attorneys are available.

Botha was escorted between the court and his Wilderness home by a traffic police vehicle with flashing blue lights. As on Tuesday, he was accompanied by his daughter Elanza Maritz.

There was again no sight of his fiancee Reinette te Water Naude.

She is believed to be in Graaff-Reinet, where she runs an upmarket guest house.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 15 1998 - SAPA

TRC ASKS NEWSPAPER TO RETRACT STORY ON MAMASELA

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday asked the Eastern Province Herald to retract a story it published on Monday alleging that former police hitsquad member Joe Mamasela was a "dismal and unreliable witness" at his appearance before the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth last month.

In a statement, the commission said the report was a serious violation of the laws governing the TRC's operations, as it had adjudicated on the credibility of a witness in a matter which was sub judice.

"The (TRC's) amnesty committee has not made any ruling on the matter either in respect of the amnesty applications which were brought by the former security policemen or on the admissibility or otherwise of evidence presented before it by witnesses in the matter.

"The report, therefore, in so far as it relates to the Pepco matter is both judgmental and scurrilous. The TRC has instructed the newspaper concerned to retract the report as a matter of urgency," the commission said.

The Eastern Province Herald report followed Mamasela's appearance before the amnesty committee where he gave testimony in the amnesty hearing of seven former security policemen seeking amnesty for the murder of three Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation activists in 1985.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 15 1998 - SAPA

TRC HEARS AMNESTY APPLICATIONS FROM APLA OPERATIVES NEXT WEEK

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Wednesday said it would hear applications from former Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army operatives in Aliwal North next week.

The commission in a statement in East London said the applications arose from a spate of shootings which left five people dead and others injured between 1992 and 1993 in the Lady Grey and Zastron areas in the Free State.

It said five Apla operatives had applied for amnesty.

Thabiso James Mokoala, Phila Martin Dolo and Luvuyo Kulman, who are serving lengthy jail sentences, applied for amnesty for their role in killing four people on November 18, 1993.

Shirley Brummer and Piet Schroeder were killed when their car came under fire on the road between Lady Grey and Herschel. Motorist James Tsemane was shot dead while trying to help the badly injured Brummer.

Three other people were injured and a minibus taxi driver was killed as the gunmen tried to obtain a getaway vehicle.

Mokoala and Kulman are also applying for amnesty for their role in an attack on the farm of Hans Myburg in 1992. No- one was injured.

Luyanda Gqomfa is applying for amnesty for his role in killing a man near the Zastron-Mayaphuti bridge on March 18, 1992.

Stephanus Smit was killed while Dion Maarten and Thabo Madiehe were injured when they were shot.

Steven Vusumzi Dolo applied for amnesty for his role in the attack on siblings Rita and Johannes Roets. They were injured when attackers opened fire on the Lady Grey police station on January 3, 1992.

The hearing will be held at the police recreation centre in Aliwal North on April 20. It will last until April 30.

Victims have been urged to contact Paddy Prior on cellphone 082-451-3276.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 15 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA'S CONDITIONS FOR A DEAL WITH THE TRC

Former state president PW Botha demanded the withdrawal of a certain Truth and Reconciliation Commission commissioner while negotiating the possibility that he might testify before the TRC, commission chairman Archbishop Demond Tutu said on Wednesday.

Botha had also demanded that the questions to be put to him at the proposed TRC hearing be given to him in Afrikaans in advance, Tutu said in a radio interview on Wednesday afternoon.

Tutu said the TRC had agreed to all these conditions, and that TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine had also offered to voluntarily recuse himself from the panel that would question Botha, because as a former opposition MP during Botha's years in the presidency, he would not like to give the impression the panel was biased.

Botha on Wednesday morning dug in his heels and refused to agree to a few minor concessions in a deal which could have kept his dispute with the TRC out of court.

"We were quite flabbergasted when our senior counsel (Jeremy Gauntelett) reported that Mr Botha had in fact broken off negotiations," Tutu said.

As a result, Botha's trial on charges of defying a TRC subpoena and hampering it in its work got under way shortly after 11am in the George Regional Court.

The TRC wants to question Botha about the workings of his former government's State Security Council and the allegation that it sanctioned the elimination of political opponents.

Tutu did not name the commissioner who Botha wanted removed from his hearing. The TRC chairman said the reason advanced by Botha's legal team was that the commissioner's comments on Botha's mental health meant he had prejudged the issue.

Tutu said the commissioner had indicated he was willing to stand down.

Tutu also disclosed that the TRC's pre-trial negotiations with Botha on an out-of-court settlement began last week after Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn contacted Boraine to say Botha's lawyers had offered an appearance before the TRC in exchange for the dropping of all charges against their client.

Kahn had emphasised that this approach should be kept under wraps, or Botha would renege and say the TRC had broken confidentiality.

Tutu said he had therefore been surprised to see a report based on a leak in Rapport newspaper at the weekend.

"So it was his lawyers on their own initiative (who broke the embargo) not we," he said.

Tutu said Botha had in the past insulted the TRC by referring to it as a circus and its members as baboons.

"We have ignored all that... I am not going to be brought down to the level of people who will operate at that unfortunate level." © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 16 1998 - SAPA

TOP ANTI-APARTHEID FIGURES ON SECRET ACTION LIST, COURT TOLD

A list of high-profile opposition politicians and activists that the State Security Council (SSC) considered a risk to the government in July 1986 was made public in the George Regional Court on Thursday.

The court is hearing the trial of former State President PW Botha, who is accused of defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena to appear at a hearing to answer questions about the SSC.

The list was circulated to figures including former defence force chief Jannie Geldenhuys and former head of the National Intelligence Services Neil Barnard.

It suggested that the SSC ensure that Winnie Madikizela Mandela, then the wife of a jailed Nelson Mandela, should be "restricted" but not detained, and that her funds should be cut off.

United Democratic Front (UDF) leader Allan Boesak's passport should be withdrawn and he should also be restricted but not detained, the document sai UDF stalwart and now justice minister, should be investigated with a view to his arrest and stricter restrictions should be placed on him.

The document recommended that Desmond Tutu and Alex Boraine, now respectively chairman and deputy chairman of the TRC, Cyril Ramaphosa, who was then general secretary of the National Union of MiDesmond Hurley, and Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert, then an opposition parliamentarian, should be dealt with by Stratcom, the government's dirty tricks campaign.

Further investigations were recommended against Gill Marcus, now Deputy Finance Minister, labour relations expert Charles Nupen, Mary Burton, who was then active in the Black Sash and is now a TRC commissioner, NUM president James Motlatsi, Sydney Mufamadi, then assistant general secretary of the Congress of SA Trade Unions and now safety and security minister, banned activist Helen Joseph, and lawyers Geoff Budlender, Halton Cheadle, Fink Haysom, Sydney Kentridge, Arthur Chaskalson and George Bizos.

Haysom is now President Nelson Mandela's legal adviser, while Chaskalson is President of the Constitutional Court.

The document was referred to by TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl, who was testifying on why the TRC wanted Botha to appear at its hearing on the SSC.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 16 1998 - SAPA

SUGGESTIONS THAT PW WAS PARTY TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

There was strong evidence to suggest that during his rule former state president PW Botha could have been party to creating a climate under which human rights violations were possible, the George Regional Court heard on Thursday.

The 82-year-old Botha is on trial on charges of refusing to comply with a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena to appear at a hearing on the State Security Council which he chaired from 1978 to 1989.

The only witness to have been called thus far is TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl.

He quoted from several documents, including the testimony given by former security force members at TRC hearings, which suggest that Botha's government tolerated or even condoned the toture and elimination of its enemies.

Among these was testimony by senior security policeman Major Craig Williamson "that there was a war that was occurring and at some stage it was necessary to either take unlawful action or defeat the enemy at all costs".

This view was corroborated by former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe who testified to the TRC that members of the armed forces were given the "virtually impossible task" of judging between legal and illegal actions, Van Zyl said.

The TRC wanted to question Botha about why Williamson, who served on the President's Council, and Van der Merwe, both believed there had come a point where it would be necessary to take illegal action.

Van Zyl said the commission also wanted to know whether the two men's view was a proper reflection of state security policy at the time.

Van der Merwe had served on the SCC and the TRC felt his view on state security policy needed to be taken seriously.

Van Zyl also quoted former police minister Adriaan Vlok as saying: "I think we at the top took shifty decisions and we used terminology without actually really thinking about it and that worked its way through to the people on the ground and they misinterpreted it.

"Expressions such as eliminate, neutralise, take out, destroy... were used fairly commonly."

Van Zyl said Vlok had conceded that politicians did place extreme pressure on senior security force members to bring a conflictual situation under control.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 16 1998 - SAPA

PW TRIAL POSTPONED TO JUNE 1

Former state president PW Botha's trial on charges of defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena was on Thursday postponed in the George Regional Court to June 1 and is scheduled to last until June 5.

The postponement will enable his lawyers to access additional documentation introduced by the prosecutor.

In a statement read out on Botha's behalf, Botha said he found it unacceptable that the case was delayed as a result of unsubstantiated allegations having been made.

Earlier he told his lawyers "this case was set for four days. Come let's go on."

Speaking to journalists after the court case, Botha's lawyer Ernst Penzhorn said Botha wanted to settle the case as soon as possible.

Penzhorn said Botha did not want the "one-sided allegations" made by the first witness in the case, TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl, to be left hanging without being subjected to cross examination.

Asked if there was still a chance that Botha could settle for a deal with the TRC, Penzhorn said: "I think it is Mr Botha's wish that the case continue."

Asked if Botha wanted to testify, he said: "I think he will follow the advice of his lawyers."

A decision on whether Botha took the stand would depend on how the trial unfolded.

Penzhorn said indications were that TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu would be the next to testify when the case resumed in June, but he did not know which other witnesses the prosecution intended to call.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY Apr 16 - SAPA

IFP HITSQUAD LEADER WARNS YOUTH NOT TO BE USED BY POLITICIANS

The leader of an Inkatha Freedom Party hitsquad that wreaked havoc in northern KwaZulu-Natal in 1992, on Thursday warned the country's youth never to allow themselves to be exploited by politicians in the way that he was.

Brian Gcina Mkhize, 33, has admitted leading a Caprivi trained hitsquad in a reign of terror against African National Congress supporting areas around Empangeni in 1992.

He and six other members of the hitsquad are applying for amnesty for 56 incidents of violence in various parts of the province during the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

The other six applicants who were trained by the SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip in then South West Africa are Daluxolo Luthuli, Romeo Mabuso Mbambo, Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu.

Mkhize told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Richards Bay that he made the worst mistake of his life when he committed himself to fighting for the IFP's political cause.

"I would like to let everyone know what happened so that the same mistakes are not made again... and the youth should not fall into the trap of being manipulated and exploited by people of authority in their community," Mkhize said.

Appealing to the community to forgive him for his actions, he said he knew it would be difficult for them to do so because many orphans had been left and nothing could bring their fathers back.

He said he would carry the hurt he felt to his grave.

Mkhize also spoke of the bitterness he felt towards the IFP, which had abandoned him after using him and others to do its dirty work. He said he saw his involvement with the IFP as part of the struggle against white oppression, but now realised he had been a fool and could have used his energy more profitably in other ways.

He said unlike the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress, which now felt proud of their struggle for freedom, he felt ashamed when he thought of his own role in that struggle.

What made it worse was that the leaders who relied on his commitment never kept their promises to stand by him and those who worked with him.

"I was deserted and they denied knowing me. As far as they were concerned I smelled..." Mkhize told the hearing.

He said he felt insulted by the claims by IFP leadership that he and other Caprivi trainees were engaged in their own criminal activities. He said all his endeavours were not for any personal benefit, but for the party, and now the leadership were refusing to acknowledge him.

"How do I know about Caprivi? How did I get to be trained there? I swear during my training we used all kinds of weaponry of Eastern origin. How do I know that?

"But God knows, the truth will surface," he said. Mkhize said he was placing his life in danger by speaking out, but would continue to do so in the hope that that whole matter would eventually be investigated.

He said he wished to clear his name and did not wish to be regarded in the community as a criminal.

Mkhize said in reply to a question by his lawyer, John Wills, that he was co-operating with the authorities to expose all clandestine operations in the province during the years of conflict.

He said he had assisted the Goldstone Commission investigating hitsquad activity and had worked with the investigative task unit probing political crime in the province.

Mkhize, who is serving a life sentence in Westville prison for two murders, said he was also working to bringing about reconciliation between IFP and ANC combatants who were now in prison.

"We are committed to bringing about reconciliation with the ANC prisoners against whom we fought in the past... We need to become human again," he said.

He said it was pointless for politicians to talk about reconciliation while the foot soldiers remained in a state of conflict.

Mkhize said he approached ANC leader from the Esikhawini area, Willes Mchunu to address both IFP and ANC prisoners at the prison.

Mchunu, who attended Thursday's proceedings, told Sapa after the hearing that he was willing to particpate in the process and believed in a joint approach to bringing about reconciliation and rehabilitation.

Mchunu, who survived numerous attempts on his life during the turbulent years in Esikhawini, said there was a great need to move away from conflict and confrontation, towards co-operation.

Earlier Mkhize told the hearing Correctional Services Minister Sipo Mzimela, who held office in the IFP at the time, visited him in prison and offered to help in getting him released.

He said Mzimela said there were problems with his application for amnesty because the IFP did not recognise the TRC. However, he promised he would find another way to have Mkhize and other IFP hitmen released.

Mkhize said he heard nothing more from Mzimela and was still serving his sentence.

The hearing continues in the Zululand Chamber of Business hall in Richards Bay on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE April 16 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S CASE POSTPONED

It was suspected that former state president PW Botha knew about or even sanctioned human rights violations carried out by the security forces during his rule, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission official told the George Regional Court on Thursday.

Botha is charged with defying a TRC subpoena to appear at a hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he chaired.

The 82-year-old former president objected vehemently when the trial was on Thursday postponed until June 1. He wagged his finger at his lawyers, telling them: "This case was set for four days. Let's go on."

Magistrate Victor Lugaju said he would have been available to continue the trial on Monday, and so did state prosecutor Bruce Morrison, but the assessors and attorneys had other commitments.

"We know that justice delayed is justice denied, but under the circumstances I have no option but to delay the case," Lugaju said. After the case was adjourned, Botha stormed out of the court to his waiting car.

Morrison requested the delay to enable Botha's lawyers to access documents housed in the state archives.

Explaining Botha's unhappiness over the postponement, his lawyer Ernst Penzhorn told reporters: "You unfortunately have the situation where you have a one-sided... allegation being passed to the outside world. And now because of the delay, the evidence which was given by the witness obviously hasn't been subject to cross-examination.

"I think it is Mr Botha's wish that this case now continues in all earnest, that it be finished and that it is the end of the story."

Indications were that Morrison would call TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu as his the next witnesses, Penzhorn said.

One reporter suggested to Penzhorn that the trial could be seen as a TRC hearing by another name, because much of the evidence forthcoming would have been put before a TRC hearing. Penzhorn disagreed, saying evidence led thus far had already been made public.

Five days have been set aside for the trial when it resumes.

The only witness Morrison has called thus far is the TRC's 28-year-old executive secretary Paul van Zyl, who on Thursday testified that more than 2000 people claimed to have been tortured in police stations around the country between 1980 and 1989.

In light of these allegations, the TRC wanted to question Botha about whether torture was state policy or was tolerated by his government.

TRC research indicated that incidents of torture increased sharply when a state of emergency was declared in 1986. The TRC wanted to ask if there was a correlation between the state of emergency and torture, and whether there were safeguards to prevent it, Van Zyl said. He quoted from the minutes of an SSC meeting at which Botha said he was convinced the brain behind the unrest situation was to be found within the country and had to be destroyed.

Van Zyl quoted from several documents, including the testimony of former security force members at TRC hearings, which suggested that Botha's government tolerated or condoned the elimination of its enemies.

They included "super spy" Major Craig Williamson, who told the TRC "that there was a war that was occurring and at some stage it was necessary to either take unlawful actions or to defeat the enemy at all costs".

And former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe said it was virtually impossible for security force members to judge what was legal and what was illegal.

Van Zyl said the TRC wanted to ask Botha why senior security force members under him considered that illegal action was necessary.

It also wanted to know whether their view was a proper reflection of state security policy at the time.

Van Zyl also quoted former police minister Adriaan Vlok saying: "I think we at the top took shifty decisions and we used terminology without actually really thinking about it and that worked its way through to the people of the ground and they misinterpreted it. Expressions such eliminate, neutralise, take out, destroy... were used fairly commonly."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 16 1998 - SAPA

ELLIOT FARMER'S MURDER NOT PLANNED: APLA CADRE

A former Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army cadre told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Wednesday that the killing of Elliot farmer Mike Meyers was an accident.

He said the plan had been to hand him to an Apla commander for interrogation about his Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweeging connections.

Luvuyo Kulman, 26, was appearing at an East London hearing where he and Zama Thutha, 40, are seeking amnesty for murder, kidnapping, robbery and possession of unlicensed firearms.

They are each serving 25 year prison sentences.

Meyers and his 21-year-old daughter, Donnie, were shot dead while selling milk to villagers at Xhongorha near Engcobo on August 27, 1993.

Kulman told the commission they had been instructed by a commander known as Thanduxolo alias Mandla to kidnap Meyers, whom he had identified as an AWB member harbouring Apla's enemies.

Armed with a firearm and a homemade rifle, the two approached the farmer. Thutha pretended to buy milk while Kulman aimed a firearm at him and demanded his gun.

"I asked him where the firearm was, but instead of telling me where it was I saw him diving and thought he was reaching for a firearm, and I shot him, missed and the bullet hit his daughter in the face instead."

Thutha shot Meyer as he tried to flee.

They then drove off in Meyers' truck with his injured daughter.

After arriving at the Mbashe River, they met Thanduxolo as planned and told him what happended and showed him the woman.

"He said the woman was useless and was badly injured, and he shot her and instructed us to drive to Umtata, and we were arrested on the way," Kulman said.

Kulman refused to answer advocate Neels Bothma's questions relating to the trial at which he and Thutha were sentenced.

He said he never participated in the trial as it was presided over by what he termed "oppressors, the same people he was fighting".

"You (Bothma), as the prosecutor in the trial, know very well that I never participated in court, so don't ask me anything about it".

Kulman said police assaulted him and he was still suffering from head wounds which were never treated after a coverup by doctors and police. Throughout the hearing he struggled to answer questions, saying he was having hearing problems as a result of the assault.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 17 - SAPA

CAPRIVI HITSQUADS COULD BE INVOLVED IN TAXI VIOLENCE, TRC HEARS

Inkatha Freedom Party hitsquads trained in Caprivi to counter the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal could now be involved in taxi violence and other crime, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Richards Bay on Friday.

IFP members applying for amnesty for their part in a reign of terror in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s said most of the members of the Caprivi-trained hitsquad were still moving freely in society.

One of the key members of the Caprivi group, Brian Gcina Mkhize, 35, told the TRC's amnesty committee the trainees were highly skilled and had access to a wide range of weaponry.

Mkhize was replying to a question by committee member Jake Boloi who asked how dangerous the Caprivi group were to the peace in the country, especially KwaZulu-Natal.

Mkhize said he believed the present government should do something about the situation it if was genuinely concerned about the safety of the public. He said it was possible that many of them had turned to crime because of the high rate of unemployment in the country.

"They could also be involved in the taxi violence because this an area in which hitmen are used," he said.

Asked by Moloi whether he would be prepared to assist in exposing the Caprivi group who were still in society, he replied that he would gladly do so and would see it as his contribution to the community for his wrongdoings of the past.

During his amnesty application, the commander of the 206 Caprivi trained hitsquad members, Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, also undertook to assist in tracing the men who had still not been accounted for. Luthuli testified in Durban last week.

Earlier on Friday, Mkhize was asked by Moloi why it was neccesary to kill innocent people, including women and children, in order to advance the IFP's cause.

Mkhize replied that the war between the IFP and the ANC was an extension of the faction fighting which had existed in the province for decades. He said that in the same way that women and children were killed in factions fights, so they were killed, most times accidentally, in the IFP-ANC war that reigned in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He explained that the strategy at the time involved using bloodshed in an area that was ANC supporting until the people could be persauded to change the allegiance to the IFP. This meant that everyone, including animals, in that designated area would be labelled ANC supporters and were therefore targets.

Mkhize said he now regretted what happened but said that was the way the war was conducted.

He completed his testimony on Friday. The hearing continues with testimony by another member of the hitsquad, Romeo Mbamba.

© South African Press Association, 1998 This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 17 - SAPA

HITSQUAD MEMBERS CONTINUE TO IMPLICATE HIGH RANKING IFP LEADERS

Hitsquad members who carried out a reign of terror in KwaZulu-Natal townships continued on Friday to name high ranking Inkatha Freedom Party officials as being involved in their activities.

According to IFP members applying for amnesty for their part in a reign of terror in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s, the IFP leaderhip, including president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, knew of their role in carrying out violent attacks on African National Congress areas.

The claims against the IFP leadership were made to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Richads Bay on Friday.

Hitsquad member Romeo Mbuso Mbamba, 26, went as far as saying Buthelezi had played a role in his own recruitment into the KwaZulu Police and later expressed his approval that Mbamba was to be used in a hitsquad.

Mbamba is one of seven members of an IFP hitsquad trained in the Caprivi in then South West Africa who are applying for amnesty for 56 incidents of violence they carried out in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Mbamba said a childhood friend of his had joined the South African Police in 1986. The policeman, whom he referred to only as Sergeant Mvuyana, was later suspended from duty for alleged offences.

Mvuyana was later personally recruited by Buthelezi, who was Minister of Police and Chief Minister in KwaZulu at the time.

Mvuyana, who was made head of the Firearms Department in the KwaZulu Police, then persuaded Mbamba to join the police.

Mbamba said he was later asked by to join and IFP hitsquad by Brian Gcina Mkhize and Dalaxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, two prominent Caprivi trained members who are both applying for amnesty.

Mbambo said the two men told him that they had reported the matter to Buthelezi, who was pleased that they had obtained the services of a man of Mbambo's calibre.

Mbambo then gave the committee a long list of IFP officials he said were closely involved in hitsquad activities. He included the present MEC for welfare in KwaZulu Natal, Prince Gideon Zulu, Buthelezi's former personal assistant MZ Khumalo and many other officials and high ranking officers in the former KwaZulu Police.

He said that he received training in the use of AK47 rifles, handgrenades, explosives and rocket launchers.

Mbambo was well-known in Esikhawini township near Richards Bay where he served as a KwaZulu Police officer. He admitted carrying out many murders and random attacks on ANC supporting areas while working undercover.

Many of the murders for which he and the other hitsquad members are applying for amnesty were never reported and were never solved. During this week's hearing in Richards Bay, hundreds of residents flocked to the venue at the Zululand Chamber of Business hall to listen to the proceedings. Many of the people present are family members of the victims and are still eager to find out exactly how and why their relatives were killed.

Earlier on Friday Mkhize, who was the leader of the hitsquad operating in the Esikhawini area, told the hearing most of the Caprivi trained hitsquad members were still out there and posed a threat to society.

He said it was possible that many of the 200 members who have not been accounted for had become involved in taxi violence and other crime.

He said skill and experience with firearms made them ideal candidates for use as hitmen in crimes such such taxi violence.

He undertook to assist in trying locate the missing men and saw he would consider this a contribution to the community he had wronged in the past.

The other applicants are Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ULUNDI April 17 - SAPA

"MY HANDS ARE CLEAN," SAYS BUTHELEZI ON TRC ALLEGATIONS

Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Friday said he never authorised or approved of murder or other illegal activities while he was chief minister and police minister of KwaZulu-Natal.

"My hands are clean," he said in a statement.

The Inkatha Freedom Party president was responding to allegations made during a Truth and Reconcilation Commission hearing in Richards Bay this week.

Brian Gcina Mkhize and other former IFP hitsquad members who were trained by the former SA Defence Force in the Caprivi Strip are applying for amnesty for a range of massacres and assassinations of African National Congress supporters in KwaZulu-Natal during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The applicants claim to have carried out the attacks on the orders of KwaZulu Police officers and IFP officials.

Mkhize told the hearing he had committed himself to the IFP and had fought for the beliefs of its leaders. However he said he and his fellow combatants had been deserted by the IFP leadership which now denied any knowledge of their activiies.

Mkhize said he found this insulting and it made him feel ashamed that he had been part of the IFP's struggle.

In his statement, Buthelezi said he had received press inquiries asking him to comment on reported allegations made at the hearing.

"I have not seen any transcript of their statements and I have no intention of reacting to hearsay and second-hand reported information," Buthelezi said.

"However, I shall once again restate that at no time while I was chief minister and the minister of police of the erstwhile KwaZulu-Natal government have I ever knowingly authorised, approved or ratified any illegal activity, including political or criminal murdering."

Whoever testified to the contrary was a liar, he said.

"My hands are clean and at no time have I personally engaged directly or indirectly in any activity off gross violation of human rights," said Buthelezi.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON April 17 - SAPA

APLA CADRE ADMITS KILLING FARMER

Former Azanian People's Liberation Army cadre Zama Thutha on Friday admitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing in East London that he shot dead Elliot farmer Mike Meyer in 1993.

Thutha, 40, confirmed fellow amnesty applicant Luvuyo Kulman's testimony on Thursday and admitted to firing the shot that killed Meyers.

Kulman, 26, told the commission that the plan had not been to kill Meyer, but to kidnap and interrogate him about his connections with the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

Thutha said he did not know Meyers and had only been told of the plan to attack him minutes after reaching the scene.

Commissioner Peter Prior however said Thutha's testimony contradicted his amnesty application, in which he claimed he had been informed of the mission earlier while still in Umtata.

Thutha, who together with Kulman is seeking amnesty for the murder of Meyer and his daughter Donne, 21, told the commission the rifle he used to kill Meyers was one of many homemade firearms he used to manufacture and supply to Apla in Transkei.

Meyer and his daughter were shot dead while selling milk to villagers at Xhongorha near Encobo on August 27, 1993.

Kulman had told Thutha that they were to hijack Meyer's vehicle and that he should stand guard behind the truck while Kulman approached the driver.

According to Thutha, he was standing behind the truck when a shot went off. He said he could not see Kulman and he moved to the driver's side and saw Meyer jumping out of the truck "with his right hand still inside, as if he was pulling something".

"I assumed he had shot Kulman and was about to attack me, so I pulled the rifle out of the potato-bag and shot him."

When the farmer fell down, Thutha searched him for a firearm but found nothing.

He got into the truck and he found Kulman holding Donne, who had been wounded by the first shot fired, and they drove off to Mbashe River where they met Thanduxolo as planned.

Thanduxolo ordered them to bring Donne to him as he wanted to "deal with her."

She was still on her feet and could walk, but they had to use some force as she was reluctant to go to where they were leading her, he said.

After leaving her with Thanduxolo, a shot went off and Thutha realised she had been shot.

The hearing has been provisionally postponed to May 25. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 17 - SAPA

RIGHTWING PRISONERS WANT INVESTIGATION INTO AWB FINANCES

Two rightwing prisoners serving time for a bomb blast in Worcester in 1996 have called on the Bond van Boere- Krygsgevangenes to urgently investigate the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging's finances.

The bond in a statement on Friday said Cliffie Barnard and Koper Myburgh, supported by fellow rightwing prisoners Danie White and Ben Mong, wanted the investigation in light of AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche and Boerestaat Party leader Robert van Tonder's refusal to testify at the Truth Commission in support of their amnesty bid.

The men claimed they all contributed financially to these parties.

Barnard and Myburgh in a letter to the bond said Terre'Blanche was collecting funds for legal costs on their behalf.

A copy of the letter, sent to Sapa, stated: "We want to object to the collection of so-called legal costs in the name of Boer prisoners of war (rightwing political prisoners).

"The money collected in this manner, as well as lists sent around in our names to collect such money, never reaches us in jail or our families. This money ends up in the pocket of Mr Terre'Blanche."

The two prisoners, who were convicted of a bomb blast at a shopping centre in Worcester in the Western Cape on Christmas Eve of 1996, said they would consider laying charges of fraud and theft against Terre'Blanche.

"We consider Mr Terre'Blanche a weakling and a coward, and not our leader. We think it is despicable that he collects money in this manner from impoverished Boer people," they said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 18 1998 - SAPA

ANC KWAZULU-NATAL COUNCIL PREPARES FOR ELECTIONS

Preparations for the 1999 general elections were the main theme of the eighth provincial general council meeting of the African National Congress in Kwazulu-Natal in Durban on Saturday.

Seven hundred delegates from all ANC branches in the province attended the council meeting.

The council said afterwards it wished to express its condolences to all those affected by the horror road accident which claimed 31 lives at Newcastle.

It called on the provincial transport department to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the tragedy.

"If there are any persons responsible for it, they must be speedily prosecuted."

The council also noted the confessions of Inkatha Freedom Party Caprivi-trained hit squad members before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The council felt vindicated that "the ANC was the main target of the National Party-led political violence against our communities."

It expected the authorities to have "these alleged criminals... arrested and prosecuted immediately." The statement concluded that the council was shocked by the content of an address KwaZulu Natal premier, Dr Ben Ngubane had reportedly delivered to members of the South African Institute of Race Relations in Sandton, where he "attacked the proposed Employment Equity Bill as reinforcing racial classification in the name of employment equity."

"Dr Ngubane also attacked the concepts of "democracy", "empowerment" , and called for tolerance of racism in rugby as represented by Dr Louis Luyt and others," the council said.

Only a person who knew that he had no future as the premier and chairperson of any black dominated political party could go to that extent in endearing himself to white supremacy, the council said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 19 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA COMPARES SELF TO CHRIST

Former state president PW Botha has compared himself to a persecuted Christ in his confrontation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Botha this week chose to go to court for defying a TRC subpoena rather than testify at a closed commission hearing on the activities of the defunct State Security Council.

In an interview with the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport, one of the few publications Botha is prepared to speak to, he said that when TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu tried at the last minute to get him to change his mind, he had replied that this would be a capitulation.

"I said to him: `You know that when Christ stood before Herod, he refused to answer questions'," Botha told the newspaper. "Then he said: `Yes, but Christ replied to questions before Pilate'.

"I then said: `Yes, but what happened to Pilate?'. I said: `I am not Christ, but I am a follower of his.' And I said: `You have the truth and I tell you now: I am prepared to speak with you and President Nelson Mandela, but you will not get me to appear before the truth commission.

"I will not allow myself to be humiliated, because you want to humiliate me and in that way you want to humiliate the Afrikaners who believe in me, like you have already humiliated others.

"Then he stood up and left. And with that the negotiations failed."

The meeting took place at the George Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, after Botha had rejected a compromise agreement drawn up by his legal team and that of the TRC.

His trial began soon after his last-minute conversation with Tutu, but was postponed - against his wishes - to the beginning on June.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 20 1998 - SAPA

BUTHELEZI'S STATEMENTS UNDERSTOOD AS CALL TO WAR: TRC HEARS

Public statements by Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi about Zulu anger were interpreted as a call to war by IFP militants battling the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal townships, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

A self-confessed member of an IFP hitsquad, Romeo Mbuso Mbambo, told the TRC amnesty committee in Richards Bay Buthelezi's outbursts of anger and warnings of retaliation by Zulus left him in no doubt that this was a coded call to attack the ANC.

He said supporters in his area of Esikhawini near Empangeni, interpreted the statements as an instruction and attacks on ANC areas almost always followed Buthelezi's statements.

Mbambo lashed out at Buthelezi who he said had been involved in a squabble with the ANC and had used his followers to attack ANC suporting areas.

He said he realised his own statements placed his and family's life in danger but he if he was killed for speaking out, it would be better to die than to live with a "conscience full of peoples' blood."

Mbambo was well known in Esikhawini community where he worked as a policeman by day and a hitman by night. Immaculately dressed in a maroon sports coat and colourful tie, the lightly skinned man asked the more than 1000 people present to forgive him for shattering their lives.

He said he was risking his life by appearing before the community and asking for amnesty, because many IFP leaders were opposed to the process and had tried to stop him from going ahead with his application. However, he said he was tired of being used by leaders who now disowned him and denied any knowledge of his activities.

Mbambo said attacks in the Esikhawini area also followed the broadcast on television of the locally produced drama "The Line" dealing with train violence in Gauteng shortly before the 1994 elections. He said because it portrayed the attackers on the train as Zulu speaking, this led to widespread anger. Calls by Gauteng IFP leader Themba Khoza for the drama not to be broadcast were construed as an invitation to attack anyone who watched the programme.

Mbambo said groups of IFP militia roamed the streets of Esikhawini on the night of the broadcast and fired at houses where the televisions were on.

He is presently serving a 72-year sentence for four counts of murder for which he was arrested in 1993. However in his application for amnesty he has admitted committing dozens more murders which were never reported. He has recounted numerous incidents when he and other gunmen fired into crowds at bus stops, at roadsides and at rallies without knowing how many people he killed or injured.

He and six other members of an IFP hitsquad have applied for amnesty for 56 incidents which could involve at least 100 deaths that occurred during a reign of terror on KwaZulu-Natal townships in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

During this time Mbambo claims to have seen large amounts of arms and ammunition being distributed by high ranking IFP officials. He described how in May 1992 he went to the IFP regional office in Empangeni and saw Celani Mthethwa, a high ranking KwaZulu government official at the time, arrive with a box containing 20 AK47 rifles which he said he received from across the Mozambiquan border.

During his activities as a hitman, his own arsenal comprised four AK47s, two shotguns, a number of hand grenades and homemade explosives.

Mbabmo told the committee he was employed as a detective in the KwaZulu police so he could conceal the actions of IFP hitsquad operatives working undercover.

He said it was rranged that he was on duty at night at the same time as his fellow hitsquad member, Brian Gcina Mkhize, was on planning attacks. Mbambo said it was his duty to "sweep" the scene of any evidence and also to verify whether the targeted people had been killed.

Mbambo and Mkhize are two members of a hitsquad who are applying for amnesty for their part in a reign of terror in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s. The hitsquad members have admitted carrying out dozens of murders, many of which were never reported and for which no-one had been arrested.

Mbambo and Mkhize are serving long sentence in the Westville prison for murders they committed in 1993.

Mbambo testified to a string of random shootings in the Esikhawini area during 1992 when he claims to have been furthering the political aims of the IFP against the ANC.

He described one incident during this time when he and three other hitsquad members opened fire at people at a bus stop. Mbambo said the passengers were all Alusaf and Richards Bay Minerals workers who belonged to the Congress of SA Trade Unions and were therefore enemies of the IFP.

He said during the attack people inside the buses began firing back and the hitsquad members fled. He said he was certain that a number of people were killed and injured in the attack. Mbambo claims the IFP leaderhip, including Buthelezi, not only knew of their role in carrying out violent attacks on ANC areas, but encouraged them.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ALIWAL NORTH April 20 1998 - SAPA

TRC HEARING DELAYED AS APPLICANT FETCHED FROM JAIL

An amnesty application to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee by four former Azanian People's Liberation Army cadres was delayed for three hours on Monday as one of the applicants was fetched from the Burgersdorp police cells.

Awaiting-trial prisoner Thabiso James Mokoala, 24, was scheduled to seek amnesty for his involvement in a spate of shooting incidents which left at least three people dead and many others injured in the Lady Grey/Zastron area between 1992 and 1993.

But when amnesty commissioners discovered that Mokoala was not present with his co-applicant, Phila Martin Dolo, the morning's proceedings had to be rescheduled for the afternoon.

Four former Apla cadres Thabiso Mokoala, Phila Dolo, Luvuyo Kulman, and Luyanda Gqomsa, have applied for amnesty for their role in the attacks.

They are serving lengthy prison sentences.

The attackers were involved in an ambush which left Shirley Brummer and Piet Schroeder dead when their vehicle came under heavy gunfire on November 18, 1993 while they were driving to work.

Another motorist, James Tselane, was also shot dead while he was trying to help the badly injured Brummer.

The first applicant, Dolo, 29, from Uitenhague, told the committee he left school in 1989 and left the country for Botswana in the same year.

He told the TRC he was the regional commander of Apla and was deployed in the Sterkspruit/Zastron/Lady Grey area by Letlapa Mphahlele on the instructions of former Apla commander Sabelo Phama-Gqwetha.

"In my capacity as a regional commander, I was tasked with getting the ball rolling," Dolo said.

He told the committee there were four operatives for the Lady Grey Herschel ambush. Dolo said he was armed with an R4, Mokoala with a .38 revolver, Kulman with a .38 revolver, and Gqomsa with a 9mm pistol.

On the day of the attack, they had caught a lift on a truck to the scene of the shooting.

Dolo later deployed the unit at the side of the road and told them to be ready to attack cars whose occupants were white.

Mokoala was ordered to stand at a certain point so he could warn them when a car approached with white people in it.

Later a white bakkie approached with white occupants and after Mokoala gave a signal, it was attacked. The driver lost control and when the bakkie came to a halt, Brummer jumped out and ran away, managing to catch a lift in minibus taxi. Schroeder died in the bakkie.

Dolo fired at the taxi until it came to a stop on a bridge. When they inspected the taxi, they found the taxi driver and a white woman dead. Dolo said Apla was against a government that dehumanised the African people and that perpetrated a political system which was declared an "international crime against humanity".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 20 1998 - SAPA

TUTU CALLS FOR CLOSER TIES BETWEEN EUROPE, SOUTHERN AFRICA

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Monday urged closer ties between Europe and Southern Africa, SABC television news reported.

During his visit to London, Tutu gave a keynote address at a major conference attended by European and African parliamentarians, as well as major decision-makers.

The discussions covered the European Union and South African trade negotiations which were under way in Brussels.

Tutu also called for the formal launch of an international fund for the repatriation of or better care for 300,000 Mozambican refugees.

According to the SABC television news, the visit came at a time of heightened interest in Britain around South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Tutu said he was engaged in broad discussions with television and radio regarding the Northern Ireland situation and on how people there might learn about the South African experience.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 20 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO HEAR OF AZAPO, UDF WAR IN SOWETO

Details of the bitter war between the Azanian People's Organisation and the United Democratic Front during the 1980s are to revealed before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The hearing, in which three Azapo members are seeking amnesty for the murder of four Soweto Students' Congress members, was adjourned on Monday - 20 minutes after it had started - due to technical problems.

Work on the audio equipment delayed the hearing for four hours and when the proceeding started, the equipment was giving so much feedback that committee chairman Judge Bernard Ngoepe was compelled to adjourn the hearing.

Amnesty applicants Joseph Hlasa, Anastasios Mphoreng and Ernest Thandakubona were expected to give details about their involvement in the war between the anti-apartheid organisations which left scores of activists dead.

The three applicants have taken responsibility for the killing of Edwin Vuyani Nkomo, Mbulelo Mabena, Msilana Ronnel Sishange and Oscar Amos Mlangeni who were abducted and tortured after the burning of a house belonging to fellow Azapo member Jefferson Lengane.

Simon Morris and Sekano Avonly Kgase, who were also abducted, survived the attack and Kgase reported the incident to police who later arrested the three.

The three jumped bail and fled into exile. They were re-arrested on their return in 1995 and judgment in their trial was reserved pending the outcome of their amnesty application.

The applicants have claimed that the order to kill the student body members was issued by Azapo leaders Sam Seema and Thami Mcerwa, who has since died.

Tensions between Black Consciousness followers and Charterists came to a boil after the formation of the UDF in 1983.

Hostilities first broke out in the Eastern Cape where a so-called third force was suspected of setting comrades against each other. These hostilities turned into an open warfare in Soweto as the two organisations tried to establish an ideological hegemony in the country's largest town.

Thabo Jacob Lengane, Jefferson's father, was abducted and killed in the township at the height of the conflict.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA April 20 1998 - SAPA

WEAKLEY BROTHERS HEARING POSTPONED INDEFINITELY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing on the death of the Weakley brothers was on Monday postponed indefinitely at the request of the victims' relatives.

The brothers, Glenn, 43 and Alastair, 34, together with others, were ambushed while on a fishing holiday at Mpande near Port St John's in the former Transkei in April 1993.

The brothers died at the scene.

The TRC officer leading the evidence at the Norwood civic centre in Johannesburg, Zuko Mapoma, confirmed the sine die postponement.

In a letter handed to the TRC on Monday, signed by Debbie Barbour and Trevor John Weakley, the two said they would oppose the application of the men who murdered "their father and uncle".

They requested that the hearing be postponed until such time as they had read the murderers' applications.

The applicants, Pumelele Hermanus, Mlulamisi Maxhayi and Lungile Mazwi arrived at the hearing under heavy guard. They are all serving 25 years in prison.

Another applicant, Fundisile "Moods" Guleni, who was never prosecuted, also took his seat at the hearing.

Missing was Zongezile Mxhize, who jumped bail during the murder trial.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 21 1998 - SAPA

INTEREST IN HITSQUAD AMNESTY HEARING GROWS AS REVELATIONS MADE

Interest in the Richards Bay amnesty hearing is growing by the day as revelations pour out about the activities of an Inkatha Freedom Party hitsquad that operated in the nearby township of Esikhawini in 1992.

Seven members of the hitsquad are applying for amnesty for their part in 56 incidents of violence in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s. Two of the members have admitted carrying out a reign of terror on the residents of the Esikhawini in an effort to eliminate the African National Congress from the area.

When the hearing began in Richards Bay last Tuesday, only a handful of people arrived at the venue at the Zululand Chamber of Business, but every day the numbers have grown as Brian Gcina Mkhize and Romeo Mbuso Mbambo began telling their tale of murder and mayhem.

By Tuesday (today) the number attending the hearing grew to more than 1000 and there were plans to bring more busloads of residents, including IFP supporters, to the hearing later this week.

Among the residents attending were dozens of victims of the violence, including two people who were crippled by gunshot wounds.

Mbambo, who had been calm and confident earlier, was reduced to tears when he apologised to a woman sitting in a wheelchair in the front row of the audience. The woman was shot in one of the many random attacks on residents by the hitsquad.

Mbambo also came face to face with Lawrence Khumalo, who he shot at point blank range and who is now crippled and walks with a stick.

The deputy president of the ANC and KwaZulu-Natal tourism MEC Jacob Zuma also briefly visited the TRC hearing on Tuesday.

The hitsquad members trained in the Caprivi in then South West Africa are Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Alex Khumalo, David Zweli Dlamini, Dalaxolo Wordsworth Luthuli and Berthwell Bheki Ndhlovu.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 21 1998 - SAPA

HITSQUAD MEMBER PAID WELL FOR KILLING: TRC HEARS

A convicted hitsquad member who claims to have carried out murders for the Inkatha Freedom Party also admitted making himself a good deal of money, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Richards Bay on Tuesday.

Romeo Mbuso Mbambo, 28, was testifying at the hearing where he and six other hitsquad members are applying for amnesty for 56 incidents of violence involving more than a 100 deaths.

Mbambo told the committee of his activities as an IFP hitsquad member that operated in the nearby township of Esikhawini in 1992. He was employed in the area as a detective constable by day but engaged in covert attacks by night.

He was asked by Jeff Hewitt SC, appearing for IFP officials implicated by the hitsquad members, whether he was paid money in addition to his salary for his undercover operations.

Mbambo replied that he did receive payments but said they were sporadic and came in the form of cash cheques of sometimes R1000 or more.

"So you were not acting for the love of the ideology but were a sort of hired gun," Hewitt said.

Mbambo denied this and said he was acting in support of the IFP political objectives, but admitted he was paid for his work.

"So while you were doing this you were in fact making a tidy bit on the side," Hewitt said.

Mbambo agreed.

He said during this period he owned two motor vehicles, a Volkswagen Jetta and a BMW 320i but denied he owned them at the same time.

Among Mbambo's many victims in Esikhawini were two policemen who the hitsquad suspected of being ANC sympathisers. He said a Sergeant Khumalo had been killed because he had once been seen wearing an African National Congress T-shirt and a Sergeant Dlamini was gunned down because had arranged for police to search Mbambo's house for weapons.

Mbambo told the committee that when he later arrived at Dlamini's house, the policemen realised the purpose of the visit and tried to draw his firearm but was shot before he could use it. Mbambo said Dlamini had fought to the end and continued to curse and insult his attackers right up until he finally died.

Mbambo completed his testimony on Tuesday afternoon after two days of revelations about atrocities he committed in Esikhawini. Public interest in the hearing has grown considerably since it started last week and many victims of the violence were present.

By Tuesday more than 1000 people had filled the Zululand Chamber of Business hall as Mbambo told his tale of murder and mayhem. Among the residents attending are dozens of victims of the violence including two people who were crippled by gunshot wounds.

Mbambo, who had been calm and confident throught his testimony, finally cracked on Tuesday morning when faced with one of his victims.

When he saw the woman sitting in a wheelchair in the front row of the audience he apologised to her for the pain and anguish he had caused and then broke into tears. The woman was shot in one of the many random attacks on residents by the hitsquad. The hearing was adjourned to allow Mbambo time to compose himself.

According to Esikhawini residents Mbambo was a flamboyant character and was well known in the township during the times of violence. The light skinned and well built man, who is a karate expert, dresses immaculately in tailored sports coats and colourful ties.

He is presently serving a 72-year prison sentence for six murders for which he was arrested in 1993.

During the hearing on Tuesday ANC deputy president and KwaZulu-Natal Tourism minister, Jacob Zuma, also briefly visited the venue. He met ANC officials and greeted ANC supporters who are attending the hearing before leaving soon aftewards.

A busload of IFP supporters from nearby Enseleni are expected to attend Wednesday's hearing when another member of the hitsquad, Israel Hlongwane, is due to testify.

Security arrangments at the venue are tight but there have been incidents as the crowd intently following the proceedings.

Hlongwane is serving a 75-year prison sentence for a seven counts of murder, kidnapping, rape and attempted murder for offences committed in 1993. However, in his application for amnesty he had admitted many more murders which have never been solved.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 21 1998 - SAPA

TRC ACCUSED OF OBSTRUCTING SEARCH FOR TRUTH

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday came under fire from human rights activists, who accused the body of obstructing the search for the truth.

Various speakers at a two-day Johanesburg seminar, organised by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, lambasted the TRC, saying it obscured the truth through a lack of thorough investigation and unfriendliness to victims.

Dr Mahmood Mamdani, of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town said the commission presented beneficiaries of gross human violations as victims by inviting them to join the real victims in a public outrage against the perpetrators.

"The TRC might think that it is mounting a massive rescue operation for the beneficiaries" but it was doing the country a disservice, he said.

He felt that by failing to define the truth, the commission had stifled debate about the past and reconciliation.

"There is not one truth but several truths," he said. "The question is whose truth comes close to establishing what happened. The TRC had the opportunity to trigger the debate but it obscured it".

Mamdani added that the commission had obscured the truth because it did not consider forced removals, pass laws, racialised poverty and racialised wealth as gross violations of human rights.

Former TRC investigators Glen Goosen and Piers Pigou also added their voice to the litany of criticisms against the commission.

Goosen said the fact that the amnesty committee would not have finished its work when the commission winded up it operations in May, was a significant failure "because we can not present a complete picture".

Commission deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine acknowledged that the commission had some weaknesses but rejected claims that it was obscuring the truth.

He pointed to the commission's inability to persuade politicians to accept culpability for the violation of human rights as one of the weaknesses.

"Leaders of the past regime find it difficult to accept accountability that the climate created by their laws made it possible for human rights violations to take place," he said.

He also emphasised that the TRC should not be seen in isolation as it was a single initiative in the whole question of transformation and growth.

"The wounds are too deep to be trivialised by one process alone," he said. "Much more will need to be done over a long period of time and I think of generations rather than years." © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 22 1998 - SAPA

SENIOR DETECTIVE REMOVED FROM MCBRIDE INVESTIGATION

A senior member of the team of South African detectives helping the Mozambican police investigate the Robert McBride matter had been removed from the team and the TRC asked to investigate allegations against him, Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Wednesday.

The move followed the receipt of a report which was based on a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) debriefing of a source, Mufamadi said in a statement.

The source - who was not identified - had made serious allegations about one of the team's members, Superintendent Lappies Labuschagne, and was prepared to repeat the allegations under oath.

Mufamadi said these could best be investigated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's investigative unit, and he had accordingly given a copy of the report to unit head Dumisa Ntsebenza and asked him to investigate.

He had also discussed the matter with national police commissioner George Fivaz and they had agreed that it was in the best interests of Labuschagne, the police and all concerned, for Labuschagne to be removed from the McBride team while the TRC probed the allegations.

Fivaz said in a seperate statement on Wednesday that the decision to remove Labuschagne from the McBride investigation could in no way be construed as reflecting negatively on his professional expertise or standing.

"Indeed, this decision was taken only after a meeting between myself and Superintendent Labuschagne, in which he himself proposed that it would be in the best interests of the investigation to step down voluntarily.

"Superintendent Labuschagne was himself, during a conversation with me, of the opinion that he could not credibly continue his role in the investigation while certain allegations against him are being probed by the TRC."

Labuschagne had in fact indicated his willingness to co-operate with the TRC to probe the allegations as soon as possible, Fivaz said.

Neither Mufamadi nor Fivaz revealed the nature of the allegations.

However, the Mail and Guardian reported earlier that Labuschagne had been implicated in the assassination of Cassius Maake - the most senior member of the ANC killed in exile - in Swaziland in 1987.

It said he had also been named in other hit-squad activities, some of them planned at Vlakplaas.

The paper published details of what it said was a plot by old-guard security force members to set up McBride, as well as details about the controversial background of assistant police commissioner Suiker Britz, who has been effectively removed from the investigation.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 22 1998 - SAPA

IMPLICATED POLICEMAN CAUSES UPROAR AT AMNESTY HEARING

A policeman implicated in Inkatha Freedom Party hitsquad activities caused an uproar at the TRC amnesty hearings in Richards Bay on Wednesday when he made a surprise appearance and demanded an opportunity to counter the allegations against him.

A former major, Owen Zama, who is now a Superintendent and station commander at a police statiothe Zululand Chamber of Business Hall on Wednesday with his lawyer.

He stood at the door and shook his head while self-confessed hitquad member Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, 30, was testifying.

Zama's presence at the hearing caused a stir among the audience who had packed the hall and some angry calls were made for him to leave.

Zama claimed that another hitsquad member, Romeo Mbuso Mbamba, who testified earlier this week, had implicated him in unlawful activies.

Zama told Truth and Reconciliation Commission officials that he demanded the right to refute these allegation made against him.

During his tesimony Mbambo named a long list of police officers and IFP officials whom he said were involved in his hitsquad activies.

Committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller then told the hearing that Zama would be given a transcript of the relevant parts of Mbambo's testimony and he would then by given a chance to reply to the contents.

When Hlongwane continued his testimony, he accused Zama of trying to intimidate the seven former hitsquad members who were applying for amnesty.

He said he and his fellow applicants would not be intimidated by people like Zama and they would continue to tell the truth about what happened at the time.

The atmosphere in the hall, which was filled to capacity with hundreds of people, became very tense during Zama's appearance but when a member of the audience fainted as a result of the stifling heat, the situation calmed down.

The IFP in the area has been planning to send its own supporters to attend the hearings this week but so far they have not appeared.

However the IFP issued a statement on Wednesday evening threatening to disrupt the proceedings on Thursday.

The statement said widows of the IFP members killed in the violence would march to the hearing and confront the TRC officials.

There has been tight security throughout the week in the hall which is situated in the centre of Richards Bay's industrial area. Hlongwane and Mbambo and five other hitsquad members are applying for amnesty for a wide range of attacks they carried out in various parts of the country in the years before the 1994 elections.

The applicants have admitted committing scores of murders which were never reported.

Earlier Hlongwane told the hearing of his activies in the nearby Esikhawini township where he had been used to wipe out ANC opponents.

He told how the former mayor of the township and his wife became very unhappy if a day passed without gunshots being fired.

Hlongwane, who was employed as the mayor's bodyguard by day and a hitman by night said he was hard pressed to keep up his nightly attacks on ANC supporting areas.

He said he joied the police as a Special Constable in 1992 and was assigned to Biyela as a bodyguard. However, he said his duties also involved attacking residents in ANC supporting areas of Esikhawini.

He described how he and other hitmen roamed the streets shooting at youths suspected of being ANC supporters. He admitted killing many youths during this time.

He said when he reported for duty in the morning, Biyela and his wife would express their displeasure if they had not heard gunshots the night before.

Hlongwane said Biyela had also given him pipe bombs which he used to blow up houses in ANC supporting areas. He was not able to say how many people had died as a result of these attacks.

However he later complained to Biyela that he was the only person doing the hard work in the area.

"I further complained that I was doing two jobs, namely guarding the mayor during the day and eliminating the ANC at night," he said.

He was later relieved of his duties.

Biyela is now chief executive Uthungulu Regional Services Council in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Hlongwane is serving a 75 year sentence in the Westville Prison for seven counts of murder, rape, kidnapping and attempted murder.

One of the crimes for which he was convicted involved an attack on two young women who were allegedly ANC supporters in the Mpumulanga area near Durban.

He and and a group of other young men kidnapped the two women who walking along a road. He said they raped the women and then cut their throats. However one of the girls survived and laid charges against Hlongwane who was arrested and charged for a string of crimes.

He is applying for amnesty for a long list of crimes he has admitted involvement in but for which nobody has been prosecuted.

Hlongwane told the committee he had been highly effective as a hitman because he looked like a "comrade", he could run very fast and was very brave.

He said was able to act with impunity in the area because of the support he received from senior police officers and IFP officials in the area.

The hearing continues on Thursday. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 22 1998 - SAPA

AWB SUPPORTERS TELL OF KILLINGS AT BOGUS ROADBLOCK

Nine Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members killed four people in a bogus roadblock between Krugersdorp and Ventersdorp in 1993, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

Deon Martin, Karel Meiring and Petrus Matthews told TRC amnesty Judge Bernard Ngoepe they manned the roadblock as part of the AWB's plan to stop the African National Congress/SA Communist Party/Cosatu alliance from taking power.

The other six, Phillipus Kloppers, Frederick Badenhorst, Marius Visser, Lodewickes van der Schyff, Andre Visser and Gerardus Diedericks are expected to testify on Thursday.

Martins testified to the hearing that Kloppers, who is wheelchair-bound, told them AWB general Japie Oelofse had said to him "the revolution begins tonight (December 12)" and that they were to prepare for war.

He said they met at the Badenhorst residence where they drank alcohol and removed the registration plates of the Mercedes Benz and Nissan Sentra they planned to use at the roadblock.

"We then drove to Visser's house and had whiskey and brandy before heading to Raodera Road to set a roadblock," he said.

On their way, the men in the Sentra stopped to assault two black men walking on a nearby plot.

He said Kloppers chastised those who assaulted the two because it was not part of the operation. The aim was to kill ANC-SACP-Cosatu members and to confiscate illegal arms and ammunition.

The applicants said they stopped any cars with black occupants. The passengers were asked about their destinations before being asked about their political affiliations.

"The orders were to determine which political parties they belonged to and if they were ANC members they will be killed," Martins said.

Two cars were pulled off the road and the cars and occupants searched before Martin fired a shot in their direction, a sign that the others should open fire.

During the killing spree, Thembani Nkompone, Teboho Makhuza, Theo More and Patrick Gasemane were killed.

Those who survived to tell their story are Petrus Mothupi, William Segotsane, Gabriel Shabangu, Martha Bereng, Sipho Nkompone and Abraham Mothupi.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 22 1998 - SAPA

IFP THREATENS TO BRING TRC'S CAPRIVI HEARING TO A STANDSTILL

The Inkatha Freedom Party has threatened to disrupt the Truth and Reconicilation Commission's proceedings in Richards Bay on Thursday.

IFP spokesman Lauren Winchester said in a statement in issued in Durban on Wednesday, a group of women whose loved ones were killed in the violence would march to the where the TRC hearing is taking place.

"Their express purpose will be to confront the much vaunted men of reconciliation," he said. The women who are wives, mothers and daughters of IFP victims of the violence would be dressed in mourning clothes symbolising their sorrow, he said.

The statement said the IFP was aggrieved at the TRC proceedings in KwaZulu-Natal which seemed to turn a blind eye to the murder of more than 450 IFP leaders.

He said the march would draw attention to the unevenness of the justice practised by the TRC.

"In delivering their memorandum (of protest), they will bring the TRC proceedings to a complete standstill," the statement said.

The amnesty committee is hearing applications for amnesty by seven former members of an IFP hitsquad who carryied out a reign of terror in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s.

Three of the applicants, Romeo Mbuso Mbambo, Brian Gcina Mkhize and Israel Nyoni Hlongwane have admitted terrorising residents in the nearby Esikhawini township in the early 1990's.

TRC officials were last night studying the IFP statement and expected to issue a statement on Thursday morning.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 23 1998 - SAPA

ANC NEEDS TO BE REMINDED THAT LAND ISSUES NOT ADDRESSED: PAC

The African National Congress needed to be reminded that land issues concerning blacks had not yet been addressed as it celebrates Freedom Day on Monday, the Pan Africanist Congress said on Thursday.

The ANC should not exaggerate its achievements, the PAC said in a statement in Johannesburg.

"The reality on the ground shows that there is a lot more to do in South Africa before the vast majority of people of this country can enjoy what they struggled for."

The PAC said the government had not fulfilled its election promises. People's lives were in danger, with women being raped with impunity and tourists being murdered in cold blood, and yet the ANC maintained that crime was decreasing.

"This is perhaps not surprising for a government which has not recognised that apartheid was a crime against humanity and has imprisoned hundreds of former freedom fighters who fought against the crime of apartheid," the statement said.

It said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had made no assurances in addressing the issue.

The PAC also accused the government of failing to uproot corruption in high ranks. The rich were bocming richer while the vast majority of black people becoming poorer.

"This is not what the people expected and fought for. It is a recipe for a future revolution by the poor," it said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 23 1998 - SAPA

PAC SLAMS GOVTICAL PRISONERS

Freedom Day would remain hollow and meaningless until all political prisoners incarcerated during the apartheid era were released from jail, the Pan Africanist Congress said on Thursday.

Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg, PAC leader and former Azanian People's Liberation Army operative Letlapa Mpahlele criticised the government and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for ignoring the plight of former liberation movement combatants languishing in prison.

"We as the PAC are committed to see the release of these prisoners as the whole country witnessed the release of Nelson Mandela.

"Their contribution to our struggle was of the same, if not greater magnitude, and hence their sentences reflect that. Nelson Mandela, widely regarded as the beacon of our struggle, was only given a life sentence.

"Some of these sons and daughters of the soil in apartheid jails serve long sentences. On a rough count, the sentences of 600 PAC prisoners combined exceed 1300 years," Mpahlele said.

He said the PAC would step up its "freedom for all" campaign, which began in 1994, until the legitimacy of the imprisoned fighters' case was acknowledged.

It amazed the PAC that four years into the new South Africa, these cadres were being treated like common law criminals.

It was also ironic that the TRC - which Mpahlele described as the "Tutu rainbow circus" had seen fit to give a blanket amnesty to top members of the African National Congress, but was finding it difficult to deal decisively with the case of the imprisoned fighters.

"We call on all South Africans to declare on so-called Freedom Day that this freedom does not belong to civillians and politicians alone.

"It also belongs to many who fought for it and continue to be behind bars serving long sentences," Mpahlele said.

He said the party had organised a march from the Chris Hani-Baragwanath taxi rank to Johannesburg Central Prison on Monday starting at 9am as part of the campaign to force government to free political prisoners.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 23 1998 - SAPA

TRC TOLD OF PLAN TO POUR CYANIDE INTO SOWETO WATER RESERVOIRS

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging wanted to poison Soweto's water reservoirs with cyanide in 1993 to kill thousands of people as part of the rightwing organisation's programme to create chaos ahead of the 1994 election, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Thursday.

AWB commander Philipus Kloppers was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee in Johannesburg in his application for amensty for the murder of four black people and the wounding of six others at an AWB roadblock between Krugersdorp and Ventersdorp in 1993.

Kloppers said Afrikaner leaders, who at the time saw a revolution at hand, feared their volk would be subjected to communist rule led by the African National Congress after the election.

Klopper said he was ordered by AWB "general" Japie Oelofse to steal cyanide from a chemical company he worked for in Randfontein and pour it into Soweto resevoirs. He stole the cyanide but never carried out Oelofse's order to poison thousands oopper was arrested for the roadblock shootings, the cyanide was found in his car.

During cross-examination, Kloppers appeared unsure of his earlier claim that he was ordered by Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen and Conservative Party leader Ferdi Hartzenberg to cause chaos in South Africa.

In his amnesty application, Klopper said Viljoen and Hartzenberg instructed him to carry out the anarchy plan, but on Thursday he said the order in fact came from Oelofse, the AWB's operational chief in the Western Transvaal.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Bernard Ngoepe whether the order to set up the roadblock to identify ANC supporters and kill them came from Viljoen, Kloppers replied: "I think that the order to kill on December 12, 1993 was cleared with General Viljoen."

But he told the committee he implicated Viljoen on the basis of information he received from Oelofse.

The wheelchair-bound Kloppers, a former SA Defence Force member, said he believed Viljoen and Hartzenberg supported the AWB view that a revolution was at hand and that causing chaos was appropriate.

Kloppers said Viljoen and Hartzenberg regularly attended meetings where the issue of the beginning of war against the ANC and SA Communist Party was discussed.

He said Viljoeing on December 12, 1993 at which the decision to set up the roadblock was taken and AWB members were ordered to kill ANC supporters.

"But I still maintain that I received my orders to sow anarchy in South Africa from General Oelofse... And I still believe that General Viljoen and Mr Hartzenberg had been consulted on the issue and had endorsed the plan," he said.

The thrust of Kloppers' testimony centred around how AWB members were indoctrinated to hate blacks, especially those belonging to the ANC. They were told to regard ANC supporters as enemies of the Afrikaner nation.

He said AWB members were also bombarded with information to prepare them for war because Afrikaner leaders believed the National Party was selling them out to the communists. At that time the NP, the ANC and several other political parties were in multiparty talks at the World Trade Centre in Kempton Park, which paved the way for the country's first democratic constitution.

A video showing AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche addressing a public meeting in Port Elizabeth was shown to the commission.

In the news clipping, Terre'Blanche told a rightwing gathering on November 26, 1993 to "go and out and steal weapons. Attack, attack and attack until we achieve our objectives".

Kloppers said Terre'Blanche's message at several meetings in the months ahead of the election was so inspiring and influential that "after attending such a meeting one could actually kill his (black) domestic worker".

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 23 1998 - SAPA

RESIDENTS OF STRIFE TORN TOWNSHIP QUESTION IFP HITMEN AT TRC

After two weeks of hearing gruesome accounts of the reign of terror that shattered their commuity in 1992, residents of Esikhawini township near Richards Bay were on Thursday given the chance to question their former attackers about individual incidents.

The more than 1000 Esikhawini residents had been attending the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in which seven Inkatha Freedom Party hitmen are applying for amnesty for more than 56 incidents of violence involving more than 100 deaths.

Soon after the completion of the applicants' testimony, the committee adjourned to allow the audience to put specific questions to the self-confessed hitmen.

The seven members of a hitsquad have repeatedly asked the community to forgive them for the mayhem they caused in the township in 1992. They have also consistently claimed to have been acting on orders from senior IFP officials and with the support of high ranking former KwaZulu Police officers.

The audience, which included several people who were crippled in the numerous attacks that occurred in African National Congress supporting areas throughout 1992, applauded whenever the question of forgiveness was raised.

The meeting was chaired by the deputy speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal legislative, Willes Mchunu, who as an ANC leader in the area at the time had survived several attempts on his life.

Victims of the violence stood up one at a time and told of attacks on them in which they had lost family members, been injured themselves or had their houses burnt down.

The applicants, especially Romeo Mbuso Mbamba, 28, and Israel Hlongwane, 30, who had been active as hitmen in the Esikhawini area, were able to recall most of the incidents raised by the victims.

They supplied details of why the particualr attack was carried out and how it was planned. For many of the victims it was the first time they had seen the hitmen again, since coming face to face with them with firearms in their hands. In many cases they wore balaclavas but in some instances the survivors were able to recognise Mbamba by his very sturdy build.

The applicants have during the hearings of the past two weeks individually made tearful apologies to victims, but on Thursday all seven apologised to the community as a whole for the pain and suffering they had caused.

The audience appeared to accept the apology and an atmosphere of relief was evident among those who had listened to the long account of murder and mayhem. The crowd dispersed and some sat in groups outside drinking beer before travelling back to Esikhawini which has now become a far more peaceful place.

Earlier a protest by IFP women that had threatend to disrupt the proceedings passed peacefully without incident.

A delegation of about 50 widows and orphans of IFP members killed in violence, arrived at the Zululand Chamber of Business and demanded to see the committee. The women who were all dressed in black were later met by Committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller who greeted them warmly and explained that they would be given an opportunity to present their memorandum to his committee during an adjournment.

The women agreed to wait and later filed into the hall and handed their memorandum questionining the impartiality of the TRC to the committee.

The women left quietly as the audience who had been listening to the amnesty applications sat in silence.

The women carried out their protest in a quiet and dignified way and carried placards bearings slogans such as "TRC tells lies" and "TRC the ANC's Imbongi (praise singer)".

In their memorandum the women expressed concern that the TRC was not taking into account the loss of life incurred by IFP members during the violence in KwaZulu-Natal.

There was a large police presence at the hearing on Thursday following IFP threats on Wednesday to disrupt the proceedings.

Policemen guarded the entrances to the Zululand Chamber of Business grounds where the hearing is being held and reinforcements were brought in from Durban. Everyone entering the venue was searched for firearms and the buildings were checked by police sniffer dogs.

The hearing is due to end on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 23 1998 - SAPA

NP BID TO HAVE ANC AMNESTIES OVERTURNED RESCHEDULED

A new timetable has been set for the National Party's High Court bid to overturn the amnesties granted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to 37 African National Congress members.

This should result in the case being heard on May 29, subject to the approval of the Judge President of the Cape High Court, NP spokesman on the TRC Jacko Maree said in a statement on Thursday.

The case was originally due to be heard on Friday, but was postponed after the ANC opposed the NP's application to have the amnesties overturned.

The TRC has also applied to the court to overturn the amnesties, which were granted by its own amnesty committee.

It argued that the amnesty applications were irregular and that the 37 had not made full disclosure of their misdemeanours.

Maree said the NP felt the matter could be speeded up if the TRC withdrew its case, or agreed to consolidate it with that of the NP.

"Contact has already been made in this regard, but no feedback has been received, indicating laxity on the side of the TRC."

The NP respected the ANC's right to contest its application, but felt that by doing so they were defending blanket amnesty, which was in conflict with the TRC Act, Maree said.

"The NP confirms once again that under no circumstances will it withdraw its case against the ANC 37, and will remain part of the legal process until the whole issue surrounding the blanket amnesty has been resolved."

NP legal adviser Andre Gaum said the NP had still not been given an opposing affidavit by the ANC, indicating the grounds on which they would oppose the overturning of their amnesties.

The ANC had problems in finding the 37 to sign the relevant documentation, and it had been agreed that they would be given until May 13 to do this.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 24 - SAPA

TRC TO HEAR AMNESTY APPLICATIONS BY POLICE STATION ATTACKERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee will next week hear amnesty applications by four Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members who attacked a police station in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape shortly before the 1994 elections.

Constable Barnabas Jaggers was shot dead and Constable Edmund Nyangana and Inspector Mzingisi Mkhondeweni were injured in the attack on March 5, 1994, the commission said in a statement on Friday.

The attackers fled with a number of weapons and a police vehicle.

The four AWB members applying for amnesty for their role in the attack are Harry Jardine, Morton Christie, Andrew Howell and Christo Brand.

Jardine, Christie and Howell are also seeking amnesty for planning to attack the African National Congress and National Party offices in Port Shepstone and for their involvement in a bomb blast at a Port Shepstone restaurant in February 1994.

Jardine has also applied for amnesty for his role in procuring weapons for the Inkatha Freedom Party, apparently to ward off attacks by the ANC.

The applicants have been convicted of murder, attempted murder and robbery, but have not been sentenced pending the outcome of their amnesty applications.

The hearing will take place at the TRC's regional office in Durban from April 28 to 30.

The commission said victims, next-of-kin and anyone with an interest in the matter had the right to attend, lead evidence and be legally represented. pa

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 24 - SAPA

AWB GENERAL DENIES GIVING AN ORDER TO KILL: LAWYER

Senior Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging "general" Japie Oelofse on Friday denied involvement in a plot to kill black African National CoCommunist party supporters in the pre-1994 general election.

Oelofse's lawyer Willem Dryer told the Truth and Reconciliation Commision's amnesty committee hearing in Johannesburg that claims by four of the nine AWB men that he ordered to kill ANC/SACP supporters were not true.

AWB commander Phillipus Kloppers and eight other AWB men are applying for amnesty for the brutal killing of four black people, including a 13-year-old child, and the wounding of six others at an AWB roadblock between Krugersdorp and Ventersdorp on December 12, 1993.

Kloppers, who is semi-paralysed amd wheelchair bound, told the commission he received a direct order from Oelofse to go out and set the roadblock, identify ANC/SACP supporters and kill them.

He said after the murders he was to cut an ear off one of his victims and present it to Oelofse as an indication of a mission accomplished.

Kloppers said the roadblock was part of the AWB's plan to cause chaos in South Africa to prevent the first all-race election on April 27, 1994.

During cross-examination Dryer submitted that: "General Oelofse does not only distance himself from the plan to kill black ANC/SACP supporters but says he never issued this order, and that you (Kloppers) acted on your own."

He said his client - who has indicated that he does not want to testify before the commission - said Kloppers had "formulated your own opinion, according to your own convictions, your own feelings of what was happening on the political terrain and according to your military background and your belief that you could do something about it".

Dryer put it to Kloppers that from the misintepretation of whatever was said at a meeting with Oelofse earlier on December 12, 1993, he conveyed an order to the rest of the group that Kloppers in fact never received.

Oelofse at no stage ordered Kloppers to kill people, Dryer said, to which Kloppers replied: "That is the order he gave and that's what we did".

Kloppers denied there was any misinteprepation of the order, adding: "The order was executed as it was put to me."

He said he understood the instruction clearly, hence he organised his men and carried it out accordingly.

To prove that Oelfose did not approve the roadblock killings, Dryer said he chased Kloppers away from an agricultural plot he resided at at that time, and he also refused to accept an ear in a plastic bag Kloppers brought to confirm that the order was succesfully carried out.

"Can you remember general Oelofse's remarks on the day when he told you he did not want to have anything to do with the ear because you acted out of the ambit of his orders?" Dryer asked Kloppers.

Kloppers said he was never chased away and that he left the ear with Oelofse. "I don't know what he did with it."

Kloppers, a former SA Defence Force member, further denied that the roadblock killing was motivated by racism. "I only targeted ANC/SACP supporters and was only obeying orders."

He also denied an AWB plan to poison Soweto water supplies with cyanide was racially motivated. The idea was to cause chaos by killing thousands of people, Kloppers said.

People in the public gallery, many of them families of the roablock victims, reacted in disbelief to Kloppers' replies, many shaking their heads.

Kloppers earlier admitted that he and his men drank whisky before setting up the roadblock and killing people.

"But our consumption level of alcohol on that day could not have influenced us to have courage to launch the attack and kill those black people, who were ANC supporters," Kloppers said.

He said he got the alcohol from Deon Martin - another amnesty applicant - and shared it with his men who were travelling in another car.

He said drinking alcohol before going on a military operation was in line with AWB policy, hence on the night of the roadblock, "I did not have any problem in giving my men alcohol".

The AWB was a para-military institution and Kloppers said therefore its policies differed from that of a defence force in regard to enforcing orders.

"In terms of AWB's policy, you cannot force a person to do something against his will, but under the defence force rule, orders are adhered to... like it or not," he said.

Asked whether drinking alcohol before going on a military operation indicated a lack of discipline, Kloppers conceded: "It was indiscipline to drink alcohol before embarking on a military operation."

The hearing was postponed to June 10, when five other AWB were expected to testify on their role during the roadblock incident.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association RICHARDS BAY April 24 - SAPA

HITSQUAD MEMBERS RECONCILE WITH COMMUNITY THEY TERRORISED

The people of Esikhawini township near Richards Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast relived for the past two weeks relived the horror that befell their community six years ago and at the end of it all on Friday, somehow found it in their hearts to forgive the men who had subjected them to a living hell.

The residents had before this month's Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee hearings in Richards Bay been in the dark as to who attacked them mercilessly on a daily basis.

They were finally able to confront the seven members of an Inkatha Freedom Party hitsquad that has admitted carrying out random attacks on the community of Esikhawini in an attempt to eliminate any supprt for the African National Congress.

When the community sat down on Thursday afternoon to hear pleas for forgiveness from the row of men that made up their nightmare, they found it had a human face.

They saw it in Daluxolo Wordsworth Luthuli, who bears a striking resemblance to his Nobel Peace Prize-winning grandfather Albert Luthuli.

They saw it in Brian Gcina Mkhize who had been stern throughout the two week hearing but let a faint smile slip aross his face as he watched a young child wander playfully amongst applicants and victims oblivious to the shocking loss of life being discussed around him. And they saw it in the face of Romeo Mbamba whose face suddenly became awash with tears when he came face to face with a young woman he had crippled.

The victims found it hard to believe these were their tormentors - stripped of their balacalavas and blazing guns - who sat ready to take everything the community was willing to throw at them and then ask for forgiveness.

The community and their former tormentors came together in an informal hearing that did not formn part of the truth commission proceedings and was aimed at giving locals a chance to ask the applicants about particular incidents.

With the emotion drained from everyone after the applicants' harrowing testimony, the final performance took on a different complexion as perpetrator and victim discussed the mechanics of the political process which brought about a season of bloodletting in the previously peaceful community.

A thin old man with flashing eyes and upright stance indignantly asked Romeo Mbambo why he had killed his neighbour's son who was not at all involved in politics.

Mbambo recalling the incidents instantly, replied that it had been a mistake and that on the night in question he had been searching for an ANC activist but the assassins had attacked the wrong house and killed the young man along with three of his friends.

The old man listened to the account and as he walked he way he said, sorrowfully, that his own son had been one of the four killed that night.

Another elderly gentlemen walked up to the microphone and in a booming voice questioned Hlongwane's version to the amnesty comittee about an attack the old man had suffered. The tough old warrior with grey tinged beard and hair and the young hitman then engaged in a lengthy discussion about their life and death battle on the night in question. At times the old man smiled as he told Hlongwane how he had avoided the bullets and the blows during the attack.

Finally the old man told Hlongwane he was lucky that he had not succeeded in his mission, because then he would not have had the opportunity to apologise to him now.

A young woman who had earlier reduced tough hitman Mbambo to tears sat in her wheelchair throughout the proceedings.

Nokuthula Zulu was a 20-year-old student when Mbambo and his colleagues fired a shot into her side, paralysing her from the waist down.

After the hearing she said she now felt more healed by the experience of confronting her assailants and she had overcome her anger at not being able to walk or to complete her studies.

At end of the meeting, the residents took an unanimous vote to forgive the members of the hitsquad. All parties embraced and shook hands.

For the residents of Esikhawini the nightmare was finally over.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN April 28 - SAPA

FIRE DELAYS START OF DURBAN TRC HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings in Durban were postponed on Tuesday morning following a fire at the Smith Street venue on Sunday night.

The amnesty committee was due to hear applications from four rightwingers who attacked a police station at Flagstaff in the former Transkei in 1994.

TRC spokesman Ndu Lembede said a small fire in one of the offices set off the water sprinkler system causing damage to the public address system used during the hearings.

Lembede told Sapa the fire department had said the fire seemed to have started in wastepaper bin.

The hearings would be moved to the Durban Christian Centre in Warwick Avenue later on Tuesday.

Amnesty applicants Morton Christie, Harry Jardine, Andrew Howell and Christo Brand were found guilty of murder, attempted murder and robbery following an attack on the Flagstaff police station in March 1994.

Although convicted, they were not sentenced pending the outcome of the amnesty hearing.

A fifth applicant, South Coast Inkatha Freedom Party leader James Zulu, who was also due to testify in Tuesday's hearing, was murdered in a shooting at a Port Shepstone taxi rank earlier this month.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 28 - SAPA

TRC A DIVISIVE FORCE, SAYS NP

Instead of promoting national unity and reconciliation, the TRC had, through its "skewed composition, unlawful acts, lopsided investigations and biased statements", become a divisive force, the National Party said on Tuesday.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had for the second time been involved in racial rows from within its own ranks, NP TRC spokesman Jacko Maree said in a statement.

Some time ago black members had attacked TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine for racism and arrogance.

Now Judge Andrew Wilson was lambasted by black TRC members because he supported the candidacy of Judge Willem Booysen in preference to Judge Vuka Tshabalala as deputy president of the KwaZulu-Natal Bench.

"South Africans will soon have to give serious attention as to how the damage the TRC has done, presently does, and will do to racial harmony, could best be countered and remedied," Maree said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 28 - SAPA

SA MEDIA NEEDS TO TRANSFORM TO REFLECT NEW SOCIETY: EMDON

South Africa needs a new, more relevant media in which the country's first world and third world communities are bridged by new media forms, new styles of writing and broadcasting and, most importantly, new attitudes.

This was said by Clive Emdon, chairman of the media committee of the Freedom of Expression Institute, in a speech to the Amsterdam-based Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa.

In the speech, sent to Sapa in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Emdon said it was clear the South African media was ill- equipped to deal with the nature of development and that journalists wrote with little understanding of the subject.

"They report on or write about development rather than write for development," he said.

Media ownership and control needed to be reviewed, especially the influence that the dominance of existing ownership had on the future diversity of the media.

"Although media ownership has changed, it still fits within the old mode of publishing and does not venture into being media for development," Emdon said.

He raised the possibility of a statutory media development agency which could foster the development and diversity of media at grassroots level.

The existing print and broadcast media in South Africa could and should support such an agency to stimulate the development of new media, particularly among historically marginalised communities.

Emdon said community media and small venture media could provide "the engine for real development", but this could not be done without the financial support of government and business.

The transformation of the South African media was also about "coming to terms with the ongoing consequences of the systematic violation of political and civil rights of the past".

As one instance, he said the media was not meeting the challenge of reporting the poverty hearings being held by the NGO Coalition and the Human Rights Commission. The hearings, though "not so dramatic or newsworthy in terms of first world news criteria", reflected the systematic violation of human and civil rights over decades.

He said President Nelson Mandela's well-publicised attack on the press at the African National Congress national conference in Mafikeng in December was not a clampdown on the liberal press as perceived locally and internationally, but rather "a critique of the role of journalists in a white-controlled environment, suggesting there was little room for, or evidence of, critical discussion".

"A critique of the South African media suggests shoddy professionalism and a complete failure of investigative journalism," Emdon said. An exception was Max du Preez' weekly television programme on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Emden pointed to the failure by the media to follow up claims at the TRC hearings on the press that there were as many as 40 police agents, informers and sources in just one of the four main press companies. "There was evidence of journalists at top level in broadcasting as well as in the press being directly linked to (the former government's) disinformation projects... Lots of questions remain unanswered which journalists have been reluctant to investigate," Emdon said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 29 1998 - SAPA

NP TO QUIZ OMAR ON TRC

The National Party on Tuesday released 37 pages of questions it plans to ask Justice Minister Dullah Omar about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and said it needed the answers to contextualise the TRC's final report due to be finalised within the next few months.

The NP's main problem with the TRC was it was not properly representative, in that almost all of its members and staff were African National Congress supporters or sympathisers, NP TRC spokesman Jacko Maree said.

None of the people the NP had nominated to sit on the TRC had been appointed to the commission.

The NP wanted the TRC's final report to be viewed in the context of how the body was constituted, and to assess whether it had adopted an even-handed approach, Maree said.

The party also wanted to establish the "real cost" of the commission to the taxpayer, as this could be much higher than the R200 million budgeted for.

Among the questions the NP wanted answered was whether the commissioners or any TRC committee members belonged to any political organisation or party.

It also wanted to know details of the TRC's investigations into the human rights violations committed by the liberation forces.

These included the Magoo's Bar bombing in Durban, the torture of detainees in ANC camps, and the murder of numerous political leaders, including former Kangwane leader David Lukhele, Western Cape activist Mziwonke "Pro" Jack, and Oupa Moloi, who headed the ANC's political department.

The NP also queried the basis on which amnesty had been granted and the manner in which TRC investigations were carried out.

The NP's questions would be tabled in Parliament. Parliamentary regulations prevented all the questions being tabled at once, so they would appear in the names of several NP MPs, Maree said.

He denied the NP was attempting to discredit the TRC report in anticipation of it presenting an unfavourable view of the NP.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 29 1998 - SAPA

UDF LEADERS TO APPEAR BEFORE TRC

Former United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders are to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town on May 6 to provide the commission with information it needs to complete its work.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the TRC said the public hearing would be convened to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to human rights violations during the 1980s, which would be dealt with in the commission's final report.

The issues included the UDF leadership's relationship at the time with the African National Congress in exile, incidents of necklacing, and the possibility that some UDF campaigns led to human rights violations.

Former UDF leaders set to appear at the hearing include: Patrick Lekota, currently chairman of the National Council of Provinces; Mohammed Valli Moosa, Minister of Constitutional Affairs; Popo Molefe, premier of North West Province; Murphy Morobe, chairman of the Financial and Fiscal Commission; and Azhar Cachalia, secretary of safety and security.

The public hearing will be held at the TRC's offices at 106 Adderley Street, Cape Town, starting at 9am.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 29 1998 - SAPA

NP CONTINUES TO SEEK COURT ORDER AGAINST ANC AMNESTY 37

The National Party was proceeding with its application through the High Court in Cape Town to obtain an order declaring the TRC amnesty granted to 37 African National Congress leaders to be irregular, NP spokesman Jacko Maree said on Wednesday.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had indicated that it did not oppose the NP application, he said in a statement.

However, the 37 ANC leaders - who had received amnesty unlawfully - were opposing the NP's application, he said.

The TRC had also brought an application in the High Court requesting an order directing itself to reconsider the 37 applications.

The NP had applied some days ago for the two matters to be consolidated.

"If this order is granted, the two applications will be heard by the same judge simultaneously," Maree said.

"It has come to the attention of the National Party that the TRC and the 37 ANC leaders are negotiating with a view to settle the TRC application.

"A settlement of this matter may or may not have an effect on the NP application.

"At best, it steals a march on the NP application, and at worst it may affect the NP application detrimentally."

The NP had therefore on Wednesday morning lodged an additional application, in terms of which an order was sought granting it and a co-respondent permission to intervene.

"The court's attention is drawn to the fact that although the two applications are very similar, the TRC's application assumes that the 37 applications... are capable of being considered afresh by the TRC; this is not necessarily so," Maree said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN Apr 29 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGERS WERE BETRAYED BY THEIR OWN LEADER: TRC HEARS

Four rightwingers who carried out a midnight raid on a Transkei police station to obtain weapons for the Inkatha Freedom Party, were betrayed by their own leader, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Durban on Wednesday.

The four former members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging are applying for amnesty for the attack in which one policeman was killed and two wounded.

The applicants, who were convicted of murder, attempted murder and robbery, claimed they were set up by their local AWB commandant, who turned out to be a security police informer.

The four men told the TRC's amnesty committee they found out during their trial that one of the prime movers in the plot to attack the Flagstaff police station, AWB south coast commandant Patrick Pedler, encouraged them to go ahead with the raid in spite of their own misgivings.

They found out later that Pedler, who pulled out of the operation at the last minute, had informed the security police of their plans to attack the police station.

The four AWB members are applying for amnesty for the attack at the Flagstaff police station where a wild shootout occurred on the night of March 3, 1994.

Harry Simon Jardine, 44, of Hibberdene on the south coast, told the amnesty committee he only found out during his trial that Pedler, who participated in the planning of the attack, was a police informer. Jardine said Pedler passed on the information about the planned attack to the security police, who warned the Flagstaff police station. However, the security police told the Transkei police to expect an attack from the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla).

The amnesty committee was given no explanation as to why the security police did not try to stop the planned attack when they found about it or why they told the Transkei police to expect an Apla attack.

Jardine said the original idea for the plan came from an Inkatha Freedom Party member in the area, Robin Shoesmith, who suggested they attack the poorly guarded Flagstaff police station.

He proposed they rob the police of weapons which could be used to arm the IFP.

Shoesmith also recommended south coast IFP leader James Zulu be involved and it was agreed that he accompany the raiding party.

Shoesmith told the AWB members there was a large consignment of rifles at the police station, which on Saturday nights was guarded by only one policeman "who was usually drunk".

Jardine said Pedler and Shoesmith were insistent that the operation go ahead because the AWB on the south coast needed to show that it was doing something to counter the African National Congress in the proivince.

When the attack party eventually arrived at the police station, they found that reinforcments had been sent in to thwart the attack. During a shootout at the police station, Transkei policeman Constable Barnabas Jaggers was killed and two others were injured.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall why, if the policemen were alerted and ready for an attack, they suffered the casualties and not the attackers, Jardine said he could not explain that, but insisted he was telling the truth.

He later said it was possible the policemen were expecting an Apla attack and were therefore on guard for an attack by blacks. They could have been taken by surprise when white men appeared.

Jardine told the committee he was swept away by the "unsteady political situation" and believed that if the ANC came to power he and other Afrikaners would lose everything they had.

Jardine, Zulu and three other AWB members, Morton Christie, 35, Andrew Howell, 42, and Christo Brand, 31, were later arrested and convicted in July last year of murder, attempted murder and robbery. Sentence was postponed pending the outcome of their amnesty application.

Zulu, whose application for amnesty was due to be heard on Wednesday, was killed in an attack on a taxi rank in Port Shepstone three weeks ago.

Christie told the hearing that he had probably fired the first shot on the night of the raid. He said he remembered seeing a Transkei policeman aiming a rifle at him and ordering him to enter the police station. He said he drew his own firearm and began firing.

He said shooting then commenced from both sides and he was unable to say who had caused the death of Jaggers.

All the applicants told the committee they now felt betrayed by the leadership of the AWB, which had not supported them even though they had acted in the interests of the organisation.

The committee said it would make its decision known as to whether amnesty would be granted "in due course".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG April 29 1998 - SAPA

BAREND STRYDOM WITHDRAWS AMNESTY APPLICATION

Rightwing mass murderer Barend Strydom has withdrawn his application for amnesty for the cold-blooded murder of eight black people in Pretoria in 1988.

SABC television news on Wednesday reported that Strydom claimed only a general amnesty could resolve the amnesty question and that the government was using the issue to humiliate and belittle the Boer nation.

Strydom's application before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee was due to be heard this week, but had to be postponed due to logistical reasons.

He was sentenced to death for shooting dead eight black people in Strijdom Square in Pretoria in 1988. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, but in 1993 he was indemnified and released after serving just four years in jail.

He applied for amnesty so that his parole conditions could be lifted, his criminal record erased and he be protected from civil claims by his victims' families.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ALICE April 29 1998 - SAPA

ANC MEMBERS SEEK AMNESTY FOR MURDER OF HEADMEN

Two African National Congress members, who have asked the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty for the 1992 murder of a headman in a village near Alice in the Eastern Cape, on Wednesday denied any part in necklacing him.

An inquest could not identify the killers of Ndodiphela Maseti, a member former Ciskei ruler Brigadier Oupa Gqozo's African Democratic Movement, and so nobody was charged.

However, ANC members Zukile Makapela, 23, and Ludumo Mati, 27, on Wednesday told the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth that they had applied for amnesty for the murder because "doing so is very important in our lives" and they wanted to tell the truth.

Maseti died when he was assaulted and burnt by a group of ANC supporters at Upper Gqumashe location on September 28, 1992.

Makapela said during the latter part of 1989 and beginning of 1990 turmoil erupted in Ciskei, during which a military coup led by Gqozo ousted President Lennox Sebe.

A military government was formed and it received the approval of Nelson Mandela and the ANC in the Border region, he said.

Makepela said the hated headman system was also abolished, but by 1991 there was bad blood between the military government and the ANC and Gqozo reinstated the headmen.

Numerous protest marches were held by community against Gqozo's military government and one march on September 7, 1992, resulted in the Bisho massacre.

Makapela said on September 27, 1992, Maseti's house was burnt down. The next day, Makapela he was among residents who decided to approach Maseti to ask him to resign as headman.

"When he saw the group of residents coming, he fled. He was chased and stones were thrown at him.

"I also threw about two or three stones, but I'm not sure whether they struck him," he said.

Some members of the group carried tyres and a group ahead of him caught up with Maseti, assaulted him and set him alight.

He denied taking part in the assault and necklacing.

Mati did not testify but his statement was handed in to the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN April 30 - SAPA

ATTORNEY'S COMPLAIN OF TRC MEMBERS' CONDUCT

An East London firm of attorneys, Hole and Manjezi, on Thursday complained to Truth and Reconciliation Chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu about the conduct of two amnesty committee members during a hearing in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday and demanded an apology.

In a letter to Tutu, the company said one of its partners, Pumelele Hole, appeared at the hearing during which Judge Ronald Pillay and Advocate Denzil Potgieter behaved in a manner unbefitting members of the TRC.

Pillay had allegedly told Hole that he was bringing "frivolous and unnecessary applications while the amnesty committee had thousands of applications to consider".

This presupposed that Pillay had no idea of the purpose of the amnesty committee and that he thought only persons serving sentences, or who were likely to be prosecuted, need apply for amnesty, the attorneys said in the letter.

The fact that Pillay had said, "we are not playing the fool here", meant, or at the very least insinuated, that Hole had come to play the fool at the hearing.

"This language is unbecoming of a judge and rude in the extreme," the attorneys said.

The lawyers also complained that no attempt was made to reprimand the interpreter when he laughed at their client, who "obviously confused by the judge's tirade and badgering... started saying he had done things `tomorrow'".

"On the contrary, the honourable members of the committee joined in and laughed at the applicant," the attorneys said.

Pillay also seemed to think he could make an order that Hole not be paid for the day's appearance at the hearing.

"Where this judge gets this idea, one can only wonder."

The letter ended by demanding a written apology from Tutu for the conduct of the TRC officers.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 1 - SAPA

MEIRING AND LIEBENBERG TO APPEAR BEFORE TRC ON MONDAY

Soon-to-retire chief of the defence force General Georg Meiring and former army General Kat Liebenberg, would appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday at an inquiry into the 1993 Umtata raid, TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza announced on Friday.

Ntsebeza said in a statement they were subpoenaed by the TRC's investigative unit to provide information relating to the deaths of five children asleep in a house in Umtata targeted by the former South African Defence Force.

"The former government said at the time that they had information that the house was used as a base for the Azanian People's Liberation Army," he said.

The inquiry will be held in camera at the TRC's Cape Town offices.

Ntsebeza said Meiring and Liebenberg will be questioned on all operational orders and instructions to the 12-member team which carried out the cross-border raid.

The TRC also wants them to name the people involved in the planning of the operation and to provide details of intelligence reports.

Ntsebeza said last month SAPS Sergeant Thapelo Johannes Mbelo gave testimony on the Umtata raid to a closed TRC inquiry. Mbelo was involved in the former SAP's investigation into APLA activities at the time.

He said the TRC may appoint lawyers for Meiring and Liebenberg if they can't afford their own.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 1 - SAPA

DP SAYS NP DELAYING PROCEEDINGS BY INTERVENING IN TRC APPLICATION

The Democratic Party on Friday accused the National Party of dragging out proceedings by intervening in the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission's application to nullify the blanket amnegranted to 37 senior ANC members.

DP spokesman Dene Smuts said the NP application was simply complicating and prolonging the situation now that the ANC had withdrawn its opposition to the application.

"The NP's present argument for hanging on to the court action despite being outmanoeuvred seems to rest on the fear that the amnesty committee will not be legally able to hear the applications afresh after the court has declared the amnesties void," said Smuts.

She said the TRC had satisfactorily dealt with the matter by applying for an explicit order to have the amnesty applications heard afresh and by incorporating an alternative request into their court application for a full review and setting aside of the amnesty decision in its application.

Smuts said the NP's original argument that it was persisting with the court action to prevent the TRC and the ANC settling matters between them had never had any legal bearing and it was no longer valid.

Smuts said the true test of the ANC's commitment to the truth process will be full individual disclosure before the amnesty committee.

"The DP will be the first to insist that disclosers made in good faith - on all sides - be put behind us, and not exploited," she said.

The National Party will argue its case for the intervention when the TRC's application goes before the Cape Town High Court on May 8.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association LONDON May 3 1998 - SAPA-AP

BBC: U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL BACKS RWANDAN TRUTH COMMISSION

The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he backs the idea of a "truth commission" on the genocide in Rwanda, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday.

Annan, on a tour of central and eastern Africa, met with Salim Ahmed Salim, secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity, in Djibouti, Ethiopia, to discuss how the proposal could work.

An unnamed senior U.N. official told the BBC that both organizations hope that the planned commission will operate in a similar way to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up in 1995 and designed to heal the wounds of the apartheid era. That commission can grant amnesty to people who make full confessions of political crimes.

Rwanda's commission, the BBC said, would examine the recent history of the Great Lakes region of Africa, and would also take into account the role of outside powers such as France.

In January, a French newspaper reported that France supplied arms to the Hutu-led government of Rwanda during the genocide of minority Tutsis in spring 1994. This month, a French parliamentary committee has been investigating the claims.

Le Figaro also contended that the then-Socialist President Francois Mitterrand maintained the policy to block expanding American interests in French-speaking central Africa.

The composition of the commission and how it will work will be decided at the next Organization of African Unity summit in June, the BBC said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 5 1998 - SAPA

ANC BOMB CAMPAIGN AMNESTY HEARING POSTPONED

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in which ten former Umkhonto we Sizwe members are applying for amnesty for the ANC's 1980s bombing campaign has been postponed until Wednesday.

An adjournment was granted on Tuesday at the request of Louis Visser, who is appearing for victims of the African National Congress bomb blasts.

Visser told the TRC's amnesty committee he needed time to consult with witnesses before proceeding with the hearing.

Visser is to cross-examine the former head of MK's special operations unit, Aboobaker Ismail, who has admitted planning the bombing campaign.

Ismail has claimed full responsilility for the attacks, which include the May 1983 Church Street blast in Pretoria which claimed the lives of 19 people, 11 of them SA Air Force members.

Ismail on Monday told the hearing the Church Street attack was justified because it was aimed at SAAF headquarters - a military target.

He said the campaign, which included attacks on Sasol and Mobil oil refineries, Voortrekkerhoogte military base, the Krugersdorp courts and police station and Wits Command in Johannesburg, was aimed at demoralising the apartheid government and "inspiring the oppressed".

The bomb victims Visser is representing are opposing the granting of amnesty to the 10 MK members.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 5 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO EXHUME BODIES OF NINE FORMER MK MEMBERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's special investigative unit will exhume the bodies of nine former members of Umkhonto we Sizwe in Northern Province and Mpumalanga from Wednesday (tomorrow).

The TRC in a statement on Tuesday said the bodies of MK members - Victor Mngadi, formerly from Inanda in Durban and Oupa Funani, from Soweto - would be exhumed in Piet Rietief on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the bodies of Vusi Mbongwe from Piet Rietief, Bheki Mchunu, from Paulpietersburg, James Masango from Soweto, Bafana Mahlombe from Vryheid and Henry Nkosi from Paulpiersburg, would be exhumed in Paulpietersburg.

Members of the media have been advised to gather at Paulpietersburg police station at 9am.

The bodies of Charles Tsatsi from Soweto, Johannesburg and Zola Tati from New Brighton near Port Elizabeth, would be exhumed in Louis Trichard next Monday.

The nine were killed by apartheid security forces in the 1980s.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 5 1998 - SAPA

CALL FOR BOESAK TO MAKE TRC SUBMISSION ON UDF

Sixteen ministers of the United Reformed Church have petitioned the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to postpone Wednesday's public hearing on the United Democratic Front (UDF) because former patron Allan Boesak has not been invited to make a submission.

Former leaders of the UDF, including Popo Molefe, will appear at the TRC hearing in Cape Town to answer, among other things, questions about the UDF's relationship with the African National Congress' leadership in exile, as well as necklacing and the possible effect of consumer boycotts in causing some human rights violations.

In a letter to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Tuesday, the ministers said if Boesak was not given an opportunity to describe his experiences, "it means a vital part of the role and experiences of the people of the Cape Flats in the history of our country will go by unrecognised".

"We are pleading with you to seek the truth with regard to the UDF in a much more balanced way, by also calling the man at the centre of this movement to help tell the truth about the UDF to the nation.

"If the hearing goes ahead, unchanged, be very sure that the Truth Commission will not be left unchallenged in this instance," the ministers said.

Tutu's spokesman John Allen said the TRC chairman had yet to see the letter as he had only returned from the Netherlands on Tuesday and would be travelling to Cape Town on Wednesday.

The TRC had nothing to do with the composition of the UDF delegation, as this was the responsibility of the organisation's former leaders.

Molefe said in a statement that he and other panel members were dismayed at the issues raised by the ministers, especially as these had not been raised directly with the UDF delegation, who had to hear about it through the media.

The panel appearing before the TRC would comprise former executive leaders of the UDF, who would make submission on the UDF's activities, its daily functioning and decision making.

"Those on the panel took the exeutive decisions of the UDF and are as such responsible for these decisions," Molefe said.

Patrons of the UDF did not make day-to-day decisions.

As the UDF no longer existed it could not elect a panel from its ranks and it was therefore only logical that its executive leadership would make the submission, Molefe said.

However, the delegation in no way wished to detract from the role played by Boesak or the people of the Cape Flats in the 1980s.

The same ministers expressed concern in February about the postponement of Boesak's fraud trial to May, saying it was "morally untenable" for the Legal Aid Board to withhold financial assistance from him. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 6 1998 - SAPA

FIRST TRC REPARATION NOTICES GO OUT

The first 700 people officially declared victims of gross human rights violations were on Wednesday sent notices by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission informing them they were eligible to apply for reparation.

Addressing a media conference in Cape Town, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "For us it is a tremendous, historic day; it is almost like we are beginning our work."

The commission had spent two years collecting statements, hearing public testimonies and individually corroborating each of the more than 20,000 statements received.

It was planned to send out more than 2000 official findings and reparation applications forms each week, Tutu said in a statement.

Applications for reparation would be considered by the TRC's reparations and rehabilitation committee.

If a victim had suffered hardship and was in particular need, the committee would forward the applications to the President's Fund, a body set up to make reparation payments.

Interim reparations were once-off payments - normally a maximum of R2000 - for those victims or their dependants who had suffered hardship and were in need.

A TRC staff member said the amount could be increased on a sliding scale if the conditions of the victims and their dependants warranted it.

Tutu said in his statement that notices would also be sent out soon to people who were found, in a minority of cases, not to have been victims of gross violations of human rights.

These people would be able to appeal against the decision.

"We appeal to those who made statements to the TRC to be patient with us for a little longer, while they wait for findings to arrive," Tutu said.

Those with inquiries could call: (011) 333-6330; (021) 24-5161; (031) 307-6767; or (0431) 43-2885.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 6 1998 - SAPA

ANC MASTERMIND CAMPAIGN JUSTIFIES PRETORIA CHURCH STREET BLAST

The 1983 Pretoria bomb blast which killed 19 people was an attack on a military target aimed at showing the apartheid regime that their forces could also bleed, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in the capital on Wednesday.

Ten former Umkhonto we Sizwe members were applying for amnesty for a series of bomb attacks they committed as part of an African National Congress campaign to demoralise the apartheid government in the 1980's.

One of the applicants, Aboobaker Ismail, 43, has admitted planning and orchestrating the attacks, including the Pretoria bomb blast, while he was commander of the ANC's Special Operations Unit.

Ismail, 43, recalled in his testimony to the TRC's amnesty committee that according to newsaper reports after the bomb blast there had been a "sea of blue" in the rubble, referring to the blue uniforms of the killed or injured Air Force staff. He said this convinced him that the attack on the SAAF headquartes had been an "overwhelmingly military target".

Ismail who masterminded the Church Street bomb blast said although he regretted the deaths of innocent civilians, the ANC's policy was that they should not be deterred from striking at the apartheid state "for the sake of a few civilian lives".

The Church Street attack on May 20, 1983 killed 19 and injured more than 200 people when a car with 40kg of explosives was detonated outside the SAAF headquarters. Two MK cadres, who were in the car at the time, were also killed because the bomb exploded two minutes early.

Ismail said the bomb was aimed at the military personnel leaving the SA Air Force headquarters. He had personally selected the building as a target. However, he said, the planners of the attack knew that the location of the target inside an urban area posed a threat to civilians.

"We did not target civilians. However the policy of the ANC at the time was that we could not for the sake of saving a few lives be prevented from striking at the power of State, the apartheid state," Ismail said.

He also quoted former ANC president Oliver Tambo as justifying the attacks even though civilians were often killed.

Ismail said the ANC was determined to strike back at the security forces and to make them bleed.

"They could not think they could go on doing anything they wanted because they had the guns. (By way of the Church Street bomb) the enemy forces of the apartheid regime bled," he said.

He added that the security forces had been callous in their treatment of black people in South Africa.

Ismail was being cross-examined by Louis Visser, SC, who is appearing for some of victims of the bombing campaign.

Visser, who has appeared at other TRC hearings on behalf of policemen applying for amnesty for human rights abuses, found himself arguing in favour of victims in this hearing.

The victims he is representing were opposing the application for amnesty on the grounds that they believe the attack on them was not justified. Visser questioned the ANC's political motive in carrying out the bomb attack on the Nedbank building which housed the adminstrative headquarters of the SAAF and other offices and was therefore a soft target.

Ismail replied that the struggle between the ANC and the apartheid state could not be equated with a war between two countries.

"There would have been no struggle if there had been no apartheid state. It was the cause of suffering and bitterness in this country and the oppression of the people," he said.

Visser said the people he represented found it difficult to accept that as administrative people such as telephonists and typists they were seen as a military target.

Ismail replied that even though they were administrative people they contributed to the operation of the military machine and had to be seen as part of the whole structure and not as individuals.

The actions of the special operations unit had the support and approval of SACP head Joe Slovo and Tambo.

Quoting from a speech made by Tambo at a funeral for ANC members killed in a SADF cross-border raid into Mozambique in 1983, he said it was time to bring the struggle to the white areas of South Africa, which had until then been free of the strife occurring in black areas.

Ismail explained that this was not seen as an order to attack whites "willy nilly" but to take the conflict into white areas so that they could experience the harsh realities of what was happening in the country.

"We wanted whites to come out of their comfort zones and feel the pain and suffering of the black people. We wanted to bring them to their senses," he said.

Ismail completed his testimony on Wednesday. The hearing of the nine other applications for amnesty continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 6 1998 - SAPA

NECKLACING WAS CONDEMNED, UDF LEADERS TELL TRC

The United Democratic Front (UDF) conceded that the language used from time to time by some of its leaders could have provided a reasonable basis for some of its members to infer that violence and even killing was acceptable.

But the political climate in South Africa in the 1980s had to be borne in mind, leaders of the former prominent 1980s anti-apartheid organisation said in a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday.

The UDF, however, disapproved of necklacing and condemned its use on several occasions, former UDF leader Azhar Cachalia told the TRC's human rights violations committee.

Giving evidence to the committee in Cape Town, as part of a delegation of former prominent UDF leaders, Cachalia, now head of the South African Police Services' civilian secretariat, said this was communicated through the media and by discussion among UDF affiliates.

The UDF, however, had very little direct control over the development of the necklacing phenomenon.

The organisation's capacity and ability to intervene was limited due to the negative impact of the state of emergency in the mid-1980s on the organisation, Cachalia said.

"The UDF constantly made public statements distancing itself from such conduct."

Reading the UDF's main submission into the record, North West premier Popo Molefe said state acts of brutality, as well as systematic detention and banning of the UDF and other leaders, created the space for uncontrolled acts of violence by angry mobs of especially youths.

The restrictions imposed on the UDF in terms of the state of emergency confined the activities of the organisation to office administration, and placed most of its leadership in detention.

"This severely hampered the ability of the UDF to moderate, prevent or curtail the activities of angry activists, and supporters of boycotts and work stoppages.

"It is in this context that various gross violations of human rights were committed against suspected opponents of the mass protest action and supporters of the state," Molefe said.

African National Congress national chairman Patrick Lekota, also chairman of the National Council of Provinces, said he wished to pay tribute to patrons the UDF could approach at critical times.

These included Dr Allan Boesak, Dr Beyers Naude, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the late Helen Joseph.

Lekota said the UDF was founded in the hope that the government would listen to moderate voices in the country, in view especially of the fact that other organisations had been driven to arms.

"We did our best to act responsibly as citizens."

In its submission, the UDF said it was known that the ANC was a prominent, but banned, ally. The UDF was launched in 1983 with the support of about 600 organisations.

Cachalia said the UDF deeply regretted any loss of life or injury that resulted from its quest for justice.

The former organisation's submission stated further: "The UDF was confronted with growing anger and impatience on the ground... in this context it faced the dilemma of seeking to conduct a peaceful struggle under conditions which gave more credibility to violent confrontation on the one hand, and where, on the other hand, the UDF lacked the capacity to exercise the kind of control which is peculiar to command groups or military organisations."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIET RETIEF May 6 1998 - SAPA

TRC EXHUMES BODIES OF SLAIN MK OPERATIVES

The bodies of two Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives who were killed by security branch police during an ambush outside Piet Retief in 1982 were exhumed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's special investigative unit on Wednesday.

Victor Mngadi and Oupa Funani were killed and buried in unmarked graves in Thandakukhanya Cemetery, near Piet Retief, in Mpumalanga after they tried to resist police arrest.

The two MK operatives are the first of nine cadres expected to be exhumed in Mpumalanga and Northern Province this week, African Eye News Service reported.

Mngadi, from Inanda in Durban, and Funani, from Soweto, were part of an MK squad based in Swaziland and were on their way to Durban on a secret mission when they were ambushed by police.

According to police records, the two boarded a taxi to Durban at Mahamba border gate and revealed their political affiliation to the taxi driver during the trip south.

A spokesman for the TRC's investigative unit, Captain Fanie Molapo said the unnamed taxi driver was a police informer who immediately reported the MK operatives to his handlers.

"The driver stopped at a garage and pretended that he needed to put more petrol into the taxi. While it was being filled, he phoned the security branch and arranged for an ambush," Molapo said.

A combined police and security branch roadblock was set up further down the road where police attempted to arrest the two operatives and shot them dead during a shoot-out.

Mngadi's body was recovered relatively intact from the pauper's coffin he was buried in, but TRC investigators struggled to exhume Funani, who was buried in a plastic bag.

Their reburial ceremonies in their home towns are still being finalised with relatives.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 7 1998 - SAPA

MK MAN ATTACKED SYNAGOGUE BECAUSE OF SA RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL

A former Mkhonto we Sizwe cadre on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria he bombed a Hillbrow Synagogue in 1983 because of the South African government's relations with Israel at the time.

Mahommed Iqbal Shaik, 39, who was a member of the African National Congress' special operations unit that attacked targets in South Africa, has applied for amnesty for a series of bombings in the 1980s.

Shaik has admitted planting a limpet mine outside the Temple of Israel Synagogue in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, where former state president Marais Viljoen was due to address a meeting the following day.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee the limpet mine was set to explode in the early hours of the morning so as not to injure civilians.

Shaik was asked by Louis Visser SC, who is appearing for victims of some of the blasts, how the attack on a synagogue could have a political objective.

Shaik said South Africa and Israel at the time co-operated on a political, economic and military level, and the attack was therefore justified. He said it was necessary for the ANC to make a political statement on the eve of Viljoen's visit to the synagogue.

Shaik also admitted taking part in many other bomb attacks in and around Johannesburg at the time. Among the attacks was the Krugersdorp car bomb blast on March 17, 1987, in which three people were killed and 20 injured.

He told the committee the bombing was planned to cause maximum casualties to the security forces in the area. He said the intention was to detonate an explosive device in a toilet used by policemen so that it would act as a decoy to attract more policemen from the nearby SA Police headquarters to the area where the car bomb was set.

However, the first decoy failed to detonate and the car bomb exploded, resulting in the death of two security force members and one civilian.

Visser suggested this was a callous way to conduct a war, and Shaik replied that he rejected this and believed the attack was justified.

Shaik denied that another MK member, Hein Grosskopf, participated in the Krugersdorp attack. He said he had never seen or met Grosskopf until after the attack and believes he was wrongly accused of being involved in the blast.

Shaik said media reports wrongly named Grosskopf as being involved in the attack.

Grosskopf has applied for amnesty for an attack on the Wits Command in De Villiers Street in Johannesburg in March 1987. One soldier was killed and 68 people injured in the blast.

Grosskopf, who lives in London, submitted his application for amnesty but informed the TRC he would not be appearing in person. His name was withdrawn from the role and his application would not proceed until he agreed to appear in person. The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 7 1998 - SAPA

GROSSKOPF HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH KRUGERSDORP CAR BOMB, TRC TOLD

Heinrich Grosskopf, who was sought for a long time in connection with the Krugersdorp car bomb in March 1987, had nothing to do with the attack, a former Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadre told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria on Thursday.

Grosskopf, who police linked to the attack that killed three people and injured 20 at the magistrates court and police complex in Krugersdorp, was also named in media reports at the time as a susepct.

Mahommed Iqbal Shaik, 39, who was a member ANC's special operations unit that carried out the attack, said Grosskopf was not involved.

Shaik told the TRC's amnesty committee that he had not known or heard of Grosskopf until after the blast. He said he believed Grosskopf had been tried by the media for something he had not even been connected with.

Grosskopf has applied for amnesty for an attack on the Wits Command in De Villiers Street in Johannesburg in March 1987. One soldier was killed and 68 people were injured in the blast.

Grosskopf, who lives in London has submitted his application for amnesty but has informed the TRC that he would not appear. His name has been withdrawn from the roll and his application will not proceed unless he appears.

Shaik is one of ten former MK members applying for amnesty for the ANC's bombing campaign in the 1980s. He has admitted planting a limpet mine outside the Temple of Israel Synagogue, where former state president Marais Viljoen was due to address a meeting the following day.

He said the limpet mine was set to explode in the early hours of the morning so as not to injure civilians.

Shaik was asked by Louis Visser, SC, who is appearing for victims of the some of the blasts, how the attack on a synagogue could have a political objective.

Shaik replied that South Africa and Israel at the time co-operated on a political, economic and military level and the attack was therefore justified. He said it was necessary for the ANC to make a political statement on the eve of the visit to the synagogue by Viljoen.

Shaik has also admitted taking part in many other high profile bomb attacks in and around the Johannesburg at the time.

He said the Krugersdorp blast was planned to cause maximum casualties to the security forces in the area. He said the intention was to detonate an explosive device in the toilet used by policemen so that it would act as a decoy to attract more policemen from the nearby SA Police headquarters into the area where the car bomb was set.

The first decoy failed to detonate and the car bomb killed two security force members and one civilian.

Visser suggested that this was a callous way to conduct a war. Shaik replied that he rejected this and believed the attack was justified.

Another applicant, Johannes Mnisi (also known by his MK name as Molefe), told the hearing of his involvement in several attacks including the Pretoria Church Street bomb on May 20, 1983 which he admitted planning and preparing.

He said he had also helped Grosskopf (known in MK as Akino) acquire the explosives for the Wits Command blast in July 1987.

Mnisi said he and others had been stopped by a black policema n while on their way to Laudium near Pretoria carry out a rocket attack on Voortrekkerhoogte military base near Pretoria in 1981.

Mnisi said when the policemen saw the rocket launchers they were carrying he accused them of stealing plumbing pipes and threatened to charge them with theft.

They bribed the policeman with R20 and they were sent on their way.

The MK men fired five rockets into the military base. A curious crowd gathered to watch, apparently believing the attack to be a SADF weapons display.

The driver of their getaway car left when the crowd gathered and the MK men commandeered a car from a bystander.

Mnisi said the four other members of the unit that carried out the attack had since died. The committee received no indication of the fate of the policeman who could have pre-empted the attack.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PAULPIETERSBURG May 7 1998 - SAPA

TRC EXHUMES BODIES OF MK FIGHTERS

The bodies of four Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives who were paraded naked through the streets of Paulpietersburg before being executed in the early 1980s were exhumed near Paulpietersburg in KwaZulu-Natal by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday.

The exhumed bodies will be reburied in the cadres' home towns in special ceremonies over the weekend, African Eye News Service reported.

The commission's special investigations unit was, however, unable to exhume the body of a fifth MK cadre, Henry Nkosi, because none of his relatives could be traced.

Nkosi and a fellow MK operative, Bheki Mchunu, were killed by security branch policemen on December 8, 1982, after a taxi driver transporting them on a mission turned out to be a police informer.

"Large numbers of MK cadres were murdered after being sold to the police by taxi drivers. The taxi drivers, in fact, got so good at it that they became regular police informers," said TRC investigative unit spokesman Fanie Molapo.

The policeman and his son who allegedly killed the two freedom fighters have not applied for amnesty, despite being publicly connected to the murders, Molapo said.

Vusi Mbongwe, James Masango and Bafana Mahlombe were sent to search for Nkosi and Mchunu by MK commanders in Swaziland but were also reported to police by taxi drivers in June 1983.

They were arrested, stripped naked and marched through the local township to the police station where they were later repeatedly shot at close range with automatic rifles and pistols before being buried naked in unmarked graves.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 8 - SAPA

MK UNIT SLEPT IN POLICE STATION BEFORE SASOL ATTACK: TRC HEARS

Members of an Mkhonto we Sizwe unit slept at a police station in Secunda while planning an attack on the Sasol 2 fuel installation in May 1980, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Friday.

A member of the unit that carried out the attack, Sipho Matthews Thobela, 42, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Pretoria that he was the commander of a unit sent by MK commander Joe Slovo to attack Sasol 2.

He said while conducting reconnaissance at Sasol 2, the members of the unit told the staff they were seeking employment at the plant. They were allowed to sleep in the Sasol 2 hostel and at times in the Secunda police station.

"The police were very kind to us," he said, adding the unit later returned on May 31, 1980, and set off limpet mines in the plant, creating a massive blaze. He said the attack was planned to coincide with Republic Day and was hailed as a great success by Slovo and other MK commanders.

Thobela is applying for amnesty for his part in the attack on Sasol 2. His application for amnesty has been added to those of ten other MK members who applying for amnesty for a campaign of bombings conducted by the African National Congress in the country in the 1980s.

Thobela said his unit fled the country after the raid and they returned to Swaziland. He said he was injured in January the following year during a raid on the Motala area in Mozambique.

Thobela claims the attack was carried out by mercenaries and not by the SA Defence Force as was claimed at the time.

He said the attackers spoke in English accents and blackened their faces. They wore swastika ensignia.

They killed ANC cadres and cut off their ears, which he said was usual practice for mercenaries who used the ears to claim their bounty.

Thobela said he was sent to hospital for months and later transferred to the former East Germany to recover. He said this ended his career as a combat operative.

He is presently employed in the SA National Defence Force.

The hearing continues on Monday next week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 8 - SAPA

ANC CONFIDENT 37 MEMBERS WILL STILL GET AMNESTY

The African National Congress on Friday welcomed the opportunity for the amnesty applications of 37 of its members, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, to be considered afresh in line with a Cape High Court decision.

ANC spokesman Steyn Speed said his party remained convinced that all 37 applicants qualified for amnesty under the provisions of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

The ANC last week withdrew its opposition to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission court application to overturn the amnesties, so the matter could be settled and returned to the amnesty committee without unnecessary delay, he said.

The High Court on Friday overturned the amnesties granted to the 37.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu argued in court papers the amnesties were invalid because they had not been granted for specific offences, and the committee had not satisfied itself the 37 had made full disclosure of all relevant facts.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 8 - SAPA

COURT OVERTURNS ANC AMNESTIES

The Cape High Court on Friday overturned amnesties granted to 37 senior figures in the African National Congress including the organisation's president, Thabo Mbeki.

The decision followed applications by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Party to have the amnesties, granted by the TRC's own amnesty committee, set aside.

Welcoming the ruling, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he believed the applications would be dealt with "de novo" by the committee, but that the 37 would not have to submit new forms.

"I must emphasise that the fault does not lie with the applicants," he said. "It lies with the committee for having dealt with (the applications) in a particular way."

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said his party had been proved right that the amnesty process was illegal.

He said the TRC was now facing a real crisis of credibility.

Tutu argued in court papers that the amnesties were invalid on several grounds, among which were that they had not been granted for specific offences, and that the committee had not satisfied itself that the 37 had made full disclosure of all relevant facts.

The African National Congress said it welcomed the opportunity for the amnesty applications to be considered afresh.

ANC spokesman Steyn Speed said the party remained convinced that all 37 applicants qualified for amnesty under the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

The ANC last week withdrew its opposition to the TRC application, so the matter could be settled and returned to the amnesty committee without unnecessary delay, he said.

The order granted by the court included requests drawn from the NP and TRC applications, and both organisations said afterwards they had got what they wanted.

An agreement on costs was made an order of court, and according to Van Schalkwyk this involved the TRC paying the NP's full costs. Van Schalkwyk said that while it had been decided the ANC and TRC would share costs, the NP had been awarded costs.

"The question is: if we'd lost, would they have paid our costs?"

He also said an urgent multiparty discussion was now needed in Parliament on the body's future, and the NP would move a motion to this effect in Parliament on Monday.

Van Schalkwyk said the point had now been reached that so much damage had been done that the sooner the TRC "wrapped itself up" the better it would be for itself and for South Africa.

The amnesty committee was the cornerstone of the TRC process. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 8 - SAPA

TRC WASTE OF TAXPAYER'S MONEY SAYS FREEDOM FRONT

The Freedom Front on Friday night said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a waste of taxpayers' money and should now close down.

In a statement, FF spokesman Rosier de Ville was reacting to the overturning of amnesty granted to 37 senior figures in the African National Congress, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.

"The amnesty given to the 37 ANC members was unlawful from the start and it's a pity it has taken months to confirm that in court. The amnesty given to them is an example of the TRC's partiality to the ANC," De Ville said.

He said the fact that the TRC undertook to pay the ANC members' legal costs showed irresponsibility and that the TRC was in the ANC's service.

He called upon the TRC to close its doors and said the taxpayers' money should be used to restore law and order in the country.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 10 1998 - SAPA

SACP SAYS MEIRING REPORT WAS NOT A MISTAKE

The SA Communist Party on Sunday accused out-going SA National Defence Force chief General Georg Meiring of trying to "whitewash" himself over a report he handed to President Mandela alleging that there were left-wing elements plotting a coup against the government.

In a statement released after a two-day meeting of its central committee in Johannesburg, the SACP said Meiring was lucky to have been handled gently as misinforming a head of state was considered a treasonable act in many countries.

"While our government handled Meiring sensitively, and while we appreciate this, the SACP expresses its outrage at Meiring's attempts since then to whitewash himself and to present what happened as an innocent mistake.

"Had the political leadership of our country not been united and mature, the consequences of this kind of disinformation could have been extremely grave," it said.

The SACP also congratulated top ex-Umkhonto we Sizwe combatants Aboobaker Ismail and Mohammed Shaik for their "examplary and honest" evidence they gave to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee's amnesty committee last week regarding various MK operations during the apartheid era.

While the SACP also regretted the loss of life during the armed struggle, it believed that the combatants' honesty indicated the political and moral basis on which MK conducted the struggle.

"The preparedness of these comrades to be completely open and to assume personal and collective responsibility is admirable.

"It is in stark contrast to the abbreviated, self-serving evidence given by former leading members of the apartheid security forces when they have bothered to appear before the TRC at all," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the SACP is preparing for its 10th national congress to be held in Johannesburg from July 1 to 5.

The weekend meeting of its central committee discussed a draft party programme, that included a critical overview of the last four years.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 10 1998 - SAPA

NP AGAINST TRC PAYING LEGAL COSTS FOR ANC TOP BRASS

The National Party on Sunday criticised what it called an unprecedented step by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to agree to pay the legal costs of 37 top African National Congress members whose blanket amnesties were nullified by the Cape Town High Court.

In a statement, NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the private agreement was contrary to normal legal pratice.

"It is indefensible that the taxpayer must foot the bill. If the court had not decided that the TRC should pay the NP's legal costs (in the application to set aside the blanket amnesties) there would not have been such an agreement between the TRC and the NP.

"The taxpayer must now foot the bill for the legal costs of the NP, the TRC itself, which conducted a hasty and substandard legal action, and the ANC who opposed and lost the case," he said.

Van Schalkwyk said the NP had already tabled urgent questions in Parliament about the TRC's move.

He said the NP's victory in the case was a victory for the principle of equality before the law.

The decision by the High Court on the matter was another serious blow to the TRC's credibility. The fact that the High Court had set aside the blanket amnesties meant that the TRC had disregarded its own enabling Act and was "irrefutable evidence" of the TRC's partiality.

"The debate about the TRC's ANC sentiments is now no longer a theoretical one, but is vindicated by this decision of the court.

"It is unthinkable that the TRC can now merely proceed as if nothing has happened. Urgent decisions are now required about the correct finalisation of the TRC's activities which have not brought the reconciliation which was originally envisaged," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG 11 May - SAPA

ANC MAN WHO ORDERED SHELL HOUSE SHOOTING ENSURED ELECTION

The ANC security officer who ordered the Shell House shootings in March 1994 believed his actions ensured that the historic April 1994 election went ahead, the Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty committee heard on Monday.

Gary John Kruser, 37, was deputy head of security in the African National Congress' intelligence and security department when thousands of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters marched on the ANC headquarters at Shell House in Plein Street, Johannesburg, on 28 March 1994.

Kruser is one of 13 ANC security staff members applying for amnesty for the shooting in which eight people died and 84 were injured.

He told the amnesty committtee that if he had not given the order to repel the marchers, they would have invaded the ANC headquarters and this could have resulted in the murder of ANC leaders. He said if this had happened, the democratic election would not have taken place.

Describing the events of that fateful day on which more than 50 people were killed in violence in and around Johannesburg, Kruser said he had been warned that Inkatha Freedom Party marchers intended attacking Shell House.

He said the first indication of the violence that was to follow was crowds of people running past the entrance to Shell House. Some people tried to enter the building to seek shelter from the approaching marchers.

Kruser said waves of marchers passed by, but one particular group stopped and performed what appeared to be a war dance. They were armed with spears and sticks, and some had firearms. He said he noticed an automatic rifle that one of the marchers was trying to conceal under his jacket.

Kruser said gunfire from the crowd rang out and bullets struck the walls of Shell House. He said he ordered his security staff to fire warning shots but this did not seem to deter the advancing marchers. He then gave the order to repel the attack and the firing commenced.

Once the attack had been warded off he immediately gave the order to stop firing.

Kruser said he regretted the deaths that occurred during the march but believed he had no other option at the time than to give the order to fire.

The application for amnesty by Kruser and the other 12 is being opposed on the grounds that the full reasons for the shooting were not being disclosed and there was no political motive.

Danie Dorfling, who is appearing for some of the victims of the shooting, told the hearing they believed they were shot for no reason. They also claimed they were ordered by their indunas (chiefs) to take part in the march in support of the Zulu monarchy.

Earlier in the hearing George Bizos SC, who is appearing for the applicants, told the committee the march had been organised by two IFP leaders, Humphrey Ndlovu and Themba Khoza. He said attempts to portray the march as being in support of the Zulu king were a smokescreen for the IFP's intentions to cause chaos in Johannesburg. Bizos produced documents which showed that chaos was brewing in the Johannesburg city centre on the morning of the march on Shell House and police had warned the IFP to control their supporters.

The warning was contained in transcripts of a conversation between police liaison officer Captain Chris Wilken and Ndlovu and Khoza on the morning of the march.

According to the transcripts Wilken told the officials the marchers were stoning cars, blocking roads and shooting at policemen.

"... you must try from your utmost side to calm people down... Otherwise we're gonna have chaos in town this morning," Wilken told Ndlovu.

In a lengthy address to the committee, Bizos quoted repeatedly from the record of the inquest into the shootings. Members of the audience became impatient during his address and began voicing their disapproval.

"Tell us why they shot us, not about the inquest," people shouted from the audience.

Committee chairman Judge Hassan Mall adjourned the proceedings until the audience settled down.

The hearing at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association LOUIS TRICHARDT May 11 1998 - SAPA

DEAD MK SOLDIER IDENTIFIED BY CROOKED TEETH

The wife of a dead Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier identified his body by his crooked teeth on Monday when members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's investigative unit exhumed graves near Louis Trichardt in Northern Province, African Eye News Service reported.

Alice Tati said the large skull with crooked teeth that was found in a grave at Sekoto cemetery belonged to her husband, Zola Tati, of Port Elizabeth.

A spokesman for the TRC's special investigative unit, Captain Fanie Molapo, said Tati allegedly blew himself up with a handgrenade in 1987 to prevent security branch members from arresting him.

Tati and a colleague, Matsidiso Tsatsi of Soweto, were apparently cornered while hiding on a farm after returning from Tanzania when a farm labourer told the farmer about them.

"Tsatsi was killed immediately, but Tati continued to fight and, after realising he couldn't escape, allegedly blew himself with a handgrenade to avoid arrest," Molapo said.

"His body was found in pieces when it was exhumed."

He said Tsatsi's body was easily identified by relatives, although he had been shot four times in the head at close range. Both men were buried more than a year later in shallow, unmarked graves dated November 11, 1988.

The exhumation of six other MK soldiers who were allegedly hanged by security force members was postponed.

"The six bodies were to be exhumed in Mamelodi and Pretoria West, but this had to be postponed because the paper work was not properly done," Molapo said.

He said a new date for the exhumation would be announced soon.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 11 1998 - SAPA

MK OPERATIVES DESCRIBE THE ATTACK ON SASOL 2

An Umkhonto we Sizwe operative has described to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission how the Sasol 2 plant at Secunda was attacked on Republic Day 1981.

"We could have attacked the target much earlier but Republic Day was decided on because the old regime normally displayed their military might and we decided to send a clear message to the masses that the racist regime was not invincible," MK operative David Motshwane Moisi told the TRC amnesty committee hearing in Pretoria on Monday.

He said MK also planned an attack on the Caltex oil refinery in Cape Town so that its leaders imprisoned on Robben Island could see the flames. However, Moisi was arrested after entering South Africa on a reconnaissance trip to the refinery.

He said he boarded a taxi, the driver of which was a police informant who took him to a police station where he was arrested.

Moisi was convicted and sentenced to death for treason, but his sentence was later commuted and he was released in 1991 in terms of the Pretoria Minute.

"I have, through my incarceration, my treatment at the hands of the security police and the two years that I served on death row, already paid my dues for my part in the armed struggle.

"I wish to be granted amnesty so that I may have my name permanently expunged from the criminal records," Moisi said in his statement.

He said he took part in the attack on the Sasol 2 plant at Secunda on May 31, 1981, and sought amnesty for the blast.

On the night of the attack, the four MK cadres in the team donned overalls of the sort worn by staff at Sasol 2.

They cut their way through security fences before placing their limpet mines, which they carried hidden under their overalls, on the purifiers and gasifiers of the refinery.

They did not see the explosion because the time delays on the limpet mines had been set for an hour and by then they were on their way to the Swaziland border.

Part of the operation was to avoid human casualties.

"If there were many lives lost, we (the ANC) might have suffered a loss of support," he said.

Another applicant, Colin de Sousa, said he carried out surveillance work on Wits Command in 1987 while waiting to be escorted out of South Africa to undergo ANC training.

He said that on one occasion he was given an SA Defence Force corporal's uniform and went inside the complex, noting the layout of the premises and potential sites where limpet mines could be placed.

He did not know what form the attack would take, or that it had taken place, until after he had been driven back to Cape Town in the middle of the night, De Sousa told the committee.

Defence Minister Joe Modise attended Monday's hearing in support of the applicants.

The hearing has been postponed to Wednesay.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WINDHOEK May 12 1998 - SAPA

TWO WITNESSES IN LUBOWSKI'S INQUEST FACE DEFAMATION CLAIM

Four years after their testimony implicating senior police and army officers in the assassination of Anton Lubowski was dismissed at the first inquest into the Swapo activist's death, two controversial witnesses on Monday returned to the Windhoek High Court to face a huge defamation claim.

Former police task force sergeant Willem Rooinasie - now a convicted armed robber - and alleged one-time spy and policeman Romanus Munango join the Minister of Home Affairs as head of the Namibian police and three serving policemen as defendants.

The claim, brought by eight former and serving policemen and soldiers, got bogged down in legal argument on Monday before Judge Pio Teek.

The question for Tuesday was whether Rooinasie and Munango should be allowed to file a notice that they intend to oppose the eight plaintiffs' suit at this late stage. Both testified on Tuesday that they had tried and failed to get the Directorate of Legal Aid provide them with lawyers.

When these efforts did not succeed, both neglected to give notice that they would defend the suit.

Eberhardt Bertelsmann SC, for the plaintiffs, and Gerhard Maritz SC, for the defendants, both said Rooinasie and Munango would not be able to defend themselves in such a complicated case without legal representation.

The court heard that the Legal Aid Directorate faced serious cash constraints and had decided not to grant legal aid for what was expected to be a long trial, as this might prevent other people claiming legal aid from the existing budget.

The eight men behind the suit claim they were falsely defamed in claims by Munango and Rooinasie, and followed up in an investigation by Warrant Officer Linus Neumbo and Inspector Willem Saunderson.

The eight are: former Deputy Inspector-General of the Namibian police Foffie Badenhorst, former Nampol Commissioner Gert Naude, Deputy Commissioner Jumbo Smit, Commissioner Attie Nel, retired Deputy Commissioner Flip Nel, former Warrant Officer Riaan White, former Nampol sergeant Martin Bornman, and former Namibian Defence Force colonel Des Radmore.

They are claiming amounts ranging between Nd60,000 and Nd250000 in seven claims, totalling Nd3,3 million, againsSaunderson Neumbo, Chief Inspector Willem Ignatius Terblanche, Rooinasie and Munango.

Terblanche teformed Badenhorst and Smit that he had been told before Lubowski was killed that there were plans to kill the Swapo member.

At the end of the inquest Judge Harold Levy named Terblanche as an accessory for what he termed an inference that Terblanche refrained from his duty because he did not want the murderer to be arrested.

Levy also referred to the inexperience of the investigators, then Warrant Officer Saunderson and Sergeant Neumbo. Levy termed the evidence of Munango completely void of any truth.

Levy said: "Munango gave a graphic but distorted picture of how certain prominent police officers planned and conspired to kill Lubowski and that Warrant Officer White was the person who shot Lubowski. I have no doubt that this plan is a figment of the imagination of a brazen and evil liar and there is no prima facie evidence in Munango's version of such a conspiracy or that Warrant Officer White shot Lubowski."

Rooinasie, who also claimed that White was the gunman who shot Lubowski, claiming it was done on the orders of Radmore, did not fare any better.

He is still serving a 20-year prison sentence for robbery, attempted murder, housebreaking, theft and arson, and was described by Levy as basically dishonest, with an inherently violent nature.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 12 1998 - SAPA

IFP QUESTIONS WHETHER SHELL HOUSE MAN SHOULD HEAD VIP UNIT

The Inkatha Freedom Party on Tuesday questioned whether Gary Kruser, the man who ordered the March 1994 Shell House shootings, should head the police VIP protection unit.

IFP safety and security spokesman Velaphi Ndlovu was reacting to Kruser's testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Monday, that he had ordered the shootings in which eight peopled and 84 were injured.

"As the head of VIP protection in this country, Kruser carries a very serious responsibility, yet he is guilty of giving orders to kill the innocent people at Shell House in 1994.

"Does he really qualify to be the head of the VIP protection unit while he portrays himself as a murderer?".

On previous statements by President Nelson Mandela that he had given the order to shoot, Ndlovu asked: "Who is telling the truth?"

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 12 1998 - SAPA

TRC APPEAL TO VICTIMS OF AWB BOMBINGS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday asked victims of the AWB's pre-election bombings in 1994 to contact the TRC offices if they wished to attend the hearings.

The TRC's amnesty committee has scheduled the hearings for June 15 to 26.

The pre-election bombing spree left 21 people dead and 46 injured in blasts in Johannesburg, the West Rand and East Rand between April 24 and April 27, 1994.

The amnesty applicants claim to have acted on behalf of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.

The TRC has secured lists of victims from court records and is attempting to trace those for whom it has addresses. However, the court records do not provide addresses for many victims.

The applications cover the attack on the African National Congress offices in Bree Street when a car bomb exploded at 9.50am on Sunday April 24, 1994. Seven people were killed and 13 injured.

Also included is the incident on April 25 when a bomb was placed in a trailer and transported to Germiston where it was detonated in Odendaal Street at about 8.45am. Ten people were killed and eight injured.

Applicants are also seeking amnesty for pipe bombings on the West Rand and Pretoria.

On April 25 at 11.45am, a pipe bomb detonated at a taxi rank on the Westonaria-Carletonville road, injuring five people. Earlier, at about 7.45am, a pipe bomb went off at a taxi rank on the corner of Third and Park streets in Randfontein, injuring six people.

At 8.30pm on the same day, a pipe bomb attack at a restaurant on the corner of Bloed Street and 7th Avenue in Pretoria killed four and injured four.

The final attack involved a car bomb at the then Jan Smuts Airport on April 27, 1994. Ten people were injured.

The Act governing the TRC allows victims to attend and make statements on amnesty applications.

Those who wish to make statements can contact Tania Hosking at 021-24-5161, ext 2283.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 12 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY GRANTED TO ANC CADRES WHO TRIED TO KILL SECURITY COP

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to two African National Congress activists who attempted to assassinate a security branch policeman in Middelburg in August 1993.

A panel of the TRC's amnesty committee on Monday granted amnesty to Simphiwe Lincoln Bleki, 31, and Oscar Thando Nongongo, 27, who appeared at an amnesty hearing in Port Elizabeth on April 28.

According to the text of the decision - released on Tuesday - by panel members Judge R Pillay, advocate D Potgieter, and senior counsel JB Sibanyoni, the two activists took up position next to Warrant Officer Leeman Maliti's house in Middelburg at 6am on August 8, 1993, with the intention of killing him.

"They kept his house under surveillance to ensure that no person should be injured in crossfire during the attack, not even Mr Maliti's family," the panel said.

"At about 11h00, believing that Mr Maliti was then alone in the house, the applicants approached the house. Second applicant knocked at the door and Mr Maliti responded, asking them to enter. Upon entering, they found him sitting on the chair facing towards the door. They immediately shot him several times as he was trying to rise from the chair. Mr Maliti fell down and the applicants retreated, leaving him lying on the floor."

Maliti survived the attack but died two years later from other causes.

Both activists were arrested within an hour of the attack while they were seeking a lift on the road. They were arraigned before court and charged with attempted murder and unlawful possession of arms and ammunition. They were sentenced to ten and eleven years' imprisonment respectively.

"Applicants say that they are members of the ANC. The first applicant was a member of the executive committee of the ANC Middelburg branch and was also in contact with the self-defence unit," the panel said.

"The victim, Mr Maliti, was a member of the Security Branch of the police force. He was viewed by the community and the applicants as very notorious and controversial. He was in the forefront of the conflict and confrontation between the community and the police. He terrorised, harassed and arrested activists.

"The applicants also state that Mr Maliti tortured people he arrested. The applicants believed that he had killed some members of the community. Attempts on his life were previously made by the members of the local community."

The panel found that although one of the applicants had been a victim of harassment and torture by Maliti, their actions in attempting to kill Maliti were undertaken for the benefit of the community as a whole. After their arrest, the community conducted protest marches for their release.

"The ANC responded positively to the applicants after Mr Maliti was attacked and they are supporting the application for amnesty astted with the application.

"The committee is satisfied that the offences committed by both applicants were done within (a) political context and that the applicants have made a full disclosure of all relevant facts. Thus they have complied with the requirements of the Act. "Amnesty is accordingly granted to the applicants in respect of the offences set out above," the panel said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG 12 May - SAPA

ANC MAN FEARED BOIPATONG STYLE ATTACK AT SHELL HOUSE, TRC TOLD

The ANC official who ordered the Shell House shootings in 1994 feared an attack similar to the one at Boipatong in December 1992, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Amnesty applicant Gary Kruser was in charge of security at Shell House when eight Zulu protesters were killed and 84 injured outside the African National Congress' Johannesburg headquarters on March 28, 1994.

Kruser and 12 other ANC security guards have applied for amnesty for their part in the shootings during a march by thousands of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters through central Johannesburg.

Kruser was on Tuesday subjected to prolonged cross-examination by lawyers appearing for the surviving victims and their families about his decision to fire on the marchers. When faced with ballistic and medical evidence that the marchers had not opened fire first and most were shot from the back or the side, Kruser insisted he perceived an impending attack on Shell House.

"I was there and I saw an attack," Kruser said in reply to a question by Danie Dorfling, who suggested the marchers were not attacking the building.

Kruser conceded the marchers could have been shot in the back or side because the shooting went on longer than it should have and they were already retreating. He also conceded that he may have exceeded the bounds of self defence by allowing the firing to continue beyond the point where the march had been repelled.

He also explained in reply to questions by Anna van der Westhuizen that he had previously had bad experiences at the hands of Inkatha Freedom Party marchers. He said he visited the scene of the Boipatong massacre in which IFP- supporting impis rampaged through the Vaal Triangle township in December 1992, killing 46 people.

"I felt badly hurt by the experience of seeing people, ied and maimed. It was very distressing," he said.

Kruser said he acted at Shell House to prevent a similar situation which threatened the lives of his leaders who were in the building at the time.

He said he had also been fired at by IFP supporters in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands when ANC president Nelson Mandela entered an IFP no-go area to visit burnt out houses belonging to ANC supporters.

Kruser was asked at length about evidence given to the Goldstone commission of inquiry and the judicial inquest into the shootings.

He continued to reply that even if the evidence produced at these hearings showed the contrary, he understood at the time that the marchers were advancing and that they fired the first shots.

Kruser also admitted that he withheld the truth at the previous hearings about who fired at the marchers. He said he did this to protect his colleagues because he did not trust the police who were investigating the shootings at the time.

During the amnesty hearing some members of the audience including familiies of the victims became noisy and swore at some of the applicants. Committee chairman Judge Hassan Mall asked the people to remain calm so the proceedings could continue without delays.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 13 1998 - SAPA

BOMBING VICTIM WILL NOT OPPOSE AMNESTY

A victim of the 1983 Church Street bomb in Pretoria told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday he would not oppose the amnesty applications of those responsible for his injuries.

Louis Jacobus Pretorius told the commission he broke his back trying to flee air force headquarters after the Umkontho we Sizwe (MK) bomb exploded outside the building. MK was the armed wing of the African National Congress.

Pretorius slipped on bloody stairs, and had to have three operations. He was declared medically unfit in 1993, and is unemployed.

"As a human being I would like to object to the amnesty applications, but my Christian principles tell me I should not," Pretorius said.

"If I want forgiveness from God, then I must also forgive."

Although it was relatively easy to forgive, he said, it was extremely hard to forget. "How am I supposed to forget when I live in pain every day?"

Pretorius, 37, said he was at the time building a distinguished career in the administration section of the joint air force support centre.

"It often gets to me because I know what potential I had in the air force," he said. Since his fall he has been unable to sit, stand, or walk for extended periods.

Pretorius said he was busy on the telephone when he heard the explosion.

"I looked out of the window, there were people and limbs lying around. It is not a sight I want to see again."

Pretorius said he did not believe the attack had been aimed at an exclusive military target. A car packed with explosives detonated in the Pretoria city centre on May 20, 1983.

The blast killed 21 people, indcluding the two bombers, and injured 217 others.

Aboobaker Ismail, dubbed MK's "master bomber", earlier told the TRC the attack was aimed at a military target, and it was not ANC policy to attack civilians. He denied it was racially motivated.

"We were at war," Ismail said. "Did the apartheid forces think they were fighting a war against people that will not fight back?"

Ismail is seeking amnesty for several bombings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 13 1998 - SAPA

UNSETTLING WHITES OBJECTIVE OF MK BOMBING CAMPAIGN: TRC TOLD

Unsettling the white population during the apartheid years was one of the objectives of an Umkhonto we Sizwe bombing campaign in the 1980s, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

MK "master bomber" Aboobaker Ismail testified in Pretoria that the deaths of white troops made the white population ask the question whether the country could afford the ongoing loss of life.

"Black lives did not matter," he told the TRC's amnesty committee.

The committee is hearing the amnesty applications of members of MK's special operations unit.

Ismail is seeking amnesty for several bombings, including the Church Street bomb outside the SA Air Force headquarters in Pretoria in 198which killed 19 people and injured about 200.

He reiterated on Wednesday that it was not African National Congress policy to attack civilians, and denied the Church Street bomb, which he said was authorised by the ANC leadership, was racially motivated.

Advocate Louis Visser, who represents some of the victims, suggested the bomb was aimed overwhelmingly at white civilians, which Ismail denied.

"The problem is that people continue to argue as if apartheid did not exist and as if there was no military machine attacking black people," Ismail said.

"There was a war situation in this country."

He said it was time people recognised this war was brought about by racism and apartheid.

Visser put it to Ismail that the possible loss of white civilian life was not taken into consideration in planning the Church Street bomb.

This was in stark contrast to Ismail's admission that MK would not have bombed the Sasol 1 oil refinery in June 1980 had the inhabitants of a nearby township been at risk, he said.

Ismail defended the bombing of the SAAF headquarters by referring to what he described as the despicable conduct of the security forces which butchered children in Soweto in 1976.

"We were at war," Ismail said. "Did the apartheid forces think they were fighting a war against people that will not fight back?"

Visser told the committee Herman Stadler, former head of the police's public relations unit, would no longer testify as planned.

He said he had consulted Stadler, and came to the conclusion that his evidence would not assist the committee.

The hearing would continue on Thursday, when the committee was expected to hear testimony from Charlie Martin, alleged to have been an MK operative.

MK member Colin de Sousa told the committee earlier this week Martin had recruited him and three others towards the end of May 1987 to undergo military training.

De Sousa said he kept Wits Command under surveillance before a bomb blast which killed one soldier and injured 68 others.

Martin had indicated to the committee he would like to testify to clear his name.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 13 1998 - SAPA

ANGRY SCENES AS SHELL HOUSE VIDEO IS SHOWN TO VICTIMS

Grief turned to anger at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearings in Johannesburg on Wednesday when a video of the aftermath of the Shell House shootings was shown to victims and families of those killed.

The video was shown during the application for amnesty by 13 ANC security guards who opened fire on marchers at the ANC headquarters at Shell House in Plein Street, Johannesburg, on March 28 1998.

As the screen showed the bloodied bodies of the dead and the injured, women began wailing and screaming in grief.

The spectators became progressively angry and began threatening the applicants with death. They singled out Bethuel Mondli Zuma, who is a Zulu, for special treatment for betraying his people.

"We'll finish you off before this hearing is over," angry members of the audience told Zuma, who sat quietly as the crowd screamed abuse at him.

They also shouted "No peace!" and "We'll get you in KwaZulu-Natal!".

David Sibiya, who was injured the Shell House march, collapsed and appeared to suffer a seizure. He was treated by paramedics on the scene. People who were with him said he had been shot in the head in the march and pointed to an injury on his skull.

Committee chairman Judge Hassan Mall adjourned the hearing to allow tempers to cool down, and for emotions to brought under control. He said he could understand how emotions were aroused when people who might have been present in the march or who lost loved ones were made to relive the experience.

George Bizos SC, who is appearing on behalf on the applicants, told the hearing he found it unacceptable that threats could be made on the lives of people participating in the proceedings.

He said the incident amounted to incitement to murder and should not be allowed.

Mall said the levelling of death threats fell beyond the control and powers of the committee. However, he said the police and security staff present would have to take responsiblity for ensuring that the threats were not carried out.

Earlier one of the applicants, Marainsamy Singaram, described the confusion and pandemomium outside Shell House on the day of the shootings.

He said he saw the marchers approaching in attack formation, crouching low and brandishing spears and firearms. He said he and the other ANC security guards were the last line of defence in stopping the headquaters being overrun. He said he was sure that if this happened many oe people in the building, including high profile leaders, would have been eliminated.

"The marchers were definitely not on a Sunday picnic," he told the committee.

He said when he heard shots being fired from the crowd he dived to the ground and fired three shots from his pistol. He was not able to say whether he had struck anyone. The hearing continues at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA May 14 1998 - SAPA

CHURCH STREET BOMBERS SHOULD NOT GET AMNESTY: VICTIM

The 1983 Church Street bomb in Pretoria was a cowardly deed and those responsible should not be granted amnesty, a victif the bombing told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday.

"I don't think they understand how the victims of the bomb suffered," said Zirkie Bernardus Jansen, 38, in Pretoria.

He told the commission's amnesty committee he had forgiven the bomb planters, but not those who gave the order. They selected a target frequented by civilians and military staff involved in administrative duties only, Jansen said.

The Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) bomb claimed 19 lives and injured about 200, mostly civilians, outside the SA Air Force headquarters in the city centre fifteen years ago next week. MK was the armed wing of the African National Congress.

Jansen said he did not consider SAAF headquarters a military target. It was a building like any other in the city centre, surrounded by civilians.

Jansen was a state accountant at the time, and 23 years old. He was one or two metres from the car, in which the explosives were packed, when it blew up.

He said he suffered burn wounds and permanent scars. His hearing was also impaired. Glass penetrated his eyes, and he was blind in one eye for about three years.

Doctors were unable to remove all the shrapnel in his body.

"I still can't walk through a security detector at an airport without it going off," Jansen said. "I will always ask why it is impossible to walk around on the beach like a normal person."

He told the committee the attack would have made some sense if the target had been a military base. "But I cannot understand how they could aim at people who never even held a weapon in their hand."

Members of the amnesty committee extensively questioned Jansen about his political allegiances in the 1980s. He said he did not support conscription and his job in the SAAF was merely a means of making money.

Labelling ANC's fight against apartheid as a political power struggle instead of a war, Jansen said he was opposed to the methods the organisation used.

He said also did not agree with attacks on civilians by the security forces.

The committee also heard evidence from Charles Martin, a former MK operative according to earlier claims by MK member Colin de Sousa.

De Sousa on Monday testified that Martin had recruited him and three others in May 1987 to undergo military training.

De Sousa said he kept Wits Command under surveillance before a bomb blast that year that killed one soldier and injured 68 others. Martin on Thursday rejected allegations that he was the commander or a member of Unit C25 of the ANC's Bonteheuwel military wing.

"At no stage did I ever approach Mr de Sousa or anyone else with the request to undergo military training with the ANC," he said.

He was also not involved, directly or indirectly, in the Wits Command attack.

Martin said he served as a priest in the United Congregational Church in Bonteheuwel and helped arrange sanctuary or safe houses for young people fleeing the security police for political reasons. He also arranged sanctuary for de Sousa in Johannesburg.

Martin told the committee he did not oppose de Sousa's amnesty application and appreciated his contribution to the struggle.

"It is not easy for me to sit here today and do this. I have been involved in the (de Sousa) family for a long time and I know what they have been through."

He felt hurt by de Sousa's allegations, and he and his family had been adversely affected by them, Martin said. He had had to explain newspaper reports implicating him in the attack to his wife and family.

"I am not sure what the people of Bonteheuewel think. I am here to set the record straight," he said.

The public hearing was completed on Thursday, but written evidence will still be submitted.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 14 1998 - SAPA

THERE WERE ZULUS HE HATED AND WISHED TO KILL: ANC GUARD

Former ANC security guard Modise Molefe on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he once hated Zulus who wore red headbands and would have "mowed them down" if he had the chance.

Molefe, a National Intelligence Agency officnection with the killing of eight Inkatha Freedom Party members outside Shell House in 1994, told the amnesty committee that "these Zulus had no respect for human life".

He said some of these Zulus were present when IFP protesters attacked the African National Congress headquarters in Johannesburg on March 28 1994, but denied shooting at them.

He said he did not hate Zulus generally, but drew a distinction between sectors of the Zulu nation.

Molefe said his position had now changed because the conflict between hostel dwellers and township residents had ended.

The country had also changed and was moving in a direction "where we say let bygones be bygones", he said.

An extra contingent of police was deployed at the Central Methodist Church where the hearing was held following death threats made against one of the amnesty applicants during Wednesday's hearing.

Another witness, Bafana Khumalo, admitted that he feared for his life when he shot at the marchers with an AK47 rifle.

Ballistic evidence last year showed that shots fired by Khumalo hit underneath the balcony of Shell House and one bullet rebounded and struck the window of the building.

Thirteen former ANC guards, who now work for the NIA or the police VIP protection unit, have applied for amnesty and five of them have so far testified.

The wo-week hearing is expected to be concluded next week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 15 - SAPA

ATTEMPT MADE ON LIVES OF SHELL HOUSE AMNESTY APPLICANTS: BIZOS

Inkatha Freedom Party supporters on Thursday threatened to shoot the 13 African National Congress members applying for amnesty for the so-called Shell House shootings, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Friday.

George Bizos, SC, for the applicants, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Johannesburg that the minibus in which the applicants were travelling was ambushed when they left the hearing on Thursday.

Bizos said a group of IFP sympathisers opposing the amnesty applications apparently circled the minibus, pointed firearms at the applicants and made death threats as the vehicle left the Central Methodist Church.

The applicants pulled out their own guns and the IFP sympathisers fled, Bizos said.

Committee chairman Judge Hassan Mall said he had taken note of the "distasteful" incident. He called on all those involved to allow the proceedings to continue unhindered and not to turn to violence.

The applicants are all employed by the police VIP protection unit and National Intelligence Service, but were ANC security guards at the time of the Shell House shootings on March 28, 1994.

They are seeking for amnesty for opening fire on Zulu marchers at the ANC's Shell House headquarters in Plein Street, Johannesburg, killing eight of them.

One of the applicants, NIA Gauteng head Colson Tebogo Beea, on Friday told the amnesty committee the IFP and rightwing groups had planned to violently disrupt the country's first all-race election on April 27, 1994, but informants told the ANC of the plot.

He was deputy head of the ANC intelligence department at the time and said he handled many informants, including Zulu indunas in IFP hostels and an informant in a joint IFP-rightwing committee.

Beea said the committee resolved to create chaos before the election, with rightwing groups committing acts of terror and IFP members, armed with traditional weapons, sowing terror and destruction at voting booths.

He said he received information that Shell House would be attacked and ANC leaders killed. The attack would take the form of car bombs, rocket and handgrenade explosions, and a stampede by IFP marchers.

He said IFP leaders Humphrey Ndlovu and Themba Khoza told Alexandra hostel residents about the planned attack the weekend before the Zulu march through Johannesburg city centre.

Beea did not name his hostel informant, but said he was prepared to do so. During an inquest into the Shell House shootings by the Johannesburg High Court last year, he refused to disclose his informant's name.

The hearing continues next week.

ANC OBJECTS TO IFP SUPPORTERS' BEHAVIOUR AT AMNESTY HEARINGS

The African National Congress said on Sunday it was deeply concerned by the behaviour of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters who attended the amnesty hearings of former ANC security personnel involved in the 1994 Shell House shootings last week.

"The ANC strongly condemns the threats made against certain amnesty applicants," it said in a statement.

"These threats, made in the presence of the amnesty committee, legal representatives and members of the police, are a cause of grave concern."

The ANC urged all participants at the Shell House amnesty hearings to respect the objective of reconciliation.

The party said it rejected any attempts to exploit the distress and pain of victims and their families for purposes of political point-scoring.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH May 18 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA, VLOK AND MALAN RESPONSIBLE FOR APARTHEID WAR: LAWYER

Seven former security policemen who abducted, tortured and murdered the so-called Pebco Three deserved amnesty because apartheid-era politicians like Adriaan Vlok, General Magnus Malan and PW Botha were responsible for the war in South Africa, and not their soldiers, the TRC heard.

This was the argument of Kobus Booysens when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing resumed on Monday in New Brighton in Port Elizabeth.

Booysens is a laywer representing some of the amnesty applicants responsible for abducting, torturing and murdering the three activists from the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organsiation 15 years ago.

He said political leaders supplied the fuel for the conflict which was fought by soldiers.

The applicants had been politically motivated in their actions and these had been committed at a time when there was a bitter battle between Pebco and the security police, Booysens said.

The applicants are convicted murderer Gideon Nieuwoudt, Gerhardus Lotz, Herman du Plessis, Sakkie van Zyl, Harold Snyman, Cornelius Beslaar and Johannes Koole and askari (turned freedom fighter) Peter Mogai.

Booysens argued that although the security policemen had given a version of events that was in conflict with the one given by Mogai, the committee could not say his clients' version was false beyond any reasonable doubt.

The murdered activists, Qaqwuli Godolozi, Sipho Hashe and Champion Galela, known as the Pebco Three, were were abducted from the Port Elizabeth Airport on May 8, 1985. They were tortured and murdered at Post Chalmers, a disused police station outside Cradock.

According to evidence given to the TRC, the Pebco Three were enticed to the airport by a police informer on the pretext of meeting a British diplomat who was to assist Pebco financially.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 18 1998 - SAPA

GUARD SURPRISED SHELL HOUSE MARCHERS SHOT IN THE BACK

An African National Congress security guard on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he was surprised to find that Zulu marchers were shot in the back outside Shell House in 1994 because he had not seen them turn around when the shooting started.

Stephen Marole Moolman, 26, is one of the 13 security guards applying for amnesty for the fatal shooting of eight people taking part in a march on Shell House on March 28, 1994.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee in Johannesburg that he opened fire on the marchers when it seemed the ANC headquarters situated in Shell House was being threatened. He said it did not appear to him that the marchers were turning their backs when the firing started, so he found it surprising they had been shot in the back.

However, he said he did not dispute medical evidence which showed the dead had gunshot wounds in the back or the side.

The hearing entered its second week on Monday and has been marked by lengthy cross examination of the applicants by lawyers representing surivivors of the shooting and families of the victims. Lawyers have gone to great lengths to stress that the victims are opposing amnesty on the grounds that there had been no justification for the guards to open fire.

Moolman is the seventh applicant to testify at the hearing which is scheduled to continue until Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH May 19 1998 - SAPA

MAMASELA WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR MONEY, TRC TOLD

Former Vlakplaas death agent and self-confessed multi-murderer Joe Mamasela was usually paid for what he did, and he would do anything for money, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told on Tuesday.

Mamasela would change his beliefs, viewpoints and religious convictions to suit himself, said legal representatives for seven former security policemen.

They are applying for amnesty before the TRC's amnesty committee in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, for the abduction, torture and murder 13 years ago of three activists from the Port Elizabeth Black Civics Organisation (Pebco).

The former policemen are convicted Motherwell bomber and self-confessed murderer Gideon Nieuwoudt, Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz, Colonel Herman du Plessis, Captain Johan `Sakkie' van Zyl, Colonel Harold Snyman, Warrant-Officer Cornelius Beeslaar and Johannes Koole. Also applying for amnesty is askari (turned ANC member) Piet Mogai.

They allegedly kidnapped Qaqawuli Godolozi, Sipho Hashe and Champion Galela from the Port Elizabeth airport on May 8, 1985, and drove them to Post Chalmers outside Cradock. They allegedly tortured and murdered the three the next day, burnt their bodies and threw the ashes into the Fish River.

Earlier Mamasela gave a graphic account of the torture and killing.

Representing Snyman, Du Plessis, Nieuwoudt, Van Zyl and Lotz, advocate Kobus Booyens said the applicants had applied for amnesty for abduction and murder, and not for the assault.

Booyens said it was clear from the evidence that Pebco was a political organisation vehemently opposed to the previous government, and bent on the destruction of its structures and its mode of governing the country.

"There can be no doubt that the only motive for the killing of the victims, who were part of the leadership element of Pebco, was aimed directly at them in this capacity.

"The motive of the applicants was to stop, disrupt or disorganise the activities of Pebco and to make it less effective in its battle against the government," he said.

Booyens said it was clear from their statements that it was the political leaders of the day, like then law and order minister Adriaan Vlok, former defence minister General Magnus Malan and former state president PW Botha, who supplied the fuel and incentive for the frontline foot soldiers to fight their apartheid wars.

It was seldom the soldiers themselves who wanted war.

He said it would also be dangerous to rely on the evidence of Mamasela who "behaved on some occasions as if he was a politician seeking votes".

Booyens said the applicants had made full disclosure and should be granted amnesty.

Advocate Roelof du Plessis, for Beeslaar, said the applicant sought amnesty for kicking Hashe. He never suspected that the so-called Pebco Three would be killed. Du Plessis said Beeslaar's evidence stood uncontradicted and should be accepted because he had made a full disclosure.

A Lamey, for Koole and Mogai, who were seeking amnesty for kidnapping and assault, said the two men had stated the Pebco Three were still alive when they left Post Chalmers.

Mogai was an impressive witness, never contradicted himself and gave a logical, detailed and clear narration of the events as he recalled them.

Lamey asked that the two be granted amnesty.

Attorney Mpumelelo Nyoka for the Pebco Three's widows argued that applicants Snyman, Du Plessis, Van Zyl, Nieuwoudt, Beeslaar and Lotz had failed to give full disclosure as required.

He said the applicants had denied testimony from Koole, Mogai and Mamasela that the Pebco Three were savagely assaulted.

There was no exact evidence stating the Pebco Three had committed political acts to justify "the illegal death warrants".

Nyoka said the families could not accept that their husbands, who had engaged in peaceful resistance, had to be killed for their efforts. Amnesty should not be granted, he said.

Attorney Belinda Hartle for Qaqawuli's mother, Benedicta Godolozi, and his daughter Nombeko, opposed the granting of amnesty to all applicants.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 19 1998 - SAPA

TRC's FINAL REPORT DEADLINE EXTENDED

The deadline for completion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report will be extended by three months if Parliament approves a decision taken by Cabinet last week, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference at the TRC's Cape Town offices, he said Cabinet had agreed that the report could be handed to President Nelson Mandela on October 31, and not on July 31 as laid down in existing legislation.

He said the TRC's research department would present the commission with a "penultimate report" at the end of July, and that the extra three months would be used only to edit and produce the document, which was expected to run to 2000 pages.

All other commission work except for report writing and amnesty proceedings would end by June 30.

TRC research director Prof Charles Villa-Vicencio said the original idea had been that after the commission shut down there would be a three-month period in which to write the report.

"The enormous amount of work... has had us working through this window period of three months... so what we are effectively requesting is a period of time where we can read through the report carefully, cross reference it, check our facts, do the necessary editorial work to ensure that when it is handed to the president it... is in a final form."

Currently about one third of the report was written in a penultimate form, one third was in an advanced form, and one third remained to be developed, he said.

The final report would be available at the end of September, giving the Government Printers time to have it available for final adoption by the end of October, Villa-Vicencio said.

Justice ministry spokesman Paul Setsetse told Sapa that the approval of the three-month extension followed a request by the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 19 1998 - SAPA

SHELL HOUSE AMNESTY HEARING TAKES TOLL ON VICTIMS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Shell House amnesty hearing is taking its toll on victims and their families, who have been sitting through the account of the shooting outside the ANC headquarters in 1994.

The TRC's amnesty committee is hearing applications for amnesty by 13 former ANC security guards for the fatal shooting of eight people taking part in a march on Shell House on March 28, 1998.

There have regular outbreaks of emotion from the audience, mainly survivors and relatives of those who joined the march.

At Tuesday's session induna Sgege Mbokazi, who marched and was injured, had a nervous attack and collapsed during testimony by Moses Veli Llale, who admitted firing a shotgun into the crowd. Mbokazi was taken to the foyer and paramedics revived him.

Other distressed spectators were also treated.

Emotions overflowed last week when video footage of the aftermath of the shooting was shown. People began wailing with grief and later began threatening the amnesty applicants with death.

Llale on Tuesday said he was on the parapet at Shell House overlooking the street where the marchers were approaching. He said he had been told the marchers were planning to storm Shell House and attack the ANC leadership. He said he was nervous but had not been shaking with fear when the marchers approached.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY May 19 1998 - SAPA

FIRE OMAR, SCRAP TRC, IFP URGES MANDELA

Inkatha Freedom Party justice spokesman Koos van der Merwe on Tuesday called on President Nelson Mandela to fire Justice Minister Dullah Omar and to disband the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Speaking during debate on the justice budget vote, he said Omar had shown he could not separate his profile as an African National Congress activist from that of a minister of state, while the TRC was an ANC instrument.

Examples of Omar confusing his roles were his embrace of former ANC Western Cape leader Dr Allan Boesak, on the latters return to South Africa to face criminal charges, and his meeting with the Palestinian Hamas group, when his own government had refused a visa to its spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Van der Merwe said the TRC had not only failed South Africa "dismally", but had internationally become an instrument of embarrassment to the country.

It was cultivating hate and malice instead of promoting reconciliation.

Some commission members were ANC members, and the body had become "nothing less than his master's voice", Van der Merwe said.

"We call on the state president to replace Omar and forthwith introduce legislation to scrap the TRC."

The finding of truth should be left to the best judge - history, Van der Merwe said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 20 1998 - SAPA

TUTU SPEECHLESS AFTER FREEDOM OF CITY BESTOWED ON HIM

The normally vocal Archbishop Desmond Tutu was left speechless on Wednesday when the freedom of Cape Town was conferred on him.

"I don't know what to say," Tutu said at the entrance to the city's civic centre prior to the award ceremony.

Greeting more than 100 children who walked hand-in-hand, some of them disabled and pushed in wheelchairs from the city's Grand Parade to the civic centre, Tutu said: "I don't know what to say. This is the first time I'm tongue-tied.

"I am free, you are free. We are all free, all of us black and white, the rainbow people of God. We won. Victory is ours.

"You are all wonderful people. I've got butterflies in my tummy."

Tutu was mobbed by the crowd at the entrance to the civic centre.

He shook hands with people before being ushered into the centre's concourse, where he was welcomed by heart pioneer Professor Chris Barnard and his wife Karen.

Also present on a specially erected platform was Tutu's wife Leah, city manager Alec Boraine and mayor Theresa Solomon.

Other dignitaries included Jacques Gerwel, director-general in the office of President Nelson Mandela; Tony Yengeni, chairman of the parliamentary defence committee; Frank Chikane, director-general in the office of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki; Gordon Oliver and Frank van der Velden, both former Cape Town mayors; Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi and many others.

Proceedings were opened with a prayer by the Right Reverend Rowan Smith, the Dean of Cape Town. Smith gave special thanks for the triumph of good over evil and paid tribute to those who gave their lives in the liberation struggle.

Solomon then asked the crowd crammed into the concourse to stand while schoolchildren sang the national anthem.

"We are gathered here to pay tribute to a man who has been at the centre of the struggle," Solomons said.

She said Tutu, as chairman, had also played a positive role in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Cape Town was proud to bestow it's highest honour, the freedom of the city, on him.

"Your legacy will live on for generations," Solomons said.

Pop star Jonathan Butler, who grew up in Cape Town, was then called up and sang "Heal our Land" to applause.

Boraine said Tutu's voice had emerged as a powerful force to challenge the injustices of the past.

"Our city has been blessed with your presence and it is now Cape Town's privilege to award you with the city's highest honour."

Tutu then signed the roll of honorary freemen of the city of Cape Town and the mayor presented him with the illuminated address and a gift from the city.

Tutu unveiled a commemorative plaque on the wall at the back of the stage while the choir sang.

Tutu, known for cracking jokes, said to laughter: "Dear friends I greet you all. I thought there were some people here."

Tutu proceeded to tell anecdotes about the past: "It's being extraordinary what God has done for us."

He said he remembered being arrested on one occasion and while in the cell asked for his lawyer. From the back of the cell a voice said: "Ek is hier."

"Remember the water cannon and the purple cannon. Soon people wore T-shirts saying the purple shall govern," he said to roars of laughter.

"Who among us remember September 1989, when 30,000 people protested against the apartheid election and marched to parliament.

"We marched and they began to march all over South Africa and apartheid fell."

The masses had won victory over the injustices and oppression of the past and the world had looked on in amazement.

Tutu said people still needed commitment. "There are people still living in shacks without water and lights."

Thanking the council for the award, Tutu said he accepted it in a representative capacity.

"I receive this on behalf of our leaders who were in jail, on behalf of the people of Cape Town, on behalf of the women, on behalf of the youth and on behalf of the different religious communities that enabled us to walk arm-in-arm."

Hundreds of purple and white baloons were released from the ceilings at the end of the ceremony.

Earlier, crowds gathered in Darling Street opposite the city hall and marched to the civic centre with two police Nyalas and traffic police vehicles, their sirens blaring, ahead of them.

Marchers were led by young children clad in purple shirts who walked hand-in-hand. Behind them followed religious and civic leaders along with government officials, Cape Town city councillors and supporters.

Previous recipients of the freedom of Cape Town are:

- William Duncan Baxter on June 17, 1858. He was a major contributor to public affairs, notably in local and national government, business and education;

- Bishop Sidney Warren Lavis on June 17, 1958, a leading church figure and fighter for charitable causes;

- Professor Christiaan Barnard on May 3, 1968. Barnard pioneered heart-transplant surgery;

- Owen Cardinal McCann on August 31, 1984, a leading church figure and champion of the underprivileged;

- Dr Richard Ernest van der Ross on September 5, 1988, a prominent educationist, journalist and humanitarian, dubbed "champion of the disadvantaged"; and,

- President Nelson Mandela on November 27, 1997.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 20 1998 - SAPA

TWO ANC SHELL HOUSE GUARDS WITHDRAW THEIR AMNESTY APPLICATIONS

Two of the 13 African National Congress security guards who opened fire on Zulu marchers during a march on Shell House in 1994, on Wednesday withdrew their applications for amnesty.

The surprise decision by Vukenzele Magagila and Wellington Mtshemola to withdraw their applications for amnesty came in the second week of hearings into the Shell House shootings.

The ANC guards opened fire during a march on the ANC headquarters by a large group of Zulus on March 28, 1994. Eight people died and about 100 were injured during the shooting.

The two applicants' legal representative George Bizos explained his clients' decision to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Wednesday.

Bizos told the hearing in Johannesburg the two men had decided they would stand by their evidence during the inquest that they had fired shots into the air in an attempt to repel the marchers. They said they had not fired directly at the marchers and therefore did not cause any deaths or injuries.

The other applicants have been subjected to lengthy cross examination by lawyers appearing for victims and their families about their justification for opening fire on the marchers.

The guards have consistently claimed that they had been fored to react because the crowd had approached Shell House in a threatening way.

Applicant Smangaliso Simelane told the committee he heard one of the marchers say out aloud "the dogs are going to die today".

He admitted firing one shot from a shotgun but said he was unable to say whether he had struck anyone.

When asked why he applied for amnesty if he only fired one shot, Simelane replied that he was not certain whether he had exceeded the bounds of self defence by opening fire.

The hearing continues in the Central Methodist Church on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 21 1998 - SAPA

SHOT SHELL HOUSE MARCHER TELLS TRC HE CANT FORGIVE ANC GUARDS

An Inkatha Freedom Party member who was crippled by gunfire during the march on Shell House in 1994 told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday that he could never forgive the African National Congress guards who shot him.

Silwanephi Alfred Mapanga, 32, who no longer has use of his arms or legs and is in a wheelchair, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Johannesburg that he believed he was shot intentionally by the ANC guards.

Mapanga was struck by bullets during the march on May 28, 1994 when thousands of Zulu protesters gathered outside the ANC's Shell House headquarters.

Eleven ANC guards who have admitted opening fire on the crowd have applied for amnesty for the shooting, which resulted in the death of eight marchers and injuries to scores more.

Testifying before the committee, Mapanga said he still could not understand why he was shot. When asked if he could forgive the ANC guards, he replied in agitated voice: "No, no, no..."

"I can find no place in my heart to forgive them. There is no single thread of peace, I have absolutlely no peace with them.

"It is no secret that it was intentional, it was not a mistake (the shooting). They could have prevented it in the first place."

Mapanga said he had lived in the Nancefield hostel in Soweto and had worked as a flower seller, but was now uable to support himself.

He appeared to be confused as to the exact sequence of events on the day of the march. Although he has admitted being an IFP supporter, he claims he joined the march on the instructions of a "hostel leader" who told him it was in support of the Zulu monarchy.

He said he had no knowledge of a planned march on Shell House and said he had not even heard of it and believed he was shot at the Library Gardens.

However, he was unable to explain how he appears on television footage taken at the scene of the Shell House shootings.

Another witness, Agnes Ntombela, told the hearing her son Raphael was killed in the shooting. She became overwhelmed with emotion when a photograph of her son was produced and she needed time to recompose herself. She said she had listened to the proceedings but could not follow them.

"I listen to what they are saying and I do not know what is true and what is not true. All that I know is that I lost a son, and I don't know if I can forget that," she said.

The hearing continues on Friday. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 21 1998 - SAPA

TRC MONTHLY WAGE BILL TOTALS ABOUT R2,7 MILLION: OMAR

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's wage bill for its 261 employees totalled nearly R2,7 million a month, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Thursday.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu earned a gross monthly salary of R32264,17 and his deputy, Dr Alex Boraine, a total of R31749, he said in written reply to Douglas Gibson (DP).

Ordinary commissioners earned R31512, while amnesty committee members received R23295 a month.

Other salaries included: finance director (R22000); senior legal adviser (R21186); research director (R19549); media director (R17334); leader of evidence (R16505); executive secretary; financial manager (R14512); media liaison officer (R11690); evidence anaylsts (R10750); and investigators (R8801).

The lowest paid employee was the commission's driver/messenger (R1115), followed by a housekeeper (R2445), summary writer (R2687) and security officer (R3504).

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY May 21 1998 - SAPA

ASSEMBLY UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTS NP MOTION CONGRATULATING TUTU

A National Party motion congratulating Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu on having been awarded the Freedom of Cape Town on Wednesday was supported by all parties in the National Assembly on Thursday.

The motion, moved by NP MP Abe Williams, expressed its full support for the award and "furthermore expresses its gratitude towards Archbishop Tutu for the enormous role he has played in bringing about social and political changes in our country".

It further urged him to continue playing a role and using his influence and stature to promote real and lasting reconciliation in South Africa.

The motion followed a row in the Cape Town City Council last year after a motion to grant Tutu the freedom of the city could initially not be passed because NP councillors appeared to oppose it.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 22 - SAPA

SHELL HOUSE MARCHERS CONSIDERED THEMSELVES WARRIORS: TRC TOLD

The marchers who converged on Shell House and the Library Gardens in Johannesburg in 1994 considered themselves warriors ready to fight for the Zulu monarchy, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Friday.

One of the marchers injured outside the African National Congress' Shell House headquarters, Amos Ngobese, told the TRC's amnesty committee he took part in the march in support of the existence of the Zulu monarchy.

He said he was told the marchers would gather at the Libary Gardens where they would be informed about the latest developments regarding the future of the Zulu king.

He conceded under cross-examination that he considered himself and his fellow marchers as warriors ready to fight for their king if necessary.

During the hearing a video clip showing an Inakatha Freedom Party leader, Humphrey Ndlovu, addressing a crowd of Zulu marchers at the Libary Gardens. Ndlovu said the people of South Africa would have to "pass by the spears of IFP warriors" before the 1994 election could be held.

Ngobese said he had not heard Ndlovu's speech, but said that if he had, he probably would have associated himself with the sentiments expressed.

However, he denied that when the group of marchers approached Shell House they were in an aggressive mood and said they were singing. He also denied they were carrying firearms.

Ngobese said he was shot by the ANC guards at Shell House and was injured in the right knee.

The hearing into the shooting at Shell House on March 28, 1994, when eight people were killed and scores injured, was on Friday postponed to a date that is still to be decided upon by the various legal representatives.

Eleven ANC guards are appling for amnesty for the shooting, which they claim was necessary to prevent the marchers from overrunning the ANC headquarters.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 22 - SAPA

TRC TO HOLD SPECIAL HEARINGS ON CHEMICAL WARFARE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will hold a special public hearing into South Africa's chemical and biological warfare (CBW) programme, TRC investigative unit head Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Friday.

The hearing, to be held from June 8 to 12, would focus on the South African Defence Force's CBW programme between 1981 and 1994, he said in a statement.

Matters to be explored included:

- the institutional arrangements that made the programme possible;

- the front companies that were established to support it;

- individual human rights violations that resulted from the programme;

- the involvement of the SADF in experimentation on humans and animals;

- the financial implications for the state; and

- the involvement of scientific and research institutions.

Key witnesses would include, among others: Dr Wouter Basson, of the former SADF's CBW programme; Dr Niel Knobel, the former Surgeon General; Dr Wynand Swanepoel, former MD of Roodeplaat Research Laboratories; Dr Brian Davey, currently head of the health and safety division of the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Warfare in The Hague; Prof CFG Hofmeyr, former head of the veterinary faculty at the University of Pretoria and advisor to the Surgeon General; and, Dr Lothar Neethling, former head of forensics for the SAP.

Other witnesses' names would be withheld until they had been offered protection, Ntsebeza said.

The hearing would be held in Cape Town at the TRC offices in Adderley Street.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 23 - SAPA-AP

SOUTH AFRICANS ON BUMPY ROAD TO RECONCILIATION

Boitumelo Makhuza's eyes filled with tears as a white man described the night he blasted bullets into her son and other blacks cowering in a ditch.

"I must be honest with you," she later seethed, glaring at the killers. "Those fools. Those monsters. I hate them."

But the former teacher then altered her tone, and her words expressed the kind of change South Africa needs to overcome centuries of hatred and mistrust between blacks and whites.

"I don't hate other white people," she declared. "It depends on how each one treats me."

How each one treats me. South Africans of all races and ages are contemplating that question four years after apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela, the former political prisoner with a spirit of forgiveness, came to power.

Race permeates every aspect of daily life here, from the political debates in Parliament to exchanges at the grocery cash register.

Stark examples of the extremes - cruel attacks and stubborn intolerance vs. tender forgiveness and opening hearts - regularly remind a troubled people how far they've come and still must go.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission created by Mandela's government to investigate apartheid atrocities completes its work this year, and Mandela will retire after elections in the first half of next year.

Those events mark the end of South Africa's formal reconciliation era, when the country has tried to confront its past before fully adopting a complete structural transformation from the white dominance of apartheid.

Mandela has held back radical transformation to protect the white minority, and he promoted unity so strongly it has become a theme in advertising, such as the slogan for Castle beer: "One Nation. One Soul. One Beer. One Goal."

But reconciliation goes beyond government policies. It also involves blacks' desire to see their lives improve, white resentment over loss of privilege - ultimately, whether blacks and whites can get along.

Although the Truth Commission was meant to promote reconciliation, it has caused much controversy. Many whites consider it biased, particularly against Afrikaners, the Dutch-descended white settlers who ruled during apartheid.

Others, mostly blacks, complain apartheid-era leaders and generals are escaping commission scrutiny. Former President P.W. Botha, who tried to crush the anti-apartheid movement, snubbed the commission and now faces trial for contempt.

"It's been rough," admitted Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop who is chairman of the commission. "But ... it points out that reconciliation is not easy. It's not cheap."

Tutu, who won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-apartheid activities, said most people thought reconciliation meant "sort of patting one another on the back and saying `Let bygones be bygones."'

"That's not reconciliation," he insisted in an interview. "Reconciliation is actually facing up to a thing that caused the alienation."

His commission can grant amnesty to people who make full confessions of apartheid-era crimes, but it has rejected some applications. The panel doesn't have the power to file charges for abuses it uncovers, although the government has tried some people.

South Africans have a lot to face up to.

Black activists were routinely tortured and murdered, and hundreds were secretly buried, burned to ashes or even blown up to obliterate their bodies.

Thousands died in political violence between Mandela's African National Congress and the rival Inkatha Freedom Party. Apartheid security forces fomented some of that unrest.

ANC guerrillas killed and maimed hundreds of whites in their bombing and sabotage campaigns.

A Truth Commission hearing into the killing of Boitumelo Makhuza's son Teboho exhibited one side of the brutality.

Petrus Matthews, a 30-year-old with shoulder-length blond hair, testified how he and eight other members of the neo- Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement erected a bogus police roadblock to kill ANC supporters in December 1993.

The whites pulled over two carloads of blacks, including Makhuza, who at 21 had just graduated from college.

They made the blacks squat in a ditch, lined up behind them and opened fire. Then one of the whites cut off the ear of a dying victim, to show his commander, Matthews said.

The Makhuzas didn't lose just Teboho. His younger brother, Thabiso, committed suicide eight months later.

"This thing had really been eating him up. He said he didn't enjoy anything anymore after Teboho died," recalled Tshepo Makhuza, the eldest - and now only - son.

"I never thought I could forgive the system and forgive," Tshepo said. Somehow, though, he stopped blaming Afrikaners and shifted his anger to their belief that non-whites were inferior.

"It's something that is put to them at a very early age," Tshepo said. "In fact, I pity them. They are victims of apartheid as much as we are, though at different levels."

Such understanding and forgiveness has come from all sides.

Neville Clarence, blinded in a 1983 ANC car bombing, recently shook hands with former guerrilla Aboobaker Ismail, who planned the attack. Clarence later told how both seemed reluctant to let go of their clasp of forgiveness.

"We held tight. We didn't want the moment to end too soon," he said.

At Melpark Primary School in Johannesburg, headmaster Badie Badenhorst watched white and black students playing together on a recent sunny day.

"I used to be very right-wing," said Badenhorst, 55, who worked in all-white schools before joining Melpark in 1993. Seeing how eager black children were to learn changed his views.

"What I've been taught by children in five years time, I hadn't learned in my whole previous life," he said, shaking his head and smiling.

To be sure, many South Africans remain mired in old attitudes. The Afrikaner Resistance Movement still sports swastika-like badges and issues its threats of war against black rule. Rioting erupted this year in the town of Vryburg over the high school's failure to integrate. Near Johannesburg, a white man shot at black children crossing his property, killing an infant and provoking national outrage.

Attacks on white farmers continue, with some victims apparently murdered because of their race.

But there are signs of change, particularly among the young.

At a hamburger stand in Vryburg a few weeks after the rioting, two black students speaking with a journalist were joined by two white schoolmates.

"My parents told me blacks are bad," said one of the white youths. "When I used to see them I wanted to hit them or throw stones at them. But then, when I began going to school with them .. I learned they are people, like us, who have feelings and can get hurt, like us."

The student wouldn't give his name, saying his parents would punish him if they knew he socialized with blacks.

Tutu feels such learning is more critical to reconciliation than even his commission's work.

"It's something that has to be a national project," he said. "Every South African has to make their contribution."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN 25 May 198 - SAPA

NEW TRC PANEL TO REVIEW 37 ANC AMNESTY APPLICATIONS

The Truth and Reconciliation Comission is to appoint a new panel to review the 37 applications for amnesty made by senior African National Congress members, which were set aside by the Cape High Court on May 8 this year.

The applications would not be considered by the same amnesty committee panel that had first approved them, and a new panel would be constituted as soon as was practically possible, TRC chairperson Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a press conference in Cape Town on Monday.

The original panel comprised Judge Hassen Mall, Judge Bernard Ngoepe and advocate John Motata.

The High Court set aside the 37 applications after the National Party contested the validity of the process that had been followed.

Tutu said the TRC was still waiting for the formal text of the High Court's order setting aside the 37 applications for amnesty.

TRC commissioner Denzil Potgieter SC said the new amnesty applications would have to provide specific details about the particular incidents for which amnesty was being sought.

Another 109 applications for amnesty by people in ANC leadership positions would also be processed at the same time, Potgieter said.

In terms of the Promotion of National Reconciliation Act, the amnesty committee is bound to hold public hearings to consider applications for amnesty for acts which constitute "gross human rights violations".

Potgieter said it was possible that the 37 applications, and the 109 new applications, could involve public hearings.

No dates for the hearing of the applications have been decided upon

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 25 1998 - SAPA

TRC DISMISSES ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FIVAZ

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday dismissed as lies allegations that national police Commissioner George Fivaz had been involved in human rights violations in the Free State during the 1970s and 80s.

The allegations were investigated and no evidence found to support them, TRC chairperson Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a press conference in Cape Town on Monday,

The investigation was closed as far as it affected Fivaz, he said.

Two long-term prisoners at Grootvlei maximum prison made the allegations against Fivaz, claiming that he and other policemen had planted drugs and ammunition on innocent people.

The two prisoners - Andries "Tamatie" Nchake and Joseph Mosia - also alleged Fivaz took part in the murder of suspects and supplied information that led to the 1982 Lesotho cross border raid.

TRC investigative head Dumisa Ntsebeza said the investigations had revealed serious contradictions in the prisoners evidence which indicated that they had lied.

When the investigative teams visited sites where bodies were alleged to have been buried, they found no human remains, Ntsebeza said.

However, evidence was found that certain members of the Ladybrand police were involved in the assault and torture of a person who subsequently died.

The policemen allegedly implicated were mentioned by name and the matter has been referred to the police for further investigation.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON May 25 1998 - SAPA

MURDERED FARMER'S WIFE SAYS APLA CADRES SHOULD NOT GET AMNESTY

The widow of an Eastern Cape dairy farmer shot by Azanian People's Liberation Army members in 1993 on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission she believed they should not get amnesty.

Paula Meyers, whose husband Mike and daughter Donne, 21, were killed in the Transkei, was speaking at an amnesty hearing in East London for two Apla members, Network Radio News reported. Apla was the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress.

Meyers said the two men wiped out half of her family and showed no remorse. The crimes were committed at a time when South Africa had already come to terms with its problems, she said.

There was no need to make a political statement, such as the two operatives claimed they have done.

She said the nation was already under siege by criminals and if the two were now set free it would be seen as nothing but an escape mechanism for murderers.

The two men, Zama Thutha and Luvuyo Kulman, are each serving 25-year-sentences for the murders.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG May 26 1998 - SAPA-AFP

APARTHEID'S CHEMICAL WARFARE BOFFINS UNDER TRUTH BODY SCRUTINY

South Africa's truth panel is to put apartheid's top-secret chemical and biological warfare effort under the microscope before it wraps up its inquiries into racist atrocities at the end of June.

The commission will examine experiments carried out on humans and animals between 1981 and 1994 and the involvement of the apartheid state in the development of chemical and biological warfare.

The hearings will be in Cape Town from June 8-12, just before the commission winds up its work, it said in a statement.

After more than two years investigating the secret research, the truth panel has identified a dozen military researchers and scientists who will be called to the hearings as witnesses.

Star witness will be Wouter Basson, a 47-year-old physicist said to have masterminded the programme to develop apartheid's chemical and biological arsenal, codenamed "Project Coast".

The former head of the South African army's Seventh Medical Battalion hospital in Pretoria, Basson is known to secret services across the world: several countries, including the US, have accused him of trafficking in military technology.

Basson is currently on bail facing charges of fraud and narcotics possession associated with the chemical warfare programme.

The lid was lifted on Basson's secret activities when he was arrested in January 1997 for narcotics dealing in collaboration with a private laboratory.

The deals were undertaken through a front company created by apartheid-era special services.

Since then, investigators have collected a mammoth file against him: on August 3 he faces the High Court on fraud charges involving 30 million rand (about 10 million dollars at the time) stemming from the period when he was heading the Seventh Medical Battalion.

After his arrest, police seized from his home two chests of documents which included detailed notes on the formulae for deadly chemicals listed by the International Chemical Weapons Convention.

The South African Defence Force made a successful court application to ensure that the information be classified as a state secret, saying it was "so dangerous it could harm the lives and health of many innocent people if it fell into the wrong hands."

Basson acknowledged last year that the research was intended "to decrease the fighting capabilities of the enemy." Deadly chemical substances were tried out on humans, according to investigations by the South African press.

Thallium, a fatal poison containing mercury, was tested on South African soldiers in Angola and on the Namibian freedom fighters of SWAPO.

At the same time, political prisoners were subjected to experiments on the impact of ultra-sound on the body. Medicines known to cause cardiac problems were tested on Bushmen, the last indigenous people in South Africa, according to the press.

A 1992 report into the affair commissioned by then-president Frederick de Klerk acknowledged that the Seventh Medical Battalion was involved in making and using chemical substances.

The report alleged that the battalion supplied poisons to assassins from army hit squads and was involved in a chemical bomb attack on government troops in Mozambique.

It was followed by a purge of the army and Basson and 23 other senior officers were forced to take early retirement in 1993.

The now ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been heavily criticised for protecting Basson by giving him a job in a military hospital which it said was "in the national interest" and "to maintain control over his activities and retain his specialist knowledge."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN May 26 1998 - SAPA

TWO IFP MEMBERS GRANTED AMNESTY FOR MARCH 1993 MASSACRE

Two Inkatha Freedom Party members, Mabhungu Absolom Dladla, 30, and Nkanyiso Wilfred Ndlovu, 28, were on Tuesday granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee for their part in the massacre of 10 people in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands in 1993.

Dladla and Ndlovu were two of three attackers who opened fire on a minibus taxi, killing 10 people and wounding six others in the Nkanyezi area on March 5, 1993.

The occupants were all members of the African National Congress.

The applicants said the attack was in retaliation for the murder three days earlier of six children on their way to school. The children's parents were IFP supporters.

The amnesty committee said in a statement: "There is no doubt in our minds that the applicants were caught up in the senseless violence in their area between members of the ANC and the IFP.

"We are satisfied that the offences for which the applicants were convicted were committed in the course of the struggles of the past and were associated with a political objective."

In April 1993 Dladla and Ndlovu were convicted on ten murder charges and six of attempted murder.

They were both sentenced to death for each of the ten counts of murder. The sentences were commuted to lengthy terms of imprisonment.

Bernard Mkhize, who testified on behalf of the applicants, said three of his children were among the six that were shot dead when the light delivery vehicle they were travelling in was ambushed on its way to school.

The amnesty committee said: "Although the applicants were not instructed by their leaders to shoot and kill the occupants of the minibus, they had taken it upon themselves to do so.

"There is no doubt in our mind that they were caught up in the senseless violence in their area between members of the ANC on the one hand and the IFP on the other."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN May 27 1998 - SAPA

TRC TURNS DOWN AMNESTY APPLICATIONS FROM THREE IFP MEMBERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has turned down amnesty applications from three Inkatha Freedom Party members whose applications were heard in Durban in March, the commission said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mshengu Ngobese and Nimrod Mthembu applied for amnesty for the killing of Siza Cele and Zondiwe Khumalo at KwaMaphumulo near Stanger in KwaZulu-Natal in 1991.

The statement said the evidence before the amnesty committee showed that Ngobese and Mthembu met Cele as they were leaving a traditional ceremony and stabbed him to death, forcing his companion to flee. They then went to Khumalo's home where they shot her with a homemade shotgun.

During their appearance before the committee, the two men admitted they had been drinking when they killed the two people after attending a traditional feast. They told the committee they killed Khumalo because they believed she was opposed to the IFP.

Rejecting the applications, the amnesty committee said it was difficult to accept that alcohol did not play a major role in the killings.

"No evidence exists that any of the victims was in fact a member of the ANC. The acts of killing... were not directed at a clear political opponent, nor were they executed on behalf of or in furtherance of the objective of a political organisation," it said.

In a separate application, Baba Langelihle Khomo applied for amnesty for shooting people attending a traditional ceremony, killing eight and injuring six others, at Ndlovu's Kraal in KwaNdeni Reserve, near Pietermaritzburg on March 7, 1992.

He had been convicted and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for killing Kati Ndlovu, Zinhle Hlengwa, Noyazisa Gumede, Gijeni Ndlovu, Mandlakapheli Tinga, Michael Gwala, Mboshwa Mlaba, Jabulani Msibila and injuring six others.

In his amnesty application form, Khomo admitted the attack was carried out in line with the objectives of the IFP, of which he was a member.

However, giving evidence before the committee, he denied involvement in the attack, saying he was part of the people gathered at the kraal and that the attack was carried out by unknown gunmen.

When the committee drew his attention to the fact that he had admitted involvement in his application form, Khomo said he was innocent but had been advised that should he deny guilt, his application would be denied in chambers and he would not get the opportunity to appear before the committee and tell his story.

In its decision, the ammnesty committee said the court judgment indicated there might have been a political motive behind the attack at Ndlovu's Kraal.

However, by denying involvement in any way in the incident, the applicant could not satisfy the committee that he had made a full disclosure of his involvement in a politically motivated crime as required by the law.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON May 27 1998 - SAPA

GOLF CLUB ATTACK SURVIVOR SAYS APLA CADRES CAN GET AMNESTY

Former National Party MP Ray Radue, who was present when Azanian People's Liberation Army cadres attacked the King William's Town Golf Club in 1992, on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he did not object to the applicants being granted amnesty.

Testifying before a TRC amnesty hearing in East London, Radue said it was up to the commission to decide if the applicants qualified for amnesty.

The applicants are Tembelani Xundu, Thobela Mlambisa, Malusi Morrison and Lungisa Ntintili.

At least four people were killed and 17 injured when two Apla gunmen opened fire with automatic rifles in the golf club and threw hand grenades into the bar area and dining room on November 28, 1992.

Quoting from the interim constitution postamble, Radue said the applicants should make a full disclosure of all relevant facts surrounding the attack on the golf club.

If the applicant qualified, he should be granted amnesty. "I personally would have no objection to that," he said.

Radue, who organised the golf club Christmas dinner event, said apart from a slight shrapnel wound in one ankle, he was shocked but unharmed in the attack.

He emphasised that his views might not be shared by those who were permanently injured or scarred for life.

They may still regard the attack as unjustified and murderous, he said.

In his affidavit Radue said the attack was carried out by two Apla cadres who entered the club through an open front door and one or two accomplices who fired on the club from outside.

The attackers inside the building fired into the crowded dining room and into the bar area and then hurled an M26 handgrenade into the dining room and a Russian stick grenade into the bar area.

He said both grenades exploded as the attackers withdrew.

In cross-examination, the applicants' lawyer, Lungelo Mbandazayo, put it to Radue that the attack was the result of the National Party's confrontational policies.

The hearing was postponed indefinitely to allow senior Pan African Congress official and ex-Apla chief, Letlape Mphahlele, to familiarise himself with the PAC's analysis of the political situation at the time of the attack.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH May 28 1998 - SAPA

FORMER MK CADRE GRANTED AMNESTY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has granted amnesty to a former Umkhonto we Sizwe cadre jailed for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, the TRC said in a statement on Thursday.

Nyameko Mpho Faku, 31, from Swartkops Valley, Port Elizabeth, was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition in 1993.

"His application was dealt with in chambers as the offence for which he applied for amnesty did not fall within the definition of a gross human rights violation in the law which governs TRC operations," the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY May 29 - SAPA

NOT ENOUGH PROGRESS TOWARDS NATION-BUILDING, SAYS MBEKI

South Africa remained racially and economically divided between white and black, with not enough progress in nation- building and reconciliation, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.

Unlike whites, who were relatively prosperous and had access to developed infrastructure, blacks continued to live in underdeveloped conditions and only had a theoretical right to equal opportunity.

The longer this situation persisted, the more entrenched would be the conviction that the concept of nation building was a mere mirage, Mbeki said in a special debate on national reconciliation.

However, abolishing the apartheid legacy would require considerable effort over a considerable period of time.

Referring to German unity, he said the seriousness with which the German people treated their process of promoting national unity and reconciliation was reflected, among other things, by the extraordinary volume of resources which the richer, developed West Germany, transferred to the poorer and relatively, underdeveloped East.

During the first five years of unification after 1990, US586,5 billion of public funds were transferred from West to East Germany to underwrite German national unity and reconciliation.

South Africa's own "solidarity tax" was imposed for one year only, accompanied by much grumbling from some sectors of society, he said.

Mbeki said the various political parties and society at large were not behaving in a manner which promoted reconciliation and nation building.

"Are the relatively rich, who, as a result of an apartheid definition, are white, prepared to help underwrite the upliftment of the poor, who... are black?"

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) was engaged in a difficult struggle to ensure that every individual and corporate entity met their tax obligations, he said.

The SARS had established that about 30 percent of corporations were not registered for tax.

"These are people who, by honouring their legal obligations, could make an important contribution to addressing the material challenges of national unity and reconciliation.

"They deliberately choose not to, but will not hesitate to proclaim that the goverment has failed to `deliver'," Mbeki said.

On affirmative action, he said that in the majority of cases the call for transformation of the public and private sector had been resisted with great determination.

"To ensure that it does not happen, some of what is said is that `black advancement equals a white brain drain' and `black management in the public service equals inefficiency, corruption and a lowering of standards'." By ignoring that South Africa's past determined the present, "it comes about that those who were responsible for or were beneficiaries of the past, absolve themselves from any obligation to help do away with an unacceptable legacy", Mbeki said.

The current situation suggested that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission would be unable to compete its work, especially with regard to the full disclosure and attribution of many acts of gross human rights violations.

"This will leave the law enforcement agencies with no choice but to investigate all outstanding cases of such violations, making it inevitable that our society continues to be subject to tensions which derive from the conflicts of the past."

Some South Africans, including those within the security forces, were prepared to go to any length to oppose the democratic order, including the assassination of leaders and destabilisation by any means, Mbeki said.

These included the now well-known story of former freedom fighters allegedly wishing to overthrow the government, as well as other disinformation campaigns which the intelligence services were investigating.

These also involved allegations that Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi was involved in the cash-in-transit robberies, while he (Mbeki) and Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils were responsible for the murder of white farmers.

However, the overwhelming majority of South Africans had not abandoned the goal of national unity and reconcilation, nor lost hope that it would be realised, he said.

There were significant numbers of people, including those among the white and Afrikaner community, who were demonstrating a real commitment to ensuring unity and reconcilation became a reality, Mbeki said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY May 29 - SAPA

MBEKI ENCOURAGED BY AFRIKANER TALKS

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday he was "very encouraged" by talks he and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi have been holding with Afrikaner groups.

Replying to a special debate on transformation and reconciliation, he said he and Buthelezi were talking to "sections" of the Afrikaner population, and would brief Parliament after they had reported to Cabinet.

"But what I can say is that both of us have found that process very very inspiring indeed," he said. "Some (Afrikaners) say they feel disempowered, they feel marginalised, they feel threatened.

"They talk about these things, but principally what they talk about is what they should do, what they are doing, to change this country for the better."

Mbeki also said he and National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk had been in contact with generals of the former South African Defence Force to discuss the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and what the generals might do to help the TRC process.

This interaction had also been very encouraging.

As things stood, it appeared that the lack of co-operation the TRC was experiencing meant it would be unable to complete its work on full disclosure and attribution of many gross human rights violations.

This would leave the law enforcement agencies with no choice but to investigate all outstanding violations, making it inevitable that society continued to be subject to tensions deriving from the conflicts of the past.

Earlier in the debate, Mbeki said South Africa remained racially and economically divided between white and black, with not enough progress in nation-building and reconciliation.

He repeated a warning that South Africa had to respond seriously to "mounting rage" over the lack of transformation.

He said the seriousness with which the German people treated their process of promoting national unity and reconciliation was reflected, in part, by the extraordinary volume of resources which the richer West Germany transferred to the poorer and relatively underdeveloped East.

In five years this amount had been 15 times the national budget of South Africa.

By contrast, South Africa's own post-1994 "solidarity tax" had been imposed for one year only, accompanied by much grumbling from some sectors of society, he said.

Mbeki said political parties and society at large were not behaving in a way which promoted reconciliation and nation building.

The South African Revenue Service had established that about 30 percent of corporations were not registered for tax.

"These are people who, by honouring their legal obligations, could make an important contribution to addressing the material challenges of national unity and reconciliation.

"They deliberately choose not to, but will not hesitate to proclaim that the goverment has failed to deliver," Mbeki said.

Speaking in the debate, Van Schalkwyk said reconciliation was being undermined by the African National Congress' political favouritism, by reverse apartheid, and by the tendency to blame everything on one race group through the concept of collective guilt.

For many people, "transformation" had become a codeword for ANC domination.

The TRC had failed in its task of promoting reconciliation, and what the country needed was a forum that could successfully take over this mission.

Chairman of the IFP parliamentary caucus, Ben Skosana, said the hurt that had been done to his party over the years could not be waved aside by the biased TRC process or sporadic calls for a merger between the ANC and IFP.

"We need much more than that," he said.

Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said that despite the existence of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, a final settlement had still to be found in peoples' minds.

The ANC had backtracked on self-determination promises it made to Afrikaners. This was creating mistrust, had a detrimental effect on politics and delayed reconciliation.

Democratic Party leader Tony Leon said middle-class South Africans, the bulk of them white, paid their taxes and rates, helped with job creation, and created the revenue base which contributed much to what the government used to pay for goods and services for the poor.

This contribution should at least be reognised as valuable and worthwhile.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN May 29 - SAPA

PW'S TRIAL TO RESUME

Former state president PW Botha's trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is set to resume in the George Regional Court on Monday, despite renewed efforts to settle the dispute out of court.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu had been approached by a third party who was anxious to resolve the standoff without Botha's trial for contempt going ahead, TRC spokesman John Allen told Sapa on Friday.

Tutu did not feel at liberty to indentify the intermediary, he said.

Tutu told the intermediary all the commission wanted was for Botha to appear before it. If he was prepared to do so, the TRC would ask Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn to withdraw charges even at this late stage.

Allen declined to give more details, but confirmed Tutu and other TRC staff would travel to George to testify at the trial.

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki told Parliament last week he and Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen were discussing "what to do to remove that element of rage around PW Botha and the TRC".

Speaking in a special debate on reconciliation on Friday, Mbeki told the National Assembly he and National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk had been in contact with former South African Defence Force generals to discuss the TRC, and what the generals might do to help the TRC process.

The generals feel that Botha has been victimised by the TRC, which they say has targeted elements of the security forces and ignored violations committed by the liberation movement.

Western Cape deputy attorney-general Bruce Morrison said on Friday that as far as his office was concerned the trial would go ahead as planned.

Botha's case was adjourned on April 16 after Botha's lawyers complained they did not have access to all the necessary documentation.

Morrison said Botha's counsel had everything they needed from the start of the trial, but may not have been aware of it.

The only witness to testify so far has been TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl, who told the court about the extraordinary lengths the commission had gone to to try and get the 82-year-old Botha to testify before it.

Van Zyl would continue testifying on Monday.

Morrison said he also planned to call Tutu to testify, as well as several other witnesses. Who these would be and the order in which they would be called would depend on Botha's defence.

Morrison said it would be difficult to predict how long the trial would take. Ideally, he would like it to be concluded next week.

Presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju has asked all parties involved in the trial to be available the following week as well, in the event that the case drags on.

There has been no indication whether Botha will testify.

George police said they did not expect any trouble at the hearing, but were taking no chances. Tight security would be in place around the court buildings.

Secretary for the African National Congress in the southern Cape, Ismail Lavangee, said the ANC had applied for permission for 500 people to stage a protest outside the court buildings one day next week.

However final arrangements would be made at the ANC's regional conference in George this weekend.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 1 1998 - SAPA

FORMER CCB AGENT FERDI BARNARD CONVICTED OF MURDER

Former Civil Co-Operation Bureau agent Ferdi Barnard was on Monday convicted of murdering anti-apartheid activist David Webster and attempting to murder Justice Minister Dullah Omar.

Barnard was unanimously convicted by Pretoria High Court Judge Johan Els and two assessors, Mr FJ Mostert and Mr E van Rensburg, on 25 charges. These included two murder charges, two of attempted murder and various charges relating to fraudulent transactions and the illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.

He was acquitted on a further nine charges, including two attempted murder charges, because of a lack of evidence.

Barnard, who was dressed in a dark suit and green shirt, looked relaxed and afterwards told reporters that he expected the ruling. He said he was also expecting a long prison term.

Barnard said the conviction did not really change his situation as he would be returning to Pretoria maximum prison, where he was already serving a ten-year sentence.

He said he had adapted to prison life because "that's how the human spirit works". He was more worried about his family than about himself because he could take care of himself, he said.

Webster's companion of many years, Maggie Freedman, expressed delight and relief at Barnard's conviction.

"I hope this will give hope to other people who've been waiting for years for justice in other cases," she said.

Els briefly summed up his written judgment of over 200 pages before convicting Barnard.

He said the case basically turned on credibility. Most of the State witnesses, including Barnard's former wife and several of his former girlfriends, were found to be credible witnesses, while Barnard was described as a highly unsatisfactory witness.

The judge said Barnard was clearly an intelligent person who had the ability to present lies in such a way as to make them sound like the truth. He admitted that he would tell lies to a court if he thought he could get away with it and had in fact told lies about trivial matters.

In court, Barnard for the first time admitted that he knew all along that the purpose for his monitoring Omar was to have him killed.

Els said it was clear that Barnard intended killing Omar himself, and that he was stopped by unforeseen circumstances.

Els found that Barnard confessed Webster's murder to 11 State witnesses without being forced to do so, and that he also confessed to murdering one of his business acquaintances, Mark Frances, to several witnesses.

The judge said there was adequate corroboration of the evidence of State witnesses to convict Barnard of Webster's murder.

Barnard was a man who clearly "talked too much", he said, adding it was highly unlikely that Barnard would have made such confessions to the witnesses if they were not the truth.

Els found that Barnard killed Webster and Frances with direct intent.

He said it was clear that Barnard wanted to improve his standing in the CCB by killing Omar. The court was satisfied that he was in fact planning to murder Omar.

The court rejected Barnard's version that he merely provided "security" during several fraudulent transactions involving diamonds and foreign currency. It was clear that he played a major role in the transactions and that he defrauded several people, including a Pretoria attorney.

The case was postponed to Wednesday at the defence's request. It is not yet known if Barnard will testify in mitigation of sentence.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 1 1998 - SAPA

SUBPOENAS "SERVED" BY SPECTATOR IN PW BOTHA'S TRIAL

Former state president PW Botha's trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission took an interesting turn on Monday when a purple-robed spectator announced plans to serve subpoenas on Botha and presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju.

Shortly before the court case adjourned for lunch, a woman calling herself Adele-Maree Pretorius-Bekker stood up and said she wanted to issue a subpoenas against Botha and Lugaju.

Lugaju was unimpressed and announced the court would adjourn.

The woman then attempted to foist a thick role of documents on Botha, who took evasive action.

She later told Sapa she was the leader of the Bond Party of South Africa, and that the "charges" against Botha included granting R100 million to the Civil Co-operation Bureau and suspending the judiciary for two years.

It was not clear why she wanted to subpoena Lugaju.

TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl has been the only witness to testify in the trial thus far.

He said former National Intelligence head Niel Barnard told the State Security Council in 1986 that some security force members were committing unlawful acts, and the TRC wanted to question Botha about this, and whether anything was done to rectify the situation.

Van Zyl has been cross-examined by Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher, who has attempted to prove that TRC subpoenas issued to the former state president were invalid.

Meanwhile Boet Troskie, a long-time friend of Botha's, is still trying to broker an out-of-court settlement in the dispute. roskie, a wealthy businessman, said he had not helped pay Botha's legal fees thus far, but said he would consider doing so if asked.

Troskie told reporters at the court that he was not attempting to pursuade Botha to appear before the TRC, but the former state president was "prepared to compromise" to resolve the dispute.

He did not elaborate what this compromise involved, and unless Botha is pursuaded to testify, a settlement is unlikely.

Troskie said both Botha and the TRC realised that the court battle could go on for months, or even years, and that a settlement was in the country's best interests.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 1 1998 - SAPA

TRC PROBES HELDERBERG DISASTER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has started its closed hearing into the 1987 Helderberg air disaster, Network Radio News reported on Monday.

The Helderberg crashed off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on board.

There has been wide speculation that the aircraft was carrying contraband explosives as part of the previous government's efforts to bypass anti-apartheid sanctions.

The TRC will hear evidence from a forensic investigator who believes the official inquiry into the disaster was either incompetent or a cover-up, NRN reported.

David Klatzo is the first witness in a three-day hearing at the commission's headquarters in Cape Town.

Klatzo conducted his own investigation into the crash and believes the plane was carrying an unstable chemical used for manufacturing rocket fuel.

Also expected to give evidence is Gert van der Veer, chief executive of South African Airways at the time of the crash.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 1 1998 - SAPA

DEKOCK DUE TO TESTIFY AT PW BOTHA TRIAL

Former Vlakplaas commander and convicted murderer Eugene de Kock may be called to testify at the trial of former state president PW Botha in George this week, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has confirmed.

De Kock has been called as a witness in the trial of Botha, on charges of refusing to testify before the TRC.

TRC spokesman Phila Ngqumba told Sapa that a subpoena was on Monday served on De Kock in Port Elizabeth, where he is attending TRC amnesty committee hearings in connnection with the murder of Matthew Goniwe and four other activists in June 1985.

Ngqumba said it had not yet been decided when De Kock would testify at Botha's trial, but it could be later this week. De Kock, who is serving lengthy sentences for murder, has applied for amnesty for 126 incidents he was involved in while serving at Vlakplaas. He has implicated Botha in several incidents which he claims the former president either personally ordered or knew about.

Six former security policemen are applying for amnesty for the murder of Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 1 1998 - SAPA

GOVERNMENT WAS LOSING THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ANC, TRC HEARS

The government was losing the struggle against the ANC in the Eastern Cape in the 1980s when it was decided to eliminate Matthew Goniwe and three other activists, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Monday.

The TRC's amnesty committee is hearing an application for amnesty by six former security policemen who have admitted killing Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli in Port Elizabeth on June 27, 1985.

Colonel Herman Barend du Plessis told the committee Port Elizabeth area was going up in flames at the time and the security police were finding it impossible to keep the unrest under control.

He said he believed the government was losing the battle against the African National Congress, which was gaining ground by the day. He said it was then that as a last resort the decision was taken to eliminate activists who were seen as the people spearheading the revolution.

George Bizos, SC, for the families of the activists, put it to Du Plessis that at the time of Goniwe's death a high-level government meeting was debating whether or not to reinstate the activist at the school from which he had been suspended as a teacher.

Du Plessis replied that he never knew of the meeting or of the plan to reinstate Goniwe. Bizos quoted from government documents which showed that the former minister of national education, Dr Gerrit Viljoen, and of law and order, Louis le Grange, were engaged in discussions as to the merits of reinstating Goniwe as a way of keeping him under control.

Du Plessis said he never knew of the idea but would have opposed it because it would have done nothing to stop the unrest in the area. Goniwe would have continued with his political activities.

Du Plessis said he would have continued with security police plans to eliminate Goniwe even if a decision had been taken to have him reinstated. He said this was because the order to kill Goniwe had come from his superior, Colonel Harold Snyman, who he believed had received orders from higher up.

Snyman, one of the amnesty applicants, is critically ill and according to his lawyers and his doctor is unable to attend the hearings to testify.

Bizos said he found it strange that from the time Snyman became terminally ill, "a chorus was heard from the policemen" to the effect that their former branch commander ordered the murder of Goniwe and the other three activists.

Du Plessis denied he was using Snyman's illness as an excuse to blame his former superior for giving the order.

Du Plessis said he supported the decision to eliminate Goniwe and the other activists but had not approved of the modus operandi. He said Snyman had suggested the men be killed in a way that would appear that it had been done by vigilantes. Du Plessis said he found it acceptable that people should be killed by stabbing.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay asked the former policeman what was his preferred method of assassination. Du Plessis replied that he found it quicker and easier to shoot someone rather than to stab them.

The other policeman applying for amnesty, and who have already testified, are General Nico van Rensburg, Captain Sakkie van Zyl, Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz and Lieutenant Eric Taylor.

The hearing continues on Tuesday in the Centenary Hall in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 1 1998 - SAPA

DE KOCK SUBPOENAED FOR PW TRIAL

Convicted mass murder Eugene de Kock has been subpoenaed in connection with former state president PW Botha's trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which resumed in the George Regional Court on Monday after a six-week adjournment.

Western Cape deputy attorney-general Bruce Morrison, who is prosecuting, told journalists he wanted to hold consultations with De Kock, but declined to say whether the former Vlakplaas hit squad commander would actually testify, or what he wanted to question him about.

De Kock testified at his 1996 murder trial that Botha authorised numerous security force raids into neighbouring countries.

Morrison's first and only witness to be called thus far, TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl, resumed earlier testimony indicating that Botha could have authorised the killing of anti-apartheid activists during his tenure as chairman of the State Security Council. Botha held this position from 1978 to 1989.

The TRC wanted to question Botha about whether the SSC authorised clandestine operations against its enemies all over the world, which violated international law.

In particular it wanted to know about the killing of Dulcie September, the African National Congress' chief representative in Paris, and the circumstances under which parcel bombs were sent to anti-apartheid activists Ruth First, Father Michael Lapsley and Jeanette Schoon, Van Zyl said.

He also quoted from minutes of SSC meetings which called for enemies of the state to be eliminated or destroyed. The TRC wanted to ask Botha if the SSC's intention was to authorise the killing of the political opponents. The 82-year-old Botha, who wore a dark pin-striped suit and white shirt, showed little emotion while proceedings were under way.

Botha has argued that he and TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu had an agreement that he would be able to answer the TRC's questions in writing, and would not have to testify.

He refused to adhere to a subpoena requiring him to attend a TRC hearing on the SSC, and was subsequenly prosecuted for contravening the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, which governs the TRC. If convicted he faces a fine of up to R20,000 or two years in jail.

A jail sentence is considered unlikely given his age. Under cross-examination from Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher, Van Zyl said while Tutu initially attempted to accommodate Botha by allowing him to respond to questions in writing, he had never undertaken to indefinitely "immunise" him from testifying.

Laubscher is to continue questioning Van Zyl on Tuesday, after which Morrison is expected to call Tutu to the stand.

Morrison said he also planned to call one of the people injured in the bombing of Khotso house, the headquarters of the South African Council of Churches, as a witness, but did not give a name.

Businessman Boet Troskie has admitted to being the intermediary still trying broker an out-of-court settlement between Botha and the TRC. Troskie, a long-time friend of Botha's who is attending the trial, was optomistic this could still be achieved.

"He (Botha) is willing to co-operate," Troskie said, adding that an amicable solution to the dispute was in the best interests of the country.

Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen, who is also attending the trial, welcomed Troskie's efforts. Viljoen acknowledged he had personally held talks with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki in a bid to resolve the dispute. "We have tried but we have failed," he said.

Viljoen said the TRC had painted itself into a corner, and there would be no winners or losers in the court case. "Any reasonable person would like to see a solution to this."

There were no signs of the protests which have marked Botha's three previous court appearances, although the local African National Congress has indicated it may stage a demonstration later this week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 1 1998 - SAPA

BOPAPE'S BODY WAS THROWN INTO RIVER FOR CROCODILES: TRC TOLD

A police captain on Monday said he threw the body of slain Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape into the Komati river hoping it would be eaten by crocodiles.

Captain Leon van Loggerenberg told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing in Pretoria that he had believed the body would wash out on the Mozambique side of the river if crocodiles did not eat it.

Van Loggerenberg is one of 10 policemen, including former police commissioner General Johann van der Merwe, who are seeking amnesty for the death in detention of Bopape on June 12, 1988.

At the time, police claimed Bopape had fled the country and they staged a bogus escape to lend credence to their story.

Van Loggerenberg described without emotion how he disposed of Bopape's body, loading it into his car and driving in the direction of Witbank before deciding to go to Komatipoort.

"I drove to a place called crocodile hole, also known as hippopotamus hole. I turned the vehicle around with the boot facing the water.

"I turned off the lights and opened the boot. I lifted the body from the boot and I threw it into the water. I immediately closed the boot and went back to Middelburg."

Van Loggerenberg said he did not know whose body he was throwing away and was merely carrying out an instruction from his commander, General Schalk Visser, who had only told him there was a "sensitive package" to be disposed of.

Visser also denied knowing whose body he instructed Van Loggerenberg to get rid of and said he said he was helping General Gerrit Erasmus who had told him that he (Erasmus) had a crisis about a package.

Although no details were given, Visser said he was prepared to carry out Erasmus's request because they were good friends and had known each other for a long time.

Visser and Van Loggerenberg have sought amnesty for the role they played in getting rid of Bopape's body while Van der Merwe, Erasmus and General Petrus du Toit, want pardon for covering up the death.

Five former policemen - Johann Du Preez, Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht - had admitted that they tortured Bopape and sought amnesty for his killing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PARLIAMENT June 2 1998 - SAPA

BILL EXTENDS AMNESTY COMMITTEE'S LIFESPAN

Draft legislation to extend the lifespan of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee and the TRC itself was tabled on Monday.

The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Amendment Bill will allow the amnesty committee to continue its work until a date to be decided by the president.

At present the committee is due to shut down at the end of this month.

During this extended period the committee will also perform the functions of the committees on human rights violations and on reparation and rehabilitation, the bill says.

The bill also extends the deadline for the TRC's final report to the president.

The commission will have to finish its work by July 31 - the existing deadline - then submit an interim report to the president within three months.

Its activities will then be suspended until the amnesty committee completes its work, when the commission will be reconvened to finalise its report.

A memorandum on the bill says it is clear that the amnesty committee will not be able to finalise its task by June 30.

More than 1000 amnesty applications still need to be dealt with in formal hearings, in addition to many others which can be dealt with in chambers.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 2 1998 - SAPA

EX COP SAYS HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO CONCEAL BOPAPE'S DEATH

Retired police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe had no choice but to cover up the 1988 death in detention of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Tuesday.

Handling the matter differently would have sparked mass demonstrations and could have destroyed the morale of security police, Van der Merwe testified in Pretoria.

Van der Merwe, head of the security police at the time, said he kept up the charade in the ensuing months and years that the activist had disappeared after escaping from police custody.

Neither former police commissioner Johan Coetzee nor former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok were told that Bopape's body had, in fact, been secretly thrown in the crocodile-infested Komati River.

"In conversations and in letters I wrote, I presented the mock escape as a fact," Van der Merwe said.

He and nine other policemen have applied for amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death during police torture in Johannesburg on June 12, 1988.

Five of the applicants were directly involved in subjecting Bopape to electrical shocks. They are Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, Sergeant Johan du Preez and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg are seeking amnesty for their role in getting rid of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, were involved in covering up Bopape's death.

Van der Merwe testified that Erasmus visited him at his Pretoria home on the afternoon of Sunday June 12, 1988 to inform him of Bopape's death under torture earlier in the day.

Violent attacks in the anti-apartheid struggle were at the time reaching new heights, and members of the security police were literally working day and night to counter this onslaught, Van der Merwe said.

"The security branch was the most important shield... between order and anarchy in the country. In this respect, the morale of security police played a crucial role."

The country was at war and unusual methods were required to fight the enemy.

Van der Merwe said it was also feared that the African National Congress would use Bopape's death to whip up emotions during the commemoration of the June 16, 1976 Soweto riots.

"Erasmus and I, therefore, decided to conceal Bopape's death, and to arrange for his body to be disposed of secretly."

It would have served no purpose to inform his superiors, Van der Merwe said. That would only have compelled them to become involved in a crime.

"I could offer them nothing but a choice between two unenviable possibilities. Whichever course they chose, they would have been in trouble."

Van der Merwe denied his actions amounted to condoning the death of Bopape.

Police realised that assaulting, torturing or killing an individual in detention would cause serious embarrassment for the government and the police.

"There was, nevertheless, sympathy for police members guilty of such actions in efforts to obtain information which could save lives," Van der Merwe said.

Earlier, he testified that the government ordered security police to commit acts outside the law to fight the ANC in the 80s. These included bomb explosions at two Johannesburg buildings used by the ANC.

Van der Merwe said Vlok approved the attack on Cosatu House. Later Vlok told him that former state president PW Botha also wanted Khotso House to be destroyed.

Members of the Vlakplaas police unit carried out both operations.

Security police also staged bogus terrorist attacks. These included actions in townships planned to create the impression that the perpetrators were members of the ANC, Van der Merwe said.

Members were also ordered to create arms caches, which were then "discovered" to provide excuses for cross-border raids on ANC bases.

"On both sides of the battle there were people who inherited the situation. To that extent we were footballs of circumstances, and we did things we would not even have considered otherwise," Van der Merwe said.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 2 1998 - SAPA

ORDER TO KILL GONIWE GIVEN BY SCRAMBLED SIGNAL, TRC HEARS

The final order to kill United Democratic Front activist Matthew Goniwe was probably given by way of a coded message or a scrambled telephone call, a former member of the security police intelligence unit told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday.

Major Jacob Jan van Jaarsveld told the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth he believed the security authorities at the time would never have given an order of that nature in writing. Van Jaarsveld was testifying at a hearing in which six former security policemen are applying for amnesty for the murder of Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli on June 27, 1985.

Van Jaarsveld was called as a witness by George Bizos, SC, appearing for families of the deceased, and told the hearing the inner workings of the security system at the time had been extremely complicated.

"I would need a very long time to explain to you how they worked," he said. He said the security establishment had many arms and some worked together and others did not. In 1985, after studying the ANC's revolutionary strategies, the government initiated a counter-revolutionary unit called Trewits which operated secretly.

He said Trewits was responsible for identifying targets and recommending strategies for dealing with them. He said it was possible that Trewits might have given the order to kill the Cradock Four, but he could not say for sure.

"Its still not clear to me how they operated and who were the people involved. The people who may know these answers have not come forward," he said.

Replying to questions about a signal sent from the Eastern Cape Joint Management Centre to the State Security Council in which the "permanent removal from society" of Goniwe is mentioned, Van Jaarsveld said this appeared to him to be a proposal to have Goniwe killed.

He said if the final order to go ahead with the elimination had been given it would not have appeared in writing. He said the security establishment at the time had technology that could send messages in a coded form or by way of a scrambled telephone call.

Van Jaarsveld also told the committee he visited the Eastern Cape to look into the possiblility of eliminating Goniwe a year before the Cradock Four were murdered.

He said he had been sent by his superior, Major Craig Williamson, to look at the feasibility of eliminating Goniwe. He said he was met in Port Elizabeth by Capt Isak (Sakkie) van Zyl, who is one of the people who has admitted killing the Cradock Four and is applying for amnesty, and was taken to Cradock.

Van Jaarsveld said he visited Goniwe's home in Cradock and then returned to Pretoria where he reported that he did not think it would be wise to kill Goniwe at his home because there were many people around.

Van Zyl did not mention the visit to Cradock by Van Jaarsveld during his testimony in support of his application for amnesty. Committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay requested that Van Zyl be recalled to confirm whether he accompanied Van Jaarsveld to Cradock. Van Zyl is believed to be in Mozambique, where he is involved in the lifting of landmines, and it is not certain whether he can be present at this week's hearings.

The other policemen applying for amnesty are Major Herman Barend du Plessis, General Nico van Rensburg, Lieutenant Eric Taylor, Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz and Colonel Harold Snyman, who is too ill to attend the hearings.

The committee continues on Wednesday with cross-examination of Van Jaarsveld.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 2 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA TRIAL: COURT HEARS OF KHOTSO HOUSE BOMB HORROR

Methodist cleric Peter Storey on Tuesday described horror caused by the 1988 bombing of Khotso House, the Johannesburg headquarters of the South African Council of Churches, which was allegedly ordered by former state president PW Botha.

Storey, a former SACC president, was testifying before the George Regional Court in Botha's trial for defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena.

Former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe on Tuesday testified before a TRC hearing in Pretoria that former police minister Adriaan Vlok told him Botha ordered the attack.

It has also been reported that Vlok has claimed as much in his amnesty application for the bombing. This is one of the reasons why the TRC wants Botha to appear before it, which he has steadfastly refused to do.

No one was killed in the Khotso House attack, and Botha's attorney Lappe Laubscher questioned whether it constituted a human rights violation and thus whether the TRC had a mandate to investigate it.

Storey, who now lives in the United States, said he went to the scene of the explosion in the early hour of August 18, 1988.

"When we got there we were met by a scene of utter devastation. I have never seen anything like it in my life." The blast blew all the windows out of Cornerstone House, a building opposite Khotso House, in which the SACC housed a number of pensioners and people with mental disabilities.

All of them had come out of their rooms, and Storey found them wandering around in their night clothes in a daze. "Some of them were bleeding - their faces and their forearms had been lacerated. Some were in such shock that they could not reply to me when I asked them how they were."

Storey said the windows of Cornerstone House facing Khotso House had been blown out and pieces of steel and masonry - projectiles from the blast - were embedded in the walls opposite the windows. He did not know how everybody survived - the most likely reason was that the window sills in the building were high and sheltered people from the explosion.

Storey described the relationship between the SACC and Botha's government at the time as tense and strained.

"We believed we had a duty as a council of churches to oppose with all the energy at our command the policies that were being pursued by the accused's government."

Botha wore a dark suit and white shirt and sat staring ahead throughout Storey's testimony, showing little emotion.

Laubscher objected to Storey giving testimony, saying that it was irrelevant to the case. "This isn't a Khotso House trial; It is a trial to determine whether the accused is guilty of what he has been charged with." Presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju overruled him. "It is our view that it is important that we should hear what happened at Khotso House," he said.

Western Cape deputy attorney-general Bruce Morrison called Andries Botes to the stand, who testified that on November 28 last year he drove Botha from his home in Wilderness to Graaff-Reinet and returned on November 30.

Botha stayed at Kingfisher Lodge, which belongs to his fomer fiancee Reinette te Water Naude.

Botha accused the TRC of acting in bad faith towards him by requiring him to appear at hearings in Cape Town on December 5 and 19 last year, when his doctors advised against him travelling for at least three months after a hip operation.

Earlier Laubscher cross-questioned TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl about his assertions that thousands of people had been tortured by security police under the previous government.

Van Zyl said the real question that needed to be answered was whether toture was authorised at the highest levels.

Evidence of this was that Van der Merwe had applied for amnesty in connection with 1988 death of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape. Numerous people had given graphic accounts of having been tortured and then being ignored by magistrates when they claimed as much in court.

"There have been a significant (number) of cases where people did not have a sympathetic hearing." Laubscher argued that the TRC was prejudiced and prejudged issues.

If people told the TRC things it did not want to hear, they would be ignored, he said.

Van Zyl denied this, saying one of the reasons why the TRC had not finalised its report was because it wanted to get Botha's perspective on what had happened. The trial continues on Wednesday. If convicted, Botha faces a fine of up to R20,000 or two years in jail.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 - SAPA

TRC REJECTS AMNESTY APPLICATIONS BY 13 SDU MEMBERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has turned down the applications of 13 members of a self-defence unit (SDU) who applied for amnesty relating to their role in the 1993 Kathlehong massacre, the TRC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The applicants, some of whom are serving prison terms, are: Michael Armoed, Michael Nkomo, Mohale Motlokwa, Petrus Mthembu, Zola Sonto, Paulos Shongwe, Tsekimyana Rodrick Singo, Norman Mashinini, Lefu Mokoena, Thobile Luphindo, Joseph August, Bennet Ndaba and Themba Mtshali.

The applicants, all African National Congress members, applied for amnesty for the killing of nine ANC Youth League members at Molekeli section on December 6, 1993, in what became known as the Kathlehong massacre.

Those killed were Alfred Buthelezi, Thokozani Buthelezi, Itumeleng Mootsi, Lucas Hlatshwayo, Isaac Mogadi, Ditaba Mthembu, Peter Modishwa, Miles Simelane and Isaac Motloung.

The incident occurred at the hight of conflict between the Kathlehong community and Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned hostel dwellers, the statement said.

According to evidence before the amnesty committee, the deceased were abducted and taken to the veld where they were shot execution-style and hacked with knives, axes and spears.

Testifying before the committee, the applicants said they regarded youth league members in the area as criminals who were harassing the Moleleki section of the Kathlehong community.

They further claimed the killing of the youth league members was in retaliation for the killing of Malusi "Blanco" Kiyane, who was an SDU chairman, and Bulelwa Zwane, an ANC activist in the area.

The amnesty committee said evidence before it showed that there was a dispute regarding what triggered the conflict between the SDU and the youth league in the area. "However, what emerged from the evidence is that these two groups accused one another of failing to protect the (Kathlehong) community and of engaging in criminal activities instead."

As the result, the youth league broke away from the SDU and conducted separate patrols.

Rejecting the applications, the committee said: "Having regard to the motive for the massacre, the context in which it occurred, in particular, the fact that the attack was not directed at a political opponent, we are satisfied that the killing of the deceased was not an act associated with a political objective as contemplated in the Act."

The amnesty committee granted amnesty to a member of the former police security branch who bombed a property belonging to a leading political activist in Springs in 1989.

Andries Gous applied for amnesty for the bombing of the property of a Dr Bulbulia, causing extensive damage at Bakerton, Springs, in October 1989.

His application was dealt with in chambers as the offence for which he applied for amnesty does not fall within the definition of gross violation of human rights as laid down by the law which governs the operations of the TRC. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 3 1998 - SAPA

DISPOSING ACTIVIST'S BODY IN RIVER WAS GOOD IDEA: SAP GENERAL

It had been an excellent idea to dispose of Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape's body in a river, retired police commisioner General Johan van der Merwe said on Wednesday.

"I thought it was an excellent plan," he told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

Bopape died under police torture in Johannesburg on June 12, 1988, apparently of a heart attack caused by electric shocks.

Later that day Van der Merwe, then head of the police security branch, was informed of Bopape's death by former police general Gerrit Erasmus.

The two men decided that the corpse had to be disposed of.

To bury it would have taken a long time, and disrupted soil would have raised the curiosity of passers-by, Van der Merwe said.

"The simplest plan is usually the best. The way in which Captain (Leon) van Loggerenberg acted was excellent."

After giving permission for Bobape's body to be disposed of, he did not check that it had been done, Van der Merwe said.

He said members of the security branch were imaginative, and he was sure they had "done it properly".

They were experienced enough to handle any conceivable situation, Van der Merwe said.

Van der Merwe and nine other policemen are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death on June 12, 1988.

After Bopape died, police claimed he had escaped from custody and then secretly disposed of his body by dumping it into the Komati River.

Five of the applicants were directly involved in torturing Bopape with electric shocks. They are Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert, Sergeant Johan du Preez and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Van Loggerenberg and Brigadier Schalk Visser seek pardon for their role in getting rid of the corpse.

Van der Merwe, Erasmus and another former police general, Petrus du Toit, were involved in covering up Bopape's death.

Van der Merwe said there had been no option but to conceal Bopape's death.

Soweto Day (June 16) was just around the corner, and had news of his death leaked out, the ANC/SACP alliance would have exploited the situation to increase the revolutionary climate, he said. Had a formal inquest been held into Bopape's death, there would have been no way to keep the incident quiet until after June 16, Van der Merwe said.

"The state pathologist and district surgeon would not have let themselves be manipulated into keeping quiet. My influence did not stretch that far."

Bopape's legal representatives and family were only informed of his "escape" on July 4, but Van der Merwe said it had been orchestrated to become known as soon as possible.

Police deployed the police dog unit to search for Bopape, and all border posts were notified.

Van der Merwe denied assertions that Bopape's body was destroyed because it displayed signs of severe torture.

"That is far-fetched," he said in reply to a question by the Bopape family's legal representative, Gys Rautenbach.

"No member of the security branch would make himself guilty of such an act."

Van der Merwe said he did not inform then law and order minister Adriaan Vlok about Bopape's death because he wanted to protect him.

Had Vlok been informed, it could have held negative consequences for him and the National Party government.

"I took the decision in their interests," Van der Merwe said.

The commission also heard evidence from former police General Gerrit Erasmus, chief of the Witwatersrand security police branch at the time of Bopape's death.

He and Van der Merwe had decided to get rid of the activist's body.

Erasmus said the former government had to know what was happening during the struggle.

"I am convinced that the politicians of the past understood that the statements they made and what they expected from the security forces would go into a certain direction," he said.

"It did not matter whether legal or illegal means were used, just as long as the problem was solved."

Erasmus said Bopape's death came at a very unlucky time, as it would have caused the government great embarrassment.

He was shocked and surprised when told the news. Because Bopape's death was likely to have far-reaching political implications, he decided to discuss the matter with Van der Merwe instead of making a decision on his own.

His part in covering up Bopape's death was part of his police work, Erasmus said.

"I saw it as my duty. I believe my actions were necessary to save the previous government embarrassment and to protect them."

Erasmus said his support of the policies of the former government was partly a result of his conservative upbringing, but also because of what he described as the behaviour of radicals.

He said the African National Congress/SA Communist Party alliance would not have hesitated to kill and maim innocent civilians in its quest to overthrow the former government.

The security police was the only defence against total chaos and anarchy, Erasmus said. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 3 1998 - SAPA

NP SHOULD ADMIT CRIMINAL PAST, SAYS ANC

The National Party should own up to its past complicity in illegal acts against anti-apartheid activists, the African National Congress said in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ANC said former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe's admission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria this week that the NP authorised police to engage in illegal acts against activists flew in the face of earlier counter-claims by NP leaders to the TRC.

Van der Merwe's testimony revealed the extent to which the NP government aided and abetted the commission of serious crimes against humanity through its state security establishment, said the statement.

"In this regard, Van der Merwe has not confessed what is unknown.

"We have always been of the view that gross human rights violations by the previous security and intelligence structures were not isolated acts committed by mavericks but were perpetrated as part of the overall state terrorism designed to undermine efforts to bring about the dawn of peace, freedom and democracy."

Yet, the political masterminds behind these nefarious activities claimed to have had no knowledge of nor having sanctioned such activities. The time had come for these political masterminds to own up to their deeds in the interests of reconciliation.

Full disclosure remained a condition for reconciliation. The country and its people expected nothing less from the former National Party government.

Van der Merwe testified that the government ordered security police to commit acts outside the law to fight the ANC in the 1980s. These included bomb explosions at two Johannesburg buildings used by the ANC.

Van der Merwe said former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok approved an attack on Cosatu House. Later Vlok told him that former state president PW Botha also wanted Khotso House to be destroyed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 - SAPA

FOUR AWB MEN, SLAIN IFP LEADER GRANTED AMNESTY

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to four Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members and a slain Inkatha Freedom Party leader for acts relating to an attack on a police station in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape shortly before the 1994 general election.

AWB members Harry Jardine, Morton Christie, Andrew Howell and Christo Brand and IFP south coast leader James Zulu, who was killed in Port Shepstone earlier this year, were granted amnesty for attacking the Flagstaff police station on March 5, 1994.

Constable Barnabas Jaggers was shot dead and Constable Edmund Nyangana and Inspector Mzingisi Mkhondweni were wounded in the attack.

The TRC said in a statement released on Wednesday that the men fled with a number of weapons and rounds of ammunition in a police van which they used as a getaway vehicle.

They were later arrested and convicted of murder, attempted murder and robbery, but were not sentenced pending the outcome of their amnesty applications.

During their appearance before the amnesty committee the applicants implicated an AWB commander in the Umkomaas area, Patrick Pedlar, and Robin Shoesmith of the IFP as the people who ordered them to obtain weapons which would be used by the IFP's self-protection units.

The amnesty committee said it was satisfied that the offence for which the men applied for amnesty were acts associated with a political objective committed during the conflict of the past. It also said it was satisfied that the applicants had made full disclosure.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 3 1998 - SAPA

DE KOCK BRANDS PW BOTHA A COWARD

Apartheid-era assassin Eugene de Kock on Wednesday came face to face with his former political master PW Botha, and branded him a coward who had no pride.

De Kock, dubbed Prime Evil by his collegues because of his ruthless modus operandi, was testifying in the George Regional Court at the former state president's trial for ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena.

"I do feel myself and others in the security forces... have been sold out by cowardly politicians - in the National Party especially," De Kock said. "They want the lamb but they don't want to see the blood and guts; they are cowards."

The 82-year-old Botha, who wore a grey three-piece suit, a light blue shirt and grey shoes, sat in his chair next to the dock staring straight ahead as De Kock testified and turned his back on him during a short adjournment.

Speaking in English, De Kock repeated his earlier claims that Botha ordered the 1987 bomb attack on the trade union headquarters, Cosatu House. The attack was the first of its kind on South African soil and De Kock wanted to know from how high up the order came.

He described a meeting with his commanding office, Brigadier Willem Schoon, who said the "higher-up" person who gave the order had complained it was taking too long to execute.

De Kock testified he had responded: "If PW Botha can do it better, he should go and do it himself".

De Kock, 49, is serving a 212-year sentence in Pretoria's C-Max prison after being convicted on 89 charges, including six of murder.

He said he and others bombed Khotso House, headquarters of the South African Council of Churches, and the headquarters of the African National Congress in London in 1982, for which he received a Star of Excellence. This was a decoration normally reserved for generals and could only be authorised by the state president - PW Botha.

Former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok has claimed in his amnesty application for the Khotso House bombing that Botha also ordered this attack.

De Kock was not immediately cross-examined and TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu took the stand.

In an opening statement he said: "I stand here with the greatest possible reluctance and filled with considerable distaste. I believe this is something that should not have happened."

The 66-year-old Tutu said he had tried to reach out to Botha "out of a deep compassion for him". He had told Botha he was "his brother" many years ago before it was politically correct to do so. Under questioning from the prosecutor, Western Cape attorney-general Bruce Morrison, Tutu denied having agreed to exempt Botha from appearing before the TRC if he answered its questions in writing, as claimed by the former state president.

Tutu replied: "I am surprised at that assertion. I did not give such an undertaking. I have never given that kind of immunity to any potential witness of the commission. I do not believe I have the power to do so." Tutu said the TRC was deeply concerned about allegations made against Botha by senior policemen, and wanted his perpective on what had transpired.

No one in the TRC would have exempted Botha from testifying without canvassing the quality of his written responses to questions.

He said he had never gloated over Botha. "There was no gloating. I don't gloat."

Tutu said he had been vidicated in his opposition to apartheid "most spectacularly". He had told Botha when he was still in power that this was a moral universe - "In the end you are going to bite the dust and going to bite it spectacularly. God is in charge."

Tutu said he had also told people living under apartheid not to worry because this evil would not prevail over the goodness of God.

He denied that he ever intended to humiliate Botha, saying all their interaction had been courteous and and friendly. He pointed out that he had sent condolences to Botha when he was ill and when his house was flooded, attended his wife's funeral, helped arrange funding for his legal submission for the TRC and set up a special TRC hearing for him in George.

"That is extraodinary evidence of malice," Tutu said.

All the TRC wanted was for Botha to co-operate. "Even now I would hope reason would prevail."

The court case follows Botha's refusal to adhere to a TRC subpoena to appear at a hearing on the State Security Council, which he chaired. If convicted he faces a two-year jail sentence or a fine of up to R20000.

The trial has focussed on Botha's government's appalling human rights record.

Had Botha agreed to testify before an in-camera hearing as the TRC suggested, much of the evidence led would have been presented out of the public's eye. The trial continues on Thursday, when Botha's counsel are expected to cross- examine Tutu and De Kock.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 3 1998 - SAPA

GONIWE FEARED ATTACK ON THE NIGHT OF HIS DEATH, TRC HEARS

Murdered activist Matthew Goniwe feared that he might be attacked while travelling from Cradock to Port Elizabeth at night but undertook the journey to be with his family, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

Prof Derek Schwartz was one of the last people to see Goniwe and three other United Democratic Party activists before they were killed by police on June 28, 1985.

He was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth at which six policemen have applied for amnesty for the murder the Cradock Four - Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli near Port Elizabeth in an attack made to look the work of vigilantes.

Colonel Harold Snyman, General Nico van Rensburg, Major Herman du Plessis, Captain Izak van Zyl, Lieutenant Eric Taylor and Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz are applying for amnesty for planning and carrying out the murder.

Schwartz who was the Secretary General of Eastern Cape United Democratic Front at the time, told the committee he attended a UDF meeting with the activists in Cradock on the night of June 27, 1985.

He denied a claim by the applicants that the meeting had been held at his home. He said as a high profile UDF leader they would not have risked holding a meeting at this home which was probably under surveillance.

Schwartz told the committte he warned Goniwe and the others after the meeting about the possiblity of being intercepted by police who had regularly made death threats against UDF leaders. He said he advised the four to sleep over and travel the next day.

However Goniwe had replied that he appreciated the danger of travelling at night but wished to be with his family in Port Elizabeth. He said he would not stop for anyone except official police vehicles or the traffic police.

Schwartz said he became worried when Goniwe's wife phoned the next day and said her husband had not arrived. Police at first denied any involvement in the death of the four who were found stabbed and burnt at the roadside near Port Elizabeth.

The six policemen admitted more than ten years later in their applications for amnesty that they planned the murder of the four and intercepted their car, handcuffed them and then killed them at a desolate spot.

Schwartz who is now a professor of history at the University of Fort Hare was questioned at length about the role of the UDF in the unrest in the Eastern Cape at the time of Goniwe's death.

He replied that the role of the UDF had been to create new structures to replace the state institutions which were rapidly collapsing. He denied that the UDF had advocated or used violence, saying this would have resulted in the organisation being banned.

He conceded that some people took part in violent activities in the name of the UDF but were not acting with the authority of the organisation.

He blamed the police who adopted Nazi methods in their treatment of the poor and deprived communities who were demanding democratic rights. He said it was the systemic violence that led to the state of chaos in the Eastern Cape and not the activities of the UDF.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY June 3 1998 - SAPA

BLACK EMPOWERMENT A GUISE FOR AFRIKANER DISEMPOWERMENT: FF

It was now clear to the Freedom Front that black empowerment and affirmative action were merely guises to obtain Afrikaner disempowerment, Dr Corne Mulder (FF) said on Wednesday.

"Enough is enough - if this ANC government wants confrontation, so be it; we are ready to take up that challenge," he said during debate on Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's budget vote.

The time had finally come for all Afrikaners and the broader community to pick up their heads with pride.

"It is time to look the world and this ANC/SACP government squarely in the eye; we have had enough of the one-sided attacks of the Truth Commission and attacks of the ANCBC ( ANC Broadcasting Corporation)," Mulder said.

National Party justice spokeswoman Sheila Camerer said Mbeki should explain why he, like 36 other top African National Congress officials, had applied for amnesty if there had been no specific deed he had committed for which he could be charged or sued in a court of law.

This was the test set out very clearly in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act.

On paper it looked as if Mbeki's application had been merely a symbolic one, Camerer said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 - SAPA

NEWCASTLE DISCO KILLERS GRANTED AMNESTY

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted amnesty to three Pan Africanist Congress members on Wednesday for an attack on a nightclub in Newcastle in February 1994 which left one person dead and two others wounded.

The TRC said in a statement from its Cape Town offices that in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act Andile Shiceka, Walter Falibango Thanda, and Bongani Golden Malevu were granted amnesty for murder, attempted murder and illegal possesion of firemans and grenades.

Their applicants were unopposed.

According to the men's testimonies, the three were summoned to Umtata where they were informed by an Apla (PAC armed wing) commander codenamed Power that they were to travel to Newcastle and select a soft target that was frequented by whites.

Malevu was given the arms in Umtata and told to proceed to Newcastle to hide them. Malevu travelled to Newcastle on his own where he met the other two a day before the attack. Thanda was the commander of the unit, the TRC was told.

The three said they settled on the Crazy Beat Disco because it had most whites inside it. They said they had examined a restaurant earlier but rejected it as a target because there were too many blacks in the vicinity.

Armed with heavy calibre weapons they launched an attack on the Crazy Beat Disco - a nightclub apparently patronised predominantly by whites - killing Gerbrecht Salomina Van Wyk and wounding two others on February 14, 1994.

Thanda, Shiceka and Malevu denied to the committee that their organisation had renounced the armed struggle at that time.

The TRC said the attack bore the hallmarks of a bona fide attack carried out for genuinely political reasons. All three justified their actions for reasons based on the prevailing ideology of the Pan Africanist Congress at the time, the truth body said.

"Of importance here is the fact that the applicants were strangers to each other until they met for the purpose of carrying out this operation; moreover, two of them did not live in Natal at all.

"This gives credence to their story that they were brought together by their military commander, who was known to all of them. The victims of the attack were not known to them and they derived no personal benefit from the attack co- ordinated by Apla," the TRC said.

"It is our view that the attack was an act associated with a political objective.

"It is our conclusion that the applicants have met the requirements for amnesty." Judge BM Ngoepe said.

IN-CAMERA TRC HEARING ON HELDERBERG CRASH MAY BE MADE PUBLIC

Testimony heard in-camera by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the 1987 Helderberg air disaster could be made public, Network Radio News reported on Thursday.

The plane crashed into the Indian Ocean near Mauritius in 1987 killing all 159 people on board.

TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza said he would request that the evidence heard during the three days of this week's hearing be made public, NRN reported.

Experts said the plane crashed after two fires broke out in the cargo hold.

Evidence before the commission suggested that the aircraft was carrying chemicals used in the manufacture of rocket fuel. This backs up widespread speculation that it was carrying contraband explosives as part of the previous government's efforts to bypass anti-apartheid sanctions.

The TRC heard evidence from a forensic investigator who believed the official inquiry into the disaster was either incompetent or a cover-up.

Gert van der Veer, chief executive of South African Airways at the time of the crash, was also expected to have given evidence to the commission.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 4 1998 - SAPA

RETIRED SAP GENERAL RECOUNTS HIS DISMAY ABOUT BOPAPE'S DEATH

A retired police general on Thursday recounted his dismay upon learning in June 1988 that Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape had died under police torture.

"I was shocked and upset when I heard that his death was caused by electrical shocks," Petrus du Toit told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

He said he was opposed to the torturing of detainees. Du Toit later examined Bopape's face for injuries.

"I don't really know why I did it. On the one hand I was upset. On the other I was a senior officer with certain responsibilities."

Du Toit, at the time a colonel in the security police, said he would have instituted disciplinary steps against those responsible if he had found any marks on Bopape's body.

Du Toit and nine other policemen have applied for amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death in Johannesburg on June 12, 1988.

Police concealed Bopape's death by saying he had escaped while being escorted to Vereeniging. His body was secretly dumped in the crocodile-infested Komati River between South Africa and Mozambique.

Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg seek pardon for their role in getting rid of Bopape's body.

Former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe and one other former police general, Gerrit Erasmus, along with Du Toit, were involved in covering up Bopape's death.

Du Toit said Erasmus telephoned him on the evening of June 12, asking him to attend a meeting at John Vorster Square in Johannesburg. Erasmus, Van Niekerk and Zeelie attended.

"They told me that Bopape died of a suspected heart attack while receiving electrical shocks, and said that a mock escape had to staged the same night."

It was arranged that Du Toit would be informed once the fake escape was completed. His task was to inspect the scene, alert the detective branch that the activist had "escaped" and report to police head office.

Du Toit said he went along with the plan in view of the political climate at the time. News of Bopape's death would caused a range of problems for the police and the former government.

Five years later, Du Toit still maintained the charade about Bopape's disappearance.

He described how he took part in a police search for Bopape's grave in Rustenburg without informing colleagues of the truth.

"We exhumed several purported graves pointed out by a John Mokaleng, but found no human remains," Du Toit said.

The amnesty hearing adjourned until Friday (tomorrow) to give the legal representatives of the parties an opportunity to study a set of documents.

Gys Rautenbach, for the Bopape family, is to cross-examine the three generals on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 4 1998 - SAPA

NORWAY EXTENDS AID PROGRAMME TO SOUTH AFRICA

The Norwegian government - already committed to R400 million in aid money to South Africa up to the year 2000 - is to spend millions more rand in a further five year extension of its aid programme.

The announcement was made in Pretoria on Thursday by Tove Strand Gerhardsen, the director-general of the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (Norad).

Gerhardsen made her announcement at the conclusion of the third annual co-operation consultations between South Africa and Norway. Shaheed Rajie, chief director of the Department of Finance, headed the South African delegation.

The main partners in the government-to-government co-operation are the national departments responsible for environmental affairs, constitutional development, small-scale industries, energy, education, housing and labour.

In the areas of local government and school building, direct assistance will be given to the Mpumalanga provincial government and the town of Nelspruit.

Norwegian personnel are seconded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and financial support is given to the SABC/TRC broadcasting project.

Norwegian funding of non-governmental organisations in South Africa includes, among others, the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa, the Institute for Advancement of Journalism, the Electoral Institute of South Africa, Open Learning Systems Education Trust, and the Teacher In-service Project.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 4 1998 - SAPA

WITNESS WITH CLOSE TIES TO SAMORA MACHEL TESTIFIES AT TRC

A former Mozambican official with close ties to President Samora Machel was among several witnesses who testified behind closed doors at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing on Thursday into the 1986 aircrash which claimed the life of Mozambique's first democratic president.

TRC spokesman Vuyani Green said the "highly-placed former official" - who was not related to Machel nor a member of his cabinet - was questioned about South Africa's relationship with Mozambique at the time of Machel's death.

Other witnesses called by the TRC's investigative unit included a former defence force military operative and a former captain at the security branch in Komatipoort, who was apparently the first person at the scene of the crash.

Green said it was unlikely that the one-day hearing, at the TRC's Cape Town headquarters, would continue on Friday.

The identity of the witnesses could not be disclosed for fear of their safety.

The inquiry followed new evidence linking activities of the former South African Defence Force to the crash, he said.

Machel and 33 others were killed when the Tupolev aircraft in which they were travelling from Malawi to Mozambique crashed near Komatipoort.

A 1987 inquiry under the chairmanship of Judge Cecil Margo said the crash was caused by pilot error.

However, Russian experts who helped with the investigation concluded that the plane crashed due to its crew responding to a decoy homing signal rather than the real signal from Maputo airport.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 4 - SAPA

GONIWE AMNESTY HEARING ENDS WITH MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings into the murder of the Cradock Four ended in Port Elizabeth on Thursday with many unanwswered questions about the incident that sparked outrage in the Eastern Cape in 1985.

Six former Eastern Cape security policemen are applying for amnesty for the murder of Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and Sicelo Mhlauli of the United Democratic Front on June 28, 1985.

General Nico van Rensburg, Major Herman du Plessis, Captain Izak van Zyl, Lieutenant Eric Taylor, Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz and Colonel Harold Snyman will certainly be brought to trial if they do not get amnesty.

At the end of the hearing committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay called on the lawyers representing the various parties to apply their minds to some of the questions raised during the inquiry.

The lawyers will present arguments to the committee in writing by July 7.

Pillay said the questions that needed to be addressed were:

- who gave the order to kill Goniwe;

- when and where was the murder planned;

- did the applicants make full disclosure about the incident, and

- was Mhlauli an activist at all.

The problem of who gave the order for the elimination of Goniwe and the others was made more difficult because five of the policemen said it came from their commanding offi Snyman is too ill to leave his sickbed according to his doctors.

Pillay said Snyman's own application also raised problems because he did not testify in support of it, as required by the Promotion of National Reconciliation Act.

The committee devoted a great deal of time to the death of Mhlauli,who was a school principal from Oudtshoorn and had been visiting his home town of Cradock. The policemen insist that he was also a UDF activist and implemented Goniwe's organisational methods in Oudtshoorn.

There was evidence that the security police had no file on Mhlauli, and after the discovery of his body he was listed as a person unknown to the police.

George Bizos, SC, for the families of the deceased, called former South Western Cape UDF chairman Reg Olifant, who said Mhlauli had never been actively involved in politics and had never been detained or even questioned by the police.

Pillay asked the legal representatives to address the question of whether the police acted with malice in the way the murders were carried out. The four men were stabbed repeatedly and their bodies were burnt. The police claim that this was done to give the impression of the attack being the work of vigilantes.

The families of the four men have had to endure the first inquest, then years of denial of any police involvement in the murders, the reopened inquest in 1996, and the TRC hearing. The families may have to sit through another hearing if the policemen are not granted amnesty and are put on trial.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 4 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S LAWYER ATTACKS TRC'S HANDLING OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT

As PW Botha's trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission draws to a close, his advocate has argued the body treated the former state president unfairly, brushed aside his written answers to its questions, and pandered to the African National Congress.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu spent nearly six hours in the witness stand at the George Regional Court on Thursday defending the commission's impartiality and its handling of Botha.

Under questioning from Botha's counsel Lappe Laubscher, Tutu admitted he had not read Botha's 1800-page submission to the TRC, which would have been handled by the research department. He said he did not have time to read every submission personally.

Laubscher asked why the TRC had not laid charges against the ANC when it responded to only five or six letters of the 250 the TRC wrote to it. "Isn't the ANC's failure to respond for more than eight months... obstructionist as well?" he asked.

Tutu said any impression that the TRC was soft on any one group was incorrect, and it made an effort to accommodate everyone.

"We are not about prosecuting people."

Tutu said hearings had been held on atrocities in ANC training camps, and it had subpoenaed former United Democratic Front leaders to appear at hearings. Some of those leaders now held senior positions in the ANC.

Tutu said the TRC never intended to be morally neutral. "It would be an insult, and totally unacceptable."

For example the TRC could not be morally neutral about murder, and not consider it an evil act. "I am not morally neutral about apartheid. It is evil and I don't make any bones about it," Tutu said.

However, the TRC could not legally make a moral distinction between different evil acts, he said. The apartheid policy implemented and maintainted by Botha's government itself constituted a gross human rights violation.

Laubscher asked him if his point of departure was that Botha was guilty of gross violation of human rights.

Tutu replied: "I don't know. We are still going to determine if that is the case".

The TRC wanted to know from Botha whether he had authorised or condoned such violations, or helped create an environment for them to happen.

"I want to ask him: 'Did you in any way participate in specific acts?' We want to understand the people who carried out its (the apartheid government's) policies, who maintained its policies."

Tutu said he was one of the victims of the policies that Botha and his government were carrying out.

Earlier former Vlaakplaas hit squad commander Eugene de Kock was cross-examined. He urged Botha to ensure security force operatives imprisoned in Zimbabwe for carrying out operations for his government were brought back to South Africa.

De Kock said the men had been languishing in Zimbabwean jails for 11 years: "They are left to die totally alone."

Kevin Woods, Mike Smith, Barry Bawden and Phillip Conjwayo were convicted for the 1988 bombing of an ANC safe house in 1998.

"I would urge the former president now to bring his men home," said De Kock.

Laubscher disputed De Kock's claim that Botha ordered the 1987 bombing of the trade union headquaters Khotso House.

De Kock testified on Wednesday his commanding officer, Brigadier Schoon, who has applied for amnesty in connection with the bombing, made it quite clear to him that Botha gave the order.

Laubscher quoted from Schoon's amnesty application, in which he states the order came from former police minister Adriaan Vlok, and makes no mention that it came from Botha.

De Kock said Schoon had not made a full disclosure of what had happened. "The name of PW Botha was mentioned quite specifically .. I would say Brigadier Schoon is a confused man." He admitted he had never directly met Botha.

Botha has sat on a padded chair next to the dock for the duration of the trial, showing little emotion.

The trial continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 5 - SAPA

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ORDERS CAME FROM THE TOP: TUTU

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Demond Tutu on Friday said he refused to accept the proposition that human rights violations committed under the apartheid government were carried out by a small group in the security forces.

Lappe Laubscher, advocate for former state president PW Botha, who is on trial in the George Regional Court for defying a TRC subpoena, argued that the former National Party government never authorised any illegal acts, which were the work of a "few bad apples".

Tutu said Botha's successor FW de Klerk had suggested the same thing.

"Please don't try to use that argument. Orders to kill activists, give booby-trapped handgrenades to teenagers and dispose of bodies came right from the top," Tutu said.

Almost all of the security force members who had testified before the TRC said they believed their actions had been sanctioned.

"Any decent human being would say it is a ghastly situation where those who are meant to maintain law and order do precisely the opposite."

Tutu admitted that most witnesses who testified before the TRC about the former State Security Council, which Botha chaired while he was head of state, had not suggested that the body authorised illegal acts.

Laubscher argued that statements by TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine and investigative head Dumisa Ntsebeza indicated they had already formulated an opinion as to what the TRC's findings would be, prior to its work being completed.

The trial is expected to be postponed on Friday afternoon and reconvene on June 15, when both sides will give their final arguments.

The case follows Botha's refusal to appear at a TRC hearing on the SSC. If convicted he faces up to two years in jail or a fine of up to R20000.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 5 - SAPA

NEW EVIDENCE ON HELDERBERG CRASH CASTS DOUBT ON PREVIOUS PROBES

New evidence heard by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the 1987 Helderberg air crash and the 1986 plane crash which killed Mozambique president Samora Machel cast a doubt on previous inquiries, TRC investigator Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Friday.

The causes of both incidents needed to be reviewed, Ntsebeza said in Cape Town.

In a report to be handed to President Nelson Mandela's office, the commission was expected to recommend the inquiries into both crashes be reopened.

This week the commission heard evidence in camera that the Helderberg carried chemicals used in the manufacture of rocket fuel. In an effort to circumvent anti-apartheid sanctions, the previous government allegedly had the chemicals transported on the commercial flight

It was alleged that when a fire broke out in the cargo hold of the SA Airways plane, the pilot was ordered not to land for fear of the cargo being discovered. All 159 passengers died when the aircraft crashed into the sea off Mauritius.

The commission also heard evidence of defence force involvement in the crash near Komatipoort in which Machel and 33 others were killed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 5 - SAPA

TUTU JUSTIFIES CALLING BOTHA TO TESTIFY BEFORE TRC

It would have been too difficult and time-consuming for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to cross-examine former state president PW Botha about the activities of his government in writing, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Friday.

Tutu was testifying in the George Regional Court, where Botha is standing trial for refusing to appear before a Truth and Reconciliation commission hearing on the State Security Council, which Botha chaired while he was head of state.

Tutu asked why Botha objected so strongly to answering the TRC's questions face-to-face, when he had agreed to do so in writing.

"We would seek to arrange it (a hearing) in such a way that it would be a painless encounter," Tutu said.

The TRC had always reserved the right to pose supplementary questions to Botha, Tutu said.

Attempts to negotiate a last-minute deal, which would have seen Botha testify before the TRC at a special in-camera hearing in George in exchange for the court case against him being dropped, were not successful.

Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher revealed that Botha had agreed to meet with the TRC providing that this "was not a hearing or an investigation".

Tutu said the TRC's enabling legislation did not make provision for this form of co-operation.

Even Botha's friend, businessman Boet Troskie, had agreed the TRC's offer was reasonable and that he would still try and use it as a basis to negotiate an out-of-court settlement, Tutu said.

"We have bent over backwards (for Botha). We have done it for nobody else."

Earlier Laubscher tried to prove that several TRC commissioners' statements showed they had already prejudged issues and had a preconcieved idea of what they wanted to hear, a notion rejected by Tutu.

Tutu also refused to accept Laubscher's proposition that human rights violations committed under the apartheid government were carried out by a small group in the security forces.

Laubscher argued that the former National Party government never authorised any illegal acts, which were the work of a "few bad apples".

Tutu said Botha's successor FW de Klerk had suggested the same thing.

"Please don't try to use that argument. Orders to kill activists, give booby-trapped handgrenades to teenagers and dispose of bodies came right from the top," Tutu said.

Almost all the security force members who had testified before the TRC said they believed all their actions had been sanctioned. "Any decent human being would say it is a ghastly situation where those who are meant to maintain law and order do precisely the opposite," Tutu said.

TRC lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett said about 250 policeman, about 30 of whom held the rank of brigadier or higher, had applied to the TRC for amnesty.

The trial is expected to be postponed on Friday afternoon and reconvene on June 15 for final argument.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 5 - SAPA

BOTHA CASE POSTPONED TO JUNE 15

Former State President PW Botha's court case for defying a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena was on Friday postponed in the George Regional Court to June 15.

In his closing remarks to the court, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu appealed to Botha to say "sorry that the policies of my government should cause you so much pain".

"The government Botha headed caused many of our people deep pain and suffering," Tutu added, saying he was not asking Botha to say he himself had authorised human rights violations or any particular act.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 5 - SAPA

TUTU STILL HOPES FOR CHANGE OF HEART IN PW

Truth and Reconcilaition Commission chairman Desmond Tutu said on Friday he still hoped to touch the heart of former state president PW Botha, on trial for defying a TRC order to testify on his government's apartheid-era activities.

Speaking outside the Geroge regional court after the case was adjourned to June 15, Archbishop Tutu told journalists that Botha had been given the chance to make an "incredible gesture" by saying he was sorry and that his government's policies had caused suffering.

"It would be a wonderful thing if the response (to this) was positive... I would still hope God has given me a small bit of eloquence that would touch his heart," he said.

Earlier, speaking from the witness box in the court, Tutu appealed to Botha to say "sorry that the policies of my government should cause you so much pain".

"The government Botha headed caused many of our people deep pain and suffering," Tutu told the court, saying he was not asking Botha to say he himself had authorised human rights violations or any particular act.

After the case was adjourned, Botha's lawyer Ernst Penzhorn told reporters his client would make a statement in due course.

"He is not going to comment at this stage," he said.

Botha himself said there were a number of books people could go and read if they wanted his veiwpoint, including his biography, Voice from the Wilderness.

"I have nothing more to say," he added.

Outside the courtroom Botha shook hands with Penzhorn and kissed his daughter Elanza Maritz before climbing into his turqoise BMW to be driven away.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 5 - SAPA

TUTU PLEADS WITH BOTHA TO APOLOGISE

Former state president PW Botha was on Friday implored to make "an incredible gesture" and say he was sorry for the deep pain and suffering his government's policies had caused.

The plea was made by Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the end of two days of testimony in the George Regional Court, where Botha is on trial for ignoring a TRC subpoena to testify at a hearing on the State Security Council, which he chaired.

Speaking from the witness stand, Tutu said: "I want to appeal to him... to take this chance provided by this court to say he may not have intended the suffering to happen to people, he may not have given orders to authorise anything.

"I am just saying the government he headed caused our people deep, deep anguish, pain and suffering."

Tutu said he was appealing to Botha to say: "I am sorry that the policies of my government should cause you so much pain". The 82-year-old Botha, who has shown little emotion since the trial resumed on Monday, appeared visibly distressed by Tutu's remarks.

After the case was adjourned to June 15, he stayed in the courtroom whispering to his lawyers, while journalists waited to see whether he would respond.

Botha's lawyer, Ernst Penzhorn, announced his client would make a statement in due course, but had nothing to say at this stage about either the court case or Tutu's remarks.

Botha stepped forward and said in a characteristically defiant tone: "There are a number of books you people (journalists) can read." One was his biography, Voice out the Wilderness. "I have nothing more to say," he added.

Outside the courtroom Botha shook hands with Penzhorn, kissed his daughter Elanza Maritz and waved to no one in particular before climbing into the passenger seat of his car to be driven away.

Tutu told dozens of journalists outide the court Botha had been given the chance to make an "incredible gesture" and say he was sorry. "It would be a wonderful gesture if the response was positive... I would still hope God has given me a small bit of eloquence that would touch his heart."

Asked whether the court case could be dropped if Botha apologised, Tutu said the issue was not about legalities. "The TRC is not a vampire."

When the case resumes, both sides will make their closing arguments.

Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher will argue there was an agreement between Tutu and Botha that the former state president would not have to appear before the TCR and could submit answers to its questions in writing.

He will also argue the TRC's mandate - which was later extended - had expired by the time it subpoenaed Botha, that the TRC acted in bad faith towards him and that it was biased and prejudged issues. Earlier Tutu testified that it would have been too difficult and time-consuming for the TRC to cross-examine Botha about his government's activities in writing. He questioned why Botha objected so strongly to answering the TRC's questions face-to-face, when he had agreed to do so in writing. "We would seek to arrange (a hearing) in such a way that it would be a painless encounter."

The TRC had always reserved the right to pose supplementary questions to Botha, Tutu said.

Attempts to negotiate a last-minute deal, which would have seen Botha testify before the TRC at a special in-camera hearing in George in exchange for the court case against him being dropped, failed.

Laubscher revealed that Botha had agreed to meet the TRC providing that this was not "a hearing or an investigation". Tutu said the TRC's enabling legislation did not make provision for this form of co-operation.

"We have bent over backwards. We have done it for nobody else."

Tutu refused to accept Laubscher's proposition that human rights violations committed under the apartheid government were carried out by a small, well-organised group in the security forces. Laubscher argued there was never government authorisation for any illegal acts, which were the work of a "few bad apples".

Tutu said Botha's successor, FW de Klerk, had suggested the same thing.

Orders to kill activists, give booby-trapped handgrenades to teenagers and dispose of bodies came right from the top, Tutu said.

Almost all of the security force members who testified before the TRC said they believed all their actions had been sanctioned.

"Any decent human being would say it is a ghastly situation where those who are meant to maintain law and order do precisely the opposite."

TRC lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett said 250 policeman, about 30 of whom held the rank of brigadier or higher, had applied to the TRC for amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 6 1998 - SAPA-AFP

APARTHEID'S SECRET LABORATORIES SCRUTINISED AT TRUTH COMMISSION

South Africa's truth body will on Monday attempt to lift the lid on apartheid's secret laboratories, when the former government's chemical and biological warfare effort comes under the microscope.

Half a dozen military researchers and scientists are to testify over a five-day period at a special sitting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town.

In the spotlight are experiments carried out on humans and animals and the involvement of the apartheid state in the development of chemical and biological warfare between 1981 and 1994.

The TRC will also try to unearth more information about a secret military programme to develop apartheid's chemical and biological arsenal, codenamed "Project Coast".

Leaders of the apartheid regime have steadfastly denied its existence.

However, the arrest of Dr Wouter Basson, a 47-year-old physicist who headed the South African army's Seventh Medical Battalion, has led to the discovery of disturbing official documents, such as detailed notes on formulae for deadly chemicals listed by the International Chemical Weapons Convention.

Basson, the mastermind of Project Coast, was arrested in January 1997 for narcotics dealing in collaboration with a private laboratory. The deals were undertaken through a front company created by apartheid-era special services.

Having been arrested and charged, Basson, a researcher who is known to secret services across the world for alleged trafficking in military equipment, acknowledged that his work was designed to "cause fear" and diminish the fighting capacity of "the enemy".

According to investigations carried out by the South African press, lethal chemical substances were tried out on humans. Medicines known to cause cardiac problems were tested on the San, southern Africa's last indigenous people.

A 1992 report into the affair commissioned by then-president F.W. de Klerk acknowledged that the Seventh Medical Battalion was involved in making and using chemical substances.

It alleged that the battalion supplied poisons to assassins from army hit squads and was involved in a chemical bomb attack on government troops in Mozambique.

The report was followed by a purge of the army: Basson and 23 other senior officers were forced to take early retirement in 1993.

The now ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been heavily criticised for protecting Basson by subsequently giving him a job in a military hospital.

The party has said it was "in the national interest" to keep Basson in its midst in order to "maintain control over his activities and retain his specialist knowledge." © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE, South Africa June 6 1998 - SAPA-AFP

P.W. BOTHA LEFT BLOODIED AND BRUISED AFTER TRC ENCOUNTER

Apartheid hardliner P.W. Botha came face to face with South Africa's reconciliation process in the George Magistrate's Court this week - and was left bloodied and bruised.

The trial of Botha on charges of snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was always going to be a harrowing encounter between the old South Africa and the new, represented respectively by the former president and by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The two men were contrasted starkly - Botha, at 82 dour and unsmiling, spent his days on a cushioned chair, sitting alongside the accused's dock, saying little and looking moody.

The diminutive Tutu, dressed in trademark black and purple clerical garb, was a bundle of energy throughout his three days in the witness box, at times gesticulating, at times groaning, at times on the attack, at times on the defence; most of the time offering reconciliation and the hand of friendship to the man who ruled South Africa with a rod of iron between 1978 and 1989.

The list of witnesses ranged against the man who earned the nickname "Great Crocodile" for his fierce demeanour, told its own story - a TRC official, a Methodist minister, an apartheid assassin, a victim of a bombing allegedly ordered by Botha, and Tutu himself.

TRC executive secretary Paul van Zyl, the first witness, drew the outline of a picture of human rights abuses that he said characterised Botha's rule, leaving the other witnesses to fill in the colour.

Eugene de Kock, a convicted killer and former commander of an apartheid police death squad, chose red, the colour of the blood he said he had spilled while carrying out orders he claimed were given by Botha.

He told magistrate Victor Lugaju how he had bombed the London headquarters of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress in 1982, a trade union headquarters in Johannesburg in 1987 and an anti-apartheid church group's headquarters, also in Johannesburg, in 1988 - all on orders from Botha.

Welcome Ntumba, a security guard, told the court he had been flung through a hole in the floor caused by one of the bombs, at Khotso House, headquarters of the South African Council of Churches.

Ntumba, clearly overawed by the occasion, described in a small, halting voice how he had injured his back when he was dumped one storey down by the force of the blast.

Unlike most victims of apartheid's atrocities, the security guard was accorded the rare privilege of telling his story, and at the same time testifying against apartheid's most potent symbol - perhaps the singularly most dramatic triumph of the trial.

Reverend Peter Storey, one of the first people on the scene of the Khotso House blast, told of aged and mentally disabled people left bleeding and dazed by the explosion.

The methodist minister, who flew in specially from the US to give evidence, described the sight that greeted him as a "scene from hell", a description Botha may have come to use to describe his own court case, some 10 years later. Botha, who had refused to attend a December 19 TRC hearing because, he said, it was designed to humiliate him, sat impassively throughout proceedings as evidence that would have come out at the hearing was led in the court.

Ironically, he turned down a TRC offer to hold the hearing behind closed doors.

Tutu remarked that while he had tried to spare Botha humiliation, it had become humiliating for the former president to sit in court listening to witnesses describe a litany of atrocities allegedly carried out by apartheid security forces.

With a compliant magistrate and a rather disillusioned defence attorney, the trial became a TRC hearing in another guise.

The TRC, which enhanced its reputation by baring its teeth against a formidable foe - and winning hands down - achieved the hearing it had desired, even though it may not have gotten all the answers it sought.

And, most remarkably, the former apartheid leader was challenged to his face - for perhaps the first time ever - to apologise for the suffering his apartheid policies caused.

The wheel, nine years after Botha lost power to his successor F.W. de klerk in 1989, had turned full circle.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 8 1998 - SAPA

MBEKI REPEATS GOVERNMENT'S POSITION ON CLOSED TRC HEARING

The government's request for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hold a closed hearing into its apartheid predecessor's chemical and biological programme was necessary so as not to risk the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Monday.

This would be in line with its domestic and international obligations, he said in a statement after the TRC ruled against the government.

"Government views seriously its responsibility to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

The government supported a full and comprehensive investigation by the TRC into these matters and believed this could best be achieved through an in-camera hearing, he said.

After hearing argument from the government delegation - headed by President Nelson Mandela's legal advisor, Fink Haysom - a TRC panel chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu decided that in the interest of transparency the hearings should be open to the public and the media.

However, during argument against the request earlier on Monday, TRC representatives said any documents containing scientific details such as formulae would not be released during the hearings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jun 8 - SAPA

WOUTER BASSON FACING TEN CHARGES INCLUDING THE MANUFACTURE OF DRUGS

The former head of special operations in the SA Defence Force, Dr Wouter Basson, is facing an array of charges ranging from instigation to murder to possessin of huge quantities of drugs including ecstasy.

The details of the charges pending against the head of the former South African government's chemical and biological warfare programme were revealed at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Cape Town on Monday.

The hearing, which follows two years of investigation by the TRC, is aimed at revealing how the programme operated during the final years of National Party rule in South Africa.

Transvaal Attorney-General Jan d'Oliviera, who is investigating charges against Basson, gave details of the charges in a letter he submitted to the TRC. The charges include instigation to murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm which relate to the murder of Renamo official Orlando Christina in the late 1980s.

He is also facing charges of manufacturing Mandrax and ecstasy capsules and a number of cases of conspiracy to murder involving the alleged use of poison.

D'Oliviera said in his letter Basson could also face charges of fraud involving about R50 million after completion of investigations by the Office for Serious Economic Offences.

Basson is scheduled to appear at the TRC hearing on Wednesday or Thursday this week. Other witnesses scheduled to testify are former SA Police forensics expert Dr Lothar Neethling and former SADF Surgeon-General Generl Niel Knobel.

TRC national legal officer Hanif Vally told the hearing on Monday that there had been an agreement with D'Oliviera about which witnesses would be called. He said in some cases only affidavits from potential witnesses in the Basson trial would be handed in at the TRC hearing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 8 1998 - SAPA

CHEMICAL WEAPONS EXPERT "BITTEN" BY HIS OWN GADGET: TRC HEARS

A former SA Defence Force chemical weapons expert was knocked out while demonstrating a James Bond type gadget he had designed, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Cape Town on Monday.

Dr Jan Lourens, a self-confessed expert in designing and developing poison bearing weapons for the SADF, was testifying at the TRC hearing into the former government's chemical and biological warfare programme.

Lourens, a bio-engineer, once headed a front company called Protechnic that supplied gadgetry to the SADF's special operations unit headed by Dr Wouter Basson.

He told the TRC his company developed screwdrivers, walking sticks and umbrellas that could be used to inject poison into victims. Some of the gadgets, including a ring that could open and dispense poison into someone's drink, were exhibited at the hearing.

Lourens said on one occasion he was asked by Basson to deliver one of the screwdriver gadgets to a man called Trevor who he was to meet at a railway station at Ascot in England.

Lourens said he took with him two vials of poison and when he met the man proceeded to demonstrate how the weapon worked. He said that while installing the vial into the screwdriver it broke and the poison spilt on his hand.

"I don't know how it happened but I must have wiped my mouth and I lost consciousness," he said.

Lourens said when he came round he went to a toilet where he found a bottle of antiseptic which he drank and which made him ill. He said he later recovered, and when he returned to South Africa and told Basson and others about the incident they did not believe him because they said he should have been dead.

Later he was asked by TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine, who is a member of the panel presiding in the hearing, if he had realised that the weapons he was developing were probably weapons to be used against humans.

He replied that he was under no illusions that they would be used by assassins, but never applied his mind as to who the victims would be during that era.

"It is strange to look at it with hindsight but I could not see a face which I could regard as the public enemy," he said.

In 1993 Lourens decided to sell the Protechnic company to a Belgian businessman, Charles van Remoortere, who questioned what had happened to the funds.

Lourens said this placed him in a difficult position because he could not disclose that he had been involved in chemical weapons manufacture. He then approached a friend who knew the then Deputy Minister of Defence Roelf Meyer. This led to a meeting with the head of the army, General Kat Liebenberg, who agreed to resolve the problem. However, Liebenberg told him that he should remember that "those toys are mine" referring to the gadgets.

Lourens said he then buried the weapons and later approached the Transvaal Attorney-General's office. He has now applied for amnesty and may be used as a State witness in the trial of Basson. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 8 1998 - SAPA

MANY SECURITY POLICE FILES DESTROYED SINCE 1990: SAP GENERAL

Security police files were destroyed on a large scale after the unbanning of the African National Congress in 1990, former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe said on Monday.

This was partly done to protect the identity of police informants, Van der Merwe told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

Van der Merwe said police ceased investigations against ANC members in terms of old security legislation once multiparty constitutional talks got underway in the early 1990s. As a result many files became unnecessary.

"Such documents, along with files that could expose informants, were destroyed on a large scale at the instruction of the crime intelligence service."

Van der Merwe said this might explain why there was no file on Mamelodi activist Stanza Bopape, who died under police torture in Johannesburg on June 12, 1988.

Van der Merwe and nine other policemen are seeking amnesty for offences arising from Bopape's death. Police at the time claimed Bopape escaped, and then secretly disposed of his body by throwing it in the Komati River.

The TRC's amnesty committee on Monday heard that Bopape's detention file could not be traced.

Van der Merwe said he had exhausted all avenues to get hold of the file in order to provide evidence that Bopape was arrestred and held under Section 29 of the old Internal Security Act.

"I have no doubt there was a file on Bopape," Van der Merwe said.

Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg seek pardon for their role in getting rid of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, were involved in covering up Bopape's death.

ANC Gauteng MPL Bheki Nkosi on Monday described how security police gave him electric shocks a day after Bopape's death.

Mosterd allegedly told him: "You are lucky to be alive. You should have seen how your friend died."

Nkosi said he and Bopape were arrested in their Johannesburg flat on June 9, 1988.

"One policemen held a gun to my head while the others concentrated on Stanza. Zeelie punched him in the stomach and he fell on the bed." Another policeman also hit Bopape. The two were then taken to Roodepoort police station, and eventually to John Vorster police headquarters in Johannesburg.

Bopape and Nkosi were put in different cells on opposite sides of a passage.

"At some stage I heard Stanza making sounds as if he was being punched," Nkosi said.

On June 13, Nkosi said, two policemen took him to the police station's underground parking, and ordered him to don a balaclava.

"We drove for some time, and ended up at a building where they took me to the second floor. I was stripped naked, and tied to a chair with armrests. They applied electrical shocks all over my body, including my genitals."

The torture session lasted for more than an hour. Before being returned to John Vorster Square, Nkosi said, he was warned to stay silent about his ordeal.

He was eventually released without being charged.

"A doctor later told me it would be difficult to prove that the marks on my body were caused by electrical shocks," Nkosi said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 8 1998 - SAPA

TRC TOLD OF FORMER GOVT'S CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WAR PROGRAMME

The apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme, which included covert assassinations by poisoning, the manipulation of fertility and animal experimentation, was revealed at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Cape Town on Monday.

The hearing went ahead in public after an initial request by a government delegation for them to be held behind closed doors was rejected by the TRC in the interests of transparency.

The government delegation, headed by Fink Haysom of the president's office, argued that there was a danger that sensitive information about the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction could be revealed in the hearings.

SA Non-Proliferation Council chairman Abdul Minty said the hearings could infringe international conventions to which South Africa was a signatory.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a TRC panel ruled that the hearings should go ahead in public and the government would have the right to have legal representation during testimony by witnesses.

The TRC heard testimony from a former SA Defence Force captain and bio-engineer who later formed his own front company to design and develop a series of poison bearing weaponry.

Dr Jan Lourens, a highly qualified scientist, said he had served in the SA Air Force and was later recruited by the special operations unit headed by Dr Wouter Basson.

He said he was initially involved in the supply of low-key technical equipment for use by military doctors such as a radio network, high performance motor vehicles and fold-up rifles.

He said it was during this period in about 1985 that he became aware of experimentation on animals such as chimpanzees and baboons on a farm near the Roodeplaat Dam outside Pretoria.

Lourens said later he was involved in the testing of a "new generation" teargas called CR, as opposed to the old variety called CS.

Baboons were placed in clear plastic cages and exposed to teargas.

He told the commission he later formed his own company called Protechnic, which became involved in developing weaponry for the SADF.

He had a close association with Basson, who he said had lines of contact with the SADF's Surgeon-General and covert elements withing the SADF.

During this time he became aware of the SADF's biological programme, which was headed by Dr Riana Boorman who had been working on ways of affecting the virility and fertility of animals.

He said he believed she was aiming to ultimately use the technology to manipulate the fertility of people in South Africa on an ethnic basis. Lourens said he later met a weapons expert called Phil Morgan, who had developed mechanisms which could be used to propel poisonous substances.

These included rings with secret compartments, walking sticks, umbrellas, bicycle pumps and screwdrivers.

He conceded later in the hearing that these were all designed for use by assassins to kill humans in a covert way.

Lourens told the hearing he nearly became a victim of his own gadget when he had to deliver a poison-bearing screwdriver to a man in England called Trevor.

Lourens said he accidently got a taste of the poison while demonstrating the James Bond type gadget to Trevor. He lost consciousness but but said he was later told he was lucky to have survived.

Lourens said he also came across international arms dealers interested in buying South African chemical weapons technology.

He said he met some international agents but did know where they had come from. One particular person had been interested in a binary missile which consisted of two substance which when combined became highly toxic.

Lourens said nothing came of these deals as far as he knew.

During his tesimony, Lourens, who has applied for amnesty and has agreed to be a State witness in Basson's criminal trial, became clearly upset at an aside made by HJ du Plessis, the lawyer representing several former SADF officers.

Basson is facing an array of charges ranging from instigation to murder and possessin of huge quantities of drugs including ecstasy, to fraud of R50 million.

Du Plessis was heard to refer to Lourens as a "martelgat". This is translated from Afrikaans as a reference to being a martyr in a derogatory way.

Lourens said he took the gravest offence at the remarka and asked committee chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza to request Du Plessis to withdraw it. Du Plessis agreed to do so and to apologise when asked to by Ntsebeza, who said it could be seen as intimdation of a witness.

Another witness, a former Belgian national Charles van Remoortere, told the hearing he bought Protechnic from Lourens.

The former Belgian army officer said he acted as a sanctions buster, acquiring equipment for the former SADF during the apartheid era.

He said he was involved in the suppluy for protective equipment against chemical and biological warfare and had never dealt in offensive initiatives.

Referring to his relationship with Basson, he said: "Security was a simple affair. He said if you cheat us we will kill you. I thought he was joking, but have since found out he was not."

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 8 1998 - SAPA

WE WERE ORDERED TO KILL STUDENTS, SAY AZAPO MEN

Two Azanian Peoples Organisation members applying for amnesty have blamed two of their leaders, both of whom are now dead, for ordering them to kill political rivals.

Pitso Hlasa and Atasios Mophoreng told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing in Johannesburg on Monday that they were acting on the orders of Thami Mcerwa and Sam Seema when they killed four members of the Soweto Students' Congress in 1986.

Seema died in 1987 and Mcerwa in 1995.

Sosco members Vuyani Nkomo, Mbulelo Mabena, Msilana Ronnel and Oscar Mlangeni were killed during conflict between Azapo and the United Democratic Front, to which Sosco was affiliated.

Hlasa told the commission they were infuriated after Sosco members torched the Orlando West house of Azapo member Jefferson Lengane. He said most Azapo members were displaced during the struggle with the United Democratic Front.

"We set up camps to protect our members because their houses were attacked and they felt unsafe when they were alone. It was not our organisation's policy to attack people but to defend ourselves when attacked. It was Azapo's policy to avoid retaliation but the UDF continued to kidnap and kill our members."

He said the death of Sipho Mngomezulu and the attack on Lengane's house was the turning point.

Mophoreng said he saw Sosco members chanting anti-Azapo slogans after the burning of Lengane's home.

"After Lengane's home was burnt, he came to one of our hide-outs where he reported to us. I informed other comrades and then accompanied him to clear the debris. As we were busy, a group of 15 to 20 boys passed, singing slogans," he said.

Mphoreng said six youths were brought to Lengane's house later that day and interrogated. It was there that Mcerwa and Seema gave an instruction that they "deal" with the students.

The Sosco members were shoved into the boots of two vehicles and driven to a house in Tshiawelo, Soweto. They were then taken to an open veld where they were shot.

Simon Morris and Sekao Kgase survived the attack and Kgase reported the incident to the police.

Hlasa, Mphoreng and Ernest Thandakubona were later arrested but skipped bail and fled into exile to join the Black Consciousness Movement.

They were rearrested on their return to South Africa in 1995 and judgment in their trial was reserved pending the outcome of their amnesty application.

The hearing continues on Tuesday. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 9 1998 - SAPA

AWB MEN SEEK AMNESTY FOR BOMBING SPREE

Twelve AWB applicants seeking amnesty for trying to derail the 1994 elections are to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee from June 17 to 26.

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging applicants engaged in a three-day bombing spree, killing 21 people and injuring 46 on the East Rand, West Rand, Pretoria and Johannesburg, the TRC said in a statement on Tuesday.

The applicants are Nicholas Clifton Barnard, Abraham Liebrecht Myburgh, Etienne Jacobus le Roux, Petrus Paulus Steyn, Jan Bastiaan de Wet, Gerhardus Daniel Fourie, Johannes Andries Venter, Jacobus Petrus Nel, Abraham Christoffel Fourie, Jan Wilhem du Plessis, Johannes Petrus Olivier and Johannes Abraham Vlok.

The hearings will be held at the Boksburg city council's banquet hall.

The men have applied for amnesty for detonating bombs which killed and maimed civilians. They say in their applications that the AWB, the Conservative Party and the Afrikaner Volksfront met in Ventersdorp and other venues in the Western Transvaal early in 1994 to discuss where a future Volkstaat would be established and to prepare for war.

They add that after these meetings the AWB's "generals", and Chris van den Heever in particular, gave kommandos instructions to prepare for war.

General van den Heever informed members that the AWB would not be ruled by an African National Congress-South African Communist Party alliance, the statement said.

The breakdown for next week's hearings is:

June 17 to 19: Applicants responsible for the Bree Street car bomb on Sunday, April 24, which killed seven people and injured 13, will be first to give testimony;

June 22 to 23: Those involved in placing a trailer bomb in Germiston on Monday, April 25, which killed 10 people and injured eight, will appear;

June 24 to 25: Applications relating to pipe bomb attacks on April 25 will be heard. In Randfontein, no one was killed but property was damaged. In Pretoria, a pipe bomb killed three and injured 14 at a restaurant in Bloed Street; and

June 26: Applications involving the Jan Smuts Airport car bomb attack on April 26, the day before election day, will be heard. Ten people were injured and damage was caused, but no one was killed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY June 9 1998 - SAPA

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSES LEGISLATION TO EXTEND TRC'S LIFE

Legislation to extend the life of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday by 215 votes to 79.

The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Amendment Bill will allow the TRC to submit an interim report on October 31 this year, and enable its amnesty committee to conduct more than 1000 outstanding amnesty application hearings, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said.

Once the committee's work is complete, President Nelson Mandela will reconvene the commission by proclamation so it can complete its final report.

The National Party denounced the legislation, saying the TRC's officials were inefficient, arrogant and incompetent.

Sheila Camerer (NP) said the life of the amnesty committee would be extended indefinitely.

"There are still some 2500 (amnesty) applications outstanding, over 1000 of them involving hearings; only 600 hearings have been held so far."

The TRC was biased, had done nothing for reconciliation and had been hopelessly discredited through its own actions, she said.

Dr Corne Mulder (FF) said that if the TRC had carried out its work in an objective and unbiased way, it would have encouraged national unity, but this was not to be.

Madala Mzizi (IFP) said extension of the TRC's life was becoming a regular occurence and something of a national joke.

It had being agreed by all parties that the country should not dwell on its unfortunate past for too long and that the TRC should complete its work well before the 1999 elections, but this had not happened.

The legislation was also opposed by the African Christian Democratic Party, but supported by the Democratic Party and the Pan Africanist Congress.

Replying to the debate, Omar said the NP and Freedom Front were implying that the TRC was conducting a witchhunt against Afrikaners. By doing so they were telling people they could not participate in the process of nation building and making it more difficult for their footsoldiers to apply for amnesty.

"They are doing the Afrikaner people a great disservice," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 9 1998 - SAPA

SHOCKING DETAILS OF SADF'S POISON PROGRAMME REVEALED TO TRC

Scientists working for the former SA Defence Force prepared a range of untraceable deadly poisons, diseases that could have caused epidemics and infertility serums apparently aimed at black women, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Tuesday.

The scientists, who were employed by SADF front company Roodeplaat Research Laboratories (RRL), testified in Cape Town in the TRC hearing probing the apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme.

The hearing was told that poisons were made, diseases prepared and even a serum for preventing pregnancy, apparently amongst black women, was developed as part of the campaign waged by the apartheid government to hold on to power.

Microbiologist Dr Michael Odendaal said he prepared about 260ml of cholera germ, which he said was capable of causing a serious epidemic. He understood that the cholera was to be used in a war situation and not in South Africa.

TRC panel member Denzil Potgieter put it to Odendaal that the use of cholera seemed to display a particular degree of callousness in view of the fact that the disease was severe on the young and the elderly.

"Yes this is true," Odendaal said, adding the use of cholera as a weapon in one's own country would be grossly irresponsible.

Odendaal also admitted producing samples of anthrax and lethal poisons. These were later introduced to alcoholic drinks, food, chocolates and cigarettes, but Odendaal said he did not know how these products were used.

RRL employee Dr Andre Immelman told him he gave them to "operatives".

He also heard that sugar contaminated with salmonella bacteria was used to disrupt an African National Congress meeting in Johannesburg. Later he heard that many people got ill, but nobody died.

Odendaal said he felt sorry about his activities at RRL and hoped scientists would never have to engage in similar activities again.

Odendaal is one of three highly qualified scientists who have testified as to being involved in the development of material to be used by SADF special forces.

The scientists have all had difficulty explaining why they continued their work while suspecting their lethal products were for use in sinister operations.

They said they initially believed their work involved the production of legitimate protective equipment for the SADF, but were later drawn into work of a more sinister nature.

A medical researcher for the Medical Research Council who later joined RRL, Dr Schalk van Rensburg, told the commission that former SADF special operations head Dr Wouter Basson and the SA Police's head of forensics, Dr Lothar Neethling, were obsessed with finding a poison that was fatal to humans but could not be detected in laboratory tests. Van Rensburg said Basson also approached him about producing a serum that could control the fertility of women. Basson told him the aim was to solve a problem Unita was having with too many pregnant female soldiers and burgeoning refugee populations, but he did not believe Basson, who appeared willing to spend millions of rands on the project.

Van Rensburg believed it had a more ominous purpose, but said it was not possible to use the serum on a particular ethnic section of the population because traces could easily be detected.

Commenting on a list of poisons and toxins discovered at RRL, Van Rensburg said even he had been shocked by the scale of the toxic products being kept at the premises.

In many cases poisons were contained in cans of beer or whisky and in other food products such as sugar and chocolates.

Van Rensburg said at one stage during a period of unrest in the Eastern Cape, Basson suggested that the locals should be "sorted out with cholera".

"So this was a list of murder weapons," the TRC's Jerome Chaskalson asked Van Rensburg, who agreed.

He said when word of the RRL projects leaked out, there was a rapid disposal of products at the laboratories.

Van Rensburg said attempts were also made to use poison to simulate snakebites and an ANC activist was killed in this way in Namibia in 1984.

He said RRL staff enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, which included eating regularly at expensive restaurants and becoming involved in "incredible scams".

He also said extensive tests were conducted on animals during this time and those that died were disposed of in black bags.

"We knew that (Libyan president Moamer) Kadhafi's experimentation camps were discovered by American satellites which spotted dead dogs being sent to the incinerator," he said.

Referring to specific incidents, Van Rensburg said he recalled the army being furious when an attempt to poison SA Council of Churches president Frank Chikane failed.

Apparently the poison should have been used on a large area of Chikane's body, but an operative only applied the poison to small areas on five pairs of the SACC leader's underpants.

Van Rensburg said intelligence about Chikane's destination was wrong and instead of travelling to Namibia, he went to the United States. The poison was traced and the attempt on his life was revealed.

In another case, poison was applied to the shirt of a dissident policeman, but the man lent the shirt to a friend who died. In another incident anthrax spores were placed in food given to Russian advisers to the ANC in Lusaka and one died.

Van Rensburg said he also heard there were plans to poison medication taken by Nelson Mandela while he was Pollsmoor prison. Nothing apparently came of this plan.

Van Rensburg also raised the possibility that Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko was poisoned with thalium before his death in detention in 1977. He heard this may have happened and would have explained Biko's apparent irrational behaviour during his interrogation.

Van Rensburg said about 95 percent of the projects underaken at RRL were of an offensive nature as opposed to developing defensive capabalities.

Earlier on Tuesday, a former researcher and chemist for the SADF's Delta G company, Dr Johan Koekemoer, told the hearing that thousands of kilograms of the drugs Ecstasy and Mandrax were produced for the former SADF in the late 1980s.

He received the order for the drugs from former SADF surgeon general Niel Knobel, and was led to believe that the Mandrax was to be used as an method of incapacitating opponents.

Koekemoer said he was told the Ecstasy was to be used in the interrogation of suspects.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 10 1998 - SAPA

TRC COMMISSIONER'S HOME TO FEATURE IN DE KOCK HEARING

The home of TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza will feature in an amnesty hearing for Eugene de Kock and two others seeking pardon for the murder of former University of Transkei student activist Batandwa Ndondo in 1985.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission spokesman Vuyani Green on Wednesday said the other applicants are Vlakplaas askari Mbuso Enock Shabalala and policeman Gcinisiko Lamont Dandala.

Vlakplaas was a security police base outside Pretoria, headed at one time by De Kock, who has since been imprisoned at Pretoria's C-Max prison for six murders and a host of other crimes. An askari is a former liberation fighter turned police informant.

According to their applications, Dandala, Shabalala and askaris Silulami Gladstone Mose and Xolelwa Virginia Shosha, accosted Ndondo at the Cala home of Dumisa Ntsebeza on September 24 and asked him to accompany them.

Mose and Shosha have apparently died.

While the men were travelling in a minibus with tinted windows Dandala introduced himself to Ndondo as a policeman and told him he was under arrest.

The applicants said Ndondo escaped through the window of the moving vehicle and ran away. They said they gave chase and fired several shots, killing him.

Shabalala and Dandala were later arrested and charged with murder. However, the case did not go any further after Shabalala was reported dead.

He had, at the behest of De Kock, changed his identity and operated as an askari under a new name.

Former Transkei president Kaiser Matanzima later claimed Ndondo had been killed because of his involvement in the bombing of a government installation in Umtata.

The committee will also hear amnesty applications from two members of the former Transkei security police relating to the killing of a former Umkhonto we Sizwe cadre at Ngqamakwe, Transkei in 1988.

Pumelele Gumengu and Aron Tyani allegedly arrested Sithembele Zokwe in Butterworth.

Zokwe was shot dead after the two men had driven him to his home at Mkiva village in Ngqamakwe, ostensibly to search for weapons on January 11 1988.

The applications will be heard at the same hearing at the civic centre in Umtata from June 17 to 19.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

CAPE TOWN June 10 1998 - SAPA

CABINET AIMS TO STEM PROLIFERATION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings on apartheid-era chemical and biological weapons programmes should not result in information being made public which could result in the proliferation of such weapons, Cabinet said on Wednesday.

Addressing a media briefing after the fornightly Cabinet meeting, government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said the hearings were to be welcomed, but government had an obligation to ensure that information on chemical weapons manufacture was not disseminated.

"An agreement in this regard has been reached with the TRC," he said.

Earlier this week government tried and failed to have the TRC hearings held in camera.

Netshitenzhe said Cabinet had also been briefed on progress made in finalising government's position for the upcoming job summit.

It had also approved the process by which shares in the Airports Company would be transferred or sold to employees, management and black investors.

A number of bills were approved for submission to Parliament.

They included:

- the Liquor Bill, which would significantly restructure the industry;

- the Domestic Violence Bill, which would strengthen protection of women and children against abuse; and,

- the National Libraries Bill, which proposed the establishment of a national library and the upgrading of the library for the blind.

Cabinet also gave the go-ahead for a number of projects, several of which would be implemented over the next twelve months. They included the Freedom Park project, a Women's monument, a Nelson Mandela museum, a Samora Machel monument, and the commemoration of the centenary of the Anglo-Boer War.

Netshitenzhe said there had been no discussion about the relocation of Parliament.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 10 1998 - SAPA

VICTIM TELLS AMNESTY HEARING OF SHOOTING IN SOWETO IN 1986

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday heard that several men who were abducted and tortured by Azanian People's Liberation Organisation members in 1986 were not even members of the rival organisation Azapo was fighting against.

The TRC's amnesty committee was hearing evidence from two witnesses, Simon Morris, 31, and Sekao Kgase, 30, who survived when Azapo members killed four Soweto youths and attempted to murder others in 1986.

The four men who were killed - Oscar Mlangeni, Vuyani Nkomo, Mbulelo Mabena and Msilani Ronell - were suspected of being members of the Soweto Students' Congress (Sosco).

They were killed at the the height of political violence between Azapo and the United Democratic Front, to which Sosco was affiliated.

Atasios Motlana Mphoreng, Pitso Joseph Hlasa and Mxolisi Ernest Thandakubona have all applied for amnesty in connection with the killings.

Morris said neither he nor his five friends had links with Sosco or the UDF. He said they had never participated in politics.

"I was never involved in politics and even now I am not interested in politics. I am just a teacher," Morris said under cross-examination by the applicants' counsel, Sam Tloubatla.

He said on the day of the murder pupils at his school were dismissed after soldiers informed their principal that there was violence in Soweto.

"We then left to our respective homes and met earlier to play tennis on the streets. We later accompanied Vuyani Nkomo to his mother in Orlando East.

"On our way, we were accosted by three youths. One of them demanded a cigarette and we told him we did not smoke. He then produced a firearm, saying we had caused trouble in the location.

"We were taken to a house where we were accused of burning a house. We were stripped of our clothes and given big trousers which were fastened with curtain wires. We were then tortured with pliers, iron rods and car aerials at gun point," he said.

Morris denied having worn Sosco or Release Mandela Campaign T-shirts. He said at one stage during the abduction he was assaulted because he played soccer for Kaizer Chiefs.

He said after dusk they were pushed into the boots of two cars and driven to a house where they were interrogated further. They were then taken to a veld where they were shot.

Four of them were killed.

TRC committee chairman Judge Bernard Ngoepe reserved judgment on the amnesty application until next month. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 10 1998 - SAPA

APARTHEID PLANS TO POISON MANDELA LIKENED TO NAZISM: ANC

The African National Congress on Wednesday described plans by the former SA Defence Force to poison anti-apartheid campaigners, including Nelson Mandela, as similar to the genocide experiments of the Nazi regime in the 1940s.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings into the SADF's chemical and biological warfare programmes confirmed the ANC's view that "the apartheid government did not shrink from the use of poison in its attempts to murder its opponents both at home and abroad in an effort to thwart the transition to democracy", ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.

The TRC heard in Cape Town on Wednesday that elements within the National Party government planned to give Mandela small doses of poison to cause him brain damage shortly before his release.

The commission has heard of similar government efforts to kill or incapacitate its enemies, including attempts on the life of activists Dullah Omar and The Rev Frank Chikane.

The TRC has also heard evidence of experiments to reduce the fertility of black women and to demoralise activists with doses of ecstacy and Mandrax.

"The latest evidence regarding the plan to poison President Nelson Mandela before his release from prison comes as no surprise as the National Party government knew no morality nor had any regard for the Geneva protocols on the conduct of war," said Mamoepa.

"From people associated with such programmes it is clear that the chemical and biological weapons project was for offensive purposes and part of an ongoing dirty tricks campaign to murder anti-apartheid activists and black people indiscriminately."

Mamoepa said it had now been established that several anti-apartheid activists had died from poisoning, while others had narrow escapes from this fate. There was also evidence that the former apartheid regime used chemical weapons in attacks on neighbouring states.

"Clearly, the chemical weapons capacity could not have been developed without the assistance of a number of private sector companies, including military intelligence front organisations.

"A monitoring mechanism of those companies implicated in these heinous acts must be established to ensure they do not continue with programmes that are inimical to the interests of our democracy."

Mamoepa said the ANC hoped the current TRC hearings would shed light on these programmes, the chain of command involved and those who implemented the programme.

"What is clear is that leading scientists engaged in these inhuman experiments in the same way as those who served the Nazi regime in Germany. If ever there was a programme that truly typified the genocidal programmes of the apartheid regime, this was it," Mamoepa said.

TRC TO DECIDE ON THURSDAY WHETHER BASSON MUST TESTIFY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has delayed its decision on whether to compel Wouter Basson, the former SA Defence Force's chemical and germ warfare programme mastermind, to testify before it.

Basson, former head of the SADF special operations unit, is facing an array of charges including conspiracy to murder and possession of large quantities of Mandrax and ecstasy.

He and another key figure in the programme, Dr Phillip Myburgh, were subpoenaed to testify at this week's TRC inquiry into the SADF's chemical and biological warfare programme. However their lawyer, Jaap Cilliers, claims they have the right to remain silent pending their trial. Both are expected to go on trial in August this year on charges linked to the use of toxins prepared at SADF front companies.

After lengthy argument by Cilliers and TRC legal officer Hanif Vally, the TRC panel chaired by Dumisa Ntsebeza, held over its decision until Thursday or Friday.

Cilliers argued that in terms of the country's constitution, Basson and Myburgh had the right to remain silent. He also argued that testifying before the TRC would prejudice them in their forthcoming trial.

Vally argued that the information being sought from the two witnesses by the TRC was not necessarily the same as the evidence that was likely to be given at the trial. He also said the TRC had obligations in terms of the Promotion of National Reconcialion Act which it could not ignore.

Ntsebeza ruled after the arguments put forward by both parties that the panel would make a ruling on the issue either on Thursday or Friday. In the meantime the hearing would continue with the testimony of other witnesses, including former head of forensics in the SA Police, Dr Lothar Neethling.

Basson was present at the TRC on Wednesday. Bearded and balding and wearing an African style tunic, he listened attentively to the legal arguments and smiled at the people he recognised.

Earlier the TRC heard more testimony about an alleged plot to poison Nelson Mandela while he was still in prison so that his mental faculties would be impaired after his release.

A former medical researcher at SADF front company Roodeplaat Research Laboratories, Dr Schalk van Rensburg, told the hearing he heard of the plan from a colleague, Dr Andre Immelman.

He said Immelman had told him not to be concerned about the imminent release of Mandela because his brain would stop functioning properly after he had been released.

Van Rensburg said there had been a suggestion that Mandela would be poisoned with thallium which could affect the functioning of the brain.

Van Rensburg was not able to say whether an attempt was made to carry out the plan.

The former managing director of RRL, Dr Wynand Swanepoel, also testified but said he was unable to give any information about the research carried out at the company. He claimed he was merely the administrative head of the company and left the technical aspects to the scientists. He was also unable to recall what salary he was paid while working for RRL.

However, he said he received a R4 million payout when the company was privatised in 1991. He considered the money a dividend on the R50,000 he had invested in the business.

RRL was eventually liquidated after revelations about its involvement with the SADF led to its other clients cancelling their contracts, Swanepoel said.

When asked if he knew that poisons such as anthrax, botulism and thallium were being introduced into cans of beer, whisky, chocolate and cigarettes at his company's premises, he replied that he did not.

However, he attempted to explain their presence by suggesting it was probably research to establish whether these toxins could in fact be disguised in consumer products.

Immelman, who according to Vally will probably be used as a chief witness against Basson and Myburgh, will not testify in the TRC hearing but submitted an affidavit detailing his role in the programme.

In the affidavit he said he expressed his concern to Basson about some of the products ordered by the SADF, such as poison-laced drinks. Basson told him that the projects had been approved by the State Security Council.

Immelman also described how orders for various deadly products were made by SADF colleagues of Basson while sitting in expensive restaurants in Pretoria.

He said Basson's friends were introduced by code names such as "Koos" and placed orders for items ranging from poisoned drinks, cigarettes and chocolates to bottles of cholera and even snake poison.

There is expected to be great interest in Thursday's hearing when Neethling gives evidence. Neethling was involved in widely publicised court cases when the Vrye Weekblad published reports accusing him of supplying poison to Vlakplaas security police base hitsquads led by Dirk Coetzee.

Neethling sued the Vrye Weekblad and won his case on appeal and received a large payout. The Vrye Weekblad closed soon afterwards. The former editor of the paper, Max du Preez, will be present to hear Neethling's testimony.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 10 1998 - SAPA

FORMER AWB COMMANDER TELLS HEARING OF ROADBLOCK PLAN

An Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member who took part in the murder of four people at a roadblock in 1993 told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday that AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche had deserted his soldiers.

He said he had refused to see Terre'Blanche when he visited members of the AWB in prison last week.

Wheelchair-bound AWB commander Phillipus Kloppers told a TRC amnesty hearing in Johannesburg that Terre'Blanche visited his imprisoned lieutenants at Leeuwkop prison last week.

"I refused to see him," Kloppers said. "I have nothing to say to him because he was not there at the time we negotiated at the (first amnesty) hearing."

Kloppers led the roadblock operation at the Radora intersection on the Krugersdorp/Ventersdorp road which resulted in the deaths of Theo More, Teboho Makhuza, Thembani Nkompone and Patrick Gaseme.

Kloppers and fellow AWB members Deon Martins, Frederick Badenhorst, Marius Visser, Lodewickus van der Schyff, Andre Visser and Gerhardus Diedericks are serving life sentences for the murders and the attempted murders of Petrus Mothupi, William Segotsane, Gabriel Shabangu, Sipho Nkompone and Abraham Mothupi.

Kloppers accused Terre'Blanche of "deserting his soldiers" and said he had severed ties with the AWB.

Under cross-examination, Kloppers maintained he had received an order to set up a roadblock from Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen, Conservative Party leader Ferdi Hartzenberg and his senior general, Japie Oelofse.

The roadblock was part of a plan to sow mayhem in order to prevent the 1994 elections from taking place, he said.

"I received an order that the revolution will start that night (December 13). Our duty was to sow chaos in the urban areas. All the men understood what I meant by real McCoy because General Oelofse wanted to see corpses.

"Our target group was the ANC/SACP alliance," Kloppers said.

Van der Schyff's legal team handed the committee a new version of their client's amnesty application, which no longer supports his fellow AWB members involved in the killings.

In the new version, Van der Schyff said he only knew of the plan to set up a roadblock when it was to be executed. He said no such orders had come from their leaders.

Van der Schyff said the objective to create chaos on that night was a selfish action initiated by Kloppers.

The evidence of another applicant, Marius Visser, corroborated Kloppers' version.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

PAC CRIES FOUL AFTER TUTU WARNS ON APLA AMNESTIES

The Pan Africanist Congress on Wednesday said it had been denied the resources required to find and identify more than 130 activists whose amnesty applications were likely to fail due to the lack of information.

This was after Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Desmond Tutu warned that half the PAC's total number of amnesty applicants were about to have their amnesty applications declared invalid.

Tutu said in a statement the reason for this was that the PAC had failed to help the commission identify who the applicants were and what acts they had committed. Their applications provided only their codenames and political affiliation.

PAC general secretary Michael Muendane said Tutu was being "less than truthful" and that his organisation had done the best it could with limited resources.

Tutu said no real names or specifics of acts for which amnesty was being sought were given.

Nor was there enough information to enable amnesty committee staff to establish further particulars without the PAC's help.

The PAC's list of amnesty applicants, many of them members of its former military wing the Azanian People's Liberation Army, includes names like "Bazuka", "Mike Tyson", "Fats", "Joe", "Green Mamba", "Day-By-Day" and "Scorpion".

Tutu said in terms of the Act governing amnesty, the paucity of detail meant their applications could not be considered by the committee.

"The commission has bent over backwards to help members of the PAC who have applied for amnesty," Tutu said. "We have done so in order to compensate for the failure of their party to help them, but we have gone as far as we can."

He had asked the TRC's amnesty committee to hold off finalising the matter, but on Tuesday gave instructions that if the required details were not supplied by the end of the week, it should dispose of the matter in terms of the provisions of the Act.

TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine on Wednesday informed PAC president Stanley Mogoba of the deadline.

Said Tutu: "I am sorry to have to give an ultimatum, and to reveal this publicly, but I am tired of the commission having to keep quiet about the PAC's lack of co-operation in the face of dishonest attacks on us by some among the PAC's leadership who appear to place political posturing above the interests of their members."

Tutu said since November last year the TRC had sent the PAC a letter and a number of reminders, and that it had been agreed at a meeting with the party leadership in April that "the PAC will, in the next two weeks, furnish the amnesty committee with further particulars in respect of the list of incomplete applications that was handed to them".

Since this meeting the TRC had sent further reminders, which had not been acknowledged, Tutu said. The amnesty committee was therefore, after more than six months, unable to identify the amnesty applicants.

Muendane said on Wednesday night that the PAC rejected claims that it had not co-operated. It had told the TRC that it could identify the Apla cadres whose applications appeared under noms de guerre, but needed help, because they were scattered over the country in various prisons and registered not as political prisoners but as common prisoners.

"It is like a needle in a haystack to look for all those people," he said.

The TRC had been asked to either get the Correctional Services Department to collect all the applicants in one prison, or give the PAC the resources to go from prison to prison.

"To today they have not given us those resources and now they come and attack us. Tutu is being less than honest in this regard."

Muendane also said the police were withholding documentation that would identify Apla operatives. The documents had been confiscated from former Apla national commander Letlapa Mphahlele when he was arrested in late 1994, and not returned.

"It's really not fair," Muedane said.

"If they want to decide (to reject the applications) they must know in their consciences there is this problem that has not been addressed yet."

Tutu named the applicants as: Apla High Command 57935, Shakes, Bazuka, Blackbox, Chris, Dlamini, Fats, Jabu, Jazz, Joe, Khabazela, Khan, LTD, Mancane, Martin, Mavovo, Mdlalose, Modondo, Nduna, Nkrumah, S'Bu, Senzo, Sifiso, Skepe, Typhoon, Upoqo, Vusi, Windela, Afrika, Babangida, Bekezela, Bhamjee, Bishop, Black Mambo, Bra, Bruce, Buhari, Buthelezi, CT, Cap, Chris, Conclusion, Dubs, Dumazile, Gadafi, Grootman, Guru, JJ, James, Junior, Kalashnikov, Karl Marx, Lebakes, Lifa, Lovemore, Loyd, Lucky, Day-By-Day, Lucky, Lulu, Lumumba, Madoda, Mancane, Mao, Marley, Mary, Matshona, Matvumbo, Mbelebele, Mbongeni, Mchana, Mdishane, Mdu, Mike Tyson, Mkhize, Mntwana, Mohammed, Molotov, Motomoto, Mshengu, Mshishi, Musa, Mxo, Mze, Mzukisi, ND, Ndabezitha, No-Peace, Nolundi, Professor, Rhee, Rockey, Russian Tank, Saai, Sabs, Sadat, Saddam Husseim, Sandra, Sandla, Sandlwana, Sankara, Scorpion, Scud Missile, Dumo, Seven Sgqi, Shaka, Shane, Shoes, Sipho, Slogan, Sonny, Stalin, Star, Starbo, Starlen, Suzukie, Tallman, Terror, Thaganyana, The Hammer, The Sting, Tinko, Titof, Tosh, Tsi, White, Wiseman, Zulu, Green Mamba, Malambo, Nosizwe, and Themba.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Jun 11 - SAPA

USE OF DRUGS BY FORMER SECURITY FORCES QUIZZED BY TRC

The use of drugs such and Mandrax and ecstasy by the apartheid government's security forces was closely examined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town on Thursday.

Scientists who worked for the security forces claimed they planned to use the drugs for crowd control in the event of riots, but there were suggestions that the drugs were used for more sinister purposes.

The use of illegal drugs such as Mandrax, ecstasy, LSD and dagga was raised during the TRC inquiry into possible human rights violations in the former government's chemical and biological weapons programme.

Former SA Police's head of forensics, Dr Lothar Neethling, told the hearing he believed ecstasy could be used in pacifying people during a riot. Neethling said while there problems with the drug's unstable molecular structure, it had definite value as what he called a "mood changer".

He said if there was a way to get it into a grenade, he could control a whole crowd with ease.

However, Neethling said he had never worked with ecstasy but had provided SADF chemical expert Dr Wouter Basson with large quantities of Mandrax, LSD and dagga.

Earlier Neethling told the hearing the police and the SADF were trying to develop a grenade that could be fired above a crowd and explode, emitting gases. He said it was planned to use extracts of drugs such as Mandrax, LSD and dagga in the grenades in an attempt to reduce the aggression in people taking part in riots.

The TRC's legal officer, Hanif Vally, put it to Neethling that the purpose of the research on drugs was to create widespread addiction among blacks.

"What better crowd control than to have an enslaved youth," Vally said.

Neethling denied this and said it was not possible to create addiction by releasing the substance on a crowd.

When asked about the use of dagga for riot control, Neethling said the drug made people docile and this would have taken away their desire to take part in riots.

Throughout his testimony, Neethling denied ever being involved in any covert SADF operations.

The former police general became visibly angry when a SADF intelligence document was produced stating that he was fully informed about Project Jota, the programme aimed at producing defensive and offensive chemical and biological weapons.

The document, signed by Genearl Joffel van der Westhuizen, stated that Neethling and Basson used each other as sounding boards for development and use of certain "commodities".

The document also links Neethling to the trial of Civil Co-operation Burea operatives.

Neethling vehemently denied he was ever involved in any SADF projects and said he first heard of the CCB during the Harms Commission in 1990.

"I am angry that I have been given this document," Neethling said, adding that it was a "blatant lie" that he knew about Project Jota.

He did not deny knowing Basson and said they had travelled together overseas four times. He said the chief of defence force had asked him to accompany Basson in order to give Basson cover.

Neethling said he had done widespread research in developing defensive equipment against chemical warfare. He said in the war in Angola, chemicals were against South African forces who were without protection.

Neethling said he personally saw at least 60 Unita soldiers fall victim to a chemical weapons attack. He said the soldiers saw something smoking fall out of the sky and then they went lame.

He said over the next ten years protective clothing was developed that was of such a high quality that it was used in the Gulf War.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 11 1998 - SAPA

AWB MAN TELLS OF COLD-BLOODED KILLING AT ROAD BLOCK

One of nine Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members who took part in the killing of four people in 1993 at a roadblock told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday that they robbed their victims after shooting them.

Lodewickes van der Schyff, who amended his amnesty application, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Johannesburg that he stole a leather jacket from the Honda Ballade and Cressida they stopped at a roadblock on the Krugersdorp- Ventersdorp road while executing an AWB order to sow mayhem.

He version is different from that of his co-applicants, Phillipus Kloppers, Deon Martin, Frederick Badenhorst, Marius Visser, Andre Visser, Gerhardus Diedericks, Carel Meiring and Petrus Matthews.

He said Matthews stole radio cassettes and a set of tools after killing Teboho Makhuza, Theo More, Thembani Nkompone and Petrus Mothupi execution-style at the roadblock in December 1993.

Clad in AWB uniform, he said his fellow commanders consumed alcohol before manning the roadblock. On their way to the roadblock they assaulted blacks coming from a plot.

They stopped vehicles with black occupants under the pretext that they were traffic officers. They ordered the occupants out of the cars and when those from the Cressida refused, the commander, Kloppers, shattered the windscreen of the car with a baton.

"They were ordered to sit at the embankment of the road and Martin asked them which political organisations they belonged to. I never heard them answering that they were ANC/SACP alliance despite Kloppers hitting them with a baton. Then Visser said I must prepare to shoot and Martin started shooting and everybody started shooting," he said.

After the shots, Van der Schyff said someone shouted that there was a vehicle approaching and they fled. They met at Badenhorst's home where Kloppers told him to fetch a plastic packet with an ear to be shown to General Japie Oelofse to prove they had indeed obeyed his orders.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 11 1998 - SAPA

PAC LEADER REACHES OUT TO FAMILIES OF ST JAMES MASSACRE VICTIMS

Pan Africanist Congress president Stanley Mogoba on Thursday welcomed the granting of amnesty to three of his party's former operatives who took part in the St James Church attack, but also reached out to the families of the 11 victims of the 1993 massacre.

Earlier on Thursday, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced that amnesty was granted to Gcinikhaya Makoma, Bassie Mzukisi Mkhumbuzi and Tobela Mlambisi on 11 counts of murder, 58 counts of attempted murder and the unlawful possession of arms and ammunition.

"We are, at last, happy to see that the amnesty committee is releasing our cadres who have languished in prison for politically motivated activity," Mogoba said in a statement.

Last week three PAC cadres were granted amnesty for an attack on a disco in Newcastle in which a woman was killed.

Mogoba said the PAC rejoiced with the families of jailed PAC operatives, who were beginning to wonder if their children would ever be released from prison.

However, "in our joy, we do not forget the families of those who have been victims of our operations", he said.

"We acknowledge them and join them in our commitment to working for a South Africa that is free of violence and truly democratic."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NCOP June 11 1998 - SAPA

NCOP APPROVES BILL TO EXTEND TRC'S LIFE

Legislation to extend the life of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was approved in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday, with the dissent of the National Party, Freedom Front, and Inkatha Freedom Party.

Once the committee's work is complete, President Nelson Mandela will reconvene the commission by proclamation so it can complete its final report.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The NCOP also approved the National Prosecuting Authority Bill, which creates a single national prosecuting authority, headed by a National Director of Public Prosecutions who will be appointed by the president.

The national director will also have the right to initiate or stop prosecutions.

Among other things, the measure seperates the salaries of prosecutors from the rest of the civil service.

The bill, which was approved in the National Assembly on Tuesday, was again opposed by the NP, Democratic Party, IFP, and FF in the NCOP.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 12 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S COURT CASE SET TO RESUME

Former state president PW Botha's court case for flouting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena will resume in the George Regional Court on Monday after a week-long adjournment.

Bruce Morrison, the prosecutor in the case, on Friday told Sapa he planned to call one more witness - the executive secretary of the TRC's amnesty committee, Martin Coetzee - who would be asked about the number of security force members who had applied for amnesty.

Botha's advocate, Lappe Laubscher, suggested earlier this month that human rights violations could have been carried out by a small clandestine force within the army and police, an argument rejected by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Morrison, who is the Western Cape deputy attorney-general, estimated he would need between two and three hours to make closing arguments, but this depended on what tactics Botha's defence used.

Presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju said it was hard to predict how long the case would take to wrap up, although he was almost certain it would be before the end of next month.

He said he would like to pass judgement as soon as possible, but much would depend on developments in court on Monday.

When the case was adjourned on June 5, Tutu made an impassioned plea to Botha to apologise for the suffering his government's policies had caused.

Botha's lawyer, Ernst Penzhorn, said his client would respond in due course, but to date this has not happened.

The court case follows Botha's refusal to adhere to a TRC subpoena to testify at a hearing on the State Security Council (SSC), which he chaired from 1978 to 1989. If convicted he faces a fine of up to R20,000 or a jail sentence of up to two years.

There is no guarantee that the conclusion of the court case will mean the end of the legal battle between Botha and the TRC.

The loser could well appeal against Lugaju's decision, and the TRC may still want Botha to testify at the amnesty hearing of his former police minister Adriaan Vlok.

In his amnesty application for the 1988 bombing of Khotso House, headquarters of the South African Council of Churches, Vlok apparently said Botha gave the orders for the attack.

The 82-year-old Botha has vowed never to co-operate with the TRC, which he has described as a circus.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 12 - SAPA

TWO AWB BOMBERS RECEIVE AMNESTY

Two Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) members who bombed union offices and a school in Pretoria in 1991 were granted amnesty, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on Friday.

Petrus Jacobus Judeel and Andries Stefanus Kriel took part in the bombing of the Hillview High School in July 1991 and Cosatu House in Pretoria in December 1991, it said in a statement.

They also received amnesty for bombing post offices in Krugersdorp and Verwoerdburg in January 1992, and for stealing explosives from Rustenburg Platinum Mine in 1991.

The TRC's amnesty committee granted them amnesty without requiring them to appear at a public hearing, the statement said

In terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, amnesty applicants not involved in killing, abduction, torture or severe ill-treatment, can have their application decided in chambers.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 12 - SAPA

TRC ORDERS WOUTER BASSON TO TESTIFY ON GERM WARFARE PROGRAMME

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission ruled on Friday that former SADF chemical weapons expert Dr Wouter Basson must testify before its inquiry into the apartheid government's chemical and biological weapons programme.

The TRC dismissed an application by Jaap Cilliers, the lawyer appearing for Basson and the former managing director of the Delta G front company, Dr Phillip Myburgh, that his clients be exempted from testifying.

Cilliers indicated that he intended taking the matter to the High Court for a review, and applied for the hearing to be adjourned until then.

The TRC ruled there was no prospect of the High Court over-ruling its decision and the application for the adjournment was turned down.

Denzil Potgieter said on behalf of the TRC panel presiding at the hearing that the decision to call Basson and Myburgh to testify was taken on the basis that any potential prejudice they might suffer was covered by safeguards in the legislation governing the functioning of the TRC.

Potgieter said the aim of the TRC was to establish the biggest possible picture of what happened in the past and Basson and Myburgh's evidence would be crucial for this purpose.

Basson is facing 10 charges ranging from instigation to murder to the production and possession of large quantities of the drugs Mandrax and Ecstasy. The charges pending against Myburgh have not been revealed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 12 - SAPA

WOUTER BASSON WILL HAVE TO TESTIFY BEFORE TRC

A key figure in the former government's chemical and biological weapons programme, Dr Wouter Basson, will be called to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's inquiry into the programme.

The TRC has insisted that Basson testify on the grounds that it needs to obtain the biggest possible picture of what occurred during the apartheid years.

Basson and the former managing director of the SA Defence Force's Delta G front company, Dr Phillip Myburgh, were reluctant to testify on the grounds that it would prejudice their forthcoming trial in which they face an array of charges.

Jaap Cilliers, who is representing Basson and Myburgh, has indicated that he intends taking the matter to the High Court for a review of the ruling forcing his clients to testify before the TRC.

TRC panel member Denzil Potgieter said the decision to call on Basson and Myburgh to testify was taken on the basis that any potential prejudice they might suffer was covered by safeguards in the legislation governing the functioning of the TRC.

Potgieter said the aim of the TRC was to establish the biggest possible picture of what happened in the past and Basson and Myburgh's evidence was crucial for this purpose.

Basson faces ten charges ranging from instigation to murder to the production and possession of large quantities of the drugs Mandrax and ecstasy. The charges pending against Myburgh have not been revealed.

On Friday the former surgeon-general of the SADF, Dr Niel Knobel, told the hearing that the programme's aim was to provide a defence capacity for possible chemical and biological weapons attacks.

He conceded that it was possible that the programme was abused for sinister purposes without his knowledge.

He said the production of poisons that were introduced into beer, whiskey and cigarettes was suspicious and could be the result of abuse of the programme. Knobel admitted the products could be classified as murder weapons.

Knobel said he first became aware of some of the projects being undertaken by the SADF front companies Roodeplaat Research Laboratories and Delta G after a demache (diplomatic intervention) by the United States and Britain, who expressed concern about the existence of chemical and biological weapons in the country.

Knobel said the US and Britain were not concerned about the production of the weapons, but that they would fall into the hands of the African National Congress when it assumed power in South Africa.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 13 1998 — Sapa

PAC WON'T ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANONYMOUS TRC APPLICATIONS

The Pan Africanist Congress on Saturday said it would not take responsibility for applicants who applied anonymously to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty, SABC TV News reported.

PAC president Dr Stanley Mogoba told supporters at an election meeting at Winterveld near Pretoria that there was no way of knowing if the applicants, who used pseudonyms, existed or if they were fictitious and created to do the party harm.

Mogoba was responding to a statement earlier this week by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that the TRC had received 130 anonymous applications for amnesty from former Apla members.

Tutu said the applicants had not specified how they had violated human rights during the struggle against apartheid.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 13 1998 - SAPA

KEY TO CHEMICAL WARFARE DATA HANDED OVER TO MBEKI: DE KLERK

Former South African president FW de Klerk on Saturday said research data produced in South Africa on secret chemical and biological weapons was safe behind lock and key, according to the Sunday newspaper Rapport.

De Klerk was responding to enquiries about chemical weapons allegedly made during the reign of the previous government.

He said the information was kept in a safe for which two keys existed. Both keys were needed to open the safe.

The one key was in the possession of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, to the best of his knowledge, and the other in the hands of a senior defence force officer. When he stepped down as state president in 1994, he gave the one key to Mbeki, De Klerk was quoted as saying.

De Klerk told Rapport that he had heard of the research into chemical warfare for the first time in March 1994, a few weeks before the country's democratic elections.

"It had to do with chemical warfare and not the poisoning of individuals," he was quoted as saying. "I was given the assurance that the research had been stopped for some time and that all the research was behind lock and key to protect its confidentiality.

"I was further assured that the research was aimed at enabling the defence force to protect the country against chemical warfare and that the aim was not to use aggressive chemical warfare against other countries."

De Klerk said he had ensured that President Nelson Mandela was provided with the same information.

Thereafter Mandela, Mbeki, Defence Minister Joe Modise, Justice Minister Dullah Omar and himself were briefed on more than one occasion as to how the matter was being handled as it had international dimensions, Rapport quoted De Klerk as saying.

When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings on chemical and biological warfare opened in Cape Town on Monday, the government applied for the evidence to be heard in camera. However, this was rejected by the TRC.

The TRC heard allegations of a massive government-directed research programme, including the manufacture of poisoned gadgets, the search for a drug to make black women infertile and the manufacture of illegal drugs aimed at breaking down resistance to the then government.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 14 1998 - SAPA

SUPPORT SLOW IN COMING FOR PW BOTHA'S LEGAL FEES

PW Botha's supporters are not having much luck in their efforts to raise money for the former state president's legal fees, incurred in his court battle with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Lawyers' bills in Botha's trial for disobeying a TRC supoena, which resumes in the George Regional Court on Monday, could run into hundreds of thousands of rands.

Greyling Wentzel, who served as agriculture minister in Botha's Cabinet and is heading the fund-raising campaign, says it has been "not very sucessful".

He and Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen are the only ones who have confirmed they will contribute thus far.

"I have got a lot of promises (for contributions)," Wentzel told Sapa. These amounted to between R10,000 and R12000.

Wentzel admitted he had not tried as hard as he could have in raising the money, saying he had been very busy and that he planned to step up his efforts.

Viljoen confirmed he was making a contribution.

A source close to the fund-raising campaign, however, said support for the 82-year-old Botha had all but dried up after reports of his romantic involvement with women far younger than himself.

Recent revelations before the TRC about the apartheid government's chemical weapons programme had also damaged his image, they said.

Monday will be the 11th day Botha will be appearing in court, and presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju said it may be necessary to set an additional two or three days aside for the trial.

A recent Mail and Guardian report said Botha's senior counsel, Lappe Laubscher, had not been prepared to represent Botha before the TRC for less than R600 an hour and R6000 a day - a potential R10800 for an eight-hour day. His junior counsel, Piet de Jager, demanded R400 an hour and R4000 a day, and his attorney, Ernst Penzhorn, R450 an hour and R4500 a day.

If Botha is convicted of contravening the National Unity and Reconciliation Act, he faces a maximum fine of R20,000 or up to two years in jail, although the latter sentence is considered unlikely given his age.

Millionaire businessman Boet Troskie, a friend of Botha's for more than 30 years, may come to his rescue.

Earlier this month Troskie said he had not been approached for financial assistance, but would consider rendering it if asked.

Botha could probably also foot the bill easily himself with his generous state pension.

He recently put his Wilderness home on the market for R2,2 million, but there were no takers. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 14 1998 - SAPA

MEYER MUST COME CLEAN ON CHEMICAL WEAPONS: SAYS ANC

The African National Congress on Sunday called on United Democratic Movement co-leader Roelf Meyer to come clean on his knowledge regarding the use of chemical weapons by the former apratheid regime.

ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said revelations at last week's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing into the use of chemical weapons against anti-apartheid activist and neighbouring states by have put the spotlight on Meyer, a former deputy defence minister under the Nationalist Party.

"It is instructive to note that during his tesimony to the TRC, Meyer did not come clean on his knowledge or otherwise regarding the use of chemical weapons by the apartheid regime in their offensive against the broad liberation movement.

"In this regard Meyer has an obligation in the interests of reconciliation to make a full disclosure of his knowledge of these heinous activities.

"He will only have himself to blame if a perception were to develop that he may have misled the TRC," Mamoepa said.

He called on Meyer to approach the TRC and lay "bare the truth regaring the chain of command involved the conceptialisation and implementatoion of the these schemes".

"We maintain that if there was a project that typified the genocidal programme of the apartheid regime this is it."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 15 - SAPA

PROSECUTION CALLS FINAL WITNESS IN PW BOTHA COURT CASE

Former state president PW Botha's trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission resumed in the George Regional Court on Monday morning with state prosecutor Bruce Morrison calling his final witness to the stand.

Martin Coetzee, executive secretary of the TRC's amnesty committee, testified that of the 7060 amnesty applications received by the TRC, 346 were submitted by people who claimed to be members or former members of the security forces.

Their amnesty applications related to 2500 incidents of gross human rights violations, he said.

He could not say what ranks the amnesty applicants held or where they were based, saying this information was not captured on the TRC's database.

Botha, who wore a charcoal pinstripe suit and maroon jersey, arrived alone at the court where he was met by his daughter, Elanza Maritz.

Botha's attorney Lappe Laubscher said the 346 amnesty applicants represented a minute percentage of the total security forces.

He also questioned the accuracy of the view that there was widespread misinterpretation of the words "eliminate" and "neutralise" among former security force members in their handling of perceived enemies of the state.

Laubscher said it seemed the TRC had acted in bad faith by not notifying Botha about when he was to be implicated in human rights violation hearings.

The court case stems from Botha's refusal to appear at a TRC hearing on the State Security Council, which he chaired while he was head of state.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 15 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S COURT CASE DRAWS TO A CLOSE

Former state president PW Botha had no legal right to ignore a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena or to refuse to attend a TRC hearing, state proscutor Bruce Morrison said on Monday.

He was presenting closing argument in the George Regional Court where Botha is on trial for snubbing the TRC.

In his 42-page heads of argument, Morrison argued that Botha, 82, had "no sufficient cause - either in the form of a legal excuse or any factor making it `humanly intolerable' for him to testify" before the TRC.

Any objections Botha had to being subpoenaed to appear before a TRC hearing on the former State Security Council, which he chaired, should have been raised with the TRC itself, said Morrison, who is the Western Cape deputy attorney- general.

Alternatively he could have applied to the High Court to set aside the subpoena or to review the TRC's actions.

"He has deliberately done neither," Morrison said.

Any argument that the subpoena was procedurally incorrect was without substance, Morrison said.

"Subpoenas cannot simply be flouted; they must be set aside by a court on review."

Morrison refuted argument by Botha's defence that the TRC's mandate would have legally expired by the time he was to appear at a hearing on December 19 last year.

The TRC's life officially expired on December 14, but legislation extending its mandate was promulgated on December 10, five days after Botha was summoned.

Morrison argued there were two administrative acts - one to subpoena Botha and one to hear his evidence and both were provided for within the life of the commission.

The transitional provisions of the TRC's enabling legislation empowered it to summon Botha, he said.

Morrison also said the argument that the TRC never took a valid decision to subpoena Botha was without merit. He said all the necessary legal requirements were met.

Botha's claim that he had struck an agreement with TRC chairman Archbishop Demond Tutu that he would not have to testify were also invalid, Morrison said.

Such claims were in conflict with Tutu's testimony and Botha had failed to give any contrary evidence. It was also improbable that such an agreement existed, Morrison said. If it had, it would have immediately been raised as grounds for Botha not appearing in August 1997, rather than other reasons which were used, such as ill health.

"It would be in conflict with the TRC's approach to all other witnesses. No-one has been given such a blanket amnesty to oral questioning." Morrison also argued that Botha's lawyers had failed to prove the commission was biased, saying it had treated him with unfailing courtesy.

The only witness to be called on Monday was Martin Coetzee, executive secretary of the TRC's amnesty committee.

Coetzee testified that of the 7060 amnesty applications received by the TRC, 346 were submitted by people who claimed to be members or former members of the security forces.

Their amnesty applications related to 2500 incidents of gross human rights violations, he said.

By comparison 702 people from African National Congress structures had applied for amnesty.

Botha's attorney Lappe Laubscher said the 346 amnesty applicants represented a minute percentage of the total security forces.

Botha arrived at the court alone on Monday morning wearing a charcoal pinstripe suit and maroon jersey. He was met by his daughter, Elanza Maritz.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 15 - SAPA

PW "ASTONISHED" AT TUTU'S APOLOGY CALL

PW Botha was astonished that Archbishop Desmond Tutu's had called on him to apologise for the pain his government's policies had caused without even reading his submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the former state president's lawyer said on Monday.

"He (Botha) will not reply to it (the call to apologise) at this stage and he regards it as premature," Ernst Penzhorn told reporters outside the George Regional Court, where Botha is on trial for ignoring a TRC subpoena.

In his written submission, Botha tried to put the events of the past into perspective, Penzhorn said. He was not aware of anything he had to apologise for.

Tutu, chairman of the TRC, made the impassioned plea for Botha to apologise on June 5, after testifying in the trial.

Penzhorn said the costs of the trial, expected to run into thousands of rand, would be born by Botha, since the state had withdrawn his legal aid. Penzhorn was aware of efforts by Botha's supporters to raise funds for his legal fees, but said he was not involved in the campaign.

Asked how Botha felt about calls by former police hitsquad commander Eugene de Kock to ensure that former agents of his government imprisoned in Zimbabwe were brought home, Penzhorn said his client was not in a position to act.

The only people who could possibly do anything about De Kock's request, made while he was testifying in the trial, were President Nelson Mandela or Defence Minister Joe Modise.

The trial continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 15 - SAPA

GOVERNMENT SAYS CHEMICAL AND GERM WEAPONS DESTROYED

South Africa's chemical and biological weapons programme has been terminated and all material which could have been used for offensive purposes destroyed, the government said on Monday.

South African Government Communications Information Services spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe in a statement said material produced under the programme had been destroyed in co-operation with countries that had the necessary expertise and in terms of international conventions.

The government was responding to last week's revelations at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings into the chemical and biological weapons programme initiated during the apartheid years.

Netshitenzhe said the South African government practised a foreign policy based on "friendly, humane and peaceful engagement" with other nations and had no interest in developing weapons of mass destruction.

"The government is also committed to ensuring that the knowledge and expertise gathered in this area should, under no circumstances, become available to any other country, individual or companies," he said.

Netshitenzhe said the government had approached the TRC during the hearings last week to ensure they were not conducted in a way that led to any proliferation, accidental or otherwise, of chemical and biological weapons.

"We are complying with the decision of the TRC on this matter, and shall continue monitoring the hearings to ensure that this principle is not violated," he said.

The government initially applied to have the hearings heard behind closed doors, but this request was turned down by the TRC. The government then appointed a legal representative to be present during the proceedings to ensure that no proliferation took place.

"We wish to assure the nation and the international community that the information on the country's CBW defensive capacity is, as allowed by the international treaties, safely kept under lock and key. The transfer of the keys from the previous government and its agencies has taken place," he said.

During last week's TRC hearings, evidence emerged of the development of an array of toxic substances that could have been used in offensive weapons. These included devices that appeared to have been designed to dispense deadly poisons as a means of carrying out assassinations.

There was also evidence of the generation of diseases such as cholera and anthrax and the manufacture of large quantities of illegal drugs such as Mandrax and ecstasy.

Netshitenzhe said the government was fully supportive of the hearings by the TRC to determine the extent to which the offensive weapons were used in South Africa and abroad. He said the government was outraged by the revelations and was interested in the answers to the questions they had raised.

The TRC hearings are to continue in Cape Town on Thursday this week when the former head of the SA Defence Force's special operations unit and mastermind behind the chemical weapons programme, Dr Wouter Basson, is expected to testify. Basson faces ten criminal charges, including instigation to murder, assault with intent to do serious harm and the manufacture and possession of Mandrax and ecstasy.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE June 15 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S TRIAL ADJOURNED UNTIL AUGUST 17

Former state president PW Botha's trial for snubbing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was on Monday adjourned until August 17 in the George Regional Court.

Judgment is likely to be given the following day.

On Monday state prosecutor Bruce Morrison, the Western Cape deputy attorney-general, concluded his case.

Botha's lawyers began presenting their closing arguments, calling for all charges against the former state president to be dropped. They will need a few more hours to conclude their defence.

In their 75-page heads of argument, Botha's advocates Lappe Laubcher and Piet de Jager reiterated their contention that the subpoena demanding Botha's appearance at a TRC hearing was flawed and that the commission acted in bad faith towards him.

They said neither the TRC nor its amnesty committee took a valid decision to serve the subpoena on Botha in terms of the TRC's enabling legislation.

The subpoena was therefore "fatally defective and is therefore void of force and effect," the said, adding that on this basis alone the charges, of either defying the subpoena or hindering the commission in its work, should be dismissed.

Laubscher and De Jager also maintained there was a clear agreement between Tutu and Botha stating that the former state president would not have to testify before the TRC.

"There is no obligation on the commission to hold public hearings. Archbishop Tutu's protestations that the commission was not empowered to enter into agreements as alleged with the accused is clearly not correct."

They argued at length that the TRC was prejudiced against Botha, the former State Security Council and the armed forces.

They also claimed the TRC never seriously intended Botha to appear at a hearing on the SSC in Cape Town on December 19 last year. For Botha to have done so would have been against his doctors' advice not to travel outside of George within three months of having a hip replacement operation.

The TRC had also expressed little interest in Botha's written submission to it, Laubscher and De Jager said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 15 - SAPA

MEYER MUST COME CLEAN, SAYS SACP

United Democratic Movement co-leader Roelf Meyer and all other former National Party Cabinet ministers should come clean on their involvement in apartheid's killing machinery, acting national chairman of the South African Communist Party Dr Blade Nzimande said on Monday.

The SACP was not convinced by Meyer's denial that he knew of chemical weapons used by the regime against black people, Nzimande said in a statement.

"We firmly believe that the NP regime and its ministers were well aware that the apartheid government had perfected the art of killing black people openly and by stealth," he said.

"This is further underlined by the fact that the UDM is building itself, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, by using well- known political and criminal thugs, such as the four who were recently jailed by the Pietermaritzburg High Court for an average of 30 years each."

The SACP called on Meyer, all other former NP ministers, and the party's current Members of Parliament, to come out with the truth.

Scientists told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last week that they had worked on a range of sinister defence force projects to poison or otherwise assassinate anti-apartheid figures, manufacture illicit drugs, and spread disease in neighbouring states.

Meyer said at the weekend that he had been deputy defence minister in 1991 and 1992, long after the chemical programmes had been terminated.

He had been unaware of the details of chemical weaponry operations, and at no time gave instructions for such programmes to be carried out.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 16 1998 - SAPA

NP LEADER VAN SCHALKWYK CALLS ON MINISTERS TO BE ACCOUNTABLE

Former National Party ministers were trying to hide behind each other when they were confronted with the evils of apartheid, NP leader Martinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday.

Addressing a Youth Day meeting in Cape Town, he said everyone was filled with revulsion at the allegations that emerged from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings last week in Cape Town on chemical warfare and drug smuggling.

"Something is lacking in this country and our young people must bring it back. That is the principle of accountability in government ... ministers must be accountable.

"South Africans have seen in the past week how ministers from the former governments have all tried to shift blame to other people."

It was time ministers from the former and the present government accepted responsibility for what happened in their departments, he said.

"If a person's name is Botha or Bengu, Meyer or Mufamadi, the principle is the same ... you must be accountable to the people who entrusted you with that responsibility.

"We in South Africa are finding a strange phenomenon, that some of the ministers of the former government are hiding behind each other, and ministers of the present government are trying to hide behind apartheid. We need politicians who can stand up and take responsibility," Van Schalkwyk said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 16 1998 - SAPA

AWB MEN TO SEEK AMNESTY FOR 1994 BOMBING SPREE

Twelve Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging applicants seeking amnesty for a bombing campaign aimed at derailing the 1994 elections are to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Boksburg from Wednesday to June 26.

The TRC said in a news release on Tuesday that the applicants engaged in a three-day bombing spree, killing 21 people and injuring 46 on the East Rand, West Rand, Pretoria and Johannesburg.

They applied for amnesty for detonating bombs which killed and maimed civilians.

In their applications they said the AWB, the Conservative Party and the Afrikaner Volksfront met in Ventersdorp and other venues in the Western Transvaal early in 1994 to discuss where a future Volkstaat would be established and to prepare for war, the TRC statement said.

After these meetings, the AWB generals, and General Chris van den Heever in particular, gave commandos instructions to prepare for war.

Van den Heever informed members that the AWB would not be ruled by an ANC-SACP alliance.

The applicants are Nicholas Barnard, Abraham Myburgh, Etienne le Roux, Petrus Steyn, Jan de Wet, Gerhardus Fourie, Johannes Venter, Jacobus Nel, Abraham Fourie, Jan du Plessis, Johannes Olivier and Johannes Vlok.

The applicants responsible for the Bree Street car bomb on Sunday April 24, which killed seven people and injured 13, would be giving testimony from Wednesday to Friday, the TRC said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association KOMATIPOORT June 16 1998 - SAPA

PARTS OF MACHEL'S PLANE WRECK GIVEN TO SA FARMERS AS GIFTS

South African police officers who first investigated the plane crash that killed Mozambican president Samora Machel gave parts of the wreckage to local farmers to evade evidence, investigators said this week.

African Eye News Service on Tuesday reported that earlier this year some parts of the missing wreckage were dumped at a scrapyard near White River in Mpumalanga when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission re-opened the inquiry into the crash.

An investigator, director Agrippa Mabuza, on Tuesday said two wheels belonging to the Tupolev jet which killed Machel and 33 others were found on a farm near Komatipoort.

He said: "The farmer said the investigating officers gave him the wheels as a gift but did not disclose why he deserved such a controversial present."

Another bullet-riddled part of the wreckage was found displayed in the pub at Ngwenya Lodge near Komatipoort.

Spokeswoman for the special TRC team investigating the crash, Christelle Terreblanche, said it was unfortunate the wreckage was not being treated with respect.

She said the commission was concerned with testimony that a false beacon was used to cause the plane to crash on a hill-top at Mbuzini on the South African side of the border on October 19, 1986.

She said nine people, including former super spy Craig Williamson, had testified in camera before the TRC on June 3 and 4 and that more testimony were expected before the end of the month.

"The investigation has reached a very sensitive stage. People like Pik Botha, who was then the minister of foreign affairs, have not yet testified."

Mozambican air traffic controller, Antonio Cardoso de Jesus, was suspended on May 5 this year after allegations that South African agents paid him R1,5 million to tamper with the navigational beacon at Maputo Airport on the night of the crash.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association LONDON June 17 1998 - SAPA-AFP

CONFLICTS BROUGHT APPALLING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN AFRICA- AMNESTY

Armed conflicts and social and political unrest led to appalling human rights violations in Africa last year, Amnesty International said in its annual report published Wednesday.

The human rights watchdog singled out the Great Lakes region, where "mass killings were widespread and the human rights situation continued to worsen," Sierra Leone, where "the rule of law completely collapsed" after a military coup, and Nigeria, where "hundreds of prisoners of conscience, including dozens of journalists and human rights activists, were arrested."

In Rwanda the number of unlawful killings committed by soldiers and armed groups had dramatically escalated, massacres of unarmed civilians were reported from Democratic Republic of Congo, and thousands of civilians were killed in Congo-Brazzaville, often on ethnic grounds, in fighting between the government and the rebels who eventually took power.

Amnesty reported executions and death sentences particularly in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Burundi.

Armed opposition groups also committed serious abuses such as arbitrary killings, torture and the abduction of children. notably by the Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda.

Positive steps noted during the year were the commuting of all death sentences in Mali and Malawi, and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.

"Across Africa, the debate on the tragic impact of female genital mutilation became one of urgency and reflected widespread concern," the report added.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WHITE RIVER, Mpumalanga June 17 1998 - SAPA

NEW CLAIMS ABOUT THE WRECKAGE OF SAMORA MACHEL'S PLANE

Police claims that they have the wreckage of the aeroplane in which Mozambican president Samora Machel died are not true, a Mpumalanga scrapyard owner said on Wednesday.

Greg Duffey, of Duffey's metal scrap yard in White River, told African Eye Witness News that he bought the wreckage of Machel's plane from a mysterious church group in Komatipoort in 1987.

Duffey said he was told at the time that the mangled Russian Tupolev was Machel's. He recycled it at his scrapyard in White River.

"It was definitely Machel's plane. I still have a copy of the cheque I used to pay this strange Eljon church for the wreckage and am convinced that the wreckage and engine parts which the police say are Machel's are fake."

Duffey said the wreckage he bought included the plane's engines and fuselage. The tail section was missing.

"I chopped it all up and recycled it. I was therefore very surprised when I saw a Tonga police officer on TV recently claiming that they had the plane's wreckage at their police station. It has to be fake."

Ngwenya Lodge owner Dave Fourie said he had the plane's tail section, with a Mozambican state crest, displayed as a trophy in his bar, and was prepared to sell it for R250000.

"The tail is my property. It's been mine for a long time now and the only way anyone is going to get it is if they pay for it."

He said he found the tail section on the game farm when he bought it in 1989.

He said shotgun holes in the tail section were put there by an employee who used it for target practice.

Tonga police station commander Captain Andrew Mtiwane said he had no way of verifying whether or not the wreckage at his police station was from Machel's plane.

"The problem is that the plane wreckage was originally taken to Komatipoort after the accident and stored there until it was brought here on February 20, 1989. That's two years after the accident and we have no idea what happened in the interim."

Mpumalanga special investigator Director Agrippa Mabuza said two wheels from the Tupolev were found on a farm in the Komatipoort area. The farmer told investigators that the parts were given to him by South African police officers who investigated the Machel crash in 1986.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has reopened the investigation following claims that agents of the previous government lured Machel's aeroplane off course with a decoy signal.

TRC investigator Christelle Terreblanche could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, but said on Tuesday that the wreckage was not central to her investigation. "We're trying to establish whether South African forces used a decoy beacon to lure Machel's plane away from Maputo airport and into the hillside at Mbuzini, near Komatipoort," she said.

"While we'd obviously try to convince people with pieces of the plane to return them for a monument, this isn't the aim of what I'm doing."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ROME June 17 1998 - SAPA-AP

MANDELA ACKNOWLEDGES APARTHEID CRIMINALS MAY GO UNPUNISHED

South African leader Nelson Mandela acknowledged Wednesday that his country's drive to investigate human rights abuses during the apartheid era may leave the "big shots" untouched.

But he said that perpetrators for whom strong evidence exists of serious violent crimes with "no justifications" will not receive amnesty.

"Where there is evidence of a criminal act being committed, action is being taken," Mandela told reporters during a visit to Italy.

"But you can't act against someone unless there is clear evidence. ... It is the foot soldiers who are now in danger of being arrested," he said.

"The big shots themselves who actually authorized these (criminal) actions - there is very little evidence to convict them of criminal offenses which have been committed."

Mandela's government set up a body, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to investigate apartheid's atrocities. It can grant amnesty to those who confess fully, though it does not have the power to file charges.

The commission's work is considered vital to the process of reconciling the hatreds bred by the apartheid regime's system of racial separation. Some whites believe the commission is biased in favor of blacks; some blacks say apartheid's powerful figures, goverment officials and generals, are escaping scrutiny.

"The task of nation-building and reconciliation cannot be achieved overnight," Mandela said. "We have made tremendous progress."

Nevertheless, "patterns of thought which have been there for more than three centuries can't be changed in four years," he said.

The South African president said he was optimistic about the future of Africa and had "confidence" in its leaders.

He said Laurent Kabila, who assumed power last year in what is now called the Republic of Congo, has "made very serious efforts to democratize his country."

The United Nations recently withdrew a team of investigators from Congo after accusing Kabila of blocking an inquiry into alleged massacres during the civil war that brought him to power.

The South African leader came to Italy on a state visit after visiting the European Union summit in Cardiff, Wales, where he lobbied for a long-sought free trade agreement with the union. Mandela's aides said they expected it to come through in August.

A meeting with Pope John Paul II was planned for Thursday.

But with Mandela's departure from office after next year's elections, the trip to Cardiff and Rome also was something of a farewell to European leaders. When asked what he would do after leaving the presidency, he smiled and threw up his hands. "Oh look, I'll be unemployed. I'm going to stand on the roadside and announce, `Help me, I'm unemployed!' "

Mandela then offered he'd be available to work for any "relevant structures" on the continent.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 17 1998 - SAPA

AWB BOMBER QUIZZED ABOUT ORDERS FOR BOMBING CAMPAIGN

Legal representatives on Wednesday repeatedly questioned an Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging amnesty applicant about the origin of orders to launch a bombing campaign on the eve of the 1994 elections.

Former Ystergarde member Etienne le Roux is serving a 29-year sentence for his part in the blasts at Bree Street in Johannesburg, in Germiston, and at Johannesburg International airport that claimed a total of 17 lives.

AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche did not attend the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Boksburg on Wednesday, but he is expected to submit an affidavit to the committee explaining his position.

Le Roux told the committee that a Mr Koekemoer, a police informant and subsequent state witness, played a leading role in manufacturing the three bombs at the AWB's Northwest Province rural bases in 1994.

Counsel for a number of the 10 AWB applicants, Harry Prinsloo, said he had asked the TRC and the police for the police file on Koekemoer but had not received it yet. He would issue a subpoena if necessary to obtain the file.

Tight security marked the hearing in the Boksburg city council banquet hall. A small group of rightwing supporters including parolled Wit Wolf leader Barend Strydom and relatives of blast victims followed the proceedings.

Le Roux said he had concluded that the AWB headquarters ordered the bombings. He said he carried them out on behalf of the AWB in support of the organisation's political struggle against the government of the day and the African National Congress.

His motive had been to cause a political uprising that would torpedo the 1994 elections.

In a surprise development, two applicants of an original 12, "Cliffie" Barnard and Abraham Myburgh, announced on Wednesday that they would not pursue their applications. The TRC was being used to humiliate the Boerevolk and there was no guarantee of amnesty, they said in a statement.

Barnard told the TRC in his written application that the secretary of the AWB's general staff, "General" Nico Prinsloo, had, after a meeting of the leaders of the AWB, the Volksfront and the Conservative Party, instructed him at the AWB's offices in April 1994 to "build bombs and that the first bomb must explode in Johannesburg on Sunday April 24, 1994".

He obtained the help of Koekemoer, Le Roux, Barnard, Myburgh and others to accomplish this task.

AWB members were told at the time that the SA Defence Force would supply Ratel armoured vehicles, tanks, and 40,000 men to protect the then Western Transvaal.

Le Roux told the committee that he, Barnard, Myburgh, Koekemoer, and others prepared the bombs on North West Province farms before detonating them in the Johannesburg area. Le Roux acted as a pilot driver because he knew Johannesburg.

Cross-examined by some of the 10 legal representatives at the hearing, Le Roux said he had not considered race when he chose the locations for the bombs. "If that had been the case we would have planted a bomb in the centre of Soweto." When he said in reply to a question that he did not regret that whites had been killed, the white father of someone killed in one of the blast remarked, "son of a bitch" and left the hall. He and his wife were comforted by TRC representatives outside.

The chairman, Judge Roland Pillay, asked Le Roux: "Why didn't you plant a bomb in the capital, Pretoria?"

Le Roux: "Barnard said it should be Johannesburg. He gave the order."

Pillay: "The order had been to take as few lives as possible, isn't it?"

Le Roux: "Lives should have been taken, but not excessively so."

Le Roux said he decided on Bree Street because the buildings would amplify the effects of the blasts, and it was also a poor area because of escort agencies in the street.

Pillay remarked: "In view of the buildings it was a good area, but the escort agencies made it a bad area. How does this work?"

Le Roux denied that a small grouping working on their own had been responsible for the bombings.

Cross-examination of Le Roux continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA June 17 1998 - SAPA

DE KOCK APPEARS AT TRC AMNESTY HEARING IN UMTATA

Convicted former Vlakplaas security police base commander Eugene de Kock appeared at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing at the Norwood civic centre in Umtata on Wednesday.

De Kock, a former Transkei security policeman, Inspector Lamont Gcininkosi Dandala, and an askari, Mbuso Enoch Shabalala, are applying for amnesty for the death of former University of Transkei student activist Batandwa Ndondo, in September 1985.

De Kock arrived at the hearing in a police armoured vehicle. He spent the day listening to the evidence of Dandala.

The hearing attracted former top Transkei security police such as General Leonard Kawe, General Gordon Nkalitshana and Colonel Mzwandile Booi, all retired.

Also present was the controversial former head of Ciskei military intelligence, Gert Hugo, who served in the homeland during Brigadier Oupa Gqozo's rule.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 18 1998 - SAPA

NP WASTING TAXPAYERS MONEY, SAYS ANC

The National Party was wasting thousands of rand in taxpayers' money and hundreds of hours of government departments' time by asking unnecessary questions in Parliament for petty political gain, the African National Congress said on Thursday.

The 92 questions the NP had asked over two days last week on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission alone had cost the taxpayer almost R50000, ANC MP Andrew Feinstein said in a statement.

The department of justice had to spend R30,000 and the TRC at least R18000 on providing replies.

On how this had been calculated, Feinstein said department of justice staff had to put their normal work aside to deal with the questions, while some had worked overtime over a period of one week.

The same applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Feinstein was reacting to a statement earlier this week by NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk that his party had asked more questions in Parliament during the first six months of the year than all other parties combined.

"It is absolutely outrageous that the NP is boasting about the number of questions it asked during the past session."

It was a fact that the NP followed a general strategy of flooding order papers with questions of which the answers were public knowledge, he said.

"They asked questions for the sake of running up their tally; it had nothing to do with accountability.

"This ludicrous number of questions on the TRC, crammed in at the end of the session, accounted for nearly 10 percent of questions asked by the NP during the first six months."

The NP had used parliamentary questions, in an orchestrated attempt to undermine the work of the TRC, to hide its own shame about its past human rights abuses, Feinstein said.

"What is important is the quality of questions asked, not the quantity.

"Parliamentary questions are a very important tool in a democracy to ensure accountability, but it is a sad day for democracy when people abuse that tool for petty purposes," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA June 18 1998 - SAPA

TRANSKEI POLICE GENERAL IMPLICATED IN COVER-UP OF NDONDO MURDER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing into the murder of 22-year-old University of Transkei student activist Batandwa Ndondo heard on Thursday that police statements made at the time were a blatant cover-up inspired by a top Transkei police general.

This was revealed by Inspector Gcinisiko Dandala, who is seeking amnesty for the killing together with askari Mbuso Tshabalala and Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock.

An askari is a former freedom fighter turned police informant. De Kock was last year jailed in Pretoria's C-Max prison on charges including murder. He used to be a commander at Vlakplaas, the security police base outside Pretoria.

Asked about the glaring differences between his original statement at the time of the 1985 killing and his amnesty application, Dandala said the intention of the original statement was to cover up what had happened.

He said the statement was drawn up with the assistance of his superior, former Transkei security head General Leonard Kawe.

However, council for Kawe said the general would deny speaking to Dandala after the killing.

Kawe would also deny any suggestion that the case was "destroyed" or that there was a "cover-up".

Dandala on Wednesday said that on September 24, 1985, he and three askaris fetched Ndondo from a house in Cala.

He said he identified himself as a police officer to Ndondo while they were travelling in a minibus. Ndondo jumped out of a window in the vehicle and was apprehended by Tshabablala.

After a struggle, he escaped and was chased by Tshabalala who shot at Ndondo.

Tshabalala was to take the stand at noon on Thursday.

De Kock is present at the hearing, where about 50 people are attending Thursday's session.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 18 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO HEAR AMNESTY APPLICATION OF "NECKLACE" KILLER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will next week hear seven amnesty applications in Port Elizabeth relating to a "necklacing" and murders committed in the name of the liberation struggle.

TRC spokesman Vuyani Green said African National Congress supporter Mzikayise Potye of Port Elizabeth is applying for amnesty for killing Monde Nondumo, an alleged government spy.

Nondumo was tried by a kangaroo court and "necklaced" - a petrol-doused tyre placed around his neck and set alight, Green said.

Zwelenkosi Mjo and Nxaleko Maqoko, who claim to be ANC supporters, are applying for amnesty for the murder of Joseph Sebatana and the attempted murder of Nota Dyani and Jane Fuzani on January 1, 1986.

The attack on the three victims took place during a search for firearms, Green said.

Three members of the Cradock Youth Association are applying for amnesty for the murder of police reservist Matthew Palvie and his wife on February 6, 1987.

Monwabisi Eric Kundulu, Lollie Kwakwini and Nzimeni Danster say they were pursuing a political objective and thereby strengthening their self-defence unit, Green said.

Peter Mandyoli of Cradock, a member of Cradoya and the ANC, is applying for amnesty for the murder of a farmer from Cradock on May 24, 1986.

He alleges in his application that he was part of a group which received orders to go to the farm to "try to get weapons", Green said.

The hearing will be held at the Centenary Hall in Port Elizabeth from June 22 to 26.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 18 1998 - SAPA

MILLIONS PAID IN BRIBES AND BAD DEALS TO OBTAIN CHEMICAL WEAPONS

The former government paid out millions of rands in bad deals and bribes in an effort to obtain material for chemical and biological weapons, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Cape Town on Thursday.

The TRC inquiry into the apartheid government's chemical and biological weapons (CBO) programme heard that the Dr Wouter Basson, the key figure in the project, was given huge amounts of money to travel abroad in search of weapons and much of it was lost in the payment of bribes and a deal with Croatia that went wrong.

Lieutenant General Niel Knobel, project leader of Operation Jota which was initially called Operation Coast, told the TRC he had authorised the payment of large bribes in United States dollars by Basson.

One of Basson's mission's entailed travelling to Croatia in September 1993 to purchase quantities of the active component of the drug Mandrax which the SA Defence Force required to use as an incapacitant.

Basson submitted to the SADF a claim for US10,000 which he said was required to pay Croatian border guards so he could enter the former Yugoslavian republic.

He paid a further US10,000 to Croation officials in order to secure an appointment with the people who could help him procure the chemicals.

The attempt to close the deal fell through when the agent disappeared before delivery of the substance and large amounts of money were lost.

According to the Auditor-General's report submitted to Parliament, the failure of the deal resulted in the loss of more than R7 million of which only R1,105 million was recovered.

Basson also incurred huge expenses when he ran into trouble while on visit to Switzerland where he was arrested in March 1994. An amount of US36000 had to be paid to a Dr D Chu in order to extricate Basson from his predicament.

Knobel said the amount was made up in legal fees and the covering up of possibly incriminating evidence against Basson. The Swiss police were investigating Basson after finding him in possession of compromising information.

Knobel did not explain the nature of the information Basson was trying to obtain in Switzerland.

Knobel also authorised payments by Basson of bribes to customs officials in African countries including a US12000 payment to a airport security at Ndjamena in Chad in Central Africa.

Asked by TRC's legal officer Hanif Vally why he had authorised the expenses claimed by Basson without question, Knobel replied that Basson had enjoyed the trust of top officials in the SADF and the South African government.

Knobel said he only began to have suspicions about some of Basson's activities later.

Knobel said a major investigation into Basson's actions was launched in 1994 following a diplomatic intervention by the United States and Britain who expressed concern about South Africa's chemical and biological weapons programme. Knobel said he had authorised the destruction of large quantities of drugs by having them dropped into the sea off Agulhas Bank off the Southern Cape Coast. He said the 20 barrels of drugs included Mandrax, Ecstasy and cocaine.

Basson is facing ten charges including instigation and conspiracy to murder and the manufacture and possession of the drugs Ecstasy and Mandrax.

He has been called on by the TRC to testify at its hearings but his lawyers have applied to the High Court to have the TRC's decision overturned on the grounds that it infringed his constitutional right to remain silent.

The hearing has been postponed until July. The exact date has yet to be finalised.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 18 1998 - SAPA

TERRE'BLANCHE TELLS TRC HE ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR AWB BOMBS

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche on Thursday sent an affidavit to the TRC's amnesty committee hearing for AWB bombers, accepting political and moral responsibility for "the acts that have been committed".

Terre'Blanche said in his statement that Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said at Afrikaner Volksfront executive council meetings that if negotiations for a volkstaat failed there should be war.

Terre'Blanche conveyed this to the AWB's officers. "General" Viljoen, assisted by certain "generals", conveyed this stance to the majority of AWB members at meetings countrywide.

"As political head of the AWB I accept political and moral responsibility for the acts that have been committed," Terre'Blanche told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"I also accept that during the tumultuous times before the elections I delivered many public speeches and that AWB members could have interpreted their content as orders."

On Thursday amnesty applicant Abraham Fourie, 46, told the TRC committee, chaired by Judge Ronald Pillay, that his pursuit of the volkstaat ideal led to the collapse of his family life and to financial ruin.

A former Ystergarde commandant, Fourie, a former railways employee who left school aged 15 and in standard seven, had been one of the AWB members who headed lock, stock and barrel to the then Western Transvaal to establish a volkstaat immediately before the elections.

He was appointed as the commandant at a Magaliesburg game reserve from where AWB bombers made their forays.

Fourie said after these bombings, and after a number of senior AWB officers had been arrested, Terre'Blanche told him and other AWB members at their Venterdorp headquarters: "Men, the generals bit the dust. The bliksems (bastards) dropped us. Here's money. Take it for petrol.

"Don't let them catch you, even if you have to shoot your way to freedom."

Fourie, who had given up his job as a Barlows car mechanic after 14 years' service, had no idea where to go.

"I've been at so many places I would not know how to get there again."

He was arrested some months later on a farm near Brits. "I could have enjoyed my retirement with my wife, children and grandchildren. Since my arrest I have lost everything. Now I have to work till I drop, that is, if I could find work.

"I don't have a home anymore. I live with a child."

He was saddened by the bombing deaths, and said he sympathised with the families of the victims.

Fourie had become disillusioned with politics. "They misuse you and then discard you." At the hearing every day, a solitary white couple sit among the black family members of victims.

Sydney Ontong, a compressor fitter, and his wife Theresa lost their son Paul, aged 19, in the 1994 Germiston blast. Paul worked at the Fair and Quick store.

Speaking during a break in the proceedings, Ontong said he hoped the applicants would be denied amnesty. "Another election is coming up and they'll do the same again."

The applicants had shown no sign of remorse, Ontong said. "They are sitting here thinking they are Lord Muck."

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 18 1998 - SAPA

ANC ACCUSES SARFU JUDGE OF NEAR-SABOTAGE

A High Court judge's April decision to order President Nelson Mandela to testify in the Sarfu case had come close to sabotaging the country's democracy and Constitution, the African National Congress said on Thursday.

In a statement issued by its information department, the party repeated calls for a close examination of the role the country's courts were playing to "frustrate transformation" and said judges' belief that they should be exempt from appearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be subjected to national scrutiny.

The ANC was alarmed that Judge William de Villiers had still not given reasons for invalidating Mandela's decision to set up the Browde Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu).

"At the time of the hearing, the majority of the citizens of South Africa believed that the president was called upon to appear in court in order to be subjected to ridicule and mocking," the statement said.

While the ANC had not shared the view then, subsequent developments "have not assisted to disabuse the public of these suspicions".

Mandela had decided to appear in court to provide leadership and example in the crusade to restore the dignity and integrity of the courts and the judicial system.

"The ANC had hoped that if there were people to draw greater inspiration from the actions of the president, (they) were the judges of the South African courts."

Prominent advocates and judges, some of whom now served on the bench, had played a significant part in drafting oppressive legislation or providing legal expertise to ensure the efficiency of the apartheid system.

"The ANC does not believe that Judge De Villiers's failure to deal with the Sarfu case timeously is only as a result of the chronic levels of incompetence which permeated all walks of South African life under apartheid rule, including the bench.

"We are convinced that Judge De Villiers belongs to the class...that internalised the workings of the white domination and is blissfully unaffected by the refreshing changes that are taking place in South Africa."

Judge De Villiers had made it clear that he was not accountable to anyone, the statement said.

Contrary to expectations, the mass media seemed content with the judge's behavior.

"The ANC accuses the media of unwitting connivance in allowing a judge of the High Court to express himself in terms that border on ... sabotage of the founding features of our democratic state and the Constitution," it said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

NELSPRUIT June 18 1998 - SAPA

TRC WILL NOT PROBE THE DESTRUCTION OF MACHEL PLANE WRECKAGE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will not pursue allegations that the wreckage of former Mozambican president Samora Machel's plane, was purposely destroyed or given away by police investigators 12 years ago.

Machel's plane crashed into a hillside at Mbuzini, near Komatipoort in Mpumalanga, in 1986 after allegedly being lured off course by a false navigational beacon set up by apartheid government agents.

TRC investigations head Christelle Terreblanche told African Eye News Service on Thursday that her team had only two weeks left to conclude their investigation and were "racing the clock".

"Our probe is meant to test if there is any substance to allegations that South African's used a decoy beacon and lured Machel's plane to its fate. We've heard the evidence about what happened to the wreckage, but just don't have time to go into it," she said.

"It isn't really central to our investigation and may have to be probed by someone else."

Terreblanche added that Greg Duffey would therefore not be called to testify before the TRC about the allegations. Duffey earlier said he was prepared to give details about the incident at public TRC hearings.

Terreblanche said Ngwenya Lodge owner Dave Fourie would also not be required to testify about how he obtained the bullet-riddled tail section of Machel's plane. The wreckage, with a Mozambican presidential state seal on it, is displayed in the lodge bar.

A game lodge owner near the site was also given portions of the wreckage as a trophy to display in his pub.

A White River scrapyard owner, Duffey, said this week that he bought the fuselage and engines from a Komatipoort church in 1987.

Duffey claimed the wreckage police claimed was from Machel's plane was fake. He produced copies of a cheque he used to buy the wreckage and described how he fetched the artefacts from the Komatipoort police station before recycling them for their metal content.

Mozambique's high commissioner to South Africa, Armando Panguene, confirmed on Thursday that he had personally visited the lodge to verify that the artefact was genuine and had been convinced that it was authentic.

Panguene said he was disappointed that neither he nor any other Mozambican officials were present at the TRC's in- camera hearing about the crash earlier this month.

Terreblanche confirmed that nine people, including former apartheid spy Craig Williamson, had already testified before the TRC but did not say why no Mozambican representatives were present.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 19 1998 - SAPA

AWB COMMANDANT UNSURE WHO WAS THE COLONEL

The sometimes painful cross-examination of former Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging commandant Abie Fourie will continue on Monday when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee resumes its hearing in Boksburg.

Fourie, 46, is one of 10 AWB men applying for amnesty for the organisation's deadly pre-election bombing blitz in 1994.

Fourie has maintained that although he was the bombers' "camp commandant" in North-West province, he had scant knowledge of his colleagues' bomb-making activities.

A balding man in a jacket, jersey and tie, Fourie has come a long way since being member of the AWB's feared, black- clad Ystergarde, having lost his wife and job in pursuit of the Afrikaner volkstaat ideal.

His finger frequently darting to his tongue as he flips the pages of his original statement during cross-examination, he has been at the receiving end of tough questioning from legal representatives for the bombing victims' families.

When Fourie on Friday stated that he was an Afrikaner boer, he was asked: "Are you a vegetable farmer, then?"

Fourie: "No."

Chairman Roland Pillay: "Then where does the `farmer' bit come into play?"

Fourie replied he was a "boer" seeking a volkstaat.

Fourie's testimony revealed an apparent top-heavy rank structure in the AWB, with, according to Fourie, an Ystergarde lieutenant actually being the organisation's lowest rank, equal to that of a troop.

Part of Fourie's uncertainty regarding the source of the bombing orders stemmed from the fact that he was uncertain who actually occupied the post of colonel, the rank between him and Ystergarde leader Brigadier Leon van der Merwe, who was arrested after the bombings.

"No-one knew who was the colonel," Fourie said, "but I thought it was Cliffie Barnard (a confidante of AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche who seldom wore a uniform, and who wore his hair long. Barnard retracted his amnesty application and remains in prison).

Fourie said he had hoped that AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche would attend the hearing, but Terre'Blanche has so far failed to make an appearance.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA June 19 1998 - SAPA

VLAKPLAAS ASKARI CROSS-EXAMINED AT TRC AMNESTY HEARING IN UMTATA

Former Vlakplaas askari Mbuso Shabalala told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing on Friday claims that student activist Batwandwa Ndondo was killed because he refused to become an askari were "far fetched".

Shabalala was under cross-examination at the hearing at the Umtata civic centre into the 1995 killing of Ndondo. He is applying for amnesty along with former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock and Inspector Gcinisiko Dandala. Dandala is now a police inspector.

Shabalala said the intention had not been to kill Ndondo. "There was no such instruction that we kill Ndondo."

He denied earlier evidence by Dandala that he had fired at Ndondo while he was on the ground, then reloaded and continued firing.

Earlier, Shabalala said askaris involved in the killing had had a braai and drinks to celebrate the operation.

Asked by advocate NK Bukuea, who is representing Ndondo's family, whether these celebrations would have taken place if Ndondo had not been killed, Shabalala said: "No, we would not have had a braai if we had not killed the deceased."

The hearing was adjourned until August 24.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 19 1998 - SAPA

TRC CONFIRMS PLANS TO QUESTION LABUSCHAGNE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday confirmed that it had subpoenaed Superintendent Frans "Lappies" Labuschagne to appear before it to give evidence about alleged human rights violations.

Labuschagne was one of a team of South African policemen appointed to assist Mozambican authorities investigate charges against imprisoned foreign affairs official Robert McBride. He was later removed from the case following reports that he was involved in setting McBride up on gun-running charges.

Dumisa Ntsebeza, head of the TRC's investigative unit, said in a statement that Labuschagne had been summoned to an in-camera hearing on June 30 to give evidence relating to alleged human rights violations prior to 1994.

The Mail and Guardian newspaper on Friday reported that Labuschagne had allegedly been implicated in the attempted assassination of several senior African National Congress leaders, including Joe Slovo, Chris Hani and Siphiwe Nyanda, now chief of the South African National Defence Force.

Labuschagne had also been accused of abducting and torturing Nyanda's wife, Sheila, and killing two ANC operatives in Swaziland, the newspaper said.

Ntsebeza said Labuschagne was originally to have appeared before the TRC on June 22, but his lawyer raised some technical objections, including the fact that the subpoena was not served on Labuschagne personally.

Among other things, Labuschagne would be questioned about his relationship with discredited security force operative Vusi Mbatha.

Mbatha is currently being held in a Mozambican jail with McBride, and the Mozambican police apparently want to use him as their chief witness in the case against the foreign affairs official.

Labuschagne has not applied to the TRC for amnesty TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association LONDON June 21 - SAPA-AP

BRITISH NEWSPAPER REPORT: SA AND LIBYA MAKE ARMS-FOR-OIL DEAL

South Africa has concluded a secret 300-million pound (dlrs 495 million) deal to supply Libya with weapons and spare parts in return for cut-price oil, London's Sunday Telegraph reported.

The newspaper said the deal was approved by President Nelson Mandela, straining relations with the United States and raising fears that Libya's Moammar Gadhafi may acquire details of South African chemical and bacteriological weapons built up during apartheid.

Mandela 's spokesman, Parks Mankahlana, said he would know if Mandela had approved such a deal.

"I know nothing about it," Mankahlana told The Associated Press in Johannesburg, adding he believed South Africa imported no oil from Libya, and relied mainly on Iran and, more recently, Saudi Arabia, for supplies.

Mandela's visited Libya twice last October, and has vigorously defended his loyalty to Gadhafi and urged an end to sanctions against Libya. The sanctions were prompted by the United States and Britain.

The pro-conservative Sunday Telegraph said the arms-for-oil deal was negotiated by South African secret service officials. The report, by the newspaper's foreign editor Con Coughlin, gave no date for the deal.

Under the agreement, South Africa will supply spare parts for Libya's aging Mirage jet-fighter and attack helicopters, the newspaper said. South Africa has also "held out the possibility" of supplying Libya with the helicopter it makes, the Rooivalk.

Any such deal would violate U.N. sanctions, imposed to pressure Libya into surrendering two Libyan suspects in the 1988 bombing of a Pan American jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people were killed. Sanctions bar flights to Libya and arms sales to the north African nation.

Mandela has long been defensive about ties with countries that the West regards as sponsoring or encouraging terrorism. In March, during a visit by U.S. President Bill Clinton, he said critics of his ties with Cuba and Libya should "throw themselves into a pool."

The Sunday Telegraph noted that South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard evidence last week that apartheid leaders planned to develop toxins that could single out blacks, and to spread anthrax, AIDS and cholera in black townships.

Gadhafi has confronted the United States over attempts to build a chemical weapons plant outside the capital, Tripoli.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 21 - SAPA

PW BOTHA EXCITED ABOUT WEDDING TO 57-YEAR-OLD LEGAL SECRETARY

Former state president PW Botha, 82, was excited about his upcoming wedding to 57-year-old legal secretary Barbara Robertson, Rapport newspaper said on Sunday.

Botha confirmed in an interview with the Afrikaans newspaper that his wedding would take place this week at his home, Die Anker, in Wilderness in the Eastern Cape, but refused to specify which day.

The newspaper, quoting a member of the Botha family, said the wedding could be held as early as Monday.

The wedding is expected to be an intimate affair, conducted by Rev Hansie Venter of the Dutch Reformed church in the presence of Botha's daughters Rozanne Visagie and Elanza Martiz, Robertson's daughter and son, and a few close friends.

Botha spoke in the interview of his sadness at losing his wife, Elize, just over a year ago. Botha said he hoped he would as happy with his new wife as he had been in his 54-year-marriage.

He was introduced to Robertson by his daughter Rozanne at the book launch of his autobiography "Voice in the Wilderness".

Botha's ex-fiance, blonde hotelier Reinette Te Water Naude, told the Sunday Times: "I wish Mr Botha, his bride and family everything of the best."

Naude, who still wears the emerald and diamond ring Botha gave her, said she had been unfairly blamed for her breakup with Botha. She was accused of having an affair with a handsome Graaff-Reinet policeman.

Naude said she had decided not to follow legal advice to sue him for breach of promise.

"There were many lies about me and I took the blame for many things after our engagement was called off," she said. "All I'm prepared to say, now that the new wedding plans have been reported, is that I think the whole puzzle has fallen into place."

According to the Sunday Times, Botha has retreated from the world because of pressure from his trial for refusing to obey a summons to testify before the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission.

The TRC wants to question Botha about decisions made during his 11 year rule as president of South Africa.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 22 - SAPA

GRACA MACHEL TO TESTIFY AT CLOSED HEARING ABOUT HUSBAND'S DEATH

Graca Machel, the widow of the late Mozambican president Samora Machel, will share her information on the circumstances surrounding her husband's death in 1986 with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at a closed inquiry in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

This follows two days of testimony earlier this month in Cape Town on the crash of the Tupolev at Mbuzini near Komatipoort, TRC investigative head Dumisa Ntsebeza said in a statement.

Thirty-five people died in the crash.

The TRC's investigative unit questioned nine people on their knowledge about the crash, including Craig Williamson, a former military intelligence and security police operative.

Other names were withheld to protect witnesses.

Over the last decade, Machel had made her own inquiries into the death of her husband, and hoped to share this with the panel consisting of chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ntsebeza and commissioners Glenda Wildschut and Dr Fazel Randera.

The panel would also hear testimony from Dr Abdul Minty, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Minty is an expert on the former government's military capability and had done his own investigations into the 1986 plane crash.

The Margo Commission of Inquiry into the crash concluded that it was caused by pilot error.

A former Soviet team, however, concluded that a decoy beacon caused the plane to stray off course before it crashed into the mountains at Mbuzini.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association BOKSBURG June 22 - SAPA

FORMER AWB MAN TELLS TRC OF GERMISTON PRE-ELECTION BOMB

A former Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about a bomb that blew up a Germiston taxi rank in April 1994.

Jan Bastiaan de Wet is one of 12 former AWB members applying for amnesty for a bombing spree on the eve of the April 1994 elections that left 20 people dead and scores injured.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee a pipe bomb was assembled in a trailer at Wildplaas in the Western Transvaal. He drove the vehicle pulling the trailer to the taxi rank.

De Wet said he noticed one of the men in the car holding two pieces of wire, and the man said he would detonate the bomb if they were stopped. De Wet said at that stage they were all willing to die for "God, volk and vaderland" .

The bombers were not stopped and the bomb was detonated at about 10am on April 25, killing 10 people and and injuring eight. The casualties might have been higher because two full minibus taxis left the rank before the bomb was exploded with a three-minute escape period for the AWB men.

De Wet and the other men are also applying for a bomb in Bree Street in downtown Johannesburg on April 25, one at Johannesburg airport, and several smaller blasts in Western Transvaal towns.

De Wet is serving 25 years in Leeuwkop prison for his part in the bombings. He said he was told by rightwing leaders at the time, including AWB leader Eugene Terreblanche, that they had the support of about one million people willing to stage a revolution in support of a Volkstaat. He said he now realised that they were a small group who were misled by their leaders.

The hearing continues in the Boksburg city hall.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 22 - SAPA

PW BOTHA TIES THE KNOT

Former state president PW Botha, 82, on Monday morning married 57-year-old legal secretary Barbara Robertson in a small, informal ceremony at his Wilderness home Die Anker in the southern Cape.

The ceremony, conducted by Rev Hansie Venter of the Dutch Reformed church, began at 10.30am and was attended by about 14 guests. They included Botha's daughters Elanza Maritz and Rozanne Visagie, and his son Rossouw.

Robertson wore a white skirt and jacket, and Botha a dark suit.

"It was a nice, informal wedding - very romantic. I had tears in my eyes," said one of the guests, who did not want to be named.

Apparently the couple plan to go on honeymoon soon.

In an interview published on Sunday in the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, Botha spoke of his sadness at losing his wife, Elize, just over a year ago.

He hoped he would be as happy with his new wife as he had been in his 54-year-marriage.

He was introduced to Robertson by his daughter Rozanne at the launch of his autobiography "Voice in the Wilderness".

Botha is currently on trial for refusing to adhere to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena.

The case is set to resume in the George Regional Court on August 17 and judgement is expected to be given the next day.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association BOKSBURG June 22 - SAPA

APPLICATION MADE FOR WYNAND MALAN TO RECUSE HIMSELF FROM TRC

An application was made in Boksburg on Monday for a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee, Wynand Malan, to recuse himself because of bias in favour one of the amnesty applicants.

The recusal application was made by Andre Landman, appearing for victims of a spate of rightwing bombings before the April 1994 elections. Landman told the committee that during Malan's questioning of former AWB member Jan Bastiaan de Wet it appeared that Malan had already made up his mind about the applicant's case. De Wet and 11 other right-wingers have applied for amnesty for their part in the 1994 bombings.

In the hearing at Boksburg on the East Rand, Landman said he regretted having to make the application for Malan's recusal, but said the committtee member's questioning of De Wet amounted to bias.

"He attempted to put words into his mouth in order to ensure that they came out in favour of the applicant," Landman said.

The application came during De Wet's testimony about the planning and carrying out of the bombing campaign in 1994. When asked who took responsibility for the blasts, De Wet said it was not the AWB but smaller rightwing groups.

Malan asked De Wet whether it was possible that these smaller groupings were affiliated to the AWB, and claimed responsilibity in order to deflect attention away from the umbrella organisation. De Wet agreed that this was possible.

Landman objected, saying he noticed the same line of questioning during the testimony of applicant Petrual Paulus Steyn last week. In terms of amnesty procedure applicants must make full disclosure and prove that their actions were in pursuance of a political objective.

Malan was a former National Party MP who defected and later became a founder member and co-leader of tee adjourned at lunch and is expected to make a decision later on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH June 23 1998 - SAPA

MURDER NOT PEBCO POLICY, TRC HEARING TOLD

The Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (Pebco) never sanctioned the murder of suspected collaborators or askaris, former Pebco secretary-general Mike Ndzotoyi said at a TRC amnesty committee hearing on Tuesday.

Ndzotoyi, who is in the Eastern Cape department of safety and security, was called by lawyer Silas Nkanunu to testify on behalf of former Kwazakhele street committee chairman Mzikayise Potye.

He is seeking amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the kidnapping of alleged askari Monde Nondumo, who was necklaced after appearing before a kangaroo court Potye chaired in Kwazakhele on January 2, 1991.

Nondumo's mother, Lindiwe Nondumo, represented by Mpumelelo Nyoka, is opposing the application.

Ndzotoyi said among those who disappeared during that period were the Pebco Three, union leader Siphiwo Mtimkhulu, Topsy Madaka and African National Congress activists Ponkie Magwaca and Mobbs Gqirana.

- Two former Death Row prisoners described to the amnesty committee how they assaulted a Zulu-speaking informer in a "dark house" and at a river at Whittlesea on New Year's Day in 1986.

The informer, Joseph Sebatana, who was alleged to have been an Inkatha Freedom Party member bused to the Ciskei to assist the Ciskei police, died as a result of the assault.

The two prisoners and former United Democratic Party activists Zwelenkosi Mjo, 41, and Basayi Maqoko, 49, claimed that the aim of assaulting Sebatana and other vigilantes was to dispossess them of firearms they had been given by the police.

They said it was also to punish them for aiding the "enemy" who was bent on crushing the people's resistance and the legitimate war against apartheid.

Mjo and Maqoko confessed to attempting to cover up the murder by approaching Sebatana's wife, Jane Fuzani, and asking her not to implicate them and to tell police she found his body next to the road and did not know his assailants.

They also tried to get an undertaker to take the body without informing the police, but the undertaker insisted on a police report.

- A former Cradock Youth Association member, Peter Mandyoli, 33, told an amnesty committee in New Brighton that he shot and killed a farmer in 1986 because he wanted to disarm farmers and use their weapons for the protection of the people.

Mandyoli mentioned in his testimony that he had been an associate of slain activist Matthew Goniwe. He is applying for amnesty involving a robbery and housebreaking with intent to steal, for which he is serving 14 years imprisonment.

Mandyoli, who has admitted to having shot the farmer, Daniel Cronje, has amended his application to include the murder. The incident took place on May 24, 1986. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 23 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY PROCESS SUCCEEDED IN EXPOSING PREVIOUS REGIME: TUTU

The amnesty process had been effective in exposing the true ugly nature of the previous regime, Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Tuesday.

"We suspected so many things. Now we know they were not just evil but diabolical," he told a luncheon hosted by the SA International Diplomatic Association in Pretoria.

"White-coated gentleman were working in laboratories, looking for something that will affect the fertility of black women or manufacturing cholera and mandrax tablets. Now we know why so many of our communities suffer from drug abuse."

Tutu cited several cases of human rights abuses where the truth had remained hidden despite numerous inquiries over many years. The death in detention of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko was an example.

"Through the amnesty process we now know what happened."

Tutu said the amnesty process was also a crucial element of what was being described as the miracle of South Africa's political transformation.

The security forces of the former government would not have gone along with change if it were not for amnesty.

"It is certain that they would not have agreed to a peaceful transition from repression to democracy if they had known that we were going to have Neuremberg-type trials," Tutu said.

He said the amnesty process was a compromise because there had been no clear-cut military victory.

"Compromise has had a bad press, but it is not necessarily a bad thing."

Tutu lauded the capacity of many victims to forgive perpetrators for abuses, saying South Africa was an extraordinary country with extraordinary people.

He thanked the audience, which mainly comprised foreign diplomats, for their support during the anti-apartheid struggle.

"We have won a victory over an evil and vicious system. Our triumph is really yours."

Tutu said most TRC members would leave the commission at the end of next month, and the body's final report would be handed to President Nelson Mandela at the end of October.

The amnesty process was expected to be wrapped up by June next year. The TRC would then reconvene, and probably add a codicil to its report from facts emerging in the post-October amnesty hearings, Tutu said.

TELEGRAPH STANDS BY ITS SA-LIBYA ARMS DEAL REPORT

The London Sunday Telegraph on Tuesday stuck to its weekend report of a secret R2,7 billion arms-for-oil deal between South Africa and Libya, despite denials by the South African government and Armscor that it was involved in such a transaction.

Con Coughlin, the newspaper's foreign editor who wrote the report, said he "stood behind the story 100 percent".

Coughlin said in a statement faxed to Sapa that he was surprised at the vehemence of the South African government's denial, given that the deal had been negotiated when Mandela visited Libya last year.

Attempts to check the story with South African authorities proved futile "because of their desire to keep details of the arrangement secret", he said.

"Cleary I cannot reveal my sources on such a sensitive subject. To do so would be to place them in peril."

He denied the South African government's claim that the purpose of the story was to sabotage the country's democracy.

"I covered the 1994 elections for The Sunday Telegraph and greatly admired the manner in which President Nelson Mandela conducted himself during the campaign."

Since taking office, Mandela had pursued very different foreign policy objectives to the previous government.

"In particular he has insisted on the right to maintain friendly relations with governments that actively supported the ANC in its armed struggle against apartheid.

"It is in this context that South Africa has developed cordial relations with Libya, which is regarded as a pariah state by the West."

Coughlin reported on Sunday that Mandela had approved a deal to supply Libya with weapons and military spare parts in return for cut-price oil in violation of United Nations sanctions.

The UN imposed the arms and air embargo in an attempt to pressure Libya into surrendering two of its nationals, suspected of the 1988 bombing of a Pan American jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people were killed.

A statement issued in Pretoria on Monday said neither Mandela nor the government and its agencies had entered into any talks - let alone concluded any deals - with Libya on arms for oil.

If such a decision was ever taken, the government would publicly declare its intentions and fully state its reasons for doing so, it said.

"What is utterly disgusting about this article is that it is a pure fabrication invented by the newspaper and its unnamed sources.

"Besides the other untruths contained in the article, the references to chemical and biological weapons defy the imagination." © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association BOKSBURG June 23 1998 - SAPA

AWB MEMBERS TRY TO EXPLAIN TO TRC THERE ATTACKS NOT RACIST

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members spent most of Tuesday trying to explain to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty commmittee that their bombing of a Germiston taxi rank in 1994 was not a racist attack.

The amnesty committee heard in Boksburg that the AWB and other rightwing organisations in April 1994 declared a war in support of their demands for a Afrikaner "volkstaat" or own homeland.

The right wingers said their aim had been to cause chaos in the country so the that democratic elections could not go ahead and the ruling National Party government would be forced to grant them their own territory.

Johan Abraham Vlok, 25, has admitted taking part in the manufacture and delivery of a bomb that killed ten people at taxi rank used mainly by blacks in Germiston April 24, 1994. He said he did not select the target but was merely carrying out orders from his AWB superiors, including Nicolas Clifton Barnard, who accompanied him on the mission.

Barnard initially applied for amnesty but later instructed his lawyers not proceed with the application. He is serving a lengthy sentence for bomb attacks around the country.

Vlok said he did see the attack at Germiston as one on blacks, but an attempt to cause chaos in general.

Vlok was asked at length by lawyers appearing for victims of the bomb blast about the events leading up the to decision to start a bombing campaign. He answered virtually all questions with the reply that he was a loyal member of the AWB and willing to carry out orders for the organisation and its ideals.

He said these included the creation of a volkstaat and the disruption of the elections.

Vlok was unable to say at what stage the AWB decided to change its policy to one of attacking civilians. He said he realised that when the Germiston bomb was being planned this was a new development, but trusted the AWB leadership, who determined the policy.

Vlok also appeared to contradict himself several times and one occasion was at a loss to explain how he gave two versions within minutes of each other, as to how the bomb was built. He said initially that Piet Koekemoer, who was an explosive expert, had built the bomb. Soon afterwards he said that he had explained to the others how a bomb was made with fertiliser and and diesel because Koekermoer knew nothing about this.

Koekemoer later turned out to be a police informer who testified as a State witness against the other AWB bombers.

After lengthy questioning by Patrick Bracher, appearing for the victims, and committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay and committee member Wynand Malan, Vlok could offer no plausible explanation for his contradiction except to say he misunderstood the question.

Another of the applicants and member of the squad that detonated the Germiston bomb, Johan Wilhelm du Plessis, 28, told the committee he had not resigned from the AWB, but had not paid his subscriptions. He said he still associated himself with some of the goals of the organisation, including the quest for a homeland.

However, he said he did not agree with the policy of racial purity. When asked whether a member of the AWB would be entitled to marry a black woman, he said it was possible but it would be frowned upon.

"The person would not be expelled from the organisation but he would probably resign voluntarily if he married a black woman. Personally, I would not marry a black woman," he said.

During his testimony, it was pointed out to Du Plessis that during the trial of the rightwing bombers, the AWB members had apologised to the family of a white person who was killed in a bomb blast but not to the black victims. He said he had not known about the incident but was willing to apologise to all the victims of the bombing campaign.

Du Plessis is applying for amnesty even though he was never convicted for any of the bombings. However, he is facing civil claims totalling hundreds of thousands of rands following the bombings.

Vlok, Du Plessis and Barnard are among 12 former and current AWB members who are applying for amnesty for the rightwing bombing campaign before the April 1994 election. In addition to Barnard, Abraham Liebrecht (Koper) Myburgh has also indicated to his lawyers they should not proceed with his amnesty application.

The hearing continues in the Boksburg city hall on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 23 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO ASK GOVERNMENT TO REOPEN MACHEL CRASH INVESTIGATION

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday announced that it had gathered enough evidence to suggest that the government should reopen the investigation into the plane crash which killed Mozambican president Samora Machel in 1986, SABC television news reported on Tuesday.

TRC head of investigations Dumisa Ntsebeza said: "Our investigation gives a suggestion that elements of the South African Defence Force, Military Intelligence or special forces were not uninvolved in the crash of that aeroplane."

The TRC would not reveal the nature of the evidence that it had gathered at special hearings into the crash over the past few days.

Machel's wife Graca spent four hours testifying before a closed hearing of the TRC and emerged to thank South Africa for investigating her husband's death, which she referred to as an assassination.

"When South Africa decided to investigate it took Samora Machel as its hero, its son," she said.

Machel criticised people who had collected parts of the aeroplane wreckage, saying it was outrageous that parts of a plane in which many people died were being displayed for entertainment.

The TRC said it was considering legal steps against the trophy hunters.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 24 1998 - SAPA

NP ASKS NEW SERIES OF TRC QUESTIONS

The National Party has fired a new salvo of parliamentary questions at Justice Minister Dullah Omar in its bid to probe the inner workings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

This follows a claim by African National Congress MP Andrew Feinstein that the "ludicrous" 92 questions the NP has already asked the minister have cost the taxpayer almost R50,000 in salaries of the officals who had to compile the answers.

NP TRC spokesman Jacko Maree said in a statement on Wednesday that he would have expected all the answers could easily have been extracted from a TRC database if an accounting and simple data system had been maintained.

The amount of R50,000 was "exceptionally high", and it was possible that Feinstein had sucked it out of his thumb, or had been deliberately given false information.

In a bid to get to the root of the matter, the NP had submitted another eight questions to Omar.

These included whether Feinstein was correct, why some of the original questions had not been answered promptly, who had worked on the answers, and what costs his department and the TRC had incurred in providing them.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 24 1998 - SAPA

TERRE'BLANCHE KNEW ABOUT AWB BOMBING BUT GOT COLD FEET: TRC TOLD

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche's role in the 1994 bombings that left at least 20 civilians dead and scores injured came under scrutiny in Wednesday's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Boksburg.

Terre'Blanche, who has not appeared at the hearing in person but has sent a letter to the TRC, was been named as a key person in the campaign waged on the eve of the April 1994 elections.

Terre'Blanche, who said in his letter to the TRC that his speeches at the time could have been interpreted by his followers as a call to war, has not applied for amnesty for the 1994 bombings.

Throughout the hearings, the TRC's amnesty committee has been trying to establish Terre'Blanche's role in the rightwing uprising. A video tape was played showing Terre'Blanche urging his supporters to take up arms in support of the cause of the Afrikaner struggle.

One of Terre'Blanche's former bodyguards and convicted bomber Jan Adriaan Venter described his former leader as a coward who knew about the bomb campaign but got cold feet when the explosions started.

Venter, who was also a captain in the AWB's elite unit the Ystergaarde, was asked by committee chairmann Judge Ronnie Pillay if Terre'Blanche had known about plans to detonate bombs in an effort to disrupt the election.

"There was no way he did not know," Venter replied.

"I am not saying you are right or wrong..." Pillay began phrasing a question but Venter immediately replied: "I'm not wrong, I'm definitely right."

Venter was then asked whether the generals in the AWB would also have known about the campaign.

"Yes, they were the main peanuts in the packet, they would have known," he replied.

Pillay pointed out that that was an interesting analogy with the structure of the AWB.

Venter is one of ten former AWB members applying for amnesty for their part in the bombing campaing that left 20 people dead and scores injured. Two other members, Clifton "Cliffie" Barnard and Abraham "Koper" Myburgh have withdrawn their applications for amnesty.

Venter described the relationship between Terre'Blanche and his older brother Andries, who was also a general in the AWB. They disagreed on many issues but he believed Andries was a more caring and humane person.

"Andries would have been a better leader because he had the heart for it and would not have dropped everyone in the deep side and left us there," he said.

"When the paw paw hit the fan Eugene was not willing to say `these are my people and they did it for us'. He never did this and got cold feet. In fact he wasn't even there to get cold feet," Venter said. He described Terre'Blanche as a coward and a dictator who was not willing to listen to any criticism. He said if Terre'Blanche had not been a coward, he would personally have delivered his letter to the TRC hearing in Boksburg and not sent it by facsimile.

"You don't ask that man questions," he said when asked why he had not queried the decision to launch a campaign against innocent civilians. Venter had been employed at the AWB headquarters in Ventersdorp at the time, but said although he was often in Terre'Blanche's company, his role was a bodyguard and he maintained a distance from the AWB leader.

Venter, who spoke in English and wore dark glasses, provided light relief at the hearing with his crisp and sometimes witty replies. At one stage he was asked by Pillay whether he was willing to live in the new South Africa.

"If you will let me live in the new South Africa, I will. But it is difficult to do so with the sentence that I am serving," he said.

Venter was convicted for his role in the bombings and is serving a 25-year sentence.

He said he rejected the notion of a Volkstaat and was willing to live amongst black people. He said he was in a position to assist in reconstruction and development programme projects by building houses.

At one point Venter, who grew up in the then Western Transvaal, was asked how it was that a "boerseun" spoke such good English.

"Now you're getting into racial purity," he said with a grin on his face and explained that he grown up in an English speaking family.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 25 - SAPA

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING 47 APPLICATIONS FOR REPARATION

The Department of Justice was considering 47 applications for urgent relief for victims of gross human rights violations, director-general Jasper Noethe said in Pretoria on Thursday.

He said in a statement the department had received recommendations on the applications from the committee of reparation and rehabilitation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"These recommendations are being processed by my department, and are expected to be finalised shortly," Noethe said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA June 25 - SAPA

TREATIES TOTALLING R355 MILLION TO BE SIGNED DURING CHIRAC VISIT

A three-day state visit by French President Jacques Chirac to South Africa from Friday will see the signing of four financial agreements for R335 million between the two countries.

Several other bilateral treaties will also be concluded.

Chirac is to arrive from Namibia at Waterkloof Air Force base outside Pretoria on Friday morning for the second leg of a six-day Southern African tour.

Accompanied by three French ministers, he will be welcomed by President Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings.

After holding talks the two leaders will witness the signing of agreements on police co-operation, sport, and maritime transport. Later in the day two more bilateral treaties will be signed by French and South African ministers at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.

At the same venue two financial agreements totalling R205 million will be signed in the presence of the French Minister of Finance, Economy and Industry, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

On the Cape Town leg of Chirac's visit, French Minister for Co-operation Charles Josselin will witness the signing of a R5,2 million grant agreement between the French Global Environment Fund and the SA National Parks Board. The money will be used for the Cape Peninsula National Park, and for training programmes for disadvantaged communities.

Also in the Western Cape a R125 million concessional direct loan to the Development Bank will be endorsed in the presence of French Foreign Affairs Minister Hubert Vedrine. Squatter communities in need of proper housing are to benefit from the loan.

Chirac will meet Deputy President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria on Friday afternoon. Afterwards they will close a French- South African business forum at Midrand. The forum will be attended by the more than 40 French business leaders accompanying Chirac.

Mandela will host a state banquet in honour of the French president at Gallagher Estate on Friday evening.

Chirac will on Saturday give a reception for the French community in Johannesburg. He will then lay a wreath at the Hector Pietersen memorial in Soweto, and visit the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.

In the afternoon Chirac leaves for Cape Town where he will hold talks with the Speaker of Parliament, Frene Ginwala, and host a reception for the Cape Town French community.

On Sunday Chirac is to have lunch prominent South Africans, including Truth and Reconciliation chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Tutu will be made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, the highest rank for non heads of state.

Chirac will leave for Maputo on Sunday afternoon, where he will spent 24 hours before visiting Angola to wind up his Southern African visit. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 25 - SAPA

AFM APPEARS BEFORE TRC BECAUSE OF EVENTS OF THE PAST

Events during the struggle against apartheid served to validate the correctness of the Apostolic Faith Mission of SA's appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commision, AFM president Isak Burger said on Thursday.

He said this was because some of the members of his church were victims of the system, and believing they were loyally serving their country, might have brought harm, pain and death to others.

Burger in a statement said revelations of chemical and biological weapons being used by the previous government added to further surprise and embarrass many people who were unaware of the extent of the war that raged in South Africa.

"The number of people killed by the chemical poisoning will not easily be established, but the fact that a prominant Christian leader, Pastor Frank Chikane who happens to be the vice-president of the AFM, was also a victim compels the church to respond.

"There must be something evil in a system and ideology where presumably confessed Christians kill someone because he opposes it inspite of that person himself confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour," said Burger.

As most of the inhumane deeds occurred in the past, without the knowledge and consent of the broader public, the silence of the church should not be ascribed to neglect, he said.

"If we had known the facts as we do now, we would certainly have come forth," said Burger.

It is perhaps the most difficult thing for ordinary people to cope with the fact that those who were merely the paid instruments of a system should now be left alone in prisons and before the public eye to take responsibility for evil that may have originated on another level.

"Many of these executors of the apartheid system today are overwhelmed with bitterness and feelings of desertedness, and of being misused.

"One cannot but have symapthy with the small fish who have to pay the price while the big fish do not surface."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 25 - SAPA

TOP AWB GENERAL TO TESTIFY AT AMNESTY HEARING

A general in the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging is to testify at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Boksburg where ten former members of his organisation are applying for amnesty for a spate of bombings in April 1994.

Nico Prinsloo was one of the officers in command of the AWB during the rightwing bombing campaign that killed at least 20 people and injured scores more shortly before the April 1994 elections.

Prinsloo has apparently agreed to testify as to who gave orders for the bombings, aimed a disrupting the elections and forcing the government to agree to a Afrikaner volkstaat.

The AWB members who are applying for amnesty have all testified that there were obeying orders from their leaders when they carried out the bombings.

They said they were told that the bombings, one in Bree Street, one at a taxi rank in Germiston and another at Johannesburg Airport, were part of an official AWB policy to create a psychosis of fear among blacks and render them too afraid to show up at polling booths.

The amnesty applicants have also admitted being involved in pipe bomb attacks at various towns in the then Western Transvaal.

Patrick Bracher, who is appearing for victims of the bomb blasts, said Prinsloo could be served with a summons for civil claims if he admitted to ordering the bombings.

One of the applicants, Gerhardus Daniel Fourie, on Thursday told the TRC's amnesty committee that he and others feared their lives would be in danger if the African National Congress won the elections. He said he was told by an AWB brigadier that an ANC fax had been intercepted and it stated that all AWB members would be shot when the ANC came to power.

He said he now realised that he and other well meaning people had been misled and left in the lurch by their leaders. Nothing had come of the perceived threats and he now lived well in the new South Africa.

Although he still supported the idea of a volkstaat, he would continue to live happily in the South Africa as it was now constituted.

Fourie said he was willing to confront the families of the victims of the bombings and apologise for his actions. However, the family members sitting in the audience called out that they were not interested in his apologies.

The hearing was postponed to September 14 for the testimony of Prinsloo and victims of the bombings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

JOHANNESBURG June 26 1998 - SAPA

PRETORIA CITY COUNCIL TO BLAME FOR GRAVE MIX-UP - MAMOEPA

African National Congress spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa on Friday said the ANC and and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were not responsible for the exhumation of the wrong graves in Mamelodi cemetery on Monday.

Mamoepa told Sapa council officials were to blame.

"The mistake was made by the council officials who mistakenly dug up the wrong graves. They have since apologised for it," he said.

Pretoria City Council officials on Monday dug up the wrong graves, trying to exhume the remains of three Umkhonto we Sizwe (ex-ANC armed wing) cadres - Noali Petse, Daniel Ndongeni and Samuel Jonas - who were convicted and hanged for sabotage and conspiracy in 1964.

The wrong remains are expected to be reburied at Mamelodi cemetery on Friday. Mamoepa said the exhumation of the correct graves would also be done on Friday.

His denial of responsibility for the mistake was in contrast to allegations by cemetary supervisor William Motsoko that the ANC and the TRC were largely to blame for the mixup.

Motsoko said on Thursday the two organisations were supposed to hand him a letter from the magistrate outlining the exhumation procedures. This, he said, was not done.

Mamoepa said efforts were being made to redress the problem and ensure that the right remains got to the Eastern Cape in time for reburial services on Saturday.

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki is expected to attend.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 26 1998 - SAPA

TUTU TO ATTEND UN CONFERENCE IN VIENNA

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu will visit Vienna on June 27 to participate in a United Nations conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the department of foreign affairs announced on Friday.

He will also attend a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, the department said in a statement.

Tutu would be representing President Nelson Mandela, who was originally invited by the UN.

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan would preside over the celebrations, and other Nobel laureates, including former United States president Jimmy Carter, Nigerian activist Wole Soyinka, and Elena Bonner (wife of the late Soviet dissident Andre Sakharov), would also participate.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Junbe 26 - SAPA

ANC CRITICISES HOLOMISA'S ATTACKS ON MBEKI

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa's tirade against African National Congress President Thabo Mbeki might create an unfortunate perception that he was a master of disinformation against political opponents, particularly the ANC, the party said on Friday.

ANC national spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said Holomisa's behaviour was perhaps a reflection of the calibre of leadership and policy direction that the United Democratic Movement would foist on the people of South Africa.

He said since his expulsion from the ANC for ill-discipline, Holomisa had consistently sought to hang onto the tailcoat of the ANC to gain cheap publicity.

"This has included the use of lies, deceit, falsifications and libellous allegations against individual leaders of the ANC, particularly ANC President Thabo Mbeki and the government," said Mamoepa.

Living up to expectations of his political masters in the former National Party government, he said Holomisa resorted to the old discredited di rule - praising President Nelson Mandela while demonising Mbeki.

"The truth of the matter is that despite a few whites who have migrated, South Africa has made a brain gain from intellectual and skilled people who have returned to the country since 1994."

Mamoepa said Holomisa and his erstwhile masters would never give due recognition to these facts primarily because they had scant regard for black intellectuals and artisans who had since returned to South Africa.

"Holomisa and his ilk should by now know that the ANC has in the past defeated such attempts by the apartheid state and is in a better position to defend itself against such disinformation tactics now even better than before."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG June 26 1998 - SAPA-AFP

CONSTAND VILJOEN SAYS CHEMICAL PROGRAMME BENEFICIAL

Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen on Friday defended the apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme, and slammed the Truth Commission for giving a misleading perception of Afrikaner intentions.

Viljoen said recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings into the programme had given a misleading perception to the world.

"The perception is that this was a terrible, inhuman, unlawful programme in order to grossly violate human rights." In fact, it was beneficial, he said.

"If you study the whole programme you will find this was a project of great strategic value for the South African Defence Force and also for the country as a whole," said Viljoen, a former chief of the SADF.

Scientists at the Pretoria-based project, established in 1983, tried to produce a vaccine to cause sterility in black people and a "racist" bacteria that would kill only blacks, the TRC heard.

One witness said President Nelson Mandela, then still in prison, may have been a victim, and described how the project's head, Dr Wouter Basson, had discussed poisoning Mandela's medication with the heavy metal poison thallium.

Basson is due to testify when the hearings resume next month.

Scientists involved in the project also told the TRC hearing that much of their efforts were devoted to developing "murder weapons" in the form of, among others, poisoned chocolates, spiked alcohol, cigarettes laced with deadly anthrax germs, and bottles of cholera germs.

The lethal weapons were to be used on opponents of the apartheid government, the scientists said.

Viljoen criticised truth body chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, saying the hearings were another instance of TRC bias against the Afrikaner people.

"In our opinion the archbishop has taken his political agenda too far and in doing that he has certainly alienated me and my people and he has affected the crebiblity of himself and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

Viljoen said the discredited programme had provided the country with an important database for chemical and biological warfare.

"It made it possible for decontamination equipment to be developed for military and civilian use," he told a luncheon for foreign correspondents.

"It provided some detection machines and instruments where it became possible to detect the chemical and biological agents that might be used against us.

"And it developed protective clothing for our soldiers and for people being subjected to this kind of peril."

The government said in a recent statement that the chemical and biological weapons stockpile had been destroyed in 1993. Data on the apartheid era programme is still held by the present government.

Viljoen said it was untrue to portray, as the TRC hearings had, the programme as "being devised mainly for the purpose of hitsquads using chemical and biological agents in this regard."

He said that of the agents produced by the programme, only CR gas, which is authorised worldwide for crowd control, had been used.

"There is no substantiated proof of any killings so far from the other agents that have been produced in this project. The mere fact that there has been research does not mean that (it) has been applied."

Viljoen said his involvement in the project stemmed from 1983 when he had asked scientists to produce a crowd control gas "that will calm people down, make them friendly, if at all possible" to avoid "another Sharpeville where my forces would have to kill people to bring them under control".

Police shot dead 69 people during an anti-apartheid demonstration in 1961 in Sharpeville, outside Johannesburg.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association BLANTYRE June 26 1998 - SAPA-AFP

MALAWI TO COOPERATE IN MACHEL'S PLANE CRASH PROBE

The Malawian government announced Friday that it will cooperate with Mozambique and South Africa in any efforts to establish the cause of a plane crash which killed Mozambique's first president, Samora Machel, in 1986.

The ministry of justice expressed concern at the revelation by Machel's widow Graca at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), that the former Malawian government of late dictator Kamuzu Banda was connected to the death.

In a statement Malawi said it would not shield any person who may have contributed directly or indirectly to Machel's death.

Local media quoted Graca telling the TRC that she had no doubt her husband died in a conspiracy involving agents from Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa.

The Banda regime did not enjoy a good relationship with Machel, who at one time threatended to plant bombs along their shared border accusing Malawi of harbouring RENAMO insurgents who waged a 16-year war with Mozambique.

Machel and 34 others were killed when the Tupolev plane in which they were travelling from Zambia to Mozambique on October 19, 1986 crashed into a mountain on the South African side of the border with Mozambique.

The TRC wants the South African government to reopen an investigation into the mysterious crash, which a 1987 inquiry blamed on pilot error.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association VIENNA June 27 1998 - SAPA-AFP

TUTU PRAISES HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRESS

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said here Saturday "enormous progress" had been made since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations 50 years ago.

The 1984 Nobel Peace laureate was representing South African President Nelson Mandela at celebrations at the UN here to mark the anniversary of the declaration, adopted on December 10, 1948, in Paris.

Tutu currently heads South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is probing human rights abuses committed during the apartheid era.

He expressed hope for the future of Kosovo, where Serbian security forces are battling ethnic Albanians who want independence.

"If we were able to end apartheid, there is no reason why the conflict in Kosovo cannot be brought to an end," he said.

Tutu also praised progress in Northern Ireland, where parties supporting a historic peace deal looked set Saturday to win a comfortable majority in a Northern Ireland assembly.

In a reference to Indonesia, where mass protests led to the resignation of President Suharto, Tutu said: "Ordinary people have power when they are mobilised."

Tutu said he believed in a universal right and wrong, adding: "Each one of us has power if we are ready to use it."

He said justice should not be punitive but should allow the criminal to reestablish a place in society and the victim to find compensation. He also spoke out against the death penalty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association STELLENBOSCH June 28 1998 - SAPA

CHIRAC BESTOWS LEGION OF HONOUR DECORATION ON TUTU

French President Jacques Chirac on Sunday saluted Archbishop Desmond Tutu "as a man who was and is the conscience and inspiration of South Africa".

He awarded Tutu with France's Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour decoration, the highest rank for non heads of state. Chirac described the Truth and Reconciliation chairman as a man of dignity.

"As an unstinting messenger of peace, you travelled extensively abroad and called on the world to choose the peaceful of economic sanctions to force the apartheid regime to compromise."

Speaking in French, he also praised Tutu for his role in the commission.

"From December 1995 onwards you chaired, with talent and conviction, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an institution without precedent whose mission is to bring to light the horrors committed on all sides in the days of apartheid and grant pardon to those who repent."

As he pinned the decoration to Tutu's lapel, Chirac said: "Archbishop, I salute in you a man who brought the message of the Gospels to the heart of action, a man who was and is the conscience and inspiration of South Africa."

Tutu was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife Leah and daughter Naomi.

Thanking Chirac for the award, Tutu said: "I would also like to thank the French people for the support they gave South Africa during the struggle (for freedom)."

Speaking to journalists afterwards, he said the award was an accolade not for Desmond Tutu, but for all South Africans, black and white.

"It is an encouragement for the new South Africa."

Referring to the TRC, he said there were some people who had tried to denigrate the commission.

However, this was the third award he had received whilst chairperson of the commission, and it was highly unlikely the world would want to recognise the chairperson of something that was discredited.

"I would hope that some of these politicians, who ought to be hanging there heads in shame, recognise that the world believes that the commission is something quite extraordinary and special."

The award ceremony was attended by about 200 guests and dignitaries.

Chirac was expected to leave Cape Town on Sunday afternoon for Maputo, on the third leg of his six-day tour of Southern Africa. He was also visit Angola before returning to France.

NP NOT SURPRISED BY TRC'S DECISION NOT TO PROBE ANC ABUSES

The African National Congress' decision not to investigate human rights abuses in ANC prison camps came as no surprise, the National Party said on Sunday.

NP's spokesman Jacko Maree said the party had known for a long time that the commission would do nothing to embarass the ANC.

All the TRC commissioners, except one, were deeply committed ANC supporters or struggle activists.

These commissioners, through the appointments they made, had ensured that the TRC was managed and controlled by several hundred researchers, inspectors, planners and staff, who almost all had the same political profile as themselves.

By accommodating the ANC for the umpteenth time, the TRC was not only destroying the little credibility that it might still have.

It was, among others, also neglecting its legal duty as entrusted to it by the TRC Act to investigate and report on all serious violations of human rights since 1960, and was once again, as has been held by the Appeal Court, not applying the principle of natural justice, because it was doing all in its power to investigate human rights violations which it hoped to link to the NP (as it is supposed to be doing with regard to exposing violations by the security forces) and nothing or very little in respect of violations which could be linked to the ANC (for example by side-stepping an investigation into incidents in the ANC prison camps).

The TRC also wanted to ensure that news was selectively created so that wide coverage was given to violations by the security forces and little to violations by the ANC.

Maree added that the TRC's excuse that the ANC submission and the information published in newspapers were sufficient and that an investigation was unnecessary was ludicrous.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

JOHANNESBURG July 1 1998 - SAPA

IFP CONDEMNS TRC DECISION NOT TO PROBE ANC CAMP ATROCITIES

The Inkatha Freedom Party on Wednesday condemned the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's announcement not to hold investigative hearings into alleged atrocities in African National Congress-controlled camps in exile.

"The announcement by the TRC is yet further evidence of the pro-ANC bias of the commission," IFP spokesman on justice Koos van der Merwe said in a statement.

According to Van der Merwe, the TRC investigation unit was legally obliged to investigate alleged atrocities in ANC camps.

The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act mandated the unit to "investigate any matter falling within the scope of the commission's powers, functions and duties". This included inquiries into gross violations of human rights both within and outside South Africa's borders, Van der Merwe said.

"The TRC has now sunk to levels of political expediency and hypocrisy not seen since the demise of Pravda (the Truth) - the propaganda organ of the Soviet state."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 1 1998 - SAPA

AUDITOR-GENERAL ISSUES QUALIFIED TRC ACCOUNT AUDIT

The auditor-general's report on the accounts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the financial year ended March 31, 1997 had to be qualified because certain legislation and policy requirements had not been complied with, Western Cape provincial auditor Willie Brits said on Wednesday.

One of these was a possible unauthorised expenditure on salary increases - granted to staff members with effect from July 1, 1996 - which had not been approved by Parliament, he said in a statement.

In addition, directives from the department of state expenditure and the state tender board had not been complied with, and exemption or approval for non-compliance had not been obtained.

Brits said the report also contained details of inadequate checking and control measures, some of which had previously been reported on in the 1995/96 audit report.

These had not been properly addressed and remained a source of concern to the auditor-general's office, he said. They included:

- inadequate control over assets due to asset registers not containing sufficient information to verify the physical existence of various items;

- private purchases being made by commissioners and committee members on the TRC's Diners Club cards;

- deficiencies in the administration and control of the payroll and related human resources activities;

- no formal documented systems in respect of the receiving and payment of accounts; and,

- an inability to confirm how much income the commission had received because source documents were not always prepared for the transactions and receipts were only issued on request.

Brits said that although the report showed the TRC's accounting officer would institute corrective steps, it was still a cause for concern that the internal checking and control measures of the commission had not functioned satisfactorily during the 1996/97 financial year.

The corrective steps should therefore be implemented as soon as possible, he said.

Reacting to the report, TRC chief executive officer and chief accounting officer Dr Biki Minyuku said that in terms of the 1996 salary increases the commission had been informed the department of justice was preparing to table the correct salary structures.

In the case of tender regulations, the state tender board believed that institutions such as the TRC were not subject to the regulations, and the TRC was awaiting a resolution of the matter, Minyuku said in a statement.

"The auditor-general has reported no misappropriation of funds and no actual unauthorised expenditure."

The introduction of formal fiscal policies, procedures and controls had begun during the year under review and the TRC was committed to improving and strengthening the efficiency of these procedures on a continuous basis.

"We have been particularly concerned at the use, by some commissioners and committee members, of commission credit cards for private expenditure.

"However, all those involved have now relinquished their cards and the money has been repaid in all but one case, where we still have to recover a little over R2000," Minyuku said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN July 1 1998 - SAPA

SA BACKS INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT CONCEPT: OMAR

South Africa wholeheartedly supported the establishment of an international criminal court, which should be established as soon as possible, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a human rights conference dinner in Durban, Omar said such an international criminal court should be free of political control or manipulation, and the prosecuting authority should be independent and not subjected to any political veto.

The court should have inherent jurisdiction for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.

Omar said he had been asked whether the processes of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were not in direct contradiction to the international criminal court proposal.

Omar said there was no contradiction because a person guilty of any of the core crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression could hardly qualify for amnesty in terms of TRC law.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 2 1998 - SAPA

TRC GIVES DETAILS OF COMMISSIONERS' CREDIT CARD USE

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chief executive officer Dr Biki Minyuku on Thursday released details of private transactions made with TRC credit cards by commissioners and committee members.

The private transactions were disclosed on Wednesday in the Auditor-General's report on the accounts of the TRC for the 1996/97 financial year.

Two commissioners - Glenda Wildschutte and Dr Wendy Orr - had been found to have used their official credit cards to pay for private expenses during the period under review, Minyuku said in a statement.

Orr used her Diners Club card to the tune of R789,42 while in the United States after she had lost her personal card.

Wildschutte also used her commission-issued card to the tune of R6286,46, mainly in Mozambique.

"As indicated in the previous statement, the amounts involved in the period under review have since been fully repaid," he said.

During the 1997/8 financial year, which was yet to be audited, commissioners and committee members also incurred unauthorised expenditures.

Widschutte's private expenses on her Diners' Club card, which included an overseas trip, amounted to R4272,27, while Orr's, also including an overseas trip, were R7555,22, and Dr Faizel Randera's, which included shopping, amounted to R457,45.

A member of the human rights violations committee, Judith Maya's, expenses, which included shopping, amounted to R4465,88, and an amnesty committee member, Ntsikelelo Sandi's, medical expenses amounted to R4700.

Another human right violations committee member, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, used her credit card to pay for private expenses while overseas. Her unauthorised expenditure amounted to R7119,67. She paid R5018,65 of this amount and the commission had since recovered the R2101,02 outstanding on her official credit card, Minyuku said.

"I would like to stress that the amounts involved have since been fully repaid and the commissioners and committee members concerned have returned their official credit cards to the commission."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 2 1998 - SAPA

IFP MEMBERS RESPONSIBLE FOR BOIPATONG ATTACK APPLY FOR AMNESTY

Sixteen Inkatha Freedom Party members have applied for amnesty for their part in killing 46 residents of Boipatong near Vereeniging in June 1992.

The IFP members will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee at Sebokeng College of Education from July 6 to 24.

The applicants, Qambelani Buthelezi, Bhekinkosi Mkhize, Tebogo Magubane, Vincent Khanyile, Timothy Stals Mazibuko, Jack Mbele, Sonny Michael Mkhwanazi, Thomas Lukhozi, Moses Mthembu, Mhlupheki Tshabangu, Sipho Buthelezi, Petrus Mdiniso, Mxoliseni Sibongeleni Mkhize, Paulos Mcikeleni Mbatha, Richard Dlamini and Victor Mthandeni Mthembu, were among 200 men who attacked Boipatong residents on the evening of June 17, 1992.

Peace negotiations between the African National Congress and the National Party government that were under way at the time were suspended as a result of the massacre.

An investigation by the Goldstone commission into the conduct of the police led to the arrest and conviction of 17 Kwamadala hostel residents who were each sentenced to prison terms of between 10 and 15 years.

The TRC on Thursday said senior IFP member Themba Khoza and former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe, who were implicated by people in this matter, had been duly notified in accordance with the Act governing the TRC.

Robin Brink will be evidence leader for the hearings and Judge Selwyn Miller will chair the proceedings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 3 1998 - SAPA

TRC'S PROBE INTO CHEMICAL WARFARE PROGRAMME RESUMES NEXT WEEK

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's special public hearings into South Africa's chemical and biological warfare (CBW) programme resume next week, the TRC announced on Friday.

The two-day hearing, in Cape Town on Tuesday and Wednesday, is to hear testimony from the former SA Defence Force surgeon-general Dr Niel Knobel and Dr Philip Mijburg, former managing director of Delta G Scientific - a front company set up by the former SADF.

The special hearings, which began last month, have explored, among others:

- The institutional arrangements that gave rise to the former government's CBW programme;

- The front companies that were established to support the programme;

- Individual human rights violations that resulted from the programme;

- The involvement of the SADF in experimentation on humans and animals; and

- The financial implications for the state.

A key witness, Dr Wouter Basson, whom several witnesses have described as the mastermind of the programme, has not testified, arguing that might prejudice his pending court trial, the TRC said.

His lawyers later told the commission that they would file an urgent application in the High Court to set aside the commission's ruling that he should testify.

The panel, which will be chaired by the head of the investigative unit, Dumisa Ntsebeza, is expected to make its decision on the issue next week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 3 1998 - SAPA

COMPLAINT AGAINST APARTHEID PROGRAMME NOT UPHELD

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA on Friday said it had decided not to uphold a complaint against the SA Broadcasting Corporation that the programme "Apartheid Did Not Die", which was broadcast in April, had been unbalanced.

The programme by Australian journalist John Pilger which was broadcast on SABC 3 on April 21, focussed on the substantial difference in wealth which still existed between white and black South Africans in spite of the new democracy.

The programme resulted in a complaint from a member of the public, Jennifer Burke, who argued the programme was biased and excluded the financial successes by many black people.

She also argued that the views canvassed from white women were not representative and the scenes concerning hearings from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had only shown black people who suffered.

Visuals of rich areas were all described as white areas and the complainant argued some of the best houses in several suburbs were owned by black people.

According to Burke, Pilger only featured material backing his opinion.

She criticised the documentary's harassment of President Nelson Mandela and the fact that there had been no women on the discussion panel following the programme.

Commission chairman Dr Kobus van Rooyen on Friday said the BCCSA agreed inroads into the fundamental right of freedom of speech should not be made to readily, especially not in the field of political debate which was the category in which the programme fell.

The programme was an honest expression of opinion and no evidence of malice or dishonest motives could be found.

In the light of this approach the views expressed in the programme formed part of the free market place of ideas which was extremely valuable in a democracy based on freedom.

"Within an open democracy one person's perception of bias is another person's perception of truth and fair comment."

Van Rooyen said a panel discussion held after the hour-long programme already illustrated the workings of the free market place of ideas.

"Some may regard the programme as biased whilst others would regard it as a substantial contribution to the debate on the lasting effects of apartheid."

He said the commission would be disregarding the Constitution if it was too eager to find bias in a programme which dealt with matters of public interest. If the bias was not clear and unequivocal the commission should not venture into this hazardous field.

The commission, however, found the complaint that there were no women on the discussion panel carried some weight. Van Rooyen said while it would have been in the interest of equal distribution of opinion to have invited a more representative panel, the solution did not always lie in hard and fast formulae.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN June 3 - SAPA

TRC RULES 130 PAC AMNESTY APPLICATIONS INVALID

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday ruled invalid nearly 130 amnesty applications by people claiming to be members of the Pan Africanist Congress.

TRC spokesman Vuyani Green said the decision was made by the commission's amnesty committee because the applications were incomplete.

"They provide only the code names and political affiliations of the applicants. No real names or specific acts for which amnesty was being applied for are given," Green said.

In terms of the requirement for amnesty, applicants had to give full disclosure.

Green said attempts by the amnesty committee to get more details was unsuccessful.

"There has been a high level meeting between the TRC and the PAC to ask them for more details. The deadline for them to give the information has come and gone.

"The matter is finished and the amnesty committee has made their ruling declaring the applications invalid," Green said.

He said only three applicants came forward to give the TRC more details after hearing about the problem in the media.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 6 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY GRANTED TO FOUR ANC YOUTH LEAGUE MEMBERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has granted amnesty to four African National Congress Youth League members for acts relating to an attack on a police station in the Vaal Triangle in 1992, the TRC announced on Monday.

Sipho Steve Hlubi, 23; Thapelo Joseph Nyakane, 25; Molefi David Sekere, 26; and Mbuyiselwa Samuel Mnguni, 26, from Zamdela Location, Sasolburg, attacked the Heilbron police station and dis92.

The men claimed in their applications that the attack on the police station was in response to the ANC's call for self- defence structures to be set up in the townships following its 1991 national consultative conference.

They further said the aim of the attack was to obtain weapons to be used by the SDUs.

No shots were fired in the attack and the men escaped with four firearms and a large quantity of ammunition.

They were later arrested for robbery and sentenced to 2000 hours imprisonment.

Their applications for amnesty were dealt with in chambers as the offences for which amnesty had been sought did not fall within the definition of gross human rights violation as specified in the TRC Act, the commission said in a statement.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 6 1998 - SAPA

POLICE DID NOTHING TO STOP BOIPAGONG MASSACRE: TRC TOLD

Police sat in a Casspir and watched while Inkatha Freedom Party warriors massacred residents of Boipatong in the Vaal Triangle in 1992, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Sebokeng on Monday.

The TRC's amnesty committee was hearing testimony about the massacre which left 46 people dead, and caused national and international outrage in June 1992.

Sixteen Inkatha Freedom Party members, who were convicted for the murders in 1994, have applied for amnesty for their part in the attack which involved between 200 and 300 hostel dwellers.

One of raiding party, Victor Mthandeni Mthembu, 29, who was an IFP youth leader at the time, said in his application hat IFP members were being constantly threatened by African National Congress comrades in Boipatong. He said the homes of IFP members were burnt down and they had to seek refuge at the KwaMadala hostel.

He described how the men in the hostel were called together on a Sunday night in June 1992 and told they were going to attack the ANC. He said they were told to put on red headbands so that they did not kill each other, and then left for Boipatong.

Mthembu told the committee the police were not involved in the attack.

However, he said the group of about 300 armed men passed a police Casspir parked outside the entrance to Biopatong while the policemen inside sat and watched as the party passed and did nothing to stop them.

The Casspir was developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the SA Police in the 1970s as an armoured vehicle for patrolling troubled township areas.

Mthembu said after the attack the policemen in the Casspir followed them back to the hostel, but still did nothing and later left.

He did not describe the actual attack on the residents of Boipatong, but said a large amount of property was stolen from them during the attack.

He said after the attack the IFP's former Transvaal strongman, Themba Khoza, visited them and told them police had surrounded the hostel. He said Khoza told them to destroy everything they had taken in the attack, such as blankets, television sets and appliances.

Mthembu said the items were burnt to ashes in the middle of the hostel while the police waited outside. He said hostel dwellers later gathered at a nearby stadium where they were addressed by Khoza who, in the prescence of former police commissioner General Johann van der Merwe, urged them to co-operate with police.

Mthembu and the other applicants are all serving prison sentences after being convicted in 1994 of the murders.

However, at the time they denied any knowledge of the massacre and are likely to give more details of the events leading to the attack during their applications for their amneding survivors of the Boipatong massacre, were present and sang quietly during the many adjournments caused by the need for lawyers to consult their clients. The hearing is being held at the Sebokeng College of Education in Sebokeng, not far from Boipatong where the incident took place six years ago.

One of the survivors of the attack is eight-year-old Aletta Moleti, who was seriously injured and now is confined to a wheelchair.

The young girl, dressed in a bright red woolen cap, became overwhelmed and tearful when a television reporter persisted in interviewing her and she had to be taken away and consoled.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 7 1998 - SAPA

BOIPATONG AMNESTY HEARINGS POSTPONED TO THURSDAY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings into the Boipatong massacre in 1992 have been postponed to Thursday to enable lawyers to consult with survivors and families of the victims.

The hearings in which 16 Inkatha Freedom Party members are applying for amnesty for their part in the murder of 46 people, began in Sebokeng this week but has been subjected to numerous delays.

According to lawyers representing victims of the massacre, more and more people who suffered loss or injury in the attack have arrived at the hearings and asked for legal representation. One of the lawyers, Daniel Berger, who is now representing 20 families asked the amnesty committee to adjourn the hearings until Thursday to give him time to consult with the victims.

Committee chairman Judge Sandile Ncgobo agreed to the adjournment and the hearings will resume on Thursday.

Only one of the applicants, Victor Mthembu, 29, has testified at the hearing.

He told the committee on Monday he was ordered by IFP officials to attack the Boipatong settlement in the Vaal Triangle in order to eliminate African National Congress comrades. He gave no details of the actual attack. However he said after the attack he and the others were told by IFP strongman Themba Khoza that all evidence the attack should be burnt.

When the other other applicants give evidence later this week a clearer picture of the events of the night of June 17, 1992 are likely to emerge.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 7 1998 - SAPA

TRC COMMITTEE DENIES AMNESTY TO TWO IFP MEMBERS

Two members of the Inkatha Freedom Party were on Tuesday refused amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation commission's amnesty committee.

Arthur Kheswa and Mdu John Msibi were refused amnesty for their role in the killing of seven African National Congress supporters in two separate incidents in Piet Retief, KwaZulu-Natal, in 1993.

Kheswa, 29, a former IFP youth brigade chairman in Belgrade, KwaZulu-Natal, was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment following his conviction for the fatal shooting of five ANC supporters.

Bonginkosi Nkosi, Mbongeni Ngwenya, Khanzi Mthenjwa, Mbalekelwa Ndaba and Nonhlahla Sithole died as a result.

Five other ANC supporters were wounded in the shooting at Tandukukhanya township, Piet Retief, on August 20, 1993.

During his appearance before the committee last year, Kheswa told the committee that he was promised R10,000 by senior IFP members in the area to kill the deceased.

He was later given R3000 for the job.

Rejecting the application, the Amnesty Committee said: "The applicant was a hired assassin. He tried to suggest that this (R3000) was not payment for his nefarious deeds and that he would have done what he did even if he had not been promised any payment, but the fact of the matter is that he also acted for personal gain.

"Not only was the money promised to him in advance but payment was actually made in the amount of R3000 which he accepted."

Msibi, who had applied for amnesty for the killing of Mandla Alfred Mgudulela and Mphileleli Joseph Malinga on June 9, 1993, also had his application thrown out by the committee.

He told the committee that he had been promised R50,000 by the IFP's Ali Msibi to kill the two "ANC supporters".

He later received R15000 of the promised amount.

"It is quite clear that although he was loyal to the IFP, his motive to kill was a desire to get money and not to realise a political objective. He acted for personal gain (and) the offences he committed were therefore not acts associated with a political objectives.

"Although he attempted to deny that the R15000 he subsequently received was payment for his evil deeds, it appears from the record of his trial that was in fact the case. For the reasons stated the crimes committed by the applicant are not acts associated with a political objective and his application is therefore refused."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 7 1998 - SAPA-AFP

BASSON LAWYERS MAKE COURT APPLICATION AGAINST TRC TESTIMONY

Lawyers for Dr Wouter Basson, a key witness in the South African truth panel's inquiry into apartheid's chemical and biological warfare programme, said Tuesday they had applied to the High Court to avoid having their client testify.

Basson has refused to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings into the programme, which targetted blacks and which he ran for the white racist government.

Basson, 47, is asking the court to overturn a decision to force him to testify before the commission, on the grounds that it would jeopardise his right to a fair trial in a criminal case set for next month.

Basson is to go on trial on 10 charges, including conspiracy to murder, producing the illegal drugs Mandrax and Ecstasy, and fraud totalling 50 million rands - more than 15 million dollars at the time.

The TRC earlier Tuesday said it would consider prosecuting Basson for his refusal, a tactic it has already used against former president P.W. Botha.

Basson, like Botha, could face a two-year jail sentence and a hefty fine.

However, the TRC will how have to await the ruling of the Cape High Court before deciding on further action.

Basson was not present when the hearing resumed after a three-week break on Tuesday, despite an earlier TRC ruling that he testify.

"My impression very prima facie is that we are treated with the utmost contempt," TRC investigative head Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Tuesday.

The hearings, which began last month, shocked South Africans with revelations that scientists at the Pretoria-based project, established in 1983, tried to produce a vaccine to cause sterility in black people and "racist" bacteria that would kill only blacks.

Witnesses have made clear from the beginning of the hearing that Basson masterminded the 1980s research programme designed to help the apartheid government strengthen its racist rule over South Africa's majority black population.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 7 1998 - SAPA-AFP

TRC WADES THROUGH LABYRINTH OF APARTHEID FRONT FIRMS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday revealed a list of over 100 possible front companies which helped protect some of apartheid's darkest military secrets.

Investigators have established a list of 102 suspect companies - ranging from pharmaceutical laboratories to investment groups, travel agencies and building societies - which they suspect were set up and run by the apartheid military for illegal operations against blacks.

One of the companies, Delta G, was set up with the express purpose of supplying illegal drugs on demand for the army's Special Operations unit in an attempt to counter black activism, the commission heard.

The TRC revealed the list as it resumed its hearing into apartheid's chemical and biological warfare programme, conducted by some of South Africa's top scientists during the 1980s and early 1990s.

One, Dr Philip Mijburg, who ran Delta G, told the hearing Tuesday that the company in 1992 delivered a tonne of Ecstasy to the 7th Medical Battalion, which among other things, was working on producing "potentially incapacitating substances" to use against the black population.

Later, he said the front company also produced hundreds of thousands of Mandrax pills, a methadone-based addictive drug, for use by the army.

A visibly uncomfortable Mijburg, who quit the army in 1985 to take over at Delta G, said that at the time he did not believe the secret activities were "illegal" in the way they were carried out by the army medical services.

"For crowd control, it seems to me more ethical to use invalidating substances than bullets," he said.

"There was then a specific threat against the country," added Mijburg, in an apparent reference to the rise of black political power.

Mijburg told the hearing he knew nothing of the drugs' destination nor their use. He said they transited through several front companies before reaching their final destination, Dr Wouter Basson, director of the 7th Medical Battalion.

The TRC has yet to unravel the labyrinth of companies involved. The government admitted recently that one of the tasks of a revamped National Intelligence Agency would be to trace all the apartheid-era front firms.

TRC head, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has publicly suggested the programme was responsible for widespread drug addiction in black townships throughout South Africa, though the TRC has been unable to prove that the vast quantities of drugs produced by the programme were ever used.

Thanks to its front companies, the apartheid government in any case "had all the resources to produce and airlift drugs anywhere in the world", according to one of the prosecutors. Mijburg acknowledged that apart from Delta G, he also headed several other front companies and had invested in several subsidiaries.

Based in Midrand, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, Delta G was privatised in 1992, and has since specialised in legitimate agro-chemistry and pharmaceuticals. Several other companies on the TRC list have also since been privatised and now carry on legitimate business.

Delta G came to prominence last year when Basson was arrested as part of police crackdown on drug-trafficking.

Basson, considered a top witness by the TRC, has repeatedly refused to testify about the sinister research programmes he ran on behalf of the apartheid government.

Basson, 47, has made an application to the Cape High Court to have a TRC ruling that he testify before the hearing set aside, his lawyers said Tuesday.

They are contesting the truth body's right to question Basson, saying his right to a fair trial in a criminal case set for next month could be jeopardised.

Basson is to go on trial in August on 10 charges, including conspiracy to murder, producing the drugs Mandrax and Ecstasy, and fraud totalling more than 15 million dollars.

The TRC, which on Tuesday said it was considering prosecuting Basson for his refusal to testify - a tactic it has already employed against former president P.W Botha - will now have to await the outcome of the High Court application before deciding what action to take.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 8 1998 - SAPA

ANC BOMBERS TO APPLY FOR AMNESTY FOR JOHANNESBURG BLASTS

Applications for amnesty by four ANC members for bombings in and around Johannesburg in 1987, including a blast at the Magistrate's Court, will be heard in the city early next month.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that Joseph Koetle, Solly Zacharia Shoke, William Mabele and Dick Joseph Hlongwane were applying for amnesty for separate but related bombings.

Koetle, now a senior defence force officer, and William Mabela are applying for amnesty for a car bomb that exploded outside the court, killing four policemen and wounding three others.

The policemen killed were constables Weyers Ivor Botha, Kobus Wilkens, TJ Duvenhage and Christoffel Botha. Constables William Kutwana, Frederick Wilhelm Ernst and Detective-Sergeant MS Mallo were injured.

Koetle claims the order to bomb the court was given by the then Transvaal commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and now Chief of the SANDF, General Siphiwe Nyanda. MK was the armed wing of the African National Congres.

Shoke is now a senior officer in the army and is applying for amnesty for launching a spate of attacks on police stations in Moroka, Orlando, Booysens, Mabopane, Daveyton and for landmine explosions in the Northern Province between 1978 and 1980

Dick Joseph Hlongwane is applying for amnesty for the bombing of the Ellis Park sports arena in 1987.

The hearings will take place at the Johannesburg Institute of Social Services, on the corner of Queens Road and Battery Street, Mayfair, in Johannesburg from August 3.

Amnesty applications for landmine attacks in the Eastern Transvaal between 1986 and 1988 will be heard in Nelspruit from August 11 at a venue to be announced.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 8 1998 - SAPA

RIGHTWINGER FAILS IN AMNESTY BID FOR 1989 MURDER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Wednesday refused amnesty to a rightwinger for killing a taxi driver in 1989, but granted him amnesty for two other offences.

Cornelius Johannes Lottering, a member of the Orde van die Dood (Order of Death) - an underground right wing movement set up with the intention of killing National Party and African National Congress leaders - was seeking amnesty for the murder of Potoko Makgalemela in Johannesburg in August 1989.

In the same year Lottering committed armed robbery and escaped from custody the following year. He received amnesty for these offences despite not receiving amnesty for the death of Makgalemela.

The committee, speaking from Cape Town, said Lottering testified before it Pretoria early this year that he had been ordered by his commander to kill a person as an act of initiation into the Orde van die Dood.

He told the committee he chose Makgalemela because he was ferrying white passengers in his taxi.

The committee heard that Lottering and an accomplice lured Makgelamela away from a taxi rank near Daleside, south of Johannesburg. He was stabbed with knife and then shot dead with a 9mm pistol.

Lottering admitted during his hearing that he did not know the deceased's political affiliation nor whether Makgelamela was even active in politics.

Rejecting Lottering's bid for amnesty, the Amnesty Committee said: "The murder of the deceased was committed to satisfy the internal initiation requirements of the Orde van die Dood.

"It cannot, in our opinion, be said that the murder was committed in furtherance of a political objective or that the murder was directed against the state or a political organisation or any member of the security forces.

"The motive of the applicant was to appease his superiors and to displace any doubts they may have had about his ability to act as an assassin.

"The killing was not only unreasonable but was totally out of kilter with, and disproportionate to, the achievement of the stated political objective of the Order.

"It amounted to nothing more than a tragic loss of life with no tangible benefit for the applicant's political organisation. We are, in the circumstances, unable to find that the killing achieved any desired political objective."

Referring to the two other offences, the committee said Lottering's testimony that it was the policy of his organisation to commit robberies to obtain funds for the organisation.

"After careful consideration we are prepared to give the applicant the benefit of doubt and to find that the robbery was not committed for personal gain," said the committee.

Referring to Lottering's escape from custody in 1990, the committee accepted Lottering's testimony that the escape was ordered by the Orde van die Dood. "The applicant did continue to serve the Orde van die Dood during the period from his escape to his recapture," said the committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 8 1998 - SAPA-AFP

TRC ENDS BIOCHEMICAL HEARINGS WITHOUT KEY ANSWERS

Truth Commission hearings into apartheid's biochemical warfare programme ended Wednesday having revealed horrifying glimpses of research directed against blacks, but without questioning the man who could tell the world most about it.

Dr Wouter Basson resorted to High Court action earlier this week in a bid to overturn a subpoena to appear before the commission, claiming his testimony would prejudice his defence in his criminal trial next month.

The 47-year-old scientist was arrested last year and faces charges of conspiracy to murder, charges relating to the possession and distribution of illegal drugs, and of fraud totalling 15 million dollars.

By the time his criminal case begins, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will have finished its investigation into one of the darkest chapters of apartheid rule, but with more questions than answers about Basson's role.

His scientific peers claimed in commission hearings that Basson spearheaded research into a vaccine to sterilise blacks and a bacteria that would kill only black people.

According to the evidence, Basson also oversaw the development at Roodeplaat laboratory near Pretoria of toxins, germs, drugs and lethal implements to kill anti-apartheid activists.

The most senior scientist the TRC questioned in three sessions of hearings since early June, General Niel Knobel, told Wednesday's final hearing that he hoped such research would never resume.

"I'm horrified that such actions happened and I think that everything should be done to prevent them happening again," said Knobel, a former top military surgeon, who supervised the dismantling of the programme from 1993.

But the eight days of the inquiry succeeded in exposing only "a tiny little part" of apartheid's secret programme, according to a South African expert who sat through the grim scientific testimony.

"This is the tio of the iceberg, we do not know the depth of the ocean nor the depth of the iceberg," said the expert on condition of anonymity. "There is still an ugly question mark," he added.

It remains because Basson, bearded and debonaire, refused to talk.

It was he alone, his colleagues told the hearings, who controlled the network of front companies needed to keep the ultra-sensitive research a secret, and, in Knobel's words, directed a "bad-boy network" to make it work.

The TRC established a list of 102 suspected front companies, linked to Basson's 7th Medical Batallion, which helped protect some of apartheid's darkest military secrets.

One company, Delta G, even manufactured, refined and distributed illegal hard drugs on demand for Basson. Basson associate Dr Philip Mijburg said during testimony Tuesday that the company he ran for him produced at least one tonne of Ecstasy and a tonne of Methadone.

All that, for use by one of the world's most conservative governments against its black population. It was Basson who demanded - and got - secret finance to buy and refine illegal and addictive drugs for use by the apartheid state. In 1989, he flew to the former Yugoslavia with 4.5 million dollars to buy half a tonne of methadone, according to Knobel.

South Africa's National Intelligence Agency is still investigating the web of transactions, but has yet to unravel the network of front companies used to cover them up.

The TRC hearings chillingly revealed that no-one knows what became of such vast quantities of drugs, officially to be used as a decapacitating agent against black anti-apartheid demonstrators.

The truth body suspects unknown quantities ended up being sold "on the street" contributing to chronic drug abuse in black townships while generating funds for apartheid subterfuge.

Knobel said Basson was tasked with destroying all written traces of the programme and substances judged to be contrary to the Convention on Chemical Weapons, which South Africa signed in January 1993.

The data was transferred to 13 computer disks and handed over to the defence ministry.

However, several trunks containing classified documents were found by police following Basson's arrest last year, leading a TRC prosecutor to declare Wednesday that the highly sensitive information "might well be in circulation".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 9 1998 - SAPA

AWB MEMBER GRANTED AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF WEAPONS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Thursday granted amnesty to a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging convicted of unlawful possession of arms and ammunition.

Willie Hurter was arrested in Bloemfontein in 1994 for having grenades, a home-made shotgun, a pistol and rounds of ammunition.

His amnesty application was dealt with in chambers as the offences for which he applied for amnesty did not constitute gross violations of human rights as defined by the TRC Act, a TRC spokesman said on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 9 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE MADIKIZELA-MANDELA AT BOIPATONG AMNESTY HEARING

African National Congress Womens League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Thursday morning arrived at the Boipatong amnesty hearings being held in Sebokeng, in the Vaal Triangle.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee is hearing testimony about the Boipatong massacre, which left 46 people dead and caused national and international outrage in June 1992. Sixteen Inkatha Freedom Party members, who were convicted for the murders in 1994, have applied for amnesty for their part in the attack, which involved between 200 and 300 KwaMadala hostel residents.

Madikizela-Mandela arrived in a white Mercedes Benz accompanied by several bodyguards, and took a seat in the front row of the audience in the Sebokeng College of Education hall. She listened as the first of the applicants, Victor Mthandeni Mthembu, 29, told of his part in the raid on Boipatong.

Mthembu told the hearing he had a 2m spear and a knobkerrie on the night of the massacre. He said he did not stab anybody but admitted striking a man with the knobkerrie.

The start to Thursday's hearing was delayed by a power failure from a damaged substation. Initial fears of sabotage were allayed when it was found that the damage was caused by a veld fire. The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 9 1998 - SAPA

MADIKEZELA-MANDELA MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE AT AMNESTY HEARING

ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikezela-Mandela made a surprise appearance at the Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty hearing in Sebokeng on Thursday to hear testimony from one of the people who took part in the Boipatong massacre.

Between 200 and 300 residents of the residents of nearby KwaMadala hostel attacked Boipatong in June 1992 and killed 46 people.

Sixteen Inkatha Freedom Party members, who were convicted for the murders in 1994, have applied for amnesty for their part in the attack.

Madikezela-Mandela arrived in a white Mercedes accompanied by several bodyguards and local ANC officials, and took a seat in the front row of the Sebokeng college of education hall.

She sat and listened as the first of the applicants, Victor Mthembu, 29, told of his part in the raid on the settlement.

Madikezela-Mandela left during the lunch interval and was unwilling to speak to the media apart from saying she did not wish to comment on the Boipatong amnesty hearing at this stage. When asked by a black reporter why she had attended the hearing, she snapped back: "You're a black person, you should know."

The TRC's amnesty committee heard for the first time this week an account of how people were attacked during the massacre. Mthembu told the hearing he was armed with a two metre spear and a knobkerrie on the night of the massacre. However, he appeared to become confused when relating his own participation in the murders.

At first he said he only struck a man with the knobkerrie, but later conceded that he stabbed a man. He said the middled aged man fell on his face after being stabbed but he was unable to say whether the man died.

Under intense cross examination from Daniel Berger, who is appearing for the victims and families of survivors, Mthembu later said he could not remember how many people he stabbed.

Earlier Mthembu described how he saw policemen in Casspirs near the entrance to Boipatong on the night of the massacre, and said they did nothing when the armed impi passed by.

He then described how he and the other assailants rampaged through the streets of the settlement in search of members of the ANC's self defence units.

He also admitted storming into two houses during the attack. In the first house he found two young girls who he said looked like twins.

When asked if he attacked them, Mthembu replied that they were innocent victims and he in fact protected them by hiding them under a bed.

In the second house he came across a young man who he struck with the knobkerrie. He said the young man fled.

Mthembu also appeared to have difficulty explaining the IFP heirarchy in the Transvaal at the time, even though he claimed to be a deputy chairman of the local IFP Youth Brigade.

He claimed under cross examination that he did not know that renowned IFP strongman Themba Khoza was the Transvaal leader of the party at the time.

Mthembu also denied knowing any of the senior IFP officials in the area at the time. Berger suggested Mthembu was deliberately misleading the committee or else afraid to name other people for fear of reprisal. Mthembu denied this, saying he was not afraid of anyone.

The applicant also had difficulty with Berger's use of the word "hitsquads". During his testimony he denied there were hitsquads at the KwaMadala hostel, but in his written application for amnesty he said a hitsquad consisting of men from Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal lived at the hotsel. Mthembu attempted to explain the discrepancy by saying the use of the word "hitsquad" had been a typing error and should have read "self protection unit".

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 10 - SAPA

IFP ATTACKER ACCUSED OF WITHHOLDING DETAILS OF BOIPATONG MASSACRE

Hopes that Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Boipatong amnesty hearing would reveal a full account of who planned and carried out the massacre at the Vaal Triangle township in 1992 have not yet been met.

The TRC's amnesty committee is hearing testimony in Sebokeng on the massacre, but so far little new information has emerged about the attack on 17 June 1992 which left 46 people dead and caused widespread outrage.

Sixteen Inkatha Freedom Party members, who were convicted for the murders in 1994 have applied for amnesty for their part in the attack, which involved between 200 and 300 residents of the nearby KwaMadala hostel.

On Friday the committee heard more testimony by the fihandeni Mthembu, 29, who continued to deny involvement of high-ranking IFP officials and the security forces in the killings.

Mthembu has been questioned at length by Daniel Berger, who is appearing for survivors and families of victims, but has refused to answer or has given contradictory answers about events leading up to the attack.

At one stage Berger put it to Mthembu that he was withholding the relevant information from the committee, to which the applicant replied that he was telling the truth as far as he could remember.

It emerged that Mthembu had two licenced firearms but did not explain how he got the licences: he claimed he needed them for self-defence.

But he said earlier in his testimony that during the raid on Boipatong he carried only a spear and a knobkerrie and did not use his firearms.

Asked who had ordered the attack, Mthembu replied it was Damara Gqonqo, who has since died in a shooting related to taxi violence. He denied the IFP leader of the KwaMadala hostel, Vanana Zulu, was involved in the attack.

Berger asked Mthembu if he saw Zulu at this week's hearings and he replied that he had seen him earlier in the week but could not see him at that time.

After the tea break, Berger told the committee he had seen Mtthembu replied they merely exchanged greetings.

Committee chairman Judge Sandile Ngcobo asked, and a man in the front row stood up and identified himself as the person concerned.

Ncgobo warned Zulu that during the course of the hearings it was possible that he could be implicated in the testimony, and said he could appoint a legal representative if he wished.

Mthembu has denied knowing any of the high-ranking IFP officials in the area at the time, including strongman Themba Khoza. He also claimed not to know of the existence of a group called the Amabutho (warriors), who made important decisions on behalf of the IFP.

Berger has suggested to Mthembu on several occasions that he was deliberately misleading the committee, or else was afraid to name other people for fear of reprisals. Mthembu denied this, saying he was not afraid of anyone. Mthembu also refused to implicate the police or the SA Defence Force in the attack, saying only that he had seen police outside Boipatong on the night. He denied that white policemen had taken part even though Berger said there had been witnesses who saw white faces among the attackers.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 13 1998 - SAPA

BOIPATONG HORROR RECALLED AT TRC AMNESTY HEARING

The horror of the 1992 Boipatong massacre, in which 46 people including young children and old people were butchered, was recalled at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing in Sebokeng on Monday.

Victor Mthandeni Mthembu, 29, is one of 16 Inkatha Freedom Party members applying for amnesty for the attack on the township near Vanderbijlpark on June 16, 1992. The applicants were part of an impi of about 300 who launched the attack from the nearby KwaMadala hostel. Apart from the deaths scores more were injured and dozens of houses were ransacked.

Mthembu has claimed the raid was in retaliation for a spate of attacks on IFP members by African ational Congress members who necklaced or burnt hostel residents. During cross-examination by Daniel Berger, for victims and their families, it was pointed out to Mthembu that many of the people killed were children.

Mthembu replied that the object had been to attack residents of Boipatong, irrespective of their ages, because they supported the ANC.

The audience, many of whom are survivors or relatives of victims, were shocked and distressed with Mthembu's reply when Berger asked him how the killing of a nine-month-old Aaron Mathope could be seen as an attack on the ANC.

"A snake gives birth to a snake," he said.

There were gasps of shock and anger from the audience, who were clearly upset by what they regarded as a callous remark.

Later Mthembu attempted to explain that his use of the term about snakes was an idiomatic expression, but Berger put it to Mthembu that he should not try to run away from his own words.

"It was your intention to kill anyone who was present in Boipatong that night," Berger said.

At that stage amnesty committee chairman Judge Sandile Ncgobo intervened and said it had already been established that people were killed regardless of age. But he said there was no evidence to suggest that Mthembu himself killed any children.

Mthembu earlier testified that on the night of the attack he saved the lives of two children. He said he hid them under a bed so they would not be harmed. Berger suggested this had not happened, and that the children were in fact attacked.

Berger said the families of the victims he represented had stated that they would not consider forgiving him until he revealed all the details of the attack, including all the names of the people who had been in the raiding party.

The lawyer pointed out that two other children killed that night were Agnes Malindi, 4, and Poppie Mbatha, 5. One of the survivors of the massacre, Mita Moleti who was three at the time, was injured on the night and is now confined to a wheelchair. She has been attending the hearings every day and listens to the proceedings.

"She still wants to know why her skull was hacked with a panga," Berger said to Mthembu, who replied that he could not offer an explanation. Many of the victims were repeatedly hacked and stabbed and one old woman received so many wounds it was impossible to count them. Mthembu was asked why had been necessary to inflict mulitiple stab wounds on people, some of whom were asleep at the time.

"They were not just sleeping, they were sleeping in Boipatong," he replied.

He also justified the theft of property from residents on the night of the attack on the grounds that Shaka had confiscated cattle from the people he had defeated in war. He said he had learnt from history that the victor had the right to take the property of the losers.

He said the attackers had taken blankets, televsion sets and two-plate stoves which they would have used in the hostel. But after the attack former IFP Transvaal leader Themba Khoza ordered them to dispose of the booty and to burn all evidence.

Mthembu was convicted of murder in 1994 and is serving a lengthy prison sentence. One of the original applicants, Thomas Lukhozi, last week withdrew his application for amnesty.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association SEBOKENG July 13 - SAPA

JUDGE RULES BOIPATONG KILLERS CAN PROCEED WITH AMNESTY QUEST

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has agreed to allow 15 Inkatha Freedom Party members to proceed with their applications for amnesty for their part in the 1992 Boipatong massacre.

Lawyers appearing for the victims earlier on Tuesday asked the committee to reject the applications on the grounds that they had not been properly completed.

Sixteen IFP members are applying for amnesty for the massacre of 46 residents of Boipotang in the Vaal Triangle in June 1992.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Sandile Ncgobo ruled that the applications for amnesty should go ahead in the interests of trying to find out the truth about Boipatong.

His ruling followed a request by Daniel Berger, appearing for victims and their families, that the applications be thrown out because they were incomplete and did not comply with the provisions of the Promotion of National Reconciliation and Unity Act, which governs the amnesty process.

Giving his ruling, Ncgobo said it was necessary to obtain as much information as possible about the Boipatong massacre and many people had attended the hearings to find out more about the event.

He said further information was more likely to emerge if the perpetrators were encouraged to come forward and tell their story.

He said this was also consistent with the policy contained in the legislation governing the TRC which had been formulated to throw as much light as possible on incidents of gross human rights violations.

The first of the applicants, Victor Mthandeni Mthembu, has completed his testimony and the remaining applications will be heard on August 11.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 14 1998 - SAPA

13 ANC AMNESTY APPLICATIONS TO BE HEARD IN ERMELO FROM JULY 20

The amnesty applications of 13 African National Congress members and supporters relating to attacks on Inkatha Freedom Party supporters in the early 1990s would be heard in Ermelo next week, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.

Most of the victims were members of the IFP or of a group known as the Black Cats, who had been involved in an armed conflict with the ANC in the Mpumalanga town between 1990 and 1992.

The conflict between the liberation structures and the Black Cats was so severe that it became a subject of investigation under the Goldstone Commission.

The Goldstone Commission probed allegations that the Black Cats were infiltrated by IFP hitsquads trained in the Caprivi in then South West Africa, as well as by former security forces.

Some former security force members in Ermelo were implicated and had been notified in terms of the law, the commission said.

Eight of the 14 victims were killed in related incidents, while others were injured. Some of the victims were security guards killed in armed robberies.

The applicants, some of whom claim to have been trained as Umkontho we Sizwe operatives, are seeking amnesty for various acts ranging from murder to armed robbery and illegal possession of firearms, the TRC said.

The applicants are: Mzwandile Hollingwood Gushu, Silas Sipho Nkonyane, Nicholas Zwane, Fanyana John Mndebele, Petros Lucky Mbokane, Paulos Pistol Nkonyane, Livingstone Lukhele, Bongani Wilberforce Khaba, Pelele Lawrence Shongwe, Jabu Aaron Mkhwanazi, David Elvis Majola, Mandlenkosi Enock Mnisi and Jacob Israel Mabena.

Majola, a Black Cat turned ANC member, is applying for amnesty for killing ANC members while still a member of the Black Cats.

The hearing begins on Monday July 20 at the Ermelo city hall in Church Street.

It first began in March this year, but was postponed upon application by implicated former security policemen in Ermelo, who had been given late notification of the first hearing, the commission said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 14 1998 - SAPA

IFP DISTANCES ITSELF FROM MTHEMBU'S TRC REMARKS

The Inkatha Freedom Party on Tuesday said it distanced itself from remarks made by self-confessed killer Victor Mthembu to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday.

"A snake gives birth to another snake" is how Mthembu rationalised the murder of a nine-month-old baby during the attack on the Vaal Triangle township of Boipatong in June 1992.

Mthembu also said that his intention had been to attack the residents of Boipatong, irrespective of their age, because they supported the African National Congress.

Mthembu, 29, was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee in Sebokeng on his part in the massacre, during which 46 people died.

"The IFP in Gauteng distances itself from irresponsible utterances made by Mthembu. We wish to put it unequivocally that the IFP never has had a policy that township residents were regarded as snakes," said the IFP.

"The IFP regrets all loss of life irrespective of whether they are IFP, ANC or (United Democratic Movement)," the party said.

The ANC said that Mthembu's remarks were repugnant and should rejected.

"The TRC is essentially a platform to create a climate for healing and reconciliation among the people of South Africa and should not be used to stir hostile emotions, particularly among victims," the party said.

"We express our hope that the TRC will in its findings criticise such unbecoming behaviour," it said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 14 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO CONSIDER POLICE AMNESTY APPLICATIONS FOR 1980 BOMBINGS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will next week consider amnesty applications from more than 30 police officers for their role in a series of high-profile bombings in the 1980s, the TRC said on Tuesday.

The applications to be heard will include that of former Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok, jailed former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock and former Police Commissioner Johan van der Merwe.

They are asking for amnesty for the bombing of the headquarters of the SA Council of Churches, the trade union federation Cosatu and a series of cinemas around South Africa which showed the film "Cry Freedom". The hearing, which begins in Pretoria on Monday and continues until July 31, will focus on:

- the bombing of Khotso House, Johannesburg in which people were injured and extensive damage was done to the building, on August 31, 1988;

- the bombing of Cosatu House, Johannesburg on May 7 1988, and

- the bombing of cinemas which showed "Cry Freedom", the film about newspaper editor Donald Woods and slain Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko.

Vlok has applied for amnesty in respect of all three sets of bombings.

Van der Merwe has previously told the TRC's amnesty committee he understood the orders to blow up Khotso House came from former state president PW Botha.

Former SAP members applying for amnesty for their role in the attack on Khotso House include: Van der Merwe; De Kock; Brigadier Willem Schoon; Warrant-Officer Paul Erasmus; former Vlakplaas members Larry Hanton, Jacob Kok and Andries van Heerden; Captain Charles Zeelie, an investigator in the SAP's bomb disposal unit; Izak Bosch; Superintendent George Hammond; Captain Hendrik van Niekerk Kotze; Warrant-Officer Nicholaas Vermeulen; Brigadier Wybrand du Toit; Major-General Gerrit Erasmus; Superintendent Johannes Meyer and Sergeant Douw Willemse.

Cosatu House amnesty applicants include: Eugene de Kock, Paul Erasmus, General Erasmus, Superintendent Hammond, Brigadier Schoon, Warrant-Officer Vermeulen, Captain Zeelie, Larry Hanton, Brigadier du Toit and Sergeant Willemse, as well as Major Pierre le Roux, Security Branch member Willie Nortje, Frank McCarter, also a member of the security branch, Deon Greyling, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Hattingh, Lieutenant Marthinus Ras (jnr), Adrian Baker, Vlakplaas-based Wilhelm Bellingan and an askari, Peter Mogoai.

Those seeking amnesty for the cinema bombings are: General Van der Merwe, Lieutenant-General Johan le Roux, Cornelius Heyneke, Johannes Louw, Johannes Albertus Steyn, Petrus du Toit, Andries van Heerden, Abraham Kendall, Charles Zeelie and Mathys Botha.

The hearing will be chaired by Justice Andrew Wilson and will take place at the Idasa Centre in Pretoria from July 20 to 31. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 14 1998 - SAPA

SAN SOLDIERS TELL TRC OF SADF ATROCITIES

Two serving members of the Defence Force have appeared before an in-camera hearing of the TRC in Cape Town to give evidence on alleged atrocities committed against members of the San community by white soldiers in the Caprivi Strip region of Namibia in December 1979.

The two soldiers - Staff Sergeant Mario Mahongo and Corporal Paulo Chimbenda, members of the !Xu and Khwe clans currently living in a tent settlement at Schmidtsdrift, near Kimberley - were members of the SADF at the time the alleged atrocities took place.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation unit head Dumisa Ntsebeza said the men were invited to give evidence to the TRC about the alleged killing of four San soldiers by white soldiers.

"They were also called to answer questions about several alleged cases of severe beatings and other abuses against several members of 31 Battalion," Ntsebeza told a press conference on Tuesday after the hearing.

A third aspect about which they were asked to answer questions was the alleged coercion of members of the !Ku and Khwe communities to participate in SADF operations in Angola, the Caprivi and in Zambia.

"During the course of today's evidence, certain persons were mentioned and named; some of them we understand are long deceased, but one or more of them are alive and we are making endeavours to get them, to wind up this question of the investigation," he said.

Asked why the investigation was held in-camera and not open to the public, Ntsebeza said this was because if the inquiry had been held in public the persons mentioned - who the TRC intended to call to give evidence - would have been prejudiced.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 14 - SAPA

FORMER SADF CHIEFS CALL FOR GENERAL AMNESTY

Three former SA Defence Force chiefs on Wednesday called for general amnesty to be granted to soldiers and officials from all camps who were involved in the apartheid struggle.

This was the only way to deal even-handedly with human rights violations committed by former SADF members and liberation fighters, they said in Pretoria through a spokesman, retired General Dirk Marais.

Citing what they labelled the shortcomings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Generals Magnus Malan, Constand Viljoen and Jannie Geldenhuys called for legislation to allow for general amnesty.

They said they had urged the TRC earlier in the month to lend its support to this proposal in the interest of reconciliation.

"The TRC should at least recommend to the government that general amnesty be allowed in order to realise the original aims of the TRC."

A memorandum along similar lines was submitted to Justice Minister Dullah Omar last month.

Marais said it was by now commonly accepted that the TRC would not be able to deal with all human rights abuses committed between 1960 and 1994.

The generals said it would be impossible for either apartheid forces or liberation fighters to reveal each and every act committed by them over the 34-year period. This meant they could not possibly comply with the TRC's prerequisite of full disclosure in order to receive amnesty. Therefore, blanket amnesty would be a more viable option.

The generals also contended that the TRC had painted itself in a corner with regard to human rights violations committed outside South Africa during the apartheid years.

The TRC refused to probe abuses in former African National Congress camps in neighbouring states, saying legal limitations precluded it from guaranteeing indemnity from prosecution abroad for such violations.

"Yet, the TRC is critical of former SADF members using the same argument for not seeking amnesty for human rights transgressions committed in past cross-border raids," the generals said.

They said this reinforced perceptions that the TRC was biased in favour of the African National Congress.

"The TRC's only escape will be to either investigate the ANC punishment camps or to promote the idea of general amnesty," the generals said.

Marais said deputy TRC chairman Alex Boraine last week reacted to the generals' call by saying the TRC would not make recommendations on policy issues.

"We are still awaiting a response from Mr Omar," Marais said. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 15 1998 - SAPA

COL PIET HALL TO FACE PROSECUTION FOR SHUNNING TRC HEARINGS

The former head of the South African Defence Force's 31 Battalion, Colonel Piet Hall could face prosecution following his failure to respond to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena to appear in Cape Town on Wednesday.

TRC spokesman Zenzile Khoisan told Sapa on Wednesday evening that the commission had handed Hall's case to the Western Cape Attorney-General for possible prosecution.

Hall was subpoenaed in connection with his battalion's human rights abuses of the !Xu and Khwe communities and the deaths of Paulino Dala, Augustino Kambinda, Kativa Kameia and C Kapisus in the Caprivi Strip in 1979.

He was also wanted to explain the excessive beatings and cohesion of the San communities to participate in SADF operations in Angola, Caprivi and Zambia.

"We gave him the required 14 days' notice so he could come and appear before Commissioner (Dumisa) Ntsebeza. We received a fax from his attorney addressed in the context of the hearing but he did not appear," Khoisan said.

Khoisan said two of Hall's colleagues in the 31st Battalion, corporals Paulo Chimbende and Mario Mahongo had already given evidence to the commission regarding the atrocities.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 16 1998 - SAPA

NP BACKS FORMER SADF CHIEFS' CALL FOR GENERAL AMNESTY

The National Party on Thursday came out in support of a call by three former South African Defence Force (SADF) chiefs for general amnesty to be granted to all soldiers and officials involved in the apartheid struggle.

Citing what they labeled the shortcomings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Generals Magnus Malan, Constand Viljoen and Jannie Geldenhuys on Tuesday said this was the only way to deal even-handedly with human rights violations committed by former SADF members and liberation fighters.

The NP said in a statement it doubted whether the African National Congress would heed this request, saying the ruling party had long realised that the TRC was an extremely effective political propaganda machine.

"It is therefore in the ANC's interest to prolong the life of the TRC as long as possible."

The NP accused the TRC of covering up misdeeds committed by the ANC and giving maximum publicity to those perpetuated by the security forces.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 17 1998 - SAPA

APLA LEADERS MUST COMPLETE AMNESTY PROCEDURES: DP

The Democratic Party said on Friday it intended to ask Western Cape Attorney-General Frank Kahn to prosecute the leaders of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) who gave orders for the attacks on the Heidelberg Tavern and St James Church.

This would be done if the Apla leaders failed to complete Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty procedures, DP TRC spokesperson Dene Smuts said in a statement.

"The leaders of the armed conflicts of the past, across the political spectrum, are shamelessly avoiding accountability," Smuts said.

With political violence flaring up again, it was important to expose and, where appropriate, prosecute past and present leaders.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 20 1998 - SAPA

START TO KHOTSO HOUSE AMNESTY HEARING DELAYED

The Khotso House amnesty hearing involving former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and ex-police commissioner Johan van der Merwe was on Monday postponed to Tuesday because of delays caused by legal procedures.

Vlok was law and order minister at the time of a bomb blast at the SA Council of Churches headquarters at Khotso House in Johannesburg on August 31, 1988. He is also applying for amnesty for the blowing-up of the Congress of SA Trade Unions headquarters on May 7, 1988 as well as a series of bomb blasts at cinemas showing the political film Cry Freedom.

Van der Merwe is applying for amnesty for the Khotso House blast which he previously told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he believed had been ordered by former president PW Botha.

When the hearing started at Democracy House in Visagie Street in Pretoria on Monday morning Vlok's lawyer, Louis Visser, requested a postponement.

He told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee he needed to consult Vlok about a new batch of documentation submitted to the committee, which he had not yet seen.

Committee chairman Judge Wilson said he was granting the adjournment somewhat reluctantly and apologised to the public, who attended the meeting to hear details about important events.

Visser said Vlok would be ready to testify on Tuesday morning.

Among the applicants are former Vlakplaas police base commander Eugene de Kock and 30 other policemen allegedly involved in the series of bombings.

De Kock, who is serving life sentences for murder and other crimes, has implicated Vlok in Vlakplaas dirty tricks. The two men are likely to come face-to-face during the amnesty hearing, which has been set down for two weeks.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 20 1998 - SAPA

FORMER COP WHO GUNNED DOWN AWB MEMBERS TO APPEAR BEFORE TRC

The former Bophuthatswana policeman who shot and killed three Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members during the rightwing invasion of Mafikeng in 1994, was expected to appear before the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission next month.

According to a statement from the TRC on Monday, Bernstein Menyatsoe's amnesty application was expected to be heard from August 3 to 7 at the Galowe Hall of the old Parliament building in Mmabatho.

Menyastoe shot the AWB members on the Vryburg road in the district of Molopo, Mafikeng. The shooting took place in full view of the media, public, police and members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force.

Former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope had called in the AWB to assist him to preserve his homeland's "independence" in the run up to the 1994 election.

During the hearing evidence will be led by Advocate Mokotedi.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 21 1998 - SAPA

SACC THANKS VLOK FOR TRUTH ON KHOTSO HOUSE BOMB

The South African Council of Churches on Tuesday said it was grateful that former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok had finally told the truth about the Khotso house bombing.

Vlok confirmed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria that former state president PW Botha personally ordered the attack in 1988 on the building - the SACC's headquarters.

In his application to the TRC's amnesty committee, Vlok claimed that in June 1988 President Botha called him aside, claiming the SACC was planning to disrupt local government elections.

Vlok said Botha ordered him to make Khotso House unusable because it was becoming an unholy place.

The SACC's Eddy Makue said he was disappointed that Vlok continued to claim that the building was used at the time to harbour African National Congress operatives.

But Makue said Vlok's testimony confirmed the SACC's claim that the government was behind the bombing - and he was grateful Vlok finally made the truth public.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 21 1998 - SAPA

NECKLACING PARTICIPANT GRANTED AMNESTY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Tuesday said it had granted amnesty to a man who participated in the necklacing of three people accused of collaborating with the police at the height of political unrest in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape in the 1980s.

Norman Gilindonda Gxekwa was granted amnesty for the death of Tando Dlala, Monwabisi Fanayo and Thozamile Dondashe. The three were hacked to death before tyres were put around their necks and set alight after they were accused of collaborating with security police at Kwanobuhle township between 1987 and 1988.

Gxekwa, a member of the United Democratic Front-aligned Action Committee, was convicted of the killing and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to 90 years.

Appearing before the amnesty committee earlier this year, Gxekwa admitted to the killing of Dlala and Dondashe, but denied being present when Fanayo was killed.

The committee said in its finding while he did not actually participate in the killing of Fanayo, he accepted criminal liability for that murder because he knew of it. He also associated himself with it. The offence was committed by the Action Committee because the deceased was regarded as a collaborator.

Gxekwa told the TRC the general activities of the Action Committee were first approved at a community meeting.

"Indeed, a letter from the Uitenhage branch of the African National Congress supports the application. It seems that it is accepted that whatever the applicant did and supported in respect of the group activities was done in the interest of the community oppressed by the apartheid system," the TRC said.

Granting amnesty, the amnesty committee said it was satisfied that the incidents were of a political nature.

It recommended that the families of three deceased be declared victims of gross human rights violations by the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee, making them eligible for reparation from the President's Fund.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 21 1998 - SAPA

ANC DENIES ORDERING BANK ROBBERIES TO FUND ARMED STRUGGLE

The African National Congress on Tuesday denied allegations that the organisation ordered its armed cadres to rob banks and cash-in-transit vehicles to fund its armed struggle during the early 1990s.

A senior ANC Ermelo member told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Tuesday that the organisation's leadership ordered the robberies, which saw a number of innocent security guards losing their lives.

In a statement, the ANC said it had noted the testimony of Fanyana John Mndebele at the TRC hearings in Ermelo.

"No such instruction as alleged by Mndebele to MK (Umkhonto we Sizwe) cadres to rob banks or cash-in-transit vehicles was ever issued by the command structures of MK or the constitutional structures of the ANC, either nationally or provincially," the statement said.

"In any event, the ANC had suspended armed struggle and related activities in 1990 following its meeting with leaders of the then National Party government in Grootte Schuur, Cape Town."

National Party spokesman Daryl Swanepoel challenged the ANC to allow weapons in the organisation's possession to be subjected to ballistic tests.

In a statement Swanepoel said despite the ANC's denial that it took part in armed robberies to generate funds, requests to test weapons belonging to the ANC had fallen on deaf ears.

"The NP has already on previous occasions asked for the weapons to be subjected to ballistic tests to ascertain whether any have indeed been used in criminal deeds," Swanepoel said.

"Still fresh in the minds of South Africans is Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi's visit to Colin Chauke in prison. Shortly after the visit Chauke escaped and reportedly attended a party at Deputy Minister Peter Mokaba's residence."

Chauke was allegedly a central figure in a number of cash-in-transit heists, he said.

"With South Africa dumped into a state of criminal anarchy by the ANC due to a lack of political will to deal decisively with crime, they owe it to the country to come clean on the issue."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 21 1998 - SAPA

DP URGES ANC REPLY ON ROBBERY ALLEGATIONS

The African National Congress should speak out on allegations that it approved armed robberies in the early 1990s as a means of generating funds, the Democratic Party said on Tuesday.

DP safety and security spokesman Douglas Gibson said the SABC had reported on Tuesday morning that an executive member of the party's Ermelo branch, John Mndebele, had told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that the ANC leadership had approved the robberies, as well as attacks on members of the Inkatha Freedom Party and on gangs in Mpumalanga.

"If this is true, it exposes the ANC's repeated calls for a new morality over the past few years as rank hypocrisy," Gibson said in a statement. "It also raises frightening questions."

These questions included:

- did the ANC equip its members to carry out armed robberies

- who were the members of the ANC leadership who approved or knew about the decision

- was the ANC's election campaign in 1994 partly financed by stolen money

- was there any connection between the ANC and the recent spate of armed robberies

Douglas called on the ANC to confirm or deny whether Mndebele's statement was true.

- ANC national spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa on Tuesday denied the allegation, saying no such instruction was ever given to Mkhonto weSizwe cadres - by the command structures of the organisation's former liberation army, or by the party's constitutional structures, nationally or provincially - to rob banks or cash-in-transit vehicles.

"In any event, the ANC had suspended the armed struggle and related activities in 1990, following its meeting with leaders of the then National Party government in Groote Schuur, Cape Town," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 21 1998 - SAPA

VLOK ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL POLICE ACTIONS

The highest ranking National Party politician to apply for amnesty, Adriaan Vlok, on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he accepted full responsibility for police actions in the latter years of the apartheid government.

Vlok, who as law and order minister under the apartheid government controlled police, was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee in Pretoria.

Vlok blamed former state president PW Botha for personally ordering an attack on the SA Council of Churches' headquarters at Khotso House in Johannesburg in August 1988, but said he took full "political and moral responsibility" for police conduct at the time.

"The buck stops here with me. I have to take political and moral responsibility for those actions, regular and irregular," Vlok said towards the end of a marathon submission to the amnesty committee.

During his testimony he sketched the situation that prevailed in the country at the time, and said he and the NP governement were convinced they were facing a communist onslaught.

He said people who believed this was an imaginary threat were wrong and should be grateful to the security forces for preventing the country from sliding into the "quagmire of communism".

Vlok went to great lengths to defend the actions of policemen he said could have misunderstood orders given by politicians.

He explained that at time words and phrases were used that could have been interpreted as orders to kill, although they were not intended that way. He listed terms like "eliminate the enemy" and "take them out" as examples.

He admitted using reckless language in his speeches and utterances that could have been construed by eager policemen as incitement to commit illegal acts.

Vlok's statements at Tuesday's hearing are likely to assist many policemen who have applied for amnesty for excesses committed in the name of duty.

Until now, no high-ranking NP politicain has admitted that police were given explicit or implicit orders to kill people deemed to be enemies of the state.

High-ranking policemen in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng who have applied for amnesty have until now been unable to name the superiors who gave them orders to kill African National Congress activists, apart from saying their actions had been tacitly approved.

Vlok only named Botha in the Khotso House bombing, one of the three incidents for which he is applying for amnesty.

Vlok said Botha approached him after a State Security Council meeting in June 1988 and told him to prevent Khotso from being used as an ANC safe house. Vlok said Botha never told him how this should be done and warned that civilians should not be injured in the operation.

When Khotso House was blown up in August 1988 and rendered unusable, Botha congratulated him and the police for a job well done.

Vlok said the Cosatu House blast in May 1987 was carried out because an SA Transport Workers' Union strike that was crippling the country was being planned from the building.

Vlok has also applied for amnesty for a series of bomb blasts triggered by police at cinemas showing the then politically contentious film Cry Freedom, which was about the life of Steve Biko.

During his testimony Vlok made numerous apologies for the suffering caused by apartheid which had been a misguided policy. However, he insisted that the state had been justified in fighting the forces of communism that were intent on taking control of South Africa.

He said the country was caught up a vicious circle whereby negotiations could not be held while there was unrest and disorder, and the unrest and disorder intensified because of a lack of negotiations.

Vlok also apologised to Shirley Gunn. He accused her at the time of the Khotso House blast of being involved in the detonation of the bomb.

He said using Gunn at the time had been a convenient cover for security force actions.

He said it would have been "unthinkable" for him to have admitted police involvement in the blast at the time.

Gunn has already been paid an out of court settlement of R70000 resulting from the incident.

Vlok is due to face cross-examination on Wednesday from an array of lawyers appearing for the various people affected by the incidents for which he is applying for amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ERMELO, Mpumalanga, July 21 1998 - SAPA

MK SOLDIER ADMITS TO MORE IFP MURDERS

A former Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier who is serving 237 years in jail for a number of murders during the liberation struggle confessed to killing two more Inkatha Freedom Party officials on Tuesday, African Eye News Service reported.

Mzwandile Gushu, 34, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Ermelo that he killed the two senior IFP officials in the early 1990s because they had plotted against African National Congress' allies.

Gushu also confirmed that he repeatedly shot Thandakukhanya's IFP mayor, Alpheus Msibi, simply because he was a prominent IFP member.

Gushu looted Msibi's shop and used the money to buy supplies for the ANC's underground structures, he said.

Msibi recovered from his injuries but his bodyguard, Themba Mlangeni, died in the attack.

Gushu is serving a jail term for Mlangeni's death.

He said the confession on Tuesday was his first public acknowledgement of his role in the deaths of IFP central executive member, Advice Gwala, and IFP Caprivi Strip trainee, Jwi Zwane.

Insisting that he killed the men under orders from his MK commanders, Gushu said Gwala was targeted because of his repeated participation in attacks by members of the Black Cats gang on Congress of SA Trade Unions and SA Communist Party members.

"I was also told that Gwala actively trained and organised the Black Cats, which we believed was a front for apartheid hitsquads. Gwala was a military target and I acted on my orders to kill him," Gushu said.

He said Zwane was targeted because of his close friendship with the leadership of Black Cats and because of his secret army training as a state assassin in the Caprivi Strip.

Gushu also confirmed his role in the death of Black Cats member Chris Ngwenya. He told the hearing he was ordered to kill Ngwenya after police failed to arrest a number of Black Cats members suspected of killing ANC members.

"The Black Cats repeatedly targeted our members and were actively assisted by a warrant officer known to us as Van Zyl. The policeman supplied them with weapons for the attacks and Ngwenya was involved."

He added that the money he stole from Msibi's shop was used to buy arms and ammunition for attacks on Black Cat members.

Gushu and 12 other ANC members, including Mpumalanga economic affairs MEC Jacob Mabena, have applied for amnesty for the killing of eight IFP and Black Cat members between 1990 and 1992.

The amnesty hearings are scheduled to end on Friday.

MK SOLDIER ROBBED TO FINANCE ANC OBJECTIVES, TRC HEARS

A former Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Ermelo that he robbed a bottle store to finance and further the aims and objectives of the African National Congress.

Mzwandile Gushu, 34, said he and several comrades robbed a bottle store belonging to a the Inkatha Freedom Party mayor of eThandakukhanya township near Piet Retief in Mpumalanga in the early 1990s, African Eye News Service reported.

Gushu is serving a 237-year jail sentence for six murders.

He said he shot dead mayor Alpheus Msibi and his bodyguard, Themba Mlangeni, before stealing money out of the cash register.

"My comrades took the money from the till to buy firearms and ammunition for our other comrades," Gushu said.

"As the leader of the team I used the money to further the aims and objectives of the African National Congress."

Asked to motivate his claim that his actions were political and not criminal, Gushu said: "At all times I committed each and every act under direct instructions and orders of the ANC command. And I acted as a trained (Umkhonoto weSizwe) soldier and member of the party."

During his testimony on Tuesday, Gushu confessed to killing two other senior IFP officials in the early 1990s because they had plotted against ANC allies. His confession was his first public acknowledgement of a role in the deaths of IFP central executive member Advice Gwala, and IFP Caprivi Strip trainee Jwi Zwane.

Gushu and 12 other ANC members, including Mpumalanga economic affairs MEC Jacob Mabena, have applied for amnesty for the killing of eight IFP and Black Cat vigilante gang members between 1990 and 1992.

The amnesty hearings are scheduled to end on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 22 1998 - SAPA

NP APPLAUDS VLOK'S APPEARANCE BEFORE THE TRC

The appearance of former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee was an example of the kind of acceptance that was required from ministers of the previous dispensation, the National Party said on Wednesday.

Vlok is currently appearing before the amnesty committee in Pretoria in connection with the bombing of Cosatu House and Khotso House in Johannesburg, as well as a series of blasts at cinemas where the film Cry Freedom was being shown in the 1980s.

"His submission is not clouded by evasions and attempts to abandon those who served under his political leadership," NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a statement.

He said Vlok's unqualified acceptance of political and moral responsibility for his actions, as well as the interpretation of orders, was what was expected in terms of ministerial responsibility.

Van Schalkwyk said millions of voters never voted for the horrendous violations which were now being revealed, "just as ANC supporters should be shocked about ANC misdeeds".

"The NP cannot condone the actions to which former minister Vlok referred.

"The fact that he has the courage and conviction to accept responsibility is, however, commendable," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 22 1998 - SAPA

TWO MEN GRANTED AMNESTY FOR CISKEI HEADMAN'S KILLING

Two Eastern Cape ANC men who admitted playing a role in the 1992 killing of a Ciskei headman have been granted amnesty, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said on Wednesday.

Zuko Makapela and Ludumo Mati, both of Alice, applied for amnesty for their role in the killing of Ndodiphela Maseti, a headman belonging to former Ciskei military leader Oupa Gqozo's African Democratic Movement.

Makapela and Mati were initially cleared of involvement in the killing by an inquest magistrate, but later admitted their guilt, the TRC said in a statement.

Maseti was stoned to death and his body set alight by a group of youths at Upper Gqumashe location in Alice on September 28, 1992.

The incident came in the wake of the Bisho massacre in which many African National Congress supporters were shot dead while marching on Bisho on September 7, 1992.

Granting amnesty to Makapela and Mati, the TRC's amnesty committee said their roles were largely peripheral but sufficient to render them legally liable for the killing.

"In view of the circumstances of the killing, we are satisfied that the incident was clearly of a political nature," the committee said in the statement.

The men's aplications were supported by the ANC, which confirmed their membership and the fact that the incident was in accordance with the nature of the political struggle at the time.

The committee recommended that Mrs Thandiswa Maseti be considered the victim of gross human rights violation by the reparation and rehabilitation committee, putting her in line for reparation from the President's Fund.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 22 1998 - SAPA

FW KNEW OF POLICE DIRTY TRICKS WHILE STILL PRESIDENT: TRC HEARS

Former president FW de Klerk knew of illegal covert actions by the police, including the bombing of Cosatu House and Khotso House, while the National Party was still in power, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe told the TRC's amnesty committee that they informed De Klerk long before the 1994 elections about police involvement in illegal activities.

The TRC also heard on Thursday that Nelson Mandela, who had no official position of authority at the time, assisted the police by restraining the Goldstone Commission investigating covert police activities.

Vlok and Van der Merwe are applying for amnesty for arranging the bombing of Cosatu House in May 1987 and Khotso House in August 1988, as well a series of blasts at cinemas showing the film Cry Freedom in 1988.

Vlok and Van der Merwe's testimony contradicts De Klerk's submission to the Truth Commission last year that he had no knowledge of any illegal police actions.

Van der Merwe told the committee he had complained to De Klerk in either 1991 or 1992 about the Goldstone Commission's investigations into police covert activities.

Van der Merwe said he explained to De Klerk that the police in fact bombed Khotso House and Cosatu House, Johannesburg head offices of the SA Council of Churches and the Congress of SA Trade Unions respectively.

He said he told De Klerk it was unfair that the police were still being pursued while investigations against African National Congress activities had been halted.

De Klerk replied that he would do everything to change the legislation so that the policemen involved would be granted indemnity. At that stage an indemnity process whereby policemen could be exculpated was being considered. However, this was later overtaken by TRC's amnesty process.

Van der Merwe said he heard nothing more from De Klerk and the Goldstone Commission continued its investigations. He said he then approached then justice minister Kobie Coetsee to get the commission's probe stopped, but that also proved fruitless.

Van der Merwe said he then went to Nelson Mandela for assistance.

"I explained to him that the police wished to play a role as far as the forthcoming (April 1994) elections were concerned. I told him (Mandela) that if the investigations against policemen continued, there would be no way I could motivate my people to maintain law and order if the elections went ahead," Van der Merwe said.

He said Mandela agreed with him and the investigations of police involvement in illegal activities stopped soon afterwards.

The Goldstone Commission's investigations were then referred to Transvaal attorney-general Dr Jan D'Oliviera. Van der Merwe said he then approached D'Oliviera and told him that policemen were responsible for the Khotso House and Cosatu House bombings, but that they had acted in accordance with government instructions.

All investigations against the policemen then stopped.

Asked why he thought De Klerk had not mentioned these incidents when he appeared before the TRC last year, Van der Merwe replied that it was probable that De Klerk did not consider the Khotso House and Cosatu House bobmbings as gross human rights violations.

Earlier on Wednesday Vlok said he informed De Klerk about the bombings long before the 1994 elections.

Vlok has admitted being involved in the incidents and has taken full responsiblity for the actions of the policemen who carried them out.

He said he told De Klerk and his colleagues that he intended applying for indemnity from prosecution for illegal acts for which, as police minister, he was responsible.

Vlok said his Cabinet colleagues told him they did not intend applying for indemnity because they did not believe they had done anything wrong.

Vlok said he also told former president PW Botha about the illegal acts he committed while he was a government minister.

Replying to a question by Roelof du Plessis, who is appearing for policemen involved in the bombings, Vlok said he discussed his position with both Botha and De Klerk before applying for amnesty.

He said he was bound to do this because of the oath of secrecy he took when first joining Botha's Cabinet.

Vlok said De Klerk had known about his intention to apply for amnesty for illegal acts, but had not asked for any details of the incidents.

"Are you saying it suited him (De Klerk) not to know," Du Plessis asked, to which Vlok replied: "I have no comment".

Du Plessis made a point of thanking Vlok for his display of leadership by taking responsiblity for the actions of the policemen who served under him during his time as minister.

Du Plessis said his submission to the TRC was also appreciated by the policemen he was representing.

Up and until now no person of authority in the old regime has claimed responsiblity for illegal actions carried out by the police in support of the former National Party government.

Vlok has said some over-zealous policemen carried out illegal acts as a result of reckless political speeches at the time or as a result of misunderstanding terms such as "eliminating the enemy" and "taking people out".

The hearing continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY July 22 1998 - SAPA

MOTION ON NP LEADERS TRC DISCLOSURES TABLED

The National Assembly is to be asked to call on the National Party to ensure that people such as the two former presidents PW Botha and FW de Klerk follow Adriaan Vlok's example by making full disclosures to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

African National Congress MP Fatima Hajaij on Wednesday gave notice that she would ask the House to note Vlok's admission that he had planned the bombing of Khotso and Cosatu houses with Botha.

It should also note that the NP had always refused to accept any responsibility for the bombing of South African Council of Churches headquarters Khotso House and many other acts of apartheid terror.

Hajaij said current NP leadership should be asked to urge other senior members of the apartheid government, including De Klerk, to make a full and frank confession about their authorisation of such crimes.

"Only such a universal admission will enable South Africans to rebuild the moral fibre of our country," she said.

Earlier, Justice Minister Dullah Omar told the House that while a delegation of top ANC leaders had made full disclosure to the TRC on the movement's anti-apartheid struggle, only Vlok among former National Party cabinet ministers, had made a similar appearance on the regime's behalf.

The ANC delegation, headed by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, had accepted full political and moral responsibility for excesses committed in the struggle, and it should be remembered that apartheid had been declared a crime against humanity, he said in reply to a question from Glen Carelse (NP).

Omar said that in his amnesty evidence to the TRC this week, Vlok had pointed a finger at Botha as having ordered the bombing of Khotso House.

Referring to 75 NP questions on Wednesdays's order paper on the workings of the TRC, Omar said MPs would have to patient and wait for the body's final report, which he could not pre-empt.

This report would be debated fully in the House.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON July 22 1998 - SAPA

FORMER TRC REGIONAL CHAIRMAN ELECTED CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER

Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission regional chairman Rev Bongani Finca has been appointed chief electoral officer in the Eastern Cape.

He said on Wednesday he had heard rumours of the appointment, but had not been officially informed by the Independent Electoral Commission.

He said the appointment came as a surprise to him, although he had been interviewed for the job by the IEC a few months ago.

Finca said when he went for the interview he knew his contract with the TRC would terminate at the end of July with the closure of its Eastern Cape regional offices.

He said being the IEC provincial chief electoral officer was a major challenge for him and he would commit himself to the job as the IEC was established in terms of the constitution to safeguard the new democracy in South Africa.

Finca and two of his assistants, Siyabonga Maki and Peter Reynolds, will set up the IEC provincial head office in East London before the end of this month.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 23 1998 - SAPA

FOUR EX-MK CADRES TO APPEAR BEFORE THE TRC

Four former members of the African National Congress' millitary wing, UmKhonto weSizwe, are scheduled to appear before the TRC's amnesty committee in Mabopane near Pretoria in August for their part in the killing of former Bophuthatswana policeman, Brigadier Andrew Molope in 1986.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission statement on Thursday said the hearing was scheduled to be heard from August 6, at the ODI Manpower Centre in Mabopane. Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe would lead evidence at the hearing.

The applicants, Joseph Elias Makhura, France Ting Ting Masango, Obed Masina and Neo Potsane, shot Molope with assault rifles at a house in Mabopane.

They claim that the operation was carried out in accordance with the aims and objectives of the ANC.

The shooting was reported to the police, but the applicants were never charged, the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PARLIAMENT July 23 1998 - SAPA

COMMISSIONERS USE TRC CREDIT CARDS FOR PRIVATE EXPENSES

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had allowed its commissioners and committee members to incur private expenses on TRC Diner's Club cards, the auditor-general's office said in a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

"The (TRC) accounting officer's attention was drawn to the fact that a policy regarding this practise had not been adopted, and that the commission did not have any formal agreement with the employees concerned whereby it could demand repayment of the debt," the auditor-general said.

Repayments made by employees could not be audited adequately and no audit trail existed whereby the repayments could be traced to a specific account.

The auditor-general said the TRC's accounting officer had since advised staff members in possession of Diner's Club cards that they would have to complete a certificate in respect of all private expenditure incurred.

"The effectiveness of the envisaged control measures will be evaluated during the next audit," the auditor-general said in the report, which covered the TRC's 1996/97 financial year.

The degree to which the credit cards had been used for private purposes was not quantified.

The auditor-general also identified several control deficiencies and other errors in respect of the procurement of goods, services and assets.

Controls over the TRC's payroll were also found to be inadequate, its asset register was insufficient, and the body did not comply with Tender Board regulations.

The TRC spent a total of R61,9 million in the financial year ending March 31, 1997. Its income totalled R74,4 million, R70 million of which came from government, R2,3 million from donations and R2 million from "other sources".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 23 1998 - SAPA

COSATU CALLS FOR CLARITY ON THE AMNESTY PROCESS

The Congress of SA Trade Unions on Thursday called for clarity on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty process, Network Radio News reported.

Cosatu's general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa said the commission should stop wasting time on "apartheid's foot soldiers" and concentrate on the leaders who ordered the apartheid-era atrocities.

He said Cosatu appreciated the TRC's work, but it must satisfy the public that former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe were telling the truth.

Shilowa found it strange that after denying any involvement for so long, Vlok decided to accept responsibility for the bombing of Cosatu House.

Shilowa said Vlok would find it difficult to convince the commission that the bombing was politically motivated. He also denied allegations that President Nelson Mandela had interfered with the investigation of the apartheid-era police operations.

Mandela had always had the interests of the people at heart, he added.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ERMELO July 23 1998 - SAPA

POLICE ARMED VIGILANTES AS LATE AS 1992: TRC HEARS

A former KwaZulu-Natal police constable told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Ermelo on Thursday that police armed vigilante groups to kill African National Congress supporters as late as 1992.

The vigilantes were given effective immunity for the killings because police either stalled the murder investigations or lost the dockets, Bongani Wilberforce Khaba said.

Khaba, 24, is serving 32 years in jail for murdering a Black Cat leader after switching sides and joining the ANC, African Eye News Service reported.

Confessing that he had personally received firearms from security branch policemen, Khaba told the amnesty committee the weapons were issued to vigilantes from municipal authority offices.

Four policemen identified only as Sergeant Botha, Captain Botha, Captain Marias and Warrant Officer van Zyl issued the rifles and pistols, he said.

"The group of policemen and Black Cat leader Jwi Zwane gave us the guns and simply told us to kill all ANC sympathisers that we could find."

Khaba said the firearms were stored at the home of Black Cat member Chris Ngwenya when they were not being used.

He said for his part in the murders he was made a special constable in the KwaZulu police. He was trained at Matitukulu between May and June 1991.

"I was completely shocked, however, to witness the Black Cats in action while on one of my first trips back home," said Khaba.

"They terrorised the community, gunning down old people and pregnant women, and raping all the young girls."

He said the police and Inkatha Freedom Party Caprivi trainees protected the gangsters against reprisal attacks.

Khaba said the behaviour of Black Cat members opened his eyes and prompted him to testify before the Goldstone Commission.

His mother was gunned down, allegedly by Black Cat members, shortly afterwards.

"I then joined the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and was ordered to eliminate Black Cat gunman Obed Friday Nhlabathi by local MK commander Mzwandile Gushu," he said.

Khaba said that Nhlabathi, Bongani Malinga and another man identified only as Ngozo were main forces behind the Black Cats.

"I and a friend pretended to be Black Cat members and forced our way into Ermelo Hospital where Nhlabathi was recovering after being wounded by ANC comrades," said Khaba. "We cornered him and shot him dead. I was under political MK orders at the time and it had nothing to do with taking revenge for my mother's death."

Gushu, who testified both on Wednesday and Thursday, rounded off his controversial testimony by apologising publicly to families of his 14 IFP victims.

Gushu earlier told the amnesty committee that ANC activists had robbed bottlestores and other shops to fund the armed struggle against both the Black Cats and the apartheid state.

IFP legal counsel Johan Hattingh on Thursday demanded that all testimony from Gushu be dismissed. He accused Gushu of lying about being a political activist and said he was a hardened criminal.

He said Gushu had not mentioned that his crimes were politically motivated when he was arrested.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 23 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO NOTIFY THOSE IMPLICATED IN ILLEGAL POLICE ACTS

President Nelson Mandela and former president FW de Klerk are to be given a chance to respond to allegations made in this week's Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee hearings that they knew about illegal police activities in the early 1990s.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a statement said De Klerk, Mandela, Judge Richard Goldstone, former justice minister Kobie Coetsee and Transvaal Attorney-General Jan D'Olivera would be formally notified that they were implicated in testimony given to the committee on Wednesday.

This follows an urgent meeting of the TRC on Thursday when allegations made at Wednesday's hearings were discussed.

"The commission noted that it had been alleged in the press that there was a conflict between what was said yesterday (Wednesday) and what De Klerk said when he gave evidence before the full commission in 1996 and 1997."

It was decided that since the matter had been raised at amnesty hearings, it would be appropriate for the amnesty committee to deal with the matter.

The names of Mandela and others were mentioned in applications for amnesty by former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe for arranging the bombings of Cosatu House and Khotso House in the late 1980s.

Van der Merwe testified that he told De Klerk in 1991 that the police were involved in the bombings and asked the former president to prevent the Goldstone Commission from investigating these matters.

He said when De Klerk did nothing, he approached Coetsee without success and then went to Mandela, who agreed to intervene.

Van der Merwe said the investigations into police involvement in the bombings stopped soon afterwards.

Both Mandela and De Klerk on Thursday reacted to media stories about the amnesty committee hearing.

De Klerk's office rejected assertions that he misled the TRC about his knowledge of covert police operations during the apartheid years.

De Klerk's denials to the TRC related to his own complicity in such actions, not to his knowledge of them, a statement said.

De Klerk did not tell the TRC that he knew nothing about the role of the police in the bombings of Cosatu House and Khotso House, his office said.

"The gist of Mr De Klerk's replies clearly shows that he was aware of their involvement, and that he knew this would be the subject of amnesty applications."

Mandela's spokesman Parks Mankahlana said Mandela never interfered with the operations of the Goldstone Commission investigating unlawful acts of the police in the early 1990s.

"President Mandela was not a head of state or government at the time, he therefore could not have at any point interfered with the activities of a legally constituted commission of inquiry," Mankahlana said.

"The authority to do that at the time was FW De Klerk who was head of state," he said.

Mankahlana said Mandela had no recollection of any discussion between him and Van der Merwe about the Khotso House or Cosatu House bombings.

The TRC said notices were being sent to the people concerned in terms of section 30 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, which states that people who are implicated should be given the opportunity to testify or submit representation.

Transcripts of the relevant testimony would be sent to the implicated people along with the notices.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 23 1998 - SAPA

POLICE WOULD HAVE GONE TO EXTREMES TO COVER UP BOMBINGS

The police were willing to go to extreme lengths to cover up their involvement in the Cosatu House bombing, former police general Gerrit Erasmus told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's ammnesty committee in Pretoria on Thursday.

Erasmus, along with former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok, former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and more than 30 policemen, is applying for amnesty for blowing up Khotso House and Cosatu House in Johannesburg in the late 1980s.

Khotso House was the head office of the SA Council of Churches and Cosatu House the headquarters of the SA Congress of Trade Unions.

Erasmus told the commission he told the squad of policemen headed by former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock that they should shoot their way out of trouble if confronted by anyone while bombing Cosatu House.

Asked if this meant they should shoot other policemen who may have come across the squad of bombers in or near Cosatu House, Erasmus replied that he could not recall saying those words, but it was possible that he might have. If he did say that he did not mean it literally, he said.

De Kock has said on previous occasions that he understood the order to be serious. De Kock is also applying for amnesty and is due to testify at the hearings on Friday.

Erasmus was asked by one of the committee members, Leah Gcabahse, if the subsequent police investigation into the bombing had been a cover-up.

Erasmus replied that he could not remember but said it was not far fetched to believe that this was so. He said any good policeman investigating the blast would have soon discovered that the bomb had been detonated by the police.

Erasmus said the police decided to damage the building after receiving information from an informer within Cosatu about subversive activies.

When asked by Percy Mafonjane, who is appearing for Cosatu, to name the informer, Erasmus replied that he could never reveal his source. He said even today the life of an informer was not worth much after being exposed.

"But you would be surprised to know who were informers in Cosatu House," he said.

Cosatu general-secretary Sam Shilowa attended Thursday's hearings and later told reporters he did not believe the top policemen were making a full disclosure about the bombing of Cosatu House.

He said Cosatu was only opposing the amnesty applications of Vlok and Van der Merwe, and not those of the "footsoldiers".

Shilowa disputed the claim by Vlok and the policemen that they were justified in bombing Cosatu House because illegal activities were taking place in the building. Shilowa said they did not have "a shred of evidence" to support their claims.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 24 1998 - SAPA

MORE POLICE DIRTY TRICKS REVEALED AT VLOK AMNESTY HEARINGS

More dirty tricks used by the police to discredit and intimidate political opponents and church leaders were revealed at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings in Pretoria on Friday.

Former security police captain Michael Bellinghan was testifying at the hearing in which former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe are applying for amnesty for clandestine bombings in the late 1980s.

These include the bombing of Cosatu House in March 1987 and the headquaters of the SA Council of Churches at Khotso House in August 1988.

Bellinghan is applying for amnesty for bugging opponents of apartheid and breaking into and destroying their property. He said as the head of the church desk of the security police he targeted individuals involved in liberation theology, as well as anti- conscription campainers.

He has admitted throwing bricks through windows of offices and vehicles used by known church activisits including Rev Rob Robertson and Dr Beyers Naude.

He said his objectives were to intimidate opponents of the government and to boost the image of the security police.

"This would make activists and terrorists think twice before engaging in harmful acts against the state and civilians," Bellinghan said in his submission to the amnesty committee. He said he also recruited informants inside Khotso House and among journalists working in the local media.

In order to do this he established a media agency that purported to be of leftist political persuasion but was a front for the security police.

He said he obtained information from journalists by paying them for their contibutions to his agency, which he promised would distribute their articles and photogrpahs internationally.

"In fact they never went further than the files," he told the committee.

Bellinghan is due to continue his testimony on Monday. Friday's hearing was adjourned early because committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson suffered from a persistent nose bleed.

Earlier on Friday Van der Merwe asked the committee for an opportunity to correct the impression that he tried to quash the Goldstone Commission of inquiry into illegal police activities.

Van der Merwe said during his testimony this week he referred to a meeting he had with Nelson Mandela, who was not yet president of the country. He said he had not in any way intended to convey the impression that he asked Mandela to stop the Goldstone inquiry.

He said he had merely tried to bring to the attention of Mandela the difficulties the police were having at the time. He said he had not specifically mentioned police involvement in the Khotso House and Cosatu House bombings. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ERMELO July 24 1998 - SAPA

IFP SUPORTERS WALK OUT OF TRUTH HEARING IN ANGER

Angry Inkatha Freedom Party supporters walked out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings in Ermelo, Mpumalanga on Friday after accusing the amnesty committee of favouring an applicant.

African National Congress member Bongani Khaba, 24, is seeking amnesty for killing IFP supporter and member of the Black Cats vigilante gang, Obed Nhlabathini, in May 1992.

The IFP's legal counsel, led by Advocate Johan Hattingh, argued that Khaba, who used to be member of the Black Cats vigilante gang as well as a special police constable in KwaZulu-Natal before joining the ANC, killed Nhlabathini to avenge his mother's death and not for political reasons and therefore did not qualify for amnesty.

IFP supporters in the Ermelo community hall were angered when the amnesty committee prevented Hattingh from cross-examining Khaba about other murders he allegedly committed.

Committee member Judge Ronny Pillay argued that Khaba could not be cross-examined on murders for which he had not applied for amnesty.

After an argument, IFP supporters walked out of the hall and began toyi-toying outside. The hearings had to be adjourned until Monday.

Khaba has confessed that he and fellow ANC member Livingstone Lukhele pretended to be Black Cats members "visiting" Nhlabathini, who was being treated at Ermelo hospital for an earlier gunshot wound.

They both shot him dead as he lay in his hospital bed.

Hattingh said Khaba killed Nhlabathi to avenge the death of his mother who had been killed earlier in the day by Black Cats members.

Khaba is serving a 32 year sentence at Barberton prison for the murder.

Twelve ANC members, including Mpumalanga's economic affairs and gaming MEC Jacob Mabena, are applying for amnesty for killing eight IFP supporters and injuring six others.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 27 1998 - SAPA

TRC HAS HARMED RACE RELATIONS: SURVEY

Almost two thirds of urban South Africans believe the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings into gross human rights abuses during the apartheid era has worsened race relations, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Business Day newspaper.

The survey, conducted by AC-Nielsen.MRA (Market Research Africa), was conducted among 2500 people from all income and race groups.

Respondents were questioned about their views on the comission and whether it had achieved its purpose of bringing about reconcilliation in South Africa.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents agreed the commission's hearings would help the country's people live more easily together and 38 percent disagreed.

Only 18 percent said the commission's hearings had not worsened race relations.

Of all populations groups, Indians felt most strongly that the commission made matters worse between the races, with 74 percent supporting this viewpoint.

MRA director Brian Culross said 72 percent of white respondents felt the same way, as did 62 percent of blacks and coloureds.

Almost 70 percent of whites felt the commission would not help South Africans live together better, while more than half the Indians and just less than half of the coloureds interviewed also agreed with this.

Only 22 percent of blacks shared this view and 60 percent agreed the commission had been fair. The same percentage of whites, however, disagreed that the commission had been fair.

In the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and North-West, 70 percent of respondents had strong negative views on whether the commission had achieved its goals and felt it had worsened relations between the races.

Respondents were questioned on the following statements:

- hearing what went on in the past has made people even more angry and has resulted in worse feelings between the races than before;

- the commission's work will result in all the people of South Africa living together more easily; and,

- the commission was fair to all sides and to all races.

Respondents were invited to strongly agree, tend to agree, neither agree nor disagree, tend to disagree, strongly disagree or state that they did not know.

Regarding a plan by senior TRC commissioners to set up an institution for change, memory and reconciliation to assess the effect of the commission's work over the past two years, nearly half of those interviewed felt the commissioners were likely to be biased in their self evaluation.

Some 43 percent of respondents felt the proposed new institution was unnecessary as other groups were already providing this function.

An almost equal number said it was essential for such an organisation to be established to continue the commission's work when it shut down.

Political analysts who were approached for comment on the results of the survey said the value of the commission's process could not be judged effectively for some years.

Reacting to the survey, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Monday said people thought reconcilliation meant avoiding confrontation.

"But real reconciliation involves exposing falsehoods and confronting people with the truth. That is a divisive thing - the truth hurts.

"If you doubt that, ask Jesus Christ, who was crucified for telling the truth," Tutu said.

He said every South African had to be challenged and asked what they were doing for reconciliation.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG July 27 1998 - SAPA

TRC AMNESTY COMMITTEE TO HEAR SDU APPLICATIONS IN AUGUST

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee will hear applications early next month from six former self-defence unit (SDU) members who killed three people near Carletonville in western Gauteng.

Judge Hassen Mall was expected to chair the hearings at the Carletonville city hall from August 11 to 13, the TRC said in a statement on Monday.

Commission spokesman Vuyani Green said Emmanuel Selepe was seeking amnesty for killing alleged comrade-turned- vigilante Tafa Kheswa at Khutsong township on May 6, 1991.

Kheswa was stoned to death after being fetched from his house by a group of SDU members.

Joel Mokoena, Khuntwana van Rooyen, Abram Maumakwe, Lebohang van Rooyen and Matshogo Morupisi applied for amnesty for their role in the killing of KK Nqaqu from the Xhosa section and Bafino Sedisa from the Tswana section of Bekkersdal near Westonaria on September 8, 1991.

The deceased were believed to be members of a group of gangsters waging a reign of terror in the township.

Green said the applicants were serving prison terms ranging from ten to 13 years.

All six appealed against their sentences and were still awaiting the outcome of their appeals.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ERMELO July 27 1998 - SAPA

IFP LAWYERS DEMAND AMNESTY CHAIR RESIGN

Lawyers representing the Inkatha Freedom Party in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing in Ermelo on Monday demanded the immediate resignation of amnesty committee chairman Judge Ronny Pillay.

Advocate Johan Hattingh, head of the IFP's legal team, told the committee his clients had ordered him to demand Pillay's removal on the grounds that he favoured the African National Congress amnesty applicants.

This followed Pillay's refusal on Friday to allow cross-examination of ANC applicant Bongani Khaba, 24, about murders for which he had not applied for amnesty.

On Friday angry IFP supporters stormed out of the TRC hearing after accusing Pillay of bias. IFP supporters arrived at the hearing in large numbers on Monday and police had to remove the party's local chairman, Mthunzi Motha, who was accused of being under the influence of alcohol and misbehaving.

No-one was able to testify by late afternoon because of the debate between the legal counsel and the amnesty committee members.

Khaba confessed last week that he and fellow ANC member Livingstone Lukhele killed a member of the Black Cats gang and IFP supporter, Obed Nhlabathini, in May 1992 to avenge the death of Khaba's mother.

Khaba said they pretended to be Black Cats members "visiting" Nhlabathini in Ermelo hospital, where he was being treated for a gunshot wound, and then shot him as he lay in his hospital bed.

Khaba is serving 32 years at Barberton prison for the murder.

Twelve ANC members, including Mpumalanga's economic affairs MEC Jacob Mabena, are applying for amnesty for killing eight IFP supporters and injuring six others.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 27 1998 - SAPA

SSC NEVER ASKED VLOK ABOUT COSATU BOMB BLAST, TRC TOLD

The State Security Council never asked former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok to explain the bomb blast at Cosatu House in May 1987, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Pretoria on Monday.

Vlok is applying for amnesty for bomb attacks on Cosatu House, Khotso House and cinemas where the film Cry Freedom was being screened.

Cosatu House and Khotso House were the Johannesburg headquarters of the Congress of SA Trade Unions and the SA Council of Churches respectively.

Vlok said he did not report the bombing of Cosatu House to the State Security Council, set up in 1985 to control the deteriorating unrest situation in the country, and the council also did not ask him about the bombing.

"Are you telling us that a bomb blast in the middle of the biggest city in the country was never discussed at the State Security Council?" committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson asked Vlok.

Vlok replied that it was never discussed.

Vlok also denied the police attack on Cosatu House in 1987 was part of a countrywide government campaign against the trade union. Vlok said the government considered Cosatu an important element in calming the explosive situation that prevailed in the country at the time.

"We knew it was a strong labour movement and were careful not to act against the leadership. However, it's a pity Cosatu did not concern itself with only labour matters and became involved in other activities," Vlok said.

He said it was decided to take action against the union's headquarters to prevent it being used to plan and carry out revolutionary activities. He said after Cosatu House was bombed many of these activities stopped.

He denied there ever was a plan to launch a countrywide campaign against the trade union federation.

When Vlok was asked about a series of attacks on Cosatu offices and officials around the country at the time, he said he knew nothing about them. He said he was sorry he allowed a situation to arise in which incidents such as these occurred. However, there were so many incidents of violence occurring around the country at the time that it was difficult to control the situation.

"But it not possible for me to take resonsibility for everything that happened," he said.

Vlok was also closely questioned about his decision to bomb Khotso House.

Answering a question from Eric Dane, appearing on behalf of the SACC, Vlok said police never had any evidence that the SACC had ever acted unlawfully.

He agreed that the churches represented by the SACC had also not committed any unlawful acts, but said police at the time believed there were individuals in the various churches who were abusing facilities at Khotso House. Asked why it had been necessary to attack the SACC, Vlok replied that it was the building that was the target and not the religious institution itself.

Comittee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson then said: "If someone blows up my house I would consider that an attack on me."

Vlok insisted that the attack was against individuals who had links with the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe who were making use of Khotso House.

Earlier on Monday, former security police captain Michael Bellinghan said the government's propaganda campaign against anti-apartheid activists was implemented by all government departments.

He said Stratcom, (stratetic communications) was set up to manipulate propaganda and had representatives in all government departments, including Education and Training and Foreign Affairs.

He said it was decided to act against the SACC because its support for the anti-apartheid movements in the 1980s tipped the scales against the government in the propaganda war.

He said up to then the government had claimed it was fighting for Christian values, but the SACC's decision to align itself with the people fighting against apartheid changed the balance. This led to more international pressure on the government which was becoming increasingly isolated.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PARLIAMENT July 27 1998 - SAPA

NP TABLES MORE TRC QUESTIONS

The National Party is continuing with its bid to flood Justice Minister Dullah Omar with parliamentary questions on the activities of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In the latest list of questions submitted by parties for written reply by ministers, the NP tabled seven more dealing with the TRC.

Last week Omar gave a blanket answer to 75 questions put by the NP on the workings of the TRC.

He told MPs they should be patient and wait for the commission's report, which would be tabled and fully debated in Parliament once it had been completed.

In the latest list, NP TRC spokesman Jaco Maree asked Omar whether any members of the NP had recently put a number of questions to him on the TRC.

Maree wanted to know whether Omar had replied to any of these within ten parliamentary working days, and if not, why not.

Rudolph Groenewald wanted to know, among other things, whether a specific work method had been followed to reply to the questions about the TRC put by the NP.

He also asked whether the department had incurred any expenses to reply to the questions, and what the cost was, while Willem Fourie asked whether any of the questions on the TRC put by the NP "were difficult for his department of the TRC to answer as it was difficult to acquire the necessary information".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 27 1998 - SAPA

COURT RULES BASSON MUST APPEAR BEFORE TRUTH BODY

The Cape High Court on Monday ordered that the mastermind behind the apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme, Dr Wouter Basson, must testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's committee on human rights abuses on Wednesday.

High Court Judge John Hlophe dismissed Basson's bid to enforce his right as an accused in pending criminal proceedings involving the programme.

The judge also directed that any appeal to be brought against his order would not suspend the execution of the ruling.

In papers before the court the head of the TRC's investigative unit, Dumisani Ntsebeza, said besides his involvement in the chemical and biological warfare programme, Basson would also be required to testify about his so-called Project Coast.

The commissioner contended that Basson's High Court application amounted to delaying tactics, as well as an abuse of court procedures, designed to ensure that hewould not testify before the commission at all.

With the TRC wrapping up its operations at the end of the week, the case was the last chance to force Basson to appear.

In an affidavit Basson said he had already been arrested and was now an accused in the same criminal matters about which the TRC wished to question him.

Basson claimed he had a constitutional right to remain silent on the matter.

He said he was not refusing to testify before the TRC, and may well be prepared to do so under protection procedures still to be agreed.

However, he did not wish to testify promptly, as demanded by the commission.

His counsel, Piet de Jager, SC, contended that the issue was whether Basson had a right to remain silent on matters similar to those forming the basis of criminal charges pending against him.

De Jager said there was a difference between the absolute right of an accused to remain silent, and the ordinary right of an accused, or witness, against self-incrimination.

The latter right attached particularly to a witness - who was not an accused as well - where the forum was also not a court of law.

De Jager said the right of an accused to remain silent had as its foundation his right to challenge the state to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge said he was aware of the high profile of the Basson application, but it was a complex matter and not one in which a ruling, with reasons, could readily be given.

He said the Cape High Court was not in the habit of reserving judgments for months, and he would therefore announce his ruling immediately - dismissing the application - but give reasons later.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 28 1998 - SAPA

BIEHL KILLERS TO BE RELEASED FROM PRISON

The four prisoners granted amnesty on Tuesday for their part in the slaying of American exchange student Amy Biehl in 1993 will be released from prison as soon their documentation has been processed, Correctional Services spokesman Johan Pienaar said.

Pienaar said Mongezi Christopher Manqina was in the Brandvlei prison near Worcester while the others, Vusumzi Samuel Ntamo, Ntobeko Ambrose Peni and Easy Mzikhona Nofemela, were at the Malmesbury prison.

"We won't be able to process their releases until we have received all the documentation," Pienaar said.

"We also have to check on their medical condition and whether any further charges are pending."

Pienaar was unable to put a date on their release.

The four were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday morning.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG, July 28 - SAPA-AFP

RACIAL RECONCILIATION WILL NOT BE EASY: TUTU

Reconciliation between South Africa's different races will not be easy, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) head Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a radio broadcast on Tuesday.

Tutu, in charge head of the body probing crimes committed between 1960 and 1994 during the fight against apartheid rule, said he was not surprised at recent survey findings that the commission's works had caused a deterioration in race relations.

A prime foe of apartheid as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, before he renounced some of his church responsibilities to head the TRC set up by the new black majority government, Tutu said it was not to be expected that different races would want to live "happily ever after" in the wake of the ghastly revelations at commission hearings about the often- racist crimes committed during apartheid.

Tutu, the 1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end racial segregation and deep-rooted enmities, told South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) news that the commission itself could not bring about reconciliation.

"Don't look for somebody else to be the one who is going to do the reconciliation," he told his compatriots. "You must say, 'What is my role in bringing about reconciliation?'

"Each South African is going to have to say, 'What is the contribution I am going to be making to what will be a national project?'"

The survey, commissioned by Business Day newspaper and conducted by AC Nielsen-Market Research Africa, interviewed about 2,500 people from all race groups and income brackets, representing an urban population of 13.7 million.

It found that 74 percent of people of Asian descent and 72 percent of whites believed that public hearings by the TRC had led to a worsening of relations between the races.

Following close on their heels were 62 percent of coloureds (mixed-race citizens) and blacks who felt the same way.

Hailed worldwide as a model for airing gross violations of human rights without resorting to Nuremburg-style trials, the TRC is due to hand its final report on human rights violations to Mandela at the end of October.

Since the historic first all-race 1994 election that swept President Nelson Mandela's African National Congress to power, Tutu has steadfastly called on his racially divided society to reconcile and forgive atrocities of the past.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY July 28 1998 - SAPA

FF WARNS ON TRC's `DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS'

The time had come for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the African National Congress government to conduct an investigation into the destructive effects of the TRC's one-sided workings on South African society, the Freedom Front said on Tuesday.

This was in view of the fact that two-thirds of urban South Africans thought the TRC had worsened race relations, FF leader Constand Viljoen said in a statement.

The FF was the only party which had voted against the TRC Act, and warned that it would cause polarisation and not bring about reconciliation, he said.

Now that the latest Market Research Africa (MRA) opinion poll confirmed this, renewed attention had to be given to ways of salvaging the situation.

A general amnesty would contribute towards preventing further polarisation, especially if it was considered by recognised courts in terms of the codicil to the 1993 interim Constitution, Viljoen said.

The TRC would also have to do everything possible to ensure that its report was not characterised by the same one- sidedness of the preceding process.

If the report was one-sided, it would simply exacerbate the polarisation already caused.

After the 1999 elections, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and his government would have to urgently correct the negative end result of the TRC process with a positive programme, which would have to be forward looking, Viljoen said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 28 1998 - SAPA

AMY'S KILLERS SHOULD GET SUPPORT, SAYS HER PARENTS

It was essential for families and communities to support individuals granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on their release, the parents of slain American exchange student Amy Biehl said on Tuesday.

Peter and Linda Biehl in a statement released via the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust said they hoped the four prisoners granted amnesty for their part in the slaying of Amy in 1993 would receive the support necessary to live productive lives in a non-violent atmosphere.

"In fact, we hope the spirits of Amy and of those like her will be a force in their new lives," the Biehls said.

They said Amy had been drawn to South Africa as a student and she admired President Nelson Mandela's vision of a "rainbow nation".

"It is this vision of foregiveness and reconciliation that we have honoured."

The Biehls said they had worked with and learned about many South Africans and had shared South Africa's pain.

"We must never forget people who lost their lives in the struggle. We must honour them in discovering new approaches - non-violence partnerships - to create the South Africa which Nelson Mandela, Amy and those who perished dream of, a new, multiracial democratic nation."

At the same time the Biehls expressed concern about the violence which still existed and which was bound to escalate as the 1999 elections approached.

Amy was one of many killed in the violent political climate preceding the 1994 elections.

"Unfortunately, we are seeing today similar power struggles occurring throughout communities and the country. Violence remains the order of the day in promoting certain political agendas. Violence and fear are never hallmarks of a democratic way of life," the Biehls said.

They said they were aware, having worked with people of disadvantaged communities, of the need for change in the lives of South Africa's marginalised people.

They had experienced their own small struggles in trying to complete projects in partnership with many community groups.

"Obstacles abound, community requests are made, partnerships are formed, but implementation is slow."

The Biehls said that regardless of the roadblocks or the minefields they would continue, within their limits, to work in partnership with people who were "wonderfully" inspired to help themselves.

"We are working on violence prevention projects throughout the Cape Flats and hope to encourage and motivate other people to do the same thing. We have enjoyed many positive experiences with great partners and highly recommend this type of service to South Africa." The Biehls emphasised that every life was significant. Amy's life and death had received a lot of publicity and as her parents they had experienced great pain.

"But we are not alone. Working through the pain has not been easy, but we have learned so much about South Africa's pain while on our personal journey."

They said the amnesty process had been a unique experience for individuals and for South Africa as a nation and the decisions made had not been taken lightly.

"If amnesty is granted to individuals who have been imprisoned, it is essential for families and communities to support these individuals upon their release.

"In the cases of the four amnesty applicants in Amy's murder, we hope they will receive the support necessary to live productive lives in a non-violent atmosphere.

"In fact, we hope the spirits of Amy and of those like her will be a force in their new lives."

They encouraged all stakeholders to accelerate their pace toward co-operation; to be instruments of change in marginalised communities and to advance holistic approaches to violence reduction and prevention.

The Biehls thanked those people who had helped and supported them and pledged to work hard with the South African people to continue the all-important nation-building process.

"We will do all we can to help fulfil the vision of your free, rainbow nation - a vision which Amy shared with you," the Biehls said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 28 1998 - SAPA

ORDER FOR KHOTSO HOUSE BLAST GIVEN IN PRIVATE: TRC HEARS

Former president PW Botha gave the order to damage Khotso House in private because it probably would have been opposed by some Cabinet ministers, former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Pretoria on Tuesday.

Vlok is applying for amnesty for arranging the bombing of Khotso House, the Johannesburg headquarters of the SA Council of Churches, in August 1988.

He claims Botha ordered him to damage the building so it could not by used by the SACC and members of other organisations.

Vlok said he believed Botha approached him privately to deal with Khotso House because if he had done so in a State Security Council meeting, people like former ministers Pik Botha and Barend du Plessis might have been against the idea.

He said Pik Botha, as former foreign minister, was always sensitive to government actions that could harm South Africa's international image while Du Plessis, as former finance minister, was concerned about the financial implications of such actions.

Vlok said the Cabinet at the time and the SSC never took decisions ordering the commission of illegal acts.

He said Botha appproached him after a SSC meeting in July 1988 and expressed his concern about events occurring at Khotso House.

"This was his style, to approach particular ministers privately," Vlok said.

He said Botha told him something should be done to render Khotso House unusable. Botha did not specify what should be done except to say that everything should be done in the process to avoid death or serious injury.

"At that time we were given orders of what should be done, but never how it should be done," Vlok said.

He said Botha had never ordered any illegal action, but after discussion with the head of the security police at the time, General Johan van der Merwe, he realised that the only way he could carry out the order was by illegal means.

Vlok said after a bomb planted by a police team exploded in Khotso House, Botha congratulated the security forces without referring to the bombing of the building. He assumed that the meeting knew of the involvement of the police but nobody mentioned the incident or raised it with him.

"Nobody was angry with me about it," he said.

Vlok said the discovery that activist Shirley Gunn had been seen at Khotso House before the blast had been "a godsend" because it had provided the perfect opportunity to cover up police involvement by blaming Gunn.

"We could not accept responsibility (for the blast) so we had to spread disinformation." He admitted it had not been right to blame Gunn for the blast but she had formed part of the disinformation campaign. Gunn subsequently sued Vlok and was awarded an out of court settlement of R70000.

Vlok ended his testimony after more than a week before the committee with a further apology for the misery the policy of apartheid had caused.

He also asked for forgiveness from the policemen who had served under him and carried out the orders which had resulted in them now appearing before the amnesty committee.

The hearing continues on Wednesday when former Vlakplaas commander and convicted mass murderer Eugene de Kock is expected to testify. De Kock has also applied for amnesty for the Cosatu House and Khotso House bombings.

After Vlok completed his testimony on Tuesday, the lawyer representing the SA Council of Churches, Eric Dane, told the amnesty committee that the SACC would no longer oppose amnesty for Vlok and Van der Merwe.

The SACC objected to the amnesty applications of Vlok and Van der Merwe when the hearing started last Monday, but Dane said it had been decided to withdraw the objection and to leave the decision to the amnesty committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 28 1998 - SAPA

PAC RESPONSE TO AMY BIEHL FOUR BEING GRANTED AMNESTY

The attitude of the parents of slain American exchange student Amy Biehl was a source of great comfort to the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, PAC secretary-general Michael Muendane said on Tuesday.

Commenting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's decision to grant amnesty to the four PAC-linked youths who murdered Biehl in 1993, Muendane said the PAC regretted the incident.

"Our hearts go out to her lovely parents Linda and Peter Biehl and all her loved ones back in the United States."

The Biehls on Tuesday said they hoped the four youths convicted for Amy's murder would receive the support necessary to live productive lives in a non-violent atmosphere following their release in terms of the amnesty granted them.

Muendane said the PAC had always maintained that the armed segment of its struggle for freedom was forced on it by the brutal response of the apartheid regime, such as the Sharpeville massacre, to its own peaceful efforts.

"The PAC hates wars, not least because the major victims are always innocent people," Muendane said.

He said there were several mistakes that occurred in the choice of targets during Apla's armed struggle.

This was due to several factors such as poor communications, lack of resources, inadequate training of the activists on the ground, general frenzy and desperation of the resistance forces in the face of apartheid brutality.

"The Amy Biehl attack in Cape Town happened within this context," Muendane said.

"She was not the kind of target that Apla, if everything was equal, would have chosen because in the broadest principles of armed struggle, this incident did not have any military value. It was, pure and simple, a mistake."

Muendane said Amy Biehl had found herself in a situation where there was a great deal of frenzy accompanied by a deep resentment against white people in the community as they were seen as the authors and drivers of apartheid oppression.

She had borne no mark of being an American, still less a volunteer to help the poor in South Africa.

"It happened so fast that even the four young people that were convicted for her killing admitted that if they knew who she actually was they would not have attacked her," Muendane said.

He said he met Peter and Linda Biehl last year.

"When I met with Amy's parents last year, they were immensely understanding of the complicated racial situation in South Africa and were ever so forgiving.

"The attitude of the Biehl family is a source of great comfort for us that at least the important people in this affair are on the same wavelength with us," Muendane said. "We hope this unfortunate incident and human experience will inspire all of humanity to have a spirit of goodwill towards others, that racial oppression and wars should be things of the past, because in every war, it is the innocent that suffer most," Muendane said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 29 1998 - SAPA-AP

KILLERS OF US STUDENT IN SOUTH AFRICA FREED

Four South African men convicted in the stoning and fatal stabbing of U.S. student Amy Biehl are free, having won amnesties from the commission probing abuses committed during the country's apartheid era.

South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission declared that the crime was political and that the four men had told the full truth - the two criteria needed for amnesties.

The brutal killing of the 26-year-old student at the hands of a mob five years ago drew international attention to South Africa's racial violence.

Friends and relatives went to three separate prisons in the Cape Town area to greet Vusumzi Ntamo, Ntobeko Peni, Mzikhona Nofemela and Mongezi Manqina when they were freed Tuesday.

The four were 18 to 22 years old when they stoned and stabbed Biehl, who was white, to death in the Guguletu black township outside Cape Town. They were among a crowd of blacks who attacked her car and then chased her down the street.

Walking out of Brandvlei prison, in Worcester, 135 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Cape Town, Manqina said he was happy to be released. His mother and other relatives hugged and kissed him.

"We can't believe that he is out," said his mother, Evelyn Manqina. "As a mother I am very happy, but on the other side I am not happy. I feel the pain of Mrs. Biehl. I am not glad because of what my child has done."

Biehl, a Fulbright scholar, was in South Africa to help with voter registration for the nation's first all-race election in 1994 that ended apartheid.

Her parents, Peter and Linda Biehl had attended the amnesty hearing and publicly forgave their daughter's killers after they apologized for the slaying.

In a statement from their home in La Quinta, California, the Biehls said they supported the amnesty decision.

"We've never been angry, we've never been that way or bitter, just empty ... and certainly I felt empty, very empty again this morning." Peter Biehl told Associated Press Television.

Linda Biehl also said she hoped those released had learned something.

"We hope that a bit of Amy's spirit and all of those that have died in the struggle will be with them and that they live better lives than they have in the past," she said in an interview with APTV.

The four killers, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder, testified at their amnesty hearing that they believed their political leaders wanted them to attack whites - also called "settlers" by black militants - to highlight the grievances of blacks.

They cited the "one settler, one bullet" slogan of the Pan Africanist Congress, a radical black group. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 29 1998 - SAPA

POLICE FAKED BOMB BLASTS TO STOP CRY FREEDOM SCREENING

Police detonated a harmless explosive device to create the impression that they had disarmed a bomb found in a cinema where the film Cry Freedom was due to be shown, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Pretoria on Wednesday.

One of the generals who arranged the elaborate charade, Johan le Roux, is applying for amnesty for the incident in 1988.

Le Roux said the police decided that the film should not be shown even though it had been passed by the Publications Appeal Board. He said he believed screening the film would intensify the "revolutionary climate".

He said he ordered an explosives expert to place an imitation bomb in the cinema in Roodepoort where the film was being shown.

A false bomb threat was then made by the police, warning that the cinema should not screen the film. The police gave the public the impression that the bomb threat was made by right wing organisations.

"When the false bomb threat was investigated, the device was found and purportedly disarmed. This was done by exploding a thunderflash under a mound of sand," Le Roux said.

When asked how the film could have created a revolutionary climate, he said the film dealt with the life of activist Steven Biko.

"It dealt not only with his life, but also with his death," committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson said.

"I don't know, I never saw the film," Le Roux said.

Another former police general, Johannes Albertus Steyn, also admitted arranging a "controlled explosion" at the Metro cinema complex in Durban in July 1988. He said the film was not screened as a result of the blast.

Steyn also said he did not see the film but was told by "someone from headquarters" that the film would create racial hatred if screened.

The hearing is continuing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 29 1998 - SAPA

BASSON'S TRC HEARING POSTPONED

Wouter Basson, head of the apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme, will have to give evidence before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday, whether he has legal representation or not, TRC panel chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Wednesday.

After a morning of legal wrangling on Wednesday, the hearing into the former government's chemical and biological warfare programme was postponed until Thursday.

At issue was the fact that Basson's Gauteng lawyers, who represented him previously in his dealings with the commission, were not available on Wednesday, and probably not on Thursday or Friday.

His legal representative, Cape Town lawyer John van Niekerk, said his client's regular legal representatives were not available to represent him on Wednesday because of the short notice of the hearing.

Van Niekerk said he had only received instructions late on Tuesday afternoon and told the panel his sole mandate was to apply for a postponement of the hearing until Thursday or some other date.

In terms of the TRC Act, Basson was entitled to have legal representation and he (Van Niekerk) had not had sufficient time to take instructions to protect the interests of Basson.

If the hearing went ahead on Wednesday, he would have to withdraw because he could not represent Basson as he was not sufficiently prepared.

During a lengthy exchange with commissioners, Basson was accused of being "disingenuous" and having "a cavalier and lackadaisical approach" to his dealings with the commission - and of "plotting to sabotage" the hearing.

At lunchtime, Ntsebeza said it would be unfair for Basson not to be represented by a competent and informed legal representative of his choice.

In the interests of fairness and justice, the hearing would be postponed until 9am on Thursday, when the panel would "reluctantly" have to proceed with the hearing, whether Basson had the legal representation of his choice or not.

Basson should use the rest of Wednesday to obtain the necessary legal representation for the resumption of the hearing on Thursday, Ntsebeza said.

His appearance followed a ruling by Justice John Hlophe in the Cape High Court on Monday that he should appear on Wednesday to answer any lawful questions put to him by the commission.

Hlophe rejected an application by Basson for an order that he should not be required to answer questions about the programme, which also had a bearing on his criminal case due to start next month.

Instead, Hlophe granted a counter-application by the commission and ordered Basson to appear on Wednesday.

MANDELA WILL NOT TESTIFY BEFORE TRC AFTER GENERAL'S RETRACTION

President Nelson Mandela would no longer testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe's retraction of allegations made at his amnesty hearing, presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana said on Wednesday.

In his retraction Van der Merwe told the TRC's amnesty committee that he never meant to suggest that Mandela interfered with the Goldstone Commission's investigation into covert police activities in the early 1990s, Mankahlana said in a statement from Pretoria.

"The president is already on public record saying he did not intervene in any such manner.

"Indeed, it is clear from the facts and from the general's own testimony that the relevant investigations were not halted, but on the contrary, proceeded with the unit under the attorney-general, which took over the terminated (Goldstone) commission investigations.

"As all of this is on record it is not essential for the president to make any representations or give evidence," said Mankahlana.

Mandela, former state president FW de Klerk, Justice Richard Goldstone, former Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee and Transvaal Attorney-General Dr Jan D'Oliveira were on Friday invited to make representations to the TRC following allegations about them in the amnesty hearings of Van der Merwe and former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok.

Van der Merwe initially testified that he told Mandela about crimes committed by the police in the early 1990s and asked him to intervene in the Goldstone Commission's investigations into the activities.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 29 - SAPA

DE KOCK TELLS TRC HOW HE BLEW UP KHOTSO AND COSATU HOUSES

The "cloak and dagger" operations in which police blew up Cosatu House and Khotso House were described in detail by former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock when he appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Pretoria on Wednesday.

De Kock was testifying in support of his application for amnesty for the attacks on the Johannesburg offices of the Congress of SA Trade Unions in March 1987 and the headquarters of the SA Council of Churches in August 1988.

He described the missions to destroy the buildings as being extremely hazardous and said they had required careful planning.

He said carrying high powered explosives in built up areas put many innocent people's lives at risk. He also knew that if the missions failed and the bombers were apprehended, it would have caused great embarrassment to the government.

"It would then be revealed that the security forces had turned to state-sanctioned terrorism," De Kock told the committee.

He began his testimony with a detailed account of how he prepared for the Cosatu House operation after being told to carry it out by Brigadier Willem Schoon, who told him the order had come from highest authority in government. He said he assumed this to be then president PW Botha.

De Kock said he arranged the purchase of torches, short stabbing knives, a length of rope and bolt cutters for the mission. He also arranged firearms, including AK47 rifles which were tested and fitted with silencers.

Cosatu House was then placed under observation from the rooftop of a nearby building and a video recording of the inside was made with a camera concealed in a briefcase.

He said the explosive charges were prepared in conjuction with the SAP's explosives unit. Explosives of Russian origin were used so that it would appear they had been stored in the building and had been detonated. He estimated that about 50kg of explosives were needed to wreck buildings.

When the bombing party set off from a safe house in Honeydew outside Johannesburg, they removed everything that could identity them as policemen. They also took a few cans of beer that had been doctored with drugs which were intended to incapacitate guards at the building.

The bars to the building's basement were cut and the explosives experts climbed down a rope to set the charges.

De Kock said the whole operation took about four minutes and after leaving, the team watched the explosion from a highway east of Johannesburg.

Referring to the Khotso House blast, he said he was asked to carry out the bombing by former police general Gerrit Erasmus, who he premused had received the order from the top level of government. Again he assumed it came from Botha.

The planning for the attack took a similar form but he said the operation was almost torpedoed when a black uniformed policeman looked into the basement from the street above. De Kock said he believed the policemen might have seen something untoward so he decided to expedite the operation.

The explosives which had been carried in backpacks were quickly placed at the entrance to the lifts in the basement and the detonators set.

He said the team left the scene and waited near Hillbrow to watch the explosion. He said if the bomb had not detonated they would have had to return to reset it.

De Kock was asked about claims that he had made in the past that Erasmus had told him to shoot any policemen who might have come across the bombing party.

De Kock confirmed that Erasmus had said those words and he had taken them literally.

Erasmus testified to the committee last week that he could not remember giving that order, but said if he had, he had not meant it.

De Kock on Wednesday said he accepted that explanation. He added that he might only have considered shooting other policemen in an "absolutely extreme" situation.

De Kock said he wished to correct the impression "once and for all" that the security police group at Vlakplaas was a rogue unit.

"If it had been a rogue unit, we would have built an atomic bomb, and probably used it too," he said, adding that the members of Vlakplaas were dedicated policemen who worked under extreme pressure.

De Kock also described former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and his former deputy Leon Wessels as the only honest National Party politicians.

When it was pointed out that former NP politician Roelf Meyer had also testified to the TRC, De Kock replied: "Ill reserve my judgment on Roelf Meyer."

Vlok last week accepted full responsiblity for the actions of the police members who served und the security police, Commissioner Johan van der Merwe, are also applying for amnesty for the Khotso House and Cosatu House bombings.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 29 1998 - SAPA-AFP

TUTU HITS BACK AT WHITE RIGHTWING DETRACTORS

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday hit back at white rightwingers opposed to his panel, claiming they are worried because the TRC is uncovering their evil past.

"What they are really upset about is that the commission has unveiled the fact that they wanted to poison our women, that they wanted to poison Nelson Mandela," Tutu told AFP in an interview. "That is what is upsetting them."

He referred in particular to rightwing Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen, who claims the TRC has failed in its task of promoting reconciliation in a country still deeply divided by the legacy of apartheid.

Viljoen, head of the defence force during the latter years of apartheid, has also accused the TRC of being one-sided against Afrikaners, and of causing polarisation in the country.

"(Viljoen's) upset by the fact that we have been able to uncover that they abducted people, killed them secretly, buried them secretly," Tutu said. "They hoped that all of that would not have come up into the open."

Rightwingers think reconciliation is "letting bygones be bygones," he added. "But that's not reconciliation. The way to resolve a quarrel is not be lovey-dovey, but by facing up to what it is that causes us to quarrel - that's painful; that's confrontational."

"He (Viljoen) should be thankful that we are here, that we have been able to say to our people these awful things happened, yes, but let us try to forgive."

Tutu, speaking just days before the end of the TRC's mandate to hold public hearings into gross human rights violations expires on Friday, said he had been "appalled at the evil we have uncovered."

"But," he added, "I have been exhilarated by the incredible magnanimity of the people."

He pointed to numerous examples of reconciliation; where victims of human rights violations had forgiven the perpetrators - a tribute, he said, to the commission's work.

Most recent example, he added, was the forgiveness offered by the parents of murdered US exchange student Amy Biehl to their daughter's four killers, who were freed from prison on Tuesday after the TRC's amnesty committee granted them pardon.

"Where you expected the Biehl family to be thoroughly browned off and embittered, and wishing that the young people could go to perdition, instead you have this incredibly magnanimous expression from them," Tutu said.

The TRC, in its two years of existence, had contributed greatly to the process of reconciliation but it could not "wave a magic wand."

"I would hope that South Africans realise that all the commission could do was make a contribution to the process of reconciliation.

"It is the business of all of us South Africans to take on what is a national project and make it our own ... Reconciliation is a long drawn-out process."

One of the TRC's greatest achievements, he added, has been "to rehabilitate the dignity of people who were treated like rubbish," Tutu said.

"A young man was blinded by police. He came to tell his story (to the TRC). At the end of his testimony he was asked how he felt. He is still blind, but he said: 'You know, you have given me back my eyes'."

While it had been "an incredible privilege to have been asked to be part of a process of trying to heal a traumatised and wounded people," chairing the commission had taken its toll, the 64-year-old Tutu said, referring to the prostate cancer he suffered last year.

"I probably would have got cancer in any case .. but listening to all of the pain and anguish, you take it into yourself in many ways.

"You are not aware of all the ways in which it affects you," he added. "Sometimes you might be more short with the people you love because of anguish and agony you remember from somewhere.

"Maybe one day you will sit down when you think of all of those things and you will cry."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association ERMELO July 29 1998 - SAPA

MPUMA MEC'S AMNESTY APPLICATION TOO VAGUE: TRC

Mpumalanga economic affairs MEC Jacob Mabena was prevented from testifying at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings in Ermelo on Wednesday after the amnesty committee ruled that his application was too vague.

Mabena was expected to testify about his role in the murder of eight Inkatha Freedom Party and Black Cat vigilante gang members in the farming town between 1990 and 1992.

His two-and-a-half-page application, however, only requested amnesty for general complicity in any violence resulting from conflict with Third Force structures, African Eye News Service reported.

Committee chairman Judge Ronny Pillay rejected the initial application, saying it was too vague and did not specify exactly for which murders or acts the former unionist was seeking amnesty.

Pillay told Mabena that he had until Friday morning to submit a more detailed application with specific reference to acts or events. Mabena said he would meet with his attorney on Thursday morning and would attempt to submit a new statement immediately.

Mabena was a regional African National Congress chairman and the Eastern Transvaal secretary general for the Congress of SA Trade Unions between 1990 and 1992.

Twelve other ANC members have applied for amnesty for the killings, which include the murder of a number of politically unaffiliated security guards.

The guards were reportedly killed during armed robberies by ANC cadres. Former Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier Mzwandile Hollingwood Gushu told the committee during his testimony last week that ANC leaders had ordered him to rob local stores to fund armed resistance against the Black Cats.

Gushu was sentenced to 237 years in jail for six of the struggle-era murders in Ermelo but is effectively serving a 55- year jail term at Barberton prison.

Ermelo IFP central executive member Advice Gwala, Black Cat gang leader Chris Ngwenya, and his co-leader, Obed Friday Nhlabathi, as well as IFP Caprivi trainee, Jwi Zwane, are among those killed by Gushu.

Only two more applicants, David Majola and Enoch Mnisi, still have to testify before the committee, which is scheduled to complete its hearings on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY July 29 1998 - SAPA

R155 MILLION SPENT ON TRC SO FAR: OMAR

The government had spent a total of R155,135 million on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission between its inception and May 31 this year, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said in reply to a question by Madala Mzizi (IFP) on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 30 1998 - SAPA

BASSON'S TRC HEARING POSTPONED TO FRIDAY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing into the former government's chemical and biological warfare programme was on Thursday postponed to Friday morning.

This was after the programme's former head, Dr Wouter Basson, informed the commission's panel that his regular legal counsel would only be available to represent him on Friday.

The hearing was on Wednesday postponed to Thursday for similar reasons.

Panel chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza on Thursday said the commission reserved its right to bring an urgent application before the Cape High Court for an order to determine why Basson should not be found in contempt.

He added the commission also reserved its right to lay criminal charges against Basson in terms of section 39 of the Promotion of National Reconciliation Act.

Friday's hearing would continue until the TRC's human rights violation committee panel was satisfied it had discharged its mandate, Ntsebeza said.

He said the matter had weighed heavily on the panel for various reasons, including that it was running against time and that it was operating in a constitutional democracy which accorded people rights and freedoms which were easily abused in court and tribunal processes.

These rights had been abused by Basson to an extent he had never seen before, Ntsebeza said.

The panel had resisted with great difficulty the temptation to deal summarily with what it had perceived to be the extremely unhelpful conduct of the witness.

Basson had been very disrespectful to the commission, Ntsebeza said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 30 1998 - SAPA

TRUTH COMMISSION STILL HAS POWERS TO SUBPOENA WITNESSES

The human rights violations hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission come to an end on Friday, but the TRC's amnesty comittee will continue its work over the next few months and will retain the right to subpoena witnesses.

The original cut-off date of 31 July when the TRC was due to come an end has caused confusion about whether high profile people due to testify at hearings will in fact be called.

TRC spokesman John Allen has pointed out that amendments to the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act passed by Parliament in June have changed the future functioning of the TRC.

He said in terms of the amendment the life of the TRC has been extended to October 31 this year, when it will be suspended. The amendment provides for the reconstitution of the TRC next year in order to assess the report of the amnesty committee after it has completed its work.

In the meantime the amnesty committee will remain in force until it has completed hearing all applications for amnesty. It will then submit its report to the reconstituted TRC.

Allen said the law was not changed in respect of the TRC's capacity to conduct investigations by issuing subpoenas. This means that from July 31 the TRC's powers to subpoena witnesses to appear before human rights violations committee hearings will lapse.

Allen said the TRC had, except in the case of the inquuiry into the former government's chemical and biological weapons programme, stopped holding human rights violations hearings at the end of last year.

He said the chemical and biological weapons hearing was held in an attempt to obtain information about the depth and range of the programme in order to deal with forthcoming amnesty applications relating to the programme.

"After July 31 the TRC will lose the right to hold hearings or subpoena witnesses before the human rights violations committee," Allen said.

This means that the matters that are still outstanding will not be able to be dealt with by the human rights violations committee. One notable issue outstanding is that of former president PW Botha, who is facing contempt of court charges for refusing to appear before the TRC.

Another is the case of the former head of the chemical weapons programme, Dr Wouter Basson, who was ordered by the High Court to testify this week.

If Botha and Basson fail to appear before the TRC before the July 31 deadline, their cases will not be able to be dealt with the human rights violations committee.

However, in terms of the recent amendments to the Act, the TRC's amnesty committee still retains the power to subpoena witnesses that might be able to assist in amnesty hearings.

It is therefore possible that Botha could be subpoenaed to appear before amnesty hearings in which his testimony may have a direct bearing. An example is this week's hearings in Pretoria where former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok told the committee Botha had ordered him to wreck Khotso House.

Vlok has applied for amnesty for the bombing of Khotso House in 1988 and of Cosatu House in 1987.

As the former head of the chemical weapons programme, Basson could also be subpoenaed to appear at a hearing in which one his former colleagues applies for amnesty.

President Nelson Mandela and former president F W de Klerk have both declined invitations to appear before the amnesty committee following the mention of both leaders in the amnesty hearing of Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe and Vlok said they told De Klerk about illegal police activities before 1994 while he was still president.

Van der Merwe said he approached Mandela and told him he believed it was unfair that policemen were being investigated by the Goldstrone Commission for actions that took place during the years of conflict, but investigations against ANC activists had ceased.

The former police commissioner however then submitted that he wished to make it clear that he did not imply that Mandela interfered with the Goldstone Commission's inquiry.

De Klerk has indicated through his media spokesman that he stands by his original submission to the TRC in 1996 and does not intend approaching the amnesty committee.

And Mandela said in view of Van der Merwe's retraction it would not be necessary for him to testify before the committee.

"The president is already on public record as saying he did not intervene in the matter," his spokesman Parks Mankahlana said.

The amnesty committee received about 4000 applications for amnesty and is expected to continue its work until at least March next year.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 30 - SAPA

DE KOCK ENDS TRC TESTIMONY WITH APOLOGY

Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock completed his testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committe with an apology to the organisations whose buildings he blew up in the 1980s.

De Kock, who has applied for amnesty for the blasts, apologised to the SA Council of Churces and the Congress of SA Trade Unions for wrecking their headquarters in Johannesburg in 1987 and 1988.

De Kock told the committee hearing in Pretoria he was sorry about the pain and suffering he had caused by arranging the bomb blasts that shattered the buildings.

At the end of his detailed testimony about how he planned and carried out the blasts, De Kock asked for time to address the committee.

"I wish to apologise to Cosatu and the SACC on behalf of myself and my men for the hurt, disruption, paranoia and other psychological effects of the blasts," he said.

He accepted full responsiblity for "everyone at my level and downwards, but not upwards".

De Kock, who is serving lengthy prison sentences for murder and other offences, called on South Africans to turn away from hatred and revenge and to avoid "finger-pointing".

He added that "in time, things will sort themselves out".

De Kock also paid tribute to the men who had served under him and especially to the askaris (turned ANC cadres) who he said should not be victimised for their part in the conflict.

"Like I tell my sons when they just began to comprehend, you can choose to be an eagle or a chicken. Eagles can soar, but if you want to be a chicken look for the rest of your life on the ground and dig in the dirt," he said.

"I cant honour the Vlakplaas people and say they were eagles, but they are damn good men," De Kock said.

Earlier, De Kock insisted that the orders to wreck Cosatu House and Khotso House came from former president P W Botha. He repeated his claims made on Wednesday that he had been assured by Brigadier Willem Schoon that the orders had come from the highest authority. He said he trusted the word of Schoon more than that of a church minister and was left in no doubt that the order came from Botha himself.

De Kock was asked whether he was not trying to implicate Botha because of his own bitterness towards the former state president. He replied that was not so and his only motivation to testify against Botha was out of loyalty to his men to show that they carried out government orders.

"We were led to believe that we would fight to the bitter end and there would be only one winner. Even if there were to be negotiations we were told that it would be on the basis where we talk but continue fighting. Like patting a dog on the head with one hand and throwing a stone at it with the other," De Kock said.

De Kock completed his testimony in this application but will appear at a further amnesty hearing at which he will apply for amnesty for more than 100 incidents. The hearing is expected to be heard early next year.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 30 1998 - SAPA

ANC APPROACHED DE KOCK TO JOIN, TRC TOLD

Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria on Thursday he was approached to join the African National Congress soon after he left the police.

De Kock told the TRC's amnesty committee that a group of ANC members approached him soon after his release from the police in 1992 and invited him to join the party.

He refused to name the people who approached him but said they were pleasant, not the monsters he had been indoctrinated to believe they were. He said he declined the offer and considered joining the Inkatha Freedom Party.

ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told Sapa that De Kock's claims would have to be verified by former members of the organisation's Directorate of Intelligence and Security. Only then would the ANC comment.

De Kock is serving lengthy prison sentences for murder and offences related to his activities as a security policeman and former commander of Vlakplaas. He is applying for amnesty for blowing up Cosatu House in 1987 and Khotso House in 1988.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 30 1998 - SAPA

OMAR COMMENDS TRC

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had done well in channelling and dealing with the anger, frustrations and traumas of victims of human rights violations, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Thursday.

In a statement issued to mark the end of the term of office of the TRC's human rights violations committee, he said the commission had brought great credit to South Africa.

"The way in which victims were provided for, comforted and dealt with will provide a permanent lesson, and will reshape the criminal justice system by making it more victim sensitive," Omar said.

He said the TRC had been internationally hailed as being unique and monumental, in that it contributed to world thinking on the question of how human rights violations could be dealt with.

The work of the violations committee and that of the reparation and rehabilitation committee ends on Friday, while the amnesty committee will continue its work.

Omar said he would discuss with TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and amnesty committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall the assistance needed to ensure the committee completed its work in good time.

The commission has to submit its final report to President Nelson Mandela before October this year.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA July 31 1998 - SAPA

BOMB DISPOSAL HERO SET COSATU AND KHOTSO BOMB BLASTS: TRC HEARS

The explosives used in the bombing of Cosatu House and Khotso House were prepared by a bomb disposal expert who later received widespread acclaim for his heroic disarming of a massive car bomb in central Pretoria in 1990, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Friday.

The involvement of bomb disposal experts in state terror campaigns emerged at the TRC's amnesty hearing in Pretoria where former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and more than 30 policemen are applying for amnesty for the bombings.

Former bomb disposal expert George Francois Hammond told the committee he helped to prepare and place the charges that wrecked the offices of the Congress of SA Trade Unions in May 1987 and the headquarters of the SA Council of Churches in August 1988.

Hammond was awarded the Gold Cross for Bravery for disarming a massive car bomb in the Hallmark Building in central Pretoria on July 28, 1990.

With only five minutes remaining before detonation, Hammond succeeded in defusing the timing device on the 110kg bomb which would have caused widespread destruction and carnage.

The bomb had been set to explode shortly before 10am on a Saturday in the centre of Pretoria.

Hammond also succeeded in defusing a landmine which was primed to go off soon after a limpet mine blast at the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court in March 1988. If the landmine had exploded, dozens of lives would have been lost.

He has received a long list of awards and decoratons, and has been internationally acclaimed for his expertise and bravery in defusing bombs.

The former head of the police explosives unit which deals with bomb disposal, Charles Zeelie, also described his part in the bombings at Khotso House and Cosatu House.

He said in the Khotso House blast he and other policemen carried the explosives into the building in canvas bags.

He said some policemen from the Vlakplaas security police base outside Pretoria became nervous at carrying high- powered explosives.

Zeelie said the charges were initially intended to be placed in a car, but it was later decided to place them at lifts in the basement of the building.

Zeelie told the committee how he played a dual role in the bombings.

He described how he took part in the operation to blow up Khotso wearing a wig, padded cheeks and spectacles.

"I wore a disguise because I believe I look like FW de Klerk and PW Botha, and therefore could be easily recognised," he said. Zeelie described how after the bomb exploded, he returned to the scene in his capacity as an officer of the police explosives unit.

"I investigated it as any other bomb blast," he said, adding that he prevented people, including SACC officials Rev Frank Chikane and Rev Peter Storey, from entering the building.

"So you covered up your own involvement in the blast and created the impression that someone else had been responsible?" committee member Chris de Jager asked Zeelie, who replied that that was correct.

As far as the Cosatu House bombing was concerned, he said he was on patrol in Johannesburg when he was told he would have to attend the scene of a large explosion which had been arranged by Stratcom, the police's stragegic communications unit which planned clandestine activities.

When the blast occurred, he investigated the scene in his capacity as an explosives officer but knew it had been a police operation.

He is applying for amnesty as an accessory because of his knowledge of police involvement in the blast.

The amnesty hearings in which Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe, as well as the other policemen, are applying for amnesty ended on Friday.

The various legal representatives now have to prepare their legal arguments and submit them to the committee, which has to decide whether amnesty will be granted.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 31 1998 - SAPA

MBEKI, MODISE MUST GIVE MORE DETAILS IN AMNESTY APPLICATIONS

TRC amnesty committee representatives are to meet African National Congress officials soon to explain what further details are needed to process the amnesty applications of 37 ANC members.

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Defence Minister Joe Modise are among the applicants.

The 37 have to re-apply for amnesty after the Cape High Court set aside a previous decision to grant them amnesty.

The committee's executive secretary, Martin Coetzee, said the head of the ANC's Truth and Reconcliation Commission desk, Brian Koopedi, informed him on Friday that the applicants wished to continue with their applications.

They were willing to give the committee whatever assistance was needed, but there was uncertainty about the nature of the further particulars required.

"As a result the ANC asked for a meeting with committee representatives to clarify the matter," said Coetzee.

"I have consulted with the chairperson of the committee, Judge Hassen Mall, who has instructed me to arrange a meeting with ANC representatives and explain what particulars are needed."

Consultations with representatives of the amnesty applicants would be arranged in due course, he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN July 31 1998 - SAPA

BASSON TESTIMONY ENDS CHAPTER IN TRC HEARINGS

An avowal by the head of the apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme (CBW), Dr Wouter Basson, that he had never harmed or played a role in the death of any person, ended the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's last human rights violation hearing on Friday night.

At the end of a gruelling day of legal argument and testimony at the TRC's headquarters in Cape Town, Basson told the commission that he had been involved in many things, but none of them were illegal.

Basson's appearance was the last of a series of public hearings that began with the testimony in East London in April 1996 of Nohle Mohapi, widow of Mapetla Mohapi, who died in police custody.

The term of office of the TRC's human rights violations and rehabilitation and reparations committees expires at midnight on Friday.

Its amnesty committee will continue to operate until it has dealt with all amnesty applications, and the commission proper will now work full-time on preparing the report, which must be submitted to President Nelson Mandela by October.

The chairman of Friday's Cape Town hearing, TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza, said shortly after 8pm that he was adjourning the hearing, and told Basson the commission might take up his lawyers' offer to respond to written questions.

Ntsebeza said he had used the word "adjourn" advisedly in ending the day's proceedings. He did not know if Basson's team would honour the offer of written responses, and suggested that the legislation governing the TRC be amended to force further testimony if necessary.

"So I was being cautious and reserving for the commission an opportunity that might arise in the future," he said.

He pointed out that if the commission intended to make a finding that was detrimental to Basson, it was obliged to give him written notice. Basson could then demand that the witnesses on whose evidence the finding was based be recalled for limited cross-examination.

"Thank God it's finished," a weary Ntsebeza told reporters at the venue of the Basson hearing, as television crews rolled up their cables and shut down their lights on Friday night.

Basson on Friday told the TRC it had been his responsibility to ensure that President Nelson Mandela was kept alive during his incarceration in the mid-1980s.

Basson said he was shown a document in 1985 or 1986 by then defence minister General Magnus Malan, in which it was alleged that a certain faction within the African National Congress was planning to kill Mandela because they thought he was not radical enough.

He said the responsibility of Mandela's safety regarding any possible chemical or biological attack on him therefore fell on his shoulders.

Basson said he told two teams to investigate every way in which Mandela could be harmed, and all possible ways of preventing this.

He integrated the two reports and handed the result to the relevant authorities.

These teams had no contact with the State Security Council and a plan drawn up was to ensure Mandela's safety, he said.

During a day of legal wrangling and several adjournments for consultations between various parties, Basson's legal representative Jaap Cilliers, SC, applied for the hearing to be held in camera, or at least that part of the hearing pertaining to Basson's impending criminal case.

Committee chairman Dumisane Ntsebeza refused the application, as well as another by Cilliers to obtain an urgent court order for this to be done.

Basson finally started answering questions about the CBW programme with the proviso that he would refuse to answer any questions pertaining to his impending criminal case.

Basson continued to answer questions into the night, even after Cilliers left proceedings around 5.30pm to catch a flight to Pretoria, where he had other business to attend to.

When the hearing was resumed soon thereafter Hanif Vally, for the commission, said he had ascertained that there was a later flight with seats available, despite Cilliers having told the commission there was not.

During intense questioning by Vally and commission members, Basson said there was no programme initiated by the defence force at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories - an SADF front company - which aimed to control the fertility of black people.

"I deny that there were any projects at Roodeplaat initiated by the defence force to control the fertility of any race," he said.

But researchers at RRL outside Pretoria had the right to do research in any field of interest to them, he said. They were scientists, and as such could publish their research.

A proposal to control the fertility of any people was a scientific absurdity and, in any case, there were enough substances available for birth control, Basson said.

He also denied ever being involved in preparing any poison or toxic substance with the intention of killing anyone.

He also denied giving scientists at Roodeplaat orders to manufacture any poison for this purpose. Such toxins were used only for research and training purposes, he said.

Research on odourless, tasteless toxins was done worldwide, he said. "We did not do any more or any less than any other country."

He recalled an instance in the 1980s when South Africa assisted the United States by obtaining a sample of a toxin originating from the Soviet Union - which the US was concerned about because it was capable of penetrating any filter.

Regarding the manufacture of drugs such as Mandrax and Ecstasy, Basson said all the drugs were either used for research or destroyed. None reached the streets of South Africa.

"We are not responsible for the enslavement (to drugs) of anyone," he said.

PRETORIA August 3 1998 - SAPA

WOUTER BASSON'S FRAUD AND DRUG TRIAL POSTPONED TO NEXT YEAR

The trial of chemical and biological warfare expert Wouter Basson on fraud and drug-related charges was on Monday postponed in the Pretoria Regional Court to March 24 next year.

It is expected the trial will be referred to the Pretoria High Court.

Basson, head of the former government's chemical and biological warfare programme, was arrested in January last year, after he allegedly tried to sell 1000 Ecstasy tablets worth R60,000 to a buyer. He was released on R40,000 bail.

In October he was arrested on fraud charges involving at least R30 million, allegedly committed when he headed the former government's Project Coast in the 1980s.

He was released on R50,000 bail one month later, and ordered to report to Brooklyn police station every day.

Magistrate Peet Johnson on Monday amended Basson's bail conditions, saying he had to report to the police only on Sundays.

He also granted a request by Basson's legal team that his R90,000 bail money be refunded in return for a bank guarantee.

As leader of Project Coast, Basson was responsible for infiltrating foreign countries in a bid to obtain technological know-how for a South African chemical and biological warfare capability.

In 1993 the Office for Serious Economic Offences launched an investigation into Basson's alleged misuse of state funds. A large part of his evidence on Project Coast has so far been heard in camera.

Last week the Cape High Court dismissed a bid by Basson to refuse to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was due to testify about his involvement in Project Coast.

Appearing before Johnson on Monday, Basson, dressed in a dark suit, appeared calm.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MAFIKENG Aug 3 - SAPA

AWB BOP AMNESTY HEARING POSTPONED

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Mafikeng where a former Bophuthatswana policeman is applying for amnesty for killing four Afikaner Weerstandsbeweging members in March 1994, was on Monday postponed to September 21.

Ontlamentse Bernstein Menyatsoe is applying for amnesty for the incident that occurred during the invasion of the former homeland by AWB supporters before the 1994 elections.

Committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller postponed the hearing at the request of the AWB who are opposing the application and say they need more time to prepare for cross-examination of the applicant.

Johan Engelbrecht, who is appearing for the AWB, told the committee he needed to interview Sunday Times journalists Peter de Inno and Ray Hartley who witnessed the incident at the roadside outside Mafikeng on 11 March.

Engelbrecht said he had been unable to contact the journalists whose account of the shooting could be essential to the amnesty application. He has requested that the TRC subpoena De Inno and Hartley as witnesses.

AWB members Jacobus Stephanus Uys, Alwyn Wolfaardt and Nicolaas Cornelius Fourie were shot with an automatic rifle in full view of the media.

The AWB had invaded the former homeland in attempt to support the teetering government of Lucas Mangope shortly before the April 1994 elections.

Menyatsoe has never been charged for the murder but last year confessed to killing the AWB men. He did not make an appearance at Monday's hearing at the North-West legislature buildings in Mafikeng, but will testify in support of his application for amnesty on September 21.

AWB leader Eugene Terreblanche and about 15 of his supporters, dressed in the organisation's distinctive uniform, attended Monday's hearing. Terreblanche dressed in a grey camouflage uniform looked relaxed and cracked jokes with his lawyers and supporters.

He told the media the AWB was opposing amnesty for Menyatsoe on the grounds that the shooting had been a cowardly act against people who were in no position to defend themselves.

Security was tight with armoured vehicles and riot policemen controlling the entrance to the building but the atmosphere was relaxed and cordial.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Aug 3 - SAPA

WARNING TO DEPARTING TRC STAFF

Staff leaving the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as it winds down its activities have been warned not to take the family silver with them.

In a memorandum issued to all TRC staff last Thursday, TRC executive and accounting officer Dr Biki Minyuku reminded them that, in terms of the law, all "intellectual property rights, monies and liabilities" would revert to the department of justice when the commission was dissolved.

He also pointed out that copyright on all documents, objects and work carried out by commission staff and members vested in the commission, and in the department when the commission closed down.

"All staff, committee members and commissioners, particularly those leaving the commission, as well as consultants contracted by the commission, are urgently reminded that they are under a legal obligation to leave with the commission all the physical and intellectual assets generated or collected by the TRC and/or them in the course of their work," Minyuku said.

Offenders faced a fine of up to R5000 or up to three years' jail.

The TRC's human rights violations committee held its last hearing on Friday.

However, the administrative work of this committee and the reparation and rehabilitation committee continues, and amnesty hearings are still going on.

The TRC has to present its report to President Nelson Mandela by October.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 3 1998 - SAPA

QUEENSTOWN AWB COMMANDER GRANTED AMNESTY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to the former commander of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement) in the Queenstown area for the bombing of two houses shortly before the 1994 elections, the commission said in a statement on Monday.

Nicolaas Willem de Jongh and two other AWB members bombed the house of Wiseman Zitembile Sana in Queenstown on August 13, 1993.

The following day the three attacked the house of Johnson Dumile Sateni at Hofmeyer with explosives. Extensive damage was caused in both incidents but no-one was injured.

De Jongh was later convicted on two counts of bombings and for the illegal possession of explosives. Sentencing was postponed pending the outcome of his amnesty application.

His application was dealt with in chambers as the offences for which he had applied for amnesty did not constitute gross human rights violation as defined by the TRgoverning Act, the statement said.

"It was clear the bombings were carried out in pursuit of AWB objective associated with the conflicts of the past," the amnesty committee found.

The committee also recommended to the reparation and rehabilitation committee that Sana and Sateni should officially be declared as victims in terms of the Act.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Aug 3 - SAPA

ELLIS PARK BOMBERS ASK FOR FORGIVENESS

Two of the four applicants applying for amnesty for the 1988 Ellis Park bombing on Monday asked the families of two people killed in the blast to forgive them.

Harold Matshididi, 51, a policeman stationed at the provincial protection services at Braamfontein, and Aggie Shoke, 44, testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing at the Johannesburg Institute for Social Services in Mayfair on Monday.

Both Shoke and Matshididi said they never intended for anyone to be killed by the explosion.

Clive Clucas, 48, and Linus Marais, 34, were killed and 35 people were injured when the bomb exploded outside Ellis Park rugby stadium on July 2, 1988, shortly after a Currie Cup match between Transvaal and Free State.

The amnesty applicants told Sally Clucas and Magriet (Marais) Erasmus the deaths of their loved ones had been unintentional.

"It was not our intention to kill or injure anyone," they said.

Matshididi, who was the first to testify, said the Umkhonto we Sizwe cell he operated in only wanted to send a message to white South Africans that the struggle could be applied to them and that they could also be killed. MK was the armed wing of the African National Congress.

"It was never our intention that anybody should be killed. The deaths were accidental and we did not place the bomb to kill people."

Sally Clucas said she would oppose the amnesty applications of Shoke and Matshididi.

A tearful Clucas faced Matshididi and told him he had killed her husband - an innocent man who only went to watch a rugby match.

"He never returned home. We have two children and we were never able to put our lives together," Clucas said.

She asked Matshididi if her husband's death had gained anything.

"Many things have happened in those years and many of us say that they were not necessary," Matshididi replied.

Meanhwile Lester Dumakude, who was the MK unit's commander, and Itumeleng Dube, another senior member, have also applied for amnesty after learning they would be implicated in the testimony of Matshididi and Shoke.

Their late applications were considered by the amnesty committee on Monday and they were notified to appear before the committee on Tuesday.

According to Shoke and Matshididi, Dumakude, who assembled the bomb, approached them the week before to discuss planting a bomb at Ellis Park. They said Dumakude told them a lot of white people would be at the stadium on the day and they would hear the explosion and convey the message to the government.

"We never intended for anyone to be killed. The sound of the bomb exploding was to have been the message," Matshididi said.

He said Dumakude also placed the bomb in a stolen car, which he parked near the stadium.

The bomb was set to explode at 5pm, but according to police reports it exploded at 5.10pm, just as people were starting to leave the stadium after the rugby game.

Matshididi said he felt very bad when he found out that people were killed in the explosion.

He said when the bomb was planted, it was done on orders from MK commanders. "I was a member of MK and I executed orders. I never questioned the orders.

"When you agree to become a member of MK you agree to death and life," Matshididi said.

When asked by TRC evidence leader Paddy Prior, he denied that Hein Grosskopf, a highly regarded MK commander at the time, had been involved in the planning of the Ellis Park bombing.

Matshididi said the only precautions taken by the four men when they planted the bomb was to ensure there were no people in the area when the car was parked.

Matshididi said the focus of the MK special operations unit was aimed at hard targets - government buildings and attacks on policemen. He denied that the Ellis Park attack was aimed at a soft target.

Shoke told the committee he and Matshididi held low ranks in the MK unit. He and Matshididi were to do the reconnaissance at Ellis Park to find a suitable spot for the bomb.

He said it was never MK policy to attack soft targets and it was not the aim of the Ellis Park bomb either.

Shoke said he was trained in Botswana but only received a crash course and never handled explosives.

The hearing will continue on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Aug 3 - SAPA

IFP MARCHERS WERE AGGRESSIVE AT SHELL HOUSE, TRC TOLD

A large group of IFP marchers displayed aggressive behaviour as they approached the ANC's Shell House headquarters in Johannesburg on March 28, 1994, and there was a possibility they would try to enter the building, a policeman told the Truth and Reconcilation Commission on Monday.

Sergeant Willem van Greunen was giving testimony to the TRC's amnesty committee at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg.

Thirteen African National Congress members are applying for amnesty for opening fire on marchers during an anti- election protest organised by the Inkatha Freedom Party. the march was staged by Zulu indunas in support of the Zulu king was dismissed by an inquest judge last year.

Eight marchers were killed near Shell House in the shooting.

On that day as 500 marchers approached armed ANC guards, Van Greunen and his colleague, Sergeant Louis Van Reenen, ran towards the protesters in an attempt to divert them from the flashpoint.

Van Greunen said the potential for conflict was clear to him and it had crossed his mind that the marchers might try enter Shell House

He said he was carrying a shotgun and his colleague was also armed. He said it should have been clear to the marchers that they were armed policemen who wanted them to change the direction of march away from the ANC guards.

However, the marchers overran the two policemen and Van Greunen was injured by a spear or an assegai.

"I felt their conduct was aggressive," he said. He could not say with certainty where the first shots came from. He did not see any firearms among the crowd.

His colleague, Van Reenen, now an inspector, told the TRC he was aware that day that Shell House was the ANC's headquarters, that the IFP was conducting an anti-election march and that the two organisations had a history of antagonism.

He said he and Van Greunen went towards the marchers to divert them in another direction. "I thought there could be a confrontation."

He said he feared for his safety when marchers paid no heed to his request for them to change direction.

"They bumped me out of the way," he said.

He agreed with ANC legal representative Karel Tip that the marchers inspired fear and that the ANC guards only had seconds to assess and react to the situation. But, he said, he was unable to say whether or not the guards were justified in shooting.

An earlierwitness, fast-food store owner Jimmy Stephens, was sure there was no justification. He described the deaths of the marchers as "cold-blooded murder". Stephens told the TRC the ANC guards opened fire without provocation and without warning. He said he saw no weapons among the marchers and that there was no attack on the Shell House building as claimed by ANC witnesses.

Stephens said a guard armed with an AK47 rifle went down on his haunches next to a single policeman, who took no action during the entire incident, and opened fire on full automatic.

After firing bursts for 20 seconds, the guard reloaded the rifle and continued firing single shots. The policeman next to him did nothing to stop him from firing.

Advocate Danny Berger, for the ANC, said Stephens stood alone in his evidence. No other witness had described events as he did.

Stephens replied that that was what he had seen, he was not making it up and that he was absolutely certain that the first shots were fired by the ANC guard.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 4 1998 - SAPA

TRC HAPPY WITH SWISS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT: TUTU

South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was pleased with the support and financial help the Swiss government had provided it with, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told visiting Swiss President Flavio Cotti on Tuesday morning.

"We are thrilled to have you here so that we can express our gratitude for your support to the TRC," Tutu said.

The TRC was especially happy about money made available by the Swiss government for the recently-finalised reparations payments.

Cotti told Tutu his delegation was keen to know the general overview of the TRC process.

TRC deputy chairman Dr Alex Boraine said although there was much criticism of the TRC, the body was proud to have achieved some element of reconciliation and justice for South Africa.

Dr Fazel Randera - head of the TRC's human rights violations committee - said the commission's achievements would be highlighted in its final report, to be handed over to President Nelson Mandela in October.

"We can say through what was told through the hearings has helped to reveal the truth about South Africa's apartheid past," he said.

Cotti and his delegation will visit Cape Town's District Six later on Tuesday before leaving for Gauteng.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 4 1998 - SAPA

MARCHERS MET BY A HAIL OF BULLETS AT SHELL HOUSE, TRC TOLD

Marchers dived for cover, turned and ran or fell down shot when they were met by a hail of bullets near the ANC's Shell House headquarters in Johannesburg on March 28, 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told on Tuesday.

Bafana Mahlaba of Nancefield Hostel told the TRC amnesty committee hearing at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg that he was shot in the leg during the march.

Thirteen African National Congress members are applying for amnesty for opening fire on marchers during an anti- election protest organised by the Inkatha Freedom Party.

Mahlaba said he was part of hundreds of people who followed a Zulu induna onto a train at Nancefield station that morning.

They alighted at Park Station and Mahlaba's party was told to follow another large group of marchers. The two groups stopped and merged at the intersection of King George and De Villiers streets, about 50m away from a small group of African National Congress security guards protecting the organisation's head office in Plein Street.

The marchers began chanting "Usuthu" as they moved forward towards the ANC guards. Mahlaba said he was carrying a shield, a spear, a stick and a knobkerrie.

"When we started chanting, they started shooting," Mahlaba said.

Marchers dived for cover, others turned and ran.

"When I looked back I realised that one of my friends was on the ground, wounded. I saw the people who were shooting. They were right in front of us.

"My injured brother was bleeding from the back. I removed his jersey to examine his wound. Then I got shot in my left calf and I fell next to him."

Mahlaba said police arrived and dragged him to the street corner. He was put in an ambulance and took three months to recover from his wound.

Asked if any of his fellow marchers opened fire that day, Mahlaba said he had not seen any. Even if they had, he would not have heard their shots because of the sound of gunfire all around.

"I'm not saying there was not, but I did not witness as such."

He denied ANC claims that marchers launched an attack on the ANC headquarters. "It's not true. It was a peaceful march and when we got shot we were surprised. They will be lying if they said we were attacking them."

Eight marchers died in the incident.

On Monday two policemen told the TRC they feared for their lives when they tried to divert the marchers away from Shell House.

Sergeant Willem van Greunen said he and a colleague ran towards the marchers with their arms outstretched. He said the potential for conflict was clear to him and it had crossed his mind that the marchers might try to enter Shell House

He said he was carrying a shotgun and his colleague was also armed. It should have been clear to the marchers that they were armed policemen who wanted them to change the direction of the march.

However, the marchers overran the two policemen and Van Greunen was injured by a spear or an assegai. "I felt their conduct was aggressive," he said. Gunfire erupted after the policemen were overrun, he said.

The amnesty hearing was scheduled to run until Friday, but concluded on Tuesday when lawyers for the IFP and the ANC agreed to submit written arguments to the TRC panel.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 4 1998 - SAPA

ELLIS PARK BOMBER FACED VICTIMS BEFORE DETONATION, TRC HEARS

The commander of a Umkhonto we Sizwe special operations unit, who in 1988 planted a bomb outside Ellis Park rugby stadium, on Tuesday said he watched two men die in the explosion.

Lester Dumakude, 45, now a lieutenant-colonel in the SA National Defence Force, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Johannesburg that he thought the two victims were security guards employed at Ellis Park.

Clive Clucas, 48, and Linus Marais, 34, who had just left the stadium after watching a Currie Cup rugby match between Transvaal and Free State, were killed instantly when the bomb exploded near them.

Dumakude said he took over command of the special MK operations unit in 1987 from Aboobaker Ismael, who has applied for amnesty for among others the 1983 Church Street car bomb which killed 19 people and injured more than 200.

Dumakude has applied for amnesty for all acts committed by units under his command since 1981.

He said in his application the MK special operations unit he commanded was granted a broad mandate to carry out attacks and to report back afterwards.

Dumakude said he considered himself an explosives expert as he was trained in the use of explosives in Cuba and the former Soviet Union.

He assembled the Ellis Park bomb and personally detonated it using a remote control device on July 2, 1988.

The unit consisted of three other MK operatives, Harold Matshididi, 51, Aggie Shoke, 44, and Itumeleng Dube, who was supposed to appear before the committee on Tuesday but could not be traced.

Dumakude on Tuesday said he was watching the car in which he placed the bomb when he saw Clucas and Marais approaching him. The bomb had been primed and the car parked near Ellis Park on the day of the rugby match.

"My actions attracted their attention. To me they looked as if they were part of the security in the area," Dumakude said.

The two men then turned away from him and walked back in the direction of the car when he detonated the bomb using the remote control device, killing both men instantly.

He said it was never the intention of the unit to kill any civilian targets. The device was set to explode before the end of the rugby match, before the crowd emerged from the stadium.

"I did, however, foresee the possibility that civilians could be killed. It sometimes happen that people leave the match before the end of the game.

"It was for that reason that I used three seperate detonating devices to allow me to react to the situation as it unfolded."

Dumakude said a clock was wired to the bomb to detonate it at 5pm, but he also had a remote control trigger device in case the match ended earlier.

"Those who died in the explosion were the people who made me trigger the device," Dumakude said.

He denied he triggered the bomb because he was scared the two men might discover it. He said he did it to prevent greater loss of life.

He said he was faced with the choice of either detonating the bomb in the presence of the two men, or to wait for the timing device to trigger the bomb later and kill more civilians.

TRC evidence leader Paddy Prior asked Dumakude if it was his intention to kill the two men he believed were security guards.

"No it was not my intention," Dumakude said.

Prior put it to him there was no reason to believe the two men were security guards. "You are not telling us exactly what happened there," Prior said.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson why he did not set the bomb to go of much earlier, but instead waited for the crucial moment when people started leaving, Dumakude said he did not want to "disturb the match".

"You plant a massive bomb to send a message to the white people, but you do not want to disturb a rugby match?" Wilson asked.

Dumakude said Ellis Park was chosen as a target because it would bring the struggle closer to the white community.

Earlier on Tuesday Clive Clucas' wife Sally said she would and could not forgive her husband's murderers.

Clucas, her daughter Joanne May Staples and her son Ken Clucas, are opposing amnesty for the bombers.

Marais' wife Magriet Erasmus said she and her two daughters, aged three and six, ms since her husband's death.

She said her daughters did not want to attend the proceedings as they were not willing to face their father's killers.

Erasmus said she did not believe the applicants had divulged the whole truth about what happened that day.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN, Aug 4 - SAPA-AFP

RECONCILIATION IS FOCUS OF ANGLO-BOER CELEBRATIONS: MINISTER

Nation-building and reconciliation will be the focus of celebrations next year marking the centenary of the start of Anglo-Boer War, a South African cabinet minister said Tuesday.

The celebrations are to be a "national event," Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister Lionel Mtshali told reporters and diplomats here.

"Cabinet emphasised that celebrations of the Anglo-Boer War should contribute to nation-building and reconciliation," he said.

The war was fought between British and Boer forces from 1899 until 1902, the first skirmish of the 20th century.

The conflict was essentially a battle for control of the lucrative gold fields of the then Zuid Afrikaans Republiek (Transvaal), at the time in the hands of the Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers in the Cape.

Some 28,000 British soldiers and 4,000 Boer guerrillas died in the war, which was eventually won by the British in 1902 when the Boers sued for peace.

Afrikaners, many of whom still call themselves Boers, to this day deeply resent the way the British mistreated Boer women and children they rounded up and held in concentration camps. Some 20,000 civilians died in the camps.

Next year's celebrations, during which thousands of descendants of the British soldiers involved in the war are expected to visit battlefields in KwaZulu-Natal and the former Transvaal, could reopen the wounds.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, told AFP in a recent interview that until South Africa's English-speakers and Afrikaners face up to the atrocities committed by both sides during the Anglo-Boer War, their relationship would remain strained.

"The trouble with the Afrikaners and the English is that they pretend to be friends, but they are not really friends," Tutu said.

"Why? They never faced up to all the awful things that happened during the Anglo-Boer War - the concentration camps.

"Each time you talk to an Afrikaner there is a pain in the pit of his tummy. Why are they are not real friends? Because they never sat down and said, 'Hey, there were atrocities that were committed'."

Until they acknowledged the atrocities, Tutu said, "their relationship will always be a surface relationship."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNEBURG August 5 1998 - SAPA

ELLIS PARK HEARING POSTPONED TO FRIDAY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing into the 1988 Ellis Park bombing was on Wednesday postponed to Friday to give a lawyer an opportunity to appraise contradictions in his client's evidence.

Eric van den Berg, appearing for the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) special operations unit commander who planned the bombing, said he did not have an opportunity to appraise his client's evidence before he started testifying on Tuesday. MK was the armed wing of the African National Congress.

Lester Dumakude, 45, was notified on Monday to appear before the commission on Tuesday after he was implicated in the testimony of two MK operatives who served under him and who have applied for amnesty for the Ellis Park bombing.

Harold Matshididi, 51, and Aggie Shoke, 44, testified on Monday.

They testified that Dumakude had been responsible for assembling and arming the bomb which exploded after a Currie Cup rugby match between Transvaal and Freestate on July 2, 1988.

Clive Clucas, 48, and Linus Marais, 34, died and 35 others were injured.

Van den Berg on Wednesday said he led his client without having full instructions to address the contradictions between his testimony and the testimony of Shoke and Matshididi.

Matshididi and Shoke's lawyer, AP Landman, said there were fundamental differences between the testimonies of his clients and that of Dumakude relating to where they were at the time the bomb exploded.

Matshididi, who accompanied Dumakude on the day of the bombing, told the commitee he and Dumakude had already arrived at the Hillbrow Checkers where Shoke and another operative had been waiting when they heard the explosion.

Dumakude, now a lieutenant-colonel in the SA National Defence Force, on Tuesday said he had maintained visual contact with the bomb and was about 15m from it when he set it off using a remote control trigger device.

TRC amnesty committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson postponed the Ellis Park hearing to Friday.

Matshididi and Shoke might be re-called on Friday to clarify the matter.

The committee on Wednesday continues hearing evidence on the May 20, 1987 car bombing at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court in which four policemen died and 14 others were injured.

SANDF chief Siphiwe Nyanda, who was the MK commander for Transvaal, allegedly gave the order for the bombing.

Nyanda was present at the start of the hearing on Wednesday.

He appeared as an implicated person and not as an applicant.

The hearing continues. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 5 1998 - SAPA

BOMB HAD TO KILL AS MANY POLICEMEN AS POSSIBLE

Former MK commander Joseph Koetle on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that the aim of a car bomb he placed at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court in 1987 was to kill as many policemen as possible.

Koetle, 45, is one of three people applying for amnesty for the Fox Street court bombing on May 20, 1987, which killed four policemen.

Koetle told the amnesty hearing in Johannesburg he made sure only policemen were on the scene when he detonated the bomb, using a remote control device.

"We solely targeted policemen. I was to make sure that only policemen would be on the scene."

Koetle said the order for the bombing was given by SA National Defence Force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda, who was MK commander of Transvaal at the time.

The car bomb exploded minutes after a decoy limpet mine detonated nearby.

"The bomb was to explode after the limpet mine when police would have already cordoned off the area.

"This was discussed by me and General Nyanda," Koetle said.

Nyanda's legal representative AP Landman, who is also representing the other applicants, said he was appearing for the SANDF chief as an implicated person and not as an applicant.

Landman said Nyanda, one of 37 ANC members who had received blanket amnesty, was not contesting the evidence which implicated him in the car bomb.

The blanket amnesty had however been set aside and Nyanda's amnesty application would be dealt with at a later stage, together with the applications of other ANC members, Landman said.

Koetle said he detonated the 100kg car bomb shortly after the limpet mine exploded in a flower pot.

He said the decoy bomb was used to get as many policemen and as few civilians on the scene. Koetle said it was known police practise to cordon off a bombed area.

Koetle said used the remote control device to detonate the bomb when he saw policemen on the scene.

Constables Weyers Botha, Kobus Wilkens, Andre Duvenhage and Christoffel Botha were killed. Three other policemen and 11 civilians were injured.

Asked by the legal representative for the victims' families, Jan Wagener, what he would have done if emergency personnel arrived on the scene, Koetle said it would have been very unfortunate.

"A mission is a mission and I had an objective to complete." "Was the objective to kill as many policemen as possible?" Wagener asked.

"Yes," Koetle replied.

He said no distinction was made between white or black policemen.

"What we were fighting was injustice. Anybody seen to enforce this injustice was the enemy."

Koetle said he was not proud of what had happened. "One can never be proud of war. I was merely sending a message."

Wagener's clients are provisionally opposing the applications.

Applicant William Mabele, now a sergeant in the SANDF, was 19 years old when he drove the car bomb to the court with Koetle.

Mabele said he supported what had been done because he too had been a victim of police brutality.

Another MK commander who has applied for amnesty for the court bombing, Solly Shoke, now a bridadier in the SANDF, earlier on Wednesday also testified that the court bombing had been Nyanda's idea.

Asked by Wagener why he and Nyanda did not have the guts to attack people who could defend themselves, and rather targeted defenceless people, Shoke said: "The police were part and parcel of the government machinery."

Shoke said it was unfortunate that the previous government had allowed the political situation to deteriorate to the extent that it did.

The hearing was postponed to Friday, when further evidence on the court bombing and the 1988 Ellis Park bombing will be heard.

The application of Dick Hlongwane for landmine attacks between 1978 and 1980 and another application by Shoke for the bombing of several police stations will also be heard.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MABOPANE Aug 6 - SAPA

AMNESTY HEARING GETS DIFFERING STORIES ON ORDER TO KILL

Two of four members of a former Umkhonto we Sizwe cell applying for amnesty for the assassination of former Bophuthatswana police brigadier Andrew Molope differed on Thursday on the issue of who ordered the killing.

France "Ting Ting" Masango, his former unit commander Obed Masina, Elias Makhura and Neo Potsane appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee, chaired by Judge Selwyn Muller, in the North- West township of Mabopane.

They are asking for amnesty for the 1986 assassination of Molope - then police divisional commissioner of Bophuthatswana's Odi region.

Molope was gunned down at a friend's house in the squatter settlement of Winterveldt.

Molope's son Gideon said his family was opposing the application on the basis that it had only emerged now that his father was killed on instructions of the late SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, who was at the time MK chief-of- staff.

MK was the African National Congress' armed wing.

Masina earlier in the day testified that the order to kill Molope was given by Hani, but Masango said the MK unit entered South Africa on a general mandate rather than to "identify particular individuals for assassination".

Masango said Molope's assassination was decided on by the MK cell after they entered the country, and with the green light from Masina, the mission was carried out.

He denied the unit got a direct order from the ANC's mission-in-exile to assassinate Molope "per se".

"I'm actually the person who initiated the idea (to assassinate Molope)," Masango said.

He said Molope's assassination was carried out in response to the Winterveldt massacre of 11 people by members of the Bophuthatswana police, headed by Molope.

Makhura explained to the committee in detail how Molope fell under a hail of AK47 gunfire at a friend's house in Winterveldt.

He said Molope was shot first by fellow cadre Justice Mbizana when the policeman tried to leave the house.

Makhura said he was the next to shoot Molope.

He said he and Makhura were dropped off at the house by Masango, who alerted them to the fact that there was a woman and a child in the house and that they should avoid injuring them.

Mbizana is not among the amnesty applicants and his whereabouts are not known.

Masina earlier said he was the commander of the four-man MK unit. He said Molope was identified as one of the people who was willingly used by the apartheid regime to undermine the liberation efforts of people under the leadership and guidance of the ANC.

Makhura was expected to appear again before the committee for cross-examination on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 7 1998 - SAPA

TRC CONFIRMED APARTHEID WAS CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY: MANDELA

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission had confirmed that apartheid was indeed a crime against humanity, which few people could now deny, President Nelson Mandela said on Friday.

Addressing the National Council of Provinces, he said: "We knew this was the case, but what has been revealed in the TRC shows not only what human beings can do to other human beings, but has actually confirmed the condemnation by the international community that apartheid was a crime against humanity."

"To kill people without bringing them before a court of law; to bury them secretly, which has happened throughout the country; this is an illustration of how apartheid is an evil against humanity."

In an attempt to counter accusations that the TRC had divided rather than reconciled South Africans, Mandela again accused politicians of trying to curry favour with the Afrikaner by claiming the commission had conducted a witchhunt against them.

"Individuals have come forward to say `This is what we did' - not the Afrikaner."

Although the majority of those who had confessed may have been Afrikaners, "this is not an indictment against the Afrikaner as such", Mandela said.

"We never thought that it would be easy for us as a nation to confront the terrible things we did to each other.

"But few could have foreseen how far we would come with the help of the TRC towards knowing this past, so that - in the interest of all South Africans - it could not be repeated."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MABOPANE August 7 1998 - SAPA

FORMER BOP BRIGADIER WIFE DESCRIBES HUSBAND AS FEARSOME MURDERER

The wife of slain former Boputhatswana police brigadier Andrew Molope on Friday stunned a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing at Mabopane in the North West when she described her husband as a "fearsome" murderer.

Testifying before the amnesty committee where four former Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives were applying for amnesty for the assassination of her husband Sina Molope, turning to the four said: "My brothers, you have killed a person who was a fearsome murderer...he disappareared from the eyes of all those he was murdering."

The four operatives are France Ting'Ting Masango, Obed Masina, Elias Makhuru and Neo Potsane. They have applied for amnesty for the 1986 assassination of Molope - then police divisional commissioner of Bophuthatswana's Odi region.

Molope was gunned down at a friend's house in the Winterveldt.

Mrs Molope however lamented the fact that her husband was shot 21 times.

She thanked the TRC for facilitating a process where the truth could emerged.

She said because of the uncertainty of the past, her in-laws had become suspicious and isolated her thinking she was responsible for her husband's death.

Committee chairman Selwyn Meyer had to call Molope's son, Gideon, to order during his mother's testimony when he wanted to know why the applicants had not killed former Boputhatswana president Lucas Mangope instead of his father.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 7 1998 - SAPA

TRC COMPLETES HEARINGS ON JHB MAGISTRATE'S COURT BOMBING

The lawyer for three men applying for amnesty for the 1987 Johannesburg Magistrate's Court bombing on Friday said the operation had been a military excercise aimed at a legitimate target - policemen.

AP Landman, acting for Joseph Koetle, Solly Shoke and William Mabele, told the Truth and Reconcialitio Commission amnesty committee his clients had revealed the true facts of what had happened on May 20, 1987.

Koetle was responsible for the actual planting and detonating of the car bomb, while Mabele, only 19 at the time, was used as a driver to get Koetle to and from the court building.

Solly Shoke was responsible for supplying the bomb material. The three were all members of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the African National Congress' armed wing.

Four policemen - constables Weyers Botha, Christoffel Botha, Kobus Wilkens and Andre Duvenhage - were killed while three other policemen and 11 civilians were injured when the 100kg car bomb was detonated at the court building.

"They made full disclosures on the role they played in the incident," Landman told the committee.

He said there was also no doubt Koetle had acted under instructions of General Siphiwe Nyanda, who at the time was in command of MK in Transvaal. He was also the chairman of the Swaziland Regional Politico-Military Committee.

Nyanda was earlier this year appointed as the first black chief of the SA National Defence Force.

Koetle, now a senior SANDF officer, testified he had been briefed on the operation by Nyanda, who was in Swaziland at the time.

Koetle said Nyanda had masterminded the bombing.

Landman said Nyanda could give these orders without consulting higher structures. "He was very high up in the command structures of MK."

According to Landman, who represented Nyanda as an implicated person, the SANDF chief has confirmed that the order eminated from him.

Nyanda has applied for amnesty together with a number of other ANC members and he will appear before the commission at a later stage.

On Friday Landman submitted it was apparent from the evidence that the aim was not to attack buildings as such, but to select those avenues where police would be.

"It is also significant that an attempt was made to entice police to the scene, but at the same time to prevent civilian casualties."

Landman said the manner in which the operation was carried out indicated a conscious effort to minimize civilian casualties. He said because of the intensification of the armed struggle at that stage, the ANC's policy of avoiding civilians being hurt could no longer be sustained. The injury of civilians in the explosion should be seen in this light.

Landman said the three applicants acted with the aim of furthering the objectives of the ANC and MK.

"Their aims clearly fell within the context of the armed struggle being moved into white areas and the fact that policemen were part of the government machinery and therefore legitimate targets."

Landman said while Mabele had not been a member of the ANC at the time of the bombing, he supported the objectives of the ANC.

Shoke earlier testified he had sent Mabele out of the country after the bombing. He later received training and became a member of MK.

One of the victims injured in the bombing, Captain Chris, Esterhuizen, and the mother of Constable Kobus Wilkens said they would not oppose the amnesty application.

They provisionally opposed the application in case the applicants did not make a full disclosure.

Leading evidence, TRC commissioner Paddy Prior said whether the committee decided to grant amnesty or not to the three applicants, it should take cognizance of the fact that four young policemen had died in the attack and several others were injured.

"We should also remember that civilians of all walks of life attended court proceedings at this court, Prior said.

Judgment on the application would be given at a later stage.

Meanwhile the hearings into the 1988 Ellis Park bombing in which two people died and 35 others injured, was also postponed to a later date because the legal counsel for Lester Dumakude, the MK cadre who planted the bomb, was attending another hearing.

The hearing was postponed earlier this week to give Eric van der Berg a chance to receive instructions from Dumakude on contradictions between his testimony and that of the other two applicants Harold Matshididi and Aggie Shoke.

Committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson said the rest of the Ellis Park hearing would be combined with another of the commitee's hearings.

Hearings on applications of Dick Hlongwane for a bombing at the Ellis Park sports arena in 1987 and of Solly Shoke for a number of police station bombings in the Johannesburg area, will be heard at a later stage.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 7 1998 - SAPA

TRC REPORT DUE ON OCTOBER 29: POTGIETER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission would present its report to President Nelson Mandela on October 29, TRC media and communications committee chairman Denzil Potgieter said on Friday.

The report was likely to run to five or six volumes, he told a briefing for diplomats and the media in Cape Town.

The commission would then be suspended on October 31, until such time as the amnesty committee had completed its work, hopefully around the middle of 1999.

It would then be reconvened to consider the committee's report and decide whether or not to add to or qualify the main report, Potgieter said.

The committee had already dealt with about two-thirds of the 7060 amnesty applications received.

Major applications still to be heard included the bombing of African National Congress offices in London, those arising from the chemical and biological warfare programme, those from alleged members of the Mandela United Football Club, applications in respect of violations committed by ANC members in exile, and the full application of Eugene de Kock.

Others arose from the ANC's landmine campaign, Potgieter said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 7 1998 - SAPA

NP CALLS FOR SANDF CHIEF'S PROOF OF AMNESTY APPLICATION

The National Party on Friday called for SANDF chief General Siphiwe Nyanda to be brought to trial or provide proof that he had applied for amnesty for the 1987 Johannesburg Magistrate's Court bomb blast.

This followed testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Johannesburg this week that Nyanda ordered the bomb attack that killed four policeman and injured 14 other people.

ANC spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told Sapa that Nyanda had in fact applied for amnesty together with a number of other ANC members and would appear before the commission at a later stage.

At the time of the bomb attack Nyanda was Transvaal commander of the African National Congress' armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

"The NP wants to know whether he applied for amnesty and, if so, we request that a copy of such application be handed to us immediately," NP spokesman Hennie Smit said.

"If he did not apply for amnesty, we demand that the necessary steps be taken in order to bring him to court."

The NP had forwarded a letter to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki on Friday for his reaction, Smit said in a statement.

AP Landman, who represented Nyanda as well as the three former MK members who applied for amnesty for the bomb attack, told the hearng that the SANDF chief was not contesting the testimony implicating him in the explosion.

Former MK cadres Joseph Koetle, Solly Shoke and William Mabele told the commission this week that they carried out the bombing on Nyanda's orders.

Police constables Weyers Botha, Christoffel Botha, Kobus Wilkens and Andre Duvenhage were killed when the 100kg car bomb detonated.

Koetle told the TRC he was responsible for the actual planting and detonating of the car bomb, while Mabele, only 19 at the time, was used as a driver to get Koetle to and from the court building.

Shoke was responsible for supplying the bomb material.

Landman told the commission there was no doubt Koetle had acted under Nyanda's instructions.

Nyanda was earlier this year appointed as the first black chief of the SA National Defence Force.

Koetle, now a senior SANDF officer, testified that he had been briefed on the operation by Nyanda, who was in Swaziland at the time.

Landman said Nyanda was in a position to give such orders without consulting higher structures.

"He was very high up in the command structures of MK."

One of the victims injured in the bombing, Captain Chris Esterhuizen, and the mother of Constable Wilkens said they would not oppose the amnesty application.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CARLETONVILLE Aug 11 - SAPA

GANGSTERS STABBED, STONED TO DEATH, AMNESTY COMMITTEE TOLD

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Tuesday heard evidence from former members of a self defence unit in Carletonville about how they stabbed and stoned to death alleged gangsters in the area because they were believed to be colluding with the police.

Joel Mokoena, Masoba van Rooyen, Abraham Naumakwe, Stephen van Rooyen, and Gustaff Morupisi are seeking amnesty for the killing of KK Nqaqu and Basino Sedisa at Bekkersdal on September 8, 1991.

The committee heard on Tuesday that the deceased were believed to be members of a group of gangsters who waged a reign of terror in the township.

The five applicants said the killing was a sequel to the murder of a comrade, John Magome. They denied their actions were criminally motivated.

They said criminal acts by the alleged gangsters were often reported to the police but no steps were taken. That had given rise to the perception that the gangsters were colluding with the police.

The five admitted that the decision to pursue the men was never sanctioned by the African National Congress Youth League at Khutsong township.

They said they went to Bekkersdal to arrest the two, but they ran away when the five told them they wanted to take them back to Carletonville.

The applicants said they chased after the two and caught up with them at a mine where shots were fired. They then became involved in a knifefight, and the two were knifed and stoned to death.

The hearing, chaired by Judge Hassen Mall, continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association VANDERBIJLPARK Aug 11 - SAPA

TRC HEARS OF SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE BEFORE BOIPATONG MASSACRE

The growing spiral of violence in the Vaal Triangle that led to the Biopatong massacre in June 1992 was graphically described at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing in Vanderbijlpark on Tuesday.

Vincent Khanyile, 36, is one of 15 former Inkatha Freedom Party members applying for amnesty for the massacre of 46 people, many of them women and children, on the night of June 17, 1992.

About 300 residents of the KwaMadala hostel, which houses workers of the nearby Iscor steelworks at Vanderbijlpark, are believed to have taken part in the attack.

Khanyile told the TRC's amnesty committee he witnessed attacks on his fellow Zulu speaking hostel dwellers on the weekend before the massacre.

Asked how he had felt about the attacks he replied: "I was filled with revenge".

He said the ANC's self defence units were responsible for attacks in which two Zulu men, and a woman who was accused of having an IFP lover, were also killed.

Khanyile said he held the local community responsible for the attacks because they supported the SDUs.

Khanyile described how he and a friend called Mbatha were cornered in a shebeen in the area a week before the massacre. He said he and Mbatha tried to flee, but were pelted with stones and hit with sticks.

He said Mbatha fell shortly before they were able to make their escape and he watched his wounded friend being stabbed with gardening tools and then dragged away. He said he never saw Mbatha again and later heard that he had been killed.

He said another man from the hostel was burnt to death over a lengthy period on the Sunday of that weekend.

He said the continual attacks by ANC supporters on anyone with any Zulu or IFP connections led to the decision to plan a counter attack on the nearby Boipatong township.

At a meeting held to discuss the spate of attacks on IFP supporters or Zulu speakers, a number of people complained about being harassed by ANC youths.

Khanyile said a hostel leader called Choncho told the meeting: "Don't worry, revenge is around the corner."

It has since emerged that the man was Damara Qconqco, who was named as the person who led the Boipatong attack and was later killed in taxi violence.

Khumalo said it was never spelt out how the attack should be carried out, but he was in no doubt that the aim would be to kill people in Boipatong.

"There was going to be nothing else but killing," Khanyile said when asked what was on his mind when he and about 300 other KwaMadala hostel dwellers set out on the night of June 17. "We were armed with weapons we knew would be used for killing," he said.

He said SDU members shot at the group when it approached Boipatong and they returned the fire. The SDU members then fled and the attackers split into two groups and began rampaging through the streets and houses.

He said he stabbed one person and threw stones at windows, but did not enter any houses. When he left Boipatong that night he returned to the hostel and went to sleep. He did not know if the person he stabbed had died.

Khanyile was later arrested and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for his part in the massacre.

He is expected this week to be subjected to lengthy cross examination by Danny Berger, who is appearing for relatives of victims. Berger cross-examined the first Boipatong applicant, Victor Mthembu, for more than three days about his role in the massacre.

When the Boipatong amnesty hearing reopened at the Iscor Club in Vanderbijl Park on Tuesday morning, tensions ran high as former foes came face to face.

A former inmate of KwaMadala hostel and a central figure in the conflict of the time, Vanana Zulu, became agitated when people attending the hearing photographed him and other IFP members. Zulu had to be restrained by police after he became involved in a heated argument.

The situation later simmered down and the proceedings when ahead quietly. Later,the applicant Khanyile referred to Zulu as being an important figure in the leadership structures of the IFP in the area at the time.

Khanyile said although Zulu held no official position in the IFP, he was held in high regard because of his connections with Zulu royalty.

"Nothing was ever done without being referred to Zulu," he said.

Zulu has not applied for amnesty but has attended the hearings since they commenced last month.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 12 1998 - SAPA

EAST RAND IFP MAN GRANTED AMNESTY FOR POSSESSING AK47 RIFLE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday granted amnesty to an East Rand member of the Inkatha Freedom Party's self-defence unit for the illegal possession of a firearm.

In a statement, the TRC's amnesty committee said Nelson Gabangani Mtshali, 28, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for possessing an AK47 rifle and ammunition.

The committee said his conviction arose out of his activities in the IFP's self-defence units in Katlehong in 1993.

In his application, Mtshali said he was caught transporting the rifle to Vosloorus, where fellow SDU members were involved in fighting.

He said he was acting in accordance with the political aims and instructions of the IFP.

The offence did not constitute a gross human rights violation so there was no need for a public hearing, the committee said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Aug 12 - SAPA

SDU KILLERS ACTED TO PROTECT COMMUNITY: LAWYER

Five former self defence unit members who killed two alleged gangsters in Bekkersdal on the West Rand in 1991 should be granted amnesty because the crime was committed to protect their community from lawlessness, their lawyer said on Wednesday.

Joel Mokoena, Masoba van Rooyen, Abraham Naumakwe, Stephen van Rooyen and Gustaff Morupisi are seeking amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for killing KK Nqaqu and Basino Sedisa on September 8, 1991.

The TRC's amnesty committee sitting in Carletonville on Tuesday heard evidence from the five on how they stabbed and stoned to death the alleged gangsters because they were believed to be colluding with the police.

Brian Koopedi, representing the five, on Wednesday said they should be granted amnesty because their actions were influenced by the political climate of the time.

The applicants, who appeared before the committee wearing leg irons, are all serving sentences in the Potchestroom prison.

In his closing argument, Koopedi said the amnesty committee should view the actions of the applicants as being politically motivated.

"At the time they committed these actions the applicants were youngsters who felt duty bound to protect their community from lawlessness, which was being perpetuated by the deceased with a view to making the community disillusioned about the prospects of a peaceful South Africa," he said.

"Their actions were clearly an attempt on their part to fulfil what they construed as a political mandate to root out lawlessness and criminality in Khutsong township."

The two-day hearing in the Carletonville town hall ended on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association VANDERBIJLPARK Aug 12 - SAPA

BOIPATONG ATTACKER SAYS HE WANTED TO TEACH RESIDENTS A LESSON

One of the men who took part in the Biopatong massacre in June 1992 told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday the attackers wanted to teach the residents of the Vanderbijlpark township a lesson.

Vincent Khanyile, 36, is one of 15 former Inkatha Freedom Party members applying for amnesty for the massacre of 46 people on the night of June 17, 1992.

About 300 residents of the KwaMadala hostel, which houses workers from the nearby Iscor steelworks at Vanderbijlpark, took part in the attack in which many of the victims were women and children.

Khanyile told the TRC's amnesty committee hearing in Vanderbijlpark that the motive for the attack was to teach the residents of Boipatong a lesson following attacks on Zulu speaking hostel dwellers.

He said the attacks on children and old people were borne out of the anger of the times in which they lived. However, he said he no longer believed attacks on innocent children were justified.

"At the time we wanted to send a message to the people of Boipatong that they should not allow attacks on us by the ANC comrades," Khanyile said.

During cross-examination, Khanyile was persistently asked by Danny Berger, who is appearing for the victims of the attack, about SA Defence Force and police involvement in the attack. He vehemently denied any involvement of the security forces or whites in the attack.

Berger drew the attention of the committee to the fact that many of the exhibits used in the trial of the people charged with the Boipatong massacre had disappeared. He said many of the documents now missing related to security force involvement in the attack.

He said he had not been able to trace the documentation even though the Boipatong case was to be taken on appeal.

Khanyile also denied involvement in any sexual attacks on women during the attack. When was asked about reports at the time that women had been raped or sexually assaulted, he said he knew nothing about the alleged attacks and never witnessed any such attacks.

Another of the applicants for amnesty, Mlupeki Tshabangu, testified on Wednesday and spoke of the remorse he felt about the attack.

"I don't have the words to explain how painful it is for me to think back on it now," he told the amnesty committee.

Tshabangu's words apparently fell on deaf ears in the Iscor Club hall, where about 300 people are attending the hearings. His statements were met with silence by the people present.

There have been tense moments during the hearing in which former hostel dwellers have exchanged harsh words with local residents during adjournments in the proceedings.

The hearing continues on Thursday. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association HAMMARSDALE August 12 1998 - SAPA

CAPRIVI TRAINEES APPLY FOR AMNESTY

Inkatha Freedom Party Caprivi trainees who operated in different regions in KwaZulu-Natal have applied for amnesty for murders they committed as well as for the ones they have been charged for.

Israel Nyoni Hlongwane, 30, one of the trainees serving 75 years imprisonment for seven counts of murder, one attempted murder and kidnapping and rape, appeared before the committee on Wednesday seeking amnesty.

Hlongwane, who allegedly operated mainly in the Mpumalanga region, told the committee on Wednesday they did not choose whom they killed as long as they knew the person belonged to an organisation opposing the IFP.

He testified they reported their operations to an IFP member in Mpumalanga, Zakhele Nkehli, who would in turn report to policemen known as Van Vuuren, Steenkamp and Smith.

Gcina Mkhize, who is serving 52 years in Westville Prison for several counts of murder which were allegedly committed in Empangeni, will be the next to appear before the amnesty committee.

The hearing continues until Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association VANDERBIJLPARK August 13 1998 - SAPA

BOIPATONG AMNESTY HEARINGS: MORE INTRIGUE THAN INFORMATION

The tensions that divided the Boipatong community were highlighted in this week's amnesty hearings in Vanderbijlpark, but they have shed no new light on events leading up to the massacre of 46 residents in June 1992.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty commitee is hearing applications for amnesty from 15 former Inkatha Freedom Party members who were convicted in 1993 for their part in the attack on the Vanderbijlpark township on June 17, 1992.

The amnesty hearings were expected to reveal more details as to how the attack was planned and carried out, but after three weeks of testimony nothing new has emerged.

The three applicants who have testified in the hearing so far have contradicted the evidence given during their trial, in which they were convicted on charges of murder.

The applicants have also conradicted each other in their accounts of events on the night of the massacre.

Although it was claimed by the applicants that the attack by about 300 hostel dwellers was carried out in the name of the Inkatha freedom Party, the party issued a statement soon afterwards condemning it as "mindless killing".

It also emerged that one of the applicants who testified this week, Mlupeki Tshabangu, was a former policeman and also had contact with a criminal gang led by the notorious Victor Kheswa, known as the "Vaal Monster".

The role of Kheswa's gang in Boipatong and the subsequent massacare has only been hinted at and has not been taken any further.

Tshabangu told the committee he once lived in Boipatong, but had been driven out of the township because of his links with the police.

Danny Berger, the lawyer appearing for victims of the Boipatong attack, has suggested to the applicants at considerable length that they have been withholding information about the involvement of high ranking IFP officials and the security forces in the attack.

All three applicants to have testified so far have consistently denied this, even when faced with evidence from witnesses at their trial, who claimed to have seen military vehicles moving near the township at the time of the attack.

Tshabangu also disputed testimony by his fellow applicants that soon after the attack, IFP Gauteng leader Themba Khoza told the attackers to destroy all evidence of the attack, including the weapons used and the property stolen from residents.

Tshabangu denied Khoza ever made such a statement and denied a suggestion by Berger that he was lying so as not to implicate the former IFP strongman.

Tshabangu also denied seeing a blood stained duvet that was brought back from Boipatong by one of the hostel dwellers with whom he shared a room. All three applicants also claimed their own roles in the attack were small.

In reply to a question from Berger about reports of women being raped and sexually assaulted during the attack, Tshabangu claimed he had nothing to do with such attacks and condemned them.

During the trial of the attackers, none were charged with rape or sexual assault.

The man who was in charge of the KwaMadala hostel, from where the attack was planned, Vanana Zulu, has been present throughout the hearings and has often become involved in heated arguments with the audience, many of whom are residents of Boipatong.

Berger has on several occassions referred to Zulu's presence at the hearings and suggested to the applicants that they feared him.

Berger said Zulu associated with the applicants during all breaks in the proceedings and sat in the front row as they testified.

Committee chairman Judge Sandile Ncgobo pointed out to Berger that Zulu had every right to attend the hearings as he had been named during the testimony as a person who may be implicated.

The hearing continues on Friday and is expected to be adjourned until next year for the testimony of the other applicants.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 13 1998 - SAPA

AMNSTY GRANTED TO SEVEN ANC MEMBERS FOR UMTATA ATTACKS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Thursday granted amnesty to four African National Congress members who attacked a police statio near Kokstad in which two policemen were killed.

Amnesty was on also granted to three former Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres who murdered an ANC defector and attempted to murder another in Umtata in June 1990.

The hearings for both applications were heard in Umtata in April this year.

The TRC on Thursday said it had decided to grant amnesty to Mlungisi Nyembezi, Luzuko Sydney Mpiyakhe, Solomzi Theo Nomashizolo and Luyanda Lizwi Ntikinca for the police station attack because they did not do it for personal gain.

The attack on the Bhongolethu police station in October 1993 was in retaliation for a SA Defence Force raid in September 1993 at Northcrest, Umtata, in which minors Samora Mpemdulo, Sadat Mpemdulo, Mzandile Mfeya, Sandiso Yose and Thando Mtembi were killed.

The goverment at the time justified the attack by claiming it had received information that the house had been a base for the Azanian People's Liberation Army - the military wing for the Pan Africanist Congress.

During the attack on the police station Nyembezi, Mpiyakhe, Nomashizolo and Ntikinca kidnapped and murdered two policemen, a Sergeant Mbhele and a Sergeant Ngubo.

They carried out their attack after attending the funeral of the five youths killed in the raid.

In granting amnesty the committee said the applicants' motive for the attack had been to make the point that the government could not simply act against the African people at any time without expecting some form of retaliation.

The committee said it noted that the victims' widows had disputed an argument by the applicants that the policemen had been killed in a shootout after the kidnapping when they (police) had managed to obtain firearms.

It also noted the victims' submission that the applicants had not made a full disclosure of the facts.

The committee said it found that the applicants were pursuing the ANC's objectives, that they had made a full disclosure and that there was no evidence they had acted on personal agendas, for personal gain or out of personal malice.

The policemen's widows were declared victims as envisaged in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act and the committee referred them to the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee.

Amnesty was also granted to former MK cadres Ian Ndibulele Ndzamela, Pumlani Kubukeli and Mfanelo Dan Matshaya.

They were part of a group of four MK members who decided to kill Sipho Phungulwa and Luthando Dyasophu, former exiles who defected and became askaris (informers).

The amnesty committee said in its decision the two defectors held a press conference upon their return to South Africa in which they discredited the ANC.

The applicants decided to kill Phungulwa and Dyasophu. They were attacked and shot at as they alighted from a taxi in Ngangelizwe township in June - Phungulwa died and Dyasophu escaped.

The committee, under the chairmanship of Judge Ronnie Pillay, stated the applicants had explained there was nothing personal in the attack on the two defectors.

"They were acting for the country, as members of MK stationed in Transkei. They gained nothing personally for their actions.

"Dyasophu gave evidence, which largely confirmed what the applicants had stated.

"Most importantly, he confirmed that once the leadership had labelled one an informer, it meant this person must be killed.

"We accept the versions of the applicants, especially as it is substantially supported by Dyasophu.

"Clearly the offences for which amnesty is applied for were committed for political reasons in the interest of an anti- apartheid stance.

"We are satisfied that they made a full disclosure in explaining how and why these offences were committed,"the committee said.

Dyasophu and Phungulwa's wife was declared victims as defined in the law, and were referred to the reparation and rehabilitation committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 13 1998 - SAPA

NP PROTESTS TRANSFER OF TRC INVESTIGATORS TO AMNESTY COMMITTEE

The National Party on Thursday objected to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendation last week that commissioners and staff members who worked on the commission's human rights violations committee be transferred to the amnesty committee.

NP TRC spokesman Jacko Maree, in a letter sent to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Justice Minister Dullah Omar on Thursday, said the party strongly objected to such a proposal.

The recommendation was apparently made by TRC commissioners last Friday.

"I write on behalf of the NP to lodge our strongest objection to the implementation of this proposal.

"To imagine that someone like Dumiza Ntsebeza, who headed the TRC's investigations, now has to sit as a judge in amnesty application matters is too preposterous to contemplate."

Maree said Ntsebeza had, because of the position he held and the investigations that took place under his supervision, inside and privileged knowledge at his disposal.

"This disqualifies him from sitting as a judge.

"You cannot be a prosecutor and a judge. We also remind you that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done," Maree said.

He concluded his letter with a request that Tutu confirm the recommendation would not be implemented.

Maree told Sapa on Thursday the commissioners who served on the commission's human rights violations committee were in possession of a lot of statements and information on the applicants and their serving on the amnesty committee would represent a conflict of interest.

"They might not be hearing the information divulged in the application for the first time and this might render them subjective.

"We also do not know what other factors, other than those revealed by the applicants, could play a role in their decision," Maree said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association HAMMARSDALE August 13 1998 - SAPA

PREMIER NGUBANE'S BODYGUARD HELPED IN ATTACKS ON ANC: TRC TOLD

Startling testimony that KwaZulu-Natal premier Ben Ngubane's chief bodyguard Jabulani Makhathini assisted the Inkatha Freedom Party's Caprivi trainees in attacks on African National Congress strongholds, emerged on Thursday in the third day of the Mpumulanga amnesty hearings.

IFP member Phillip David Dhlamini, 31, told the hearing on Thursday that he operated in the Inchanga area outside Pietermaritzburg and that Makhathini "had strong links to many of the killings that took place in the province".

It also emerged that Makhathini was a senior member of the Bureau of Secret Investigation which operated in a similar manner to the police special branch.

Reacting to Dhlamini's evidence on Thursday, the overall commander of the Caprivi-trained unit, Daluxolo Madlanduna Luthuli, confirmed Dhlamini's allegation that Makhathini was implicated closely with the Caprivi.

Testifying on Thursday, Dhlamini told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that he was trained at Caprivi to become a soldier for the IFP. However when he came back from training, he was issued with a police appointment certificate but did not perform any real police duties.

During his training in Caprivi, Dhlamini was placed into the Offensive Group and together with other members was trained in the theoretical and practical use of weapons such as the G3 Rifle, AK47, LMG machine gun, RPG7 rocket launcher, RPG5 rocket launcher, pump action shot gun, mortars, Tokorev pistol, Makarov pistol, RPK rifle, and Uzi sub machine gun.

He said they were also trained in the use of explosives and different hand grenades such as the M5, M26, Pineapple and limpet mine.

Commenting further on Dhlamini's testimony, Luthuli said the trainees were indoctrinated to fight the "communist forces of the ANC and UDF (United Democratic Front".

Luthuli said the fact that the Caprivi trainees were a military force was disguised by the fact that members would be employed by the KwaZulu-Natal police.

Dhlamini told the amnesty committee that although he was ordered to kill Inkatha's opponents he could not remember actually killing someone. He said they were ordered to kill any opponent, attack ANC stronghold areas, burn their houses and kill the occupants.

Stella Msomi, 26, one of the victims of the Caprivi-linked attacks said on Thursday: "I cannot say anything. God will judge them". Msomi was raped, stabbed and her throat slashed.

Asked for comment, Makhathini said he could not comment as the matter was before the TRC.

Ngubane could not be reached for comment.

© South African Press Association, 1998 This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE August 14 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S TRIAL TO RESUME AFTER TWO MONTH BREAK

Former state president PW Botha's trial for refusing to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission resumes in the George Regional Court on Monday after a two-month break.

Presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju on Friday confirmed reports that he will only deliver his judgment on August 24, and not on August 18 as originally planned.

"The volumes of documentation in this case are so thick, one needs some time to consider them," he told Sapa.

Lugaju said he will also deliver the reasons for his judgment on August 24.

On Monday Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher will conclude his closing argument, and this is not expected to take more than a few hours.

Lugaju said if the party which lost the case decided to appeal, the normal procedure would be for them to apply directly to the High Court.

Botha's lawyer Ernst Penzhorn has said it would be premature to say whether an appeal is likely prior to judgment.

If convicted of failing to testify before the TRC in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, Botha, 82, faces a jail sentence of up to two years or a fine of e is considered unlikely given his age.

Police spokesman Sergeant Malcolm Pojie said security at the George court buildings would be stepped up on Monday, as had been the case at Botha's previous court appearances.

Since the trial was adjourned on June 15, former police minister Adriaan Vlok has told the TRC that Botha personally gave the order for the 1988 bombing of Khotso House in Johannesburg, which housed the offices of the SA Council of Churches.

Botha recently married legal secretary Barbara Robertson, 57, in a private ceremony at his Wilderness home.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association VANDERBIJLPARK Aug 14 - SAPA

BOIPATONG AMNESTY HEARINGS PROVIDE MORE INTRIGUE

Women were targeted in the 1992 Boipatong massacre because they participated in stonings of Inkatha Freedom Party supporters, one of the attackers told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Vanderbijlpark on Friday.

Jack Mbele is one of 15 IFP supporters applying for amnesty for the massacre, in which 46 people were killed in the Vaal Triangle township on June 17, 1992.

He told the committee he felt justified in attacking women in Boipatong because they were guilty of harassing IFP supporters who lived in the nearby KwaMadala hostel.

He said he witnessed an incident in which a friend, Bongani Mbatha, was stoned and stabbed to death in Boipatong a week before the massacre. He said he saw women stoning Mbatha and felt anger towards them because of the death of his friend.

"The women involved themselves in the conflict and were therefore legitimate targets," Mbele said.

However he denied attacking any old women or young girls on the night of the massacre.

Lawyers representing the victims of Boipatong have submitted a memorandum to the committee claiming that 11 women were raped and sexually assaulted during the attack on Boipatong.

According to the report, some women were so severely injured in the sexual attacks that they suffered permanent physical damage.

All four amnesty applicants to have testified so far have denied any knowledge of sexual attacks on women.

The hearing was on Friday adjourned until January 18 next year, when the other 11 applicants will testify about their role in the massacre. Survivors of Boipatong will also testify and are expected to given first hand accounts of the attacks on them by the applicants.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association HAMMARSDALE Aug 14 - SAPA

IFP TOLD HIM NOT TELL THE ENTIRE TRUTH: AMNESTY APPLICANT

A Caprivi-trained Inkatha Freedom Party amnesty applicant on Friday showed the amnesty committee in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, a letter apparently sent to him by IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi discouraging him from telling the entire truth in his amnesty bid.

Bethwell Bheki Ndlovu, 28, a special constable in the former KwaZulu-Natal police, was being cross-examined during a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing on why his testimony differed from that contained in his written submission.

Ndlovu now admits to killing Bongani Ntombela of Imbali, although he did not do so in his original application.

He claims that IFP officials did not want him to divulge this information because it would expose the involvement of senior IFP officials in political violence. One of the people mentioned in this regard was MZ Khumalo, the IFP's secretary general.

Ndlovu said while he was serving time at Westville Prison, IFP officials Nicky Britz and a Captain Hlengwa visited him and discouraged him from applying from amnesty.

When he demurred, the officials insisted they would fill in his amnesty application on his behalf and that he should "stick to the story", Ndlovu testified.

In the letter to Ndlovu, apparently bearing Buthelezi's signature and written in response to Ndlovu's appeal for IFP assistance, it is stated: "We are hoping that others that we send to see you regularly such as Captain Hlengwa and Ms Britz do see you."

It goes on: "Concerning the problems about special constable and other problems... You cannot expect me to comment on such things with you in an open mail of this kind."

Ndlovu also said former IFP general secretary Dr Ziba Jiyane was among the IFP officials who visited him in prison. He decided to enter into correspondence with Buthelezi because the IFP had promised him help which was not forthcoming.

Buthelezi could not be reached for comment on Ndlovu's allegations.

Also testifying on Friday political commissar of the Caprivi paramilitary wing, Daluxolo Luthuli, admitted to planning the attack on the United Democratic Front house known as "Summertime" in Mpumalanga, where the UDF held regular meetings.

Nine people were killed in the attack and about eight houses destroyed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

CAPE TOWN August 16 1998 - SAPA-AFP

TRUTH COMMISSION'S DOOR SLAMS SHUT ON P.W. BOTHA

The door of South Africa's truth commission has slammed shut on apartheid president P.W. Botha and his fate is now in the hands of the courts, commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu told AFP.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which is prosecuting Botha for ignoring a subpoena to appear at a human rights violations hearing in December, had repeatedly said it would drop charges should the former president have a change of heart.

But the TRC's mandate to hold public hearings on apartheid-era human rights crimes expired at the end of July and the option to give verbal, on-the-record testimony is no longer available to 82-year-old Botha were he to relent at the eleventh hour.

"Mr. Botha's fate no longer lies in the hands of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's human right violations committee," Tutu said in a statement to AFP.

"That committee no longer has subpoena powers and, as far as we are concerned, the matter now lies in the hands of the court."

Botha returns to the magistrate's court in the south coast resort town of George n Monday for what is expected to be the last day of evidence in a frequently-interrupted trial.

Botha's defence lawyers have said they will complete their closing argument on Monday; Magistrate Victor Lugaju has said he plans to deliver judgement on August 24.

If found guilty, the octogenarian, who has displayed a belligerent attitude throughout proceedings, faces an unspecified fine or a jail term of up to two years.

The TRC had wanted to grill Botha - whose autocratic rule of South Africa from 1978 until 1989 earned him the nickname "Great Crocodile" - on his State Security Council (SCC), a panel of security chiefs which allegedly ordered political assassinations and bloody cross-border raids.

A number of witnesses, among them convicted police death squad commander Eugene de Kock, have told the court the SSC ordered the killing of anti-apartheid activists and that Botha personally ordered buildings housing anti-apartheid groups bombed.

State lawyers have wrapped up their case against Botha, saying he had no legal right to ignore the subpoena and claiming that he is deliberately hampering the work of the commission, which is probing human rights crime committed during apartheid.

Botha's lawyers began their closing argument on June 15 by claiming there was agreement between Tutu and Botha that the octogenarian would not have to testify in person if he made a written submission.

The lawyers accused the commission of being prejudiced against Botha, the SSC and the apartheid armed forces. They also maintained that the subpoena had been "fatally defective and is therefore void of force and effect." Since the trial was adjourned on June 15, apartheid police minister Adriaan Vlok has confirmed part of De Kock's evidence, telling the TRC Botha personally gave the order for the 1988 bombing of Khotso House in Johannesburg, which housed the anti-apartheid South African Council of Churches.

Botha, who has suffered a stroke and has had a hip replacement operation, on June 22 married legal secretary Barbara Robertson, 57, in a private ceremony at his home in Wilderness, adjoining George.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE August 16 - SAPA

TRC COULD SUMMON PW BOTHA AGAIN

The stand-off between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and PW Botha will not necessarily be over once the former state president's trial for refusing to appear at a TRC hearing on the State Security Council comes to an end.

The trial resumes on Monday in the George Regional Court after a two-month break.

According to TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the TRC still has the power to issue further subpoenas to Botha ordering him to testify before it.

TRC spokesman John Allen quoted Tutu as saying: "Mr Botha's fate no longer lies in the hands of the TRC's human rights violations committee.

"That committee no longer has subpoena powers and as far as we are concerned the matter now lies in the hands of the court.

"However if Mr Botha's evidence is deemed necessary by the (TRC's) amnesty committee for the purposes of deciding one of the 1200 amnesty applications it still has to hear, it still has the power to subpoena him."

The life of the amnesty committee was recently extended to enable it to deal with the outstanding amnesty applications.

Judgement in Botha's trial is to be delivered on August 24. If convicted he faces a jail term of up to two years or a fine.

It has been widely reported that the maximum fine Botha could face was R20000, but the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act under which he has been charged does not specify any such limit.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE August 17 - SAPA

PW BOTHA'S COURT CASE RESUMES

Former state president PW Botha's trial for flouting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena resumed in the George Regional Court on Monday morning after a two-month break.

Botha, 82, who wore a navy blue pinstripe suit and light blue shirt, arrived at the court with his new wife Barbara.

They entered the court building through a back entrance, because police were concerned about their security, after earlier finding a suspicious-looking packet in the court foyer. It was later found to contain a book.

Judgment in the trial was now expected to be given on Friday, and not next Monday as originally thought. This was because the policemen securing the court building would not be available next week as they were needed at the Non- Alligned Movement summit in Durban.

Court proceedings got under way shortly after 9.30am with Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher resuming his closing argument.

The trial stems from Botha's refusal to testify at a TRC hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he headed.

If convicted, he faces a jail sentence of up to two years or a fine of up to R20000, the maximum which can be imposed by a Regional Court.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE August 17 1998 - SAPA

JUDGMENT IN PW BOTHA CASE TO BE DELIVERED ON FRIDAY

The outcome of the protracted legal battle in the George Regional Court between former state president PW Botha and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be decided on Friday.

At 10.30am presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju will deliver his verdict as to whether Botha contravened the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act by refusing to appear at a TRC hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council.

"I think we need some time to consider our verdict," Lugaju said on Monday after hearing four hours of closing argument in the case, which has been under way since January.

Lugaju originally intended to deliver his judgment next Monday, but the date was brought forward, because of the non- availability of the policemen securing the court buildings. The policemen will be working at the Non-Alligned Movement summit in Durban next week.

If found guilty Botha, 82, faces a jail sentence of up to two years or a fine of up to R20000, the maximum that can be imposed by a regional court. However a jail sentence is considered unlikely given his age and poor health.

Botha on Monday arrived at the court with his new wife Barbara and the two were ushered into the court buildings through a back door. Police were concerned about their safety after finding a suspicious looking packet in the court foyer, which was later found to contain a book.

Botha, who wore a navy pinstripe suit, jersey, light blue shirt and leather gloves, once again sat next to the dock on a padded chair, and court officials brought a heater into the chilly court room for him. His elegantly dressed wife and his daughter, Elanza Maritz, sat behind him in the public gallery.

Botha's advocate, Lappe Laubscher, who began delivering his closing arguments when the trial last adjourned two months ago, resumed trying to prove that the TRC's decision to subpoena Botha was illegal and invalid.

The bulk of his argument related to the technicalities under which the subpoena was issued.

The decision to issue the subpoena to Botha was taken by a "TRC panel" which was not a legally constituted body, and the required quorum of commissioners was not present to take such a decision, Laubscher said.

"According to the state's own evidence, the commission didn't gather (to decide to subpoena Botha) but a body claiming to be the (TRC's) human rights violations committee did."

In June, prosecutor Bruce Morrison argued that Botha should have applied to the courts to set aside the subpoena, and that he was not entitled to simply ignore it.

But Laubscher said since the subpoena was not valid or legal, there was no need for Botha to ask the court to set it aside and it therefore "may be ignored with impunity".

Laubscher also insisted that there was an agreement between Botha and TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that Botha would be able to answer any of the commission's questions in writing. Tutu has denied there was ever such an agreement, saying he did not have the authority to grant anyone immunity from appearing before the TRC.

Laubscher also argued that the TRC's mandate - which was later extended - had officially expired by the time it subpoenaed Botha.

If convicted Botha will have to decide whether to appeal - a very expensive process.

The trial must have already cost him a small fortune, because the State decided to withdraw legal aid, and his supporters have been slow in supporting a campaign to raise funds for his legal fees.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 17 1998 - SAPA

TRC ASKS FOR INFO ON ROBBERY IN WHICH TWO POLICEMAN WERE SHOT

The Truth and Reconciliation has appealed for help in finding the friends and relatives of two policemen who were shot during an attempted robbery at Devon on the East Rand in April 1994.

The TRC in a statement on Monday said three people applied for amnesty in connection with the attack in which policeman Steve Frederick Terreblanche was killed and his colleague was injured.

The TRC's amnesty committee said it would like to make contact in particular with Andre Renier Swart who was wounded in the attack, and Terreblanche's uncle, Frederick Willem Jacobus Terreblanche.

Anyone with information was asked to call the TRC at (011) 331-1471.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 17 - SAPA

TUTU TO CHAIR TRC'S FINAL PLENARY SESSION ON WEDNESDAY

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu will chair a plenary session of the commission on Wednesday before leaving for the United States on sabbatical for at least a year.

By the time Tutu left on Wednesday, he hoped the commission would have reached agreement on a draft report that would be submitted for final editing, his spokesman John Allen told Sapa on Monday.

"Thereafter, there may be some gaps to be closed in the main report and commissioners will then communicate with Tutu in Atlanta," Allen said.

Tutu would return on October 28 to present the main report to President Nelson Mandela.

Allen said the amnesty committee would continue its work into next year and once that was completed and its report had been compiled, all the TRC commissioners, including Tutu, would reconvene to consider and adopt that report.

Tutu would spend his sabbatical at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA August 18 1998 - SAPA

SECURITY BRANCH POLICEMEN SEEK AMNESTY FOR BOMBINGS

Ten former policemen, including former police general Johan Coetzee, will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission next month in a bid to get amnesty for bomb attacks in the 1980s in which anti-apartheid activists were killed.

The attacks include the murder of Ruth First, wife of late SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, the killing of Jeanette Schoon and her daughter Katryn in Angola, and the bombing of the African National Congress' offices in London, the TRC said in a statement on Tuesday.

The TRC's amnesty committee will hear applications for amnesty from ten former security branch policemen.

The most senior applicant is former police commissioner Coetzee, who is one of eight policemen seeking amnesty for the London bombing in 1982.

The other applicants for the London bombing are apartheid "super-spy" Craig Williamson, Lieutenant James B Taylor, intelligence operative John Louis McPherson, explosives expert Roger HL Raven, Lieutenant John S Adam, the former head of technical services Wybrand AL du Toit, and former Vlakplaas security police base commander Eugene de Kock.

Williamson and Raven are also seeking amnesty for the parcel bomb murder of First and the attempted murder of Slovo in Maputo, Mozambique in 1982.

Williamson, Raven and Isak Daniel Bosch are seeking amnesty for the murder of Schoon and her daughter in 1984.

Former Brigadier Willem Schoon is seeking amnesty for the attempted murder of Schoon's husband, Marius, in Botswana in 1981.

The amnesty committee has already heard an amnesty application by another former Vlakplaas commander, Dirk Coetzee, in connection with the attempt to murder Schoon.

McPherson is also applying for amnesty for the bombing of ANC offices in Lusaka in 1985.

The hearing will take place at the Idasa Centre in Pretoria, corner of Prinsloo and Visagie streets, from September 6 to 25.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 19 1998 - SAPA

TRC REVEALS POSSIBLE SA INVOLVEMENT IN UN CHIEF'S DEATH

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday revealed documents containing evidence of the possible involvement of the former South African government in the 1961 death of United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold.

The documents were released at a news conference in Cape Town soon after the last plenary session to be presided over by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is leaving for the United States.

TRC head of investigations Dumisa Ntsebeza said the documents came into his possession while he was investigating another matter. He said they were released in the public interest, but called for caution in making unfounded allegations about their contents.

The documents purport to be from the South African Institute for Maritime Research, thought to be an SA Defence Force front company, and contain details about plans to detonate a bomb in Hammarskjold's aircraft soon after take-off from Elizabethville in the former Congo.

According to the documents the bomb was due to explode when the wheels were retracted. But it appears that if there was a bomb it exploded shortly before the aircraft was due to land at Ndola airport in the former Northern Rhodesia.

The documents also reveal alleged involvement of the American CIA and British MI5 in the plan.

Tutu said it was of great concern that the TRC had been unable to adequately investigate the allegations because the mandate for such TRC inquiries had expired. The issue had been reported to Justice Minister Dullah Omar for further investigation.

"We want to emphasise that we have been unable to investigate the veracity of these documents, and of the allegations that the South African or other Western intelligence agencies were involved in bringing about the crash," Tutu said.

The death of Hammarskjold on September 17, 1961 has long remained a mystery, and numerous inquiries conducted into the crash failed to establish whether it was sabotage or an accident.

Hammarskjold, a Swede, was Secretary-General of the UN from 1957 and was taking a particular interest in African events - particularly the civil war in the Congo - when he died.

A British Foreign Office spokesman on Wednesday suggested the letters were planted.

"Intelligence agents of the United Kingdom do not go around bumping people off," said the spokesman, on customary condition of anonymity. "At this time during the Cold War, Soviet misinformation was quite rampant so (the letters) may have been put out by them."

In New York, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said: "This matter, for the moment anyway, rests with the South African authorities." He declined to comment further.

The Swedish foreign ministry said it would withhold comment until it could get more information. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 19 - SAPA

TUTU FEELS FINE ON EVE OF HIS DEPARTURE TO AMERICA

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Desmond Tutu, who has been fighting cancer for the past year, says he feels fine.

He was speaking before his departure for the United States, where he will take up a teaching post at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and has been treated in South Africa and in the United States.

"I feel fine," Tutu said, when asked about his health during a news conference said after chairing his last plenary session of the TRC on Wednesday. He said he had had several check-ups recently and his doctors had told him they were "still happy". He said he would go for further check-ups in the US.

The former Archbishop of Cape Town said Wednesday was a poignant day for him, and he would be nostalgic about events in South Africa and at the TRC during his absence.

"I will definitely be watching the South African rugby scores when I am away," said Tutu, who is keen follower of the sport.

Tutu said he would return to South Africa in October to hand over the TRC's report to President Nelson Mandela. The TRC would be suspended on October 31 but would be reconvened when the amnesty process had been completed, for any additions to the final report.

Referring to the TRC's dispute with former president PW Botha, Tutu said he felt deeply distressed that Botha had brought the situation on himself by his obduracy.

"We handled him like nobody else. We gave him a list of questions we wanted answered beforehand. It was never our intetion to humiliate or belittle him, but merely to obtain the information required of us by the (Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation) Act."

Botha has been charged with ignoring a subpoena to testify before the TRC. Judgment is expectedc in the George Magistrate's Court on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Aug 20 - SAPA

SECURITY COSTS FOR PW TRIAL COULD TOP R2 MILLION

Security costs for former state president PW Botha's drawn-out legal tussle with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission could top more than R2 million.

Police spokesman Wicus Holtzhausen told Sapa on Wednesday that newspaper reports estimating the security costs to be in the region of R150,000 for every day of the trial, could well be accurate.

This would put total security costs for the case, which began in January and has been postponed several times, at over R2 million.

About 280 policemen and soldiers, and dozens of vehicles, had been used to secure the court buildings.

Seventy-five security personnel were sent to George from Cape Town, with others being brought in from nearby Oudtshoorn and Knysna.

A three-tier razor wire barricade was erected around the court building, and road blocks were set up on the roads leading into the small southern Cape town.

Holtzhausen said final costs had not yet been determined, but they would amount to "hundreds of thousands of rand".

Whether such stringent security measures were necessary is debatable.

A few peaceful protests were held at the beginning of the trial, but since then the only people to show any interest in the proceedings have been journalists and a handful of Botha supporters.

The court case is expected to be finally wound up on Friday.

Presiding Magistrate Victor Lugaju is to deliver his verdict at 10.30 am, and if Botha is found guilty, Lugaju is expected to hand down sentence the same day.

"We are expecting the whole matter to be finished on Friday," state prosecutor Bruce Morrison told Sapa on Wednesday.

He said he had to prepare a submission to the court in the possible event of Botha being convicted, but declined to comment on it, saying to do so could constitute contempt of court.

"The matter (of the verdict and possible sentence) is at the magistrate's discretion," Morrison said.

Botha, now 82 and in poor health, has not indicated whether he will appeal if he loses the case, but he is known to want the matter settled as soon as possible.

An appeal will be very expensive.

Botha's former defence minister, General Magnus Malan, one of the drivers of a campaign to raise funds for Botha's legal fees, declined to say how much had been pledged. "I think it is rather a personal matter and I am satisfied I have reached my objective," he said.

Botha has had to pay for his own defence because the state withdrew his legal aid, but he cannot be ordered to pay the prosecution's costs.

There is expected to be a renewed flurry of international media interest in the case, which had waned somewhat since the trial began eight months ago.

The case stems from Botha's refusal to appear at TRC hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he chaired.

If convicted he faces a jail sentence of up to two years or a maximum fine of R20000.

TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine plans to address a media conference in Cape Town on Friday to respond to the verdict.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 20 1998 - SAPA

VILJOEN SLAMS TRC FOR RELEASING UNVERIFIED DOCUMENTS

The sensationalist way in which the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had "revealed" documents relating to the death in 1961 of former United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold in an aircrash, cast doubt on the TRC's credibility, Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said on Thursday.

By its own admission, the body had not been able to check the authenticity of the documents, he said in a statement.

It was unthinkable that a body such as the TRC - which in terms of its name had to uphold the truth - could not even ensure that its information was confirmed beyond all doubt before releasing it publicly.

Even if the TRC'smandate had expired, there were other institutions which could first have verified whether the information was true, Viljoen said.

By sending unconfirmed allegations into the world, the perception was being created that they were true, even if they might not be.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 20 1998 - SAPA

THREE ANC MEMBERS JAILED FOR ILLEGAL WEAPONS GRANTED AMNESTY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday said it had granted amnesty to three African National Congress members who were serving jail sentences of seven to 10 years.

Antonia Alberto Tovela was sentenced in February 1994 to 10 years in prison after the Barberton Regional Court convicted him for the illegal possession of 17 AK47s, a large quantity of ammunition and explosives and four Makarov pistols.

Jim Sambo is serving seven years following his conviction in the Northern Transvaal Regional Court in 1994 for illegal possession of 17 AK47s, a large quantity of ammunition and a hand grenade.

The Port Elizabeth Regional Court on September 27, 1993 sentenced Silumko Mama to seven years in prison on charges of arson and public violence.

The amnesty committee dealt with their applications in chambers as the offences for which they applied for amnesty did not relate to gross human rights violation as defined by the TRC Act, the statement said.

"As members of the African National Congress, the applicants acted completely in the interests of (their) organisation."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association GEORGE August 20 1998 - SAPA

PW BOTHA LIES LOW AHEAD OF BIG DAY IN COURT

Former state president PW Botha lay low at his Wilderness home Die Anker on Thursday ahead of his big day in the George Regional Court on Friday.

Magistrate Victor Lugaju, who has presided over Botha's criminal trial for flouting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena, is to deliver his verdict at 10.30am following the eight-month trial.

A handful of reporters gathered outside Botha's home on Thursday afternoon, but he declined to come out, and sent them a message through his secretary that he had nothing to say.

The trail stems from Botha's refusal to appear at a TRC hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he chaired. If convicted he faces up to two years in jail or a fine of up to R20000.

The 82-year-old Botha, who recently married legal secretary Barbara Robertson, 57, described the TRC as a circus and refused to co-operate with it.

The African National Congress' George branch plans to stage a placard protest on a traffic island opposite the court buildings starting at 10am on Friday.

ANC regional organiser Lanval Reid said the party had applied and been granted a permit for 250 of its members to participate in the demonstration.

"We expect more to attend of their own accord, especially from places like Lawaaikamp (a squatter camp near George), who were directly affected by PW Botha's forced removal policy," said Reid.

"There is great expectation among the people of George about the verdict."

No other protests have been planned.

The strict security measures which have marked Botha's previous court appearances would be in place again, police said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA August 20 1998 - SAPA

MATANZIMA TO APPEAR BEFORE TRC

Paramount Chief Kaizer Matanzima will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Umtata on Monday to answer questions relating to the death of former Unitra student activist Batandwa Ndondo in 1985.

Instructing attorney Mongezi Mgudlwa confirmed Matanzima's appearance.

This will be his first appearance before a tribunal or any kind of commission since his nearly 25 years of rule as Chief Minister, Prime Minister and State President of the former Transkei homeland.

TRC media spokesman Vuyani Green said Matanzima had been summonsed because some of the applicants would tell the TRC on Monday that he made certain statements after Ndondo's death.

The amnesty applicants are former askari Mbuso Shabalala, Inspector Lamont Dandala and convicted former Vlakplaas chief Eugene de Kock.

Green said former senior police officers of the then Transkei security police, including then head of the security police, General Leonard Kawe, Captain Mzwandile Booi and Captain Temba Willie would also be questioned.

Ndondo, a cousin to head of the TRC's investigative unit Dumisa Ntsebeza, died at the hands of the policemen and an Askari at his Cala home in September 1985.

Advocate Nceba Dukada will appear for the Ndondo family.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA August 21 1998 - SAPA

TRC APPEALS TO WIMPY BLAST VICTIMS TO COME FORWARD

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday appealed to victims of a Wimpy Bar bomb in Benoni and an ambush outside Lindela hostel in Katlehong - both in 1988 - to contact its Cape Town offices in connection with an amnesty hearing early next month.

One person was killed and at least 60 were injured when a bomb exploded at the Benoni Wimpy Bar on the East Rand on July 30, 1988.

The victims are believed to be in Daveyton, Wattville, Boksburg, Actonville, Duduza, Impala Park, Benoni and Johannesburg. The TRC said it managed to contact some of them but there were others it had not yet traced.

On October 12, 1988 several policemen were wounded when their van came under attack from high-calibre weapons near Lindela hostel in Katlehong in the Vaal Triangle.

Injured were Herman Bilankulu, Amos Mbalekelwa Ngubeni, Samuel Bongani Shabalala, Letas Ronald Mashele and Victor Mbasa.

Four men applied for amnesty for both incidents. They are Tebogo Kebotlhale, Molwedi Mokoena, Phumzile Sigasa and Elgas Mabore Ndhlovu, who say they are members of the African National Congress.

According to the law, victims, their next-of-kin and any other interested parties have a right to give evidence and be legally represented at the hearing.

The hearing will take place at Benoni City Hall from September 7 to 11.

Victims can contact Thabile Thabethe on 021-245 161 or Knut Vanvik on 082-458-9968.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 21 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA SENTENCED

An unrepentant former state president PW Botha was on Friday sentenced to a fine of R10,000 or 12 months jail after being found guilty of flouting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena.

Another 12 months was suspended for five years.

Magistrate Victor Lugaju announced his findings in the George Regional Court at the end of a trial which has spanned eight months.

Botha's lawyers immediately said he intended to appeal and that documents had already been drawn up.

Acting TRC chairman Dr Alex Boraine welcomed the court's finding, saying it showed that South Africa was now a society in which nobody was above the law.

Delivering sentence, Lugaju said Botha at 82 was not in good health and was a first offender.

However, throughout the trial he had shown no remorse and had been granted enough opportunity to resolve the matter amicably, but had not done so.

The aggravating factors in this instance far outweighed the mitigating factors, and he considered the sentence to be appropriate.

Botha was found to have ignored a TRC subpoena to attend a hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he chaired.

His lawyers argued that the subpoena was technically flawed and that he had an agreement with TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that he could answer any of the TRC's questions in writing.

In his judgment, Lugaju said: "It is the unanimous finding of this court that the accused's failure to appear was unlawful and intentional, and therefore he is guilty as charged."

He rejected Botha's defence counsels' arguments that the subpoena was invalid, that the TRC had acted in bad faith towards him, and that there was an agreement between Botha and Tutu.

State prosecutor Bruce Morrison had called on the court to impose a R60,000 fine, coupled with a jail term suspended on condition that Botha co-operate with any future TRC hearings.

Morrison said that had Botha been 30 or 40 years younger, the State would have called for imprisonment, but given his age and ill health it did not consider this appropriate.

Botha's advocate, Lappe Laubscher, said suggestions of a R60000 fine were "simply ludicrous", as was the call for a suspended jail sentence.

He described Botha as a pensioner who did not earn the kind of package that politicians received today. Asked by Lugaju about Botha's ability to pay a fine, Laubscher said the former state president had monthly earnings of about R20000.

Boraine said at a news conference in Cape Town that the TRC was pleased the law had finally taken its course, even though it was Botha's own unwillingness and stubbornness that led to the drawn-out trial.

"The strenuousha to appear before us, and his subsequent trial on charges of refusing to do so, demonstrate in a concrete way that we now have a society in which no one is above the law," Boraine said.

"Mr Botha has been publicly held accountable for his actions in a court of law, and he has been afforded every opportunity to defend himself - something which was often denied to his political opponents during the years of his rule," Boraine said.

"We are sad that Mr Botha refused the opportunity of appearing before the TRC, an opportunity that was taken advantage of by many of his former colleagues and other political leaders."

The TRC's human rights violations committee, which originally subpoenaed Botha, has now completed its hearings and will therefore not be able to pursue its efforts to have Botha appear before it. But the TRC's amnesty committee is still able to issue subpoenas.

President Nelson Mandela's office said it would not comment on Botha's conviction.

"It's a matter for the courts," presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said.

About 50 demonstrators gathered outside the court before Botha arrived on Friday morning.

They carried banners, one of which said: "We can forgive him his past, send him to jail for his arrogance."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 21 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA'S BATTLE WITH TRC MAY BE FAR FROM OVER

Former president PW Botha's battle with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be far from over following his conviction andsentence in the George Magistrate's Court on Friday.

Botha was fined R10,000 (or 12 months), with an additional 12 months suspended for five years, for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify before the TRC's human rights violations committee.

But he could yet be subpoenaed to appear before the amnesty committee, which will continue with hearings for at least another six months.

Another refusal to testify by him could bring his suspended sentence into effect.

Botha's lawyers have given notice of their attention to appeal against his conviction.

TRC chairman Alex Boraine on Friday called on Botha to have a change of heart about testifying. Boraine said the imposition of a suspended sentence made any further refusal by Botha to testify "very much more serious".

Boraine said it was Botha's stubborness and unwillingness to compromise that led to his predicament in the first place. He called on Botha to co-operate with the amnesty committee if it decided it needed his testimony.

"We hope that if it needs Mr Botha's evidence he will reconsider his attitude."

Botha has been named as the person who gave the order to bomb the SA Council of Churches headquarters at Khotso House in Johannesburg. The allegation was made in an application for amnesty by former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok last month.

Former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and former police Vlakplaas base commander Eugene de Kock also implicated Botha in their amnesty applications.

Boraine said Botha's conviction showed that nobody in South Africa was now above the law, and this contrasted starkly with the situation during Botha's term as head of the government.

"Botha has been publicly held accountable for his actions in a court of law, and he has been afforded every opportunity to defend himself - something which was often denied to his political opponents during the years of his rule," Boraine said.

"We are sad that Mr Botha refused the opportunity of appearing before the TRC, an opportunity that was taken advantage of by many of his former colleagues and other political leaders," Boraine said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN August 21 1998 - SAPA

BOTHA'S BATTLE NOT OVER

Former state president PW Botha's battle with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be far from over following his conviction and sentence in the George Regional Court on Friday.

Botha was fined R10,000 (or 12 months), with an additional 12 months suspended for five years, for refusing to obey a subpoena to testify before the TRC's human rights violations committee.

That committee wound up its work last month, but Botha could still be subpoenaed to appear before the amnesty committee, which will continue hearings for at least another six months.

Another refusal to testify could bring the suspended sentence into effect.

However, immediately after the sentence was handed down, Botha's lawyers announced that an appeal would be lodged in the Cape High Court, and the 82-year-old Botha was released on a nominal R50 bail.

TRC acting chairman Alex Boraine on Friday called on Botha to have a change of heart about testifying, saying the suspended sentence made any further refusal to testify "very much more serious".

Boraine said it was Botha's stubbornness and unwillingness to compromise that led to his predicament in the first place. He called on Botha to co-operate with the amnesty committee.

"We hope that if it needs Mr Botha's evidence he will reconsider his attitude."

Botha has been named as the person who ordered the bombing of the South African Council of Churches headquarters at Khotso House in Johannesburg. The allegation was made in an amnesty application by former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok last month.

Former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and former Vlakplaas police base commander Eugene de Kock also implicated Botha in their amnesty applications.

In his 36-page judgment, presiding magistrate Victor Lugaju rejected argument by Botha's advocate Lappe Laubscher that Botha was entitled to ignore the subpoena to appear at a hearing on the State Security Council, which he chaired from 1978 to 1989.

"It is the unanimous finding of the court that the failure of the accused to appear at the hearing of the commission on 19 December 1997 was unlawful and intentional and without sufficient cause.

"The accused is accordingly found guilty as chargd."

Lugaju rejected Botha's claim that he and TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu had agreed he (Botha) could answer all the TRC's questions in writing.

The magistrate also dismissed the argument that the TRC had been biased against Botha or acted in bad faith, saying it had treated Botha with the utmost courtesy. "There appears reasonable grounds to require the accused to appear in person before a hearing as opposed to answering questions in writing.

"In view of positions held by the accused, namely minister of defence, prime minister, state president and chairman of the state security council, he appears to be the one person who would be able to assist the commission to determine whether the former government or its functionaries created a climate in which gross human rights could occur, or condoned or sanctioned gross human rights violations."

In passing sentence, Lugaju said: "Throughout the trial (Botha) has shown no remorse and he was granted sufficient oppotunity to resolve the matter amicably, but he did not do so."

Mitigating factors included the fact that Botha was elderly, in ill health and a first offender.

Asked about Botha's ability to pay a fine, Laubscher said Botha was a pensioner, and that his monthly income amounted to about R20000.

Botha, wearing a grey pinstripe suit, stared straight ahead throughout proceedings, occasionally rubbing his head, but showing little emotion.

He did not appear overly affected by the decision. After the court adjourned, he paid his bail and he and his new wife Barbara were driven away in his turquoise BMW.

He declined to make a statement, and through his attorney Ernst Penzhorn asked that he be given some privacy.

Penzhorn told journalists outside the court building: "Mr Botha is convinced that there is a reasonable chance that a different court could come to a different finding".

Reacting to the conviction, Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said his party remained convinced that the TRC had acted most unfairly against Botha by having him prosecuted.

When it had become clear that the TRC was out to humiliate and discredit the Afrikaner, Botha had followed the honourable course by defying the body.

"The risk of being found guilty and being sentenced did not deter him from this conviction; Mr Botha can be admired for this," Viljoen said.

National Party media director Daryl Swanepoel said Botha should be treated in the same way as any other South African, but the "unnecessary" legal action could have been avoided had a more amicable approach been adopted.

"We are still of the view that the TRC should first have properly dealt with the written submission made by Mr Botha before resorting to legal action."

President Nelson Mandela's office said it would not comment on Botha's conviction.

"It's a matter for the courts," presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA August 24 1998 - SAPA

EUGENE DE KOCK TESTIFIES ON DEATH OF TRANSKEI STUDENT

Convicted murderer and former commander of the Vlakplaas police unit Eugene de Kock testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Umtata on Monday.

De Kock was testifying at the Norwood civic centre in connection with the death of former University of Transkei student Batandwa Ndondo, who was shot and killed at his Cala home on September 24, 1985 by police.

Ndondo had been sought by police in connection with a bomb blast that destroyed the Umtata fuel depot.

De Kock, Inspector Lamont Dandala and an askari - Mbuso Shabalala - are seeking amnesty for the death of Ndondo.

The committee heard that Ndondo was shot seven times in the chest by a team of police and askaris. Family members of Ndondo are opposing the application.

De Kock told the hearing he was unable to give a detailed statement as to what took place at the scene where Ndondo was killed. He said he remembered that two minibuses that left Vlakplaas for Elliot in the Eastern Cape had seven or eight false number plates.

"Members in them were supplied with teargas cannisters, rifles and pistols."

Responding to claims that Ndondo leapt out of a moving police minibus to escape, De Kock said it was incumbent upon the police officers to see to it that Ndondo did not escape.

He said according to his information Ndondo's death was not planned or forseen.

Asked by committee chairman Judge Sandile Ngcobo why Ndondo was supposed to have been taken to Elliot if he committed offences in the Transkei, De Kock responded: "This is a question I would like to pose to Warrant Officer Dan Naude, who was in charge of this operation." The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association UMTATA August 25 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO SUBPOENA KAIZER MATANZIMA OVER STUDENT'S DEATH

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission judge in Umtata on Tuesday ordered a subpoena to be issued against former Transkei president Kaizer Matanzima for failing to appear before the TRC's amnesty committee, a Sapa correspondent reported.

The committee, chaired by Judge Sandile Ngcobo, is hearing evidence following the death of former University of Transkei student Batandwa Ndondo, who was shot and killed by the police in September 1985.

The applicants for amnesty are convicted Vlakplaas comander Eugene de Kock, a former Transkei security policeman Inspector Lamont Dandala and an askari, Mbuso Shabalala of Piet Retief.

It is alleged that Matanzima made "a certain statement" during a political rally where he blamed Ndondo for bringing "terrorists" to Umtata to blow up a fuel depot.

Matanzima's legal representative, Jonathan Hobbs, submitted medical reports suggesting that Matanzima had a memory lapse.

After a short adjournment Ngcobo ruled that there was nothing in the reports to suggest that his testifying at the committee would be detrimental to his health.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 25 1998 - SAPA

DEKLERK SAYS HE WAS UNAWARE OF POISON ALLEGATIONS BEFORE TRC

Former state president FW de Klerk on Tuesday said he was at no time before 1994 aware of the alleged "reprehensible activities" in respect of poison and drugs the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard about in recent evidence.

"If these allegations are proved to be correct, they will provide yet another instance of programmes which were conducted within the former SADF which were not, and never would have been, authorised by the government," he said.

Addressing the Diplomatic Forum of the Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, De Klerk said a number of wrong perceptions were created, mainly as a result of investigations by the TRC.

One such perception was that South Africa had been involved in the development and use of chemical and biological weapons for offensive purposes.

"The truth is that research was done on a wide front before I became president. The main objective was to ensure effective counter measures in the event of chemical and biological attacks against South Africa."

It was an undercover operation about which all members of government did not know. "I didn't at that stage." The research programme was cancelled more or less when he became president.

The results of the research was locked up and could now only be accessed with the consent of the president or deputy president.

"I am not aware of any stockpiles of such 'weapons' and have been assured in 1994 that they do not exist."

He was fully briefed about the research for the first time shortly before the 1994 election, when the United States and Great Britain approached him about it.

They knew South Africa did not have any stockpiles of such weapons and were not afraid that the country was acting against the international convention banning chemical and biological weapons, but wanted to ensure that the new government would be fully briefed.

De Klerk said he ensured that President Nelson Mandela and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki received the same briefing he did after the election.

"Since then they were fully involved in managing the aftermath of the cancelled research programme, including decisions which were taken with regard to Wouter Basson."

De Klerk said the American and British governments were also concerned about what would happen with the knowledge in the minds of people like Basson, that it would not get into the hands of countries such as Libya.

The perception that the government under his presidency funded a research programme doing horrible things were simply not true, De Klerk said. He said he was shocked at some utterances of TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu in this regard. "I believe he had fallen prey to these false perceptions."

De Klerk said he wrote to Tutu and hoped to discuss this with him in due course.

The former president criticised his predecessor, PW Botha, saying his "acerbic style and defiant attitude" helped to strain South Africa's international relations in the eighties.

This was exemplified by Botha's reaction to the Commonwealth sending the Eminent Persons Group to South Africa in 1985 to investigate options for a peaceful settlement.

"In stead of grasping this potential lifeline, President Botha angrily cut it by approving cross border attacks against ANC targets in neighbouring Southern African states, while the EPG was still in South Africa. It is widely said Botha took the decision to do so without even consulting the State Security Council."

On Friday Botha was convicted for refusing to testify before the TRC.

De Klerk also spoke about Botha's "strong arm policies" and termed his so-called Rubicon speech disastrous.

His own election as National Party leader presented opportunity for renewal, "after years of frustration under PW Botha's rule". De Klerk said in case his appearance now after his long absence since his retirement from politics caused any speculation, he wanted to deny that he intended returning to politics.

In thanking De Klerk, dean of arts Professor Kobus Naude told the former NP leader that the RAU was the only South African university that presented courses in modern Greek, even distance education.

De Klerk's companion, Elita Georgiades, looked on uncomprehendingly, apparently not understanding the Afrikaans, amongst general laughter.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG August 26 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY FOR LEAKING INFORMATION WHICH LED TO SEBE ESCAPE

A former prisons officer who leaked information which led to the late Charles Sebe escaping from prison in 1986 has been granted amnesty, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on Wednesday.

The TRC in a statement said Angelo Pete applied for amnesty for leaking information to the former SA Police security branch about the security detail around Sebe, brother of the former Ciskei president Lennox Sebe.

At the time Pete was a senior officer of the former South African Prison Services and Sebe was serving a lengthy prison term for treason at Middledrift prison.

In his amnesty application, Pete said he was approached by a security branch colonel for information regarding the cell in which Sebe was detained, security, and the changing of shifts at the prison.

Pete said the colonel (whose name would be revealed pending the outcome of his amnesty application) told him the security branch wanted to free Sebe.

Sebe was sprung from the prison on September 26, 1986, but was later shot dead by Ciskei security force members.

"I was not given any further information but it was stressed to me (by the colonel) that it would be in the interests of the (then) government of South Africa," said Pete.

Pete said he consulted the then commissioner of prisons, who gave him the go-ahead.

The TRC's amnesty committee also granted amnesty to two Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members, two Azanian Youth Organisation members, two African National Congress members and a former SA Police member this week.

AWB member Johannes de Beer was serving a lengthy prison term for illegal possession of firearms, a large quantity of ammunition and stealing explosives from the Randfontein Estates gold mine before the 1994 elections.

The other AWB member, Johannes van der Westhuizen, was sentenced to three years' correctional supervision for stealing a large quantity of ammunition from an army base in KwaZulu-Natal and for illegal possession of ammunition in 1993.

The Azanyo members granted amnesty are Wandile Dyantyi and Wele Matomela, sentenced to seven years' imprisonment each for attacking a gas plant in Port Elizabeth with explosives on December 28, 1993.

Mpho Letele and Thabiso Montoeli, both ANC members, were granted amnesty for an explosion near municipal police offices in Wesselsbron.

Abraham Maseko, a former policeman in Sebokeng, was granted amnesty for illegal possession of ammunition in 1993. Maseko was sentenced to five years of correctional supervision for his crime.

The amnesty applications were processed in chambers as the offences did not constitute gross human rights violations as defined by the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, the TRC said. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY August 27 1998 - SAPA

MPS SHOULD PROBE HAMMARSKJOLD CLAIM: NP

Parliament's joint intelligence committee should probe claims of South African involvement in the plane crash that killed former United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold in 1961, National Party MP Andre Fourie said on Thursday.

He told the National Assembly that all information in the hands of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which had a bearing on the matter should immediately be handed to the committee.

He also expressed concern that the TRC had released this information when it was apparently untested.

Earlier this month the TRC said it had found documents in South African security archives detailing plans to blow up Hammarskjold's aircraft in former Northern Rhodesia, where he was negotiating a truce in the Congo's civil war.

It handed the documents to Justice Minister Dullah Omar.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

CAPE TOWN September 3 1998 - SAPA

FOUR PAC MEMBERS TO APPLY FOR AMNESTY NEXT WEEK

Four Pan Africanist Congress members would next week apply for amnesty relating to various armed attacks in Cape Town which claimed six lives, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said on Thursday.

Walter Tanda is seeking amnesty for the deaths of a security guard at a Khayelitsha railway station and two on-duty policemen in two separate attacks. In a third attack a police vehicle was ambushed in Khayelitsha and a policeman injured in 1992.

Andile Shiceka is also applying for amnesty for his role in the Khayelitsha railway station attack and for an attack on a restaurant in Claremont in which several people were injured in December 1992.

Gcinikhaya Makoma is seeking amnesty for his role in the police ambush in Khayelitsha. Makoma was granted amnesty for his role in the 1993 St James Church massacre.

Mandla Maduna, who claims that he was a member of the PAC at the time, is applying for amnesty for killing three alleged gang members and injuring two others at Old Crossroads in March 1993. Maduna is serving a 35-year sentence for the attack.

According to the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, victims and, or their next-of-kin or any interested party have the right to attend the hearing and be legally represented.

The hearing will be chaired by Judge Hassen Mall and will be held at the TRC offices in Cape Town from September 7 to 11.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 4 1998 - SAPA

CRAIG WILLIAMSON SEEKING AMNESTY FOR RUTH FIRST, SCHOON MURDERS

Ex-spy Craig Williamson and other former policemen will appear before the TRC amnesty committee in Pretoria next week for the murder of anti-apartheid activists.

Truth and Reconciliation spokesman Vuyani Green on Friday said Williamson sought amnesty for the murders of Ruth First, and Jeanette Schoon and her daughter Katryn, in the early 1980s.

First was killed in Mozambique in 1982. Schoon and Katryn were killed in Angola in 1984.

Green said the hearings would be held at the Idasa Centre in Pretoria as from Monday.

Former police commissioner Johan Coetzee, ex-Vlakplaas police base commander Eugene de Kock, Williamson and five others want amnesty for bombing the London offices of the African National Congress.

In Benoni, Tebogo Kebotlhale, Molwedi Mokoena, Phumzile Sigasa and Elgas Mabore Ndhlovu, who declared themselves ANC members, will seek amnesty for a Wimpy Bar bombing and an ambush outside Lindela hostel in Katlehong on the West Rand in 1988.

Green said in its evidence to the TRC last year, the ANC included the bombing in a list of attacks of which it said: "... we are uncertain as to whether these attacks were carried out by bona fide Umkhonto weSizwe cadres."

One person, Maryann Serrano, was killed and about 60 were injured in the Wimpy bombing.

In Cape Town, four Pan Africanist Congress members will be seeking amnesty for armed attacks around the city before the 1994 elections.

Six people died including two policemen during these incidents, said Green.

The applicants are Walter Tanda, Andile Shiceka, Gcinikhaya Makoma and Mandla Maduna.

Other hearings, scheduled for late September, included the so-called Caprivi trainees, Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members responsible for pre-election bombings in 1994, and the Bophuthatswana policeman who killed three AWB members during their invasion of the former homeland, said Green.

He said the venues and dates for these hearings group would be announced later.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN September 5 1998 - SAPA

SERFONTEIN SAYS TRC APOLOGISED FOR SENDING HIM NOTICE

KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Chris Serfontein on Saturday said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had apologised to him through his attorney for erroneously notifying him that he had been implicated in the 1986 bombing of a Swaziland house.

"The allegation was that I (Serfontein) together with another identified person, was responsible for the planning and/or execution of an armed attack on December 12 1986 on a house in Swaziland, killing two persons and abducting three others."

Serfontein said he had denied the allegations.

He said the TRC had admitted through his attorney that the notice was sent to him by mistake, saying it was supposed have been sent to another person not him.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 6 1998 - SAPA-AFP

TRUTH REPORT COULD 'DAMAGE' 200 PEOPLE: INVESTIGATOR

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is among 200 people warned that the final report of South Africa's truth commission into apartheid-era crimes could "damage" them, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

President Nelson Mandela's ex-wife and apartheid-era president P.W. Botha were amongst those served Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) notices about the potentially damaging findings, chief investigator Dumisa Nstebeza told the newspaper.

An interim version of the report will be handed to Mandela at the end of October, summing up over two years of investigations into human rights violations committed during the struggle against the former apartheid system.

Ntsebeza said the report could include findings also damaging to current Deputy Minister of Defence Ronnie Kasrils and the heads of the apartheid security forces.

He said those who had been served notices could respond and the TRC would consider any protests and possibly change the final report.

Changes would be considered on the basis of written replies and without further hearings, he said.

Madikizela-Mandela appeared before the commission in December for nine day's of hearings into her involvement in 18 cases of human rights abuses, including murders, torture and assaults in Johannesburg's Soweto township between 1986 and 1989.

She denied all the allegations of abuses, said to have been committed while she was still married to Mandela, then serving his 27 year's imprisonment for political activity.

Botha, now 82, has been implicated by several TRC witnesses in ordering attacks on anti-apartheid activists and organisations during his presidency between 1978 and 1989.

Kasrils has appeared before a truth commission hearing into his role in inciting protestors against the former Ciskei homeland administration in a march in September 1992.

Soldiers opened fire on the marchers, killing at least 24 people and wounding about 198.

The TRC held its final plenary session into human rights violations in August.

Its amnesty committee, which can grant amnesty for politically-motivated crimes in the apartheid years between 1960 and 1994, will continue holding hearings until June, after which the TRC's final report will be compiled.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Sept 7- SAPA

DATE SET FOR PW's APPEAL

Former state president PW Botha's appeal against his conviction on charges of contempt for ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena has been provisionally set down for December 4 in the Cape High Court.

The hearing will only go ahead if all the relevant records are submitted to the court timeously, a court official said on Monday.

Botha, 82, was convicted in the George Regional Court on August 15, and sentenced to a R10,000 fine or a 12-month jail sentence.

He received a further 12-month sentence suspended for five years on condition that he does not disobey further TRC subpoenas.

Botha immediately announced his intention to appeal.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN September 7 1998 - SAPA

PAC AMNESTY APPLICANT A HITMAN, TRC TOLD

A man claiming to be a member of a Pan Africanist Congress team to eliminate gangsters worked as a hired gun for an African National Congress warlord when he gunned down five people in Old Crossroads in 1993, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told on Monday.

Mandla Maduna, serving a 35-year sentence at Victor Verster prison, has applied to the TRC's amnesty committee for killing two men and a woman and wounding two other people, including a child.

His application has been opposed by Cape Town city councillor Depoutch Elese, who said the killings were a botched attempt to assassinate him, when he was chairman of an ANC branch, in a conflict within ANC structures over squatter housing.

An aunt of Elese's was among the dead, and an uncle was wounded in a hail of submachine gun fire. "I cannot forgive, " Elese said. "It is an insult to our family, saying they were attacking a gangster. He owes our family an apology."

Maduna said in an affidavit read out at the hearing in Cape Town that he had been a member of the PAC team, and that the organisation's political structures were concerned that members of the organisation were being attacked by gangsters.

He and other team members were given guns by a man named Victor Sam. He took an Uzzi submachine gun and was led to a house which he entered another man, emptied his magazine against the occupants, and left.

He did not know whose house it was, and never asked. "If an order has been issued to me to do something I don't question the order, I just obey... because I know it's defending the members of the PAC," he said. He had not noticed a woman and a child in the house, although he heard a woman screaming.

Asked if he would have stopped shooting had he seen them, he said: "What I was told at the task force is that you carry out the order to the last... an order is and order."

Lawyer for the Elese family Lloyd Fortuin said there were allegations that Sam had been supplying the leader of an ANC faction, Jeffrey Nongwe, with weapons and manpower in the conflict in the Crossroads area at the time.

Depoutch Elese told the hearing he was warned by a person working in the taxi industry that people had been hired to assassinate him because he opposed Nongwe. The assassins were to be given R100,000 and a kombi.

He said he was at an ANC meeting on the night of the attack. Nongwe was later expelled from the ANC, and Sam, who had acted as his bodyguard, later joined the United Democratic Movement.

Maduna said he was unaware of the conflict, and said he learned afterwards that Elese had been staying at the house. He said the PAC supported his amnesty application, and that a PAC official helped him prepare it.

His lawyer, Nona Goso, said she would call a member of the PAC leadership to testify on Maduna's membership of the organisation. The hearing resumes on Tuesday morning. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 7 1998 - SAPA

WIMPY BOMB WAS A TORTURERS' MEETING PLACE: MK

A Wimpy Bar in Benoni on the East Rand was bombed in 1988 because it was a meeting place for security branch torturers who inflicted pain on imprisoned African National Congress activists, a former Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) commander told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday.

Former MK member Ernest Sigasa, who headed the ANC guerilla army's Johannes Nkosi unit, told the TRC amnesty committee his unit monitored the restaurant for some time before placing a limpet mine there.

A civilian was killed and 66 people injured in the Saturday afternoon attack in July 1988.

Among the 80-odd people who attended the hearing in the Benoni town hall on Monday was Vic Serrano, whose daughter Marryanne was killed in the blast.

Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi attended the hearing to give moral support to the MK members.

A small group of Freedom Front Youth members displayed graphic photographs of the damage caused by the explosion.

Sigasa said it was regrettable that innocent people died during the attack, but he did not regret executing an act aimed at security personnel.

"It was not ANC policy to target innocent civilians but we targeted Wimpy because the top brass from the Benoni police and their counterparts frequented the place. People who were inflicting terror on our activists in prison were the first target.

"Civilian casualties were inevitable, and where life is lost - whether black or white - it is a shame," Sigasa said.

Sigasa said fellow amnesty applicant Elfus Ndlovhu monitored the Wimpy outlet and kept information about police and security branch members who dined and held meetings there.

The MK unit would meet every Wednesday to assess information gathered about the Wimpy meetings.

Sigasa, who is now a businessman, said while he had not planted the limpet mine he was party to the decision to do so.

Another applicant, Tebogo Kebothlale, now a senior North West government employee, said in his brief testimony he agreed with everything his commander, Sigasa, told the commission. Kebothlale is also applying for amnesty for the bombing of the Katlehong railway line, attacks on police barracks and councillors' homes, the ambushing of a police constable, and attacking a whites-only bus terminus.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

JOHANNESBURG September 8 1998 - SAPA

TRC GRANTS FOUR MK CADRES AMNESTY FOR KILLING BOP POLICEMAN

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to four members of the African National Congress' former military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, for killing a former Bophuthatswana policeman, the TRC said in a statement on Tuesday.

Joseph Elias Makhura, Frans Ting Ting Masango, Obed Masina and Neo Potsane sought amnesty for shooting Brigadier Andrew Molope in a house in Mabopane near Pretoria.

The four earlier told the TRC's amnesty committee they were members of the so-called "icing" or assassination unit. The unit was commanded by the late Chris Hani and infiltrated the country under orders to assassinate political opponents of the liberation movement.

They were not given a list of people to assassinate, but told to concentrate on sell-outs and police informers.

"We accept that the applicants bona fide believed that the elimination of Brigadier Molope would protect the opponents of the then Bophuthatswana government from further suffering, and would lower the morale of senior officials of the government and thus contribute to the liberation struggle of the ANC," the committee said in its judgment.

"The committee accepts further that none of the applicants were prompted by any personal malice or derived any personal gain from the killing."

The committee recommended to the TRC's committee on reparation and rehabilitation tha Molope's wife, Gadifele Sinah Molope, and their three children should be declared victims as envisaged by the law.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 8 1998 - SAPA

LONDON BOMB SPARKED BY VOORTREKKERHOOGTE ROCKET ATTACK:TRC TOLD

The apartheid government was striking at both the African National Congress and the British government when it bombed the liberation movement's headquarters in London in 1982, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard in Pretoria on Tuesday.

Former police commissioner General Johann Coetzee told the committee the blast was aimed at breaking the morale of the ANC and demonstrating disapproval at the British government.

Coetzee and seven other policemen are applying for amnesty for bombing the ANC headquarters in London on March 14, 1982. They others are Craig Williamson, John McPherson, Roger Raven, Wybrand du Toit, John Adam, James Taylor and Eugene de Kock.

Coetzee, who was head of the security police at the time, said the apartheid government was not happy about Britain allowing the ANC to have headquarters in London.

He said former law and order minister Louis le Grange told him the government had decided to carry out a symbolic attack on the ANC's offices in London.

He said he presumed from Le Grange's remarks that the decision to attack the ANC had been taken by the full government at the time.

"We were informed that the (South African) government had decided to demonstrate to the British government that there were serious risks involved in continuing to allow the ANC to operate from the United Kingdom," he said.

Coetzee said the decision to attack the ANC in London followed a series of ANC bombings of targets in South Africa.

He said a rocket attack on the then Voortrekkerhoogte military base near Pretoria in August 1981 was a significant event because it had a psychological effect on the government by striking at the heart of its military forces.

In the same way by attacking the ANC headquarters in London, the government knew it would not stop ANC attacks against South Africa, but the blast would have a powerful psychological effect on the organisation.

He denied there was any attempt to kill ANC executives in the attack, adding this would have made the operation too risky because of the diplomatic implications.

Coetzee said the main purpose of the attack was to strike at the ANC, but a secondary motive was to demonstrate to the British government that South Africa disapproved of its support for the ANC by allowing its headquarters in London.

Coetzee said police identified two British citizens who entered South Africa in March 1981 as ANC collaborators and took part in the rocket attack on Voortrekkerhoogte.

In documents accompanying his amnesty application, the British subjects were identified as Nicolas Heath and Bonnie Lou Muller (alias Bonnie Heath). It was later found that they accommodated ANC members in their home in Pretoria, which was used to launch the rocket attack on Vootrekkerhoogte.

"The London operation was in fact South Africa's response to the heavy involvement of British subjects in the ANC's attack on Voortrekkerhoogte," Coetzee said.

Coetzee said Le Grange's plan to bomb the ANC in London was opposed by the police commissioner at the time, General Mike Geldenhuys, on the grounds that it was too risky to send serving policemen to Britain, which had efficient anti-terrorism forces.

Coetzee said Le Grange insisted the plan go ahead and personally chose security policeman Brigadier Piet Goosen and Williamson to lead the mission. Goosen then chosen English speaking policemen to form the team.

Before the team left on their mission, Goosen arranged with Coetzee that the password "the egg can be laid" would be given once it was safe to carry out the operation without endangering lives.

The hearing is being attended by former foreign minster Pik Botha, who has been notified that he is an implicated person, and former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok.

Also attending are the daughters of Joe Slovo, whose wife Ruth First was killed in a parcel bomb attack in Maputo in 1982. Williamson and Raven have applied for amnesty for the incident.

The hearing, which is due to run for two weeks, continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN September 8 1998 - SAPA

WAITRESS STILL FEARS APLA ATTACKERS

A former waitress still fears that she will be hunted down and killed by the Azanian People's Liberation Army members who sprayed a Cape Town restaurant with bullets on Boxing Day in 1992, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty panel was told on Tuesday.

In an affidavit Amanda Warner, who was 19 at the time, said she suffered severe emotional trauma as a result of the incident and was unable to enjoy a meal at a restaurant for fear of being attacked.

She could not live alone, and still harboured the fear that her attackers would hunt her down and kill her. She moved to the United Kingdom mainly because of this, she said.

Warner is opposing the application of Andile Shiceka, who has already received amnesty for his role in the February 1994 attack on the Crazy Beat disco in Newcastle, in which one person died. No one died in the Claremont incident, but several people were injured.

"In the light of recent ostensibly politically motivated attacks which are denounced by the world as 'terrorist attacks'... it would be a great shame if this commission (was) to send out a message to extremists that the kiling of innocent civilians is acceptable in South Africa," Warner said.

Shiceka, who is now undergoing training in the SA Air Force, said he and fellow cadres had attacked the Stakes restaurant in fulfilment of Apla orders to attack whites in general, and members of the security forces. He said the restaurant had been chosen because it was frequented by whites, but denied Warner's claim that the attack was motivated by racial hatred.

"We never hated white people. We hated oppression," he said. "What happened is they did not recognise us as human beings."

Asked by Warner's brother Richard, who is acting as her attorney in the hearing, whether it was Apla policy to kill white people, Shiceka replied: "That is correct."

Richard Warner: "Even though you do not hate them?"

Shiceka: "That is correct."

He said he did not hate Warner, and there was no reason for her to fear him.

"If I can meet her I could explain everything, I can explain why it happened the way it did," he said. "You see white people killed us, the system killed our people, and we do not complain today about that. For the sake of reconciliation let us forgive each other."

Asked to comment on Warner's statement that the attack had been aimed at "innocent private individuals", and that the restaurant could not be described as a legitimate target, Shiceka said all white people had undergone compulsory military training.

"When people say they are innocent civilians, I do not understand, because when you undergo military training, that person is a complete soldier."

Richard Warner told Sapa after the hearing that his sister was visiting South Africa at the moment, but doubted that she would be prepared to speak to Shiceka.

"I tried to get her to come here (to the hearing) but it's too much of a trauma," he said. "I think her fear of being recongised and victimised is very real."

Shiceka has also applied for amnesty for killing a security guard in an attack aimed at obtaining policemen's weapons at Khayelitsha railway station in 1992. He told the panel, headed by TRC amnesty committee chairman Judge Hassen Mall, the police holed up in a building at the station and locked the door.

The Apla men fired through the door, and Shiceka said he only learned afterwards that it was not the correct person who had died.

He regretted the death, and had decided to apply for amnesty so he could explain what had happened there.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 8 1998 - SAPA

WIMPY BOMB SURVIVOR OPPOSES AMNESTY APPLICATION

Amanda Jane Clementson was 14 when a limpet mine ripped through the Wimpy Bar in Benoni where she was dining on a Saturday afternoon in July 1988.

She, her father Alfred and his fiancee, had just ordered lunch when a bomb exploded, killing one person and injuring 66.

Clementson, now aged 24, said she could not hold down a job or form a romantic relationship because of the psychological scars and trauma she suffered.

Clementson and Vic Serrano - whose daughter Marryanne was killed in the blast - on Tuesday opposed the amnesty application of four former Umkhonto weSizwe cadres who have taken responsibility for the attack.

Elfus Ndlovhu, Tebogo Kebothlale, Molwedi Mokwena and Ernest Sigasa, who headed the Johannes Nkosi unit, are applying for amnesty.

Clementson and Serrano told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing on Tuesday that the attack was not politically motivated because Ndlovhu, who admitted to having planted the limpet mine, had earlier said he did not see any member of the security branch in the restaurant when he executed the plan.

Clementson related the event: "It was at about 11.45am, I was seated with my dad and his fiancee. We had just placed our order and, seconds later, the electricity went off. I felt as if I was being electrocuted.

"Someone shouted that there must have been another bomb. There was blood everywhere and everybody running away, trampling on each other. There was fire and the roof was falling. It was absolute chaos," Clementson said.

"I cannot forgive or forget because my whole life has been ruined. I cannot bear children, I cannot work and I cannot keep a relationship.

"I have nightmares and I can still lose my leg because of the injuries," she said, adding that she had been undergoing surgery since the incident.

Serrano said the applicants should have blown up a police station if they were targeting members of the security branch.

"I cannot forgive because my daughter was killed for nothing. People were maimed for nothing and there was no purpose.

"That bomb could have been placed at the police kiosk which was nearby. Attacking a place where young people kill time is like killing the future of the nation," Serrano said.

Committee chairman Judge Ronnie Pillay requested Brian Koopedi, counsel for the applicants, to forward a written motivation for the amnesty application.

POLICEMAN TELLS OF NIGHTMARES APLA AMBUSH

More than five years after he was ambushed by an Azanian Peoples Liberation Army unit, Cape Town policeman Johnny Meyer still has nightmares about being under fire.

"Psychologically I had a lot of strain," he told a Truth Commission amnesty panel in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Meyer, an inspector at the Bellville police station, was testifying in the hearing of Apla operative Walter Tanda, who is seeking amnesty for his role in an attack on a Claremont, Cape Town restaurant in 1992, and several attacks on police.

Tanda, now in training in the SA Air Force, told the hearing earlier this week that the attacks on police were attempts to acquire arms and ammunition for Apla cadres.

Meyer testified that he and an assistant constable named Mkhwanazi were driving in Guguletu on the night of January 12, 1993 when they came under fire, and the engine of the patrol van cut out. Mkhwanazi ducked, and Meyer felt as if a brick had struck his shoulder.

"I was shot through my left chest. I could feel a hole there directly on my heart."

Unable to reach for his weapon, which was on his left side, he saw through the open window that the gunman was about to shoot again.

"I called Jesus' name, called on him to help me. I felt the shots as they passed me... they struck everywhere around me, but I was not shot."

He restarted the van, and heard bullets striking the canvas blinds at the back as he accelerated away.

Mkhwanazi had been hit in the head, and another bullet ripped through his intestines. He was dead on arrival at hospital.

Meyer said he was rushed to hospital by the police reaction unit. One of his lungs collapsed on the way. At the hospital it was established that there was no damage to bone or nerves, but that the bullet had punched a 12 by eight centimetre exit wound in his back, narrowly missing his heart as it went through.

He said at one point during his recuperation he was unable to speak, and was told that this was a symptom of shock. He also received psychological treatment and sleeping pills "because in the nights I got nightmares, people were shooting at me".

He had recovered physically, but still had sleep problems, including occasional nightmares.

Meyer told the hearing that he had however reconciled with Tanda and shaken his hand, and that Tanda had offered to meet his family, who had also suffered stress as a result of the shooting.

He said in an interview afterwards that the TRC was a good thing, as it enabled people to deal with their fears.

"Now I have met (Tanda), I have forgiven. I can understand what they were fighting for. If I was in their place I would have fought just like that." Richard Warner, a lawyer appearing his sister Amanda Warner, who was a victim of the restaurant attack, said after hearing Tanda's account of the incident she no longer believed the attack was motivated by malice and hatred of white people generally, and accepted it was in furtherance of a political struggle.

Warner said his sister, who had opposed Tanda's application, would now support whatever decision the panel reached. Hearing Tanda's version of events had been of great assistance to her, and though she had no desire at the moment to accept his offer to meet her, she did not rule this out in the future.

Ms Warner, who did not attend the hearings in person, said in an affidavit she still feared that her attackers would hunt her down and kill her.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 9 1998 - SAPA

JOHANN COETZEE DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN MURDER OF RUTH FIRST

Former police commissioner General Johann Coetzee told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria on Wednesday he never agreed to any political assassinations, including that of Ruth First.

"I never acquiesced to the assassination of any individuals," Coetzee told the TRC's amnesty committee. Coetzee is applying for amnesty for the bombing of the ANC's London offices in March 1982, but was questioned at length about a range of attacks and assassinations when he was police commissioner between 1978 and 1985.

Coetzee told the committee he would never had never have authorised the murder in 1982 of Ruth First, the wife of former SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, or of Jeanette and Katryn Schoon in 1984.

He was subjected to extended cross-examination by George Bizos, SC, who is appearing for the Slovo and Schoon families. Former apartheid spy Craig Williamson has applied for amnesty for the murder of First in Mozambique and the Schoons in Angola by means of parcel bombs.

Coetzee insisted in the face of persistent questioning by Bizos that he knew nothing about the planned murders, and claimed he only found out about police involvement 10 to 15 years later.

"If I had known about any plans to have her killed, I would never have acquiesced to the idea... for personal reasons," Coetzee told the committee, but never explained what he meant.

It emerged later that Coetzee, whose interest as a security policman had been to monitor student politics, knew Williamson, First, Marius and Jeanette Schoon (whose maiden name was Curtis) while they were students at Wits University in the early 1970s.

Bizos explained that Williamson, while working a spy, had served on the Wits Students' Representative Council as vice- president while Charles Nupen was president. Williamson even offered to be Nupen's best man.

Coetzee said it was not unusual for an undercover policemen to go to such lengths to gain the confidence of the people from whom he wanted to gather information.

Coetzee admitted that he had been Williamson's desk officer and had received information from the spy.

Bizos also put it to Coetzee that Williamson had befriended the Schoons and had stayed with them in their home in Botswana after they left South African in the late 1970s. Marius Schoon's wife, Jeanette, and his daughter Katryn, 6, were killed in a parcel bomb attack in Angola 1984.

Coetzee said he had not know of these plans but agreed with Bizos that the attack was reprehensible.

As for the plan to kill First, he believed the attack had been a mistake, because he believed it should never have happened.

He said he had known her as an academic and of her lifelong involvement in leftist and communist politics, but did not believe she should be killed. "I knew her well and would not have authorised her murder," Coetzee said.

Coetzee said he also did not approve of attempts on the life of Slovo, whose death he said would been counter- productive to the South African government's interests.

He said he only became aware 10 years after his retirement that his own agents had been involved in First's murder.

When asked by Bizos whether he had confronted Williamson after finding out, he replied that he had made his displeasure known to the former spy, but said it had been too late to do anything about it because they had both left the police.

He said if he had known at the time of any policemen who had been involved in the murder he would have taken action against them.

During the protracted cross-examination of the former police chief there were often heated exchanges between Bizos and Louis Visser, SC, who is representing Coetzee. Visser on numerous occasions objected to Bizos's questions about matters for which Coetzee was not applying for amnesty.

Bizos said he was attempting to show that Coetzee was not being truthful in his denial of involvement in numerous political murders at the time. In most instances committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson agreed with Bizos and allowed him to continue.

At one stage Bizos accused Coetzee of evading the question about who was present at a State Security Council meeting at which the decision was taken to carry out an air strike in Mozambique in 1982.

Coetzee admitted being an adviser to the SSC on the decision to attack an ANC base in Mozambique. Bizos had repeatedly asked Coetzee to name the people who were present at the meeting and Coetzee replied he could not remember. At that stage, committee member Chris Jacobs, SC, asked Bizos whether he was being fair in asking Coetzee about a meeting so long ago.

"Mr Bizos, can you tell me who sat next to you at a Bar Council meeting that happened 18 years ago?" Jacobs asked.

"I would have if I had been part of a recommendation to order the murder of 14 people," Bizos replied, referring to an SAAF strike in Mozambique in 1982 in which 14 people were killed.

Coetzee told the committee he did not feel legally responsible for the victims of the attack because it had been an operation conducted during a state of war.

Throughout the questioning, which also covered many aspects of Coetzee's terms as head of security police and later police commissioner, the murder of scores ANC and anti-apartheid activists including Steve Biko, the Cradock Four, Sizwe Kondile and Griffiths Mxenge, were raised.

On many occasions Coetzee said he could not recall the exact sequence of events and particular details, but denied ordering the deaths of activists.

Bizos will question Coetzee further when the hearing continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN September 10 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANT `NOT PAC MEMBER'

A Truth Commission panel on Thursday heard conflicting evidence on whether Mandla Maduna, who is applying for amnesty for gunning down three people in Old Crossroads in 1993, was a member of the Pan Africanist Congress at the time.

Maduna, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence, told the panel earlier this week that he had been part of a PAC "task force" ordered to eliminate gangsters who had been attacking party members.

His application has been opposed by Cape Town city councillor Depoutch Elese, who said the killings were a botched attempt to assassinate him in a conflict within African National Congress structures over squatter housing.

An aunt of Elese's was killed and an uncle wounded in a hail of submachine gun fire.

Testifying for Maduna on Thursday, a former chairman of the PAC's Crossroads branch, Wilfred Sityodana, said there had been attacks on PAC members in 1991, which he had reported to the party's regional executive.

The executive had undertaken to report in turn to the task force, which was set up specifically to protect the PAC. He did not know what happened after that.

He said Maduna had joined his branch in 1991, and had been a member of the task force.

Elese's lawyer, however, called a former treasurer of the Crossroads branch, Vuyisile Maketsu, who told the panel he was a founding member of the branch in 1991 and that he had been responsible for collecting membership fees.

He had never come across Maduna, and did not know who he was.

Membership of a recognised political organisation is one of the prerequisites for amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 10 1998 - SAPA

COETZEE OUTRAGED BY RUTH FIRST ASSASSINATION, TRC HEARS

Former police chief Johann Coetzee on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he found the parcel bomb assassination of Ruth First, wife of former SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, morally repugnant.

He denied having any part in her murder.

Coetzee told the TRC's amnesty committee he realised numerous political assassinations took place in the period when he was chief of the security police and police commissioner, but he denied being involved in any of them.

He said he believed at the time that other organisations, such as the American Central Intelligence Agency, could have been involved.

"It was obvious that assassinations were taking place but I considered an enemy of my enemy as a friend of mine," he said of reports of the killing of high profile ANC leaders and activists. He was asked by George Bizos, SC, for the Slovo family, whether he would have approved the assassination of an enemy of the government by a parcel bomb.

"All killings, whether legitimate or illegitimate, are wrong, but I find killing by means of a letter bomb morally repugnant. If anyone had suggested it to me I would have laughed at them," he said.

Asked why the political assassinations within the country were not solved by the police, Coetzee replied that the police were not even capable of solving murders of their own members at the time.

Coetzee said that he would not have tolerated political assassinations by his policemen, and would have taken strong action against anyone found to have been involved.

Bizos challenged Coetzee to give a single example of a policeman being charged with the political killing of a high- profile activist.

Coetzee quoted one example of a uniformed policeman who shot a detainee in a police station in Soweto and was charged with murder.

Bizos challenged Coetzee to give an example of a senior policeman being charged with the killing of a high-profile activist and not a young person from Soweto.

Coetzee said he could not think of an example immediately, but later quoted a case of two Eastern Cape policemen who were charged for taking part in political murders.

Earlier on Thursday Coetzee clarified his Wednesday testimony on about his association with First.

Coetzee on Wednesday said he would not have approved her assassination for personal reasons. This cryptic explanation gave rise to speculation about the nature of the relationshiop between the security policeman and the activist.

Coetzee told the amnesty committee on Thursday that he never meant to imply an improper relationship with First. He said he had known First as a result of political trials he investigated in the 1960s, but denied there was anything more to the relationship.

"The position is that when I used these words in my evidence I did not imply or make an inference that there was an improper relationship on a personal or work level with Mrs Slovo," Coetzee said.

He said he had often chatted to First during adjournments in court proceedings in trials in which she appeared and he had been one of the policemen involved in the investigation.

He said First office's had also been close to security police headquarters in Johannesburg.

Coetzee then continued his testimony under cross-examination by Bizos.

Coetzee has applied for amnesty for the bombing of the ANC offices in London, but has been questioned at length by Bizos about political murders, including that of First. The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 10 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANTS STILL FACE THREAT OF EXTRADITION: OMAR

Neither the TRC nor former police commissioner Johann Coetzee asked the government for assurances that security force members would not be extradited for apartheid-era cross-border operations, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Thursday.

He said this in a statement with apparent reference to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing involving Coetzee and seven other policemen who are applying for amnesty for bombing the African National Congress headquarters in London in 1982.

Omar said an application for extradition would be considered if the requirements of the law were met.

"The reality is that South Africa can grant amnesty for crimes committed in South Africa but has no legal power or right to grant amnesty in connection with crimes committed in other jurisdictions.

"Each application for extradition will... be treated on its own merits."

Omar said he had no doubt that a state requesting extradition proceedings would take cognisance of South Africa's reconciliation process.

He said Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen and two legal firms recently approached him for an assurance that there would be no extradition of people who applied, for and been granted, amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN September 11 1998 - SAPA

ANC MEMBER GRANTED AMNESTY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has granted amnesty to an African National Congress memember convicted of trespassing and illegal picketing in the Western Cape between 1989 and 1990.

The TRC said in a statement on Friday that Matthew Gaylard, now based in Durban, was convicted of erecting and occupying a shack on state property in Stellenbosch as part of a protest action called by the town's housing action committee.

"The protest was aimed at exposing the failure of the previous government to provide housing for black communities."

Gaylard was also convicted for participating in illegal picketing organised by the National Union of South African Students (Nusas) calling for the unbanning of the ANC. He was fined for both offences.

His amnesty application was processed in chambers as his offences did not constitute a gross violation of human rights as defined in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

His name would be deleted from criminal records in relation to the offences, the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 11 1998 - SAPA

NP CONCERNED ABOUT POSSIBLE EXTRADITION OF AMNESTY APPLICANTS

The National Party wants to meet urgently with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to discuss recent statements by Justice Minister Dullah Omar regarding the possible extradition of former security force members to face prosecution in foreign countries.

A party statement released in Johannesburg Friday said former security force members had responded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's request to them to apply for amnesty in good faith.

"Whilst it is true that the amnesty granted by the TRC does not indemnify the security force members from being prosecuted in foreign countries, it would be inconceivable and unconscionable for the Minister of Justice to allow their extradition," party spokesman Jaco Maree said.

He said extradition of bona fide amnesty applicants would be in breach of explicit or implied terms of the negotiated settlement and the provisions in the interim constitution and the TRC act.

"Minister Dullah Omar has a responsibility to bring stability to this country and to ensure reconciliation," Maree said, adding: "His threat that he may consider the extradition of security force members makes a mockery of the amnesty process and in addition creates so much resentment and tension that immediate and urgent steps should be taken to obtain clarity."

"We will ask to see Deputy President Mbeki as soon as he is available, hopefully within the next week or two," Maree told Sapa.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 11 1998 - SAPA

ANC BOMB IN LONDON A WARNING TO UK, WILLIAMSON TELLS TRC

The 1982 bombing of the ANC headquarters in the United Kingdom was a warning that the war in South Africa could spill over into the streets of London, apartheid spy Craig Williamson told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria on Friday.

Williamson is one of eight former policemen applying for amnesty for the blast at the African National Congress' London headquarters on March 14, 1982.

Williamson told the TRC amnesty committee he understood the former South African government's policy to be that security and intelligence action would be taken against the enemy wherever it was found. He said this included the use of force to prevent violence against the South African state and its occupants.

Williamson described how the bomb was prepared and then taken to London and placed at the ANC headquarters. He said it had been impressed upon him by Brigadier Piet Goosen, who has since died, that deaths should be avoided in the attack, especially those of non-ANC people.

He said after placing the bomb, the rest of the team returned to South Africa but he flew to Brussels where he later heard on news bulletins that the ANC headquarters had been destroyed in a massive blast.

He said the aim of the blast had been to demoralise the ANC on the 70th annivesary of its existence and also to bring home to the UK the hazards of providing sanctuary to the ANC.

"We wanted them to realise the ANC's war with South Africa could spill out on to the streets of London," said Williamson.

Earlier former police commissioner General Johann Coetzee, who has also applied for amnesty for the London bombing, told the committee former police minister Louis le Grange told the media suggestions that the South African police was involved in the bombings were laughable.

Coetzee said Le Grange had told him earlier the bombing had been approved by the government as a whole but had not specificied whether the order had come from the Cabinet or from former state president PW Botha.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 11 1998 - SAPA

PIK BOTHA SAYS HE WOULD HAVE RESIGNED OVER LONDON BOMB

Former foreign minister Pik Botha said on Friday he would have resigned from the government if he had known policemen were going to blow up the ANC headquarters in London.

Botha told Sapa he would have vigorously opposed the bombing if he had been told about it, and would have resigned if his objections had not been acknowledged. Botha said he would have rejected the plan because of the diplomatic fallout, and also because he believed it would have been counter-productive.

"Only the ANC could gain from an incident like that. They were being ignored by the British press at the time, but the blast gave them all the publicity they needed to strengthen their position," Botha said.

Botha is attending the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearings in Pretoria where eight former policemen, including former police commissioner General Johann Coetzee and apartheid spy Craig Williamson, are applying for amnesty for the London bombing in March 1982.

Botha is attending the hearings as person who was implicated by the applicants. As a trained advocate, Botha is representing himself, and on Friday participated in the proceedings by cross- examining Coetzee.

Botha, who has not practised as a lawyer for more than 30 years, fired several questions at Coetzee and then ended abruptly by saying:" I have no further questions, Mr Chairman," and strode back to his seat in the public gallery.

The former foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations took issue with lawyers' questions to Coetzee, implying Botha's public speeches at the time, about the need to combat terrorism, led to the illegal actions of the security forces.

Through Botha's questioning, Coetzee admitted that the former foreign minister had always opposed the use of force, and always warned against actions that could jeopardise South Africa's international relations.

Coetzee also agreed with Botha that after the series of ANC bomb blasts, virtually every white South African supported the eradication of terrorism.

Speaking to Sapa during an adjournment in the proceedings, Botha said he and Lord Carrington, the British foreign minister at the time, had been on excellent terms and he would not have wanted to jeopardise the relationship.

Botha said he also believed president PW Botha would not have approved of the plan because he would have taken the objections of foreign affairs into account.

"President Botha very much valued the good relations he had with (British prime minister) Margaret Thatcher, and Britain was one of our few allies in the world," Botha said.

Coetzee has told the amnesty committee he received the order to blow up the ANC's headquarters in London from former police minister Louis le Grange.

Coetzee said Le Grange told him it was a government order, but did not spell out who was privy to the decision. Coetzee said he knew the late Le Grange very well, and did not believe he would have jeopardised his career by taking such a weighty decision without the approval of PW Botha.

PW Botha's lawyer, Ernst Penzhorn, who is at the proceedings, suggested to Coetzee that Botha had not sanctioned the bombing and that Le Grange as a minister of government had taken t harm the good relations he had with Thatcher's government.

Pik Botha may be called to give evidence at the hearing next week in connection with alleged foreign affairs involvement in the London boma about allegations that the explosives for the bomb were transported to London by way of the diplomatic bag, and in a civilian aircraft.

He denied that this happenedence had their own means of transport and delivery between South Africa and the military attaches in London.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 11 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO CONTINUE CAPRIVI AMNESTY HEARINGS NEXT WEEK

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Friday said it would continue hearing amnesty applications for a spate of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging bombings and apartheid-era crimes committed by Caprivi trainees.

The hearings are scheduled for September 14 to 18.

In a statement, the TRC said hearings would also be conducted on the attacks on policemen by Pan Africanist Congress operatives in Soweto shortly before the 1994 elections.

Former APLA operative, Phila Dolo, was seeking amnesty for his role in the attack of a police van on the road between Diepkloof and Orlando East, Soweto in May 1993.

Police constable Jacob Hlomela Mabaso was killed and his colleague, Constable Edward Nelushi was wounded when balaclava-clad gunmen sprayed the van in which they were travelling with bullets.

Dolo, who had his left arm amputated following a shoot-out with police, was later arrested and convicted of murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of arms and ammunition.

He is now serving a lengthy prison term.

Mpumelelo Mvinjane, another PAC member, is applying for amnesty for killing traffic officer Simon Makhudu Kungoane in Pimville, Soweto in August 1991.

Mvinjane was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment for the incident.

The hearing will take place at Tambotie Hall, Kliprivierberg Recreation Centre, at the corner of Peggy Vera & Sunningdale streets, Kibler Park, Johannesburg.

The amnesty committee will continue hearing amnesty applications of 12 AWB members who were seeking amnesty for a spate of bombings before the 1994 elections.

It will also continue to hear applications into the bombing of African National Congress offices in London and the killing of anti-apartheid activist Ruth First.

The TRC spokesman said hearings into the Inkatha Freedom Party's Caprivi Strip trainees would continue in the new week.

Seven applicants who claim to be members of the IFP are seeking amnesty for a total of 56 incidents in which more than 100 people were murdered.

These include Daluxolo Luthuli, Romeo Mbambo, Brian Mkhize, Israel Hlongwane, Bhekisisa Khumalo, David Dhlamini and Bheki Ndlovu. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 14 1998 - SAPA

WILLIAMSON TELLS TRC HE DEHUMANISED HIS VICTIMS

Former apartheid spy Craig Williamson on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that "dehumanising" his targets made it possible for him to carry out acts like letter bomb murders.

Williamson is applying for amnesty for the letter bomb murders of Ruth First in Mozambique in 1982 and of Jeannette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.

First was the wife of former SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo and the Schoons were the wife and child of African National Congress member Marius Schoon.

Williamson admitted on Monday that in both attacks he had arranged to have the explosives placed in letters intercepted by the security police and addressed to the victims.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee in Pretoria that he had often told staff who worked under him that the best way of dealing with enemy targets was to "dehumanise" them.

"I don't believe that people could have done what we did if they saw the enemy as invidual human beings," he said.

Williamson said he had experienced great difficulty in coming to terms with the deaths of Jeannette and Katryn Schoon because he had known the family well while with them at university, where he worked under cover as a police spy.

Showing faint signs of emotion, he said hearing of the death of the child was like "being hit in the face with a bucket of cold water" because he did not know the Schoon children were with their parents in Angola.

Williamson justified the attack on the Schoons on the grounds that they were an important link in the ANC network in Angola.

Earlier he described how the bomb that killed First was prepared. He said 100g of explosives was inserted into a letter intercepted between Lesotho and Mozambique.

Williamson said the letter bore the name Slovo but he could not remember if it was addressed to Joe Slovo or Ruth Slovo or to both at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo.

He said the letter was sent to him through security police internal mail with an instruction that he should discuss the contents with his superior officer, Brigadier Piet Goosen.

He was then asked if he could arrange to fit an explosive device into the letter without materially changing its shape and weight.

Williamson said he asked explosives expert W/O Gerrie Raven to insert the bomb into the envelope, which bore the logo of an international organisation, possibly the United Nations.

He said Raven later returned with the envelope and said the bomb had been successfully fitted.

"I then asked him if he meant this letter could blow up the office and kill us both. When he replied that it could, this made me feel uncomfortable and I told him to get rid of it because I didn't want it there," he said.

Williamson said he later heard that Ruth First had been killed in an explosion at the university in Maputo.

He said the death of First was later noted at a security police meeting without referring to police involvement.

"Brigadier Goosen looked directly at me and nodded slightly," Williamson said, adding that he assumed Goosen was acknowledging that it had been the result of the letter bomb.

He said he was again asked by Goosen to have a bomb made to be sent to Schoon in Lubango in Angola. The same procedure was followed but the bomb only detonated about six months after it was sent by the security police.

During his testimony Williamson read at length from documents describing South Africa's struggle with the ANC and its strategies in countering the revolutionary onslaught.

He said he was never in any doubt that he was acting in terms of a counter revolutionary strategy when he sent the letter bombs.

Williamson's advocate Allan Levine then showed the first of a series of video recordings from television programmes depicting scenes from the years of conflict in South Africa. The video showed footage from the SABC programme Network in 1986, soon after a series of cross-border raids against ANC bases in neighbouring countries.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 15 1998 - SAPA

JAILED APLA COMMANDER GOES BEFORE TRC AMNESTY COMMITTEE

A former Gauteng commander of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) told a TRC amnesty hearing on Tuesday that he ordered and led an ambush in Soweto in May 1993 in which a policeman was killed.

Speaking in Kibler Park, Johannesburg, Phila Dolo said the attack was in response to a police swoop on the Pan- Africanist Congress offices a few weeks earlier. Apla was the PAC's armed wing.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission spokesman Vuyani Green quoted Dolo as saying: "We regarded the raid as a act of aggression by the security police, and I ordered units under my command to identify and attack any police station or member of the security establishment."

Dolo is serving a life sentence for murder, attempted murder, and illegal possession of arms and ammunition, and explosives.

Constable Jacob Mabaso was killed and Constable Edward Nelushi was wounded in the ambush.

Dolo said he commanded the ambush with three other Apla operatives. He said he fired several shots with an R4 rifle at a police vehicle before he and his accomplices escaped in a getaway car.

Two days after the attack, police raided his Soweto flat. "We were woken up by the sound of police vehicles. I told my friends to reach for their AK47s and R4 rifles, which were hidden under the bed, but they escaped through a window. I fired a shot and my firearm jammed," Dolo said.

He was in the left arm hit by a bullet. "At that stage the police kicked open the door of my room and dragged me outside, where they repeatedly assaulted me until I lost consciousness."

Dolo's left arm was later amputated in a military hospital in Pretoria.

Nelushi told the committee he would not oppose Dolo's application for amnesty. He said that as a result of the injury he received in the ambush he recently had a major operation in a Pretoria hospital.

Dolo also told the committee he ordered the Eikenhof ambush in the Vaal Triangle in March 1993, when a woman, Zandra Mitchely, and two children were killed in a car.

Committee chairman Denzel Potgieter said the amnesty committee had been approached by the Johannesburg High Court to set aside Dolo's amnesty application in relation to Eikenhof, pending certain court proceedings.

The African National Congress has approached the High Court to take the matter on review after evidence emerged that apparently implicated former Apla operatives.

Three ANC cadres, Sipho Gavin, Siphiwe Bholo and Boy Ndwendi, were in 1994 sentenced to lengthy jail terms for the Eikenhof attack by Judge Curlewis.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 15 1998 - SAPA

WILLIAMSON APOLOGISES TO INNOCENT VICTIMS BEFORE TRC

Apartheid spy Craig Williamson on Tuesday apologised before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria for causing the deaths of innocent people, but said he believed he had been fighting a war which was justified.

Williamson admitted to being involved in the letter bomb attacks which killed Jeanette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984, and Joe Slovo's wife, Ruth First, in Mozambique in 1982.

The 1984 bomb was intended for African National Congress activist Marius Schoon, but killed his wife and child instead.

Williamson has applied for amnesty for the three murders, as well as for the bombing of the ANC offices in London in 1982.

He told the TRC's amnesty committe his actions were in support of the South African government, which had been involved in a "nasty war" with the ANC.

He said he saw people involved in ANC structures as the enemy and "dehumanised" them. He claimed he would never have been able to do what he did if he had considered the enemy as "individual humans".

"I want to say I am sorry. What I did was wrong," Williamson said without showing any outward signs of emotion.

"I believed at the time that it was justified, but I never deliberately targeted the innocent," he said.

After lengthy testimony in support of his application, Williamson apologised for his acts. He said they were committed during a state of war with the ANC/SA Communist Party alliance.

Williamson admitted that in both letter bomb attacks he arranged to have explosives placed in letters intercepted by security police and addressed to the victims.

Marius Schoon and Slovo's three daughters attended the proceedings.

Williamson denied allegations by other policemen that he at the time said it served the Schoons right because they had often used their daughter as a bomb disposal unit.

Williamson said he believed this was a rumour that circulating among policemen at the time.

In support of his application for amnesty, Williamson and his lawyer, Allan Levine, showed the committee a selection of video cassettes illustrating the nature of the conflict in which the security forces were involved.

One of the tapes showed police presenting to the media a large cache of ANC firearms and landmines discovered on the West Rand.

Police at the time said this led to a security force raid in Gaborone, Botswana in June 1985 in which 12 people were killed. However, it emerged on Tuesday that the cache had been established by Vlakplaas security police operatives, led by former commander Eugene de Kock, to justify the subsequent attack on Gaborone.

De Kock was present at the hearing and has applied for amnesty for the London bomb blast.

His lawyer, Schalk Hugo, said De Kock would later testify that it had been Vlakplaas, and not the ANC, that buried the weapons.

Williamson said he did not know at the time that the operation was run by Vlakplaas, but conceded it was possible the security police's propaganda arm, Stratcom, arranged the cache in order to create an excuse to attack the ANC in Botswana.

It also emerged on Tuesday that Williamson made an urgent plea to Justice Minister Dullah Omar for an assurance that he would not be extradited for his involvement in cross-border raids.

In correspondence handed to the committee, the Justice Department replied that Omar could give no such assurances and each case would have to be treated on merit.

Scotland Yard has sent Detective Inspector Kim Durham to observe the amnesty proceedings in Pretoria.

It also became apparent from correspondence handed to the amnesty committee on Tuesday that Williamson and former foreign minister Pik Botha were implicated in planning and executing the Botswana raid.

Williamson at first denied involvement in the planning and execution of the Gaborone attack, but later admitted that he identified the target.

Earlier, video footage depicting scenes of township violence was shown, including the necklacing in 1986 of Maki Skosana in Duduza on the East Rand.

It was subsequently found that Skosana was killed after being accused of being the girlfriend of Vlakplaas askari Joe Mamasela.

Amnesty committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson interrupted the videos, saying all they depicted was mass violence which occurred after the incidents for which Williamson was applying for amnesty. They could not have influenced his conduct in the incidents.

The hearing continues on Wednesday when Williamson facec cross-examiniation by George Bizos SC, who is appearing for the Schoon and Slovo families.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 15 1998 - SAPA

BOMB VICTIMS OPPOSE AMNESTY APPLICATION BY AWB MEMBERS

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members who took part in the April 1994 bombing spree were motivated by "pure racist hatred against black people" and not political objectives, bomb victims told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday.

Rita Seako, whose cousin Thokozile Fani died in the Bree Street taxi rank blast, told the TRC's amnesty committee in Boksburg that she opposed the amnesty applications of the 10 AWB men responsible for the bombing spree because the attacks were racially motivated.

Jacobus le Roux, Paulus Steyn, Jan de Wet, Gerdhardus Fourie, Johannes Venter, Petrus Nel, Christoffel Fourie, Wilhelm du Plessis, Petrus Olivier and Abraham Vlok claim they acted on the orders of AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche with the aim of disrupting South Africa's first democratic elections.

They have admitted to planting bombs at Johannesburg airport, the Bree Street taxi rank, the Germiston taxi rank and in Randfontein.

Seventeen people were killed and 42 injured in the attacks. The AWB men are serving lengthy prison sentences for their crimes.

"I oppose the application on the grounds that the applicants have not told the truth and I believe that they acted out of pure racist hatred against black people," Seako said.

Freeda Ngwenya, who was injured in the Bree Street attack in April 1994, said she was selling fruit and vegetables on the pavement when the bomb exploded. She suffered severe injuries and regained consciousness five days later.

She said an operation to reconstruct her jaw failed.

"My saliva gland was damaged and had to be removed and I have a painful scar on my right thigh which makes it difficult to walk," she said.

"They (the applicants) just looked for black people to fight. I oppose the application and want them to remain in jail," she said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 16 1998 - SAPA

MEMBER OF FORMER LIBERAL PARTY GRANTED AMNESTY

A member of the former Liberal Party who produced illegal t-shirts during the apartheid era has been granted amnesty for his actions, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on Wednesday.

Robin Houston Holmes, 53, of Pietermaritzburg, told the TRC's amnesty committee he had illegally produced, printed and distributed T-shirts reading: "We are Everywhere, Even in your Kitchen" and "Mxenge, The Struggle Continues". He also produced a Steve Biko t-shirt.

The committee in its decision said Holmes produced and distributed the t-shirts as an act of non-violent defiance against the apartheid regime.

"He made no personal gain from his actions. He was charged in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrates' Court with the production and distribution of prohibited material, but the case against him was never proceeded with," the committee said in a statement.

The committee said it was satisfied that Holmes' application was related to an act associated with a political objective committed in the course of the conflicts of the past and that he had made a full disclosure.

"We are also satisfied that the offence to which the application relates does not constitute a gross violation of human rights and that there is no need for a hearing in this matter."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 16 1998 - SAPA

TRC HEARS WILLIAMSON DENY TRYING TO KILL MARCUS AND MAHARAJ

Apartheid spy Craig Williamson, who has applied for amnesty for killing ANC activists Ruth First and Jeanette Schoon, on Wednesday denied that he tried to do the same to Gill Marcus and Mac Maharaj.

Testifying before Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Pretoria, Williamson denied that he tried to assassinate Marcus, now Deputy Finance Minister, and Maharaj, now Minister of Transport.

He is applying for amnesty for his part in arranging the letter bomb attacks that killed First, wife of SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo in Mozambique in 1982, and Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.

He has also applied for amnesty for the bombing of the African National Congress' offices in London in 1982.

George Bizos SC, appearing for the families of the victims, suggested to Williamson that the aim of the bomb attack on the ANC's London offices had been to kill Marcus, the movement's information officer at the time.

Bizos said the bomb was placed against a wall outside Marcus' office and said Williamson sent her a postcard soon after the blast saying: "Oh, you're still around" and signed "Craig".

Williamson denied the intention had been to kill Marcus, but said it was possible a postcard had been sent to her as part of the psychological campaign against the ANC, although he could not remember doing so.

He conceded the powerful blast, caused by 4,5kg of explosives, would have killed Marcus if she had been in her office. Bizos said Marcus often worked in her office on Sunday mornings and the bomb exploded at about 8am on Sunday, March 14, 1982.

Bizos said Williamson visited Maharaj while still working undercover and tried to lure him to a country where South African security forces could assassinate the senior ANC official without severe international repercussions. The countries suggested were Swaziland and Seychelles.

"If I planned to kill him (Maharaj) I had numerous opportunities to do so between 1976 and 1980. It was never planned, suggested or discussed that he be killed," Williamson replied.

Bizos said Maharaj suspected Williamson of being a policeman and did not agree to a meeting in countries suggested by the spy.

Bizos also repeatedly accused Williamson of trying to deceive the amnesty committee.

"You are a master of deception and are continuing to deceive this committee, the victims and the South African public," Bizos said.

Williamson replied that he was telling the truth.

A part of Wednesday's hearing was devoted to the role of the Sunhedrin, a council of senior policemen who discussed security matters in the 1980s. Bizos said the word was a derivation of a Greek word that in Hebrew meant a court at which criminal trials were planned. He suggested to Williamson that the council was well named because it took decisions to eliminate political opponents.

Williamson denied this and said Sunhedrin was merely a forum for co-ordinating security arrangements beween various police units.

He was also closely questioned about the manufacture of the bomb that killed First. There were long and repetitive accounts of how the explosive device was placed in the envelope of a letter intercepted by police between Mozambique and Lesotho.

Williamson said he noticed the letter was addressed to the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, but not to whom it was addressed. However he recalled being told that it was for either First, Slovo or both.

Bizos said Pallo Jordan, now Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister, was present when the letter was opened and noticed that it was addressed to First.

Williamson said the contents of the original letter were removed and replaced with another envelope which contained the bomb, which would only explode when the inside envelope was opened.

However, according to the amnesty application of former security policeman Gerrie Raven who made the bomb, the device triggered when the original envelope was opened.

The hearing continues on Thursday with further cross-examination of Williamson by Bizos.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 16 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY GRANTED TO TWO FORMER APLA MEMBERS

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Wednesday granted amnesty to two members of the Azanian People's Liberation Army, the former armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress.

The two were serving life sentences for crimes ranging from murder to the illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosives.

Phila Dolo applied for amnesty for his role in an ambush on a police vehicle at Diepkloof, Soweto on May 28, 1993.

Constable Jacob Mabaso was killed in the ambush and Constable Edward Nelushi was wounded.

Dolo was arrested following a shootout with the police, in which he lost his right arm.

In making its decision, the amnesty committee said: "There can be no doubt that the applicant was a cadre of Apla. His actions were all within the ambit of the policies of both Apla and the PAC. The applicant's conduct falls in our view within such a framework and accordingly are held to be acts associated with a political objective.

"We are satisfied that the applicant has made full disclosure of all material facts. He has not tried to minimise the nature and extent of his involvement in these incidents and has further applied for amnesty for an aspect for which he was acquitted.

"He has also disclosed additional facts which evidences his bona fides in this regard."

The committee said Dolo was not from the area where the events took place and had no personal interest or agenda in respect of the persons injured or killed.

"There is no suggestion that he acted for personal gain as the victims were all unknown to him."

The committee recommended to the TRC's committee of rehabilitation and reparation that Mabaso's next-of-kin, Nelushi and a Ian Veldman, should be considered victims as defined by the Promotion of National Reconciliation and Unity Act.

Another Apla operative, Shakespeare Buthelezi, was granted amnesty among others for the killing of police Constable Freddie Mashamaite in Katlehong in January 1993.

Buthelezi was serving 65 years' imprisonment following his conviction of murder, robbery, illegal possession of arms and ammunition and three counts of attempted murder.

The victims were also referred to the committee on rehabilitation and reparation.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

JOHANNESBURG September 17 1998 - SAPA

APLA MEMBERS "TOLD TO ATTACK TRAFFIC COPS"

Two men claiming to be operatives of the Azanian People's Liberation Army told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday that their commander told them to attack police and traffic officers to get their firearms.

Mpumelelo Mvinjane and Lulamile Khwankwa are applying for amnesty for the August 1991 murder of traffic officer Simon Kungaone, who was shot in Soweto while assisting school children to cross the street near Zone 6, Pimville. His attackers took his service firearm.

Each man is serving a 35-year prison term at Leeukop Maximum Prison for the murder.

Mvinjane and Khwankwa were also convicted of rape, car theft and house-breaking in 1988, for which, as minors, they were sentenced to strokes of the cane.

Testifying on Thursday before the TRC amnesty committee at Kibler Park in southern Johannesburg, the men said they were approached by a man identifying himself as 'Moss', who persuaded them to join the Pan Africanist Congress' former armed wing, Apla.

"Moss approached us while we were busy smoking dagga and offered R50 to buy another dagga. It is then that we discussed politics and he recruited us," TRC spokesman Vuyani Green quoted Mvinjane as saying.

Mvinjane said Moss arrived later with an AK47, a Makarov pistol, and another weapon.

Moss allegedly ordered the pair to look for police or traffic officers to attack and "dispossess" them of their service firearms, because the PAC did not have enough weapons to wage its armed struggle.

Mvinjane conceded under cross-examination that Khwankwa and himself never attended any PAC meetings. "In fact, it was barely a month that we had joined Apla before we were arrested."

Asked about their military training, the pair said their commander, Moss, trained them in a house in Soweto in the handling of firearms and explosives.

Mvinjane told the committee he shot Kungaone, although in his amnesty application he claimed his accomplice, known as 'Doctor' committed the crime.

Asked to explain this apparent contradiction, Mvinjane said he was not aware of the contradiction as the amnesty application was not filed by him.

Kungaone's family are opposing the application on the grounds that the murder was purely criminally motivated. The hearing is due to end later on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PRETORIA September 17 1998 - SAPA

RUTH FIRST KILLED IN FRUSTRATION AS SLOVO ELUDED ASSASSINATION

Apartheid spy Craig Williamson killed Ruth First out of frustration because the security forces were unable to assassinate her husband, Joe Slovo, despite many attempts, it was alleged at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Pretoria on Thursday.

"You killed First in order to get at Joe Slovo," George Bizos SC, who is appearing for the Slovo family, told Williamson.

Williamson denied that he had been frustrated at the failure of attempts to kill the former SA Communitst Party leader, but later he conceded that he had been exasperated by Slovo's ability to elude the security force strikes against him.

The former apartheid spy is applying for amnesty for his part in arranging the letter bombs that killed First in Mozambique in 1982 and Jeanette Schoon and her six year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.

Williamson said Slovo was one of the former government's most sought after enemies, but admitted: "I had a sneaking admiration for the grey fox."

He said Slovo had been extremely vigilant and constantly moved around Maputo to avoid detection by security force raids on his home.

"I had the greatest respect for how he evaded all efforts to kill him," Williamson said.

The spy admitted to arranging to have explosives inserted into a letter intercepted en route between Lesotho and Mozambique, but claimed he was not certain to whom it was addressed.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee he recalled his superior, the late Brigadier Piet Goosen saying the letter was for Slovo, but said this could have meant either Ruth First or Joe Slovo.

Williamson told the committee he had no doubt that the "upper echelons" of the security forces knew of his actions and supported them. He said he was convinced that the whole counter revolutionary strategy employed at the time was orchestrated by the State Security Council.

He also spoke of the fear and anxiety that existed amongst security policemen when it appeared that the African National Congress would come to power.

"If anyone thinks it easy to see the enemy become the government and things you have been shedding blood for decades to prevent, then they have no understanding of human behaviour. It is a difficult and painful situation," he said.

He said many of the security officers had doubts about the future and were afraid of what might happen.

However, in spite of this many security policemen remained and now serve the present South African government.

"I did not. I never asked for a big job, although I believe I have something to contribute..." he said.

Asked by Bizos about the bomb attack which killed Jeanette and Katryn Schoon, he said he believed she and her husband, ANC activist Marius Schoon, had been teaching English to Cuban soldiers in Angola.

He claimed that this could have been useful to the Cubans in their manning of air defence installations in the Lubango area of Angloa, where the Schoons lived.

Asked by Bizos where he obtained this information, he replied that it had been passed on to him by SA Air Force intelligence.

He explained that although he had been friends with the Schoons while at the University of the Witwatersrand in the early 1970s, he still viewed them as the enemy because of their involvement with the ANC.

However, he said he did not know that the Schoon's children were with them in Angoloa at the time.

"For me it made absolutely no difference if Joe Slovo or Ruth First or Marius or Jeanette Schoon were killed by the bombs, but I never deliberately targeted childen," Williamson said.

Marius Schoon and his son Fritz, who was two at the time and survived the blast, have been attending the amnesty hearing in Pretoria. So have Slovo's children Gillian, Shawn and Robyn.

During the hearing, transcripts of conversations Williamson had with Gillian Slovo in 1995 after he admitted involvement in the murder of her mother were handed to the committee.

In one paragraph Williamson told her that her parents had been targeted because of a perception that existed amongst security forces that the ANC and SACP could not function properly "without white brains".

"It was a basic fundamental belief that... if it weren't for the `blanke kommuniste' (white communists) then we wouldn't actually have this problem we've got," Williamson said.

The hearing continues on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 18 1998 - SAPA

MCBRIDE INTERVIEW TURNS UP AT WILLIAMSON'S AMNESTY HEARING

Former African National Congress cadre Robert McBride conducted an interview with Craig Williamson about the death of Ruth First, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's ammesty committee heard in Pretoria on Friday.

A transcript of the interview McBride had with Williamson made a surprise appearance at Williamson's amnesty hearing.

There was no indication when and where the interview was conducted and in what capacity McBride was talking to the former spy.

Williamson's lawyer Allan Levine claimed the interview had been surreptitiously recorded and had then landed in the possession of Gillian Slovo, the daughter of former SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo.

McBride returned to South Africa on Monday after spending six months in a Mozambican jail for suspicion of gun- running. He was suspended from his post in the Department of Foreign Affairs shortly after his arrest.

Williamson is applying for amnesty for his part in killing First - Slovo's wife - in a letter bomb attack in Mozambique in 1982.

George Bizos SC who is appearing for the Slovo family explained that Gillian Slovo had obtained the tape from McBride in an effort to find out information about Williamson's role in her mother's death. The tape was then mistakenly mixed up with tapes of an interview Gillian herself later conducted with Williamson.

Bizos said during transcription of the tapes Slovo's name was mistakenly attributed to the questions asked by McBride.

Levine told the committee the interview was recordeded without Williamson's permission. He claimed the inclusion of the McBride tape in the Gillian Slovo interview was irregular and called for an investigation.

The prescence of the McBride interview led to acrimonious exchanges between the legal representatives and at one stage Levine requested that Bizos' cross-examination be stopped pending the outcome of the investigation into the origin of the tape.

Committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson ruled that Levine should clarify the matter with Bizos as to how the mistake had come about and that the cross-examination should continue.

In the McBride interview Williamson reveals his involvement in First's murder and how the letter bomb was prepared and delivered to Mozambique.

Williamson has admitted arranging the insertion of explosives into a letter that had been intercepted en route from Lesotho and Mozambique and addressed to one of or both Joe and Ruth Slovo.

Williamson has also applied for amnesty for the letter bomb murder of Jeanette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984 and the bombing of the London ANC offices in 1982.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG September 18 1998 - SAPA

THREE MORE APLA CADRES GRANTED AMNESTY

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Friday granted amnesty to three members of the Azanian People's Liberation Army.

Nkosinathi Mvinjane and Lulamile Khwankwa were granted amnesty for murdering Pimville traffic officer Simon Kungoane in August 1991.

Kungoane was gunned down while assisting school-going children to cross an intersection in the township.

Apla was the former military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress.

PAC national executive committee member Jabulani Khumalo confirmed to the committee that the incident was an Apla operation.

"We have accordingly found that the applicants had made a full disclosure and that the attack was an act associated with a political objective... we are particularly fortified in the later conclusion by the testimony of Khumalo who has made a particularly good impression as a witness and has dispelled any doubts that could arise in this regard in view of the particular background of the applicants as set above," the committee said.

Khumalo told the committee both men were part of his organisation when they committed the murder.

"We are satisfied that the applicants have met all the requirements set out in the TRC Act and they are accordingly granted amnesty," the committee said.

The committee also granted amnesty to another Apla operative, Sonnyboy Johannesburg Sibiya, who killed Vusumuzi Dhludhlu in October 1992 in Emzinoni, Bethal. Sibiya was serving 15 years imprisonment for the incident.

Friday's pardons brought to five the number of Apla cadres granted amnesty by the committee this week.

Earlier in the week the committee granted amnesty to Phila Dolo and Shakespeare Buthelezi. They were serving a 65- year sentence and a life sentence respectively for crimes ranging from murder to illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosives.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 18 1998 - SAPA

WILLIAMSON ACCUSED IN TRC OF KILLING SCHOONS OUT OF REVENGE

Craig Williamson was on Friday accused of arranging a letter bomb attack on Marius and Jeanette Schoon out of revenge following their attempts to expose him as an apartheid police spy.

Williamson has applied for amnesty for the letter bomb murder of Jeanette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.

Testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Pretoria, Williamson denied the claim by the Schoon's lawyer, George Bizos SC, that the motive for the attack was to "settle old scores".

Bizos suggested that Williamson planned the bomb attack because the Schoons had been suspicious of him and had instituted an investigation against him which led to his unmasking as a police spy.

"This is news to me," Williamson replied, saying that nobody had previously accused him of acting out of revenge in bombing the Schoons.

Williamson said he was exposed in 1980 when former National Intelligence Services agent Arthur McGivern defected to the African National Congress, and took with him a large number of government files which he knew would reveal his true occupation.

He said his exposure had nothing to do with the efforts of the Schoons, who were living in Botswana at the time.

He claims the bomb attack attack on the Schoons was planned by his security police unit after intelligence was received that they were teaching English to Cuban soldiers in Angola. He said this might have had implications for Cuban air defences against SA Air Force raids.

Williamson also denied that he said "it serves them right" when he heard that the Schoon's daughter was killed in the blast.

According to the amnesty application of former security policeman Gerrie Raven, who has admitted making the letter bomb, Williamson said the Schoons had used their daughter as a bomb disposal system by allowing her to play with parcels that were delivered before they were opened.

Williamson denied this remark, but said it was possible that other policemen could have said something to that effect at the time.

"But you congratulated Raven after receiving news of the blast," Bizos said to Williamson, who claimed he had done so because the device had exploded successfully.

"But the device killed a child. Any person with a drop of humanity would have said `woe to us, we have killed a child', or anybody with any human decency," Bizos said.

Williamson replied that it had never been his intention to target a child and he still thought of the death of Katryn Schoon every day of his life. Williamson, who studied at the University of the Witwatersrand with the Schoons, said he had been their friend, but their involvement in the ANC made them his enemies.

Bizos told Williamson that Schoon, who has attended all the hearings, never considered the former spy a friend.

"Does that make you feel happier," Bizos asked of the former spy, who replied that it did not.

Bizos also accused Williamson of targeting women in his attempts to demoralise the ANC. Williamson replied that he had been involved in operations in which "more than just women" had been killed.

Earlier in the hearing it emerged that Robert McBride conducted an interview with Williamson about the death of anti- apartheid activist Ruth First, who was killed in a letter bomb attack in Maputo in 1982 - another crime for which Williamson is applying for amnesty.

A transcript of the interview was on Friday presented to the amnesty hearing.

There was no indication as to when and where the interview was conducted and in what capacity McBride was talking to the former spy.

McBride is a former ANC soldier who spent six years on death row for killing three people when he bombed a bar in Durban.

Williamson's lawyer, Allan Levine, claimed the interview was surreptitiously recorded and passed on to First's daughter, Gillian Slovo.

Bizos said Slovo obtained the tape from McBride in an effort to get information about Williamson's role in her mother's death. Bizos said the tape was then mistakenly mixed up with tapes of an interview Slovo herself later conducted with Williamson.

Bizos said during transcription of the tapes, Slovo's name was mistakenly attributed to the questions asked by McBride.

Levine told the committee the interview was recordeded without Williamson's permission. He claimed the inclusion of the McBride tape in Slovo's interview was irregular and called for an investigation.

The presence of the McBride interview led to acrimonious exchanges between the legal representatives and at one stage Levine requested that Bizos' cross examination be stopped pending the outcome of the investigation into the origin of the tape.

Committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson ruled that Levine should clarify the matter with Bizos as to how the mistake had come about and that the cross-examination should continue.

In the McBride interview, Williamson reveals his involvement in the murder of First and how the letter bomb was prepared and delivered to Mozambique.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Sept 21 - SAPA

SECURITY POLICE PAID R15000 TO DOUBLE CROSSING INFORMER

Police paid R15000 to an informer even though he misled them with a claim that he had killed Joe Slovo in a bomb attack in Lusaka in 1985, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Monday.

Senior superintendent Vic McPherson, who still serves in the SA Police Services, is applying for amnesty his part in the failed attempt on Slovo's life in Lusaka and the bombing of the ANC offices in London in 1982.

He told the TRC's amnesty committee of an elaborate plan to kill or injure Slovo in the ANC offices in Lusaka in May 1985.

An Indian businessman, known as "Ali" and who worked as a police informer in Swazilandreed to co-operate with the police by carrying a bomb in a briefcase into the ANC offices in Lusaka.

McPherson said he took the informer's battered briefcase, which he claimed was well known at the ANC headquarters, and arranged to have a bomb fitted in it.

An expert packed the cover and inside of the case with sheets of explosives that resembled A4 pages. They were to be set off by a detonator inside a felt pen, which in turn would be triggered by a pocket calculator into which a code number had to be punched.

McPherson said he returned the case to the informer and recorded a conversation with him in which he told him to ensure that the bomb was to be planted in a way that nobody would be killed.

He said former security police chief General Johann Coetzee told him to do this in order to protect himself from future repercussions. He then switched off the tape recorder and told the informer that he would be paid R20,000 if he killed or injured Slovo.

Later he heard there had been an explosion at the ANC headquarters and "Ali" telephoned the police and said Slovo had been killed.

However, the bomb apparently exploded outside the gates of the ANC headquarters at 9pm without injuring anybody.

McPherson said he later confronted "Ali", who persisted in his claim that he had killed Slovo.

"He took a chance and hoped that by the time we found out that Slovo had not been killed he would have got away with the money," McPherson said.

McPherson said he still handed him R15000 for his efforts because he believed "Ali" was still a good source of information valuable to the security police.

The hearing continues.

TRC TOLD SLAIN AWB TRIO WERE VICTIMS OF A WAR SITUATION

The three Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members killed during the 1994 uprising in the former Bophuthatswana homeland were victims of a war situation that prevailed due to the invasion of Mafikeng by the militant rightwing group, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Monday.

Testifying before the committee in Mafikeng, Sergeant Bernstein Menyatswe, who was then a constable, said he killed Alwyn Wolfaardt, Fanie Uys and Nico Fourie to defend the former bantustan nation.

He said during the invasion on March 10, 1994, the AWB members killed and injured many defenceless people. Addressing AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche, he said this angered and hurt him so much that he felt he "had to defend them against your soldiers Mr Terre'Blanche".

Menyatswe said while he was driving around Mafikeng he saw AWB members shooting randomly at people. Upon arrival at the police headquarters, he found a large group of terrified people who came to ask for police protection.

"I shot your soldiers because they brought war to Mafikeng," he said.

He asked the families of the slain AWB men to forgive him for the pain his actions had caused them. "It was a war situation... and I had nothing else to do but to shoot them as one of your men threatened to kill me."

Menyatswe asked Terre'Blanche to pardon him "because I shot your soldiers in a war situation", repeatedly stressing that the AWB members had angered him by trying to protect former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope.

Mangope was preventing Bophuthatswana's people from taking part in South Africa's first all-race election.

Menyatswe further asked the family of his former colleague, Philemon Nare, who was blamed for the murder of the AWB men, to forgive him.

"I'm here today to tell the whole world that Nare did not kill your soldiers... He has suffered due to my action and was even suspended from police duty, and I ask him to forgive me."

During cross-examination by Terre'Blanche, he stressed that the three members were killed because they were a threat to the people of the former homeland.

Asked why he shot them while they had already been disarmed, Menyatswe replied: "As far as I'm concerned, they were armed and I saw them shoot one person next to me. When I approached them, one of your soldiers moved his hands and I thought he was pulling his gun.

"I shot them all at once in protection of the defenceless people."

The hearing continues.

BOP POLICEMAN DENIES AWB KILLINGS WERE RACIALLY MOTIVATED

Former Bophuthatswana homeland constable Bernstein Menyatswe on Monday denied he shot three Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging soldiers during the March 10, 1994 Bophuthatswana uprising simply because they were white.

"I shot and killed them because they were threatening the lives and security of the nationals of Bophuthatswana," Menyatswe told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Mafiking.

Menyatswe, who is now a South African police sergeant, is applying for amnesty for killing Alwyn Wolfaardt, Fanie Uys and Nico Fourie.

He shot the three as they lay injured next to their blue Mercedes Benz after a skirmish with the homeland police. The killings took place in front of television cameras and were broadcast around the world.

The AWB claimed they were called in by Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope to quell a popular uprising against Mangope's attempt to prevent participation in South Africa's first democratic election. The Mangope regime denied inviting the AWB to Mafikeng, now the capital of North West Province.

Menyatswe said the AWB killed defenceless people, and many people asked the police to protect them against (AWB leader Eugene) "Terre'Blanche's white soldiers".

He said he shot the three because he saw them shooting people at police headquarters who were asking for protection.

"I shot at them because they brought war to Mafikeng. I acted in line with my responsibilities of protecting the citizens and government of the day," he said.

Asked by Terre'Blanche why he did not co-operate with the AWB men, Menyatswe replied: "I had not received any information or instructions to work with the AWB. What came to my mind at that time is that I must uphold my obligations of protecting the people and government of Bophuthatswana."

He asked the family of the slain AWB men to forgive him.

"I killed your soldiers in a war situation... there was nothing I could do, but I plead that you must forgive me for the pain I inflicted on you."

The same message was directed to Terre'Blanche.

During cross-examination by Terre'Blanche, Menyatswe said his action was in disapproval of the presence of the AWB in Mafikeng, especially their killing of defenceless people.

He said although homeland policemen had been loyal to the Mangope regime, on March 10, 1994 they joined toyi- toying crowds in the streets to celebrate the dawn of a new era and the fall of the Mangope government.

"We raised our firearms in the air to celebrate, with the people, the coming of a new era."

At the start of the proceedings a video tape of the uprising was shown. Uys' widow, Amelia, turned her back and wept. The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MAFIKENG Sept 22 - SAPA

WITNESS TO BOPHUTHATSWANA UPRISING WEEPS BEFORE THE TRC

A witness to the March 10, 1994 Bophuthatswana uprising wept on Tuesday at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings in Mafikeng as he relived his experiences on that day.

Gobusamang Lawrence Lebotsoe said that while walking with a friend in the town's industrial area they were attacked by khaki-clad white men he believed to be Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members.

He was called before the committee by lawyers representing amnesty applicant former Bophuthatswana Constable Bernstein Menyatswe, now a Sergeant with the SA Police Service. Menyatswe shot dead three AWB men, Fanie Uys, Alwyn Wolfaardt and Nico Fourie, at the height of the riots in the former homeland.

Menyatswe earlier testified that he killed the trio because they brought war to Mafikeng.

About 60 people were killed and scores injured when armed AWB members invaded the area, claiming to have been invited by former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope.

Mangope was blocking Bophuthatswana's incorporation into South Africa prior to the country's first all-race election on April 27, 1994.

The sobbing 38-year-old Lebotsoe told the committee: "While walking along a road in the industrial area, a white Ford Cortina suddenly pulled up and an Afrikaans-speaking man said `here are two kaffirs', and another said `shoot them.'"

One of the two white men alighted from the car and told them "today you are going die", he said.

"We pleaded for mercy but the white man continued with his threats and shot me in the neck. My friend and I fell... stayed there for a long time so that they could not finish us off."

Lebotsoe told the committee that the white men then trampled them with their boots and said "die peacefully... and bye- bye".

The car sped from the scene.

Lebotsoe was taken to Victoria Hospital, but was transferred to Klerksdorp Hospital as Victoria was admitting injured unrest victims.

Menyatswe's evidence was concluded on Tuesday afternoon and closing argument will begin on Wednesday morning.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Sept 22 - SAPA

POLICEMEN HAD A DUNGEON TO IMPRISON SLOVO, TRC HEARS

Security policemen planned to imprison former SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo in a basement in a farmhouse near Pretoria if they ever captured him, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Tuesday.

Apartheid spy Craig Williamson is applying for amnesty for his part in murdering Slovo's wife, Ruth First, in a letter bomb attack in Mozambique in 1982.

He admitted under cross-examination by George Bizos SC, who is appearing for the Slovo family, that he and other policemen had referred to the basement at Daisy Farm as "Slovo's suite".

Bizos said witnesses would testify that in the basement there had been a steel ring to which police said Slovo would be shackled with a chain just short enough to prevent him killing himself in the way Steve Biko had done.

Williamson said he could not remember making these remarks but said it was possible that they were made at the time.

Bizos said this showed Williamson's vindictive attitude towards Slovo. The former spy replied that if the remarks were made,k they were in jest.

Williamson has admitted that Daisy Farm was purchased with funds he received from the International University Exchange Fund under false pretences while he was a spy who had infiltrated the organisation. Williamson told the IUEF the farm was to be used for youth development but instead was used to train security policemen.

Bizos accused Williamson of being a "callous killer" who acted out of hatred towards the people on whom he had spied at university while working as an undercover policemen.

"You derived malicious pleasure at having them killed," Bizos said.

Williamson rejected the statement.

He has also applied for amnesty for the murder of Jeanette Schoon and her six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984. Williamson attended Wits University with Schoon and her husband Marius before the couple left the country to join the African National Congress.

He has also applied for amnesty for his part in the bombing of the ANC offices in London in 1982. He rejected a suggestion by Bizos that his aim had been to attack ANC personnel in the building.

Williamson said if this had been the objective a larger bomb would have been sent that would have created mayhem on the streets of London. He claimed the sole aim of the blast was strike a symbolic blow against the ANC without any loss of life.

Former foreign minister Pik Botha has been attending the hearings as an implicated person.

He has denied any knowledge of the London bomb.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MAFIKENG Sept 23 - SAPA

TERRE'BLANCHE CLASHES WITH POLICE AT TRC HEARING IN MAFIKENG

A scuffle broke out between Afrikaaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche and police at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Mafikeng on Wednesday morning.

Terre'Blanche clashed with the police when they wanted to search him as he was enetering the hearing hall.

He apparently pushed and poked a poiliceman who wanted to search him, asking him his name, where he was raised and where he was born.

Other policemen stepped back and Terre'Blanche was eventually allowed into the hall.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association MAFIKENG Sept 23 - SAPA

AMNESTY FOR AWB MEN'S KILLERS MAKES TRC CRIME SQUATTER CAMP: ET

Granting amnesty to a former Bophuthatswana policeman for killing three Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members during an uprising in the homeland in 1994 would be like telling the world the TRC process had become "a squatter camp" for criminals, AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche said on Wednesday.

Closing argument against Bernstein Menyatswe's application for amnesty before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Mafikeng, Terre'Blanche said he had applied for amnesty because he was being wasted in jail.

"He fears that because he killed three already wounded and dying men he would have been convicted and sentenced to three life imprisonments," the rightwing leader said.

Menyatswe, now an SA Police Service sergeant, shot dead AWB members Fanie Uys, Alwyn Wolfaardt and Nico Fourie at the height of the riots on March 10, 1994.

About 60 people were killed and scores injured when armed AWB members invaded the area, claiming to have been invited by former Bophuthatswana president Lucas Mangope to quell the uprising.

Mangope was blocking Bophuthatswana's incorporation into the new South Africa prior to the country's first all-race election on April 27, 1994.

Terre'Blanche, who for the second successive day was wearing a grey pin-striped suit, a white shirt, a blue tie and brown shoes, accused Menyatswe of betraying the Mangope regime which had paid his salary when he killed the three AWB men.

Menyatswe's action had not been politically motivated as he was not and never had been an African National Congress supporter, Terre'Blanche said.

He was now assuming the guise of an ANC sympathiser in his time of need, he added.

Terre'Blanche said Menyatswe's killing of the three AWB men happened after they had withdrawn from Mafikeng following a request from the homeland government.

"There was no longer a war situation in the area and the political upheaval had also been brought under control," said Terre'Blanche.

He, however, failed to answer commissioner John Motata's query on how AWB members could have been retreating while shooting at people in the area.

Terre'Blanche said Menyatswe acted out of anger and that he also wanted to be a hero.

"He is now trying to use the spirit of reconciliation for selfish reasons. By granting him amnesty the TRC will be sending a message to the world that the TRC process has beccome a squatter camp for criminals."

A lawyer for the Uys family said Menyatswe's evidence did not warrant him being granted amnesty. "He lied through his teeth... he had no political motivation for his action," said advocate Gerhard van den Berg.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Sept 23 - SAPA

EXPERT TELLS TRC HOW HE MADE FIRST AND SCHOON LETTER BOMBS

A police explosives expert on Wednesday gave the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria a graphic demonstration of how he built the letter bombs that killed ANC activists Ruth First and Jeanette Schoon.

Roger "Jerry" Raven, who denied knowing for whom the bombs were intended, explained to the TRC's amnesty committee the mechanism of the bombs that were sent to First and Schoon.

He has applied for amnesty for the two letter bomb attacks and the bombing of the African National Congress Using a drawing board and envelopes, Raven explained to the committee how he constructeed the explosive devices that were primed to detonate on opening.

In the First incident, he said his commander, apartheid spy Craig Williamson, in 1982 gave him an official envelope containing a letter which had been intercepted. He said he inserted layers of sheet explosives and an electrical circuit into the envelope, but did not see to whom it had been addressed.

"I understood that the powers that be had decided on a legimate target. It was the only feasible way to injure, destroy or intimidate the peson concerned," Raven said.

Referring to the attack on Jeanette Schoon, who along with her six-year-old daughter Katryn were killed in Angola in 1984, he said the bomb was assembled in the same way.

He said he also did not know the identity of the intended target.

However, he was later congratulated by Willliamson after both incidents and he then realised that his bombs had been responsible for the deaths First and the Schoons.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Sept 23 - SAPA

LONDON BOMBERS WERE STOPPED BY POLICE ON WAY TO ANC: TRC HEARS

A squad of South African policemen were almost apprehended by British police while on their way to bomb the African National Congress offices in London in 1982, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Wednesday.

This emerged during testimony by Roger Raven, one of eight policemen who took part in the bombing, which they described as a symbolic attack aimed at demoralising the ANC.

Raven, who is applying for amnesty for his role in the attack, admitted assembling the bomb that demolished a section of the building in White Lion Road.

He said that while he and Peter Castleton were driving with the bomb on the back seat of a hired vehicle, they were stopped at a police roadblock. He said a policewoman asked Castleton to state the car registration number.

"Fortunately for us he was able to do that and she waved us on," Raven said.

Castleton has since died in a motor vehicle accident.

Raven, who entered the United Kingdom under the false name of Jeremy Raven and has since been called Jerry, said the bomb was planted and he later heard that it had exploded.

Raven's testimony contradicted estimates made by British police that the bomb had been about 4,5kgs. He said he used four 250g blocks of explosives in the bomb, which he detonated with timing device made from an alarm clock.

He said the original plan had been to bomb both the offices of the ANC and the SA Communist Party, for which he would have used equal amounts of explosives. However, the idea to bomb the SACP offices was abandoned because it was in an urban area and the full kilogramme of explosives was used on the ANC offices.

The other policemen who have applied for amnesty for the London bombing are Craig Williamson, Eugue de Kock, John Adam, James Taylor and Vic McPherson.

The man who led the squad, Brigadier Piet Goosen, has also since died.

Raven has also applied for amnesty for the death of Joe Slovo's wife Ruth First and ANC activist Marius Schoon's wife Jeanette and daughter Katryn, 6. They were killed with letter bombs made by Raven.

First was killed in Maputo and the Schoons in Angola.

Raven denied that he knew for whom the bombs were intended when he was ordered by his commander, Williamson, to insert explosives into intercepted letters.

He said he only found out later when Williamson congratulated him for successfully detonating the bombs, resulting in the deaths of First in 1982 and the Schoons in 1984.

At Wednesday's hearing he apologised to First's children, Shaun, Gillian and Robyn, and to Marius Schoon. He said his heart went out to them and he hoped the amnesty process would clear the air so that the country could go forward into a new future.

Earlier he gave a graphic demonstration of how he constructed the devices that were primed to explode on opening of the letters.

In the First incident, he said Williamson gave him an official envelope containing a letter which had been intercepted en route from Lesotho. He said he inserted layers of sheet explosives that had the appearance of blotting paper and an electrical circuit into the envelope.

When the envelope was opened from either end the circuit would be closed, triggering the device.

He said he did not see to whom the letter had been addressed.

"I understood that the powers that be had decided on a legimate target. It was for them the only feasible way to injure, destroy or intimidate the person concerned," Raven said.

Referring to the attack on the Schoons, he said the bomb had been assembled in the same way and that he did not know the identity of the recipient at the time.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 25 1998 - SAPA

RUTH FIRST BOMB MAKER TELLS TRC HE WAS FOLLOWING ORDERS

Explosives experts Jerry Raven told the Truth and Reconcilation Commission in Pretoria on Thursday he was simply following orders when he made the letter bombs that killed African National Congress activists.

Raven is applying for amnesty for his part in the letter bomb attacks on Joe Slovo's wife Ruth First in Mozambique in 1982, and ANC activist Marius Schoon's wife Jeanette and their six-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.

He has admitted assembling the devices on instructions from his commander, apartheid spy Craig Williamson.

"The powers that be made the decisions on the targets, I made the bombs," Raven said.

He earlier told the amnesty committee he did not know who would be the recipients of the letters into which he inserted the bombs.

Asked by Danny Berger, who is appearing for the Schoon family, whether he would have agreed to build the bomb if he had known the recipient, he replied that he would have.

He was asked if he would have inserted the bomb if the letter had been addressed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Progressive Federal Party MP Helen Suzman, or Black Sash campaigner Helen Joseph.

"If the powers that be deemed them to be legitimate targets I would have followed orders," he said.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA September 28 1998 - SAPA

POLICE UNABLE TO GET TO SLOVO, SO THEY KILLED FIRST: TRC TOLD

A daughter of Joe Slovo and Ruth First told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria on Monday that she believed the police killed her mother because they were unable to assassinate her father.

Gillian Slovo, who along with her sisters Robyn and Shaun are opposing the applications for amnesty by apartheid agents Craig Williamson and Jerry Raven, was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee.

Williamson and Raven have admitted arranging the letter bomb that killed First in Mozambique in 1982, but both told the committee they were not sure to whom it had been addressed.

Gillian Slovo told the committee she believed the letter had been addressed to First because if it had been addressed to her father, her mother would never have opened it.

She said her mother, as a feminist, respected her husband's privacy and neither of her parents would have opened each other's post. Even if the letter had been addressed to them jointly, the one would not have opened the letter without the other being present.

Williamson told the committee last week that he was not sure if the envelope which contained the bomb had been addressed to First, to Slovo or to both. Raven, who admitted constructing the explosive device, told the committee he had no idea to whom it had been addressed. He said even if the letter had borne his own name he would not have known because the front of the envelope had been covered.

Gillian Slovo said she was convinced Williamson and the security police decided to send the letter bomb to First out of frustration at not being able to reach her father, who had proved an elusive opponent.

When asked by Allan Levine, who is appearing for Williamson, whether her mother had been a "revolutionary activist", Gillian Slovo said First had used her "considerable intellect" to campaign against apartheid.

She denied her mother had ever been involved in the armed struggle and held no executive positions in either African National Congress or the SA Communist Party.

"Her contribution to the struggle was through her pen, her passion and her tongue to argue against apartheid, which she considered a barbaric system," Gillian Slovo said.

She vehemently disputed claims by Williamson that First had been a legitimate target because of her involvement in ANC and SACP structures. She said Williamson and other security policemen had been responsible for creating myths around her parents, including the deliberately untrue story that Joe Slovo had been a colonel in the KGB.

She said this had been aimed at creating fear amongst the white population of South Africa at the time.

Williamson admitted in earlier testimony that he made up the story about Slovo and leaked it to the media in South Africa.

Gillian Slovo said she had written in her book about her mother that she had given her life for the struggle for freedom and democracy. "But now I believe her life was taken away from her," Gillian Slovo said, adding that her views as a writer had developed with time.

Replying to questions by Levine about her father's position as chief of staff in the ANC, she replied that she accepted he had been involved in the armed struggle.

"I'm not arguing about what my father did in Mozambique or in the armed struggle. I am arguing about my mother," she said, adding that First had often been critical of the ANC's armed struggle which she said had little hope of succeeding.

"Does that make her a legitimate target?" she asked.

Gillian Slovo, who lives in London, ended her testimony by saying she had hoped that by attending the TRC hearings she would reach some sense of peace and closure with the past.

"I have been quite shocked because I have not heard any truth. I did not believe I would hear people saying my mother was a legitimate target," she said.

Slovo said she would soon return to London to her 12-year-old daughter.

After her testimony former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock told the committee he once considered attacking Joe Slovo at the airport in Brussels in 1982.

De Kock, who is applying for amnesty for his part in blowing up the ANC officers in London that year, said soon after setting off the bomb he and other police officers had flown to Brussels.

While there he heard the information desk calling for Slovo over the public address system.

"In my youthful foolhardiness I thought about going to look for him and if the opportunity arose to attack him if he was alone in a place like a rest room," De Kock said. However he decided against the idea and flew back to South Africa.

De Kock said he took the urgent call for Slovo as a sign that the bomb had successfully detonated in the ANC offices in London.

He is due to continue his testimony on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Sept 28 - SAPA

LONDON BOMBERS RAN INTO HITCHES, TRC HEARS

The squad of policemen who blew up the ANC offices in London in 1982 ran into a number of hitches that almost jeopardised their mission, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Tuesday.

This emerged during testimony by former Vlakplaas police base commander Eugene de Kock who, along with seven other former policemen, is applying for amnesty for the blast.

De Kock told the TRC's amnesty committee he and John Adam were stopped at Heathrow by suspicious customs officials. He said they both had false names and documents, but the customs officials suspected they were dealing in drugs or contraband because they had large amounts of cash with them.

De Kock said they were detained and intensely interrogated for about three hours before being released. However, they were kept under surveillance for a few days.

De Kock said this had not worried him that much, but Adam was nervous. He described how the leader of the operation, Brigadier Piet Goosen - who has since died - was robbed by pickpockets while walking in the streets of London. Goosen was also stopped when leaving the country because he bought a collection of axes he planned to use for wood carving. This made customs officials suspicous but he was eventually allowed to leave.

"Goosen and I were like country bumkins, but Craig Williamson was streetwise and really knew his way around," he said.

Another member of the squad, James Taylor, told the committee he entered Britain as a book dealer on his way to a book fair in London. He said the necessary letterheads and business cards were made for him to support his false identity.

Taylor said he and the others took several days driving around London in order to acquaint themselves with the routes to and from the African National Congress offices and the airport.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

MEDIA SANCTIONED APARTHEID: TRC FINDS

The media sanctioned the social and political system created by apartheid, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said on Thursday.

"The media analysed society from inside that system, and did not provide alternative perspectives and discourses from the outside," the commission said in its final report released on Pretoria.

"With the notable exception of certain individuals, the mainstream newspapers and the SABC failed to report adequately on gross human rights violations. In so doing, they helped sustain and prolong the existence of apartheid."

The commission found that racism permeated the media industry, saying many white journalists failed to delve into allegations of gross human rights allegations against black people.

While the Afrikaans media openly supported the government during the apartheid years, the English press appeased the state by applying "a large measure of self-censorship".

"The Afrikaans press as a whole stands condemned for promoting the superiority of whites and displaying an indifference to the suffering of people of colour," the report said.

It criticised the Afrikaans press for not attending its special media hearing, which took place in Johannesburg in September last year.

The TRC said employment practices in the media industry reflected the racial and gender discrimination that characterised apartheid South Africa.

Not enough was done to provide suitable training and opportunities for the promotion of black people and women, especially in management fields.

Newspaper management also failed to provide support for reporters choosing not to submit to restrictions imposed on them by the state.

Branding the South African Broadcasting Corporation a servant of the former government, the commission described its past employment practises as a flagrant violation of the basic human rights of workers.

Former SABC staff members told the commission's hearings that any white person at the SABC had the right to fire any black person who was "hardegat" (intransigent).

Black workers were reprimanded for looking at white women, and those who were granted a disciplinary hearing could choose between being "sjambokked" (whipped) or fired.

It also expressed concern at the influence the Afrikaner Broederbond was able to exercise on SABC broadcasting policy.

On Radio Freedom, a former radio station for the African National Congress, the commission found no evidence that its broadcasts were directly responsible for gross human rights abuses, "particularly as nobody was forced to tune in and listen".

The TRC report stated that evidence by state operatives at the media hearing supported allegations that the mainstream press was prepared to co-operate with the government. This included instances of reporters spying for the former government.

The TRC found that state restriction on the freedom of the media played an important role in facilitating gross human rights violations.

Between 1950 and 1990, more than 100 laws affecting the media's operations were passed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

FW `MAY REACT FRIDAY'

Former state president FW De Klerk would probably react to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report at a media conference in Cape Town on Friday, his spokesman Dave Steward said on Thursday afternoon.

He said De Klerk had just returned from a trip to the United Kingdom.

On Wednesday the TRC decided to delete criticisms of De Klerk from the final draft of the report, in the face of a legal challenge which will now be heard on March 4 next year.

The postponement was in terms of an agreement between De Klerk and the TRC's counsel.

De Klerk wants the court to stop the TRC publishing a finding that he was an accessory after the fact to the bombing of Khotso House and Cosatu House in the 1980s.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRC QUESTIONS FINDINGS ABOUT HELDERBERG AIR DISASTER

Several earlier findings about the 1987 Helderberg air disaster were questionable, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in its final report released on Thursday.

"It is clear that further investigation is necessary before this matter can be laid to rest," the TRC said.

The SA Airways Helderberg, a Boeing 747, crashed into the sea off the coast of Mauritius on October 28, 1987. All 159 people on board died.

A government commission, headed by Judge Cecil Margo, found that the crash was caused by a fire, which it said might have been caused by ordinary packaging material.

The TRC said its own probe indicated that such material was unlikely to have been the cause of the fire because the blaze was contained and burned fiercely at a high temperature.

Flames from packaging material fire caused a great deal of smoke, while indications were that smoke detectors on the Helderberg were not activated before the fire reached dangerous proportions.

The TRC said civil aviation director Japie Smit testified that most such fires were caused by illegal substances on board.

It said a journalist investigating the crash suggested that South Africa could not produce sufficient amounts of solid rocket fuel for its military operations in Angola in the 1980s.

Because of sanctions against the country, such fuel obtained from foreign sources had to be imported in a clandestine manner, and was brought in on SAA passenger planes.

Margo's finding that the fire started just before the descent to land in Mauritius was also questionable, the TRC said.

It found it strange that Margo did not ask officials of South African arms procurer Armscor to testify. Eyewitnesses of the crash were also not called.

The TRC said Jimmy Mouton of the Flight Engineers Association claimed that Margo as well as a civil aviation directorate lawyer had asked him to withdraw a submission stating that there might have been two fires on board.

"This commission's investigation into the crash showed that many questions and concerns remain unanswered," the TRC said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 29 1998 - SAPA

FORMER POLICE COMMISSIONER DENIES VIOLATIONS BY SSC

Former police commissioner General Johann Coetzee on Thursday said while he was a member of the State Security Council in the '80s no killings or human rights violations were discussed.

Coetzee was reacting to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on apartheid abuses which found that the SSC was an institution used for human rights violations.

The report, which was released in Pretoria on Thursday, said certain members of the SSC were responsible for the deliberate planning which caused gross human rights violations.

Members of the SCC included former president PW Botha, former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha, former justice minister Kobie Coetzee and former defence minister Magnus Malan.

Coetzee on Thursday told Sapa from his office in Graaff-Reinet that he told the TRC that during his time as a member of the SSC no killings or gross human rights violations were discussed.

Coetzee was commissioner of the SA Police between 1983 and 1987. During this time he also served on the SSC.

He, together with a number of other generals including another former police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe, applied for amnesty before the TRC.

Coetzee said there had never been orders to interpret the words eliminate and neutralise to mean the killing of people. "It meant arresting them and taking them to prison. Removing them from their society."

The TRC said in its report although there was confusion about the words eliminate and neutralise, there were members of the SSC who had no doubt that these words meant the killing of opponents.

Coetzee said he was not notified by the TRC that he would be implicated in this regard.

He, did, however, receive a letter notifying him that he would be implicated and held accountable for the murders of 60 people in the Western Cape squatter camp, Crossroads, in May 1986.

Malan, former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former National Intelligence Service head Niel Barnard also apparently received letters in this regard.

Coetzee said the case, in which the government was held liable for the deaths because they allegedly did not provide security in the area, resulted in a dead end after two years in the Cape High Court. The court could not make a finding.

"We now want to know in what regard the TRC can find us guilty," Coetzee said.

Meanwhile SA Police commissioner until 1994 General Johan van der Merwe told Sapa on Thursday he would not like to comment on the report before he had insight into the document.

"As soon as we have studied the document we will comment on it," van der Merwe said. Regarding a TRC finding that hundreds of policemen who were found to have tortured and assaulted or killed deatinees could soon be prosecuted, van der Merwe said most of the policemen who needed to apply for amnesty have done so.

"The only ones now with unfinished business is the ANC whose 37 leaders have not yet qualified for amnesty under the normal requirements," Van der Merwe said.

The TRC said where amnesty by police officials was not sought or had been denied, prosecution should be considered.

There were numerous amnesty cases pending in which policemen have admitted torturing and assaulting detainees.

These included the Steve Biko case and the death in the Eastern Cape of the Cradock Four and the Pebco Three.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

37000 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS REPORTED TO TRC

Almost 37000 gross human rights violations were reported to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its review of atrocities committed between 1960 and 1994, the final TRC report released on Thursday said.

Victims recorded in about 22000 statements numbered 28750.

About 20,000 people are thought to have been tortured in detention, while 73 people died while held under security laws.

A total of 80,000 South Africans were detained between 1960 and 1990, of which about 80 percent were released without being charged. Only four percent were convicted of a crime.

The TRC report says about 7000 amnesty applications have been received, of which about 150 were granted. Another 2000 applications are still pending.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRC REPORT BALANCED: UDM

The United Democratic Movement has welcomed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report as a "balanced" document which could contribute to reconciliation.

However, the wounds of the past could not be healed through the report, UDM leaders Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer said in a joint statement on Thursday.

"We should never forget the basic principles and lessons learnt from our past, we must use it as a firm foundation for our future.

"The report provides us today with the first pages on which we, united as a nation, can start writing our future - that which will become tomorrow's history."

The UDM would study the report in depth, but "our first impressions are that it is a balanced report that can - and which we believe is intended to, if handled in a responsible manner - contribute to reconciliation", the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

HARD-HITTING TRC REPORT FINGERS POLITICAL LEADERS ON ALL SIDES

Neither the forces who struggled to overthrow South Africa's brutal apartheid system nor those who upheld and defended it escaped the critical scrutiny of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its hard-hitting final report released on Thursday.

A number of the country's most senior politicians were to blame for the perpetuation of gross human rights violations in South Africa between 1960 and 1994, the TRC concluded in its report unveiled in Pretoria.

Former state presidents P W Botha and John Vorster, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen and Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche were among those accorded responsibility for atrocities committed by their followers.

The TRC reserved some of its harshest criticism for African National Congress Women's league president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who stood accused of personally carrying out human rights violation, including assulting teenage activist Stompie Sepei and three other youths in late 1989.

Both the former National Party government and the liberation movement, as well as business, the media, the judiciary, the medical fraternity and churches incurred the TRC's critical judgment.

The one high-profile person who did escape mention in the report was past state president F W de Klerk, who on Wednesday through a court challenge managed to have damaging references to him excised from the report.

The sections dealing with De Klerk were blacked out and the TRC intends dealing with them in a codocil to the report once court proceedings, scheduled to resume in March, have been concluded.

The TRC held the former apartheid state responsible for institutionalised violence and for the bulk of gross human rights violations committed against the South African people.

The report said from the late 1970s to the early 1990s the state planned and undertook political assassinations against political opponents.

The TRC said the ANC was responsible for gross humans rights violations both in exile and during its armed struggle within the country.

The TRC found the ANC was responsible for killings and assaults on political opponents and contributing to the spiral of violence through the creation of self-defence units.

The Freedom Front, through its leaders Viljoen and General Pieter Groenewald, and the AWB's Terre'Blanche were held accountable for gross human rights violations resulting from inflammatory speeches, arming of supporters, and random attacks.

The TRC said Buthelezi was politically responsible in his capacity as police minister in the former KwaZulu homeland and as IFP president for the systematic pattern of abuse that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal.

It found the former SA Defence Force conspired with the IFP in providing the party with hitsquads to be deployedagainst opponents of both the party and the then-government.

P W Botha, by virture of his position as chairman of the State Security Council, contributed to and facilitated a climate in which the gross violations occurred and for which he must be held accountable, the report said.

Botha was found to have personally ordered the bombing of Khotso House, the South African Council of Churches headquarters.

He was also held directly accountable for the 1987 bombing of the ANC's London headquarters, and a 1981 attempt to overthrow the Seychelles government.

The report contains a 27-page section on the activities of the Mandela United Football Club, a gang of youths which wreaked terror in Soweto in the late 1980s.

Madikezela-Mandela was central to the establishment of the club, and was politically and morally responsible for atrocities it committed, it said.

The TRC found Madikizela-Mandela initiated and participated in an assault on Seipei, Kenny Kgase, Pelo Mekgwe and Thabiso Mono - in late 1989.

Madikizela-Mandela was found to have been involved in, and responsible for, the attempted murder of former football club member Lerotodi Ikaneng in January 1989.

Madikizela-Mandela was also involved in the abduction of Lolo Sono, and had to accept responsibility for his disappearance and that of his relative, Sibuniso Tshabalala, the TRC said.

Among the TRC's recommendations are that a wealth tax and once-off levy on corporate and private income be levied to raise money to compensate those who suffered under apartheid. In addition it suggested companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange make a one percent donation of their market capitalisation.

The 3500-page report was officially handed to President Nelson Mandela by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu at a ceremony in the Sammy Marks auditorium in Pretoria on Thursday, after the Cape High Court rejected a last-ditch bid by the ANC to block its publication.

Mandela said he accepted the report "as it is" with all its imperfections, and was confident the commission had laid a foundation for reconcilation.

Before handing over the report, Tutu called on all South Africans to accept it in the interests of reconciliation and healing.

Many would be upset by the report and some had even sought to discredit it pre-emptively, he said.

It would not change the fact that they had killed and tortured people, bombed places like Khotso House, killed their own people in the camps in Tanzania and Angola, and necklaced people.

"Those are not inventions by this commission. That is what the perpetrators themselves told us," Tutu said.

The publication of the TRC's findings could open the way for policemen found to have tortured, assaulted or killed detainees to be prosecuted if they had not sought amnesty.

The report called on attorneys-general to pay "rigorous attention" to the prosecution of policemen found to have been responsible for human rights violations. The TRC undertook to make the necessary information available to them.

The TRC said it was opposed to the granting of a general amnesty in any form, in order to avoid a culture of impunity and to entrench the rule of law. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

CASSINGA RAID HAS PARALLEL IN LESOTHO INTERVENTION: VILJOEN

The 1978 Cassinga raid in Angola, which claimed the lives of 600 people, was a lawful military operation which had a parallel in the recent South African National Defence Force (SANDF) intervention in Lesotho, Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said on Thursday.

Reacting to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's finding that the cross-border raid was a gross violation of human rights, he said the South African Defence Force (SADF) operation had been conducted by a lawful army in a war situation.

Viljoen, who was chief of the army at the time of the raid, denied the raid had resulted in human rights violations, and said Cassinga had a parallel in Operation Boleas in Lesotho.

He also denied that his involvement in the then Volksfront had resulted in any gross human rights violations, as claimed by the TRC.

The report said Volksfront leaders such as Viljoen and Pieter Groenewald, as well as Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene TerreBlanche should be held accountable for gross human rights violations resulting from inflammatory speeches, arming supporters and random attacks.

"We expressly forbade that," Viljoen said.

Except for the TRC's bias, the great vacuum in the report was that untested evidence was held out as the truth.

It was also regrettable that the TRC did not propose general amnesty in the report.

The TRC's activities in regent years had hardened attitudes, and the report did nothing to improve the situation.

"On the contrary, it will only contribute further to entrenching these attitudes.

"The report no way brings us closer to solutions to major problems of joblessness and crime," he said.

The report would not result in reconciliation because of its bias.

The fact that truth commissioner Wynand Malan found it necessary to draft a minority report, was proof of this.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 29 1998 - SAPA

PIK BOTHA SURPRISED AT TRC FINDING ON SSC

Former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha on Thursday expressed surprise over a Truth and Reconciliation Commission finding that the State Security Council was responsible for gross human rights violations.

Botha on Thursday told Sapa he gave evidence before the TRC for four hours and dealt with the duties and functions of the SSC at length.

"It was made abundantly clear that the SSC did not have any executive powers.

"Furthermore, the SSC could by law only make recommendations and these recommendations were submitted to Cabinet for approval or amendment."

Botha said it was surprising that this fact had apparently not dawned on the TRC.

"It therefore comes as a surprise to me to hear of such a finding by the TRC," Botha said.

The TRC report found the SSC was an institution used for human rights violations and certain members of the SSC planned assassinations against political opponents.

"They are therefore responsible for the deliberate planning which caused gross human rights violations," the report stated.

The report also implicated former state president PW Botha, saying that he, by virtue of his position as chairman of the SSC, contributed to and facilitated a climate in which the gross violations occurred and he had to be held accountable for it.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 29 1998 - SAPA

NP STILL WILLING TO TALK RECONCILIATION

The National Party was still willing to co-operate with President Nelson Mandela to achieve reconciliation, despite its view that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process was flawed, party leader Martinus van Schalkwyk said on Thursday.

In a statement issued after Mandela was handed the TRC's final report, Van Schalkwyk said the TRC's "failure to achieve reconciliation" should inspire sensible leaders in all political parties to give meaning to reconciliation in spite of their political differences.

"Our country is faced with enormous challenges and problems. It is time for us to start channeling our energies towards improving the future.

Van Schalkwyk said Mandela's comments that specific communities or language groups should not be placed in the dock was welcomed, but it was unclear whether he was speaking on his own behalf or on that of the African National Congress.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRUTH COMMISSION'S EFFORTS COMMENDABLE BUT FLAWED: MOTLANTHE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report should have reflected a more holistic picture of South Africa's recent history, African National Congress secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking in Johannesburg, he said the TRC had also taken the humble but most important first steps on the road to national reconciliation and its efforts were to be highly commended.

The ANC brought an urgent application in the Cape High Court on Thursday morning to prevent the TRC from publishing any portion of its final report which implicated the ANC in any way relating to gross violations of human rights, before it had considered the submissions.

The application was dismissed with costs.

"The ANC's action in the Cape High Court was never intended to block the publication of the TRC's final report," Motlanthe said.

Instead, the party had hoped for a brief respite in order to allow more time for in-depth consultation to rectify "certain glaring inaccuracies in the report."

Asked to give a specific example of such an inaccuracy, he said the party was particularly unhappy with the section of the report dealing with controversial ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The report found that she personally committed gross human rights violations and participated in an assault on four youths.

It also found that she was politically and morally responsible for atrocities committed by her bodyguards, the Mandela United Football Club, in the 1980s.

"This was one of the issues we wanted to discuss with the TRC, because we felt that they had made their pronouncements on comrade Winnie without taking her historical circumstances into account," Motlanthe said.

The TRC report was an important historical document, and neglecting to mention Madikizela-Mandela's banning, subsequent years of isolation and mental anguish suffered at the hands of the previous government was a glaring oversight, he said.

"The TRC is free to write whatever it likes, but they seem to have looked at the Mandela United Football Club incident in isolation, and we objected to that."

Motlanthe said according to the framework designed by the TRC anybody who killed during the struggle for liberation should be prosecuted, and the party disagreed with that in principle.

"How do you plan to prosecute the fighters of a legitimate war?" he asked.

Because the ANC had undeniably fought and won a just war, Motlanthe said the party was not concerned that the TRC's final report could tarnish the image of the ANC in any way. "The future is more important than the past, but we had to understand the past in order to move forward."

He said people should remember that the report was not the final chapter in the country's history of reconciliation, merely another verse.

"We still have a lot of work to do to heal and consolidate the divisions in our society, becaue until that happens we will not have full reconciliation."

Asked how the ANC planned to deal with the content of the TRC report, Motlanthe said it would be studied thoroughly and pronouncements on particular issues would be made on an ongoing basis.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRUTH PROCESS STILL HAS WAY TO GO AFTER COMPLETION OF REPORT

The Truth and Reconcilation Commission's report was finally released on schedule on Thursday after two last minute hitches almost sank it before it saw the light of day.

However, the report which was handed to President Nelson Mandela in a ceremony timed to coincide with the final moments of the existence of the TRC does not signify the end of the process.

In fact, the TRC as a body expires on October 31 but it still has a sting in the tail in the form of the amnesty committee, which will continue its work until March next year.

As the deadline approaches, the role of the amnesty committee in granting immunity to self-confessed human rights violators will become increasingly important to the reconciliation process.

The TRC's report made it clear that it was opposed to any form of blanket amnesty for perpetrators, and recommended that the Attorney-General actively pursue people who did not apply for amnesty or were denied it by the amnesty committee.

The TRC singled out policemen who were found to have carried out acts of torture, assault and murder on prisoners in their care for prosecution.

Ironically, the TRC's amnesty committee, which was originally maligned in some quarters as a form of the Nuremburg trials, could now provide a parachute to impunity for those who have applied for amnesty.

For those who did not apply for amnesty, including some high-ranking officers, the spectre of prosecution now hangs heavily over them.

The TRC's report also contained many recommendations about the payment of reparations to victims, redressing the imbalances of the past and restoring land to the disposessed. These recommendations will probably all be acted upon in the coming months.

TRC officials heaved a collective sigh of relief on Thursday at the news that the African National Congress' last ditch attempt in the Cape Town High Court to stifle the report had failed.

Having survived the first attempt to halt the report by former president FW de Klerk, who went to court over incriminatory allegations, TRC officials were taken aback when news of the second court application was received on Wednesday night.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who flew home from Atlanta in the United States to be present to the hand over the report, was visibly upset at the sudden turn of events.

In his own words, a pall seemed to come over the function for the media on the eve of the hand over.

Tutu, who had made a huge emotional investment in the TRC process, said he was devastated and deeply distressed by the news that the report could be stopped at the last hurdle. The sense of relief among TRC officials on Thursday morning when news came that the ANC's bid had failed was palpable. TRC deputy chairman Alex Boraine, who was addressing a media briefing at the time, had been referring to the court application as an attempt to bully and muzzle the commission. However, his mood quickly changed.

"This is a triumph for the truth and a triumph for human rights," he exclaimed to cheers from TRC staff.

The report, comprising five volumes of well bound books resembling a collection of encyclopaedias, was handed to scores of local and foreign journalists who had been waiting since early morning for the final release.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 5 1998 - SAPA

ANCYL MEMBER GETS AMNESTY FOR PUBLIC VIOLENCE

An African National Congress Youth League member serving a nine year sentence for public violence was granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Monday.

Ben Sepato Lehloo applied for amnesty after he was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment in 1994, the TRC said in a statement.

His conviction was a sequel to an incident at Phatisma, Rustenburg, in August 1993, in which a group of ANC supporters marched to the house of Jimmy Deswaye, a former ANC member who allegedly defected to the National Party.

The marchers stoned Deswaye's house before setting alight a car belonging to George Matuse.

The committee said it was satisfied Lehloo was entitled to amnesty and recommended to the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee that Deswaye and Matuse should be considered victims of gross human rights violations.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON October 5 1998 - SAPA

WEAKLEY BROTHERS' KILLERS DO NOT QUALIFY FOR AMNESTY: FRIEND

The three ANC cadres who killed the Weakley brothers near Port St Johns in April 1993 in a revenge attack following the death of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, did not qualify for amnesty, a partner of one of the brothers said on Monday.

Speaking in an interview after the first day of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty hearing for three killers and an unconvicted accomplice, Chloe O'Keeffe described the applications so far as extremely vague.

"I don't believe they deserve amnesty. I can understand how they felt (after Chris Hani's assassination three days earlier), but the rest of it is so wishy-washy," she said.

Prominent Grahamstown lawyer and noted liberal Alastair Weakley and his brother, Glen, died in a hail of bullets when the vehicle in which they were returning from a fishing trip was ambushed.

TRC must decide if the amnesty applicants committed a blatantly racist and virtually random revenge killing and therefore should remain in prison or whether the killing was a politically motivated operation, calculated to send a clear signal to the apartheid government to prevent the killing of more liberation movement leaders.

A legal team, representing the families of the victims and the three survivors and their families, on Monday tested the credibility of claims by Mlulamisi Maxhayi and Lungile Mazwi, two of the men who are applying for amnesty.

Also applying for amnesty, but still to be cross-examined, is convicted killer Pumelele Hermanus and accomplice Fundisile Gulenni, who was never prosecuted at the marathon criminal trail.

In their applications and oral evidence before the commission Maxhayi and Maze told similar tales, sketching their rage following Hani's assassination on April 10, 1993 - three days before they murdered the Weakleys.

In his application Maxhayi, who fired an R4 rifle at the Weakley's bakkie during the attack, said: "We decided to kill the white people because they were a symbol of apartheid."

Maxhayi said the attack was intended to send a signal to the South African government to stop the further killing of key political leaders and heroes like Hani and to speed up the process of liberation.

Maxhayi said he and two other members of a self defence unit decided to avenge Hani's death by killing whites who represented the enemy.

"We could have gone to either Kokstad or the Wild Coast - but we learnt there were anti-liberation whites who had infiltrated Port St Johns and were using it as a base."

Legal counsel for the victims, lead by advocate Izak Smuts, challenged the applicants' testimony on the grounds that the attack did not have a political objective and that full disclosure was not made.

The attack was contrary to the policy of the African National Congress at the time, Smuts argued.

He questioned the applicants' claim that they did not hear the repeated calls in the media by ANC leadership for calm after Hani's murder.

Smuts' questioning also focused on evidence that:

- ANC leadership structures were not consulted prior to the attack;

- That the applicants allegedly made little effort to check if the Weakleys were indeed part of an anti-liberation group; and

- Contrary to their stated intention of attacking people in Port St Johns, the applicants targeted people about 40km away at a time when it was highly likely that whites in the area were holiday-makers.

Maxhayi said in reply to questioning that the SDU was autonomous and was also unable to inform the ANC leadership of its plans because of the pressing need to act.

"The people in South Africa were in agony, we did not want to waste time," he said.

Both applicants apologised to the victims' families and appealed to the commission to consider the attack in its proper political context.

The hearing continues on Monday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON October 6 1998 - SAPA

PORT ST JOHNS BUSINESSMAN CONSPIRED WITH AWB, TRC TOLD

An amnesty applicant on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that prominent Port St Johns resident John Costello was part of an Afrikaaner Weerstandsbeweging group in the area.

Convicted murderer Pumelele Hermans told the commission, which is sitting in East London, that the activities of the right-wing group lead African National Congress members to murder the Weakley brothers, Glen and Alastair, in 1993.

Hermans, who is one of four men applying for amnesty in connection with the Weakley murder, did not include any references to Costello in his written application for amnesty.

But in a surprise twist he made mention of the businessman in his oral testimony.

Counsel for the victims' families, advocate Izak Smuts, suggested during cross-examination that Herman may have altered his planned oral testimony so that it tallied with the written application made by Guleni Fundisile.

Fundisile, the last of the four amnesty applicants, was to give evidence before the TRC on Wednesday.

Hermans claimed ANC members in the region suspected Costello was conspiring with right wing elements and stock- piling weapons in 1992.

Hermans also claimed ANC members in Port St Johns suspected Costello of disturbing the inaugural meeting of the SA Communist Party's Port St Johns branch.

Following the assassination of SACP secretary-general Chris Hani on April 10, 1993, the applicants had resolved to launch a retaliatory attack against "anti-democratic whites who were infiltrating our area", Hermans said.

Initially the applicants had aimed to strike against the "anti-democratic whites" in Port St John's but had been dissuaded by fears that an alarm would be raised and police and the nearby Transkei Defence Force troops would intervene, Hermans claimed.

The applicants, it was claimed, therefore shifted their attention to the remote area near Mpande where they killed the Weakley brothers three days after Hani's death.

Hermans maintained the Weakleys had been murdered to pressure the apartheid government to bring about liberation and to prevent the assassination of leaders of the calibre of Hani.

Consistent with the testimonies of his co-applicants Hermans said he had not heard calls for calm from the ANC's leadership after Hani's murder.

The holiday area was frequented by right wingers, Hermans claimed.

He conceded, under cross-examination, that he merely suspected Costello was an AWB member.

Costello, who is a prominent businessman in Port St Johns, denied any link to alleged right-wing activities in the area saying he was apolitical. He denied ever disrupting a SACP meeting.

The hearing continues Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 7 1998 - SAPA

MENTAL HEALTH EXPERTS TO DISCUSS PSYCHO ASPECTS OF TRC HEARINGS

Local and international mental health experts would discuss the psychological aspects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings at a two-day conference in Cape Town this week, the Medical Research Council said on Wednesday.

It said in a statement the conference, which started earlier in the day, would focus on issues such as the impact of human rights violations on mental health, and providing mental health care to survivors of violence.

Delegates would seek to ensure a human rights culture in South African mental health practitioners.

"They will discuss ways to ensure that the role mental health practitioners played during apartheid is never repeated," the MRC said.

The conference would be attended by speakers from the United States and Israel, and a number of local experts.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON October 7 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANT REGRETS MURDER OF HOLIDAYERS

One of four amnesty applicants for the 1993 murder of the Weakley brothers near Port St Johns on Wednesday acknowledged that the victims were innocent people and said he felt bad to hear they had no connections with the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, as he had believed.

Fundisile Guleni, 30, of Port St Johns, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that, he and his accomplices realised their targets were innocent holidayers, they would not have go ahead with the attack.

"We are so sorry for the families and would like to apologise to all those affected by our actions," he said.

Guleni said the murders were committed to boost the waning confidence of black people who felt the African National Congress was doing nothing following the murder of prominent member Chris Hani three days earlier.

Guleni, who was not prosecuted for the Weakley murders after the magistrate found police used unlawful tactics to extract a confession from him, told the committee that at the time of the incident he was an ANC branch secretary and he and his accomplices were members of the organisation's self-defence units.

He said the attack was meant to show the masses the ANC was doing something, and to give a clear message to the government that the killing of their leaders would not be tolerated.

He denied the action was contrary to ANC policy, or that the attackers were driven by racial hatred.

He said the attackers travelled more than 40km from Flagstaff to Port St Johns, leaving scores of whites alone - this showed they were not against every white man.

The decision to attack at Mpande followed reported anti-liberation activities by AWB members there.

Explaining how the attack was carried out, Guleni said a signal was given by their accomplices that the victims' vehicle was about to approach.

"When the bakkie appeared I was the first to shoot but because my magazine was loose I could only shoot once," he said.

His colleagues fired a hail of bullets until the driver lost control and the car rolled.

In his closing argument later, applicants' counsel Philip Zilwa said his clients were genuinely acting under the banner of the ANC as members of the organisation's SDUs. They did not have to get orders from the organisation because of the circumstances.

Zilwa said most freedom activists looked up to Hani as the epitome of everything they were fighting for. When he was murdered the applicants felt that if more murders happened every attempt at liberation would be in vain.

Despite the ANC's known stance of non-violence, the fact was that people were dying, and this was why the SDUs were formed. When they attacked the victims they genuinely believed they acted in the interests of the organisation, and went on to report their acts to the organisation's higher echelons, he said.

Izak Smuts, for the victims' families, said while the applicants were members of the SDUs, their attacks on innocent holidaymakers, including children, could not be seen as acts of defence.

The applicants made no effort to identify their targets in their self-appointed roles, and knew very well they were dealing with holidaymakers.

There could be no sincere belief that there was any rightwing infiltration. The evidence of any AWB activity was without foundation and reflected on the applicants' credibility, he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 8 1998 - SAPA

VICTIM'S MOTHER PLEADS FOR PERPETRATORS

The mother of a victim of the 1993 Heidelberg Tavern massacre on Thursday called on political parties to fund counselling for their members who had received amnesty for gross human rights violations.

Ginn Fourie, whose daughter Lyndi died in the shooting, told a Parow conference - on mental health and the truth and reconciliation process - that political parties had inspired and instigated violence, and provided backing, infrastructure and weapons for this purpose.

She suggested that all parties show accountability by providing funds for debriefing their members who had received amnesty, and ensuring that all perpetrators were encouraged to attend counselling.

Fourie fought off tears as she described how, during amnesty hearings, one of the three Apla operatives involved told her he would welcome counselling "and rather with the survivors, so that true reconciliation can take place".

She said she discovered earlier this year that although the TRC had provided for the counselling of survivors, nothing was available for perpetrators to "face their own demons... and to integrate into a society where there are mixed feelings about perpetrators of violence being granted amnesty".

She received a standing ovation from delegates when she finished her presentation.

TRC research director Prof Charles Villa-Vicencio told the conference that while priority had to be given to healing victims, it was in the interests of those victims, and society as a whole, to heal the perpetrators as well.

This "restoration" would assist perpetrators to become useful members of society, instead of undermining it.

"We need, to a certain extent, to be perpetrator-friendly in the TRC," he said.

Asking what in the South African environment had created the "fertile environment" for such dreadful deeds, he said any thoughtful person looking back would say it was a period driven by a war psychosis and by a spirit of authoritarianism.

"We came out of a society that was shrouded in secrecy and silence; there was a culture of non-inquiry," he said.

The potential for doing evil deeds that had characterised the past was "still with us".

The TRC's final report, which will be handed to President Nelson Mandela on October 29, would include a chapter on recommendations for preventing this evil from happening again.

It was important to put in place an open society where nothing remained under wraps, where a culture of inquiry, of asking questions, was not suppressed but encouraged, and where there was freedom of the press.

This openness was "something which we are battling to live with in the present... something we are battling to entrench". However, failure to do so would establish a context for more evil deeds.

It was also essential to create a climate in which no citizens felt excluded from the body politic. They had to be included in society, or the deeds of the past would be repeated.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON October 8 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANTS ADMIT TO CRIMINAL BACKGROUND

Two of three amnesty applicants for the 1992 murder and robbery of a Fort Beaufort resident on Thursday admitted to a string of previous criminal convictions, including an escape from prison by one of them after he applied for amnesty.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee on Thursday heard applications from Sipho Biko and Mzwamadoda Yengeni, both from Fort Beaufort, and Winile Veveza of Adelaide.

They are all serving jail terms following the murder of Francis Cato, who was robbed of four firearms at his Alice Street home in September 1992.

Biko told the committee he was an Azanian People's Liberation Army commander at the time and had known Cato's home for about 10 years, since his mother worked for him around 1983.

He led his subordinates to the house one evening and pretended to be looking for a woman named Joyce, and when Cato told them there was no such person and began closing his door on them, they forced their way inside and attacked him.

"I pointed a firearm at him, kicked him in the stomach and demanded the weapons. He showed me four of them under the bed. After he had handed the guns to me, I realised we were about to flee and I ordered him to close his eyes and I shot him in the head."

Cross-examined by the commissioners about his past criminal convictions, Biko admitted to a string of criminal convictions between 1983 and 1990, including a 15-month-jail term for numerous car thefts and burglaries before he joined the PAC.

In July last year he escaped from prison and was sentenced to a further three years after giving himself up a few months later, claiming he escaped to solve family problems.

When Judge Ronnie Pillay continued to question him about his criminal past, an agitated Biko angrily warned the judge to stop probing his criminal record, which he said had nothing to do with his application.

He said he was now a repentant Pan Africanist Congress member and churchgoer.

Veveza testified that a few hours after Cato's murder he, Yengeni and another accomplice went to town and robbed a cafe where he shot and wounded some of the staff with a firearm that was not one of Cato's.

Admitting the act was purely criminal and not politically motivated, Veveza said the robbery was not sanctioned by the PAC but was due to suffering and poverty.

He did not report the incident to either Biko or any other commander in the area, as he knew that it was not in line with Apla policy.

Veveza also admitted to having numerous criminal convictions.

BASSON'S PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT MIGHT BE PROBED BY MEDICAL BODY

The professional conduct of Dr Wouter Basson, head of the former government's chemical and biological warfare programme, might become the subject of a probe by the Interim Medical and Dental Council of SA.

The council in a statement in Pretoria on Friday said it would consider investigating the actions of people implicated during recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings into chemical warfare.

"The council will decide on whether or not to investigate... these individuals once the TRC's findings have been concluded and officially released, and in cases where applicable, after the finalisation of court cases."

These individuals included Basson, who was still a registered medical doctor, council spokeswoman Louise Emerton said.

The council's decision followed its recent ratification of the World Medical Association's declaration on chemical and biological weapons.

The declaration states that it is unethical for a physician, whose mission is to provide health care, to use his scientific knowledge to research, develop or manufacture such weapons.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 9 1998 - SAPA

TRC REJECTED MEETINGS WITH THE ANC AND OTHERS: NTSEBEZA

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) had turned down an ANC request to discuss those of its findings which might be detrimental to the party, as it had done with others who asked for similar meetings, TRC acting chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Friday.

The TRC had sent about 200 notices to individuals across the political spectrum informing that that they might be named to their detriment in the commission's report, which is to be handed to President Nelson Mandela on October 29, he said.

The notices were in terms of the TRC's founding legislation which allowed those named to make written representations about the findings.

A number of politicians linked with the former government had responded to their notices by angrily denouncing the TRC in public, Ntsebeza said.

"Many of those, and other officials of the old government, are now involved in a vigorous exchange of correspondence with the TRC through their lawyers over their written representations."

The African National Congress leadership had asked the TRC for a meeting to discuss the findings, but this was refused, Ntsebeza said in a statement.

"The reason for refusing the meeting is that we have laid down a procedure in terms of which all who receive notices... must respond by way of written representation.

"We have refused meetings to others who have asked for them."

If the TRC held a private meeting with the ANC, the inference could be drawn that the party had been given an unfair advantage, Ntsebeza said.

"It would be a very sad day if the public were to develop the perception that we gave the ruling party such an advantage."

The TRC had therefore insisted that the ANC, like any other party or individual, should make written representations if it believed any of the findings were wrong or unfair.

Those representations would be given the same consideration as those from any other individual or party.

Suggestions in media reports that only a minority of commissioners in the TRC had made findings which could be detrimental to the ANC were incorrect, Ntsebeza said.

"The findings were made by consensus among commissioners.

"I cannot comment on the suggestion that a majority of staff members of the TRC dissent from the findings, but I would doubt this, and in any event the contents of the report are the responsibility of commissioners alone," he said. The Mail and Guardian said on Friday that those named in the TRC report include Deputy Minister of Intelligence Joe Nhlanhla, ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Deputy Minister of Defence Ronnie Kasrils, former presidents FW de Klerk and PW Botha, and IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 9 1998 - SAPA

DP WELCOMES TRC'S DECISION ON ANC

The Democratic Party on Friday welcomed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's decision to turn down the African National Congress's request for further meetings with ANC leaders who had been served notice of possible detrimental findings.

DP TRC spokeswoman Dene Smuts said in a statement that previous attempts by the ANC leadership to negotiate a special dispensation, notwithstanding the law, were defeated when TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu threatened to resign in 1996.

"The TRC's firm stance now is particularly welcome considering the fact that the amnesties for 37 ANC leaders, which was overturned by the Cape High Court, have not been re-heard."

The TRC's resolve would reassure many people who suspected the report due on October 29 would be "soft" on the ANC, Smuts said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON October 9 1998 - SAPA

FORMER CISKEI SOLDIER BLAMES APARTHEID FOR MURDER

A former Ciskei Defence Force soldier who shot dead his neighbour in Peddie in 1992 on Friday blamed the apartheid regime for his actions.

Themba David Marambana, 32, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that the regime's bantustan policy led to the Bisho massacre and the subsequent hatred of soldiers by civilians.

Marambana, of Feni near Peddie, was testifying before the amnesty committee in connection with the murder of Malusi Ngubo - whom he shot 16 times four days after the Bisho massacre.

He accused Ngubo of having tried to petrol-bomb his home.

Asked to prove a political motive for his action - for which he is serving a ten-year jail term - Marambana said that after the massacre people became hostile to soldiers and often killed them and attacked their homes.

Many soldiers, including himself, had to leave their families and stayed in army bases.

On the day of Ngubo's death, Marambana returned home for a day. He was asleep at home with a girlfriend at about 4am when a petrol bomb was thrown into their room but failed to explode.

Through the window he saw Ngubo.

After unsuccessfully asking for a firearm from a colleague, he went to Bisho, fetched his service firearm and returned to Peddie where he sought and killed Ngubo.

Cross- examined by the commissioners, Marambana said while he never belonged to any political party and stood to gain nothing politically, he felt he was being attacked for his defence force membership. He said he acted out of fear for his life.

Members of Ngubo's family attended the hearing but did not oppose the application.

Marambana's counsel, Sally Collett, submitted that she believed her client had made a full disclosure and should be considered as having satisfied the commissions requirements for amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 10 1998 - SAPA

TRC MAKES DAMAGING FINDINGS AGAINST WINNIE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made "devastating" findings against Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in its final report which will be published at the end of the month, the Saturday Star reported in its early edition.

In many of the most publicised cases involving Madikizela-Mandela, the TRC has made a finding against her. The Saturday Star says the TRC made no finding in the case of the murder of Soweto medical practitioner Dr Abu-Baker Asvat, ho was shot dead in his surgery in 1989.

The TRC discounted a statement made last year by one of Asvat's killers that he murdered the popular doctor on the orders of Madikizela-Mandela.

Also, a document obtained by TRC investigators throws serious doubt on the theatrical version of the murder of activist Stompie Seipei given by Katiza Cebekhulu in a book published in Britain last year, the newspaper says.

Without naming individuals, the chapter on recommendations in the TRC's final report says those implicated in gross human rights violations who did not apply for amnesty should be prosecuted.

Madikizela-Mandela made no application for amnesty.

The implications of the TRC findings on Madikizela-Mandela, described by some associated with the TRC as "devastating", are that she participated in assaults, abduction, committed perjury, and was aware of several killings, the newspaper says.

A number of witnesses who were not available to the TRC last year, or who temporarily disappeared during the hearings into the Mandela United Football Club, have since made statements to TRC officials.

The TRC report has no legal standing.

It did not have to apply the same criteria as a criminal court, which would have to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The report is the result of a collective view based on a balance of probabilities.

The TRC itemised more than 20 different incidents in which Madikizela-Mandela was allegedly involved.

Madikizela-Mandela was served a Section 30 notice several weeks ago, informing her of the TRC's findings, and she was given an opportunity to reply. The TRC is not obliged to include her response in its final report if the commission decides they add nothing material to the findings.

Ishmael Semenya, representing Madikizela-Mandela, said on Friday: "Unless this is a misplaced display of divine wisdom, it is an oxymoron for any process which admits rumour, gossip, hearsay, sentiment to talk of a factual finding. One would have hoped the TRC would have helped posterity to learn from the folly of our past rather than to score passing political points.

"One would wait to see if any of the facts ever get judicial validation. If no such validation ensues, history will be the worst casualty." © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH October 12 1998 - SAPA

FORMER APLA OPERATIVE TELLS HEARING OF ATTACKS ON POLICE

A former Azanian People's Liberation Army cadre on Monday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he was involved in two attacks on policemen in Port Elizabeth in 1990 in order to defend people from attacks by police in the townships.

Kwanele Msizi, 33, and another Apla cadre, Pakamile Cishe, are applying for amnesty for their role in the murder of two policemen and a suspected informer and the attempted murder of four other policemen.

Msizi, who is serving a 25-year sentence in St Albans prison, told the amnesty committee he joined the Pan Africanist Congress in Port Elizabeth in 1984.

In 1990 he was recruited by Apla unit commander Jabu Mdingi to join the organisaion's armed wing. He, Cishe, Mdingi and other people from Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage were sent for six months' training at a camp at Sterkspruit.

Msizi said he, Mdingi, Cishe and deputy unit commander Mongezi Cakata then returned to Port Elizabeth with arms, including four AK47s and handgrenades.

He said they returned with the intention of attacking members of the riot squad in order to protect people in the townships from their attacks.

Msizi said the police patrolling Port Elizabeth's townships were targeted because the security branch was "killing" political activists in custody and people in protest marches.

He said his unit's first operation was carried out on November 18, 1990 under Mdingi's command. Their unit was armed with four AK47s and three grenades.

He said the unit used a stolen vehicle to search for police patrolling in the townships. They searched New Brighton, KwaZakele, Zwide and KwaMagxaki.

While on their way to the Algoa Park and Louis le Grange police stations to attack the police, they saw a police bakkie at a stop sign in Spondo Street.

Msizi said they followed the vehicle towards the Dora Nginza Hospital into Bertram Street. They switched their car's headlights off and drove along another street to "waylay" the police vehicle. When the police vehicle approached them in Mahomana Street in Zwide, they opened fire.

Two policemen and another man, who was wearing a police overcoat and a balaclava and whom they suspected of being an informer, were killed.

He said the police vehicle crashed into a school fence. The unit members went over to the vehicle and fired more shots.

After leaving the scene, Mdingi fired a shot into the air near Joe's Place, saying it was a message to the community that Apla cadres had come back.

They abandoned the car they had stolen near the KwaZakele power station. Msizi said they read in a newspaper the following day that a car had been found with spent cartridges near the power station.

The three people killed were Constable Johan Steven Gerber, Sergeant Cornelius Jansen de Wet and Mtutuzeli Gotyana.

He said on their next operation, on December 26, 1990, they went to a beach where they found police patrolling parking areas.

When asked to pay a R12 parking fee, they refused. An argument ensued, attracting several onlookers including children and preventing them from attacking the policemen, Msizi said.

That night, armed with an AK47 and handgrenades, they went looking for policemen in the township and came across two police vehicles.

Msizi said the police stopped their vehicle and a policeman armed with a machine gun approached them. Mdingi opened fire, but Msizi and the others had difficulty firing their weapons.

When Mdingi experienced a problem with his AK47, he threw a handgrenade at the cars. "Nobody died in this incident and I was worried that they did not die," Msizi said.

He said about four people were injured in the attack. They abandoned their car in Cato Street.

Msizi said Mdingi and Cakata were later killed by security police at a scrapyard in Zwide. He and Cishe were later arrested, convicted and sentenced in the Port Elizabeth High Court.

Msizi admitted he had been convicted of stealing six cars. He said Cishe was at one time arrested in a stolen car but was granted bail.

Msizi said the operations were carried out with the aim of overthrowing the apartheid regime in line with the aims and objectives of the PAC and were carried out in accordance with orders given to Apla operatives.

Msizi said he did not benefit financially from the operations.

The unit had targeted police vehicles only, in order to defend people from the "boers", he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 12 1998 - SAPA

HIJACKER AND MURDERER SEEKS AMNESTY FOR "POLITICAL ACT"

A convicted car hijacker who shot dead a man and injured a woman claimed in Johannesburg on Monday that he had been acting with a political motive and was therefore entitled to amnesty.

Saint Mkhululi Manyamalala, 30, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee that he had been a member of the African National Congress' self-defence unit in Soweto when the hijacking took place in 1983.

He said the Meadowlands area in Soweto had been coming under attack from nearby hostel dwellers and he had approached the ANC on the East Rand for weapons.

He claimed to have been given the weapons in Thokoza on by someone called "Comrade Khadaffi", but decided that he needed a larger and faster vehicle to return them to Soweto.

He said he saw a red Toyota Corolla parked in Gosforth Park in Germiston and decided that it would be a more suitable vehicle for transporting the weapons.

Armed with firearms, he and other SDU members approached the vehicle in which Willem Froneman and Ruth Barker were sitting and ordered them to get out.

"The man pretended to unfasten the safety belt and he drew a firearm and fired a single shot at me. He missed and I at the same time fired three shots at him. He died instantly," Manyamalala said. He said one of the shots struck the woman, wounding her.

"We did not kill her as it was not our intention to kill any person," he said.

After ordering her out of the vehicle, he removed Froneman's body and drove off in the vehicle.

He said that after transporting the weapons to Soweto and placing them in a safe place, he ordered the youths who were with him to take the car away and burn it so that police could not trace it.

However, he said it seemed the youths had not followed his orders. They were caught with the vehicle by the police and were arrested.

Manyamalala was arrested 18 months later and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment for murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms.

He claimed repeatedly at Monday's hearing that his sole aim had been to acquire the vehicle to transport the firearms, and said he had no intention of harming the occupants.

Asked what he would have done if the driver had not resisted, Manyamalala replied that he would not have shot him.

At the start of the hearing the committee was informed that all attempts to contact Barker or relatives of Froneman had failed.

The committee will hear argument on Tuesday as to whether Manyamalala should be granted amnesty. Earlier the committee heard an account of the conflict that existed between rival trade unions on the East Rand after the unbanning of the ANC.

The committee was told that the formation by the Inkatha Freedom Party of the United Workers' Union of SA (Uwusa) to oppose the ANC-aligned Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) brought the tension to boiling point.

A former member of the Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu) which was affiliated to Cosatu on Monday applied for amnesty for his part in two murders that occurred during the conflict between the two unions in 1992.

Zandisile Patrick Kondile told the committee he had been employed by the Langeberg Food Company in Boksburg and described the conflict that existed between the two unions at the company.

Kondile told the committee this conflict often became violent as opposing members taunted each other, and threats and counter threats were made. He admitted that during one of these encounters he became involved in a fight with IFP members and stabbed Busangani Mbatha, who later died.

He also admitted taking part in a shootout in which another rival unionist, Alfred Mantyi, was killed. He said he had been armed with a 9mm pistol while another man who was with him at the time had used an AK47 rifle.

Kondile was later arrested and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonmnet.

The director of the Centre for the Study of Violence, Graeme Simpson, told the hearing the situation at Langeberg had been extremely tense at the time of the conflict between the two unions.

He said the atmosphere amongst workers had been one of fear for their safety. They had taken to firearms for their own protection.

Simpson, who conducted research into the situation at Langeberg at the time, said there was also a strong suspicion that there had been collaboration between the company management, the IFP and the police in support of Fawu.

Committee chairman Denzil Potgieter said a decision on whether Kondile should be granted amnesty would be made in due course.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 12 1998 - SAPA

AMESTY COMMITTEE RESUMES IN PINETOWN NEAR DURBAN

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Amnesty Committee will resume its hearings in the Pinetown magistrates court, near Durban, from Wednesday at 9am.

The commission in a statement on Monday said five people serving long prison sentences would be seeking amnesty for murders they claim were politically motivated.

Appearing before the committee on Wednesday will be Bongani Mthethwa, 29, who is serving a life sentence for killing Siphiwe Mthiyane, Solomon Jali and Bhekinkosi Mkhwanazi in Mtunzini on the Natal North Coast in 1993.

The victims were first robbed of their vehicles before being murdered by Mthethwa, who claims the killings were politically motivated as he was chairman of the local Inkatha Freedom Party youth brigade.

On Thursday, three alleged supporters of the African National Congress will be seeking amnesty. They were convicted for murderig four people at Nkangala in Inanda in December 1989.

Thulani Cele, 33, is serving a 37-year prison term for the murders. Bongani Khumalo, 31, and Bongumusa Cele, 39, are both serving 15 years.

Their victims, who they claim were members of the IFP, were Bone Cele, Martin Ngcobo, Dudu Ngcobo and Amos Cele.

On Friday, Mtungokwakhe Nxumalo, 59, who says he was chairman of the Newtown branch of the IFP in Port Dunford near Empangeni, will appear before the amnesty committee for the murder of Buyangaye Mntambo and the attempted murder of Zakhele Mntambo in April 1990.

Nxumalo is serving 20 years in jail.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH October 13 1998 - SAPA

ANY GOVERNMENT AGENT WAS A TARGET FOR ATTACK: APLA OPERATIVE

Azanian People's Liberation Army operative Phakamile Cishe on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee that during the time Apla launched attacks on police anybody who supported the government of the day was liable to have been attacked.

Cishe and Kwanele Msizi, 34, are applying for amnesty for the deaths of Sergeant Johan Steven Gerber, Constable Cornelius Jansen de Wet and alleged informer Mtutuzeli Gotyana on November 18, 1990 in Zwide. They are also applying for amnesty for seriously wounding four policemen in Zwide on December 26, 1990.

Cishe, 31, is serving a life sentence for killing the two policemen and Gotyana.

Under cross-examination on Tuesday, he told an amnesty committee hearing in Port Elizabeth that there were plans to attack members of the SA Defence Force if police force members were not found.

He said any government agent would have been attacked "as long as he was a policeman or a soldier".

Cishe said even if a policeman did not support the regime, he would have been attacked because of the sins of other policemen.

Amid loud applause from the audience, he said a policeman was a policeman whether he was black or white.

Policemen were attacked because they were viewed as an obstacle and as pillars of the government.

Cishe said as far as he knew his Apla unit had stolen three cars during the operation, though in his amnesty application he had mentioned six cars.

He said he had been arrested in a stolen car towards the end of November 1990.

He admitted informing the police about the whereabouts of his unit commander, Jabu Mdunge, and deputy unit commander Mongezi Cakatha, who were killed by security forces in a scrapyard in Vuku Street, New Brighton.

He said Mdunge had instructed Msizi and himself to tell the police where to find them, if they were arrested, so that the police would go to the scrapyard in large numbers. That would have enabled Mdunge and Cakatha to attack the police contingent.

Cishe admitted that the stolen car used in the first operation, in which two policemen and alleged informer were killed, was abandoned near the KwaZakhele power station and set alight.

On Wednesday two other Apla members, Litho Snoek and Thamsanqa Tshikila, will apply for amnesty in connection with an attack on the farm Gertskraal.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH October 13 1998 - SAPA

MAN ARRESTED FOR BOMB THREAT AT TRC HEARING IN PE

Police on Tuesday afternoon arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with a bomb threat made at the Great Centenary Hall in New Brighton earlier in the afternoon.

Police evacuated the hall in Port Elizabeth, which hosted an amnesty committee hearing, after they received a call that a bomb was planted there.

Police spokesman Johan Buys said police received the warning from a person with a Xhosa accent at the 10111 radio control in Port Elizabeth at 1.30pm. The person said a bomb would explode 20 minutes later.

"The hall was cleared and searched by sniffer dogs and the explosive experts of the SAPS, but no explosive device was found," Buys said.

Buys said if found guilty, the suspect could be sentenced to a prison sentence of between three and 15 years.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 13 1998 - SAPA

TRAFFIC COP WITHDRAWS OBJECTION TO AMNESTY FOR FORMER MK MEMBERS

A traffic policeman who was shot and injured in a shootout with three Umkhonto we Sizwe members on Tuesday withdrew his objection to their amnesty applications after hearing their testimony before the Amnesty Committee in Johannesburg.

The Truth and Reconcilation Commission's amnesty committee heard applications by three former MK members who opened fire at traffic policemen at a roadblock in Magaliesberg in September 1991. Six policemen, including Ezekiel Maletsane, were injured and a passing motorist, John Barbas, was killed in the shooting.

Stanley Wanyane and Bathandwa Godlo were arrested soon afterwards and are serving prison sentences. The third member, Bukhosibakhe Masiso, was never caught. All three are now applying for amnesty.

Maletsane, who was shot in the legs during the shoot out, arrived at Tuesday's hearing with the intention of opposing amnesty for the three MK men.

At the start of the hearing he said he could never understand why the MK men had shot him and the other victims. However after hearing Wanyane's testimony he informed the committee that he accepted their explanations and withdrew his objection to amnesty.

Wanyane told the committee he andhis comrades had been sent to Rustenberg to set up an underground MK unit. He said he accepted that MK's armed struggle had been suspended at the time, but added that it had been necessary to set up structures to counter third force activities.

Wanyane said that when their vehicle was stopped at the roadblock they knew they would be arrested and the arms they were taking to Rustenberg would not reach their destination. As commander of the unit he gave the order to fire at the policemen in order to escape.

Barbas, who had been passing by at the time, was shot and killed in the crossfire and his vehicle was taken by the MK men as they tried to flee.

Wanyane said he and Godlo were later arrested and tortured. They were eventually charged and sentenced. Masiso fled and was never apprehended.

Masiso and Godlo then testified briefly that they confirmed Wanyane's account of the incident.

Soon afterwards they beckoned to Maletsane, indicating that they wished to speak to him. Wanyane shook his hand and apologised to him for the injuries he suffered.

"It would never have happened under normal circumstances," he said. The other two applicants also apologised to the traffic policeman and shook his hand.

Maletsane said afterwards that he now felt better about the incident but still suffered physical and psychological after- effects from his injuries. Committee chairman Denzil Potgieter said a decision on amnesty would be made in due course and the applicants would be informed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association EAST LONDON October 13 1998 - SAPA

NO PARDON FOR APLA CADRE WHO GOUGED OUT ANC MAN'S EYES

A participant in Fort Beaufort's bloody political conflict in 1993 will have to spend the next six years in jail after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rejected his amnesty application in East London on Tuesday.

The TRC's amnesty committee refused to pardon former Azanian People's Liberation Army cadre Thembisile Majebe for maiming African National Congress member Lucky August, whose eyes were gouged out during an attack in February 1993.

Majebe was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment last year for the attack.

The committee found Majebe had failed to meet some of the requirements for amnesty. It found, inter alia, that the manner of the attack was disproportionate to its stated aim and did not comply with the requirements of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

Judge Ronnie Pillay said while the committee had decided to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt as to whether the attack was politically motivated, it found that instead of making a full disclosure Majebe had changed his statements whenever he felt like it and had evaded answering questions.

He could also not prove that August was involved in any of the attacks he claimed took place against Pan Africanist Congress supporters.

Majebe earlier disputed a medical report which suggested that August had lost his sight through a stabbing. He claimed he and two colleagues had waylaid August in the township one night and that he had hit August about four times in the face with a pickhandle and disarmed him of a .38 firearm.

According to August's version in the East London Regional Court last year, however, the attack occurred during daylight after his assailants had asked him for cigarettes.

Majebe said the attack was part of a war between the ANC and PAC members in the township, which had started as a conflict amongst students affiliated to both organisations at Nyibiba High School.

He said the conflict was caused by the ANC's harassment of PAC supporters. PAC supporters could not operate freely in the area and students affiliated to the organisation were barred from attending school, he said.

Majebe did not ask for forgiveness. When asked by the committee if he had anything to say to the victim, he said August "must accept the condition he is finding himself in today".

Pillay said the committee had decided to declare August a victim in terms of the TRC's Act and referred his case to the reparations and rehabilitations committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

EAST LONDON October 14 1998 - SAPA

FORMER CISKEI HEADMAN DENIED AMNESTY

Another amnesty hopeful on Wednesday came to terms with the prospect of having to serve a lengthy jail term after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee turned down his application.

The committee refused to pardon former Ciskei rural headman Daniel Sizindzo Mahaia, who claimed to be a Pan Africanist Congress member.

The 48-year-old Mahaia of Lower Mngqesha near King William's Town was seeking amnesty for the 1993 ambush of an elderly couple and their daughter-in-law, whose home he broke into on March 24.

In 1995 he was sentenced to a 12-year jail term for the incident.

Mahaia earlier told the committee that the fatal shooting of Nomutile Gangqa, the wounding of her husband Champion and their daughter-in-law Nozinzo was not planned.

He claimed he was angry about being refused entry into the house by Gangqa when he (Mahaia) wanted to talk to her husband.

Apologising, Mahaia said the four shots he fired were "random" and not aimed at anyone inside the house. He fired the shots out of fear as he was hearing noises outside.

He added the incident occurred while headmen were being attacked after being accused of being "puppets" of former Ciskei military ruler Brigadier Oupa Gqozo.

Mahaia claimed he had already lost his property and livestock after two such attacks on his home between June 1992 and March 1993.

Although he had tried to resign from the headmanship, Gqozo would not allow him to before a stipulated three-year- term ended.

Resigning would not have helped anyway because those who did were still harassed and attacked by African National Congress supporters.

Asked about his purported PAC membership, Mahaia said the organisation approved of its members serving under the Ciskei government.

He claimed then PAC president Clarence Makwetu used to visit and assure the headmen of his organisation's support in the face of harassment.

Announcing the committee's decision, Judge Ronnie Pillay said that while the committee was satisfied Mahaia had made full disclosure of what happened, there was no political objective by ambushing the Gangqas.

Both Mr Gangqa and his daughter-in-law have been declared victims as envisaged by the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 15 1998 - SAPA

TRC WITHDRAWS SUBPOENA FOR MATANZIMA TO TESTIFY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee on Thursday announced that it had withdrawn a subpoena requiring former Transkei president Kaizer Matanzima to testify before it in connection with the 1985 death of a former student of the University of the Transkei.

The decision followed an agreement between the committee and the deceased's family, TRC spokesman Vuyani Green said.

The committee's decision relates to the death of Bathandwa Ndondo, who was shot dead by police at Cala on September 24, 1985.

Ndondo was a cousin of TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza.

A few weeks after Ndondo's death, Matanzima allegedly made a public statement justifying the killing.

The committee issued a subpoena ordering Matanzima to appear before it to answer questions relating to his alleged statement. However, he failed to appear before the committee, citing ill-health.

He later applied for a court order to set aside the committee's decision to force him to testify.

After considering the matter the committee, in consultation with the victim's family, decided to withdraw the subpoena.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PORT ELIZABETH October 15 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANT TELLS HOW HE HIT WOMAN WITH SPADE

Pan Africanist Congress member Arthur Tshikila on Thursday told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee in Port Elizabeth when a farmer's stepmother, Andriesa Slabbert, screamed for help, he hit her with a spade and she became quiet.

Tshikila, 22, of Uitenhage, said he then left her to assist his co-applicant, Willy Litho Snoek, 36, who was involved in a struggle with the farmer, Phillipus Sharp.

Tshikila and Snoek are applying for amnesty for their involvement in the murder in 1990 of Slabbert and the possession of firearms.

Snoek is also applying for amnesty for robbery, housebreaking and escaping from custody.

Tshikila said he joined the PAC as a member of its student organisation, the Pan Africanist Students' Organisation, in 1989 while he was a Standard Five pupil. He was 14.

At that time there was political conflict in Uitenhage between a group called Ama-Afrika and the United Democratic Front, and pupils were being killed and injured.

He was involved in the conflict which had affected every pupil and which arose from the ill-treatment of Ama-Afrika members by members of the Congress of SA Students.

Tshikila said he approached Snoek to get them firearms to defend themselves.

Snoek told him he had been trained as an Azanian People's Liberation Army cadre in Transkei and had information from a former Steytlerville farm employee that there were weapons on the farm.

On November 4, 1990, he and Snoek were taken by Mathews Vusani to the farm Gertskraal in Steytlerville. They arrived on the farm at midnight and waited till morning for Sharp to leave the house, but Slabbert came out first.

When she went into the garage, Snoek pointed a firearm, which they had earlier obtained onthe farm, at her. He threw her to the ground and assaulted her with the firearm when she screamed, then placed a bag of mealies on top of her to keep her quiet. Snoek told him to guard Slabbert while he went to look for Sharp in the house.

Tshikila managed to remove the bag and he tried to persuade Slabbert to keep quiet, but she would not. He then hit her with a spade and she became quiet.

Tshikila said he left her after Snoek called him. He found Snoek and Sharp fighting. He intervened and helped Snoek tie up Sharp.

They got a key to the safe and removed money and took various items from the house. They drove off in Sharp's vehicle.

Tshikila said by attacking farmers they were trying to undermine the security of the racist regime by crippling the people who were the backbone of the economy. Tshikila was convicted in the Grahamstown Supreme Court and sentenced in 1992 to 10 years and nine months.

Sharp indicated that he would not attend the hearing and would not oppose the application.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 16 1998 - SAPA

FORMER APLA CADRE GRANTED AMNESTY FOR ATTACK AT LADY GREY

Former Azanian People's Liberation Army cadre, Steven Dolo, has been granted amnesty for an attack on the Lady Grey police station in January 1992, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee announced on Friday.

Dolo, whose amnesty application was heard in Aliwal North in April, was jailed for the attempted murder of eight people.

He told the TRC he carried out the attack with Raymond ("Happy") Mpahlele, Apla's director of operations, and another Apla cadre identified only as Vuyisile.

The amnesty committee said Dolo hailed from Katlehong and was a complete stranger in the area where the acts were carried out.

"It is quite clear he had no personal motive or reason for coming to the Sterkspruit area (of the Eastern Cape), where he was deployed by his superiors to carry out the acts...

"Although the applicant was at all material times receiving orders from Happy (Mpahlele), who used him to pursue what appears to have been the political agenda of Apla and the Pan Africanist Congress, he acted voluntarily and has no regrets about having been involved in the said activities."

The committee declared Nonceba Mgojo and Nomonde Mbhasakhana as victims. They were injured when the attackers attempted to rob them of their vehicle before the attack.

The following people who were present at the police station were also declared victims: Albertus Veldsman, Johannes Maartens, Rieta Maartens, Magrieta Roets, Nicolaas Roets and Stephanus Roets.

The victims were referred to the TRC's reparation and rehabilitation committee.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN October 17 1998 - SAPA

TRC AMNESTY COMMITTEE SITTING IN DURBAN

Twenty four people will be seeking amnesty when the Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty committee sits at Pinetown magistrates court and Durban Christian Centre in KwaZulu-Natal next week.

The TRC said in statement on Saturday that applicants will be applying for amnesty for incidents ranging from bomb blasts, murder and attempted assassinations at the hearings starting Monday, October 19.

Boy Vusumuzi Gwamanda is seeking amnesty for his alleged role in a failed attempt to assassinate Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa.

Xolani Cuba, Mfundo Peter Seyisi and Ndoda Mgengo are seeking amnesty for a bomb blast inside a DTMB bus in Gardiner Street. The incident took place in November 1993.

A high-ranking Congress of South African Trade Unions official in Empangeni, Bheki Ntuli, has applied for amnesty for throwing a hand grenade at people who he claimed were attacking his house in 1992.

Pan Africanist Congress member Mduduzi Cyril Ngema will be seeking amnesty for murdering Christopher Nhlanhla Myeza, who was suspected of being an informer.

Myeza was abducted from his home, taken to a sugar cane plantation in Verulam, outside Durban, where he was interrogated, and severely tortured before being shot dead.

The hearings are expect to end on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PINETOWN October 20 1998 - SAPA

GWAMANDA TELLS TRC HE HAD NO OBJECTIVE IN PLOT TO KILL PHOSA

Amnesty applicant Boy Nkosiyomuzi Gwamanda on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he had no specific political objective or reason for taking part in an aborted plot to assassinate Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa in 1993.

Speaking at the TRC's hearing at the Pinetown Magistrate's Court, Gwamanda also said he had no political motive or reason for the four attacks on alleged African National Congress members in the Sonkombo Valley region of Ndwedwe, north of Durban.

Gwamanda said he joined the Inkatha Freedom Party when he was in prison at Barberton because a friend, Elijah Mlaba, told him he should do so.

After joining he and Mlaba were treated as superior prisoners and were given privileges not accorded to other prisoners.

Mlaba also asked him to join him in training under certain warders who were Afrikanerweerstandsbeweging members.

During training it became apparent they were to be part of a team which would assassinate Phosa.

After their training they were taken to Nelspruit in early 1993, travelling in a government car. They met up with several men Gwamanda alleged were AWB members.

They were told there that the plan was aborted. Gwamanda denied any involvement in several assassination attempts on Phosa's life between September 1994 and April 1995, saying he was in prison.

He also denied a suggestion by Phosa's advocate Talib Mukadam that he met with Phosa in July or August 1995 shortly before an attempt on the premier's life at Secunda on September 29, 1994, saying he had never met the man.

Gwamanda said he would like to meet Phosa, and had applied to do so, so that he could give him information about policemen in Mpumalanga involved in drug trafficking and counterfeit money schemes.

"I have no reason to hide any involvement in something like that. I could apply for amnesty," he said.

Speaking about the attacks at Ndwedwe, Gwamanda said they were all ordered by IFP MP Senzo Mfayela, who wanted ANC members in the region killed.

Gwamanda met Mfayela in March 1993 when he went to the Ndwedwe area to reunite with his family after his discharge from prison.

He was introduced to Mfayela and became his bodyguard. Mfayela organised for him to be issued with a KwaZulu- Natal police identity card and a 9mm pistol, Gwamanda said.

Mfayela told the members of his hit squad ANC members and supporters had to be killed.

Some of these deaths Mfayela declared deaths of IFP supporters, in order to motivate people in the region not to vote for the ANC. On November 27, 1993 Mfayela held a meeting to commemorate some of the dead and was given a red blanket to symbolise the spilling of blood.

People living in the Ndwedwe area were asked to contribute R20 to the meeting, Gwamanda said. "If you didn't your house was burnt," he added.

He went on to testify about the four attacks for which he is claiming anmesty. On November 20, 1993, Mfayela, Gwamanda and others were driving through the Sonkombo Valley in the Ndwedwe area, and came across a number of boys aged about 10 playing or standing at the roadside.

Mfayela told Gwamanda to shoot these comrades, meaning by the use of the word comrades that they were ANC supporters.

Gwamanda shot at the boys as they fled, but was not certain whether he had hit any of them. He said he had no alternative but to do so because Mfayela had ordered it.

The following day - November 29 - the hit squad attacked a taxi owner's house in the area. They seized a minibus, but did not kill the driver and passengers because they were not the people sought.

The hit squad was to kill the taxi owner for transporting comrades, Gwamanda said. Later they ambushed another minibus and the driver was shot.

The fourth attack, on a man walking in the area, occurred on the following day.

Gwamanda said there was nothing to indicate that any of the attacked people were ANC supporters. The attacks were made on the strength of the words of an IFP leader in the area who said the parts of the area in which they were attacked were inhabited by ANC supporters. He did not know the name of this leader, a woman.

TRC lawyer Cocky Mpshe said the family of the deceased taxi driver, who did not die as a result of the hit squad's attack, was satisfied with Gwamanda's evidence during the hearing.

Gwamanda denied that he was motivated by the pocket money Mfayela gave him, or by the privileges he gained in Barberton prison.

He said he would not have thought to gainsay his superiors.

Former prison warders Colonel Flip Roets, Lieutenant DD Venter, Sergeant Thys Venter and Lieutenant Pannie Joubert denied ever belonging to the AWB, or training Gwamanda to kill Phosa, their attorney Christo Nel said.

"They must be taking you for a ride," Gwamanda countered.

Argument on the merits of Gwamanda's application will be heard on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 21 1998 - SAPA

800 VICTIMS RECEIVE TRC INTERIM REPARATIONS

The first 800 interim reparation awards had been paid out to victims of gross human rights violations, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on Wednesday.

The reparation awards, ranging from R2000 to R6000, would continue until the first 1000 claims the TRC had processed were finalised, justice department spokesman Farouk Hoosen told Sapa.

The remaining 200 awards would be settled by the end of the week, he said.

The money was paid from the President's Fund, which was established by the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act.

The TRC said in a statement that more than 13000 reparation applications forms had been sent out to deponents who had suffered gross human rights violations.

A small number of staff and commissioners would continue to send out and process applications for interim reparation, it said.

Hoosen said the commission expected to pay out awards to 25000 victims.

The TRC's recommendations for final reparations still had to be discussed by Parliament, he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN October 21 1998 - SAPA

TRC IN PINETOWN HEARS OF MURDER TO STOP SUPPLY OF ARMS TO ANC

An Inkatha Freedom Party member on Wednesday admitted killing a KwaZulu-Natal police reservist at a KwaMashu school, saying he did so to stop the supply of arms to the African National Congress in the area.

Speaking at an amnesty application at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Pinetown near Durban, Mduduzi Ndlovu said he killed Sibusiso Gumede after receiving information that Gumede was supplying arms to the ANC.

Ndlovu, a former Pietermaritzburg special constable, is applying for amnesty for the murder of Gumede.

He is serving a 20-year jail sentence for the murder and an unrelated robbery. He told the hearing he and his brother Thabani joined the IFP in 1987 and he was still a member.

The Ndlovu brothers lived at Mpumuza location in Pietermaritzburg where, during the 1980s and early 1990s, there was what amounted to war between ANC and IFP members.

Ndlovu said the ANC was trying to make Mpumuza one of its strongholds.

After receiving information from an informer that Gumede was supplying the ANC with arms, he and Thabani planned to attack Gumede while the reservist was on guard duty at the KwaMashu school.

The attack took place on April 16, 1991.

Thabani was an IFP youth leader and Ndlovu took orders from him, Ndlovu told the hearing.

Gumede was killed by a short fired by Thabani. The brothers took Gumede's machinegun to prevent it from falling into ANC hands, Ndlovu said.

When the brothers got home Thabani was happy because a source of arms for the ANC had been killed.

Later Ndlovu and Ntokozo Zondo, who drove the brothers to the scene of the crime, were convicted by the Durban High Court of muder and robbery.

Thabani, Ndlovu's mother and his sister were killled during an ANC attack on their home in 1992, just after Ndlovu was arrested for Gumede's murder.

Ndlovu's attorney, Lourens de Klerk, argued that although the IFP had a policy of non-violence, it did allow its members to defend themselves.

This was in essence what the Ndlovu brothers' aim had been.

Judgment has been reserved and the hearing continues.

STUDENTS KNEW LITTLE OF PLANS TO BOMB POLICE STATIONS: TRC TOLD

An Azanian People's Liberation Army commissar on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that two students who were injured when a limpet mine carried by an Apla cadre exploded on a Durban bus, knew little of the cadre's plans.

Apla political commissar Ndoda Ngengo said he told students Xolani Cuba and Mfundo Seyisi only what they needed to know about the mission to plant the mine at a Durban police station.

"We worked on a need to know basis," he told the TRC's amnesty committee hearing in Pinetown near Durban.

Cuba and Seyisi both told the hearing they only knew that Apla cadre Vuyani Namba - who was killed when the bomb exploded on Durban's busy Gardiner Street on November 30, 1993 - planned to plant the devise at Umbilo or Brighton Beach police stations.

Thirteen people, including Cuba and Seyisi, were injured in the early morning explosion.

Seyisi said he had no idea where Namba's orders came from, but was sure he would not have operated without Apla orders.

There was no plan to explode the mine on the bus, he said.

Cuba said he would not have queried an Apla cadre on what he knew was a planned Apla mission.

Cuba and Seyisi were members of the Pan Africanist Student Organisation (Paso).

It was Paso's policy to aid other Pan Africanist Congress structures which aimed to overthrow the apartheid regime, they said.

Ngengo said he introduced Namba to the two students, who were his colleagues at the ML Sultan Technikon in Durban.

His role in the attack was to provide financial and logistical support, he said.

He was in Transkei when the incident occurred, but spoke to Namba a day before the blast.

It was planned that Namba would phone him after the mission was completed.

Commission chairman Judge Selwyn Miller reserved judgment.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN October 22 1998 - SAPA

BUNGLED MINIBUS HIJACKING SAVES BAR FROM APLA ATTACK: TRC TOLD

A bungled 1992 minibus hijacking saved a Port Edward bar from an attack by the Azanian People's Liberation Army, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Thursday.

Former Apla organiser for Umlazi in Durban, Mduduzi Cyril Ngema, told the commission's Pinetown hearing that the bar was frequented by whites.

Apla planned to attack it to instil fear and mistrust in the white government.

It was not intended that taxi driver Mutaziwa John Khanyile should be shot. Ngema said he produced the gun merely to scare Khanyile after he refused to give Apla cadres the vehicle for their mission.

Ngema is applying for amnesty for Khanyile's murder, for hijacking the minibus and for the murder of an alleged informer in October 1992. He is serving a 30-year sentence for all three charges.

After shooting Khanyile, Ngema said he tried to take over control of the vehicle.

The bullet hit Khanyile in the head and smashed the windscreen.

The vehicle was swerving across the road near Durban's University of Durban Westville and then suddenly came to a stop.

Hearing chairman Judge Selwyn Miller said it was later found that the taxi's anti-hijacking device, which Khanyile must have activated, cut the engine.

When the vehicle stopped, the cadres abandoned it and telephoned a friend to fetch them.

The planned attack on the bar was not carried out.

The order to attack the bar had come from Apla's director of operations, Letlape Mphahlele, who attended the hearing.

Turning to alleged informer Christopher Nhlanhle Myeza's murder, Ngema said he was ordered to kill him by an Apla commander known only as Thompson.

In 1992 the death of an Apla high command member at the hands of the then SA Police brought Myeza's role as a police informer to the attention of the organisation.

Myeza was abducted from his Kwamashu home near Durban on August 31, 1992 and shot dead after being interrogated by Thompson, Ngema and fellow cadre, Innocent Khumalo.

They left his body where it had fallen in a sugar cane field near Verulem on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast.

Ngema said he joined the Pan Africanist Congress in 1989 and Apla in 1992. He was trained in Tanzania.

He said it was the PAC's policy to kill any informer, even one who was a PAC member like Khanyile, so that there was no link between the organisation and its enemy, the apartheid government. Miller has said judgment on the merit of Ngema's application would be handed down as soon as possible.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 22 1998 - SAPA

TRC LOOKING FOR VICTIMS' FAMILIES IN ROBBERY AMNESTY HEARINGS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is looking for the families of the victims of three attacks which the perpetrators claimed were politically motivated, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

"Applicants declaring allegiance to the Pan Africanist Congress are applying for amnesty in the robberies, during which three people were murdered," Amnesty Committee spokeswoman Lulama Mtanga said.

She said families of the victims had the right to attend the hearings and to give evidence. The Amnesty Committee were battling to track them down though.

The first of the three attacks happened on November 16, 1990. Cafe owner Francisco Goncalves de Sousa was shot dead and his business partner, Joao Jardim, injured by three men at their Westonaria Cafe at the Elsburg Gold Mine.

The men took R3000 and ran away. One man is now applying for amnesty for the attack.

On April 16, 1994, Diederick Jacobs was shot dead in front of his family in Parktown North, Johannesburg. Two men are applying for amnesty for the murder.

On the same day, fruit shop owner Joao Manuel Abry Jardim was shot dead in his corner fruit shop. Two men want amnesty for the murder.

The applicants' sentences range from 25 years to life in prison.

The amnesty hearings were scheduled for next month.

Mtanga said the the committee wanted to see the families at the hearings and said they should get in touch with her.

"It just seems unfair that the beloved ones of these victims are not there to hear what happened."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN October 22 1998 - SAPA

SEVEN GET AMNESTY IN DURBAN

Seven men were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation's Amnesty Committee during a four-day hearing in Durban this week, the TRC said on Thursday.

Spokesman Mbulelo Sompetha said the hearing at the city's Christian Centre related to the conflict between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress, security police and community defence in the early 1990's.

On Tuesday, Alpheus Jackson Jeke, Bheki Alpheus Nzama and Andries Sithole got amnesty for their role in necklacing four gangsters at Bottlebrush Squatter camp near Chatsworth.

The three said their action was in defence of the community - who were terrorised by the gang.

On Wednesday, Mlungisi Justice Majozi was granted amnesty for his role in a shootout with police in July 1991.

Three of Majozi's Umkhonto we Sizwe comrades were killed in the shooting. He was sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder and possession of arms and ammunition.

Also on Wednesday, Muntukayise Ntuli - a Congress of South African Trade Unions and ANC member - got amnesty for the attempted murder of three IFP members on August 26, 1991, as well as possession of a hand grenade.

Dumisani Sibisi was granted amnesty on Thursday for killing IFP members Joseph Madiba and Khaya Mthembu.

He also got amnesty for the attempted murder of four people, attacked at Saiccor bridge near Umkomaas on April 20, 1991. A petrol bomb was thrown and shots fired at their car.

The seventh successful amnesty applicant is ANC security guard Dumisani Mthembu, who shot and injured a group of policemen in September 1992.

Mtembu told the committee that the incident happened in the climate of political tension between the IFP and the ANC at Sundumbili in Northern Natal in September 1992, the statement said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 22 1998 - SAPA

URGENT MEASURES TAKEN TO PAY HUMAN RIGHTS VICTIMS, SAYS OMAR

Urgent interim measures recommended by the Reparations Commitee of the Truth and Reconciliation Reparations Committee were being implemented to compensate victims of human rights violations, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Thursday.

While the focus of reparation would be broader than paying money to victims, the significance of compensation should not be underestimated, he said in a statement.

Omar warned that only amnesty applicants who had made full disclosures to amnesty committees would benefit from the generosity of the South African people.

Those who did not could still face prosecution if the director of public prosecutions found sufficient grounds to charge them.

Omar said the TRC had been a tremendous success, and had been able to establish the truth.

"While the process has been painful, it has been one of immense historical significance.

"It has provided us as a nation with the unique opportunity to reflect on our past in a collective way and paved the way for a more promising future."

After functioning for almost three years, the TRC will submit its final report to President Nelson Mandela next Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 23 1998 - SAPA

PAC CRITICISES POLICE CONDUCT IN THE DEATH OF APLA CADRE

The Pan Africanist Congress in the Eastern Cape on Friday criticised police for the manner in which they conducted themselves in connection with the death of Azanian People's Liberation Army member Mzikayise Mqanqeni.

Mqanqeni's body was exhumed from a secret grave by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Louis Trichardt on Monday last week.

PAC spokesman Gilbert Sineke said in a statement sent to Johannesburg that members of the security police handed the deceased's mother, Veliwe, a mutilated body in December 1988. They said it was the body of Mqanqeni, who died in March that year. She then buried the body in Mdantsane.

Sineke said when Veliwe Mqanqeni on Thursday made enquiries as to what arrangements were being made to remove the body she burried in 1988, she was warned by police not to talk to anybody, including the TRC, about the Mdantsane grave.

"We now call on the TRC and the government to immediately institute an investigation into the matter.

"We also call for the removal of the remains burried in Mdantsane so as to enable the family and the PAC to make proper arrangements for Mzikayise's reburial," Sineke said.

East London police spokesman Captain Sibongile Ndyoko said he was unable to comment on the matter as he had no details. He said the issue would be followed up.

TRC spokesman John Allen said a statement would be issued later.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PINETOWN October 23 1998 - SAPA

ANC SUPPORTERS HAD NO PROOF MAN WAS INFORMER, TRC HEARS

When a group of African National Congress supporters at KwaMakutha in KwaZulu-Natal killed a man they accused of being a police informer, they had no solid proof that it was true, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard on Friday.

Speaking on the last day of his amnesty application hearing in Pinetown, Nkosinathi Emmanuel Ntuli said he was not sure Nhlanhla Msane was an informer. However, when he saw how afraid Msane seemed when he was accused of being one, it was apparent that he was guilty, Ntuli said.

Msane died after being stabbed 25 times on June 17, 1991.

Ntuli said he and fellow comrades had decided they would confront Msane with the rumour and would kill him if it turned out to be true.

He confronted Msane in his minibus taxi as he tried to drive away and asked him to reverse so "the comrades could talk to him".

Msane jumped out. Ntuli stabbed him twice. Msane was chased and stabbed again.

Ntuli did not explain why he stated in his amnesty application that Msane was also stabbed by the waiting ANC supporters.

He said the youths decided to kill Msane without the sanction of the local ANC. The youths said Msane gave KwaZulu police information which led to a comrade being shot dead.

Ntuli added that often an informer would be killed and the ANC told afterwards.

Msane's brother Wellington, a former United Democratic Front and ANC member involved in the party's propaganda at the time, told the commission his brother was a UDF youth congress member.

Ntuli said he could not gainsay that.

Wellington Msane also accused Ntuli of trying to kill him by stoning his car. Ntuli denied this, saying he had never seen him before.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 23 1998 - SAPA

TWO ANC MEMBERS GRANTED AMNESTY

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said on Friday it had granted amnesty to two African National Congress members and a supporter who bombed the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court in May 1987.

In their amnesty applications, Joseph Koelte, Solly Shoke and William Mabele claimed that they were acting on the instructions of former Mkhonto WeSizwe commander and current South African National Defence Force Chief Siphiwe Nyanda.

The committee said in a statement it was satisfied that the trio had acted in furtherance of the ANC's policies and their act was thus one associated with a political objective, as required by the law.

Four policemen died in the attack, Constables Weyers Botha, Kobus Wilkens, T.J Duvenhage and Christoffel Botha.

Other policemen were also injured during the attack.

"Having regard to the political climate at the time and the means used by political organisations or liberation movements to achieve their objectives, we are satisfied that the applicants have met the requirements of Act No. 34 of 1995," the committee said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN October 23 1998 - SAPA

PHOSA RETRACTS OPPOSITION TO TRC AMNESTY

Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa on Friday retracted his opposition to the granting of amnesty to a man who alleges he was part of a plot to assassinate Phosa.

Boy Nkosiyomuzi Gwamanda on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing in Pinetown he had been involved in a 1993 Afrikanerweerstandsbeweging assassination plot which was later abandoned.

Phosa's advocate Talib Mukadam said when Phosa saw a television news clip showing Gwamanda at the Tuesday hearing, he realised this was not the Boy Gwamanda who had come to see him in July or August 1994.

That Gwamanda had information about corrupt Mpumalanga police.

It was evident (the amnesty applicant) Gwamanda had not been lying under cross-examination on Tuesday when he denied ever meeting Phosa, Mukadam said. Phosa no longer opposed amnesty.

However, Patrick Falconer, appearing for various people implicated in Gwamanda's evidence, told the hearing Gwamanda failed to prove a political motive for the alleged plot against Phosa or any of the crimes referred to in his evidence.

Gwamanda has eight previous convictions, the first of which he received when he was 15 years old. He has spent most of his adult life in prison and is now serving a jail sentence for robbery.

It was probable the crimes committed in the Ndwedwe region of KwaZulu-Natal, that Gwamanda said had been politically motivated, had also been committed purely as crimes, Falconer argued.

There was no evidence that KwaZulu-Natal MPL Dingizwe Mfayela had coerced Gwamanda to remain in the area, or ordered him to kill the people Gwamanda said he had ordered him to kill, he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 24 1998 - SAPA

FW IN BID TO GAG TRC

Former President FW de Klerk has launched a last-ditch court bid to stop the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from publishing a damning report implicating him in the covering up of state-sponsored terror bombings.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, De Klerk is to ask the Cape High Court on Monday to stop the commission publishing its finding that he was "an accessory after the fact" to the bombing in the 1980s of Khotso House and Cosatu House.

If the commission goes ahead with this finding, the Sunday Times says, it will pave the way for the prosecution of De Klerk, who has not sought amnesty in connection with the bombings of the buildings, which housed anti-apartheid bodies.

De Klerk's spokesman, Dave Steward, told the newspaper the decision to apply for an interdict was taken after lawyers "exhausted all the alternative avenues".

They met the commission's lawyers in Cape Town this week in a bid to persuade it to excise the damaging finding, but were unsuccessful.

They were also denied a meeting with a commissioner.

In its final report, to be released on Thursday, the truth commission is set to say - according to the Sunday Times - that although De Klerk did not order the bombings, he subsequently came to know about the roles of former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe in the blasts, but failed to report this to the police.

His lawyers are expected to contend that when De Klerk came to know about the bombings, Vlok and Van der Merwe were already in the process of applying for amnesty, and he did not think it necessary to report the matter to the police.

However, the commission's report is believed to include evidence that De Klerk made a statement before this which showed he knew of the roles of Vlok and Van der Merwe prior to their amnesty applications.

De Klerk's lawyers are believed to have persuaded the commission to drop another claim from the report, to the effect that De Klerk was present when former president P W Botha allegedly congratulated Vlok on the bombings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 25 1998 - SAPA

FW TO LODGE COURT PAPERS THIS WEEK

Former president FW de Klerk's last-ditch court bid to stop the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from implicating him in covering up state-sponsored terror could be heard on Tuesday, just two days before the commission is to hand its final report to President Nelson Mandela.

De Klerk's spokesman Dave Steward on Sunday said he expected papers asking for an urgent interdict would be lodged with the Cape High Court on Tuesday.

It was possible that the case would be heard the same day, although this would depend on the court's programme.

Steward confirmed reports in Sunday newspapers that De Klerk wanted the court to stop the commission publishing its finding that he was "an accessory after the fact" to the bombing in the 1980s of Khotso House and Cosatu House.

The commission's finding could pave the way for the prosecution of De Klerk, who has not sought amnesty in connection with the bombings of the buildings which housed anti-apartheid bodies.

Steward said De Klerk's lawyers met their TRC counterparts in Cape Town last week in a bid to persuade it to excise the damaging finding, but were unsuccessful.

In its report the TRC is expected to say that although De Klerk did not order the bombings, he subsequently came to know about the roles of former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe in the blasts, but failed to report this to the police.

However, according to the Sunday Times, the commission's report is believed to include evidence that De Klerk made a statement before this which showed he knew of the roles of Vlok and Van der Merwe prior to their amnesty applications.

TRC spokesman Mdu Lembede said on Sunday that the commission had received no documents from either De Klerk or his lawyers, and was "relying on what we see in the media".

"It makes it very difficult for us to respond to what his lawyers are saying in the media. Until we receive something from them we will not be in a position to comment."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association THOKOZA October 26 1998 - SAPA-AFP

RECONCILIATION ELUDES FORMER BATTLEFIELD

The guns have been silent in Thokoza for years now, but the reconciliation espoused by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) still eludes a community ravaged by the political bloodshed of the early 1990s.

The black township east of Johannesburg was pronounced "a symbol of reconciliation" by US President Bill Clinton when he visited it in April, but residents say the peace has little to do with the TRC.

The truth body is due on Thursday to hand its interim report to President Nelson Mandela, bringing to an end phase one of its task of uncovering human rights abuses and starting the process of bringing national reconciliation.

The residents of Thokoza believe the commission has achieved neither of these goals, when it comes to their own particular community.

Queen Sidu, a local schoolteacher, says part of Thokoza's resistance to the TRC came about because it failed to open an office in the township but instead set up one in neighbouring Vosloorus.

As a result, residents believe the TRC failed to come to grips with the political divisions which polarised the community into separate strongholds of Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) and the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

In those days, Khumalo Street, the main road, was a hellrun down which Katherine Mabizela never knew if she would make it to Johannesburg in the mornings and back to her seven children at night.

Four years down the line, Mabizela can water her roses and talk to friends across the fence without fear, after local leaders in 1995 made peace with their IFP counterparts.

"I think the people just stopped fighting because they were tired of it," she said. "Too many people died."

Henry, an IFP supporter wary of giving his last name, echoes her words, but like her, believes suspicions still linger in the township where some 1,000 people were forced to flee their homes, many yet to return.

"Look, the fighting did not end because of (IFP leader Mangosuthu) Buthelezi or Mandela or because of the commission," he said angrily.

"The people sat together underground and decided to stop it. We were all involved, and we were all wrong. We became tired of it and we ended it."

The TRC had managed little more than to help a few people find out what happened to their friends and relatives, he claimed.

"What is missing for us is to live together and that has not happened yet."

In the middle of the township, a monument has been built to those "who lost their lives or went missing" in the violence. It is inscribed with the names of 688 victims. Past enemies worked together to put up the monument but it has become an unintended symbol of the mistrust that still lingers between the IFP and ANC today.

Two attempts to unveil the monument have failed after displaced residents reacted indignantly to such a show of unity while they have not yet been able to reclaim their houses.

Dumisani Mchunu, a postman, squats in front of the marble slab and traces the names with his finger. He pauses at the name of Sam Ntuli, a popular ANC civic leader who was gunned down in 1991, and says: "Sam was a good man."

Ntuli's widowed mother Janet cries inconsolably when she talks about her son. "I think it will be better if I knew who killed Sam," she says. "The TRC read in the newspapers that Sam died but they did not ask us anything."

She believes IFP members shot her son but has no hope that the truth will come out, nor is she prepared to forgive. "Listen to me, I am Zulu, I speak Zulu, but I hate all the Inkatha people."

"I will sell everything in my house if this money will pay a person to kill the person who killed my son. The thing I want for them is to be dead."

Tlhoki Mofokeng, a project manager at the independent Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, believes that despite what the people of the township say, the TRC has been the inspiration for their tentative steps towards reconciliation.

"The TRC process began to sow the seeds of tolerance," he said. "It may not have completely brought about tolerance but the seeds are already sown."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 26 1998 - SAPA

ANC DENIES IT ATTEMPTED DAMAGE CONTROL

The African National Congress on Monday denied that, like ex-President FW de Klerk, it too was attempting some last- minute damage control ahead of Thursday's release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report implicating parties and individuals in gross human rights violations.

ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe was reacting to speculation that the ANC had leaked the TRC's anticipated findings about it and high-profile members in an attempt to limit the potential damage.

"The ANC would not have leaked it; we would never have thought to do that," he said.

"We don't want to speculate on what the TRC is going to say about us until the final report is made public."

The anticipated findings are set out in a seven-page Section 30 notice, which earlier this month prompted the ANC's leadership to seek a meeting with the TRC.

On Monday the document was leaked to state radio, prompting speculation that - like former President FW de Klerk - the ANC was also attempting damage control.

De Klerk is applying for an urgent interdict to stop the TRC from implicating him in state-sponsored terrorism.

According to the section 30 notice, the TRC is contemplating a finding that the ANC was morally and politically responsible for gross human rights violations.

TRC investigating unit head Dumisa Ntsebeza told Network Radio News that the South African Broadcasting Corporation had acted improperly in broadcasting the contents of the notice.

The commission's legal team would determine whether the SABC had committed an offence by publishing part of the report prior to President Nelson Mandela himself receiving it.

According to the SABC, the TRC acknowledged in the section 30 notice that the ANC was a liberation movement conducting a legitimate struggle against apartheid.

However, according to international conventions, the ANC was accountable for the commission of gross human rights violations.

Although it was ANC policy that the loss of civilian life should be avoided, a number of bomb attacks had taken place where there was a "blurring" between military and civilian targets.

The planting of landmines in rural Northern and Eastern Transvaal could not be condoned, as it invariably led to the loss of life of innocent civilians.

The decision of the ANC's military tribunal to execute enemy agents was also a gross human rights violation. In many instances, suspects were brought before the tribunal without proper attention to due process.

The TRC also detailed various forms of torture used by the ANC, and the severe ill-treatment of a number of ANC cadres in its camps in exile.

The commission found that many people died because of punitive starvation or assault between 1979 and 1989.

The only person to be specifically named in the document was ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela- Mandela, according to the SABC.

The TRC found that the ANC must accept responsibility for the activities of Madikizela-Mandela and her Mandela United Football Club.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 26 1998 - SAPA

ANC, PAC STAND ACCUSED OF STRUGGLE EXCESSES

South Africa's liberation movement stands accused of gross human rights violations during the apartheid struggle, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set to implicate both the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress in abuses.

The TRC, in preliminary findings communicated to the parties last month, said it would hold the ANC, the PAC and their armed wings "morally and politically accountable" for the commission of gross human rights violations between 1960 and 1994.

The final report will be handed over to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday, after parties were given the opportunity to make written submissions in reply to the preliminary findings.

In section 30 notices to the ANC and the PAC - leaked to the media on Monday - the TRC endorsed the international position that apartheid was a crime against humanity.

It acknowledged that both organisation's were liberation movements, conducting a legitimate struggle against the former apartheid state.

In its three-page preliminary findings against the PAC, the TRC said it had found a deliberate strategy on the part of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) to attack civilian targets.

In a sub section titled "attacks on white farmers", the commission said the PAC's strategy in 1993 to drive farmers off the land so that it could be reclaimed by African people had resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians.

"The commission finds that these killings constitute gross violations of human rights, in spite of the PAC's explanation of them as acts of war, for which - according to the director of operations - no regrets and apologies are due by them."

The TRC also blamed the PAC for gross human rights violations committed against its own members.

"The commission finds that during the internal conflict within the organisation... killings and assassinations were carried out on members belonging to different factions within the movement".

It also found the PAC was responsible for killing members within the country who were opposed to their policies, as well as those identified as informers and spies.

The TRC did not name individual PAC members.

However, in its notice to the ANC, its said the party must accept responsibility for the activities of ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and her Mandela United Football Club.

The TRC said although it was ANC policy that the loss of civilian life should be avoided, a number of bomb attacks had taken place where there was a "blurring" between military and civilian targets.

These included the planting of landmines in the Northern and Eastern Transvaal. The ANC's military tribunal decision to execute enemy agents was also a gross human rights violation. In many instances, suspects were brought before the tribunal without proper attention to due process.

The TRC also detailed various forms of torture used by the ANC, and the severe ill-treatment of a number of ANC cadres in its camps in exile.

The commission found that many people died because of punitive starvation or assault between 1979 and 1989.

The commission also found that the ANC was responsible for the killing of political opponents, including members of the Inkatha Freedom Party and the PAC, between 1990 and 1994.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 26 1998 - SAPA

REPORT LEAK ATTEMPT TO GIVE TRC CREDIBILITY: VILJOEN

The leaking of the findings of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission report which holds the African National Congress responsible for gross human rights abuses was an attempt to give the TRC credibility, FF leader General Constand Viljoen said on Monday.

It was also an attempt to give credibility to the report itself, which - by all expectations - would be nothing more than a witch-hunt for Afrikaners, he said in a statement.

The report is due for release on Thursday.

The one-sided way in which the TRC process was conducted indicated that the commission would not condemn ANC human rights abuses in the same way as others.

The ANC's murder of innocent people through bomb blasts, land mine explosions, necklacing and torture, was no more justifiable than any other human rights abuses, Viljoen said.

"If the TRC thus want to talk in its report of a crime against humanity, then they must also declare the ANC's misdeeds as such a crime."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 26 1998 - SAPA

TRC IMPLICATES LIBERATION MOVEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

South Africa's liberation movement stands accused of gross human rights violations, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set to implicate the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress in apartheid-struggle abuses.

In preliminary findings communicated to the parties last month and leaked to the media on Monday, the TRC said it would hold the ANC, the PAC and their armed wings "morally and politically accountable" for gross human rights violations.

The final 3500-page report will be handed over to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday.

The leaks have been interpreted in some quarters as attempts by the ANC at damage control, although this has been denied by party officials.

In others - where the TRC is accused of conducting a witch-hunt against Afrikaners - it is viewed as an attempt to give credibility to the final report itself.

Meanwhile, former president FW de Klerk will apply for an urgent interdict in the Cape High court on Tuesday to stop the TRC from implicating him in state sponsored terrorism.

In last month's section 30 notices to the ANC and the PAC, the TRC endorsed the international position that apartheid was a crime against humanity.

It acknowledged that both organisation's were liberation movements, conducting a legitimate struggle against the former apartheid state.

In its three-page preliminary findings against the PAC, the TRC said it had found a deliberate strategy on the part of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) to attack civilian targets.

The TRC also blamed the PAC for gross human rights violations committed against its own members.

It also found the PAC was responsible for killing members within the country who were opposed to its policies, as well as those identified as informers and spies.

The TRC did not implicate individual members.

However, in its notice to the ANC, the commission said the party must accept responsibility for the activities of ANC Women's League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and her Mandela United Football Club.

It also found that while there was no official ANC policy to target civilians, a number of bomb and landmine attacks had taken place where there was a "blurring" between military and civilian targets. The ANC's military tribunal decision to execute enemy agents was also a gross human rights violation. In many instances, suspects were brought before the tribunal without proper attention to due process.

The TRC also detailed various forms of torture used by the ANC, and the severe ill-treatment of a number of ANC cadres in its camps in exile.

The commission found that many people died because of punitive starvation or assault between 1979 and 1989.

The commission also found that the ANC was responsible for the killing of political opponents, including members of the Inkatha Freedom Party and the PAC, between 1990 and 1994.

In his reaction, ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe denied his party was responsible for the leak and said the ANC did not want to speculate about the findings until the final report was made public.

Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen said the leaks were an attempt to give the TRC credibility.

It was also an attempt to give credibility to the report itself, which - by all expectations - would be nothing more than a witch-hunt against Afrikaners.

"If the TRC thus want to talk in its report of a crime against humanity, then they must also declare the ANC's misdeeds as such a crime," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 26 1998 - SAPA

ALLOW THE TRC TO SPEAK ITS MIND BOLDLY: SAYS OMAR

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be allowed to boldly speak its mind in its final report, even if those views might be incorrect, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Monday.

"If the views are wrong, the wrong aspects will be exposed," he told reporters in Pretoria. "The commission must be allowed to boldly, courageously and without interference speak its mind in the report."

Omar said he did not expect the release of the final TRC report this week to be delayed by an urgent court application against the commission by former president FW de Klerk.

De Klerk is seeking an interdict to stop the TRC from implicating him in state terrorism. The application is expected to be heard in the Cape High Court on Tuesday.

Plans for TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu to present the report to President Nelson in Pretoria on Thursday were going ahead, Omar said.

"We anticipate that nothing will stop that. However, if a court of law were to stop the handing over of the report for any purpose, we will obviously abide by the ruling. We will regret that very much."

Omar said divergent responses to the TRC document were to be expected. This would result in a healthy debate and contribute to the process of reconciliation and nation-building.

Asked about reports that the TRC had resisted alleged attempts by the African National Congress to influence the commission's findings, Omar said he had no divided loyalties on the matter.

"I am personally very proud of the fact that the commission is standing firm, and that it will not allow its report to be influenced by extraneous factors. That adds to the integrity of the process. I fully support the position of the commission in that regard."

Omar said although he often did not agree with the TRC's actions, he respected the commission's integrity. It was surprising that some politicians accused the TRC of being one-sided.

A copy of the report, as well the TRC's recommendations with regard to prosecutions, would be made available to the national director of prosecutions, Omar said.

The contents of the document would be made public at 1pm on Thursday shortly after the handing-over ceremony. Mandela's office received an early copy of the report at about noon on Monday to help the president's speech writers, Omar said.

Journalists would from 6am on Thursday be able to compile reports in advance on the document in a locked venue in Pretoria. They would be released in time for their news reports to be distributed from 1pm.

Omar described the presentation and release of the TRC report as an event of national and international importance.

The TRC had laid an outstanding basis for reconciliation, and every South African should take up the opportunity to contribute to the process of nation-building, Omar said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 26 1998 - SAPA

MANDELA'S OFFICE RECEIVES ADVANCE COPY OF FINAL TRC REPORT

The president's office on Monday received an advance copy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, which will be publicly handed over to President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday.

Director-general in the president's office, Prof Jakes Gerwel, said Mandela would make a statement after receiving the report from TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"For that purpose, we have access to a very advanced copy of what is really a working document," he said.

The 3500-page report, in five volumes, is expected to lay the overwhelming blame for gross human rights violations on successive apartheid governments and their security forces.

However, according to preliminary findings leaked to the media on Monday, the country's liberation movements also stand accused by the TRC.

The PAC and ANC have been notified that they will be held politically and morally responsible for gross human rights violations during the apartheid-struggle.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 27 1998 - SAPA

FW'S COURT BID TO STOP TRC REPORT SET DOWN FOR WEDNESDAY

Former president FW de Klerk's application to the Cape Town High Court to have sections of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report withheld has been set down for Wednesday.

De Klerk's spokesman Dave Steward on Tuesday said the application for an interdict over the report had been set down for Wednesday afternoon. The report is due to be made public on Thursday.

De Klerk began his application to have the report blocked after it emerged from documents leaked to the media that the report would implicate him in illegal actions by the apartheid government.

Steward said lawyers representing De Klerk had served papers on the TRC, which would be given time to allow its lawyers to study De Klerk's case against it.

He said the application was due to go ahead on Wednesday afternoon.

While an out-of-court settlement was not on the cards at this stage, the possibility of such an arrangement could not be entirely ruled out, he said.

The report is expected to implicate De Klerk in the Cosatu House and Khotso House bombings carried out in the 1980s.

According to the TRC report, De Klerk knew of the involvement of ex-law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former security police head General Johan van der Merwe in the bombings, but did nothing about it. In legal terms this would have made him an accessory after the fact, it was claimed.

The 3500-page report is due to be handed over formally to President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 27 1998 - SAPA

TRUTH COMMISSION WASTED TIME AND MONEY: FEDERAL ALLIANCE PARTY

Former South African rugby boss Louis Luyt's Federal Alliance Party on Tuesday condemned the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a waste of time and money.

The party said the TRC had fragmented South Africa at a time when unity and consensus were needed.

Luyt in a statement in Johannesburg said the TRC had failed to achieve reconciliation because of what he termed "the unequal treatment of political parties and individuals".

He said the TRC's resources should have been allocated to fighting crime.

"South Africans are sick and tired of the fixations of the past and wish to concentrate now on decisively defeating crime... to jump-start the economy and to enter the 21st century with confidence in the future."

TRC spokesman Mdu Lembede said it was Luyt's democratic right to voice his opinion, and that it was a pity he did not understand the need for the country's healing process in order for it grow and prosper.

"If he wants to slam the TRC as a waste of time, he is free to do so. It could be a waste of his own time, but I believe for the 31000 people who made Truth Commission submissions, it was a meaningful and healing experience."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 27 1998 - SAPA

TRC REPORT MUST DEAL UNFLINCHINGLY WITH PAST VIOLENCE: DP

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report should deal unflinchingly with past violence, the Democratic Party said on Tuesday.

The report is to be presented to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday.

The "sound and fury" emanating from parties to the conflicts of the past, in anticipation of the report's release, was reminiscent of the panic that broke out in their respective caucuses each time a controversial clause of the TRC Act was dealt with, DP TRC spokeswoman Dene Smuts said in a statement.

However, this signified little and would soon be forgotten.

What mattered was what was in the report and how it was presented.

"We are encouraged by the fact that the TRC has stood its ground against both African National Congress and National Party (Mr De Klerk's) attempts to delay publication," she said.

Smuts was referring to former president FW de Klerk's eleventh-hour High Court bid to have sections of the report withheld.

"But we do have concerns: violence remains part of our present, not only our past.

"If its treatment by the TRC is too philosophical and concentrates exclusively on the system - struggle divide, rather than dealing unflinchingly also with township violence and IFP/UDF-ANC warfare - then an opportunity will have been lost.

"South Africa will go on struggling with the legacy of a past in which violence was chosen as a political tool because we will not have confronted the full consequences of such a choice," Smuts said.

Inkatha Freedom Party spokesman Mangaqa Mncwango said the proposed findings made against the IFP were preposterous and comical.

The TRC would have people believe that the self-protection units (SPU), which were openly established in terms of the law by the erstwhile KwaZulu government to assist police in maintaining law and order at community level, had the secret agenda of mounting a military action to stop the 1994 elections, he said in a statement.

"We do not know whether this ludicrous theory will be repeated in the final report.

"We have responded to this allegation exhaustively, and if it is indeed repeated in the final report, it will be the final proof of the TRC's incompetence and bias... it will do nothing more than reinforce the (IFP's) case against it pending before the public protector," Mncwango said.

TUTU PEACE TRUST FOUNDED

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu has put his name to a South African initiative to promote world peace.

Tutu signed the founding document of the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust in Cape Town on Monday at a ceremony attended by government ministers, South African churchmen and community leaders, according to a statement released on behalf of the trust on Tuesday.

Tutu returned to South Africa from lecturing in the United States to present the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday.

The trust, to be based in Cape Town, would "promote the search for new models of peace and leadership", said Rev Chris Ahrends, director of the trust.

The founding document states that the Peace Trust is an "African initiative, emerging from the South African experience, which will engage in a global search for peaceful co-existence and be committed to harnessing and inspiring leadership skills."

The trust would be driven by the values and beliefs espoused by leaders such as Tutu, who had agreed to be a guiding force in the work of the trust.

A Desmond Tutu Leadership Academy, where leadership skills would be developed, would also be established, Ahrends said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 27 1998 - SAPA

ANC ACCUSES TRC OF CRIMINALISING APARTHEID STRUGGLE

The African National Congress has accused the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of criminalising the liberation struggle by blaming it for gross human rights abuses during the fight against apartheid.

In its 25-page response to a Section 30 notice outlining the commission's contemplated findings that the ANC was morally and politically responsible for gross human rights violations, the party said the TRC had "grossly misdirected itself".

The TRC's findings were also "capricious and arbitrary".

According to the notice leaked to the media on Monday, the ANC has been implicated in among other things the torture and execution of suspected traitors, the killing of civilians in bomb and landmine attacks and fomenting political violence.

The ANC's response - in Sapa's possession - comes amid a growing furore over the TRC's 3000-page final report which is due to be handed over formally to President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday.

The submission to the TRC followed unsuccessful attempts by party leaders to meet the commission.

It accuses the TRC of "grossly misdirecting" itself "through the pursuit of objectives" which were contrary to the commission's founding legislation.

The findings against the ANC were also contrary to fundamental principles of international law, the submission said.

"Whatever the efforts to besmirch our struggle by denouncing it as gross violation of human rights, the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe and the millions of people who were part of this struggle will always be proud of what they did to ensure that, in the process of the destruction of a vile system, they do not themselves resort to vile methods of struggle on the basis that the means justified the end."

The ANC also warned against any attempt to convey a message that especially the Afrikaners were individually and intrinsically bad, because apartheid was bad and had served their interests.

Similarly, it urged the TRC to recognise the fact that many within the SA Defence Force carried out tasks which from their point of view were legitimate military activities.

These SADF members had behaved as soldiers, who were proud of their armed activities, and would not allow their names to be besmirched by suggesting that the war they had waged against the liberation movement itself constituted a gross violation of human rights, the ANC said.

The ANC said the TRC should also note that the apartheid counter-insurgency machinery had inserted itself into the Inkatha Freedom Party and carried out a murderous campaign, "whereas the genuine leaders and members of the IFP had nothing to do with planning or carrying out any acts of violence originally conceived by themselves".

On the findings against it, the ANC said that it was impossible to tell what the TRC understood by "gross violation of human rights" as opposed to what it regarded as legitimate forms of struggle against apartheid. The abuses for which the ANC and its structures were said to be politically and morally accountable, were in fact inseparable from the consequences of the legitimate struggle.

By making findings which in effect delegitimised the struggle against apartheid, the TRC was according legitimacy to real gross violations of human rights committed.

The TRC's view that the ANC should be held responsible for the activities of ANCWL president Winnie Madikizela- Mandela and her Mandela United Football Club was "strange, wilful and arbitrary", the submission said.

"The fact that any individual might consider himself/herself as a member of an organisation, does not necessarily mean this organisation is culpable with regard to activities of such an individual."

The ANC also criticised the TRC for ignoring the fact that the MUFC was infiltrated and heavily influenced by apartheid agents.

The TRC had a solemn responsiblity to contribute to achieving unity and reconciliation and should therefore also note that:

- many of the unacceptable actions apparently carried out by the liberation movements were in fact perpetrated by the apartheid regime and its agents; and that

- black-on-black violence did not originate spontaneously from within organised black formations, but was engineered and fostered by the apartheid regime.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 27 1998 - SAPA

ANC ACCUSES TRC OF CRIMINALISING APARTHEID STRUGGLE

The TRC's findings were also "capricious and arbitrary".

According to the notice leaked to the media on Monday, the ANC has been implicated in, among other things, the torture and execution of suspected traitors, the killing of civilians in bomb and landmine attacks and fomenting political violence.

The ANC's response - in Sapa's possession - comes amid a growing multi-party furore over the TRC's 3000-page final report which is due to be handed over formally to President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday.

The ANC submission to the TRC followed unsuccessful attempts by party leaders to meet the commission.

The submission said the findings against the ANC were also contrary to fundamental principles of international law.

On Tuesday evening, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu defended TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza against ANC criticism of his handling of the Section 30 notice that the organisation received from the TRC setting out its anticipated findings on the ANC.

"As the substantive chairman, I stand by the action of Dumisa Ntsebeza," Tutu said in a statement.

"Each organisation or individual was specifically informed that they could make written, not oral, representations within 21 days of the section 30 notice being served.

"The ANC was given the opportunity of making a written submission and it was firmly informed that no group or individual was being permitted oral representation.

"It is a great pity that the ANC should descend to the level of personal attacks on an outstanding commissioner," Tutu said.

Earlier on Tuesday the ANC accused the TRC of making "baseless allegations and glaring inaccuracies" in its preliminary findings.

The abuses for which the ANC and its structures were said to be politically and morally accountable, were in fact inseparable from the consequences of the legitimate struggle.

By making findings which in effect delegitimised the struggle against apartheid, the TRC was according legitimacy to real gross violations of human rights committed, the ANC said.

Meanwhile in Cape Town, former president FW de Klerk's application to the High Court to have sections of the report withheld has been set down for Wednesday, according to his spokesman Dave Steward.

De Klerk began his application to have the report blocked after it emerged from documents leaked to the media that the report would implicate him in illegal actions by the apartheid government.

Steward said lawyers representing De Klerk had served papers on the TRC, which would be given time to allow its lawyers to study De Klerk's case against it.

While an out-of-court settlement was not on the cards at this stage, the possibility of such an arrangement could not be entirely ruled out, he said.

The report is expected to indirectly implicate De Klerk in the Cosatu House and Khotso House bombings carried out in the 1980s.

Inkatha Freedom Party spokesman Mangaqa Mncwango said on Tuesday the TRC's proposed findings against the IFP were preposterous and comical.

The TRC would have people believe that the self-protection units which were openly established by the former KwaZulu government to help police maintain law and order at community level, had the secret agenda of mounting a military action to stop the 1994 elections, he said in a statement.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

TRC DELETES FW DE KLERK CRITICISM FROM FINAL REPORT

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has decided to delete its criticism of FW de Klerk, South Africa's former state president, from the final draft of the TRC report which is to be released on Thursday.

In a statement on Wednesday, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the 11th-hour decision was taken because of De Klerk's planned urgent application in the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday afternoon - to stop the TRC publishing a finding that he was an accessory after the fact to the bombing of Khotso House and Cosatu House in the 1980s - and did not report this to the police.

De Klerk allegedly became aware that former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok were involved in the bombings.

He has contended that he did not go the police because the two men were in the process of applying to the TRC for amnesty.

"Our contemplated finding on Mr de Klerk had been included in our final draft to our printers - as were all our contemplated findings. This was done in part because of the enormous pressure from the public and the media to have the report available for release tomorrow," Tutu explained.

"However, senior counsel has advised us that if they are to present our defence adequately to the court, they need time to prepare properly for the case, bearing in mind that the documents filed exceed 2500 pages."

"We have therefore instructed our lawyers to approach the court later this afternoon, to ask for a postponement of the matter for some weeks, if possible by agreement with Mr de Klerk's lawyers."

Tutu said the TRC was due to make a decision on its finding in relation to De Klerk at a meeting on Tuesday.

"However, his application for an interdict prevented us from doing this - it would have been wrong in law for us to press ahead when the contemplated finding was before the court," Tutu said.

"As a consequence of our inability to make a finding, we have instructed our printers to excise the contemplated finding on Mr de Klerk from the copy of the report that will be handed to the president tomorrow."

Tutu said it was with very great reluctance that he had agreed to request a postponement and the resultant decision not to finalise the commission's finding in relation to De Klerk at this stage.

"It upsets me deeply. We have been scrupulously fair to Mr de Klerk and we reject the contention that we have been engaged in a vendetta against him. But we must and will respect the courts and his rights under the Constitution. We fought hard for those rights, and we can be proud in South Africa that Mr de Klerk now shares in them," he concluded.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

NAMES REMOVED FROM TRC REPORT

The names of up to 15 people about whom the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had intended to make unfavourable findings had been removed from drafts of the commission's final report, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Wednesday.

However, he said it was ludicrous to suggest - as one Cape Town newspaper did on Wednesday - that the report had been emasculated by censorship because of threats of legal action by perpetrators.

Some of the names had been removed because the TRC was unsure whether those people had received proper notice of the TRC finding, while others had convinced the TRC that its findings should be changed, he said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday he announced that in the face of a court challenge, the TRC had decided to delete its criticism of former state president FW de Klerk from the final draft of the report.

Tutu said more than 400 notices had been sent to people or organisations in terms of section 30 of the TRC Act, to inform them that the commission was contemplating naming them in a way they might regard as being to their detriment.

They were given an opportunity to comment, but at the same time, the TRC had had to send draft material for the report to the printers if it was to have any chance of making it available to the public on Thursday, after it is officially handed to President Nelson Mandela.

"Throughout the process, the sending of material to the printer was done on the basis that the contents could and would be changed in response to representations we received."

In evaluating responses to the section 30 notices, draft material in the report was amended for two basic reasons:

- the commission was not able to establish whether intended recipients of the notices actually received them; and,

- recipients were able to convince the commission in their representations that the findings should be changed or that mistakes had been made.

"No more than 15 names were removed from the draft material in the report as a result of successful representations.

"To suggest that the commission - in complying with the requirements of due process in terms of the law - has emasculated the report, is ridiculous."

The TRC faced legal threats, as it had anticipated, from the scores of lawyers who vigorously engaged the commission, but in no case did the commission capitulate in the face of threats.

He said earlier that the decision to excise the findings on De Klerk had been taken because of the former president's planned application to the Cape High Court on Wednesday afternoon to stop the TRC from publishing the finding that he was an accessory after the fact to the bombing of Khotso House and Cosatu House in the 1980s.

"Our contemplated finding on Mr De Klerk had been included in our final draft to our printers - as were all our contemplated findings.

"This was done in part because of the enormous pressure from the public and the media to have the report available for release tomorrow," Tutu explained.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

FF TO BOYCOTT TRC REPORT FUNCTION

Freedom Front leader General Constand Viljoen on Wednesday announced he would not attend the handing-over ceremony of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to President Nelson Mandela, in protest against what he called the one-sided way in which the TRC process was conducted.

The FF had voted in Parliament against setting up the TRC because it was mainly comprised of African National Congress commissioners, and it was clear the process would become a propaganda exercise and a witchhunt against Afrikaners, Viljoen said in a statement.

The FF initially decided to take part in the TRC process in a constructive manner, and made many contributions to represent Afrikaner interests.

However, the FF now believed that the one-sided way in which the process was conducted meant that it could expect the final report to be of the same nature.

With this in mind, the presence of the party leader at the ceremony would be politically dishonest, Viljoen said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 28 1998 - SAPA

DE KLERK HAD A CASE: HOLOMISA

Former state president F W de Klerk had a case when he decided to take the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to court, United Democratic Movement president Bantu Holomisa said on Wednesday.

He told reporters in Pretoria this could be derived from the TRC's decision to delete its criticism of de Klerk form its final report, due to be released in Pretoria on Thursday.

Although it was De Klerk's right to challenge the TRC, it was hoped he did not intend to doctor the report behind the scenes, Holomisa said.

"At least now we will be in a position to monitor the outcome of this matter, since it is in our courts," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 28 1998 - SAPA

ROELF MEYER DENIES HE IS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR MASS MURDER

United Democratic Movement deputy president Roelf Meyer on Wednesday denied a newspaper report that he would be held accountable for the murders of 60 people in a Western Cape squatter camp in 1986.

Meyer told reporters in Pretoria he was not deputy law and order minister at the time of the incident.

He also denied having received a letter from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission informing him of his accountability, as was reported in an Afrikaans daily newspaper.

"I have not received any letters or any notices of any kind from the TRC," Meyer said.

"The reason the TRC did not send me a letter, is because they are aware of the fact that I was not deputy minister of any portfolio at the time of that incident."

The newspaper reported that Meyer, former defence minister Magnus Malan, former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok, and former national intelligence service head Niel Barnard would be held accountable for the murders of 60 people in the Crossroads squatter camp in May 1989.

It said the four had received notices from the TRC to this end.

Meyer said he had had only one exchange with the TRC - on October 15 when he voluntarily testified on his role as a member of the former government during South Africa's liberation struggle.

UDM president Bantu Holomisa said his party took strong exception to the newspaper report. The information amounted to an attempt to undermine Meyer's credibility, and that of the UDM.

Holomisa said he had also not received any notices from the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

NO RESPONSE FROM TRC TO ANC SUBMISSION: MBEKI

The ANC had received no response from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the written submission it had sent in response to a notice from the TRC advising that it could be implicated to its detriment in the commission's final report, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.

If no response was received by Wednesday, the African National Congress would wait to see the report when it was released on Thursday to ascertain whether its concerns were addressed, Mbeki said, speaking in his capacity as ANC president.

He was replying to questions at a media conference in Cape Town.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

TUTU PRAISES MAGNANIMITY OF GOLF CLUB ATTACK VICTIM

Some of the most extraordinary examples of reconciliation had come from white victims of human rights violations, Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club on the eve of the release of the commission's final report, Tutu singled out Beth Savage - one of the victims of the November 1992 King William's Town golf club attack - as "one of the most extraordinary" examples.

Savage - who after surgery had to rely on her children to feed, bathe and cloth her - was unable to walk through security check points at airports because of the amount of shrapnel in her body, Tutu said.

"It was incredible, sitting there and listening to her say: `This experience enriched my life'."

Savage had said she would like to meet the perpetrator, and had then said: "I hope he forgives me."

Anybody who denigrated a body that at least gave the opportunity for reconciliation needed to "check out their humanity", Tutu said.

He repeated that he was deeply upset by former president FW de Klerk's legal action to have the commission's findings about him withheld.

However, the findings against De Klerk had not been "removed permanently".

"It is something that will be contested in court. That is how strongly we feel about our contemplated finding.

"We might normally have said lets drop it, but we are refusing to do that. We are going to fight this matter quite vigorously."

Tutu said a big regret was that victims of gross human rights violations had to wait for the TRC's final report to be handed over to President Nelson Mandela and tabled in Parliament before they could receive reparations.

If anyone wanted to learn from the South African experience, "I would hope they would find a different way of dealing with reparations for victims".

This was in contrast to the relief given to amnesty applicants, who, if successful, were set free almost immediately.

He would also not wish it on his worst enemy, to be asked to start up "something as messy as this" without any infrastructure, Tutu said.

"If any country wants to go this route, then for goodness sake, ensure the infrastructure is in place."

If the TRC had not happened, then South Africa would be held hostage by the past, Tutu said.

"Five, 10 years down the line, we would have found out, because this is a moral universe, for instance, that Mr Vlok in fact ordered the bombing of Khotso House." The TRC had uncovered enough so that "we can say we have sought to come to terms with our past, as much of it as we can".

"So that we are not held to ransom by those, who for whatever reason, would want to give us tidbits, as and when it was convenient for them, making the country always on tenterhooks.

"Now we know people were abducted, people were killed, people were buried secretly... we know that that kind of thing happened.

"It is going to give us a common history of the past, that violations happened, especially by the state.

"We are not being nasty. The state had considerable power and could have dealt with things differently," Tutu said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

DE KLERK'S TRC APPLICATION POSTPONED

Former state president FW de Klerk says he has achieved his primary purpose of preventing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from including any of its findings against him in its final report, which will be submitted to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday.

De Klerk's urgent application to the Cape High Court to have sections of the TRC's final report withheld, was postponed on Wednesday to March 4 next year.

The postponement - granted by Cape Judge President Edwin King - was made in terms of an agreement reached between counsel for De Klerk and the TRC.

In a statement issued by his spokesman Dave Steward, De Klerk expressed his satisfaction with the order issued by the court.

He was confident he had a very strong case, and that the matter would be resolved to his full satisfaction when it was considered by the court on March 4 - or before then.

Earlier on Wednesday, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a statement that in the light of the court challenge, the body had decided to delete any criticisms of De Klerk from the final draft of the report, which is to be released on Thursday.

De Klerk wants the court to stop the TRC publishing a finding that he was an accessory after the fact to the bombing of Khotso House and Cosatu House in the 1980s.

De Klerk allegedly became aware that former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe and former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok were involved in the bombings.

He has contended that he did not go the police because the two men were in the process of applying to the TRC for amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

NP TO BOYCOTT TRC REPORT PRESENTATION CEREMONY

National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Wednesday announced he would not attend Thursday's presentation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to President Nelson Mandela.

Earlier, the Freedom Front and Inkatha Freedom Party also announced they would boycott the handing-over ceremony.

NP executive director Renier Schoeman said in a statement the decision had been taken because "it has become quite clear to the New NP, in the course of the proceedings of the TRC and its committees, that the TRC process has been a fatally flawed and divisive one, characterised by political prejudice and bias".

It was a widely-held perception among South Africans that the TRC was so heavily biased in favour of the African National Congress that it was in fact nothing more than "the ANC in disguise", reporting to an African National Congress government.

This perception seriously compromised the report, Schoeman said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

TRC HANDING OVER CEREMONY STILL GOING AHEAD

The president's office on Wednesday said the formal handing over of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to President Nelson Mandela was still going ahead, although a postponement could not be ruled out because of a last-minute court challenge by the African National Congress.

Presidential aide Parks Mankahlana told Sapa on Wednesday night preparations were going ahead for Thursday's formal handing over in Pretoria.

However, the president's office was "at the mercy of the courts".

He was reacting to the ANC's High Court application for an urgent interdict to stop the TRC from publishing sections of the report implicating the organisation in gross human rights violations.

"We might have a different decision later on Wednesday or Thursday morning, but for now the ceremony will go ahead."

Mankahlana said he did not believe the situation was a crisis.

"The nation building and reconciliation process is an ongoing one.

"So Mr de Klerk and the ANC, if they think that the TRC is making a finding that is not in the interest of reconciliation and nation-building, it is within their right to point that out and use the channels or the institutions our democracy put at their disposal, in this instance our courts," Mankahlana said.

The handing over of the report was just a ceremony.

"What is important is what the TRC and its processes produces, which must be nation building and reconciliation," he said.

ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe said ANC lawyers were busy drafting the court papers and would apply for an urgent interdict as soon as possible.

The threatened legal battle follows similar action by former president FW de Klerk, whose High Court application for an interdict on Wednesday was postponed until March 4 next year.

TRC spokesman Mdu Lembede told Sapa that all the commission was aware of so far were rumours and questions from journalists.

"It is difficult: we don't know whether they are going to do it or whether it can be done at this hour."

He had just come from a meeting with TRC chief executive officer Biki Minyuku, and Minyuku too had heard nothing but rumours.

The TRC had been approached by neither the ANC nor its lawyers on the issue. Asked if the TRC would oppose the ANC application, he said: "At the moment it's very difficult to say."

The ANC, in a written submission to the TRC following notification that it would be held politically and morally responsible for gross human rights violations, angrily denounced the commission for criminalising the fight against apartheid.

The abuses for which the ANC and its structures were said to be politically and morally accountable, were in fact inseparable from the consequences of the legitimate struggle, a copy of the submission in Sapa's possession said.

By making findings which in effect delegitimised the struggle against apartheid, the TRC was according legitimacy to real gross violations of human rights committed.

The 25-page response to a Section 30 notice accused the TRC of "grossly misdirecting itself".

The TRC's findings were also "capricious and arbitrary" and would "besmirch" the legitimate struggle against apartheid..

The ANC has been implicated in, among other things, the torture and execution of suspected traitors, the killing of civilians in bomb and landmine attacks, and fomenting political violence.

The submission to the TRC followed unsuccessful attempts by party leaders to meet the commission.

- A source at the Cape High Court said he had no knowledge of the matter, and that no court had been booked for any urgent application.

He told Sapa shortly before 7.00pm that staff would leave for home by 9.00pm if no courts were booked.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

REVIEW TRC PROCESS: FF

The time had now come to review the whole Truth and Reconciliation Commission process and to consider a blanket amnesty, Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen said on Wednesday.

Commenting on a last-minute court challenge by the African National Congress to prevent the TRC's final report being made public on Thursday, Viljoen said the FF had been the only party to vote against the establishment of the TRC because it believed it would not bring reconciliation.

What the party had warned against was now becoming a reality, with the entire TRC process collapsing and losing all credibility, Viljoen said.

On Wednesday night, the ANC said it planned to lodge an urgent court interdict in the Cape High Court to stop the TRC from publishing part of its final report implicating the party in gross human rights violations during the fight against apartheid.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 28 1998 - SAPA

DON'T STOP TRC REPORT, SAYS LEON

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission should not be prevented from publishing its full report or the whole exercise would have been a colossal waste of money and effort, and fly in the face of the suffering endured during the long and arduous process, Democratic Party leader Tony Leon said on Friday.

Attempts by the African National Congress to obtain an urgent court interdict to stop the TRC publishing certain parts of its final report - to be presented to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday - constituted a political departure and a clear attempt to keep the truth about gross human rights violations perpetrated by the ANC from the public.

It was a matter of record that if South Africa was to have a better future, "we will have to come to terms with this bloody and damaging part of our past", he said in a statement.

The ANC, as well as the National Party, reneged on commitments made at Kempton Park in terms of the TRC Act.

"They were its leading authors; the DP believes let the chips fall where they may."

President Nelson Mandela and Justice Minister Dullah Omar were now in an unenviable and unjustifiable position.

"It is our sincere hope that they will stand firm, notwithstanding the actions of their own party with regard to this application," Leon said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 28 1998 - SAPA

ANC INTERDICT THROWS TRC'S FINAL REPORT INTO DISARRAY

The African National Congress on Wednesday declared it intended taking legal action to block the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, throwing into disarray plans to release the report on Thursday.

ANC deputy secretary-general Thenjiwe Mtintso said the party was preparing an application for a high court interdict to stop the publication of the report and hoped to have it finalised by midnight on Wednesday.

"Our position is that the entire report should be withdrawn," Mtintso told a media conference in Johannesburg.

The ANC earlier said it intended preventing the TRC from implicating the party in gross human rights violations during the fight against apartheid.

Mtintso said it was not the ANC's intention to silence the TRC, but in terms of the law any party against which an adverse finding had been made by the TRC should be given the opportunity to respond.

"What we can't have is a misrepresentation of the ANC and the national liberation struggle."

She said Thabo Mbeki, as the president of the ANC, had been consulted about the decision.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was deeply saddened by the ANC's plan to proceed with court action.

Tutu, who returned from the United States to personally hand the report to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday, said the TRC had not received any official notification about the ANC plans.

Speaking at a media function in Pretoria on the eve of the release of the report, he said the mood of celebration had been marred by the news of the ANC's planned court action.

"A pall hangs over most of us because we believe that this process deserved a glorious ending and now we are speculating as to what will happen next," he said.

Tutu said the report would be released on Thursday unless the TRC received court orders to the contrary.

Earlier on Wednesday the TRC suffered another blow when it temporarily conceded defeat in a similar battle with former president FW de Klerk, whose high court application for an interdict was postponed until March 4 next year.

Tutu said in view of De Klerk's court challenge to stop the commission implicating him in state-initiated bomb attacks, any criticisms of the former president would be removed from the report released on Thursday.

The TRC would however fight De Klerk for the right to publish the parts of the report which concerned him, Tutu said

"It is something that will be contested in court. That is how strongly we feel about our contemplated finding. We might normally have said let's drop it, but we are refusing to do that. We are going to fight this matter quite vigorously," Tutu said.

Presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said preparations were still going ahead for the report to be formally handed over to Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday.

However, he could not rule out that the situation might change depending on the court ruling later on Wednesday.

"We might have a different decision later on Wednesday or Thursday morning, but for now the ceremony will go ahead."

Mankahlana said he did not believe the situation was a crisis.

"The nation building and reconciliation process is an ongoing one.

"So Mr de Klerk and the ANC, if they think that the TRC is making a finding that is not in the interest of reconciliation and nation-building ...it is within their rights to point that out and use the channels or the institutions our democracy put at their disposal - in this instance our courts," Mankahlana said.

The handing over of the report was just a ceremony.

"What is important is what the TRC and its processes produces, which must be nation building and reconciliation," he said.

Earlier on Thursday the National Party and the Freedom Front said they would boycott the ceremony to hand the TRC report to Mandela.

A statement said NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk would not attend Thursday's ceremony because "it has become quite clear to the new NP, in the course of the proceedings of the TRC and its committees, that the TRC process has been a fatally flawed and divisive one, characterised by political prejudice and bias".

It was a widely-held perception among South Africans that the TRC was so heavily biased in favour of the ANC that it was in fact nothing more than "the ANC in disguise", reporting to an ANC government, and this seriously compromised the report, the NP said.

FF leader Constand Viljoen announced he would not attend the handing-over ceremony in protest against what he called the one-sided way in which the TRC process was conducted.

Viljoen said the time had now come to review the whole TRC process and consider a blanket amnesty.

Commenting on the ANC's court challenge, he said the FF's warning that the entire TRC process might collapse and lose all credibility was now becoming a reality.

Democratic Party leader Tony Leon said if the TRC was prevented from publishing its full report, the whole exercise would have been a colossal waste of money and effort and fly in the face of the suffering endured during the long and arduous process.

Leon said the ANC's attempts to stop the TRC publishing its final report constituted a political departure and a clear attempt to keep the truth about gross human rights violations perpetrated by the ANC from the public.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

ANC'S URGENT APPLICATION TO BLOCK TRC REPORT TO BE HEARD AT 5AM

A Cape Town High Court judge is to hear an urgent ANC application on Thursday morning to block publication of the Truth and Reconcilation Commission's final report, eight hours before it is due to be handed over to President Nelson Mandela.

A court official told Sapa that Judge Wilfred Thring was expected at the court at 4am and would study the application documents before convening the court at 5am to hear the matter.

TRC spokesman John Allen said the commission would oppose the application. TRC laywers were preparing answering affidavits.

Plans to release the long-awaited report at 1pm in Pretoria were thrown into disarray when the African National Congress declared on Wednesday it intended taking legal action to block its publication.

ANC deputy secretary-general Thenjiwe Mtintso told a media conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday: "Our position is that the entire report should be withdrawn."

The ANC said it intended preventing the TRC from implicating the party in gross human rights violationsduring the fight against apartheid.

Mtintso said it was not the ANC's intention to silence the TRC, but in terms of the law any party against which an adverse finding had been made by the TRC should be given the opportunity to respond.

"What we can't have is a misrepresentation of the ANC and the national liberation struggle."

She said Thabo Mbeki, as the president of the ANC, had been consulted about the decision.

TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday said he was deeply saddened by the ANC's plan to proceed with court action.

Tutu, who returned from the United States to personally hand the report to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday, said the TRC had not received any official notification about the ANC plans.

Speaking at a media function in Pretoria on the eve of the release of the report, he said the mood of celebration had been marred by the news of the ANC's court action.

"A pall hangs over most of us because we believe that this process deserved a glorious ending and now we are speculating as to what will happen next," he said.

Tutu said the report would be released on Thursday unless the TRC received court orders to the contrary.

The TRC would however fight De Klerk for the right to publish the parts of the report which concerned him, Tutu said

Presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said preparations were still going ahead for the report to be formally handed over to Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday.

However, he could not rule out that the situation might change depending on the court ruling

"We might have a different decision later on Thursday morning, but for now the ceremony will go ahead."

Mankahlana said he did not believe the situation was a crisis.

"The nation building and reconciliation process is an ongoing one. So Mr de Klerk and the ANC think that the TRC is making a finding that is not in the interest of reconciliation and nation-building, it is within their rights to point that out and use the channels or the institutions our democracy put at their disposal - in this instance our courts," Mankahlana said.

On Wednesday the National Party and the Freedom Front said they would boycott the handing over ceremony.

A statement said NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk would not attend Thursday's ceremony because it was a "widely- held perception among South Africans" that the TRC was so heavily biased in favour of the ANC that it was in fact nothing more than the ANC in disguise.

FF leader Constand Viljoen said the time had come to review the whole TRC process and consider a blanket amnesty.

Commenting on the ANC's court challenge, he said the FF's warning that the entire TRC process might collapse and lose all credibility was now becoming a reality.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRC PAPERS DEFENDING COURT ACTION STILL NOT LODGED

Cape High Court Judge Mr Justice Wilfred Thring was in possession of the African National Congress' application to block publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report implicating the organisation in human rights abuses, but had yet to see the TRC's answering affidavits.

A court official told Sapa on Thursday morning that the TRC's legal counsel had told him at 4.45am that they were faxing their papers to Pretoria for signature.

The TRC intends to defend the ANC's last-minute court interdict to stop the commission from making public sections of a report that accuses the ANC of gross human rights abuses.

When the TRC's documents came back signed they would be presented to the judge.

The official said he understood the judge was "quite anxious" to get the case underway and he expected the matter to start any minute now.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

EMBARGOED RELEASE OF TRC REPORT PUT ON HOLD

The embargoed release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to journalists was on Thursday morning put on hold, pending the outcome of a Cape High Court ruling.

"Until we hear from Cape Town, we will not be able to carry out the plan we have set out for you to look at the five volumes," TRC chairman Archbishop Demond Tutu told reporters in Pretoria.

The delay was caused by an urgent African National Congress application to block publication of the report.

It's action is aimed at preventing the TRC from implicating the ANC in gross human rights violations during the anti- apartheid struggle.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said the Cape High Court was expected to make its ruling before 9am.

Tutu is scheduled to present the final TRC report to President Nelson Mandela at a ceremony in Pretoria at 1pm on Thursday.

Arrangements have been made to give journalists access to the report in a lockup venue from 6am, enabling them to prepare news reports on the document for release after the handing-over ceremony.

Shortly after 6am, Tutu told the dozens of reporters waiting outside the venue at the State Theatre that a vehicle bringing copies of the report was about 40 minutes away.

TRC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza described the ANC's court action as totally unreasonable. He said there had been nothing improper in the TRC's refusal to consider the ANC's last-minute submission in response to the findings against the party.

The ANC repeatedly failed to meet TRC deadlines for the submission of its reaction. In a letter on October 2, the TRC told the ANC to respond no later than October 5.

"They did not observe that deadline. They are totally unreasonable. We have acted properly by taking the view not to consider their (late) submission," Ntsebeza said.

He said the relief the ANC was seeking from the court included postponing the presentation of the report and not publishing it. The ANC also contended that the TRC had not acted within its obligations.

An affidavit outlining the TRC's counter-arguments in the court application was compiled through the night, Ntsebeza said.

"It is based on the fact that the ANC missed several deadlines. The ANC admitted in their own court papers that they had not met their own deadlines," he said.

PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE DECLINES TO COMMENT ON HIGH COURT DECISION

President Nelson Mandela would not comment on the Cape High Court ruling against an ANC bid to block publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana said on Thursday.

The court dismissed the ANC application with costs shortly after 10am on Thursday.

"The President was not consulted by the ANC when the decision was made to go to court, so we therefore feel it has nothing to do with us," Mankahlana told Sapa.

When asked whether President Mandela was angry at being left out of the decision making process, Mankahlana said he would rather not comment.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

PAC LEADER CALLS FOR NEW CHAPTER IN SA'S HISTORY

Pan Africanist Congress president Dr Stanley Mogoba on Thursday appealed to South Africans to close the chapter on the country's past and to concentrate on other challenges.

In a statement marking the official handing over of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to President Nelson Mandela, he said for two years South Africans had lived in the past.

"We cannot, however, remain a nation that faces the past and walks backwards into the future. We have great challenges awaiting us."

These included the battle to resolve the country's crime problem.

"We owe it to ourselves and to posterity to make a clear and determined break with the past," he said.

Mogoba - whose party has been cited in the final report, along with the ANC, as being "morally and politically" responsible for gross human rights abuses during the apartheid struggle - praised the TRC for its positive contribution.

This, he said, was in the manner the TRC had revealed the painful truth of past atrocities and the shocking barbarity of the apartheid era which the country's judicial system was clearly incapable of revealing or bringing to courts of law.

However, he criticised the TRC for also condemning the liberation movements for atrocities allegedly perpetrated during the liberation struggle.

"Although the context of hostilities, war and the struggle for survival is grudgingly admitted, the condemnation is nevertheless made."

Mogoba questioned how people who were fighting and killing to uphold an oppressive and inhuman apartheid system, condemned by the world as a crime against humanity, could be placed on the same scales of justice with the victims of that system.

Although the TRC had revealed a lot of truth, it had not been equally successful in bringing about reconciliation, he said.

"Opening up septic wounds is the first stage towards healing.

"Open wounds, however, must be washed up, mediated and then closed up to allow healing to take place."

Healing would be the task of the whole nation assisted by its various religious communities.

Mogoba suggested that a huge monument of liberty be erected to remember all those who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle for freedom, peace, justice and human rights.

"That would be a fitting historical landmark. That would announce to all that never again will we allow oppression and killing of man by man, woman by woman, and that we offer ourselves as vehicles for spreading peace and human rights all over Africa and the world." © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

FREEDOM FRONT ASKS FOR SPECIAL PARLY DEBATE ON TRC

The Freedom Front had asked National Assembly Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala for a special debate next week on the polarising effect the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process was having on South Africa.

FF leader General Constand Viljoen said in a statement on Thursday this step was taken in the public interest.

His party would ask Parliament to reconsider the whole TRC process and to give attention to the granting of general amnesty as recommended in the interim Constitution.

Parties such as the African National Congress, the National Party and the Democratic Party, with whose approval the TRC process had been instituted, would have to admit during the debate that the process had not brought about reconciliation but rather further polarisation.

The process over the past year had been nothing other than a witchhunt against Afrikaners, and this could not be rectified by mentioning a few ANC human rights violations, Viljoen said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

APARTHEID STATE CONDONED TORTURE AND ABDUCTION

The apartheid state perpetrated institutionalised torture, abduction and assassination, the Truth and Reconciliation report, handed over to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday, says.

In its finding the TRC says the State in the form of the SA Government, the civil services and security services committed gross human rights violations.

These included:

- torture by way of solitary confinement and deliberate infliction of pain;

- abduction, often of people from across the borders;

- severe ill treatment, including sexual assault, harassment and banishment;

- the use of deadly force unnecessarily;

- incursions across borders;

- and state planned and executed assassinations; and the arming of offensives paramilitary units or hitsquads.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRC REPORTS SLAMS STATE AND POLITICAL LEADERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report has blamed the former apartheid state responsible for institutionalised violence but has also held all poltical groupings accountable for the decades of conflict in the country.

The report's findings - released on Thursday - holds the former apartheid state and its allies responsible for the major part of the gross human rights violations committed against the South African people.

The report said that during the period from the late 1970s to the early 1990s the state planned and undertook political assassinations against political opponents.

The Inkatha Freedom Party was accused along with other poltiical groups of colluding with the state in the pursuance of its illegal activities.

No major role-player of the time escaped unscathed as the report blamed a wide range of political parties for their roles in the conflict of the time.

The report accused the Afreican National Congress of gross humans rights violations both in exile and during the course of its armed struggle within the country. It also held the ANC accountable for deaths that occurred within the country after its unbanning in 1990.

The TRC found that the ANC was responsible for killings and assaults on political opponents and contributing to the spiral of violence through the creation of self-defence units.

The Freedom Front, through its leaders General Constand Viljoen and Pieter Groenewald, and Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terreblanche were held accountable for gross human rights violations resulting from inflammatory speeches, arming of supporters, and random attacks.

The TRC also held IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi politically responsible as former KwaZulu Minister of Police and IFP president for the systematic pattern of abuse that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal. The report finds that the former SA Defence Force conspired with the IFP in providing the party with hitsquads to be deployed against opponents of both the IFP and the government of the time.

Former president PW Botha, by virture of his position as chairman of the State Security Council, contributed to and facilitated a climate in which the gross violations occurred and for which he must be held accountable, the report said.

The report described the SSC as an institution in which abuses including political assassinations were planned and carried out.

The report singles out Winnie Madikezela-Mandela for harsh criticism for her role in the formation of the Mandela Football Club. The TRC finds that she failed to account to her community and to political structures, and was politically and morally accountable for the violations committed by club members.

The TRC went as far as to say Madikizela-Mandela herself had been resonsible for committing such gross violations.

The report covers a wide range of subjects including the Helderberg air crash, the third force, secret security funding, and the chemical and biological weapons programme.

The 3500-page report was finally released on Friday after the Cape Town High Court dismissed an application by the ANC to have the release of the report withheld.

A jubilant deputy chairman of the TRC Alex Borraine hailed the decision as a "victory for truth, a victory for human rights".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

CIVIL INSTITUTIONS CRITICISED BY TRC FOR CONDONING APARTHEID

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report criticised several institutions, including the media and the judiciary, for a weak-kneed approach to apartheid.

The report, released on Thursday, said the failure by high-profile institutions to oppose injustice led in no small way to a maintenance of the status quo, and support for the system.

Referring to the judiciary, the report rejected arguments by judges that they were powerless in the face of legislation passed by a sovereign parliament.

The TRC said it regarded this as a flawed argument, it expected a more substantial representation from the judiciary and the legal profession.

"Judges had a choice other than the honorable course of resignation. They could have resisted encroachments (on) basic rights and fairness," the report said.

It found that judges, magistrates and the legal profession were locked into an overwhelmingly passive mindset in the face of the injustices of apartheid.

Criticising the role of the media, the TRC said the mainstream English-language media appeared to adopt a policy of appeasement towards the state, ensuring a large measure of self-censorship.

The Newspaper Press Union appeared reluctant to expose the role of the security forces in human rights abuses. The Afrikaans press, with few exceptions, provided direct support for apartheid and the security forces.

"The racism that pervaded most of white society permeated the media industry," the report said.

Referring to the business sector, the report said it was central to sustaining the state in the apartheid era.

"Certain businesses, especially the mining industry, helped design and implement apartheid policies, while the white agricultural industry benefited from its privileged access to land," the report said.

The TRC accused the business sector of failing to take resonsibility for its involvement in the sustenance of apartheid, while some parts of it benefited directly from the military industry.

Denial of trade union rights to blacks was a violation of human rights.

The TRC called on religious communities to take responsibility for the actions of their followers in conflict inspired by religion. These included military chaplains, and those who perpetrated the myth that apartheid was both a moral and Christian initiative in a hostile world.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

ANC IS MORALLY AND POLITICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES: TRC

The African National Congress was morally and politically responsible for gross human rights abuses committed during the anti-apartheid struggle, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found.

In its final report released in Pretoria on Thursday, the TRC says the ANC must take responsibility for murders committed during its military operations, for killings and maimings as a result of its landmine campaign, and for the murders of suspected informers in its foreign military camps.

It also found the party accountable for the killing of 76 Inkatha Freedom Party office-bearers.

Some members of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, conducted operations using their own discretion and acting outside official policy guidelines, the report says.

In some officially sanctioned operations, mistakes were made for a variety of reasons, including poor intelligence and reconnaissance.

In both cases, civilians were killed, constituting a violation of human rights, the TRC found.

It says it could also not condone the ANC's landmine campaign in the rural areas of the Northern and Eastern Transvaal from 1985 to 1987. The campaign resulted in injuries and deaths of civilians, including farm labourers and children.

The report says the ANC labelled as collaborators members who became state informers, state witnesses in political trials, and askaris. Such individuals were regarded by the party as legitimate targets to be killed.

Further findings in this regard would be made by the TRC's amnesty commission.

The commission also found that the ANC, particularly its military structures, were guilty of gross human rights abuses in its foreign military camps.

"Suspected agents were routinely subjected to torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment, and there were cases where such individuals were charged and convicted by tribunals without proper attention to due process being afforded them, sentenced to death and executed.

"All mutineers who were executed after conviction by military tribunal, irrespective of whether they were afforded proper legal representation, suffered gross violations of their human rights."

The commission found that the ANC's security department routinely used torture to extract information and confesssions from those being held in camps, particularly from 1979 to 1989.

Forms of torture included the deliberate infliction of pain, solitary confinement, and the withholding of water, food and medical care.

Adequate steps were not taken against the perpetrators, the TRC says. It also accuses the ANC of callousness and insensitive conduct for failing to communicate with the families of victims.

The report says the commission investigated the deaths of 289 IFP office-bearers, and found that the ANC, MK and the United Democratic Front were responsible for 76 of these deaths.

The ANC should take moral and political responsibility for creating a climate in which supporters believed their illegal actions were legitimate within the parameters of a "people's war" promoted by the party.

"Violations including killings, attempted killings, arson and severe ill-treatment were committed by ANC supporters against urban councillors and rural headmen, members of the IFP and other people perceived to be collaborators of the system or enemies of the ANC," the report says.

The TRC concedes that the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress were legitimate liberation movements, but says it drew a distinction between a just war and just means.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

APPROVAL OF WARFARE PROJECT WAS GROSS NEGLIGENCE: TRC

The military command under the former government was grossly negligent for approving a chemical and biological warfare programme it did not understand, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found.

Its final report, released in Pretoria on Thursday, said the military was dependent on programme head Dr Wouter Basson - "even at a time when there were sufficient indications that Dr Basson might not be trustworthy".

The report accused retired Surgeon-General Neil Knobel of gross negligence, saying he knew of the production of murder weapons but refused to address the concerns that were raised with him.

Knobel made no effort to understand the medical, chemical and technical implications of a project that cost tens, if not hundreds, of millions of rands.

"Overall understanding of the programme, and its co-ordination and direction, were vested in the hands of one person, Dr Basson."

The TRC found that experts appointed to work on the project were intimidated and threatened, even with their lives, if they stepped out of line.

"An extremely complicated arrangement of front companies supported the programme, part of whose intention was a plan for its own ultimate privatisation."

The TRC said: "The programme made the self-enrichment of individuals possible, and opened the way for a cynical subversion of its ostensible aims in the production of murder weapons for use against individuals."

A management committee co-ordinating the project from 1988 to 1995 knew of the large-scale production of Mandrax and Ecstasy tablets and their purported use, but did not seek to establish the reasons for this.

"It approved of the idea and lent it support directly," the report says.

Using Mandrax and Ecstasy for crowd control contravened international codes, and there was no scientific reason to think they would be effective.

The TRC said Knobel advised the government that it should conceal the existence of the programme, and should continue research for it.

Knobel agreed to the destruction of documents on the activities of the programme.

"Instead, he should have ensured that the details of the programme were recorded and accessible, while limiting their accessibility to authorised persons," the TRC said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

PAC ACCOUNTABLE FOR ACTIONS AGAINST WHITES: TRC

The Pan Africanist Congress should be held accountable for actions directed against civilians and whites committed in the 1970s and 1980s, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found.

"The commission notes but rejects the PAC's explanation that its killing of white farmers constituted acts of war for which it has no regrets and apologies," the commission said in its final report released on Thursday.

It found that such acts did not only constitute a gross violation of human rights, but also a transgression of international humanitarian law.

Acts in the 1970s and 80s were committed mostly by the PAC's military wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army.

These acts included armed robberies by guerilla groups called repossession units, who were tasked with obtaining weapons and goods for subsistence, by means of armed robbery if necessary.

The TRC also found the PAC accountable for activities in the 1960s, which it said unleashed a reign of terror, particularly in the Western Cape townships.

Several groups, including members of the police, traditional chiefs and headmen, as well as white civilians suffered as a result of these actions, committed by the PAC's armed wing Poqo.

Dissident PAC members who opposed the Poqo campaign were subjected to physical attacks and assassinations, the report said.

The commission also found that a number of PAC members were killed in exile, particularly in military camps in Tanzania by Apla cadres acting on high command instructions.

"It finds that members inside the country branded as informers or agents, and those who opposed PAC policies were also killed," the report said.

"All such actions constituted instances of gross violations of human rights for which the PAC and Apla are held to be responsible and accountable."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

TUTU INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL: OMAR

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu had helped to show that the TRC was an independent body, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Thursday.

"You have acted independently and you have acted impartially," he told Tutu at the official handover of the TRC's report in Pretoria.

"We want to thank you for your courage and the way you have projected the work of the commission. You were in a ship journeying in very, very rough seas."

Omar said he knew there had been court challenges against the commission, but the strength of a democracy was that everyone in it subjected themselves to the rule of law.

He said that what had happened "in recent times" - an apparent reference to legal challenges to the TRC by the African National Congress and former state president FW de Klerk - was not a sign of weakness or confusion, but of strength in South Africa's new democracy.

He said the work of the commission was only the starting point of reconciliation and nation building. The process of reconciliation could not be institutionalised into a commission or any other structure, but was the responsibility of all South Africans.

Omar also complimented President Nelson Mandela for deciding on his own initiative to release the report to the public immediately after he had received it, rather than delay it for two months, as he was allowed to do by law.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

UDF ACCOUNTABLE FOR GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: TRC

The United Democratic Front was morally and politically accountable for gross human rights violations committed by its affiliates because it failed to stop such practices, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found.

In its final report, released in Pretoria on Thursday, the TRC said the UDF facilitated the commission of human rights abuses through campaigns and speeches made in its name.

These public statements caused affiliated members to believe they were morally justified in taking illegal actions.

This in turn led to widespread excesses, such as murders (often by means of necklacing) of political opponents, members of black local authorities, police, and the destruction of homes and properties.

The UDF was also held responsible for the violent enforcement of worker stay-aways and boycotts, and political intolerance resulting in violent inter-organisational conflict with the Inkatha Freedom Party and other groupings.

"The UDF and its leadership failed to exert the political and moral authority available to it to stop such practices," the TRC report said.

"In particular, the UDF and its leadership failed to use the full extent of such authority to end the practice of necklacing, committed in many instances by its members and supporters."

The UDF's political leadership had accepted political and moral responsibility for the actions of its members, the TRC said.

"Accordingly, the UDF is accountable for the gross violation of human rights committed in its name."

The TRC found that 5707 people died as a result of political violence from 1984 to 1989. In about 700 of these cases, the victims were necklaced - the practice of killing a person by putting a burning tyre around the neck.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

WINNIE PARTICIPATED IN ASSAULTS: TRC

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the controversial African National Congress Women's League president, personally committed gross human rights violations, and participated in an assault on four youths, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found.

In its final report, released in Pretoria on Thursday, the TRC said Madikizela-Mandela was politically and morally responsible for atrocities committed by the Mandela United Football Club in the 1980s.

The 3500-page report contains a 27-page section on the TRC's special investigation into the activities of the club.

It found club members were responsible for at least 18 killings, and that several of these were launched from Madikizela-Mandela's home.

"The commission finds that Ms Madikizela-Mandela was central to the establishment and formation of the Mandela United Football Club, which later developed into a private vigilante group operating around Ms Madikizela-Mandela, and from her houses in both Orlando West and Diepkloof," the report said.

"The commission further finds that the Mandela United Football Club was involved in a number of criminal activities, including killing, torture, assaults and arson in the community.

"It is the commission's view that Ms Madikizela-Mandela was aware of the criminal activity, and the disquiet it caused in the community, but chose deliberately to not address the problems emanating from the football club."

The TRC said Madikizela-Mandela initiated and participated in an assault on four youths - Stompie Sepei, Kenny Kgase, Pelo Mekgwe and Thabiso Mono - in late 1989.

"The commission finds that Stompie Sepei was last seen alive at the home of Madikizela-Mandela, and that she was responsible for his abduction from the Methodist Manse (in Orlando), and was negligent in that she failed to act responsibly in taking the necessary action required to avert his death."

The TRC found Madikizela-Mandela was involved in, and responsible for, the attempted murder of former football club member Lerotodi Ikaneng in January 1989.

Madikizela-Mandela was also involved in the abduction of Lolo Sono, and had to accept responsibility for his disappearance and that of his relative, Sibuniso Tshabalala, the TRC said.

The commission was not able to verify allegations that Madikizela-Mandela was involved in the murder of Soweto doctor Abubaker Asvat.

Asvat was shot in his surgery in 1989, and Thulani Dlamini and Zakhele Mbatha were convicted of his murder. Dlamini claimed Madikizela-Mandela had contracted the killing.

The Mass Democratic Movement and African National Congress had to accept responsibility for not bringing Madikizela-Mandela into line, the TRC said. It recognised the enormous contribution she had made to the liberation struggle, and that she had suffered torture, imprisonment and persecution at the hands of the former government.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 29 1998 - SAPA

COALITION OF NGO'S CONCERNED BY LEGAL ACTION OVER TRC REPORT

The Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society Organs said on Thursday it was concerned by the political parties who resorted to legal action to fend off a political fall-out which they feared could result from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's findings.

The TRC report was released in Pretoria on Thursday despite an urgent application lodged by the African National Congress in the Cape High Court to prevent certain portions of the report, accusing the organisation of gross human rights violations, from being released.

The application was dismissed with costs.

Former state president FW de Klerk earlier also lodged an application to prevent sections in the report implicating him in gross human rights violations from being published.

The TRC agreed to withhold these sections until the court case resumes in March.

On Thursday the coalition said the TRC, in acceding to the pressure and demands to remove the names of alleged perpetrators from their findings, ultimately paved the way for the ANC to follow De Klerk's example.

"While it is understandable that they are reluctant to face their own past when the National Party has managed to squirm out of many of its shameful responsibilities, we believe the ANC has effectively given up the moral high ground in the process."

The coalition said it did not doubt that the TRC report was an imperfect document of which they would have many criticisms.

"Nonetheless, we would be shocked if the report was so unsubtle as to morally equate the human rights violations of apartheid with those of the struggle against it."

It said it was no surprise that the NP continued its strategy to silence the voices of victims of the past through court actions, but what was even more surprising was that the ANC now also adopted this stance.

"If this succeeds, the narrow confines of legal truth will have triumphed over the recovery of a popular and complex history of oppression."

The coalition said in the process the TRC was partly reaping what it had sowed because it utterly failed to build working relationships with NGOs and other organs of civil society.

"The fact that the TRC now represents a lonely figure in the face of broad political attacks is also a reflection of their failure to build broad civil society support," the coalition stated.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

MANY QUESTIONS TO BE CLEARED UP OVER SAMORA MACHEL'S DEATH: TRC

Many questions remain unanswered about the air crash that claimed the life of Mozambican President Samora Machel in 1986, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in its final report released on Thursday.

It said the possibility of a false beacon and the absence of a warning from the South African authorities had not been cleared up and required further investigation.

A total of 25 people died on October 19, 1986, when Machel's presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain south of Komatipoort. A South African investigation blamed the accident on a pilot error, while a Soviet team found that a decoy beacon had caused the plane to stray off course.

The TRC said its own probe did not find conclusive evidence to support any of these findings.

"Circumstantial evidence collected, however, question the conclusion reached by the (South African) Margo Commision."

The TRC said Machel warned former Malawi president Hastings Banda to stop his alleged activities in Mozambique about a month before the crash. Malawi was accused of assisting the Mozambican rebel movement Renamo, which was in some quarters regarded as a surrogate of the former apartheid government.

Machel's widow Graca told the TRC that an earlier threat by Machel to close Malawi's access to the sea was believed to have prompted the Malawi government to consider the possibility of assassinating Machel.

"According to Ms Machel, who gave a moving testimony, this proposal was later put to President Banda," the TRC said.

"The following week, Banda dispatched his senior officers to South Africa for a meeting with (former) President PW Botha, who sent back a message of solidarity."

There was no doubt that Machel was under great pressure at the time of his death.

"Ms Graca Machel confirmed previous attempts on his life, attacks on his residences and attempts by South Africa to attack the Mozambican capital," the TRC said.

It also found evidence that a large number of South African special forces troops converged in the Komatipoort area on the night the crash.

A former Military Intelligence officer testified that senior officers held a braai at an MI base, Skwamans, near Komatipoort the day before the accident.

He said they left in a small plane, and some returned after Machel's aircraft had crashed.

"In a sworn statement, he provided the names of (former defence force chief) General Kat Liebenberg, (former) Foreign Minister Pik Botha, and General van der Westhuizen of MI."

An independent source confirmed that Skwamans was closed shortly after the accident, the TRC said. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

TRUTH REPORT HANDED TO MANDELA

The 3500-page final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was officially handed to President Nelson Mandela at a ceremony in Pretoria on Thursday, after the Cape High Court rejected a last-minute bid by the African National Congress to block its publication.

The five-volume document, representing years of work by the commission, was handed to Mandela by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu at a ceremony in the Sammy Marks auditorium in the heart of the city.

Mandela told invited guests that he accepted the report "as it is" with all its imperfections.

"The Commission was not required to muster a definitive and comprehensive history of the past three decades. Nor was it expected to conjure up instant reconciliation - and it does not claim to have delivered these.

"Its success in any case depended on how far all of us co-operated with it," Mandela said.

He was confident the commission had laid a foundation for reconcilation.

"I therefore take this opportunity to say that I accept the report as it is, with all its imperfections, as an aid that the TRC has given to us to help reconcile and build our nation."

Reconciliation required that South Africans worked together to defend democracy and the humanity proclaimed by the Constitution.

"It demands that we join hands, as at the job summit tomorrow, to eradicate the poverty spawned by a system that thrived on the deprivation of the majority," he said.

He acknowledged that the wounds of the period of repression and resistance were too deep to have been healed by the TRC alone, "however well it has encouraged us along that path."

Consequently, the TRC report should be a call to all South Africans to celebrate and strengthen what had been done as a nation as the country's terrible past was left behind.

Before handing over the report, Tutu called on all South Africans to accept it in the interests of reconciliation and healing.

Many would be upset by the report and some had even sought to discredit it pre-emptively, he said.

"If they were to succeed, what is that to the point?"

It would not change the fact that they had killed and tortured people, bombed places like Khotso House, killed their own people in the camps in Tanzania and Angola, and necklaced people.

"Those are not inventions by this commission. That is what the perpetrators themselves told us," Tutu said.

"No, dear fellow South Africans, accept this report as an indispensible way to healing. Let the waters of healing flow from Pretoria today as they flowed from the altar in Ezekiel's vision...to cleanse our land, to cleanse its people and to bring unity and reconciliation."

Justice Minister Dullah Omar told the gathering Tutu had helped to show that the TRC was an independent body.

"You have acted independently and you have acted impartially. We want to thank you for your courage and the way you have projected the work of the commission. You were in a ship journeying in very, very rough seas."

Omar said he knew there had been court challenges against the commission, but the strength of a democracy was that everyone in it subjected themselves to the rule of law.

He said that what had happened "in recent times" - an apparent reference to legal challenges to the TRC by the ANC and former state president FW de Klerk - was not a sign of weaknes or confusion, but of strength in South Africa's new democracy.

Both Mandela and Tutu received a standing ovation from the about 300 invited guests, including cabinet ministers, MPs and diplomats. However, several political parties - including the National Party, the Freedom Front and the Inkatha Freedom Party - did not attend, having said beforehand they would not be there.

All three have expressed serious reservations about the way the commission operated.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

PW KEEPS SILENT AS TRC BRANS HIM HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSER

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission finding branding PW Botha one of the country's worst human rights violators drew no reaction on Thursday from the man who led South Africa through some of the darkest years of apartheid repression.

An aide at the former state president's Wilderness home told Sapa it was unlikely that Botha would comment.

She declined to say whether Botha had shown any interest in Thursday's formal handover of the report in Pretoria.

Botha's lawyer, Ernst Penzhorn, said he was unaware of the findings as he had been tied up in consultations the whole day.

"I think Mr Botha won't have anything to say until we have studied the report," he said.

Botha, who ruled South Africa from 1978 to 1984, was accountable for a litany of human rights violations, including the bombing of Khotso House, the TRC's report said.

The TRC found that Botha had personally ordered former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe to bomb the headquarters of the South African Council of Churches.

No one was killed in the bombing, but the building was destroyed.

Botha's action greatly enhanced the prevailing culture of impunity and facilitated gross violations of human rights by senior security force members.

By virtue of his position as chairman of the State Security Council (SSC), Botha had contributed to and facilitated a climate in which gross human rights violations had occurred and for which he must be held accountable.

The report described the SSC as an institution in which abuses, including assassinations, were planned and carried out.

Botha was also held accountable for the 1982 bombing of the African National Congress' London headquarters, and a 1981 attempt to overthrow the government of Seychelles.

The 3500-page report also contains numerous other incriminating references to abuses perpetrated by Botha's government.

Botha, 82, has steadfastly maintained that he has nothing to apologise for and has described the commission as a circus.

Earlier this year he refused to appear before a special TRC inquiry into the SSC, and was prosecuted for ignoring a subpoena to appear before the commission.

He was convicted in the George Magistrate's Court on August 15 and sentenced to a R10,000 fine or a 12-month jail sentence, but has appealed to the Cape High Court.

He received a further 12-month jail sentence suspended for five years on condition that he did not disobey further TRC subpoenas.

Botha might yet be subpoenaed to appear before the commission's amnesty committee, which will continue hearings for another four months.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Oct 29 1998 - SAPA

WEALTH TAX PROPOSED BY TRC

A wealth tax and once-off levy on corporate and private income are among recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its final report, released on Thursday.

The TRC recommended that ways should be sought of compensating those who suffered under apartheid. Apart from a wealth tax and a once-off levy, the TRC proposed that companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange made a one percent donation of their market capitalisation.

Other suggestions were a retrospective surcharge on corporate profits extending back to a specific date, a surchage on golden handshakes given to senior public servants since 1990, and suspension of tax on all land occupied by previously disadvantaged communities.

The TRC referred to South Africa's massive foreign debt, which it said was the responsibility of the previous government. It called for reconsideration of the repayment of capital and interest, which was a crippling burden on the national fiscus.

The report called on the Minister of Finance to investigate whether the Sasria fund, contributed to by business during the apartheid years, could be used for reparation, reconstruction and development. The Sasria fund was special insurance for riots and political risk.

The TRC recommended that the business community undertake a study of unused land, possibly making it available to landless people.

Other recommendations by the TRC included prevention of a recurrence of gross human rights violations, rehabilitation of perpetrators, and healing of victims.

The report recommended that the government accelerate the closing of the "intolerable gap" between advantaged and disadvantaged communities.

"It will be impossible to create a meaningful human rights culture without high priorby the public and private sectors," the report said.

The TRC recommended that those who benefited from apartheid should contribute to alleviating poverty.

It referred to the high level of crime in the country, which it said was militating against the establishment of a human rights culture. It called on the government to introduce community policing at all levels as a matter of urgency.

It said the high level of corruption was also a barrier to a human rights culture, and called for a ruthless stand against it in the public and private sectors.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS STILL DESTROYED IN NOVEMBER 1996: TRC

Government documents were being destroyed as late as November 1996, despite government moratoria imposed the previous year to prevent this, the Truth and Reconciliation commission revealed on Thursday.

In its final report released in Pretoria, the TRC said the National Intelligence Agency was still systematically demolishing documents about two years ago.

"Culpability lies with the officials directly responsible, but the agency's top management must be held accountable," the TRC document said.

The commission said the former cabinet in 1993 officially sanctioned the mass destruction of state documents, which already started in 1990.

"The intention was to deny a new government access to apartheid secrets through a systematic purging of official memory.

"The former government deliberately and systematically destroyed a huge body of state records and documentation in an attempt to remove incriminating evidence and thereby sanitise the history of oppressive rule."

The TRC said apartheid-era bodies who took part in this mass destruction included the security branch of the police, the National Intelligence Service, intelligence services of the former homelands governments, the State Security Council, the SA Defence Force, Military Intelligence, the Department of Prison Services and the Department of Justice.

The report stated that the former State Archives Service should be held accountable for indecisive and ineffective steps it took to halt "the destruction endeavour".

"While there is evidence that SAS attempted to secure a degree of professional autonomy, it is highly improbable that apartheid imperatives did not mould selection decisions."

Head of the Security Secretariat Johan Mostert should also be held accountable, because he had sent a circular to all government departments in July 1993 recommending the destruction of classified documents.

The TRC said liberation movements failed to exercise all the leverage at their disposal to stop the destruction.

The loss of documents had a severe impact on South Africa's social memory, the commission said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

LUBOWSKI PARENTS DISAPPOINTED IN TRC

The mother of slain Swapo activist Anton Lubowski said on Thursday she was deeply disappointed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Molly Lubowski, 74, said she was not aware of the details of the TRC report handed to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday, but she did not expect much from it.

"We went (to the TRC) with our troubled hearts and asked for help, but we didn't get anything," she said from her Cape Town home.

She and her husband Wilfried had heard that three of the men responsible had appeared twice in camera before the TRC in Cape Town.

"We don't know what happened, nothing; at least they could have told us," she said.

"I know they didn't ask for amnesty.

"We are still hanging in the air after nine years and we are so disappointed.

"They never answer us; they never answer our letters, we don't know what to do."

She had believed from the start that the murder had been plotted in South Africa and carried out in Namibia, by members of the Civil Co-operation Bureau, when the territory was still under South African jurisdiction.

She asked why the murderers could not be prosecuted here.

Irishman Donald Acheson, the only man ever officially charged with his murder, was arrested shortly after the murder, but released after a Namibian judge could not find any evidence directly implicating him.

When the first judicial inquest before now retired Judge Harold Levy was held in 1992, he named nine men of the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) Region 6 as Acheson's likely accomplices: Joe Verster, Chappies Maree, Ferdi Barnard, Staal Burger, Johan Niemoller, Calla Botha, Abraham "Slang" van Zyl, Dr Wouter Basson and Charles Neelse Wildschudt.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

HANI KILLERS APPEAR TO HAVE ACTED ALONE: TRC

There was no evidence that the killers of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani took orders from higher rightwing echelons, says the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report released on Thursday.

It said no indications could be found that they acted on the instructions of international groups or the security forces.

Former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis and Polish immigrant Januz Walus are serving life sentences for Hani's assassination outside his Boksburg home in 1993.

The TRC said allegations still abounded that the murder was part of a wider conspiracy.

Some of those alleged to have been involved were implicated as being part of a so-called Inner Circle, comprising 67 members of special forces and Military Intelligence. It was allegedly set up in July 1990.

Derby Lewis and Walus had strong ties with the World Apartheid Movement and the World Preservatist Movement. Both bodies were suspected to have been SA Police fronts.

The report said: "The commission was unable to find evidence that the two murderers... took orders from international groups, security forces or from higher up in the rightwing echelons."

In another chapter on assassinations, the TRC said a former high-ranking MI officer testified that he attended at least one meeting of senior generals where a plan for Hani's killing was presented.

The plot was vetoed because the safety of Hani's family could not be guaranteed.

The TRC's finding was that Hani was targeted for elimination by South African security forces, and that they were responsible for several attempts on his life in Lesotho in the early 1980s.

The report said righting leaders such as Eugene Terre'Blanche, Constand Viljoen and Pieter Groenewald were accountable for gross human rights violations.

This finding was made by virtue of their leadership positions in movements and organisations striving for Afrikaner self-determination, the TRC said. These included the Afrikaner Volksfront that comprised a broad spectrum of rightwing groups.

"The commission finds that the AVF was responsible for the commission of gross violations of human rights... between April 1993 and May 1994."

Such actions were aimed against supporters of organisations not favouring self-determination, such as the African National Congress, the National Party, and the SA Communist Party.

Violations committed by rightwingers included random attacks on blacks, the AVF invasion into Bophuthatswana in 1994, and the pre-election bombings that year, the TRC said. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Oct 29 1998 - SAPA

WYNAND MALAN GIVEN MINORITY VIEW ON TRC PROCESS

TRC commissioner Wynand Malan submitted a minority position in the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report because he differed from the rest of the commission on certain aspects.

In the recommendations in his addendum to the report, Malan said he had done this so as to facilitate a debate on some of the issues.

He differed from the rest on the commission on the question of whether reparations should be given to victims in cash. He argued that the granting of cash sums did not take into account the particular needs of the victim.

Malan also takes issue with the question of the amnesty process for security force members involved in cross border raids. He said officers withheld information about cross border raids because of the threat of extradition to neighbouring countries.

He said he did not agree that retired and serving officers should face this type of persecution and believed it could result in destabilisation within the security forces.

He said the matter could not be left unresolved and to allow the law to takes its course would spell disaster. He said most of these raids were carried out by operatives who had sworn loyaltly to the country and its constitution. They had now accepted the new power realities brought about by the new constitution.

He said President Nelson Mandela should urgently place the matter on the agenda of the Southern African Development Community for attention and resolution.

There have been suggestions during amnesty applications by officers involved in cross border attacks that even if granted amnesty they may be extradited to the country in which the attack occurred.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN October 29 1998 - SAPA

COURT RULING A VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH: LEON

The Cape High Court's decision to dismiss the African National Congress' bid to block publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report was a victory for free speech in South Africa, Democratic Party leader Tony Leon said on Thursday.

"If the TRC cannot speak its mind, who can?," he said in a statement.

Leon, who attended the formal handing over of the report in Pretoria, said he was disappointed that fewer than half the Cabinet had deemed it necessary to attend such a nationally symbolic occasion.

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's absence indicated that some within the ANC might have decided to vote with their feet rather than face the truth.

"Clearly for them, when it came down to a choice between the nation and the ANC, they chose the ANC," he said in a statement.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 29 1998 - SAPA

THIRD FORCE FOMENTED VIOLENCE: TRC

While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission found no evidence of a centrally-directed "third force", it says a network of serving and former security force members fomented violence during the 1990s.

The final TRC report, released on Thursday, said the network collaborated with rightwing elements and Inkatha Freedom Party members to initiate and facilitate violence.

Although they did not appear to be a coherent and formally constituted a third force unit, there was evidence they were involved in third force activities.

The report said the network often operated with the active collusion or knowledge of senior security force personnel - and the former government either deliberately, or by omission, failed to act against them.

The TRC said the success of third force attempts to generate violence was at least in part a consequence of extremely high levels of political intolerance, for which both the liberation movements and other structures such as the IFP were politically accountable.

The report found that the former SA Defence Force, in collusion with the IFP, set up and trained hitsquads to attack opponents of the IFP and of the former government.

The TRC found that the establishment of paramilitary groups in KwaZulu-Natal resulted in gross human rights violations. The TRC named former Defence Minister Magnus Malan, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the IFP's "MZ" Khumalo, along with former SADF members Andries Putter, Louis Botha, Pieter Groenewald, Cornelius van Niekerk, and Mike van den Berg, as being accountable for such violations.

The report also named a long list of high-ranking IFP officials for their part in hitsquad activities in northern KwaZulu- Natal in the early 1990s.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA October 30 1998 - SAPA

TUTU PROPOSES CUT-OFF DATE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PROSECUTIONS

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday proposed a cut-off date for prosecutions of people guilty of apartheid human rights abuses.

Speaking at a news conference in Pretoria, Tutu said a time limit, determined by statute, should placed on finalisation of human rights trials after the amnesty process was completed.

He was referring to a recommendation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report on Thursday, calling for the prosecution of perpetrators of human rights violations who had not applied for amnesty, or who were denied it. Tutu said the principle of accountability had to be acknowledged, so the prosecution of wrongdoers had to go ahead.

Although the TRC did not support the granting of a blanket amnesty, he said, there should be a time limit placed on the period in which the prosecutions were finalised. He said this should be done by passing legislation to determine a cut- off date at which prosecutions would stop. He suggested a period of two years, after the end of the amnesty process in March next year, might be suitable.

"We do not want the country to become mired down in a long process where details of the past are continually recalled," Tutu said.

"It is possible that a few might slip out of the net, but that's just lucky for them. They will still have to face their consciences."

Referring to the ANC's last-ditch attempt to stop the release of the TRC report by applying to the Cape Town High Court on Thursday, Tutu he had been upset by the grounds on which the order was sought.

Tutu said he had no problem with the decision of the African National Congress to apply to go to court, but said he was offended by the grounds on the which the application was made.

"It was twaddle, absolute twaddle," Tutu said, referring to the ANC's claim that it had not been given an opportunity to respond to some of the negative findings about it in the TRC report. Tutu said the ANC may be the ruling party in the country, but that did not give it any special privilege.

He warned that the country should be vigilant to ensure there was not an abuse of power.

"There is no way we came assume that the oppressed of yesterday may not become the oppressors of today," he said - there had already been examples of this in the world.

He said he wanted the ANC to be a successful government, but was not willing to support it at any cost.

Tutu is due to speak at the Johannesburg Press Club on Friday night, where he will receive the club's Newsmaker '98 award on behalf of the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

DERBY-LEWIS, WALUS DENY TIES WITH WORLD APARTHEID MOVEMENT

Clive Derby-Lewis and Januz Walus, who are serving life sentences for the killing of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, on Friday denied claims in the TRC report of links with the World Apartheid Movement and the World Preservationist Movement.

Gaye Derby-Lewis in a statement on Friday said her husband and Walus emphatically denied any connection with either of the movements.

They also never had any dealings with the leader of the organisations, Koos Vermeulen, she said.

Vermeulen offered to pay Walus' legal fees when he was arrested, and in so doing publicly endeavoured to connect his organisation to Walus, but at no time did Vermeulen contact either Derby-Lewis or Waus or made any contribution to their legal fees, she said.

"It must be noted that at no time during their lengthy amnesty hearing was this so-called connection brought up either by (the Hani family) attorney or the amnesty committee itself.

"It can be safely said that if there were the slightest sign of a connection, much would have been made of it.

"It is thus strange that this latest TRC report should make this connection, seeing that no evidence supports this assumption," Gaye Derby-Lewis said.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in its final report handed to President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on Thursday, said Derby-Lewis and Walus had strong ties with the World Apartheid Movement and the World Preservationist Movement.

Both bodies were suspected to have been SA Police fronts.

The report said no indication could be found that the two men acted on the instructions of international groups or the security forces.

Derby-Lewis, a former Conservative Party MP, and Walus, a Polish immigrant, are serving life sentences for Hani's assassination outside his Boksburg home in 1993.

The TRC said allegations still abounded that the murder was part of a wider conspiracy.

Some of those alleged to have been involved were implicated as being part of a so-called Inner Circle, comprising 67 members of the special forces and Military Intelligence. It was allegedly set up in July 1990.

The report said: "The commission was unable to find evidence that the two murderers received orders from international groups, security forces or from higher up in the rightwing echelons."

Derby-Lewis on Thursday said the TRC statement that her husband and Walus did not take orders from higher rightwing echelons was discussed at their amnesty hearings. "It was never a contention that they did and they did not give evidence to this effect."

She said they applied for amnesty on the basis that the act was committed on behalf of or in support of a publicly-known political organisation as was required by the amnesty legislation for them to be considered for amnesty.

"It was on this basis that they applied for amnesty and that they performed the deed in suppport of and on behalf of the Conservative Party.

"There was never any talk of instructions being given by the CP," Gaye Derby-Lewis said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

MEDIA WELCOMES TRC FINDING FOR LESS MEDIA LEGISLATION

Independent Newspapers on Friday welcomed a TRC recommendation for less media regulation rather than more, and endorsed the call for a review of legislation affecting the free flow of information, freedom of expression, and diversity of opinion.

Independent Newspapers CEO Ivan Fallon on Friday reacted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's findings on the media, calling for the scrapping of section 205 of the Criminal Procedures Act.

The TRC in its final report released in Pretoria on Thursday recommended scrapping the section, under which journalists who refuse to identify their sources can be jailed, and said there should be less legislation controlling the media.

Fallon said: "We particularly welcome the commission's call for the repeal of section 205, which has hung over the heads of South African journalists for far too long.

"We hope the government will act swiftly on this, in the light of the current court case involving the editors of the Cape Times and the Cape Argus.

"We take seriously the recommendations on cases of journalists who were paid, or are still paid, by state agencies, and will be discussing this with editors and staff to develop a proper process," said Fallon.

He said the TRC made helpful suggestions on diversification of the media, particularly the suggestion of an editorial charter for journalists.

Fallon said Independent Newspapers had travelled a long way since being the first newspaper company to submit a report to the TRC last year. In the report, the company expressed regret for its past shortcomings.

"I am proud of the progress we have made since then with our own employment equity and empowerment programmes, which are aimed at ensuring that more better-skilled and qualified black people and women are employed on all our titles," Fallon said.

The TRC said the limitations on the media in the apartheid era played an important role in facilitating gross human rights violations since 1960.

This, the report said, deprived South Africans of their right to a free flow of information and ideas, and in so doing it created circumstances that promoted human rights abuses.

The laws and limitations contributed to an atmosphere that promoted self-censoring in the white media.

Journalists therefore did not dig deep enough into allegations of human rights abuses, and they did not speak out loud enough when evidence of such abuses was uncovered.

The TRC said the responsibility for carrying out its recommendations rested with the state, unions, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, and media institutions. The TRC recommendation on section 205 is in line with the code of conduct of the International Federation of Journalists, which says journalists must maintain strict professional secrecy over their sources.

The TRC recommended that recruitment of journalists by any state intelligence or security organisations - or payment by them to journalists - should be illegal.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

COUNCIL OF CHURCHES WELCOMES TRC REPORT

The SA Council of Churches on Friday welcomed the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.

The council said in a statement that while decrying attempts to stop the publication of the report on Thursday, the SACC rejoiced in the freedom that made such attempts possible.

"The report is a story of our past. A story of shame and of heroism, a shared story in which we all, those named and those not, have a place."

The council said the report should be used as a doorway to a glorious future where radical changes to South Africa's past relationships would become part of the country's new shared experience.

"The uture belongs to us all just as much as our past."

The council called on all South Africans to dedicate themselves to the eradication of all the divisions, inequalities and injustices of the past.

"The same heroism of the past (should be reformed) to face our future together as the people of God."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

IFP THREATENS COURT ACTION AGAINST TRC

The Inkatha Freedom Party on Friday threatened to take legal action against the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for implicating its leaders in human rights violations.

In its final report released in Pretoria on Thursday, the TRC found that the former SA Defence Force, in collusion with the IFP, set up and trained hit-squads to attack opponents of the IFP and of the former government.

It said IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi together with top security officials were accountable for human rights violations.

IFP spokesman Albert Mncwango said in a statement on Friday if Buthelezi or any IFP office bearers were implicated in gross human rights violations in the report, the organisation would not hesitate to take legal action.

The IFP was still studying the context of the report.

"The report has been met with complete disgust and alarm by the IFP. The implication of Buthelezi is preposterous and flies in the face of reconciliation and nation building," said Mncwango.

He said the IFP would not accept the allegations contained in the report and would fight tooth and nail in order to preserve Buthelezi's dignity and its leaders.

"The IFP is horrified by the status which has been accorded to an institution that may best be described as a circus."

The IFP has been opposed to the TRC, not against the noble ideals of truth and reconciliation, but against a body crippled by political bias, he said.

Mncwango said the TRC has been manipulated and used as a tool to discredit political opponents.

"It systematically interpreted Christian sentiments and biblical law to meet its own agenda.

"Recent public displays by one political party in particular over the content of the TRC report have not blinded the IFP.

"This party's apparent objection seems to have been a last ditch attempt to lend some sort of credibility to this institution," claimed Mncwango.

He said TRC activities focused on the black-white issue and overlooked the black-on-black conflict. This was unacceptable to the party.

The IFP believed that the report would take the country back in terms of race relations and inter-party relations.

Mncwango said the IFP, however, remained committed to achieving peace and reconciliation in South Africa.

TRC REFUSED TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT WAS DUE: FW DE KLERK

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission appeared to have pre-determined that no-one from the previous regime should emerge with any honour or credit for the creation of a new society, former president FW de Klerk said on Friday.

It was perhaps for this reason that the TRC had tried so desperately to implicate him in gross human rights violations, De Klerk told a media conference in Cape Town, where he announced that he would establish a centre for reconciliation and democracy.

De Klerk has challenged the TRC's findings about himself in court and the offending section has been excised pending a decision by the Cape High Court next year.

Many of those who supported the National Party in the past and who voted for democratic transformation would interpret the TRC's final report as a signal that they were not really welcome in the new South Africa, De Klerk said.

The greatest flaw of the TRC was that it did not include a single member who could represent the views of the former government or of the Inkatha Freedom Party, two of the main parties to the conflict.

It also did not include anyone who could speak for the majority of either the white or coloured communities, De Klerk said. He said he had objected to the TRC's composition when he was still second deputy president.

The TRC had dished up a simplistic and orthodox revolutionary version of South Africa's history which utterly failed to take into account the enormous complexities of the country's past or the valid perspectives of others, De Klerk said.

Yet, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu believed that the commission had provided "enough of the truth about our past for there to be consensus about it".

The TRC had failed lamentably to carry out its mandate to establish the truth concerning the conflict of the past and to promote reconciliation.

The commission's report and its recommendations held the seeds of future conflict, De Klerk said.

The cause of reconciliation would not be promoted by, for example, the criminal prosecution of leaders of high standing within their communities, such as IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen and former president PW Botha, for actions arising from their leadership positions.

Asked whether he supported the idea of general amnesty for those singled out by the TRC, he said: "A blanket amnesty will cause a lot of resentment in many circles."

However, in the spirit of seeking consensus, the issue should be openly debated so that if a decision was made it carried the support of the major roleplayers.

De Klerk said reconciliation would also not be promoted by the TRC effectively declaring whole generations of politicians and state employees to have been criminals, or by imposing punitive retrospective taxes and depriving retired public servants of a portion of their lump sum pension payments. "All of this is the antithesis of reconciliation," he said.

The main question was how South Africans should deal with the report's aftermath, De Klerk said.

"I fear that it has left our communities more divided than at any time since the inauguration of the government of national unity."

He said he was deeply worried about the growing cleavages in South African society, adding one of the saddest reflections of the growing alienation was the inability of Tutu and himself to "find one another yet again".

De Klerk said he agreed with the TRC and President Nelson Mandela that all South Africans had a duty to work for genuine reconciliation and to address the problems of the disadvantaged.

"I have accordingly decided to do what I can to work for these objectives."

De Klerk said he would establish a centre for reconciliation and democracy aimed at promoting national reconciliation and multiparty constitutional democracy.

"These are the two causes to which I dedicated my presidency and which I believe represent the foundations of our new society and the best guarantees for the future stability and prosperity of our country."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

KASRILS TO SUE OVER STAR CAPTION

Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils on Friday instructed his lawyers to take legal action against The Star newspaper after it printed a caption implicating him in abuses in African National Congress camps.

In a front page article on the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, The Star carried a photograph of Kasrils under the headline "The Villains of the Dark Years".

One caption read: "Ronnie Kasrils Deputy Defence Minister. Among those who committed abuses in ANC camps."

In a statement sent to Sapa Kasrils said: "This is totally untrue. Nowhere in their report do the TRC allege that I committed abuses in ANC camps.

"I have accordingly instructed my lawyers to take legal action against the newspaper concerned," Kasrils said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

ANC TO SEARCH FOR OTHER MEANS TO CORRECT TRC "INACCURACIES"

The African National Congress on Friday said it would search for other means to correct what it termed "the gross inaccuracies" contained in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As a first step the party has posted on the 5Internet its reponse to the TRC's findings on the role of the ANC in gross human rights violations.

"As stated in the submission of the ANC to the TRC in reply to the commission's section 30(2) notification, the TRC has grossly misdirected itself in its findings on the African National Congress, through the pursuit of objectives which are contrary to the spirit and the intention of the 5act under which it was established," ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe said.

"These findings show an extraordinary refusal on the part of the commission to locate itself in the context of the circumstances which related to the struggle against apartheid, both within and outside the country".

Masebe said although the ANC had lost its 11th-hour court action to prevent the publication of the TRC's findings against it, the party was convinced it was correct to insist on being given the opportunity to make oral submission to the TRC.

The submission of the ANC to the TRC in reply to the section 30 notification can be found at the ANC web site http:www.anc.org.za , under the "what 's new" button, Masebe said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 30 1998 - SAPA

ANC OBJECTS TO PAPER'S PORTRAYAL OF KASRILS AND WINNIE

The African National Congress on Friday objected to the portrayal of its national executive committee members Ronnie Kasrils and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as "villains of the dark days" in The Star newspaper.

The newspaper printed this headline above a report on the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, released on Thursday.

A caption identified Kasrils as "Among those who committed abuses in ANC camps" and Madikizela-Mandela as "Personally committed gross human rights violations".

ANC spokeswoman Nomfanela Kota-Mayosi said in a statement: "The Star reporter could have done better by reading the TRC report before writing this sensational article.

"He would have noticed that Ronnie Kasril's name features nowhere in the TRC report."

Kasrils subsequently instructed his lawyers to take legal action against The Star, which has agreed to print an apology on Monday.

Neither Kasrils nor The Star's editor Peter Sullivan were immediately available for comment but Thabo Masebe, ANC national spokesman said he understood that The Star would print the apology because Kasrils was not mentioned in the report.

Kota-Mayosi added that the media, like the TRC, had deliberately failed to point out that Madikizela-Mandela was a victim of the apartheid regime's gross human rights violations.

She should not be lumped together with those that iconized evil, she said.

"The ANC took strong exception to this depiction and viewed it as a continuation of the refusal to locate the context and the circumstances which related to the struggle against apartheid."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Oct 31 - SAPA

NO AUTOMATIC PROSECUTIONS FOR THOSE MENTIONED IN REPORT: NGCUKA

There would be no automatic prosecutions of perpetrators named in the TRC's final report and some criminal offences could be dropped for the sake of reconciliation, the national director of public prosecutions said on Friday.

Bulelani Ngcuka said he would look at more things than just a successful prosecution when he decided on matters arising from the report, Beeld newspaper reported on Saturday.

"The report's findings cannot serve as evidence in a prosecution. We are going to have to decide in every case whether there is enough evidence for a prosecution," Ngcuka said.

One of the factors he would take into account when deciding on a prosecution, was whether it was in public interest, Ngcuka said.

"We have to look at nation building and reconciliation. We are going to have to look at how long a prosecution will take. I don't think it will be good for the country to continue with it indefinitely."

Asked if senior politicians like Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, former presidents PW Botha and FW de Klerk and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela could go free, even should there be evidence against them, Ngcuka said: "We'll consider everybody. It will be a public process."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Oct 31 - SAPA

DECISION TO GO TO COURT WAS SANCTIONED BY MANDELA: MOTLANTHE

The decision by the African National Congress to seek a court interdict to stop publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report was taken by the organisation's leadership and was sanctioned by President Nelson Mandela, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Saturday.

Motlanthe said recent press reports suggesting a split in the organisation over the court action - which eventually failed - was a "figment of the journalists' imagination".

He said the decision to go to court was made on October 28 when the ANC received a letter from the commission informing it that its submissions were late and would not be considered.

"At that point on Wednesday afternoon we put our heads together and decided that the only option we had was to go to court and argue on an urgent basis so that the TRC could consider our submission."

"I telephoned the president and informed him of our decision.

The president, Motlanthe said, okayed the move and said: "If it doesn't work, then we will have to wait and see."

"There is no substance in allegations that Deputy President Thabo Mbeki snubbed President Mandela... These reports that attribute statements to anonymous persons are difficult to go by as they might be a creation of the journalists themselves."

Mbeki, who is president of the ANC, on Saturday denied that he had snubbed Mandela.

Mbeki said it was Motlanthe who had briefed Mandela "as a matter of courtesy" on the intention of the party to interdict the TRC.

"In this regard, President Nelson Mandela was not expected to and did not express an opinion on the intentions of the ANC to interdict the TRC.

"The suggestion therefore that President Nelson Mandela and Deputy President Mbeki had differences of opinion on this approach is devoid of all truths."

Mbeki's spokesman, Ronnie Mamoepa, said: "The fact that he (Mandela) okayed the court action does not mean he expressed an opinion on it. Mandela was only informed about the court action and was not consulted."

"No member of the ANC can ever concur with the scurrilous attempts to criminalise the liberation struggle by characterising the heroic struggles of the people of South Africa which brought about the dawn of peace, democracy and justice as gross human rights violations," Mbeki said.

Mbeki said ANC chairman and leader of the National Council of Provinces Patrick Lekota - who had been quoted in the press as having apologised to the TRC for taking it to court - had distanced himself from the report.

He had instead instructed his office to express his appreciation to the TRC for completing its work. The ANC lost a High Court bid to stop the publication of certain findings by the TRC implicating the organisation in "gross human rights violations".

The court action prompted speculation that Mbeki and a clique of his inner circle had acted on their own accord and without adequate consultation.

"The National Working Committee had just met on Monday and we had to put our heads together (Wednesday) on the route to follow... we chose the legal recourse," Motlanthe said.

He said the party, after deliberations in its national working committee, wrote to acting TRC chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza requesting a period of grace to respond to the commission's letter of notification.

The ANC felt its concerns were of such a magnitude that a written response would not suffice.

"We sought an audience with the commission but this was turned down on the grounds that similar meetings had been denied other organisations... but the chairman promised us that our concerns would be addressed in the preliminary report.

"Right up to October 26 Ntsebeza reassured us that they had also discovered those errors and these would be corrected in the process of editing," Motlanthe said.

Despite the court loss, the ANC would continue to fight for the corrections to be made.

"Most of the violations said to have been committed by us were survival techniques which should have been taken in a historical context.

"We will continue to ensure that the glorious part of our struggle should not be depicted in such a way that our future generations will be ashamed of it. Our struggle must not be equated to apartheid."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association KIMBERLEY Oct 31 - SAPA

NO CLASH BETWEEN MBEKI AND HIMSELF OVER TRC REPORT: MANDELA

There was no clash between Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and himself over the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, President Nelson Mandela said on Saturday.

Speaking in Kimberley as part of the African National Congress's election campaign, Mandela said he and Mbeki had responded differently to the report because they had different information on the contents of the report.

Mandela said while he had obtained a summary based on the commission's complete report, Mbeki had only seen extracts.

He said he had not been able to meet Mbeki to discuss the commission's findings but there was no doubt that Mbeki displayed the best intentions in the way he had reacted to the findings.

Mandela was asked at the meeting, attended by about 250 Northern Cape "opinion-makers", why the ANC, of which Mbeki is president, had decided to seek a court order to delay the release of the report.

The ANC had fought a just cause against apartheid, Mandela said, but had committed gross violations of human rights.

"Nobody can deny it because some people have died in our camps and that's what the TRC report said."

The ANC, however, had "come out very well in the report".

Mandela had no doubt that if Mbeki had seen the complete report his reaction would have been different.

Mbeki had acted in good faith, he said.

He said he was satisfied that the TRC had done a good job.

He said he had been unable to attend the Jobs Summit held in Midrand on Friday because he had had to be in Nigeria at short notice. However, by all accounts, consensus was reached on many fronts.

"We are confident that, through the hard work and dedication of all of us, unemployment will be reduced significantly," he said.

Northern Cape premier Manne Dipico told the meeting that Mandela would attend a tabernacle service in Kimberley on Sunday morning.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 31 1998 - SAPA

TUTU CAUTIONS SOUTH AFRICAN PUBLIC TO BE VIGILANT

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has sounded a warning to South Africans to stop sucking up to the ANC government, the Sunday Times reported.

His comments follow an attempt this week by the ANC to block the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report.

"Sycophants are the worst possible thing to have around you when you are in power," Tutu told the Sunday Times.

He said those who forgot the past were doomed to repeat it.

His comments come at the end of a week in which the TRC reported on how the apartheid government had conducted a reign of terror against its citizens.

The newspaper said Tutu sounded his strongest warning yet against the formerly oppressed imitating those they had toppled.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and there is no way in which you can assume that yesterday's oppressed will not become tomorrow's oppressors. We have seen it happen all over the world and we shouldn't be surprised if it happens here," he said.

He called on churches and the media to keep a vigilant watch on the ruling party.

"We so easily jettison the ideals we had when we were struggling. It is important that we retain the vigour of our civil society organs that were part of the struggle."

He added: "We've got to retain the same capacity to smell out corruption, the abuse of power... If they (the government) are the true democrats which we hope they are, they will say: `Those are in fact our true friends - the ones who tell us when things are not right'."

Following the release of the TRC's report on Thursday, Tutu was scheduled to travel to the United States on Saturday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG October 31 1998 - SAPA

PW SAYS TRC IGNORED HIS SUBMISSIONS IN ITS REPORT

Former South African president PW Botha said he was not surprised by the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, released on Thursday, Rapport newspaper reported on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview, Botha said his opinion - based on newspaper articles as he had been unable to get a complete copy of the report - was that the report placed in writing the preconceived and previously published opinions of, among others, TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his deputy Alex Boraine over the past three years.

It seemed that submissions to the TRC and the true facts had little, if any, role to play in the finalisation of the report, he said.

"The manner in which I, according to reports, am personally implicated in matters in which neither I nor my government had any involvement indicates that the truth and submissions by myself and others were completely ignored."

He said his own submissions, handed to the TRC on December 5 1997, had been ignored.

He said Tutu later said that by June 1998 neither he nor other commissioners had read Botha's written replies to TRC questions.

"It is clear to me that the TRC, from the beginning, was not interested in my answers and opinions and the motives of my government and the security forces in countering the onslaught against the state."

He said he had warned last year that the TRC should be careful not to become a "revenge and persecution" commission.

He said he told Tutu in 1996 that he feared the TRC would not promote reconciliation and that his fears had now been confirmed.

The report polarised people and undermined a sense of trust and had failed to present an impartial, balanced picture of the revolutionary struggle.

Earlier this year Botha was convicted of contempt of court after he persistently refused to testify before the commission.

In another report in Rapport, former national intelligence head Niel Barnard said he had applied to the Cape High Court to have references to himself and the agency removed from the report because neither he nor NI agents had committed human rights abuses.

He said NI staff were honourable people whose task was only to collect information.

"They didn't even have the power to take people into custody," he said.

He said he would defend his honour and self-respect against accusations made by the TRC. For him and NI personnel it was a matter of self-respect that untruths were not relayed to the world.

MANDELA BACKS FINDING OF TRC ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

President Nelson Mandela on Saturday backed the finding of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the African National Congress was guilty of gross human rights violations in the fight against apartheid, the Sunday Times reported.

Mandela also admitted that he and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki had "a difference of opinion on the matter", the newspaper said.

It reported that he had contradicted ANC leadership denials that the two leaders differed over the ANC's failed bid to delay the publication of the commission's report.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe had said: "The suggestion that President Mandela and Deputy President Mbeki had a difference of opinion on this approach is devoid of all truth."

This exposed a huge gulf between Mandela's own view and the official party line that the ANC should not take the blame for human rights abuses because these occurred while it was involved in a just war, the newspaper said.

Mandela said: "We (Mbeki and himself) happened to respond differently depending on the information we had when we prepared our responses. There's nothing wrong with having a difference of opinion."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PRETORIA Nov 1 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICATIONS BY SECURITY POLICEMEN CONTINUE IN PRETORIA

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will on Monday resume hearing amnesty applications by apartheid era security police for the murder of Ruth First, wife of the late Communist party leader Joe Slovo, and the attempted murder of anti-apartheid activist Marius Schoon.

TRC media spokesman Vuyani Green said former security policeman Brigadier Willem Schoon would take the stand to ask for amnesty for the attempted murder of Schoon in Botswana 1981.

Last week former spy Craig Williamson applied for amnesty for his role in First's murder and in the murders of Schoon's wife Jeanette and her daughter Katryn in Angola in the 1980s, Vuyani said.

Brigadier Schoon's testimony will be the last by a former security police in a marathon amnesty hearing involving former high ranking security branch policemen including former Police Commissioner General Johan Coetzee, who was one of eight policemen seeking amnesty for the 1982 London bombing.

Advocate George Bizos, counsel for the victims, is expected to call several witnesses including Deputy Finance Minister Gill Marcus, Environmental Affairs Minister Pallo Jordan and Transport Minister Mac Maharaj.

The hearing will take place at the Idasa Centre, corner of Prinsloo and Visagie streets, Pretoria.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CULLINAN Nov 1 - SAPA

TRC REPORT SHOWS RECONCILIATION IS POSSIBLE: PAHAD

The release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report showed that reconciliation was possible even between those who were at war against each other, Deputy Foreign Affairs minister Aziz Pahad said on Sunday.

Addressing the annual Zonderwater memorial service, held in Cullinan, north of Pretoria to commemorate 250 Italian prisoners who died in South Africa during World War 2, Pahad said the TRC was an important and uniquely South African attempt to deal with the country's dark past.

"In a similar process of reconciliation and healing, the Italian prisoners of war forged a strong and durable relationship with all the people of this country," he said.

"In a very unique way they were the early pioneers of Italian-South African relations and paid the ultimate price for their country."

Pahad said South Africa should use the experience of past conflict to strengthen its resolve to prevent at all costs the wars looming in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 1 1998 - SAPA

MINISTERS TO TESTIFY AT RUTH FIRST AMNESTY HEARING

Government ministers who previously held high positions in the ANC-in-exile will testify at the Craig Williamson amnesty hearings in Pretoria on Monday.

Williamson is applying for amnesty for the murder of Ruth First in Maputo in 1982 and Jeanette and Katryn Schoon, in Angola in 1984.

He is also applying for amnesty for his part in the bombing of the ANC offices in London in 1984.

Transport minister Mac Maharaj is expected to testify about Williamson's role in the ANC which he infiltrated as a police spy in the late 1970's.

Deputy finance minister Gill Marcus is expected to testify about the bomb blast at the London ANC offices, which occurred outside her office.

Williamson denied during his testimony that she had been target of the bomb.

Environmental minster Pallo Jordan was present in the room in which First was killed by a letter bomb in Maputo.

First, who was the wife of SA Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, was kiled when she detonated a bomb that had been inserted into an intercepted letter.

Jordan is expected to describe the blast that killed First and may be able to explain to whom the letter had been addressed.

Williamson admitted during his testimony that he arranged the manufacture of the letter bomb but claims he did not know if First or Slovo had been the target. He said he was told to do so by his former superior, Brig Piet Goosen, who has since died.

Jeanette Schoon, the wife of ANC activist Marius Schoon, and their two-year-old daughter Katryn were killed by a letter bomb sent to them at Lubango in northern Angola. Williamson has also admitted arranging the bomb.

Williamson and explosives expert Jerry Raven have applied for amnesty for the First and Schoon bombs.

The hearing is due to resume at the Institute for Democracy in Visagie Street in Pretoria on Monday.

Brigadier Willem Schoon is expected to take the stand to ask for amnesty for the attempted murder of Marius Schoon in Botswana in 1981.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 1 1998 - SAPA

DP WELCOMES TUTU'S WARNING ON YESTERDAY'S OPPRESSED

The Democratic Party on Sunday said it welcomed Archbishop Desmond Tutu's warning that yesterday's oppressed could become tomorrow's oppressors if freedom was not protected by eternal vigilance.

Tutu's warning that those who forgot the past were doomed to repeat it was particularly appropriate, Democratic Party spokeswoman on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Dene Smuts, said in a statement.

"The leadership group within the African National Congress who tried to stop publication of the TRC report seems to have forgotten the ANC national executive committee's response to its own commissions of enquiry into ANC camp atrocities," she said.

She said the ANC in 1993 said violations of human rights must always be condemned, no matter by whom, against whom.

"It is especially painful for us that the heroism of our combatants in exile should be tarnished by such unacceptable and tragic episodes as one revealed in the (Motsuenyane) Report.

"The ANC national executive committee noted that it considered the Skweyiya and Motseunyane reports as first steps in the disclosure of all violations of human rights from all sides, and called for a commission of truth," she said.

Smuts said the TRC report's treatment of the ANC camps was mild compared to the ANC's own commission report, the Skweyiya Report. It described the violence inflicted on prisoners at Quattro as violence for the sake of violence.

"Why the present leadership clique should object to findings of gross human rights violations, given this background and given the TRC Act's even-handed requirements, requires an explanation."

Smuts said the outstanding question of amnesty for the 37 ANC leaders whose blanket amnesty was overturned by the Cape High Court now invited continued vigilance.

"The matter should have been concluded in time for this report and it is not clear why the Amnesty Committee has not yet brought it to a conclusion."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 2 1998 - SAPA

THE STAR SAYS SORRY TO KASRILS FOR TRC "VILLIANS" ARTICLE

The Johannesburg-based daily, The Star, on Monday published a front-page apology to Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils for reporting on Friday that he had been found responsible for gross human rights abuses by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"There was no mention in the TRC report of Kasrils being involved in human rights abuses in ANC camps," the apology said.

The Star's Friday edition - which featured Kasrils in its lead article under the headline: "The villians of the dark years" - also said the TRC's final report had found Kasrils partially responsible for the 1992 Bisho massacre, where former Ciskei chief Brigadier Oupa Gqoza ordered troops to open fire on African National Congress supporters.

"This too was incorrect," the apology said. "In fact, the TRC report made no reference about Kasrils being partially responsible for the massacre."

The newspaper apologised for any embarrassment caused to Kasrils.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 2 1998 - SAPA

PARTIES SHOULD AVOID CALL FOR GENERAL AMNESTY: TONY LEON

Parties should avoid calling for a general amnesty for gross human rights violations of the past, Democratic Party leader Tony Leon said on Monday.

He said there was a temptation to allow the African National Congress, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the National Party to bargain away the constitution and South Africa's hard-won human rights.

"To avoid embarrassing, politically devastating testimony being heard, the cry will go out for a general amnesty," Leon said in a speech prepared for delivery at the launch of his book "Hope and Fear - Reflections of a Democrat", in Johannesburg on Monday.

He said this route should be avoided because it was a negation of the enormously disruptive and hugely expensive Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.

"This route rewards the coward and criminal, and punishes the candid and the brave who have already owned up.

"But far worse than this, it will prevent us from knowing whether or not some of our current and future rulers are fit for office, or destined for the criminal courts."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 2 1998 - SAPA

TRC REPORT EXTENSIVE AND GENERALLY VERY CONSIDERED, SAYS SACP

The SA Communist Party on Monday welcomed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report as an extensive and considered document and agreed that some regrettable methods had been employed by liberation movements in a just struggle against apartheid.

"All of the unjust means attributed to the African National Congress-led alliance by the TRC report are indeed factual realities that the alliance itself has admitted and investigated," it said in a statement after its central committee meeting at the weekend.

The SACP and the Congress of SA Trade Unions form a tripartite alliance with the ANC.

The party also welcomed the findings that human rights violations were not accidental to the policies and strategies of the apartheid regime. Systematic, extensive and persistent violations were integral to the policies of the regime, it said.

The committee was satisfied by the attention given by the TRC to the complicity of business in apartheid violations.

"The relevant chapter makes important findings and advances some constructive practical suggestions."

While it was possible to question the wisdom of the ANC for launching a court action to stop the report from being published, the SACP fully supported the ANC's intentions.

"The ANC was, indeed, treated shabbily in the final weeks by certain leading TRC officials.

"To portray the ANC court action as tyranny or as an attempt to gag the TRC is ridiculous. Tyrants silence their critics, they do not pursue matters through the court."

The SACP said it was sad that TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who it said played an outstanding role in the process, had not helped matters "with ill-considered hyperbole in the past days".

Tutu at the weekend called on the nation to watch on the ruling party, saying South Africans should not be surprised if yesterday's oppressed became tomorrow's oppressors.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 2 1998 - SAPA

FIRST, SCHOON WERE NEVER INVOLVED IN ARMED STRUGGLE - MAHARAJ

Letter bomb victims Ruth First and Jeanette Schoon were never involved in the armed struggle against apartheid, former anti-apartheid activist Mac Maharaj told the Truth and Reconciliation's amnesty committee in Pretoria on Monday.

Transport Minister Maharaj told the amnesty committee he had known First and Schoon very well during his years in the underground structures of the African National Congress.

He said First had been an ANC sympathiser but had turned away from active involvement to concentrate on her academic career at a university in Maputo in Mozambique.

Schoon, with her husband Marius, were teaching English in Northern Angola and had no part in the ANC's miitary activities.

Maharaj was testifying at the hearing in which former apartheid spy Craig Williamson is applying for amnesty for the murder of First in Mozambique in 1982 and that of Schoon and her two-year-old daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.

Maharaj said he had seen First in Maputo shortly before her death and she told him that she had turned her attention away from the struggle and was concentrating on her work at the Eduardo Mondlane University.

He denied she had ever been deployed by the ANC in Mozambique. She had gone there on her own initiative. He said she previously lectured at Durham University in England before moving to Maputo.

Unlike her husband Joe Slovo, who was constantly moving around to evade the South African security forces, First had lived an open life in Maputo.

Maharaj said he had also known Jeanette Schoon and had visited her and her husband Marius at their homes in both Botswana and Angola.

He said they were involved in the political affairs of the ANC and denied they were ever involved in the ANC's military struggle. He said he had sent Marius Schoon for military training but this had been purely to prepare him for self defence purposes and to learn to use pamphlet bombs.

Referring to his relationship with Williamson, Maharaj said he long suspected the spy of working for the South African government.

"By 1978 I was satisfied that he was working for the apartheid regime but I could not prove it and found it prudent to continue to interact with him," Maharaj said.

The final proof came when Williamson, who worked for the International University Exchange Fund, produced a letter to the then president of the ANC, Oliver Tambo, from Nelson Mandela on Robben Island.

Maharaj said he had been on Robben Island with Mandela and knew that the IUEF was not the conduit for communications between Mandela and Tambo that had been agreed upon.

Maharaj said Williamson appeared to be extremely eager to set up the IUEF, and himself, as the sole channel for communications between ANC leaders.

He said he confronted Williamson about the source of the letter and the spy eventually admitted that he had obtained it from a person who was not the ANC's designated courier.

Maharaj said this convinced him that Williamson was not the person he claimed to be and that he was working for the South African government.

The hearing is due to resume at the Institute for Democracy in Visagie Street in Pretoria on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 2 1998 - SAPA

RECONCILIATION SA'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE: NDUNGANE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was even-handed in its findings, but one could understand the point of view of those fought against apartheid and who found themselves lumped with perpetrators, Cape Town Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said on Monday.

"Sacrifices were made in the struggle, in the cause of liberation, and we salute those who did so. Mistakes, inevitably, were also made," he said in a statement.

Ndungane said given the fact the commission had no judicial powers, the work it did was remarkable and the truth was exposed.

"This has been most uncomfortable for many. It is good that this is so," Ndungane said.

It was to the commission's lasting credit that it did not allow any stumbling blocks to cripple its work.

"It is a recognition of a long and painful process that it was able to report, albeit with some arguing strenuously that its findings are faulty."

Families found out what happened to their loved ones and it gave people the chance to come to terms with their terrible past.

After the release of the TRC's final report South Africa's challenge now was to move on and complete the process of reconciliation, he said.

Ndungane said South Africans should not be surprised at the commission's findings as the truth was not easy to find - and even harder to reveal.

"Much truth has been exposed. As a nation our challenge is now to move forward and complete the process of reconciliation and reconstruction."

"Now is the time to move on. A cut-off point has been reached. As a country we must find mechanisms whereby we can close the book on the past."

One of the ways to do this - and to keep the memory of those who died alive - was to have an annual award which would benefit the poor and marginalised in the country, Ndungane said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 3 1998 - SAPA

FRANCE WELCOMES TRUTH COMMISSION REPORT

France on Tuesday welcomed the final report released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission saying it served to strengthen reconciliation in South Africa.

In a statement a spokesman from the French embassy in Pretoria described the accomplishments of the TRC as remarkable.

"France wishes to underline the extraordinary task ... accomplished by the TRC on behalf of ... the victims of apartheid.

"The very difficult endeavour of national reconciliation is being strengthened by the publication of the TRC report," the statement said.

The French government also acknowledged the contribution of TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the process.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 3 1998 - SAPA

SCHOON DENIES PLOT AGAINST HIS NAMESAKE WAS FAMILY VENDETTA

Former security policeman Willem Schoon on Tuesday told the amnesty committee in Pretoria that he may be related to African National Congress activist Marius Schoon, whom he conspired to kill, but denied his action was a personal vendetta.

Willem Schoon is applying for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for his involvement in a plot to kill Marius Schoon, who was living in Botswana at the time.

Willem Schoon denied a claim by Marius Schoon's lawyer, Daniel Berger, that his actions were motivated by a personal malice directed at a relative who had sided with the ANC.

Willem Schoon told the committee he was approached in 1981 by former hitsquad commander Dirk Coetzee, who said he was in a position to arrange to have Marius Schoon killed, but needed a firearm.

Willem Schoon said he had reliable information that Marius Schoon was involved in activities that endangered the Republic of South Africa.

He said he handed Coetzee a .38 revolver and ammunition, and told him to go ahead with the plan because there was no other legal way to stop insurgency into the country.

However, Coetzee later reported to him that the mission failed because Vlakplaas operative Joe Mamasela, who went to Botswana to kill Marius Schoon, was attacked by ANC members and the revolver was stolen.

Coetzee, who is due to testify later this week, will dispute Willem Schoon's account of the murder plot.

Under cross-examination by Berger, Willem Schoon said it was possible that he was related to Marius Schoon. He agreed their families had many common Christian names.

However, he said although Marius Schoon might have been a distant relative, he did not consider him as family because he was on the "other side of the fence".

Berger suggested to Willem Schoon that Afrikaners who crossed the fence to the ANC were regarded with particular hatred by Afrikaners who supported the apartheid government.

Willem Schoon replied that hatred was too strong a word, but admitted that there was a certain malice towards those who were considered traitors.

Willem Schoon said he did not want to kill Marius Schoon but believed it was his duty to do so because it entailed defending the country against terrorism.

"I am not a murderous person, although it might look that way. But we were forced to participate in these actions by the circumstances that prevailed at the time," he said.

Willem Schoon still has to appear at a number of amnesty hearings for his involvement in a wide range of political murders. Marius Schoon's wife Jeanette and their two-year-old daughter were later killed in a letter bomb blast at their home in Lubango in northern Angola in 1984.

Marius Schoon and his son Fritz survived the attack. Marius Schoon is due to testify at the hearing later this week.

The hearing continues at the Institute for Democracy in Visagie Street in Pretoria on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association BRUSSELS November 4 1998 - SAPA-AFP

EUROPEAN UNION PRAISES SOUTH AFRICA TRUTH REPORT

The European Union on Wednesday paid tribute to the "exceptional work" of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and said its final report would help consolidate democracy in the post-apartheid republic.

In a statement issued by its Austrian presidency, the EU praised the commission's "extraordinary efforts of remembering and establishing the truth" about human rights abuses committed during the apartheid years.

The efforts, the EU said, served "the necessarily difficult but indispensable process of national reconciliation and the consolidation of democracy in South Africa."

The TRC, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, published its final report last week amid a storm of protest from the ruling African National Congress over statements that it had abused human rights while fighting to overthrow the apartheid regime.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY November 4 1998 - SAPA

GINWALA PROPOSES FULL-DAY PARLY DEBATE ON TRC

The National Assembly should hold a full day's debate early next year on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, released last week, Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala proposed on Wednesday.

In a special statement to the House, she said she had proposed this to President Nelson Mandela and he had agreed in principle to introduce such a debate.

Ginwala said she had last week received a request from the Freedom Front for a debate on the publication of the report.

After due consideration, she had turned this down.

She had previously expressed her regret that Parliament had yet to evolve as a forum for debates on issues of national importance.

There was currently too great an emphasis on party political in-fighting and point-scoring, and not enough on a genuine exchange of ideas.

"I do not believe that we would serve this nation by dealing with the report of the TRC in that way."

Parliament's consideration of the report should be part of the on-going process of reconciliation and nation-building, and it should contribute to this.

The report, its findings and proposals were of central importance to society.

This being so, Parliament's responsibility in carrying this process forward would not be met by way of a debate lasting an hour or two, conducted before all members had had the opportunity to read and digest the full report and consider its implications.

Parliament had a responsibility to provide leadership and direction to the nation on the way forward.

Against this background, she was thus making her proposal for the House's consideration, Ginwala said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 4 1998 - SAPA

FORGIVENESS ENGULFS TRC AMNESTY HEARING IN JO'BURG

A spirit of forgiveness engulfed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee sitting in Mayfair, Johannesburg, on Wednesday when two policemen attacked by Azanian People's Liberation Army cadres in 1993 said they harboured no grudges against them.

"It is difficult to forget the incident. I went through a lot and my family went throught a difficult time," said Captain Peter Snyman who was attacked by Apla cadres in the Free State town of Heilbron.

Zola Prince Mabala, Mosiuwa Isalh Khotle and Tseko Washington Mafanya are seeking amnesty for the attack.

Mafanya was convicted for the incident and is serving 15 years in jail, while Mbala's case has been postponed pending the outcome of his amnesty application. Khotle was never charged.

Mbala was also involved in the Heidelberg tavern attack in Cape Town, for which he has since been granted amnesty.

Addressing the applicants, Snyman said: "It is not for me to judge. I have forgiven. I wish to say (to the applicants) that there are many ways to solve problems. I wish they can change their lives."

In a letter sent to the committee Snyman's colleague, Captain Anton Rossouw, said: "I am a victim of assault and was shot five times. I do not wish to attend the proceedings as I have no interest in the matter anymore. I have forgiven. I also wish them well in the application".

Responding, committee chairman Judge Selwyn Miller said it was heart-warming and appreciated that Rossouw and Snyman said this.

"We only get few incidents where one get these interrelations (between the victims and the perpetrators) in the spirit of forgiveness," he said.

Khotle told the committee that Apla cadres were given general instructions by the high command to seek, identify and attack the enemy, who was seen as the bastion and minions of the apartheid regime.

"We arrived at the spot (Heilbron, coming from Sharpeville) where we were to ambush the police vehicle. At our arrival the target has already passed the spot.

"When we were about to abandon the operation, a police vehicle came and when they saw us, they made a U-turn. The commander (of the unit) ordered that we shoot and we commenced shooting," said Khotle.

Speaking through their lawyer, Lungelo Mbandazayo, the three said they had nothing personal against Snyman and Rossouw when they shot them.

"We were involved in a struggle and they were targets. We accept the new political dispensation. What they have said goes a long way and it is fulfiling."

Mabala and Khotle also appeared before the committee regarding the murder of Anthony Cancer and the attempted murder of Daniel du Bruin in Vanderbijlpark. Cancer and Du Bruin were ambushed and shot with an AK47 assault rifle while on their way to work in March 1992.

Khotle said Apla's mode of thinking and operations did not distinguish between soft and hard targets, nor between military and civilian targets.

"We were simply fighting against criminals who sustained the apartheid system, criminals because apartheid was declared a crime against humanity by the international community, through the United Nations.

"Anybody who was a driver, moving forward and those that supported it were therefore criminals," said Khotle, referring to the ambush of Cancer and Du Bruin.

The other applicants agreed with Khotle's testimony. Mabala was reported to have suffered brain damage during police interrogation after the he was arrested. He has been to psychiatric hospitals for treatment, said Mbandazayo.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 4 1998 - SAPA

SCHOON DESCRIBES BLAST THAT KILLED HIS WIFE AND CHILD

African National Congress member Marius Schoon on Wednesday told the TRC's amnesty committee about a bomb that killed his wife and daughter in Angola in 1984.

Schoon said the wall of their flat was covered in blood and all that remained of his daughter, Katryn, was a "little pile of flesh". He said his wife, Jeanette, was decapitated and an arm and a leg were blown off.

He was testifying at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in which former apartheid spy Craig Williamson is applying for amnesty for arranging the letter bomb that caused the blast.

Schoon said he and Jeanette and their two children left South Africa in 1977 to join the ANC in Botswana. He said the ANC later instructed them to move to Angola to teach English at the university in Lubango after concerns about their safety in Botswana.

Schoon denied claims by Williamson that they were teaching English to Cuban soldiers involved in air defences in southern Angola.

"Even if I was teaching English to Cubans, which I was not, that does not deserve a death sentence," Schoon said.

He said the blast at his home in Lubango happened while he was in Luanda. When he arrived back in Lubango he was met at the airport by a friend who was holding his three-year-old son, Fritz, in his arms.

"Fritz said to me that the enemy had not killed his mother but had only broken her," Schoon said. He said the boy did not speak for three to four days after that, and spoke very little during the following months.

He said the experience of returning to the flat, and seeing the carnage, affected for him for years. He had difficulty sleeping and when he did sleep he had vivid and recurring nightmares about the scene of the blast.

Schoon said he still did not understand how Fritz survived. He thought Fritz must have been playing on a landing outside the flat at the time.

But he was convinced the boy saw the bodies because of his remark that his mother had been "broken".

Fritz, now 17, has been attending the hearings and was present during his father's testimony on Wednesday.

Schoon was asked by his advocate, George Bizos, SC, to comment on Williamson's apology for the death of Jeanette and Katryn.

"I listened to Williamson's apology and it sounded to me remarkably like the dropping of crocodile tears," Schoon replied.

Williamson sat looking down during the testimony by Schoon, who spoke of the range of emotions he felt in the wake of the deaths of wife and daughter.

Schoon said that in news coverage of the hearing, the death of Katryn seemed to have been overlooked. She would now have been 20 years old, and he believed she would would have embarked on a career that would have been of service to South Africa.

Schoon said the letter bomb attack was not the first attempt on his family. He said while they were still living in Botswana he founf a parcel which appeared to be a furry animal in gift wrapping attached to his motor vehicle.

He suspected it was a bomb and left the scene. Later he found the parcel had been removed. He said he believed it wa an attempt on the life of himself and his family.

Earlier Schoon told the committee he and Jeanette played an important part in gathering information which led to the exposure of Williamson as a police spy. He said by the late 1970s there was growing evidence that Williamson was working for the South African security forces.

"Wiliamson was astute enough to realise that the ANC were beginning to supect him of being a spy, and he must have decided to break cover," Schoon said.

Schoon consistently denied under cross-examination by lawyers appearing for Williamson and Jerry Raven, the explosives expert who made the letter bomb, that he and Jeanette had been sent to Angola to set up an ANC structure, not only to teach.

He said during questioning by Allan Levine, who is appearing for Williamson, that the South African security forces may have supsected that their prescence in an Angolan town which had a military air base may have involved ANC activity.

He denied he and Jeanette were involved in military activities in Angola. He agreed that when they were in Botswana they could have been seen as targets because of their role in ANC activities. But he did not agree that their prescence in Angola made tem targets.

The hearing continues on Thursday with further cross- examination of Schoon.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 5 1998 - SAPA

AFRIKANERS SHOULD HAVE NO COLLECTIVE GUILT OVER TRC REPORT: FF

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was based on emotional sob stories and should not be taken seriously, the Freedom Front said on Thursday.

The report had not been tested judicially, it was based on "traanstories" and should be taken with a pinch of salt, claimed FF spokesman Christo Landman in a speech prepared for delivery in the Gauteng legislature on Thursday afternoon.

He said South Africans, and Afrikaners in particular, should have no collective feeling of guilt over the TRC findings.

The development of a burden of guilt among Afrikaners for the misdeeds of the previous government could increase the already negative attitude in the new South Africa.

He said it was apparently one of the objectives of the African National Congress to make Afrikaners the "black sheep" of the country through the TRC's findings.

The strategy was apparently to transfer collective guilt to Afrikaners and then to press for compensation. This compensation could take a judicial form, as in the Nurenberg hearings in Germany after World War II, but could also take the form of veiled discrimination such as affirmative action or excessive taxation.

"The report does not give a balanced picture of the ANC's attempt to make the former society ungovernable, and the blame which is laid against the ANC could have been planned strategically to give a certain international credibility to the report," claimed Landman.

However, information in the report did indicate that the previous government had not been bound by its own laws and that "certain misdeeds" were committed in the name of white survival and state security which could not be glossed over.

The FF called on South Africans not to try to gloss over the misdeeds and at the same time to disassociate themselves from immoral actions of the past.

It remained to be seen how the government would handle the TRC report, Landman said.

One option, for the sake of reconciliation, would be to announce a general amnesty and to limit the power of ministers in law so that it would be impossible for past misdeeds to be repeated.

Another option would be to take action against all affected people, including those who had already received amnesty.

"The onesided and selective prosecution of affected people in the report will cause damage to South Africa's legal system and its international image," Landman said.

The better option would be for the government to follow a process of constructive reconciliation, within the context of the country's Interim Constitution, he said.

NGOS CALL FOR PROSECUTION OF APARTHEID-ERA HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS

Human rights abusers identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be vigorously prosecuted, a coalition of 13 non-government organisations said on Thursday.

The coalition, which includes the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Human Rights Committee, Lawyers for Human Rights and the National NGO Coalition, said perpetrators of apartheid-era crimes who had not been granted amnesty should be pursued by criminal investigators regardless of their political affiliation or public stature.

The coalition rejected suggestions of blanket amnesty, selective non-prosecutions and time limits on the prosecution of perpetrators.

"The idea that some members of our society are above the law .. cannot be seen as continuing to pervade our legal culture," coalition spokeswoman Polly Dewhirst said.

The coalition believed that a human rights culture could only be built on a foundation of accountability, and in the absence of amnesty applications by perpetrators of abuses, such accountability should be pursued through the courts.

Dewhirst said victims' rights had already been compromised by the TRC's deadline extension for amnesty applications, the serious delays in providing reparations and the limited nature of the investigations conducted by the commission.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 5 1998 - SAPA

CHURCH LEADER APOLOGISES TO TUTU

A church leader on Thursday apologised to Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu for having suspected him and the commission of bias.

Archbishop Mzilikazi Masiya, president of the Council for Apostolic and Zion Churches in Southern Africa, said he had regarded Tutu as an instrument used by the African National Congress to promote the image of the party.

He said he apologised to Tutu "for having viewed him as taking sides with only one organisation".

In a statement, Masiya said the TRC's final report showed that Tutu and the commission had done their utmost to expose the truth about South Africa's past.

"To white people, especially Afrikaners, I say the TRC was not a way of demonising you. It has exposed the brutalities of white as well as black people."

All South Africans should now embrace the findings of the TRC and work together to heal the wounds of the past, Masiya said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 5 1998 - SAPA

NP TO BAR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS FROM LEADERSHIP RANKS

The National Party (NP) on Thursday said any person found to have committed gross human rights violations would not be allowed to hold senior or management positions in its ranks.

It called on all other political parties to adopt a similar policy.

NP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a media briefing in Cape Town that no-one had yet been identified who stood to lose their position, but the party had taken a principled decision on the issue.

The ruling would apply to people who had been convicted in court of human rights abuses, or who had admitted to participating in gross human rights violations when applying for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The NP would also exclude from its senior ranks people who, "after careful consideration", were considered to have participated in such violations.

The NP would not automatically accept the TRC's findings on who had violated human rights, as the TRC was not a court of law and its findings had not been subject to cross examination.

Van Schalkwyk said the NP felt the debate on amnesty should be reopened, but did not believe there should be a blanket general amnesty, as this would create legal uncertainty.

It proposed there be a "collective amnesty," based on 1990/91 amnesty legislation, whereby people could come forward and say why they were applying for amnesty and be granted it automatically.

"All sides may benefit from that process," Van Schalkwyk said

The NP on Thursday released a 68-page document outlining its proposals for national reconciliation and nation building, which it said the TRC had failed to address.

"The TRC was supposed to help us deal with the past; we don't believe it has adequately done that," Van Schalkwyk said.

"Reconciliation has not materialised at all; South Africans have not been brought closer together at all by the activities of the TRC."

Among the NP's proposals were that existing constitutional provisions - for the establishment of a commission to promote and protect cultural, religious and language rights - be implemented.

It also suggested that the second chamber of Parliament be restructured to allow representation for cultural groups, business, labour, agriculture, traditional leaders and other interest groups.

The NP said provision should be made within South Africa's legislative framework for "an alternative democratic system", which it felt would be more suitable for a country such as South Africa with its rich variety of language, religions and culture.

This should include "a model of inclusive government in which political parties would work together and share responsibility".

Van Schalkwyk said religious leaders, and not politicians, should take the lead in nation building, as politics by its very nature was divisive.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 5 1998 - SAPA

SCHOON REJECTS WILLIAMSON'S OFFER OF RECONCILIATION

Former African National Congress activist Marius Schoon on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Amnesty Committee he was unwilling to forgive former apartheid spy Craig Williamson for killing his wife and child.

Schoon was testifying at the hearing in which Williamson is applying for amnesty for the murder of Schoon's wife Jeanette and their six-year-old daughter Katryn, with a letter bomb in Lubango in Angola in 1984. Schoon said he was not convinced that Williamson's apology earlier in the hearing for the deaths was genuine.

"I have heard (at the amnesty hearing) the presentation of a series of stories which conveniently gel together and gloss over certain facts. I do not feel I have been cleansed by the truth," Schoon said.

He was then asked by Williamson's lawyer, Allan Levine, whether he had spoken to Williamson since the bomb blast in Angola.

"No, and I have no intention of speaking to him ever in my life," Schoon said.

Levine then asked Schoon about a remark that he had made about only wanting to see Williamson "down the sights of an A4 rifle".

"What I said was I only wanted to see him over the sights of an AK47," Schoon replied.

Levine enquired whether Schoon would not consider becoming reconciled with Williamson in the interests of the new nation that was arising in South Africa and leaving the violent past behind.

"I tender Mr Williamson to you during the next adjournment in the spirit of reconciliation. Do you accept?" Levine asked.

"No, sir," Schoon replied.

Schoon added that he found it "unfair and embarrassing" to be called upon to reconcile with Williamson.

Schoon was then re-examined by his lawyer, George Bizos SC, who asked him about a remark that was allegedly made by policemen soon after the bomb blast that killed his wife and child.

Explosives expert Jerry Raven, who has applied for amnesty for constructing the letter bomb, told the committee last month that policemen had said Katryn's death had served them right because they (the Schoons) had used their child as a "bomb disposal unit".

The remark was initially attributed to Williamson but Raven later said that it might have been made by someone else.

Schoon said he found the remark one of the most insulting things that could have been said about him and his wife and it made it even more difficult for him to consider accepting Williamson's apology.

After completing his testimony, Schoon left the venue where the hearings are taking place without acknowledging Williamson in any way. Later self-confessed hit-squad commander Dirk Coetzee told the committee that Williamson had admitted to him his involvement in the murder of the Schoons. Coetzee said Williamson did not say so in as many words, but as security policemen they had a means of communicating that left him in no doubt that the spy was taking credit for the murder.

"He had a sort of gloating, bloating manner and seemed very pleased with himself," said Coetzee.

Coetzee, who was subpoenaed to testify at the commission by layers representing Schoon, at one stage became involved in a heated outburst.

It occurred during cross-examination by Louis Visser, who is appearing for the former head of the security police General Johan Coetzee, and Brigadier Willem Schoon.

Coetzee said he was tired of listening to the lies being told by former high ranking officers whom he referred to as the "pompous clan".

At one stage he said he was "fed up" with having to look at Visser's face during the many hearings and commissions of inquiry in which the lawyer represented former policemen over the past eight years.

At that point committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson said he was getting "fed up" with Coetzee's personal attacks on counsel and called on him to refrain from doing so.

The hearing continues on Friday when Transport Minister and former ANC official, Mac Maharaj will complete his testimony which he began on Monday this week.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 5 1998 - SAPA

APLA MEMBER DOES NOT KNOW WHO HIS LEADERS WERE

Amnesty applicant Nkosinathi Nkabinde, who claims to be a member of the Pan Africanist Congress' armed wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army, did not know who its leaders were between 1976 and 1978, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty commitee heard on Thursday.

Nkabinde and Michael Mofokeng are applying for amnesty for the murder of former Foodcorp chief executive, Dirk Jacobs, and the robbery of goods at his Parktown house in January 1994, as well as the armed robbery of Keith Standton in Parkview the same month.

Nkabinde, Mofokeng and Thabang Chitja are serving life sentences for the incidents. Chitja did not apply for amnesty.

According to the Jacobs family's lawyer, Eric van den Berg, Chitja did not believe that the acts were politically motivated.

Two vehicles, bank cards and house-hold goods were stolen from from Standton's house and two guns, jewellery and American dollars from Jacobs'.

Under a barrage of questions from amnesty committee evidence leader Mokotedi Mpshe, Nkabinde could not say who was PAC president and Apla commander between 1976 and 1978.

He claimed to have joined Apla's underground structures in 1976, the year he also went for military training in Tanzania.

While in Tanzania, he received training in the use of arms, as well as political education that dealt with settlers who arrived in the Cape in 1652 and dispossessed Africans of their land.

Asked who the PAC president was between 1976 and 1978, Nkabinde said he had forgotten. He did not know Apla's military structure and to whom the commander of his repossession unit was reporting.

On January 16, 1994, Nkabinde, Mofokeng, Monde Radebe, Chitja and a man identified only as Kopane went to Jacobs' house in Parktown looking for guns.

Their commander, Radebe - a trained APLA cadre - had received information that there were arms in the house.

On arrival, three white people came out of the house and when they saw them, a man ran back, said Nkabinde.

Disputing this, Van den Berg said Jacobs only came out after his daughter, Heloise, pressed a panic button.

"What you are saying is news to me," Nkabinde responded.

Challenged that they shot an unarmed man, he said: "Jacobs did not die by mistake. We knew exactly what we were doing. It was one settler, one bullet and that was our policy".

In his evidence Mofokeng agreed with Van den Berg that it was Heloise they met outside the house. They asked her where her father was. When they got to the door, Jacobs opened it. "As he was about to shut the door, one comrade shot him," he said.

Two days later, they went to Standton's house in Parkview where they tied up two domestic workers and four members of the family. They wanted guns, money and a vehicle that they would use to go to Transkei, said Mofokeng.

They took two vehicles, of which they dumped one and used the other. While in Smithfield in the Free State, they had an accident after the car's tyre burst. Kopane died in the accident, while Radebe later died in prison. Nkabinde, who broke his leg, was arrested, as were Mofokeng and Chitja.

The two applicants said their act was politically motivated as they were repossessing from the settlers.

During his closing arguments, Van den Berg said it was clear that the applicants committed these acts for pure criminal purposes. He asked the committee not to grant them amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 5 1998 - SAPA

LEKOTA, YENGENI DENY APOLOGISING FOR COURT ACTION

African National Congress chairman Patrick "Terror" Lekota and fellow parliamentarian Tony Yengeni on Thursday told the ANC parliamentary caucus that they had never telephoned Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu to apologise for their party's court action.

They were reacting to a Johannesburg newspaper report that said they were among the senior ANC members who had apologised for their party's 11th-hour attempt to block the publication of the commission's final report.

Yengeni told a parliamentary caucus media briefing that the report was a "total fabrication" and that he would take up the matter with the newspaper's editor.

Lekota, the National Council of Provinces chairman, had indicated to the caucus that he was overseas and had been unable to attend the formal ceremony in which Tutu handed over the report to President Nelson Mandela.

He had instructed his office to apologise to the TRC on his behalf and to express support for the process.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia November 5 1998 - SAPA-AP

TUTU DEFENDS SOUTH AFRICAN TRUTH COMMISSION'S MISSION

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Thursday defended his Truth and Reconciliation Commission on apartheid-era atrocities in South Africa, saying its methods were the best way to achieve lasting peace.

The commission issued a report last month after 2 1/2 years of hearings on mass murders and other human rights atrocities that occurred during South Africa's former racist regime. It granted amnesty to those who committed crimes during those years, as long as those people publicly detailed what they had done, admitted they were wrong and apologized.

Executing criminals or giving them long prison terms "is not the only kind of justice," Tutu said at a conference of seven Nobel Peace Prize laureates at the University of Virginia. "We believe there is restorative justice. ... We found, you know, that just by the telling of the story people have experienced catharsis and healing."

Tutu then told a story about four former soldiers who came to the commission, stood up before a crowd of people whose relatives they had massacred, and begged for forgiveness. He said the crowd broke into wild applause.

"I said, `We should keep quiet, because we're in the presence of something holy,"' he said.

The commission's report has drawn fire from all political directions, including the ruling African National Congress that won 1994's first democratic elections. The ANC tried to suppress the report because it criticized anti-apartheid fighters for using excessive force in their rebellion. Former white leaders said the report would stir up rather than calm racial resentment.

But Tutu said not revealing the truth would only cause more pain in the long run.

Tutu also defended his commission against criticism from another peace leader at the conference. American Bobby Muller, whose organization to ban land mines was a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, questioned whether the commission should be so willing to grant amnesty to acknowledged killers.

"What about personal accountability?" Muller asked Tutu in front of an audience of several hundred. "I'm concerned about the rule of law in this case."

Tutu said the commission only granted amnesty to a small percentage of those who applied and recommended prosecution for those who did not. But he also said nations where the victors harshly punish the losers after internal strife will face a crisis when the situation is reversed and the former losers want revenge.

"You need something to go beyond the spiral, to break through," he said. "You need forgiveness."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NATIONAL ASSEMBLY November 6 1998 - SAPA

OMAR `UNABLE' TO PREDICT FINAL TRC COST

Justice Minister Dullah Omar said on Friday he was unable to predict the final cost of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

He was speaking during consideration of the Adjustments Estimate, which sets aside an extra R32 million for the body, in addition to the R23 million set aside in the March Budget.

The TRC, which last week handed over its five-volume report to President Nelson Mandela, has already cost taxpayers about R155m in its two-and-a-half year existence.

Omar said the lifespan of the TRC's amnesty committee had been extended until it completed its work, and that the full commission would then reconvene to finalise its report before disbanding.

The amount in the adjustment was an estimate, which would hopefully enable the amnesty committee to complete its work.

"If we need more money we will come back to the minister of finance," he said.

Omar was replying to a question from National Party justice spokeswoman Sheila Camerer, who asked how the department could afford to spend more on the TRC at a time when it could not pay overtime to hard-pressed magistrates and prosecutors.

Omar said Camerer was indulging in "cheap politics".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN November 6 1998 - SAPA

BUTHELEZI ASKS TRC FOR EVIDENCE ON WHICH IT BASED ITS FINAL REPORT

Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has requested the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide evidence backing its findings on Buthelezi and the IFP as contained in the TRC's final report.

In the report, presented to President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria last week, the TRC held Buthelezi accountable in his representative capacity for human rights violations committed by the IFP and the former Kwazulu police force.

In a statement on Friday the IFP said it had requested transcripts of all evidence presented to the TRC with regard to Buthelezi and the party.

It had also requested transcripts of relevant court proceedings upon which the TRC based its findings as well as all other documentation related to Buthelezi and the IFP.

The material was needed for the IFP to properly investigate the findings, the statement said.

"The IFP has lodged a complaint with the public protector about the workings of the TRC and this issue is still being pursued," the party said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Nov 6 1998 - SAPA

WILLIAMSON MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN BIKO'S DEATH: TRC TOLD

Apartheid spy Craig Williamson may have played a role in the death of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko in 1977, African National Congress official Mac Maharaj told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty comittee in Pretoria on Friday.

Maharaj, who is now Transport Minister, was testifying at the amnesty hearing in which Williamson has admitted involvement in the fatal letter bomb attacks on Ruth First in Maputo in 1982 and Jeanette and Katryn Schoon in Angola in 1984.

First was the wife of Joe Slovo, and Jeanette Schoon's husband, Marius, was an activist.

Maharaj said shortly before Biko's death in 1977 he was exploring the possibility of working closer with the ANC and was planning to hold a meeting with ANC president Oliver Tambo in Botswana.

He said Williamson, who was an undercover agent for the apartheid government, tried to act as a conduit for the meeting.

Maharaj said Williamson, as a conduit, would have known about Biko's movements and would have passed the information on to the South African security forces.

"The South African security forces saw this (the meeting between Biko and Tambo) as being too dangerous to allow and therefore there is a possibility that Biko was murdered while in detention," Maharaj said.

He said this was a period when the apartheid government was losing control of the country and becoming increasingly desperate.

He said he knew of another government plot at about the same time that entailed kidnapping Tambo and ten other ANC leaders in London. The ANC officials were then to be tortured and killed in a remote part of England and their bodies shipped back to South Africa. He said the government would then claim that they had been killed inside the country.

Maharaj said the ANC on the other hand had not considered the political leaders of the former government as targets for attack, even though they had many opportunites to kill them.

He quoted an example in 1981 when he said they could have killed 90 percent of the Cabinet during a Republic Day celebration. He gave no more details.

"It was contrary to our policy to target political leaders and high profile civilians," he said.

Referring to his relationship with Williamson, Maharaj said he for a long time suspected him of being a spy but chose to work with him rather than to expose him. He said it was in the ANC's interests for Williamson to remain in the International University Exchange Fund, where he held a senior position.

When asked by Williamson's lawyer, Allan Levine, on what basis he had based his suspicions about Williamson, Maharaj replied that he had no hard evidence. "We operated in a world of death. One mistake and me and my comrades could be dead. I did not look at it like a court of law," he said, adding that he had survived many attempts on his life.

He was also asked by Levine whether he believed Williamson had acted with the same dedication to his cause as he had.

Maharaj replied that he believed Williamson's cause was fatally flawed because he often acted for personal reasons.

"I am not sure how he would have reacted if he had experienced the circumstances I have had to live through," he said.

"I have never known him to be short of a meal, and a grand meal too," he said.

George Bizos SC, who is appearing for the relatives of Schoon and First, asked Maharaj what he would have done if his wife had been killed by a letter bomb.

He replied that he would not have done anything to drive the ANC into further escalation of conflict, but as an individual he said he would have "gone ballistic and become an unguided missile".

At the end of Maharaj's testimony the hearing was adjourned to February 22.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 6 1998 - SAPA

TRC GRANTS AMNESTY TO MOTAUNG AND KONDILE

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Friday granted amnesty to two applicants - Jerry Motaung, a former member of the Congress of SA Students, and Zandile Kondile, a member of the Food and Allied Workers' Union and a supporter of the African National Congress.

Motaung was convicted of the murder of Patricia Motshwene, whom he claimed was a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the attempted murder of Gladness Mvelase.

Motaung is serving an effective eight years' imprisonment.

The committee found Motaung was bona fide in seeking to protect his political party and its members.

"The objective of his actions on that fateful day was politically motivated," the amnesty committee said in a statement in Johannesburg.

The murder of Motshwene and the attempted murder of Mvelase were referred to the reparations and rehabilitation committee for consideration.

The committee granted amnesty to Kondile for the murder of Busangani Shandu and the attempted murder of three others in 1991.

Kondile is serving 12 years' imprisonment.

The committee found the killings were rooted strongly in the political upheavals of the times.

The committee said it was satisfied that Kondile's actions had benefited political, not personal objectives.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 6 1998 - SAPA

SITE OF SAMORA MACHEL AIR CRASH DECLARED A NATIONAL MONUMENT

The site of the 1986 air crash that claimed the life of Mozambican President Samora Machel was on Friday declared a national monument.

In a notice in the Government Gazette, arts, culture, science and technology minister Lionel Mtshali said the area involved was 629 square metres.

It is near the Mbuzini settlement in Barberton, Mpumalanga.

Machel and 34 others died on October 19, 1986 when the presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain at Mbuzini.

The cause of the accident has been the subject of much debate, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last week said a further investigation was required.

An inquiry under the former government blamed the crash on a pilot error, while a Soviet team found that a decoy beacon had caused the aircraft to stray off course.

The TRC said in its final report that its own probe did not find conclusive evidence to support any of these findings.

The site of the accident was on unregistered state land, Mtshali said on Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 6 1998 - SAPA-IPS

POLITICAL MAVERICKS MAY ESCAPE PROSECUTION, SAYS ANALYST

It is still unclear whether prosecutions will follow the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

High on the list of those found guilty of gross human rights violations are former apartheid-era president P.W. Botha, ruling African National Congress's Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and the controversial right wing leader Eugene Terreblanche.

They all did not apply for amnesty and under the provisions of the TRC those who did not seek amnesty and are guilty of gross human rights violations will face legal action.

It is, however, politically inconceivable for the mavericks of South African politics to face the law.

"Frankly I don't think any of them will be prosecuted," says Steven Friedman of the Centre for Policy Studies. "There is no way Buthelezi will be prosecuted."

Friedman says the TRC is a commission and not a judicial body so government does not necessarily have to accept all its recommendations.

He says it is not realistic in the South African society that everybody who commits a crime can be prosecuted and in this case the politicians will pass the buck to the Attorney General.

"Politicians like the idea of shunting it all to commissions, or to the attorney general, to anybody else but themselves," Friedman told IPS. "We are not going to have a strict judicial process."

The TRC was established by an act of parliament nearly three years ago to investigate the human rights violations that occurred under apartheid - between 1960 and 1994. It depended on the consciences of violators to come forward and confess. Those who did not, or who failed to tell the full truth would be prosecuted upon recommendation by the TRC.

The Nuremburg-Trials body has, however, often been criticised as a toothless, useless, waste-of-resources investigation that should not have taken place at all.

Friedman, however, says the most important thing is that the truth is now out in the public domain and people know what happened under apartheid.

If the recommendations of the TRC on disqualification of public office bearers are anything to go by, those found guilty by the commission have nothing to fear.

According to the TRC Chairman Desmond Tutu, the commission considered the issue of disqualification of those holding public office very carefully and decided not to recommend it. "It is suggested, however, that when making appointments and recommendations, political parties should take into consideration the disclosures made in the course of the commission's work," he says.

Already the ANC has put Madikizela-Mandela's name on its electoral list for Gauteng province. General elections will take place in South Africa next year. The TRC says it will submit the names of those who are guilty to the attorney general for further investigations and possible prosecution. It is, however, still carrying out the remainder of the amnesty hearings and only then will it have a complete list.

"A good place to start in concluding this process, and a very good test of his independent mettle, will be for the new super Attorney-General, Mr Bulelani Ngcuka, to start the investigation and prosecuting of the named offenders," says Democratic Party leader Tony Leon.

"His point of departure here should be to speed up the investigation of the prosecution of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, all the details of which have been languishing with the Attorney-General of the Witwatersrand for more than 11 months now," he says.

Madikizela-Mandela has been found guilty on 18 counts of gross human rights violations.

P.W. Botha who described the TRC as a circus, together with his defence minister Magnus Malan and law minister Adriaan Vlok, was held personally responsible for the atrocities and excesses of the apartheid state. Botha ruled South Africa between 1978 and 1989.

Buthelezi on the other hand was held chiefly responsible for the violations of his IFP party. The party was deemed responsible for most of the gross human rights violations in KwaZulu Natal between 1990 and 1994.

"There is the danger that future generations will say that too much time, energy and resources were spent by the TRC to unravel one side of the conflict of the past, and too little on paving the way towards reconciliation and a better future," says Marthinus van Schalkwyk, leader of the opposition National Party.

"South Africa needs reconciliation more than anything else at the present moment; we need to overcome alienation, so that a united South Africa can jointly tackle the most critical political, social and economic issues facing the country," Van Schalkwyk said in a statement.

The NP, which has been named as the biggest human rights violator during apartheid, was the architect and executor of apartheid since 1948 when it came to power, until 1994.

Political commentators on South Africa, however, say the country needs something more than just prosecutions, healing.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 7 1998 - SAPA

HOLOMISA CALLS FOR GENERAL AMNETSY

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa on Friday urged President Nelson Mandela to declare a general amnesty in light of the findings contained in the Truth and Reconcialition Commission's final report on the violations of human rights.

Speaking at Lady Grey in the Eastern Cape, Holomisa said granting amnesty to 37 high profile African National Congress leaders and some Inkatha Freedom Party leaders while acting against others, such as Winnie Madikizela- Mandela, would revive the flames of violence, something South Africa could ill-afford.

Holomisa and his deputy Roelf Meyer had just concluded a tour of Transkei and north-eastern Cape, Network Radio News reported on Saturday.

Holomisa said in his personal view, Mandela would be doing the country a great service by declaring a general amnesty.

He said it was time now to put the past to rest and to concentrate on the development of the nation's new-found democracy.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 8 1998 - SAPA

PROSECUTION OF POLITICAL LEADERS WOULD CAUSE ANIMOSITY: HOLOMISA

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa on Sunday warned that the prosecution of certain political leaders and their subordinates, as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, would cause resentment and alienate millions of South Africans from the process of fundamental change.

Addressing supporters at Orlando Stadium in Soweto during a rally to celebrate the party's first year of existance, Holomisa said change and total transformation depended on national co-operation.

"We must not give the sceptical die-hards an opportunity to disrupt good social and political progress achieved so far," said Holomisa.

The prosecution of prominent political leaders would entail inter-party animosity between their leaders and supporters.

This would be the case if African National Congress Women's League presdient Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was to stand trial because she was not included in the ANC elitist collective for blanket amnesty, said Holomisa.

Violence would also erupt in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng if Mangosuthu Bulthelezi, Inkatha Freedom Party leader, was to stand trial and be incarcerated.

"I urge all involved to balance legal and political exigency when weighing the recommendations of the TRC".

Holomisa said President Nelson Mandela, as the champion and proponent of national reconciliation, had brought all South Africans closer together.

"We should encourage this demostration of a united national spirit to take root.

"I therefore personally support the granting of general amnesty because I feel it will facilitate national reconciliation and nation building," Holomisa said.

Turning to next year's general election, he said UDM supporters should guard against ANC councillors occupying Independent Electoral Commission structures.

"The elections would not be free and fair, and the IEC would become an ANC electoral commission."

The UDM would go to the election conscious about bread and butter issues that affected the people, issues like crime, food, education, health and corruption.

Speaking at the same venue, UDM deputy president Roelf Meyer said the issue of Parliament being used to rubberstamp ANC decisions was a matter of grave concern.

Meanwhile, the party's secretary-general, Sifiso Nkabinde, said the minute the ANC achieved a two-thirds majority in next year's election people could bid democracy a farewell.

"However, that is a dream that will never happen. They did not get it in 1994 and they will not get it now," he said. Nkabinde said the people did not fight for democracy in order to make certain ANC leaders multi-millioners.

"People struggled so as to have food on the table," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA November 9 1998 - SAPA

SIX YEARS OF PROSECUTIONS TO FOLLOW RELEASE OF TRC REPORT: D'OLIVEIRA

At least six years of prosecutions would follow the release earlier this month of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, Transvaal director of public prosecutions Dr Jan d'Oliveira said on Monday.

He told a Pretoria Press Club breakfast that criminal investigations were underway regarding two generals of the former security forces, one of whom had applied for amnesty.

A number of African National Congress members, including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, were also being probed.

D'Oliveira said not enough evidence existed as yet to open criminal charges against any former government ministers.

"We know where we are going. With some of those mentioned in the report, we are in fact a long way down the road preparing for them. We need just the go-ahead, in the absence of amnesty, to take these into court."

D'Oliveira said prosecutors would have to work carefully through the TRC report.

"One has to investigate the quality of the evidence and apply a purely legal test. Is there, on the evidence, a reasonable prospect of success of a conviction? If there is not, we will not prosecute."

He said cases such as those mentioned in the TRC report had to be handled with care, as "intrigue covered everything".

"When one is dealing with intrigue, you deal with people who used to tell lies. To convince a court beyond reasonable doubt that such a deed did take place and was committed by persons A, B and C, is an uphill task," D'Oliveira said.

Reacting to a statement by TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that prosecutions arising from the commission's findings could be completed within two years, D'Oliveira said this was highly impractical.

"If the representatives of society agree that it (prosecutions) must stop, they must pass a law. In the meanwhile, we will continue with the justice process."

D'Oliveira said limited resources may hinder prosecutions.

"We have past crimes on the one hand and current crime, which is increasing, on the other hand. Somehow we have got to attend to both," he said.

"Whether we will be able to deal with all those matters is quite a different question."

Turning to specific cases, D'Oliveira said two former generals may face prosecution as a result of testimony before the TRC by convicted killer and former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock.

"We have always worked on the principle that we will prosecute the highest rank," he said.

Previously, criminal evidence did not exist against high-ranking officials. "Since De Kock has co-operated with us, things may or will probably change. We have lined up cases against two generals, but we are waiting for the process of amnesty to run its course."

On Wouter Basson, head of the former government's chemical and biological warfare programme, D'Oliveira said intense preparations were underway to go to trial by the middle of next year. Basson was facing about 10 charges.

Turning to the murder of activist David Webster, D'Oliveira said another person was expected to be brought before court. Former Civil Cooperation Bureau operative Ferdi Barnard was recently convicted of the murder.

D'Oliveira said prosecutors were halfway through a probe regarding Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for atrocities allegedly committed during the apartheid years.

A long list of cases against several other ANC members were also under investigation, he said. "Again, we are waiting for the amnesty process."

Not much evidence currently existed against former politicians, while former SA Defence Force members may also be liable for prosecution.

D'Oliveira said cross-border crimes committed under the former government did not fall under the jurisdiction of the South African prosecuting authority, except where evidence existed of a conspiracy plotted inside the country.

He stressed that prosecutions would go ahead unless a law was passed granting general amnesty to those implicated in the TRC report.

"Unless we are stopped by law, we must continue because justice demands it."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN November 9 1998 - SAPA

TRC BEGINS HEARINGS INTO DEATH OF SIX ANC MEMBERS IN '80S

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee began hearings on Monday at the Durban Christian Centre into the abduction and killing of six former African National Congress members in the late 1980s.

The six activists, Sipho Stanley Bhila, Portia Phila Ndwandwe, Phumezo James Nxiweni, Sibusiso Ndlovu, Elias Mtshali and Manzi Vilekazi, were killed in separate incidents in Kwazulu-Natal, allegedly by members of the security police and Askaris (ANC cadres turned police informants).

Five policemen, Izaak Bosch, Frank McCarter, Andrew Taylor, Laurence Wasserman and Adrian Rosslee have applied for amnesty for the abduction and killing of Stanley Bhila and Phumezo Nxiweni.

The court acquitted Bhila and Nxiweni shortly before their deaths on charges relating to the Amanzimtoti bomb blast.

Andrew Zondo was sentenced to death for the blast.

The policemen claim the order to kill the two men came from Vlakpaas security police commander Eugene De Kock.

Taylor is also among six policemen applying for amnesty for the death of Phumezo Nxiweni, and the murders of Manzi Khululekani Vilakazi, Sibusiso Ndlovu and Elias Vusumzi Mtshali.

Vilakazi, Ndlovu and Mtshali were executed and their bodies blown apart with a limpet mine on a railway line in Phoenix near Durban.

The other matter to be heard in the next few days in Durban is the abduction of a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Portia Ndwandwe, from Swaziland by Johannes Botha, Salmon du Preez, Johannes Steyn, Andrew Taylor, Roelof Visagie, Jacobus Voster and Laurence Wasserman.

The hearings are expected to continue until November 20.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 10 1998 - SAPA

TRC'S AMNESTY COMMITTEE GRANTS AMNESTY TO EIGHT PEOPLE

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission this week granted amnesty to eight people, including members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbewiging and former policemen.

The incidents they were granted amnesty for ranged from illegal possession of weapons and explosives to arson, the commission said in a statement on Tuesday.

Captain Gert van Huysteen and Sergeant Magezi Ndaba, both members of the former SAP, were granted amnesty for their role in the bombing of the King's Cinema, Alexandra, where the movie "Cry Freedom" was going to be screened in July 1988.

Andre Voster, Frans van der Walt and Abraham Young, all AWB members, were granted amnesty for bombing a trading store at Patensie near Port Elizabeth in 1993.

Another AWB member, Carl Kriel, was granted amnesty for bombing Hill View school in Pretoria in June 1991.

A member of the African National Congress Youth League, Lefa Kele, was granted amnesty for illegal possession of arms and ammunition at Mohontsha, QwaQwa, in June 1993.

The committee also granted amnesty to a pupil charged with arson after protesting pupils from Masibulele Higher Primary School torched two trucks at Needs Camp, near East London in 1993. Charges against Thembile Zilibele were temporarily withdrawn pending the outcome of his amnesty application.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 10 1998 - SAPA

FW WANTS STATE TO FUND HIS TRC COURT BATTLE

Former state president FW de Klerk had applied to the government to fund his court bid to prevent the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from publishing damaging findings against him, the Cape Argus newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana as saying that in all likelihood De Klerk's request would be rejected.

In terms of the State Attorney's Act, De Klerk would be entitled to apply for state funding for legal action that arises from any action he committed in his capacity as a government official.

The TRC's findings against De Klerk were blacked out of its final report - released on October 29 - pending the finalisation of the court case, which is set to resume on March 4.

According to media reports, the TRC found that De Klerk was an accessory after the fact to the bombing of Khotso House, headquarters of the South African Council of Churches, and Cosatu house, which housed the trade union movement.

The TRC reportedly found that while De Klerk did not order the bombings, he knew his law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and police commissioner Johan van der Merwe were involved in them, but did not report them to the police.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association NCOP November 10 1998 - SAPA

MBEKI WARNS ON PROCRASTINATION

All South Africans should be genuinely concerned that if they procrastinated over bridging the gaps that existed between them, then they could expect an explosion to occur, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday.

Replying to a special debate on national reconciliation in the National Council of Provinces, he said such issues had to be addressed in the same way they were in the Constitution.

The recent jobs summit had shown what could be done.

In the post Truth and Reconciliation Commission report era, no-one would do South Africa a service by rekindling conflicts of the past, Mbeki said.

Introducing the debate, he said he and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi had been interacting with Afrikaner leaders and listening to their views on South Africa.

This process was not yet complete because they planned to meet a wide range of people.

However, they would submit an interim report to Cabinet on the "rich lessons" and message they had gathered so that government could address the legitimate concerns of this important section of the population.

Afrikaner leaders with whom they had spoken had said they were committed to help build a future in which they could honestly say that the future belonged to all.

Mbeki said politicians might make important progress towards reconciliation if they recognised that they were incapable at this stage of agreeing on national goals and how to achieve them.

People would then judge politicians not by the shrillness of their criticisms, but by what they had done to help eradicate the legacy of apartheid.

This legacy continued to imprison "the entirety of our people", regardless of race or gender.

Mbeki said the combination of abject poverty at one end of the social scale and comfortable affluence at the other was compounded by the fact that this echoed the black-white divide, and - most acutely - a disparity between black women and white males.

This constituted an explosive mixture, which had to be addressed if stability was to be guaranteed.

KwaZulu-Natal premier Dr Ben Ngubane said there had to be a place for minorities in South Africa.

Fears among many such groups that they would be squeezed and reduced to second-class status had to be allayed.

Many felt their sons and daughters would be discriminated against.

The necessary reconciliation would never be achieved without trust, and the role of churches in this regard should not be under-estimated. Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa said it was incumbent on all to ensure a cultural revolution took place in South Africa.

Mbeki should be commended for reaching out to minorities.

Western Cape Health MEC Peter Marais, standing in for provincial premier Gerald Morkel, said colour and ethnicity had to take a back seat, and competence should be allowed to prevail in South Africa.

"We all share the same goals: victory over poverty and ignorance."

The Western Cape had managed since 1994 to keep corruption in check.

It needed an effective police force, but its pleas to national Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi for more provincial police powers had fallen on deaf ears.

"This is a bad way to start reconciliation," Marais said.

Northern Cape premier Manne Dipico said parties should avoid using ethnicity to get votes in next year's general election.

"Let's build a united South Africa: non-racial, non sexist and democratic."

Free State premier Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said reconciliation could not happen if the illiterate and unemployed were not brought into the mainstream of South Africa's economic and political life.

Reconciliation could also not be achieved while there was brutal violence from both black and white on farms.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 11 1998 - SAPA

FW DETERMINED TO FIGHT TRC IN COURT

Former state president FW de Klerk is determined to proceed with legal action to try and stop the Truth and Reconciliation Commission publishing damaging findings against him, even if the state refuses to pay his court costs.

The Cape Argus on Tuesday reported that De Klerk had applied to the government to fund his court battle with the TRC, but quoted presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana as saying that in all likelihood De Klerk's request would be rejected.

The former president's spokesman, Dave Steward, issued a statement on Wednesday saying: "Mr FW de Klerk takes note of the decision of the president's office that the state will not bear his legal expenses against the TRC.

"He disagrees with the decision and will pursue the matter with the office of the president.

"He is in any event determined to proceed with the case and to ensure that the TRC withdraws its unfounded findings against him."

De Klerk is of the view that in terms of the State Attorney's Act, he is entitled to apply for state funding for legal action that arises from any action he committed in his capacity as a government official.

The TRC's findings against De Klerk were blacked out of its final report - which was released on October 29 - pending the finalisation of the court case, which is set to resume on March 4.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 11 1998 - SAPA

JUDICIARY PLAYED A ROLE IN UPHOLDING APARTHEID: FRIEDMAN

Former Judge President of the Western Cape John Friedman on Wednesday night made a moving apology for the judiciary's role in upholding apartheid.

Speaking at an attorney's association meeting in Cape Town, Friedman said the judiciary had mantained the status quo, whether wittingly or unwittingly, by upholding laws passed by the executive when they knew them to be unjust.

Friedman's apology was made in the presence of representatives from the National Democratic Lawyers Association and the Black Lawyers Association.

Lawyers who attended the meeting said Friedman's statement was very moving.

The judiciary's submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission drew criticism for failing to acknowledge the role they played in upholding apartheid.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 12 1998 - SAPA

PW's COURT APPEAL NOW SET FOR MAY 28

Former state president PW Botha's appeal against his August 15 conviction for flouting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena will be heard in the Cape High Court on May 28, court officials said on Thursday.

The hearing was originally set down for December 4, but Botha's lawyers were not available on that date.

Western Cape deputy attorney-general Bruce Morrison, who secured the original conviction against Botha in the George Regional Court, told the French news agency AFP: "It is very disappointing as we would have preferred to handle the matter as soon as possible."

Botha was sentenced to a R10,000 fine or 12-months in jail, plus an additional 12-month sentence suspended for five years, provided he does not disobey further TRC subpoenas.

The TRC in its final report held Botha responsible for gross human rights violations committed under his rule.

Botha, who turns 83 on January 12, has previously voiced his displeasure at the drawn-out legal proceedings which followed his refusal to appear at a TRC hearing on the now-defunct State Security Council, which he chaired.

He declined to comment about the new court date.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 13 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY COMMITTEE WILL HEAR APPLICATIONS FROM ANC, AWB MEMBERS

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will next week hear amnesty applications from African National Congress and Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members at Thabong in Welkom.

The applications relate to the killing of policemen and a spate of bomb blasts in the Free State shortly before the 1994 elections, the TRC said in a statement on Friday.

Phillip Mosia, Jack Mofokeng, Isaac Mohomane, Solomon Sera and Molahleki Patrick Motlokoa, all claiming to be members of the ANC, are seeking amnesty for the killing of three QwaQwa policemen.

Mokete Makau, Tselane Mosebi and Hadibonoe Tsosane were killed and civilian Refiloe Anastacia Mondwene was wounded in two incidents at Phuthaditjhaba between May and June 1993. In both incidents the policemen were ambushed and dispossessed of their service firearms.

All applicants are serving prison terms ranging from 18 years to life imprisonment.

Mandla Fokazi, Thozamile Ndabeni, Stephen Makhura, Fusi Mofokeng and Tshokolo Mokoena are applying for amnesty for the killing of policeman Lourens Oosthuizen and wounding five other policemen at a roadblock on the road between Bethlehem and Ficksburg.

They claim in their amnesty applications that they were transporting an arms cache to Escourt in KwaZulu/Natal to defend ANC supporters against Inkatha Freedom Party members.

Four AWB members, Andries Kriel, Jan Labuschagne, Johannes Botes and Daniel van der Watt, are seeking amnesty for bombing railway lines, electrical installations and business premises in towns such as Bothaville, Wesselsbron, Orkney, Hoofstad, Stilfontein, Kroonstad, Welkom, Leeudoringstad and Potchefstroom in September 1993 and February 1994.

The applicants were not charged pending the outcome of their amnesty applications.

Other AWB members, Pieter Breytenbach and De wet Strydom, are seeking amnesty for a range of incidents including sabotage, murder and unlawful possession of arms and ammunition. Breytenbach and Strydom planted a bomb at a taxi rank in Bultfontein, killing Kleinbooi Ramolla in February 1994. They also bombed SABC TV and radio transmitters, schools, trading and liquor stores as well as a surgery owned by people they perceived to be sympathetic to the ANC.

Justice Hassen Mall will chair the hearing at the Thabong community centre, and it will last until Friday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 13 1998 - SAPA

TWO PANELS OF AMNESTY COMMITTE TO HEAR APPLICATIONS FROM SDUs

Two panels of the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will hear amnesty applications from 100 Thokoza self-defence unit members on the East Rand later this month.

The hearings, involving 100 and 55 applicants from the Thokoza and Katlehong communities respectively, will last from November 23 to December 11, the TRC said in a statement on Friday.

One panel will sit at the Vosloorus community centre, and the other will be at Palm Ridge community centre near Thokoza.

Among the applicants are SDU commanders, ordinary members of SDUs, and political leaders of the townships who sat in meetings of the SDU central command.

Women who provided food and often hid weapons for SDUs have applied, as well as youths between 12 and 13 who acted as lookouts for the units.

A doctor who treated wounded SDU members has also applied.

Most of the applicants have not been arrested for the acts for which they are applying for, which include skirmishes with former SA Defence Force patrols and policemen.

Members of rival political organisations frequently exchanged fire during marches, leading to loss of lives, the commission said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 13 1998 - SAPA

MILITANTS FROM LEFT AND RIGHT GRANTED AMNESTY

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to two former militants who were at opposite ends of the political spectrum, commission spokesman Vuyani Green announced on Friday.

Maurice Mthombeni was a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the African National Congress' former armed wing, while Johan Prinsloo was commanding officer of the former Bronkhorstspruit Command Unit, an armed right-wing organisation.

Mthombeni got amnesty for skipping the country illegally to undergo military training in 1965.

The committee also granted amnesty to Prinsloo for the illegal possession of a large quantity of ammunition which was supplied to the Boerekommando at Tiegerspoort, Pretoria before the 1994 elections.

Both applications were considered in chambers.

The committee only considers applications in chambers when the offences for which amnesty is sought do not constitute gross human rights violations as defined in the law which governs the TRC.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN November 13 1998 - SAPA

VICTIMS WANT INFORMERS' NAMES, TRC PROCEEDINGS IN DURBAN HALTED

Proceedings at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Durban into the murders of ANC activists by policemen came to an abrupt halt on Friday when the brother of one of the victims objected to the non-disclosure of the names of police informants who lured the activists to their deaths.

Thulani Vilakazi, brother of Manzi Vilakazi, shouted angrily at the commission when the counsel for amnesty applicant Hendrik Botha objected to a request from the lawyer for the victims' families for the names of police informants to be revealed.

Police informants were used to lure many African National Congress activists into the clutches of Security Branch policemen, who then killed them.

In the case of Manzi Vilakazi, Sibusiso Ndlovu and Elias Mtshali, an informant told police the men were planning to blow up a railway line on the night of November 18, 1988 and told police where the men could be found.

Police acted on that information and the men, who came to be known as the "KwaMashu Three," were arrested, interrogated and shot to death.

Their bodies were then placed on the railway line they had planned to destroy and blown up with limpet mines found at their residence.

Edward Ngubane, for the victims' families, said the families needed to know the names to set their minds at ease and that this was necessary in the interests of full disclosure.

He said several men in the KwaMashu community were suspected of having been informants and their lives were in danger.

Mr Justice Andrew Wilson said to reveal the names of the informants would be to pronounce their death sentences.

Louis Visser SC, for Botha, said no police force in the world was expected to reveal the names of its informants. Ngubane and Vilakazi argued that this would only apply if the police had acted within the law.

"They did not act according to procedure; they acted like criminals so they should be made to reveal the names," said Vilakazi.

Wilson asked both counsels to prepare arguments on the disclosure of the informants' names to be delivered next Tuesday.

Vilakazi said he could not forgive the policemen and informants.

"How can I forget when all I buried was my brother's leg? Where were his head and the rest of his body?" he asked.

He said he did not intend to take any action against the informants but he needed to know who they were so he could be wary of them. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association COLUMBUS, Ohio November 14 1998 - SAPA-AP

SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHBISHOP HAS POSITIVE WORDS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he's encouraged by what he's seen in the world's young people.

In spite of temptations such as drugs, materialism and pornography on the Internet, "isn't it incredible that so many young people come out such splendid, splendid human beings?" he said in a speech Friday night.

Tutu received the National Youth Advocate Program's 1998 Advocate of the Year Award for his work toward social justice and his leadership to end apartheid in South Africa.

The program provides foster homes for 2,000 children and acts as advocate on child welfare issues.

Tutu heads the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which recently issued a report condemning that nation's former system of whites-only rule and the tortures and killings by both the government and those fighting it.

"It's now up to South Africans, really, whether they are going to grasp the opportunity that the commission has given," Tutu said. "And that is to say - all of us have to say - this is our past, this is how we have been and not use it to take potshots."

Asked how South Africa was doing since the fall of apartheid, Tutu responded, "Well, we're free."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG Nov 15 - SAPA

ANC SUPPORTS THE NAMING OF POLICE INFORMANTS IN KWANATAL

The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday came out in support of a demand by the families of former Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres that those seeking amnesty for their deaths should reveal the name of their informants.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Durban into the murder of Manzi Vilakazi, Sibusiso Ndlovu and Elias Mtshali in November 1988, came to an abrupt halt on Friday when Vilakazi's brother, Thulani, objected to the non- disclosure of the names of police informants who lured the activists to their deaths.

An informant told police the men were planning to blow up a railway line on the night of November 18, 1988 and told police where the men could be found.

Police acted on that information and the men, who came to be known as the "KwaMashu Three," were arrested, interrogated and shot death.

ANC spokesman Dumisani Makhaye on Sunday said the informants did not just inform about its members but they were directly linked in their kidnappings and therefore were accessories to their deaths.

This was a crime even under apartheid, said Makhaye.

"In this particular case, the protection of the identity of theseder a general protection of the identity of informants. They committed a crime," he said.

Makhaye said if the applicants failed to provide the names of their accomplices, families of the deceased would be justified in regarding the applicants as having failed to make a full disclosure.

He said the organisation believed that the informants remained part of the Third Force that now and again fan the fires of political violence especially in KwaZulu-Natal.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WELKOM November 17 1998 - SAPA

SELF-DEFENCE UNITS CONTINUED AFTER SUSPENSION OF ARMED STRUGGLE

African National Congress-aligned self-defence units continued to kill policemen in the early '90s, even though the organisation had suspended its armed struggle, the Truth and Reconciliaton Commission's amnesty comittee heard on Tuesday.

Testifying before the committee at the Thabong community centre in Welkom in connection with the murder of Sergeant Hadibonoe Tsosane in Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State in May 1993, Molahlehi Motlokoa said SDUs still had operations to carry out, including killing policemen.

"It was necessary to kill them because the apartheid state had to see that we were still serious, even though the ANC had suspended its armed struggle," said Motlokoa.

Motlokoa, John Khubeka and Phillip Mosia were charged for Tsosane's murder but the latter was acquitted.

Motlokoa and Khubeka are serving 18 years each for the incident.

Khubeka claims to have applied for amnesty, but his form could not be found by the TRC.

Motlokoa told the committee that on May 19, 1993, the three of them saw Tsosane removing barricades from the road.

They approached him and demanded his service firearm, but he refused and Khubeka fired a warning shot into the air.

"But when John (Khubeka) saw that he was a policeman, he shot him. We also retrieved his gun," he said.

They took a woman who was with Tsosane and locked her into the boot of her car and left her there.

He said the commander of the SDU units had told them that former ANC youth league president and current Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Peter Mokaba, and former SA Communist Party secretary-general Chris Hani knew of ongoing SDU activities.

In an unrelated incident, Isaac Mohomane, who claimed to be an SDU and ANC member appeared before the amnesty committee in connection with the murder of Sergeant Mokete Makau and Tselane Mosebi also in Phuthaditjhaba in June 1993.

Makau and Mosebi were gunned down by Mohomane, Jack Mofokeng, Phillip Mosia, Solomon Sera and Molahleki Motlokoa who are serving sentences ranging from the 18 years to life for the murders.

Mohomane claimed they were all members of the SDU and they were instructed by their commander Simon Mofokeng to kill the police because they were playing a major role in the unrest and killing of people.

"We reached a decision that we should do something in QwaQwa so that we should send a message to their masters and bosses that what they were doing was not acceptable to the people," said Mohomane.

He said their task as an SDU was to counteract violence perpetrated by the police and the state. The commander of the unit had given them specific instructions not to disarm the police but to kill them, he said.

It emerged during cross examination by the lawyer for the families for the deceased, Lesane Sesele, that Makau was killed because he was an investigating officer in an armed robbery case against Mohomane.

Mohomane denied this saying the deceased was never the investigating officer in the case.

Asked about the operations that were in conflict with the ANC's policies regarding the suspension of armed struggle he said: "I personally did not support the suspension because people continued to die in our areas."

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 17 1998 - SAPA

ANC LEADERS TO DRAFT PLAN TO PROMOTE RECONCILIATION

Senior African National Congress leaders will draft a proposal on how to advance reconciliation and national unity following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's controversial final report, ANC national spokesman Thabo Masebe said on Tuesday.

In a statement released after a two-day meeting of the ANC's national working committee in Durban, he said Cape High Court Judge Wilfred Thring's reasons for dismissing the ANC's interdict against the TRC had been among the issues discussed.

The NWC was of the opinion that the judge had dismissed the case on technicalities, and had not ruled against the ANC's argument that the TRC was obliged by law to grant the party a hearing before finalising its report.

"The NWC noted that while the court case is now history, the challenge of taking forward the process of reconciliation and national unity still faces all of us and that the ANC in particular had a responsibility to provide leadership to the process."

The NWC had mandated members of its committee on the TRC to prepare the ANC's position, Masebe said.

The NWC had also noted renewed attacks on Health Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma, by opposition parties, in the light of civil proceedings by Judge Willem Heath to recover monies spent on the Sarafina II Aids musical.

The committee had reiterated its support for Zuma and expressed full confidence in her ability to continue implementing the ANC's health policy.

The NWC was also briefed about disciplinary proceedings of ANC councillors in Butterworth, Masebe said.

It agreed that the matter be dealt with expeditiously to minimise any further possible disruption to the council's work.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WELKOM November 17 1998 - SAPA

APPLICANTS SAW SLOGANS AT RALLIES AS ORDERS TO KILL POLICEMEN

Amnesty applicant Phillip Mosia on Tuesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Welkom that there was no direct order from any African National Congress leader in Phutaditjaba and QwaQwa during the early 90s to kill policeman.

At meetings held at Phutaditjaba hall and stadium, it was however declared that QwaQwa police were the enemies of the people, he told the TRC's amnesty committee.

Mosia, Isaac Mohomane, Jack Mofokeng and Solomon Sera, all claiming to be self defence unit members, are seeking amnesty for the murder of Sergeants Mokepe Makau and Pselane Mosebi in June 1993.

They are all serving life sentences for the murders.

"There was no direct order from any leader of the ANC to kill policemen but we acted upon the declaration," Mosia said.

He said Mohomane, who was the leader of the unit, had told them he had received an order from his commander, Simon Mofokeng, that policemen should be killed.

The lawyer for the deceased, Lesane Sesele, told the committee that the applicants attacked the two policemen because Makau was investigating an armed robbery case against Mohomane.

Mosia denied this, saying he was not involved in the robbery.

Sesele said the four applicants never challenged this version when they appeared in court in 1994.

Earlier Mohomane told the committee that the reason why they did not testify in court was because it was biased against them and only listened to the "lies" told by the police.

The four applicants all testified that their acts were politically motivated as police played a role in the political unrest at that time.

They asked the committee and the families of the deceased to forgive them.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN November 17 1998 - SAPA

POLICEMEN REFUSE TO GIVE TRC INFORMERS' NAMES

Policemen testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Durban on Tuesday refused to name informants, saying the people's lives would be endangered.

Louis Visser, SC, acting for Hendrik Botha and Sam du Preez, said he told his clients not to give names of informants.

Families of African National Congress activists killed by the applicants last week asked for the names of informers to be revealed in order to get full disclosure.

Visser said ANC leaders, including Joe Modise and slain SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, have in the past advocated the killing of informers. He said he feared for the informers' lives if their identities were revealed.

Appearing for the families, Edward Ngubane argued the ANC renounced the armed struggle years ago. He said in the spirit of TRC legislation all those involved should come forward or be prosecuted.

"Others who faced public and political victmisation have been named before the commission, so why is there a distinction being made in this case?" asked Ngubane.

TRC amnesty committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson at first proposed the names and addresses of informers be given to him. An independent advocate would meet them and determine whether they would testify.

It was decided that Botha would contact the informers and arrange a meeting between them and attorney Jan Wagener, who was instructing Visser.

Wagener would tell the men they were to be implicated, and report their decision to the TRC within two weeks.

During testimony on Tuesday, Du Preez admitted to killing Phumeza Nxiweni, one of the KwaMashu Three. He also said he helped dig a grave to bury Nxiweni and Umkhonto weSizwe commander Portia Ndwandwe's bodies.

Their bodies were covered with limestone before being covered in sand. Refuse was placed on the graves and the victims' clothes were burnt.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WELKOM November 18 1998 - SAPA

TRC HEARS THAT KILLERS OF TWO POLICEMEN DO NOT DESERVE AMNESTY

The four amnesty applicants for the murder of two QwaQwa policemen in Phuthaditshaba in June 1993 did not deserve amnesty, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Wednesday.

In his closing argument during the amnesty hearing in Welkom of Phillip Mosia, Jack Mofokeng, Isaac Mohomane and Solomon Sera, Lesane Sesele for the families of the deceased said the men failed to give full disclosure.

"They failed to disclose the background to the killings of Sergeants Mokete Makau and Tselane Mosebi," Sesele said.

He said all the applicants who claimed to be self-defence unit and African National Congress members condeded that they knew that the armed struggle had been suspended, but did not agree with the move.

Sesele said Mohomane had solicited the other three applicants in killing Makau because he was investigating him for an armed robbery case.

However, Booker Mhlaba, for the applicants, said Sesele had failed to obtain a dossier from QwaQwa police to prove that Makau was indeed an investigating officer in the case.

He said this was denied by Mohomane during the hearing.

Mhlaba said the question of ANC policies, such as the suspension of the armed struggle, were often not discussed with the applicants.

"They were foot soldiers who had to carry out instructions. They did not have to look at the reasonableness of the order," said Mhlaba.

He said the applications were in line with the TRC's requirements for amnesty and the applicants deserved to be granted amnesty.

Wednesday's proceedings were wrapped up and on Thursday the amnesty committee would hear applications from five Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members for the pre-1994 election bombings.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WELKOM November 19 1998 - SAPA

TWO AWB MEN APPEAR AT TRC HEARING ON PRE-ELECTION BOMBINGS

Two Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee at the Thabong community centre in Welkom on Thursday in connection with a spate of pre-election bombings in the Free State in 1994.

Pieter Breytenbach and Johan Strydom are seeking amnesty for placing a bomb at the Bloemfontein taxi rank in February 1994 in which a civilian, Kleinboy Ramorra, was killed.

In March the two men bombed the Kazee cash store in Sannieshof because the owner was an African National Congress supporter.

They also planned to bomb the Doringbuilt and Momoroti primary schools in Delareyville and Ottosdal respectively. However, the bombs did not detonate because police found the explosives in time.

A week after the failed school attacks, Breytenbach and Strydom placed a bomb at the SABC tower in Bloemfontein, but no damage was caused.

They also bombed Agriman in Ottosdal.

The men were charged in connection with the bombings, but their trial was postponed pending the outcome of their amnesty applications.

Strydom told the amnesty committee the motive for the attacks was to cause chaos in the country so that the first nonracial democratic election would not take place.

"Anyone who was in favour of the African National Congress and National Party alliance had to be targeted - more specifically, their property and business.

"It was thought that this would prevent the election," he said.

Strydom told the committee they identified their own targets, and these were not pointed out for them.

He said AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche gave them an order to buy explosives, mainly mining explosives. If they failed to purchase explosives, they should steal them.

Some of the explosives were stored at the AWB's headquarters in Ventersdorp.

Strydom said they were given orders to blow up the gas depot in Lichtenberg, but did not follow through with this because the depot was in a central place and a lot of people would have died.

"We did not execute this instruction because at no stage did (AWB) general (Nico) Fourie give me an instruction to kill people."

Asked about the Bloemfontein taxi rank, he said the aim of the attack was to cause fear among ANC supporters who were to have held a meeting on the day in question. They knew that there could be some loss of life, but Strydom denied the attack was racially motivated.

"I am very sorry for what I have done. I can now say that things can happen if people negotiate. As long as a live, I will not do a thing like that again," he said, asking the committee for forgiveness.

Breytenbach agreed with Strydom's evidence. He said the motive for the attacks was for Afrikaners to obtain their own land.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN November 19 1998 - SAPA

PUBLIC WORKS MINISTER RADEBE TO APPLY FOR AMNESTY NEXT WEEK

Public Works Minister Jeff Radebe will be the first serving cabinet minister to appear before the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Radebe will appear at the committee's hearing in Durban next Monday, the TRC said in a statement on Thursday.

Radebe is applying for amnesty mainly for the role he played in establishing, arming and supporting self defence units (SDUs) that operated in KwaZulu-Natal at the height of political violence in the region.

At the time, Radebe was chairman of the African National Congress in southern Natal and was also operating underground as a commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe (the now defunct armed wing of the ANC).

He states in his application that he was acting under the direct orders of MK's military intelligence.

Radebe also applies for his activities while he was an MK operative between 1976 and 1990. He was arrested and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1986, which was later on appeal reduced to six years.

The hearing will be held at the Durban Christian Centre on Monday. Radebe will face a three-member panel headed by deputy chairman of the amnesty committee, Judge Andrew Wilson.

Other high ranking ANC officials who will appear before the committee on the day include Durban academic, Ian Phillips, who was an ANC MP from 1994 to 1996 and who is currently Radebe's special advisor.

Phillips was also involved with Radebe in establishing and arming the SDUs. Appearing with them is Sipho Sithole of KwaMashu, a former MK chief of staff in the southern Natal region. Sithole is now a captain in the SA National Defence Force.

Another SDU member who will appear is Thulasizwe Dlamini of Ixopo.

A number of other members of SDU formations from various parts of the province will apply for incidents unrelated to those for which Radebe is applying.

Next Tuesday, Kwenzakwakhe Msani, Phelela Hlongwa and Fani Mbutho will appear before the committee. They are applying for amnesty for their role in the murder of Inkatha Freedom Party member Sixtus Mkhize. Mkhize was killed in Magabheni on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast in November 1990.

Other applicants are Alfred Mhlambo, Xolani Tsotetsi, Mzwandile Magula and Hector Skhakhane, for the murder of Thembi Mthembu in Nhlalakahle township in Greytown in September 1991.

Lucky Hlengwa is applying for amnesty for killing an unnamed person during the robbery of a pension payout in Ndwedwe on March 1990.

Thulani Cele is applying for amnesty for the murder of Shadrack Zulu in Ixopo in July 1993, Mzamo Mlaba for the murder of Nhlamvu Mkhize and Sbusiso Mlaba in March 1994 and Linda Godfrey Xaba for the murder of a Mr Baxter in Mount Ayliff in November 1993. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association WELKOM November 19 1998 - SAPA

AWB BOMBERS PRAYED FOR MINIMAL LOSS OF LIFE BEFORE BOMBINGS: TRC

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and Conservative Party members prayed to God to minimise the loss of life and injuries during their 1994 pre-election bombing campaign, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Welkom on Thursday.

Testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee at the Thabong Community Centre, AWB member Jan Labuschagne said this was one of the measures he and other co-amnesty applicants Johannes Botes and Daniel van der Watt took to minimise loss of life.

Their commander Andries Kriel, who never accompanied them during the operations, has also applied for amnesty.

"Before any operation we usually prayed that nobody should be injured. We also planted the bombs late at night when we knew people were likely to be asleep," Labuschagne said.

Two people were injured in various explosions at railway and power stations damaged in the Free State towns of Bothaville, Wesselsbron, Orkney, Potchefstroom, Hoopstad, Stilfontein, Kroonstad, Welkom and Leeudoringstad, when AWB members engaged in the bombings before the 1994 elections.

Labuschagne, Botes, Kriel and Van der Watt are seeking amnesty for the incidents.

They were charged with sabotage, malicious damage to property, attempted murder and the unlawful possession of weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Their cases were postponed pending the outcome of their amnesty applications.

Labuschagne, a former colonel in the Volksfront movement, received instructions from Kriel to establish a unit that would damage power installations. This was to highlight the rightwing Volkstaat ideal.

"We did this to force the former National Party government and the African National Congress to take us seriously," Labuschagne said.

He said Kriel instructed them to make sure no lives were lost during the process.

Labuschagne said he knew people could be injured or killed, but they had to pressure the NP and the ANC on the Volkstaat idea.

"When you play with explosives there is no way that people will not be injured or killed. It is only through the grace of God that so few lives were lost."

Van der Watt and Botes agreed with Labuschagne's evidence.

Wearing the Vierkleur insignia of the old Republic of Transvaal, Kriel accepted full responsibility for the terrorist acts committed by the three applicants.

He lashed out at AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche for not accepting responsibility for the actions of his own men. "Terre'Blanche is a coward, and I have said so in many instances. You have to accept responsibility for the actions of your men and he did not. That is why many are still in jail who were not able to get amnesty," Kriel said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 20 1998 - SAPA

TRC GRANTS AMNESTY FOR CRIMES RANGING FROM BOMBINGS TO MURDER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Friday said amnesty had been granted to seven people for offences ranging from murder to the bombing of the Independent Electoral Commission's offices.

Mduduzi Remember Ndlovu, 27, a former KwaZulu-Natal police constable and Inkatha Freedom Party member who appeared before the amnesty committee in Pinetown last month, was granted amnesty for the murder of a former colleague in the police force, Sibusis Gumede, near KwaMashu outside Durban in April 1991.

Ndlovu said he had information that Gumede was secretly supplying arms to the African National Congress.

Afrikaaner Weerstandsbeweging member Eduard Pieter Roux, 36, was granted amnesty for the bombys before the April 1994 election in an attempt to scuttle the election process.

Pieter Stephanus Albertus Nel, 42, also a member of the AWB, received amnesty for planting a homemade bomb at the Calvary Church school in Nelspruit in January 1992.

Nel told the committee that he was protesting against the school's decision to become racially integrated.

Azanian People's Organisation member Josias Sunnyboy Mogashoe, 33, received amnesty for planting explosives at Kwaggarand Motors, Pretoria and PA Swart Motors, Menlo Park in 1993, and for the illegal possession of a pistol, handgrenade and detonators found on him in December 1993.

John Harold Jeffery, 35, convicted in February 1986 for malicious damage to property for spraying political slogans on a bus terminal in George, was also granted amnesty.

The committee granted amnesty to IFP member Makhanda Aaron Ndwalane, 54, for the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition in Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast in 1992.

ANC Youth League member Mzwakhe Philemon Mndebele, 30, was granted amnesty for the unlawful possession of a firearm in Heidelberg in November 1992.

Mndebele was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the offence.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA, Nov 20, 1998 - SAPA-AFP

SOUTH AFRICA'S BOTHA TO ESCAPE PROSECUTION: RADIO

A senior prosecutor has ruled there is insufficient evidence to prosecute South African former president P.W. Botha on alleged human rights abuses, according to reports Friday.

Public SABC radio said Witwatersrand director of prosecutions, Jan D'Oliviera, had decided against bringing criminal charges against the 82-year-old former president as there was a "lack of suitable evidence."

Botha was last month fingered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as being accountable for human rights violations which occurred during his rule, from 1978 until 1989.

It said the Botha years were characterised by the perpetration of gross human rights violations on a wide scale by police and the military, including killings of people opposed to the policies of his government, and the use of torture, abduction and arson.

TRC commissioner Yasmin Sooka reacted angrily to the news, saying it discredited the work of the TRC, which was set up to probe human rights abuses during the apartheid era.

"It would be a mockery of the TRC process if perpetrators were allowed to go free," Sooka told SABC.

The TRC recommended that all those named in its five-volume report, handed to President Nelson Mandela on October 29, be prosecuted if they have not applied for amnesty.

Justice Minister Dullah Omar would not comment on the Botha case, but said the mere fact the TRC had made findings against individuals was not sufficient to secure a prosecution. "The truth commission is not a court of law," he said.

"The reality is that you must have evidence to prosecute. Where this is not available, it is not easy to mount a prosecution."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 23 1998 - SAPA

PAC BLESSED THE MONEY-STEALING OPERATION: TRC TOLD

The Pan Africanist Congress gave its blessings to its military wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army's operation in the 1980s to steal everything that was worth money to raise funds to buy weapons, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Monday.

Two Apla cadres, Patrick Thapelo Maseko and Hlalele "Page" Hlelesi, made the claim while applying for amnesty at hearings in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

The weapons were to be used to undermine the "settler" regime of that time.

"We stole cash, jewellery, cars and everything worth money so that we could fund Apla's operations, and this we carried out successfully," Maseko, then Apla commander in Westonaria, told the committee.

He said upon returning from military training in Tanzania, Apla soldiers had no weapons, and were told to rob people to get money for arming cadres.

They formed a unit dubbed the Beauty Salon, which reported directly to Apla's director of operations, Letlapa Mphahlele.

In the process of carrying out the operations, people were killed, especially the whites who at that time were regarded as enemies of black people, Maseko said.

"South Africa was under an oppressive regime at that time."

In his application, he said they robbed the Libanon Gold Mine Fresar's Stores of R16000, the Elsburg mine of R6000 and the Cala hotel of R11000. He also mentioned attacks on various police stations in and around Soweto.

The group robbed the Transkei University of R500000. A policeman was killed and two more were injured during this operation.

Maseko's affidavit before the committee listed 24 operations the four-member unit carried out, but he said there were more operations.

The other members of the unit were Donga Maleka (code-named Lumumba), Christopher Botshabelo (code-named Small Baby) and a Tefo, who was apparently an SA National Defence Force member at De Brug.

During cross-examination, Maseko denied they were a group of tsotsis (criminals) who wanted to enrich themselves by carrying out robberies.

"We were committed cadres who wanted to raise funds for our liberation movement so that it could carry on with the mzabalazo (liberation struggle)."

On what they did with the large amount of cash they amassed during these operations, Maseko said they used it for buying weapons, as well as for their personal survival, since they were told to get the money by all means. Hlelesi, said - together with a group of other Apla cadres - they attacked the Niewenhuizen home in the East Rand following a tip off by a gardener that a lot of weapons could be find there.

A Mrs Niewenhuizen was shot dead and her domestic worker Emily Mokoena injured in the attack. Mokoena has since died.

Hlelesi was in March 1994 imprisoned for 40 years on murder, robbery and possession of illegal firearm charges.

He insisted they were actind under the instructions of Apla commanders, and that they were committed to seeing the oppressive white rule ending in South Africa.

PAC sports and recreation secretary, Jabulani Khumalo - testifying for the applicants - said the funds accumulated in this way were intended to fund the organisation's struggle for liberation during apartheid.

He said units were created to carry out the "repossession" operations.

"The PAC made it very clear that because it did not have money, discretionary and creative methods needed to be adopted by cadres that would raise funds to push forward the struggle," he told the committee.

"The PAC gave its blessings to this operation."

Khumalo said the PAC hierachy were well aware of the monies being collected, but the commanders of the units did not how it was utilised.

"It's important to highlight (that) in a guerilla warfare there are no logistical arrangements... and therefore you cannot expect the comrades to be accountable under the circumstances."

The commission reserved its decision on both applications.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 23 1998 - SAPA

KASRILS TO TESTIFY TO TRC HEARING ON SELF DEFENCE UNITS

Deputy Defence Minister and former Umkonto we Sizwe commander Ronnie Kasrils is scheduled to testify at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Johannesburg on Tuesday on the origin of self-defence units.

Kasrils is the author of the African National Congress document "For the Sake of Our Lives", which called for the establishment of SDUs.

SDUs were prominent particularly in the conflict in East Rand townships between the African National Congress, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the South African Police.

Kasrils is expected to sketch the background to the violence that characterised the East Rand townships of Thokoza, Katlehong and Vosloorus.

During testimony on Monday, former SDU commander Musa Msimanga described the units and the tactical manoeuvers that they applied in their fight against the IFP.

The SDUs were set up by members of the community who collected money and bought firearms to protect themselves.

Some of the weapons purchased included AK47 rifles and shotguns. Women cooked for their protectors and provided hideouts for them. Residents mistrusted police, who were seen to be colluding with the IFP.

Msimanga testified that boys as young as 12 years carried out surveillance against the IFP and the police, and cleaned the firearms.

Senior Independent Board of Inquiry researcher Sally Seale said in her submission that victims' statements often revealed the role of the SAP in the violence, including evidence that members of the IFP were seen getting in and out of police vehicles.

SDUs later became problematic in certain areas when rival units began fighting one another.

Their commanders claimed that the SDUs had been infiltrated by gangsters and police informers.

In an attempt to deal with the problem the government offered amnesty to those SDU members who handed in their weapons and some were integrated into the SA Police Service.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 23 1998 - SAPA

COLLAPSE OF DISCIPLINE INCREASED VIOLENCE ON EAST RAND

A breakdown in discipline and the adoption of a policy of "a killer must be killed" by East Rand self-defence unit members were some of the major factors which contributed to the escalation of violence that ravaged the area in the early 1990s, former SDU members said on Monday.

Former members of African National Congress-aligned self-defence units told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Johannesburg that the recruitment of criminals into the SDUs and police collusion with Inkatha Freedom Party-supporting hostel residents also worsened the conflict between township and hostel residents.

Glen Vilakazi, a member of the committee of seven which co-ordinated SDU activities at Ntabansibi (renamed Lusaka A) section, told the sitting in Palm Ridge near Alberton that community leaders only discovered the extent of atrocities recently when they were preparing their amnesty applications.

Sally Sealey, an independent researcher from the Independent Board of Inquiry, said it was "clear that not all SDU members were disciplined and abided by the code of conduct".

Those individuals should be dealt with accordingly, she said.

About 135 SDU members and community leaders have applied for amnesty in connection with the most bloody violence which engulfed the East Rand township just before the historic 1994 election.

Although the majority of the applicants have never been arrested, they have decided to apply so that a clear picture of their role can emerge.

Vilakazi told the committee that he was responsible for purchasing the firearms with money donated by the community for the SDU's effort against the IFP.

The committee heard that members of the police's Internal Stability Unit were often seen transporting IFP members with red headbands during attacks in the township. Sealey said the complaint they received was that police often opened fire on the people who were trying to defend themselves against the men in red headbands.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 24 1998 - SAPA

LATE ARRIVAL OF VICTIMS DELAY MAYFAIR TRC HEARINGS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings of self defence unit members in Mayfair, Johannesburg were on Tuesday morning delayed due to the non-arrival of victims or their relatives.

The hearings were scheduled to start at 9am, but by 10.30am, it had not begun because the victims had not yet arrived.

TRC spokesman Vuyani Green attributed the delay to, among others, transport problems.

The applicants were expected to tell the committee how they defended communities against the full-scale offensive of the apartheid government against democratic organisations in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN November 24 1998 - SAPA

FORMER SDU MEMBER TELLS HOW SDUs WERE FORMED IN KWAZULU-NATAL

A former member of the African National Congress-aligned self-defence units in southern KwaZulu-Natal told in Durban on Tuesday how the SDUs were formed in Maghabeni township, near Umkomaas, in 1990.

Kwenzakwakhe Nicholas Msani was testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in support of his application for amnesty for the murder of Sixtus Mkhize, who was murdered in Maghabeni in November 1990.

Mkhize was allegedly a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the killing occurred during conflict between the ANC and the IFP at the time.

Msani told the committee SDU commander Bukela Luthuli came from a meeting in the township attended by Public Works Minister Jeff Hadebe and other ANC leaders.

Hadebe allegedly said after the meeting that brave and courageous youths in the township should be selected to protect the community, apparently against attacks from the IFP.

Msani alleged the IFP at the time was assisted and supported by the former KwaZulu police. He claimed the ANC youths were supposed to receive training in the former Transkei, but this never materialised because of the violent situation on the south coast.

Msani told the committee it was not ANC policy to kill political opponents, but the situation at the time forced them to fight the IFP.

He described how the SDUs obtained guns through donations from the community and ANC members. According to Msani the money was given to Luthuli, who obtained the firearms and distributed them to reliable SDU members to hide in their homes.

He said the guns could not be hidden in a central place because of searches conducted by the security forces. Msani is one of several former SDU members to testify before the amnesty committee.

Hadebe is expected to appear before the committee on Tuesday next week over his application for amnesty for his role in the establishment of SDUs in the province.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 24 1998 - SAPA

SDUS NOT A DECLARATION OF WAR IN TOWNSHIPS: KASRILS

The establishment of self-defence units in South Africa's black townships in the early 1990s was not a declaration of war on opponents of the African National Congress, Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils said on Tuesday.

It was an act to protect the communities from the dark forces of the apartheid era, he told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearing in Vosloorus on the East Rand.

"I am proud that I had participated in the establishment of such units because their role was to protect our communities from brutal attacks by evil forces."

The amnesty committee is hearing applications by people claiming to be former members of SDUs for various acts committed in South African townships in the 1990s.

These range from murder and attempted murder to the illegal possession of arms and ammunition.

Kasrils told the committee he had supplied arms to SDUs for the purpose of protecting the communities.

He testified on how the apartheid government used various tactics and forces such as the "Witdoeke" and the "Rooidoeke" to spread violence in black townships to suppress members of democratic organisations.

With the flaring of these types of violence on the Reef in 1990 and with the death toll also increasing, the ANC decided that its military wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe, should help train SDU members, Kasrils said.

Questioned by commissioners, he said hostels were regarded as a source of violence by township residents, hence the decision, for example, to bring the Vosloorus hostel down "brick by brick".

"People saw them as a key threat to their lives ... and following the De Klerk government's failure to implement security measures such as (erecting) fences around them, they then resolved to bring them down brick by brick."

Kasrils said hostilities emanated from hostels, whose dwellers were mainly affiliated to the Inkatha Freedom Party.

Asked why ANC supporters attacked mourners from an IFP supporter's funeral, he replied that it was out of anger and that it was to deter opponents from launching another attack on ANC supporters.

He told the committee that a war situation prevailed in the East Rand townships in the early 1990s, and that innocent people were caught in the cross-fire. But he insisted that the ANC had never declared war by establishing these units, stressing their task was only to protect communities from attacks by apartheid forces like the "third force".

He said the violence in the area affected the moral fibre of society and "turned neighbour against neighbour, brother against brother".

Political leaders were targeted and killed, young people - who in a normal society would have completed their education - were forced to defend life and property.

Kasrils said the ANC was forced to decide on the establishment of SDUs as it could not stand by and watch when more than 2000 people had died in attacks on defenceless people by faceless people.

By April 1994, 2400 people had died in the Vaal, Soweto and East Rand townships.

Meanwhile, amnesty applicant and former commander of the Thokoza SDU, Chechela Esau Machitze, told the committee that he ordered a full-scale attack on IFP members during a funeral procession through Khumalo street in 1992.

He claimed that the late SA Communist Party secretary-general Chris Hani had nominated him to identify SDU members in Thokoza.

"He specifically instructed me to expose their weaknesses and to try to show them the need for a structured defence and a need to have proper training on how to handle weapons."

The hearing continues, but its sittings would be moved to the JCCI centre in Mayfair as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Mayfair amnesty hearings of applications by 22 former SDU members was on Tuesday postponed indefinitely because victims or their relatives could not be traced.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 24 1998 - SAPA

MK SOLDIER TELLS OF BATTLES ON THE EAST RAND

There was a pattern of telephones being disconnected and power failing whenever Thokoza residents were attacked by hostel dwellers, a Self Defence Unit commander who masterminded attacks on the Inkatha Freedom Party told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Tuesday.

Former Umkhonto we Sizwe guerrilla, Chechela Machitje, 37, told the hearing near Thokoza on the East Rand that he personally participated in attacking IFP members at the Thokoza stadium after the IFP, assisted by the SA Defence Force's 32 Battalion, popularly known as Koevoet, had attacked Thokoza residents for two days in September 1990.

"I spent three magazines from my AK47 that day. I am quite sure that people died during the attack but I do not know how many. The IFP were planning to launch an attack on Phola Park but we stopped them at the Thokoza stadium," he said.

Machitje is one of 135 former SDU members who are applying for amnesty for their part in the violence that ravaged the East Rand township in the early 1990s.

Machitje, currently a member of the South African Secret Service, said he had just been released from jail in September 1990 when he realised that the violence against his community was conducted by professional attackers.

"As a former MK soldier, I found myself in a situation where my community was being attacked and I could not help them. The late comrade Jackie Matjego came to me and gave me an AK47," he said.

Machitje said the late MK chief-of-staff Chris Hani asked him to identify potential SDU members and train them how to handle weapons.

Machitje said as an SDU commander he also ordered an attack on an IFP funeral that was passing through the notorious Khumalo street to the cemetery in 1992.

"I moved from section to section and told SDU members that there was to be a funeral of an IFP member and they had to attack it," he said.

Machitje, who said he is still suffering from post-traumatic stress as a result of the violence, told the TRC he was sorry.

"I am not apologising for IFP people who died. I am sorry for the war that was unleashed on the community that led to so many people dying," he said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 25 1998 - SAPA

VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ABSENT AT JHB TRC HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Wednesday expressed concern that the victims of the early 1990s violence in the East Rand were not at its hearings in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

In terms of TRC legislation, victims were to be properly notified to attend the hearings, so that they could either support or oppose the amnesty applications.

The hearings on acts of violence by former members of self- defence units, mainly in the East Rand area, continued for the third day on Wednesday without the victims.

Most of them are apparently aligned to the Inkatha Freedom Party, which has often said it had nothing to do with the TRC process.

At the start of the Wednesday proceedings, commissioner Chris de Jager raised concern about victims being absent.

IFP MP Abram Mzizi wrote a letter last Friday to the TRC, complaining of insufficient notice of the hearing.

He said other victims might also not have been notified sufficiently, and might not have been told of their right to oppose the applications.

Mzizi's letter asked the TRC to postpone the hearing to a later date, so that victims could attend.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 25 1998 - SAPA

MANDELA'S OFFICE APOLOGISES TO DE KLERK

President Nelson Mandela's office apologised for allegations by presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana that former President FW De Klerk stole money from the government, Network Radio News reported on Thursday.

Mankahlana made the allegations earlier in November when asked about Mandela's decision not to allow the state to pay for De Klerk's legal action against the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mankahlana said he was sure De Klerk had siphoned off enough money over the years to pay his own legal costs.

In a report in Die Burger newspaper Mandela and his office distanced themselves from Mankahlana's allegations and De Klerk said he was happy with the apology and considered the case closed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 26 1998 - SAPA

TRC TO HEAR AMNESTY APPLICATIONS ON SDU MEMBERS

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will next week hear more amnesty applications from self-defence unit members involved in the violence in Thokoza and Katlehong on the East Rand between 1991 and 1994.

The hearing will resume on Monday at the JISS Centre in Mayfair, Johannesburg, the committee said on Thursday.

It called on victims of SDU violence, their families and relatives, to contact the committee so that their interests can be represented at the hearing.

Seventeen amnesty applications are to be heard. The applicants say they do not know the names of the victims who were killed. The committee said 17 of 34 applications were withdrawn due to a lack of specific acts as required by the Act governing the TRC.

Five of the applications will be heard in chambers.

The amnesty committee has asked the following persons to contact them:

- The families of two men shot dead in Mohanoe Street in August 1990.

- Themba Mnguni, stayed in Everest, Thokoza, during 1992.

- A Mr Mazibuko who lived in Extention 2, next to Mhlabuzile school in Thokoza.

- A teacher who worked at Mkhathizwe school concerning an incident on July 13, 1993.

- Families of victims who were either killed or injured during an attack by SDUs on April 19, 1994 at Mshayazafe hostel. Star newspaper photographer Ken Oosterbroek was killed in the incident, during a shootout between SDUs, hostel dwellers, and security forces.

- Families of the victims of a shack burning incident in Mazibuko Street in Thokoza in 1993.

- The family of Peter Siwase of Phola Park, who was abducted from his home in Phola Park between 1991 and 1992.

- The family of Bad Boys gang members killed by students in Khaki Street, Thokoza, in 1991.

- Constable S. Dowler and Constable Smith, who were attacked on December 1 (no year given) at Brackendowns, near Alberton.

For more information Lebo Molete can be contacted on 082-441-6090, or people can attend the hearing at the JISS Centre, corner Battery and Queens streets, Mayfair, on Monday.

BUTHELEZI LASHES OUT AT FELGATE'S TRC TESTIMONY IN M&G REPORT

Former Inkatha Freedom Party central committee member Walter Felgate lied in his Truth and Reconciliation Commission testimony in which he closely linked IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi to the apartheid government's Bureau of State Security, Buthelezi said on Friday.

Felgate was motivated by revenge in his testimony published in the Mail & Guardian on Friday, Home Affairs Minister Buthelezi said in a statement.

"One would wonder why, if I was the terrible person Felgate wishes to portray me as, he served me for 17 years and turned against me only when I first, and then Dr Frank Mdlalose, then premier of KwaZulu-Natal, did not fulfil his aspirations for a cabinet post."

Accusing the newspaper of gutter journalism and a campaign of vilification, Buthelezi said: "The TRC itself chose to ignore the lies and utter nonsense contained in the M&G report, and it is well-known that the TRC has not shown a great deal of respect or friendship for me."

Felgate also alleged in his testimony to a closed TRC hearing that Buthelezi had been part of a rightwing conspiracy to trigger civil war to prevent the 1994 elections. Buthelezi denied this, saying there was not a shred of evidence to support the claim.

"Any meetings I had with other political leaders before the 1994 elections were witnessed by many of my colleagues and advisors and nothing was ever done secretively.

"The idea that I could have the power or the aspiration to prevent the 1994 election and defy the combined might of the SANDF and MK is surreal."

According to Felgate's testimony, Buthelezi held meetings with Bureau for State Security (BOSS) operatives on a regular monthly basis before 1973.

He was still receiving monthly briefings, including the transfer of top-secret documentation around the deployment, mobilisation and strategies of the African National Congress after the 1994 elections, Felgate had told the TRC.

But Buthelezi said his only contact with state intelligence agents in the 1970s was in his role as chief minister of the KwaZulu-Natal government, and pertained to laws and policing of that government, which did not have a separate intelligence service.

His former cabinet ministers were present at those meetings and could testify that intelligence brieings never diverted from the legitimate purposes of the KwaZulu-Natal government.

"I never took any action to ever support the regime of apartheid or involve myself in any activity aimed at hindering our struggle for liberation, of which I have been one of the main engines."

Felgate also claimed that apartheid intelligence agent Kobus Bosman was instrumental in establishing Inkatha's Caprivi paramilitary training programme under the auspices of the SA Defence Force in the late 1980s. Bosman was named by former Inkatha institute chief, Lawrence Schlemmer, as his successor when he stood down from the position in the mid-80s - although this appointment never materialised, the M&G report said.

Felgate testified that at the time of the Caprivi training, Buthelezi was meeting with former military intelligence chief General Tienie Groenewald, through the offices of Bosman.

However, Buthelezi said Felgate had no access to information on the training of IFP militia in the Caprivi, adding that an 18-month trial had found nothing in it.

"As per the events surrounding alleged military training which may have taken place at the end of 1993, it must be pointed out that the M&G article itself states that according to Felgate, this plan was never adopted.

"Neither I, nor any of my colleagues, nor any of the governing bodies of the IFP or the erstwhile KwaZulu government ever considered or entertained any discussion in respect of any type of military training.

"We only engaged in limited and legal self-protection activities under the National Peace Accord to prevent violence and criminality at community level," Buthelezi said in the statement.

He said he had met with Groenewald, but not for the reasons indicated by Felgate.

"Felgate's reported statements are a distorted manipulation of innocuous facts which are put together to portray a picture with no connection to truth or reality," Buthelezi said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 30 1998 - SAPA

MZIZI'S HOUSE SET ALIGHT BECAUSE HE BROUGHT HARDSHIP TO THOKOZA

The house of then Thokoza councillor and Inkatha Freedom Party member Abram Mzizi was burnt down in the early '90s because he brought hardship and misery to township residents, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Monday.

Amnesty applicant Themba Xaba, a member of the Thokoza self-defence unit, told the committee's hearing in Mayfair in Johannesburg that if Mzizi had died in the incident, this would have brought joy to residents.

The house was attacked with petrol bombs during the height of political party rivalry between the African National Congress and the IFP. This rivalry on the Reef resulted in the deaths of more than 3000 people between 1990 and 1994.

Xaba said they prepared petrol bombs, travelled to Mzizi's house, and checked whether or not police were around before throwing the bombs into the house.

"We did not wait to see what was hapenning because we were afraid the police would come and arrest us," he said.

He said they were sure that Mzizi was alone in the house at the time because his family had been visiting relatives.

The hearing started an hour-and-a-half late because Mzizi and other victims who had allegedly suffered in the hands of these defence units arrived late.

In terms of legislation governing the TRC, the victims are to be afforded an opportunity to either oppose or support applications.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 30 1998 - SAPA

WEAPONS READILY AVAILABLE IN REEF CLASHES BETWEEN IFP AND ANC

Illegal arms and ammunition were readily available for use by self-defence units in Thokoza, East Rand, to protect the community from attacks by people believed to be aligned to the Inkatha Freedom Party, amnesty applicant Meshack Thulo said on Monday.

He told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearings in Mayfair that township residents who lived near hostels were regularly attacked by hostel dwellers. Hence the community decided to defend itself through self defence units from attacks from hostels, which housed IFP members and hitsquad assassins.

Thulo said children could not freely play in the streets because they would be attacked by men with assegais and pangas in the presence of the police, whom he accused of colluding with hostel dwellers.

"So many people were kidnapped by these hostel dwellers, and the police did nothing to protect the community," he told the committee.

Thulo said he bought about 3000 rounds of illegal ammunition from a person codenamed "Ace" for self-defence purposes between 1993 and 1994.

Thulo is applying for amnesty for kidnapping Petere Sewasi and for arm smuggling in and around East Rand townships.

He told the committee he abducted Sewasi, whom he described as a township resident aligned to the IFP and who was allegedly working with police hitsquads.

Thulo said he left Sewasi at a general meeting in Phola Park, where he subsequently died from being assaulted.

He said he believed Sewasi was killed because he associated himself with the killers from the hostels. "I left Sewasi at the general meeting because it was not safe to drive around the township with him while police were patrolling the area," he said.

Thulo said Sewasi was abducted for the purposes of obtaining information about the disappaearance of many township residents.

The hearing continues

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN November 30 1998 - SAPA

APPOINMENT OF MPSHE IS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: IFP

The appointment of advocate Joseph Mokotedi Mpshe as Director of Prosecution in KwaZulu-Natal was ill-conceived, short-sighted and proof that the removal of Attornery-General Tim McNally was politically motivated, the IFP said on Monday.

"The fact that the new National Director of Public Prosecution has seen fit to appoint as Director of Prosecution in KwaZulu-Natal a person who recently was a special investigator with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is truly astounding," the Inkatha Freedom Party said in a statement.

IFP justice committee member Kierin O'Mally said the appointment of Mpshe confirmed the party's worst fears - that the approval of the National Prosecution Authority Act would lead to a politicised justice system.

He said his party was the only party in Parliament which voted against the Act because it could see the problem coming.

It was now evident that McNally was removed so that someone who was politically linked should move into his place, and it was a known fact that Mpshe had links to the African National Congress.

"They said people of KwaZulu-Natal did not want him (McNally) yet there was no evidence brought forward to support that. They didn't want Mcnally because he was independent," O'Mally said.

He said McNally was also not a friend to the IFP and that the party wanted him removed.

"The IFP did not want him because he failed to convict (former defence minister Magnus) Malan as well as many ANC supporters who killed IFP members."

O'Mally said the party would give Mpshe the benefit of the doubt but it would have prefered someone who was not politically linked.

Justice Minister Dullah told a Durban press briefing last Friday that Mpshe's appointment was a big step towards the transformation of the prosecution system and denied the appointment was political. Omar said Mpshe's appointment was based purely on merit.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 30 1998 - SAPA

ANC/IFP CLASHES IN THOKOZA AFFECTED SCHOOLING

Many school going boys in Thokoza on the East Rand had to leave school in the early 1990s to protect their families and the community against attacks from the Inkatha Freedom Party and the so-called Third Force, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committe was told on Monday.

Amnesty applicant Lucky Richard Molahlehi told the hearing in Mayfair, Johannesburg that he had to drop out of Standard Nine in 1992 so that he could join the African National Congress self-defence units that protected the community.

"Since that time, I have never been able to continue with my studies," he said in his amnesty application for attempted murder and two charges of possessions of illegal firearms - an AK47 rifle and an R4 rifle.

Molahlehi said the community could not rely on the police because they were colluding with the IFP in attacking communities.

During questioning, he told the committee that SDU members were always on the alert to prevent further attacks from nearby hostels, which allegedly housed IFP-aligned sinister forces.

Asked where he got the R4 rifle, he replied: "I got it from an IFP guy who fell during a shooting incident between the community and residents at Unit F in Thokoza."

Molahlehi claimed the police's internal stability unit assisted IFP marchers to attack innocent residents.

"During this gunfire exchange, I saw an IFP man fall on the ground... I ran towards him and grabbed the R4," he told the committee.

The hearing continues after the lunch break.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG November 30 1998 - SAPA

MZIZI'S HOUSE TORCHED BECAUSE HE COLLABORATED WITH APARTHEID: TRC

Inkatha Freedom Party councillor Abram Mzizi's home in Thokoza was set alight in 1990 because township residents regarded him as a collaborator with the apartheid regime, amnesty applicant Nhlanhla Dhlamini said on Monday.

"He (Mzizi) used to harass people, arresting them and taking houses from people who did not belong to the IFP, " he told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearings in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

Dhlamini said he, together with other self-defence unit members, threw a petrol bomb at Mzizi's home. Their aim, he said, was to force Mzizi to resign from the council. In this way he would no longer have the power tro bring hardship to residents.

Commissioner Chris de Jager raised concerns about Dhlamini's application, in which he stated that he was applying for amnesty for general crimes. In his testimony on Monday, however, Dhlamini said he was applying for the torching of Mzizi's home.

The hearing will continue on Tuesday morning.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

JOHANNESBURG December 1 1998 - SAPA

TRC JUDGE WARNS AGAINST FURTHER DELAYS IN SDU AMNESTY HEARING

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on Tuesday warned that it would not tolerate deliberate delays by people who wanted to "take control of the process".

Judge Ronnie Pillay, who chairs the amensty hearing on the East Rand for former African National Congress self- defence unit members, said he was not happy about deliberate delays since the beginning of the hearings on November 23.

He said the TRC was under the impression that there were certain people who wanted to take control of the process and run it at their convenience.

"I am not going to allow that," he warned.

Pillay said the amnesty panel had to complete its work by the middle of next year. Those who delayed the hearings appeared to be forgetting that there were people in prison who had also applied for amnesty and whose applications were still to be heard.

"I don't think we will be able to finish hearings on their applications with the kind of delays we are experiencing currently," he said.

Pillay said: "I am not going to tolerate any delays any longer."

Three members of the Thokoza SDUs told the committee at the start of the hearing on Tuesday that they were withdrawing or amending their amnesty applications.

Israel Mabote said he was withdrawing his amnesty application for murder, but would seek amnesty for possession of an illegal firearm.

He told the committee he was never involved in murder during clashes between the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party, which left thousands dead and scores injured between 1990 and 1994.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 1 1998 - SAPA

THOKOZA VIOLENCE VICTIM TELLS OF RAPE AND MURDER BY SDU MEMBERS

A victim of the Thokoza 1993 violence, Sibongile Sambo, on Tuesday relived the trauma of being raped in a toilet by a group of young self defence unit members who then shot dead her sister.

A weeping Sambo was speaking to journalists at the Mayfair, Johannesburg hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee on the activities of former African National Congress self defence units.

She said SDU members murdered her sister and that she would not forgive them unless they told where her sister's body was.

Sambo said she and her sister, Fransisca "Poti" Sambo, were abducted in 1993 by SDU members following an order by their commander Ben Mashinini, because they were alleged to have been Inkatha Freedom Party informers.

She said they were taken forcefully from a friend's home to a house where they were ordered to strip naked. Their belongings such as jewellery, rings and earrings were taken from them.

"I refused to strip naked because when they kidnapped me they told me that Ben wanted to see me. They were insisting that I must strip naked, but I refused."

The women were pushed into a toilet, ordered to strip naked and lie down, but Sambo refused. Realising that her crying sister was on the floor and pleading with her to co-operate, Sambo gave in.

"They raped us....and afterwards shot at us. My sister was shot in the back of the head and I was shot in the shoulder, leg and private parts," an emotional Sambo told the media.

She said her house was set on fire after the kidnapping.

Sambo had been listening to the testimony of several SDU members applying for amnesty for the incident, during which they claimed she was rounded up because she was an IFP informer.

The applicants said her shebeen house was a venue for IFP supporters to celebrate following attacks on ANC supporters. She dismissed this testimony as nonsense.

She said she was in fact an ANC card-carrying member. Her sin was that her shebeen was near the Buyafuthe hostel - whose hostel dwellers were mostly IFP-aligned.

Sambo said those IFP supporters who came to buy liqour at her shebeen had to sneak in to do so because they feared being attacked. She dismissed the claim that she was an IFP informer.

"I had only come to the TRC with the hope that it will help us find my sister's body. We would like to give it the right burial," Sambo said.

JEFF RADEBE ADMITS ARRANGING FLOW OF ARMS INTO KWAZULU-NATAL

Public Works Minister Jeff Radebe admitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee in Durban on Tuesday that he played a key role in smuggling arms to African National Congress self defence units in KwaZulu-Natal between 1990 and 1994.

Radebe, who was chairman of the ANC's Southern Natal region, is applying for amnesty for his part in procuring arms for the SDUs at the height of the conflict at the time.

Radebe told the committee the province was "in flames" and ANC supporting areas were subjected to constant attacks. He said he attended the funerals of his fellow comrades on a daily basis and massacres were common occurrences.

Radebe told the committee he discussed the need to protect ANC communities with Umkhonto we Sizwe leaders Ronnie Kasrils and Chris Hani, who had agreed to supply arms to local SDUs.

He then explained an elaborate scheme whereby consignments of weapons from outside the country were driven to Durban via Johannesburg and parked at pre-determined places.

He said the arms, which were mostly AK47 rifles and pistols, were hidden in concealed compartments in the vehicles.

Radebe would then hand duplicate keys to drivers in Natal who would find the vehicles and drive them to ANC supporting areas where the weapons were distributed.

He admitted to the committee that on one occasion he was directly involved in the handover of a truckload of arms that was delivered to the Workshop shopping centre in central Durban in the early 1990s.

On the other occassions he merely arranged the delivery and distribution of arms in the southern Natal region by way of supplying keys to the drivers.

He said the three vehicles used were a Land Rover, a bakkie and a minibus.

Radebe said he was not certain where the weapons came from, because of the complex trail they followed from outside the country.

"But come they did."

Asked by committee members Ilan Lax whether he had any knowledge of the number of arms involved, Radebe replied that he could not say for sure, but estimated about 120 AK47s and several hundred pistols were supplied.

He said 90 percent of the weapons were accounted for and later recovered after the successful 1994 election.

Radebe conceded that in some cases comrades in the SDUs had abused their powers for criminal purposes.

Wherever possible, these people were disciplined and disarmed, he said.

This was confirmed by former ANC member Sipho Sithole who is also applying for amnesty, along with Radebe, for his role in arming the SDUs. He said that whenever word was received of criminal behaviour by SDUs firm action was taken.

He said at one stage a renegade band of SDUs was operating in Port Shepstone and causing havoc in the community.

"We gave orders to the regular SDUs that they must be disarmed - whatever the cost."

Sithole said the ANC were not prepared to tolerate people acting against the community it was supposed to be protecting.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 1 1998 - SAPA

SDU COMMANDER BLAMES THE DEVIL FOR 90s EAST RAND VIOLENCE

The former commander of a self-defence unit on the East Rand on Tuesday blamed the devil for dividing supporters of the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party in the 1990s.

Thokoza SDU commander Patrick Thandixolo Mqibi told the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Johannesburg on Tuesday that people in Thokoza - African National Congress and IFP - lived peacefully together until the devil came.

He said: "The devil was living with us... I don't know who brought it among us so that we do wrong things.. We were living together until the devil came.

"The devil was within us, and that is why I am here to ask for amnesty."

Mqibi, 44, asked a woman who was raped and shot in 1993 to forgive her: "I am very sorry about what happened... it was not our intention to do any wrong... it's the devil."

Sibongile Sambo and her sister Pito were raped and shot together because they were suspected of being IFP informers. Sibongile survived and Pito was killed.

Mqibi said he instructed his unit in 1993 to set fire to the houses of IFP members because they were perceived as enemies of the community.

He said the Sambo home was set on fire because it was a shebeen where IFP people gathered to celebrate after attacking ANC members. The fire and the attack on the women did not happen on the same day.

Jabu Jacob Nyethe, a former member of the ANC-aligned SDU, said: "Our lives were being threatened and many people had already been killed because of the information supplied by the two women - hence the decision to kill them, so that we could protect the community."

Sambo was at the amnesty hearing, but did not say whether she intended giving evidence.

She told journalists she would not forgive the SDU members who attacked her and murdered her sister unless they revealed where her sister's body was.

Sambo said she and Pito were taken from a friend's home to a house where they were ordered to strip naked. Their belongings such as jewellery, rings and earrings were taken from them.

Sambo said: "I refused to strip naked because when they kidnapped me they told me that Ben wanted to see me. They were insisting that I must strip naked, but I refused."

The women had been pushed into a toilet and Sambo, realising her weeping sister was on the floor and pleading with her to co-operate, gave in.

"They raped us... and afterwards shot at us. My sister was shot in the back of the head and I was shot in the shoulder, leg and private parts," Sambo said. She said she was a card-carrying ANC member. Her sin was that her shebeen was near Buyafuthe hostel, and residents were mostly IFP-aligned.

Sambo said IFP supporters who came to buy liqour at her shebeen had to sneak inside, because they feared being attacked. She dismissed the claim that she was an IFP informer.

"I (have) only come to the TRC with the hope that it will help us find my sister's body. We would like to give it the right burial," Sambo said.

Another SDU commander, Sandile Ngubeni, told the committee his unit kidnapped and killed Sipho Makhathini - an IFP member - to avenge the killing of several Phola Park and Thokoza residents.

Ngubeni said he was pleased that since the 1994 election peace had returned to the township, and people were working together on reconstuction.

He said relations between the parties had improved to the point where they were playing soccer together: "I am sure that one day we will be playing for Bafana Bafana together."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 2 1998 - SAPA

MAYFAIR TRC HEARING ADJOURNS SO LAWYERS CAN TRACE CLIENTS

The Mayfair, Johannesburg Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty hearings on Wednesday adjourned for a few hours to allow lawyers for applicants to track down their clients.

The three clients - former members of the East Rand township's self-defence units - were known to have been in prison, but attorney Kenneth Samuel said they could not be found.

He was told the clients had been released.

Earlier, Cyril Chisoma, an African National Congress self-defence unit member from Thokoza, told the amnesty committee his commanders had ordered him to kill Inkatha Freedom Party suporters as they were enemies of society.

Following an alleged attck by IFP members on the "defenceless community" in 1994, Chisoma said he killed Moses Kabingwe Zulu - who was seen as a disruptive force to the democratic process.

The killing occured at the time of multiparty talks on the democratisation of South Africa.

The rivalry between the ANC and IFP, particularly in Reef townships, escalated during this period.

Chisoma claimed that Zulu was always seen in the company of IFP members during attacks on the community.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN December 2 1998 - SAPA

ANC SDU MEMBER DESCRIBES HIS ROLE IN DONNYBROOK VIOLENCE

A former member of the African National Congress' self-defence unit in Donnybrook in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Durban how he became embroiled in the violence that beset the area in the early 1990s.

Thulasize Raphael Dlamini, 37, is applying for amnesty for his role in a series of fatal attacks in the Donnybrook area in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands in 1993 and 1994.

He explained to the committee that the situation became intolerable as his communnity was subjected to almost daily attacks by people supporting the Inkatha Freedom Party.

He said their cattle were stolen and individuals were killed at random.

Dlamini said after joining the SDU in nearby Ixopo in 1993, he became involved in skirmishes with IFP supporters.

He said he participated in a shootout with IFP supporters and later heard on the radio that three people had died. He said he presumed they had been killed during the shootout.

He also admitted to assisting SDU members who were pursuing IFP attackers after a raid on their area. He said three more bodies were found near the river which divided the IFP and ANC areas and he believed they were the result of the SDU counter attack.

On another occasion he admitted shooting a person during a battle with armed attackers.

Dlamini was never charged for his involvment in the attacks and told the committee he was applying for amnesty because he felt guilty about the deaths of political opponents.

The committee reserved its judgment on whether he should be granted amnesty.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 2 1998 - SAPA

REPEAT: MURDERED MOSES ZULU WAS NOT AN IFP MEMBER: FAMILY

Relatives of Moses Zulu - killed by African National Congress self defence unit members in Thokoza in 1994 - on Wednesday dismissed claims that he was an Inkatha Freedom Party member and therefore an enemy of towmnship residents.

Faith Sefatsane - Zulu's niece - said her uncle was a card-carrying member of the ANC and that he had never attended any IFP meetings.

Sefatsane was testifying at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearings in Mayfair, Johannesburg.

An ANC SDU member, Cyril Chisoma, earlier told the committee Zulu was killed for his role in an IFP attack on Phola Park residents. He claimed Zulu was regularly seen in the company of IFP supporters and was known to have been an IFP member.

"I am sure that my uncle never went to IFP meetings....in fact we went to ANC meetings with him...never to IFP meetings," a weeping Sefatsane said.

She said Zulu had left Thokoza in 1991 for Newcastle, where he had built himself a house. He returned to Thokoza in February 1994 to sign forms so that his vandalised home could be repaired through the government's reconstruction and development programme.

"Two days after arriving in Thokoza, my uncle was killed for no reason...It's not true that he had anything to do with the IFP attack on residents," said Sefatsane.

She said she would forgive her uncle's killers, but insisted they needed to tell the truth about him.

The hearing continues.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 3 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY COMMITTEE REJECTS PAC MEMBER'S APPLICATION

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday refused amnesty to a member of the Pan Africanist Congress for the murder of three people at Crossroads near Cape Town in 1993.

The TRC said in a statement that Ntombizodwa Elles, Sincilo Pauli and Timothy Soga were killed, and Tienne Elles and Ayanda Ndinisa injured, when armed men burst into their home and sprayed them with automatic gunfire.

Mandla Maduna, now serving a lengthy prison term at Victor Verster Prison in Paarl, was arrested by the police minutes after the attack in possession of an Uzi sub-machine gun and a number of rounds of ammunition. However, an accomplice managed to escape.

Maduna claimed at his amnesty hearing that, as members of the PAC's task force, they were instructed to attack the home as it was occupied by members of a gangster group which was attacking PAC members in the area.

In its decision, the committee said: "Tragically, the victims and occupants were not members of a gangster group as (the) applicant had been told.

"They were civilians who included women and children who were watching TV. They had no quarrel whatsoever with the PAC (and) there is no evidence that they were involved in any political organisation."

The committee expressed concern at Maduna's stated motive for the attack.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG 4 - SAPA

AMNESTY HEARING FOR 5 IFP SPU MEMBERS & MK CADRE FOR 27 DEATHS

The TRC amnesty committee will next week hear applications from five former members of the IFP-aligned SPUs and a former MK cadre for attacks that killed at least 27 people in KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s.

The hearing - to be chaired by Judge Andrew Wilson - was scheduled for Monday to Friday next week at the Marian Centre in Pietermaritzburg, Truth and Reconciliation Commission spokesman Vuyani Greensaid on Friday.

Five former Inkatha Freedom Party self-protection unit members are seeking amnesty for crimes ranging from murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of arms and ammunition.

They are serving prison terms ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment.

Philane Zondi, an Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadre and former bodyguard of the Northern Natal African National Congress regional secretary, will apply for amnesty for shooting dead Sihle Mpanza in Empangeni on March 22, 1994.

Mpanza was part of a group of IFP supporters whom Zondi saw tearing down ANC election placards. Zondi was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

The former IFP SPU members are Bongani Thusi, Petros Mthalane, Nicholas Ntanzi, Nkosinathi Ngwenya and Sibusiso Mbhele.

Thusi is applying for amnesty for his role in the attack, which left 16 people dead in Richmond in 1991, the 1994 murder of Paulos Zulu, who was believed to be an ANC sympathiser in Ulundi, and for illegal possession of arms and ammunition.

In his amnesty application, he said he was one of a group of five SPU members who launched an attack with high- calibre automatic weapons at Ndaleni, Magoda, Slahlambewu and Smozameni, leaving 16 people dead and scores of others wounded.

No one was arrested for this incident.

Mthalane is seeking amnesty for the murder of Clement Mchunu near Plough Hotel in Ixopo on October 27, 1993.

Nicholas Ntanzi and Nkosinathi Ngwenya are seeking amnesty for the murder of Mpathiseni Ntanzi, near Ezindophi Reserve on September 25, 1993.

Sibusiso Mbele is applying for amnesty for the murder of three unidentified former Transkei soldiers at Emazabekweni: Mafuthalenja Dlamini, Anthony Nzimande and Thwalofu Dlamini; and the attempted murder of a Mr Magubane at Pulangweni.

Mbhele also said he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate ANC leader Reggie Hadebe.

Meanwhile, the amnesty hearing into ANC-aligned self defence unit activities on the Reef before the 1994 elections will continue on Monday next week at Palm Ridge Community Centre near Thokoza, Johannesburg. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN December 4 1998 - SAPA

FINDINGS RUINED MY REPUTATION: BARNARD IN TRC COURT CHALLENGE

Western Cape director-general Niel Barnard, in a High Court application for a review of the TRC's findings, has characterised himself and the National Intelligence Service as peace brokers who were instrumental in bringing South Africa to a negotiated solution.

Barnard, and his successor as NIS head Michael James Louw, filed the application concerning the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report in the Cape High Court on Friday on behalf of all former NIS operatives - to clear their names, it was claimed.

The TRC report held the operatives accountable for extra-judicial killings on the grounds that information they gathered was used to eliminate political opponents.

Barnard, NIS head between June 1980 and January 1992, said he had been grouped with the likes of Eugene de Kock, Joe Mamasela and Dirk Coetzee despite being held in high esteem by his colleagues and those who initially saw him as an enemy.

He said the application was urgent because the TRC had a limited lifespan. The TRC has 14 days to produce its records. A hearing is unlikely before next year.

Barnard said in the application that the TRC's findings reflected seriously on his reputation and had led to calls for his resignation.

"In my view, the incumbent of a position such as mine must be above suspicion. It would therefore be in the interests of the province itself and its inhabitants if the blot on my reputation could be removed as a matter of urgency," Barnard said.

Describing his role in the former government, Barnard said it was a matter of public record that preparations he was intimately involved with from the start culminated in talks between the African National Congress and the South African government.

Barnard said he engineered the first meeting between President Nelson Mandela and former state president PW Botha.

He had also been involved in peace brokering as NIS head, including in the normalisation of relations with Mozambique which resulted in the Nkomati Accord, the independence of Namibia and the resolution of the Angolan conflict, and the development of Africa's capacity to defuse conflicts on the continent.

He said many heads of state he had negotiated with over the years were still in office, and his counterparts in the intelligence community understood and appreciated his role and involvement in the transition.

Barnard, describing a difference in approach between the NIS and the SA Defence Force, said the SADF had manipulated security intelligence to enlarge its claim on South Africa's human and financial resources.

The NIS, on the other hand, had argued for a peaceful resolution to South Africa's problems, and said it was in the country's security interests to allocate resources to socio-economic upliftment. He said the NIS' fundamental position was that the country's problems and dangers could be effectively addressed only by radically changing the political status quo.

Against this background, the TRC's findings implicating the NIS and himself in extra-judicial killings caused immeasurable personal harm, Barnard said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN December 6 1998 - SAPA

MANDELA REJECTS BLANKET AMNESTY

President Nelson Mandela has flatly rejected a blanket amnesty for gross human rights violators.

In an interview published in the Sunday Independent on Sunday, he said there was no question of a general amnesty - an idea which has been floated in African National Congress ranks in KwaZulu-Natal.

"I will resist that with every power that I have," Mandela said. "We cannot have that. Everybody must apply."

He said discussion of a blanket amnesty was a "futile debate". He said that during one of his government's first Cabinet meetings, it had discovered that former state president FW de Klerk had given about 3000 members of the security police blanket amnesty.

"We said we are going to cancel that general amnesty. Everybody must apply for amnesty as an individual."

The Sunday Independent said the idea of a blanket amnesty, which would cover senior Inkatha Freedom Party officials who had been named by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but did not apply for amnesty, was seen as a way of holding onto the fragile peace in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mandela also told the interviewer, John Carlin, that he was totally against the death penalty, describing it as "a reflection of the animal instinct still in human beings".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association DURBAN December 7 1998 - SAPA

UDM DENIES ITS KWAZULU-NATAL LEADERSHIP HAS BEEN DISBANDED

The United Democratic Movement in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday denied claims that the entire UDM leadership in the province had been disbanded due to poor performance and lack of strong leadership.

A report in the Natal Witness on Monday quoted a "reliable source" as having said a lack of direction was one of the reasons for the disbandment.

KwaZulu-Natal UDM leader and national secretary Sifiso Nkabinde said he knew nothing of the alleged disbandment.

The newspaper report also maintained that an interim structure had been set up to run the party in KwaZulu-Natal until a new leadership was elected next week.

Nkabinde said the party was restructuring for next year's election campaign and that structures would be reviewed. A reshuffle would take place next week but no heads were expected to roll, Nkabinde told Sapa.

"What is contained there (in the report) is far from the truth," he said.

He added that no attempt had been made to contact him to verify the claims.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the report was an attempt to discredit the party.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 7 1998 - SAPA

DE KLERK DENIES GRANTING AMNESTY TO 3000 SECURITY POLICE

Former President FW de Klerk on Monday issued a statement denying he had granted blanket amnesty to 3000 members of the apartheid-era security police, as charged by President Nelson Mandela in an interview with a Sunday newspaper.

In the interview Mandela said that during one of his government's first cabinet meetings it discovered that De Klerk had given blanket amnesty to about 3000 members of the security police.

De Klerk said those involved had applied for indemnity for certain limited offences in terms of the same legislation under which many thousands of African National Congress members had already been granted indemnity.

"The offences did not include gross violations of human rights and I was not involved personally at any stage of the process, which was dealt with administratively within the Department of Justice," he said.

De Klerk said it had been forgotten that many thousands of people, nearly all of them ANC supporters, were granted anmesty for offences which did include gross human rights violations under the Further Indemnity Act.

Mandela, in the interview, rejected the idea of blanket anmesty, saying amnesty would only be granted to individuals who applied for it.

The issue of blanket amnesty came to the fore following the recommendation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that perpetrators who had not applied to the commission for amnesty should be prosecuted.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG December 7 1998 - SAPA

AMNESTY APPLICANT'S RETRACTION ON ANC LEADER'S MURDER

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee was on Monday taken aback when an amnesty applicant retracted part of his affidavit that he was involved in a plot to kill African National Congress leader Reggae Radebe.

Life-imprisoned Inkatha Freedom Party self-protection unit member Sibusiso Richard Mbhele told the committee at Marian Centre in Pietermaritzburg that he did not take part in the conspiracy to assassinate Radebe in 1992.

"I did not say that... the mistake was committed by the person who took my statement. I have said it and I won't say it again... I was not part of the plot," Mbhele said.

He said the people who were behind the killing of Radebe were Ixopo traditional leader Xhawulengweni Mkhize and SPU commander Bheki Mkhize.

However, in his sworn statement, he said the assassination was plotted at chief Mkhize's kraal in Jolievet on the south coast after an announcement by Radebe in the media that there would be a peace meeting in Ixopo between the warring parties in the area.

In the disputed part of the affidavit, Mbhele said the chief suggested he was going to shake hands at the peace meeting with Radebe in order for the hitman to see who the target was.

"The chief said that Reggie Radebe had to be killed as IFP officials were being killed, but none from the ANC were murdered," said the affidavit.

Disputing this, Mbhele said he was not in a meeting and only learnt of the plot when his commander, Bheki Mkhize, told him that afternoon of the assassination.

He said the commander appeared to be very happy as he broke the news to him.

Mbhele is also applying for amnesty for the murder of three former Transkei soldiers at Mazabekweni - Mafuthalenja Dlamini, Antony Nzimande and Thwalofu Dlamini - and the attempted murder of an African National Congress leader known as Mabubane in Ixopo.

He said all the acts he committed were on orders from his superiors in the IFP to counteract ANC attacks on IFP members in the area.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PIETERMARITZBURG December 9 1998- SAPA

TRC HEARS IFP KILLED ANC MAN BECAUSE HE WAS NUISANCE AT HOME

African National Congress-aligned Phathiseni Ntanzi of Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal was killed by Inkatha Freedom Party members because "he was a nuisance at home as a result of his association with unknown people", the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee heard on Wednesday.

His brother, Nicholas Ntanzi, 25, told the hearing at Marian Centre in Pietermaritzburg he was among three people who killed Phathiseni at his home at Izindophi in Eshowe in September, 1993.

The decision was taken after an IFP youth meeting at the Luthuli homestead in the area. "Many IFP members had been killed and houses burnt in the area since his association with unknown members of the ANC," Nicholas Ntanzi said.

"We knew they were ANC because they used to wear the organisation's t-shirt and jackets when they visted him."

Izindophi was said to have first been an IFP stronghold, but later became mixed as many people began to join the ANC.

Nicholas Nranzi said his brother used to refer to the IFP as an organisation for barbarians and uncivilised people. This strained their relations further, and as a result he reported the matter to his fellow members and a plot was hatched to eliminate him.

At least 25 people were at the meeting to plot Phathiseni Ntanzi's murder, but only three carried out the killing.

Describing how his brother was killed, Nicholas Ntanzi, who is serving a 14-year imprisonment for the crime, said he knocked at the door to the house in which Phathiseni Ntanzi was sleeping.

"As my brother opened, Nkosinathi (Ngwenya) shot him with a home-made gun, while Mfanawezinyawo watched for possible attackers," he said.

Ngwenya, 33, is also an amnesty applicant in the matter and is serving a 12-year jail term for this. Mfanawezinyawo is said to have died.

Nicholas Ntanzi was warned by the committee to make full disclosure of the incident by mentioning other people who participated in the murder and not only Ngwenya and Mfanawezinyawo because they had been convicted and had died respectively.

Nwenya's assertions mostly concurred with that of Nicholas Ntanzi, except on the description of the scene as they approached Phathiseni Ntanzi's homestead for the attack.

He said Phathiseni Ntanzi was inside the house as they approached, whereas Nicholas Ntanzi said he was standing in the yard with some people, who fled on their arrival.

The application for another amnesty applicant, Bongani Thusi, will be heard on Thursday. It could not take place on Wednesday because the victim's next-of-kin complained they received late notice.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 10 1998 - SAPA

FREEDOM FIGHTERS ROTTING IN JAIL AND GOVERNMENT DOESN'T CARE:PAC

It was pathetic that the government was providing havens for fugitives like former Zimbabwean president Canaan Banana and alleged Italian Mafia boss Vito Palazzolo while freedom fighters were rotting in jail, the Pan Africanist Congress said on Thursday.

Thirty-one freedom fighters had been released thus far.

Former Azanian People's Liberation Army director of operations Letlapa Mphahlele said this was far too few, considering a campaign was launched more than two years ago to have freedom fighters released.

The 31 were released after successfully applying to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty, but Mphahlele claimed their release was due to pressure from the campaign.

Mphahlele was speaking at the Johannesburg Central Prison where PAC members delivered a memorandum directed to President Nelson Mandela, in which they demanded the speedy release of freedom fighters.

A senior superintendent received the memorandum on behalf of the government.

More than 500 freedom fighters who contributed to the new democracy were still languishing in jail. It was worrying that these people were also being denied the right to register to vote in next year's election, the memorandum stated.

About 50 PAC members with placards gathered at the Doornfontein railway station and marched through Johannesburg's streets to the station, singing liberation songs.

Mphahlele told Sapa the campaign was bearing fruit because of the quality of operatives who were being released.

An attempt was also underway to get a million people to sign a petition in support of the freedom fighters' release.

The campaign would be reviewed at the end of the year to gauge its success before taking another step, Mphahlele said.

The campaign is calling for the release of freedom fighters of all movements, including the African National Congress' former armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe, the Azanian National Liberation Army and the PAC.

Mphahlele criticised the government's attitude towards the issue.

"What worsens the pain in the wound, is that the government can provide havens for people like Palazzolo and lay a red carpet for people like Banana while people who fought for the democracy of this country are locked up in jail."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

PRETORIA December 10 1998 - SAPA

COURT REFUSES BAIL TO EIKENHOF THREE

A Pretoria High Court judge on Thursday refused bail to African National Congress cadres Siphiwe Bholo, Sipho Gavin and Boy Titi Ndweni - better known as the Eikenhof Three - despite the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, ordering the withdrawal of the State's opposition to bail.

Judge Piet van der Walt said Ngcuka's decision was "extremely unfortunate, ill-considered and extremely unwise".

"He himself is an ANC member, appointed by an ANC government, any person in his position should be extremely wary to take a decision of this nature," Van der Walt said.

The State had up until Thursday vigorously opposed bail and even as late as Wednesday morning filed an affidavit by the investigating officer, opposing bail.

Counsel for the State, however, on Thursday told the court that the actual appeal would be opposed, but not the bail appeal.

It apparently followed representations made by as yet unknown parties to Ngcuka, whom Van der Walt said could never have studied the full record of the trial within a day.

Bholo, 29, Gavin, 27, and Ndweni, 22, were convicted by Mr Justice David Curlewis in 1994 of murdering Zandra Mitchley, her son Shaun Nel, 14, and Clare Silberbauer, 13, in an attack in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

They were also convicted on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

The three - who have already spent four years in jail - have always maintained their innocence. They face the possibility of spending several more years in prison before their appeal is finalised.

They claimed there was incontrovertible evidence that "rightwing policemen" and the prosecution had not placed all of the evidence available before the court because they wanted to embarrass the African National Congress during constitutional negotiations.

Members of the Pan Africanist Congress' armed wing have claimed responsibility for the attack and have applied for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Lawyers for the three pointed out that Azanian People's Liberation Army commander Philo Dolo admitted giving the orders for the attack and that this claim was supported by secret PAC reports discovered by police.

The ANC issued a statement on Thursday saying the matter would be taken further.

"We had sincerely hoped that the three comrades were going to spend Christmas with their families. We have decided to consult our lawyers and thereafter take the matter up with the government."

© South African Press Association, 1998 This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PIETERMARITZBURG December 10 1998 - SAPA

FAMILY OF SLAIN IFP MAN REFUSE TO SHAKE MURDERER'S HAND

The family of slain Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned Sihle Makhapheni Mpanza on Thursday refused to shake hands with the man seeking amnesty for his murder during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee hearing in Pietermaritzburg.

A former Umkhonto we Sizwe and African National Congress security aide to Senzo Mchunu, Philane Zondi made the request at Marian Centre as a sign of peace as he regretted the incident.

Zondi killed Mpanza on March 22, 1994, in the lead-up to South Africa's first democratic election.

He said on the day in question he was travelling to an ANC office in Empangeni Rail with Mchunu, who was the organisation's secretary in Northern Natal, in a car together with three other ANC employees.

"We were about to arrive at the ANC office when we noticed a group of IFP members, about 10 to 15, who were in the process of removing ANC election placards," said Zondi.

He said seeing this action by IFP members, Mchunu ordered them to approach the group with a view to stopping them from removing the posters.

"As we alighted from the car, these IFP members noticed us and immediately ran away. I chased one of these persons and fired a number of shots into the air, calling this person (Mpanza) to stop", said Zondi.

Mpanza continued to run away and he continued chasing him. "In the heat of the moment I fired some shots directly at the fleeing person".

In May of the same year, Zondi was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to 10 years. However, he only served 10 months in prison and was subsequently released and put under correctional supervision.

"I now regret the incident and I am very sorry for killing this person. I made a very drastic error by immediately shooting. I did not think at the time and only acted impulsively," he told the committee.

Zondi was subsequently granted amnesty by the amnesty committee in the view that his action was politically motivated.

It was agreed that the incident would not have happened if the election campaign was not in progress and Zondi would not have killed if he was not employed as an ANC security aide.

The amnesty was also based on the fact that the political atmosphere was very tense at the time between ANC and IFP members in the country and particularly in the area.

The committee also said he would not have killed Mpanza had the IFP members not been removing the ANC placards.

Mpanza's family said they did not want to talk to Zondi because of the pain they suffered when he killed him.

They also expressed their dissatisfaction that he was not in jail any more. Another hearing of self-confessed Richmond multiple murder, Cyril Bongani Thusi, which was supposed to take place on Thursday, was postponed indefinitely because other applicants in the matter were not present.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA December 10 1998 - SAPA

NGCUKA REJECTS JUDGE'S ALLEGATIONS IN EIKENHOF CASE

The National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka on Thursday rejected allegations by a Pretoria High Court judge that he was "unduly influenced" in deciding to withdraw the State's opposition to the bail application of the so-called Eikenhof Three.

In a statement Ngcuka said Judge Piet van der Walt had "absolutely no factual basis" for the remarks he made to the court when refusing bail to the three African National Congress members - Siphiwe Bholo, Sipho Gavin and Boy Titi Ndweni - who are appealing against their 1994 conviction for a multiple murder in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

The three have consistently maintained their innocence, claiming the police withheld evidence in a bid to secure a conviction and embrass the ANC at the negotiating table.

A member of the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, Phila Dolo, has since applied for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the 1993 attack.

Van der Walt on Thursday labeled Ngcuka's decision as "extremely unfortunate, ill-considered and extremely unwise".

"He himself is an ANC member, appointed by an ANC government, any person in his position should be extremely wary to take a decision of this nature," Van der Walt said.

Ngcuka said he had initially opposed bail for the Eikenhof Three.

"But after extensive discussions with the Director of Public Prosecutions in Pretoria, Silas Ramaite, and other members of my staff who had worked on the case, it was agreed that it would not be in the interest of justice to do so," Ngucuka said.

He said after representations from the defence it was clear that new evidence that had considerable bearing on the case had come to light.

"I was of the view that in the event that the court accepts the evidence and the accused are aquitted as a result thereof, a substantial injustice will have occurred if the accused remained in custody."

"We still intend to vigorously oppose the application to have the conviction and sentence set aside, our only concern was to ensure that the accused would in fact stand trial," he said.

Ngcuka said this would be ensured by the stringent bail conditions proposed by the State.

"I find it extremely unfortunate that Judge Van der Walt chose to interpret my actions as based on considerations other than those which I have outlined."

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association

JOHANNESBURG December 11 1998 - SAPA

MIXED FORTUNES FOR AMNESTY APPLICANTS

Eleven amnesty applicants had mixed fortunes this week when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission amnesty committee granted six amnesties and turned down five applications.

The 11 applicants recently appeared before the amnesty committee at separate hearings in different parts of the country - applying for a variety of offences ranging from bombings to murder.

Phillip Malefane, who is serving a life term for his role in the armed robbery of a Fidelity Guards vehicle at the Stilfontein Mine in July 1991 had his application turned down.

A guard was killed and money stolen during the robbery.

Malefane, who claimed to be a trained Azanian People's Liberation Army member, said he committed the crimes to raise funds for the Pan Africanist Congress.

The committee found that he committed the robbery for personal gain and turned down his application.

Malefane lodged his application before the committee in Mayfair, Johannesburg, on November 2 this year.

Two other applicants denied amnesty, Borowsky Masilela and George Sapele, both claimed to be APLA members when they appeared before the committee in Johannesburg on the same date.

They applied for their role in the murder of a prison warder during a jailbreak at Krugersdorp Prison on March 25, 1992.

"The committee failed to find political objectives in the offence and duly refused them amnesty," a statement from the TRC said.

Michael Mofokeng, 33, serving a 27-year term and Nkosinathi Nkabinde, 38, serving life in jail also claimed to be APLA members.

Both told the commission they murdered Diederick Jacobs during a robbery at his Parktown North home on January 16, 1994, and the Stanton family at their home in Parkview two days later to raise money for the PAC.

The committee refused to grant them amnesty.

But, Andile Shiceka, 29, Falibango Thanda, 38, and Gcinekhaya Makoma, 22, all former self-defence units members were granted amnesty.

The three were involved in a bombing incident in Khayelitsha station in December 1992 when Jan Bambo was killed and a number of people injured.

Thabelo Maseko was also granted amnesty for the murder of Fransisco de Sousa and an attempt on the life of Joao Jardin in Westonaria in November 1990.

Thulasizwe Philemon Moses Cele, an African National Congress member, was granted amnesty for the murder of fellow ANC member Shadrack Lindela Zulu in Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal in July 1993. He told the committee that Zulu, a fellow self-defence unit member of the ANC, had defected to the Inkatha Freedom Party and at the time of his murder had formed part of a group of IFP supporters killing ANC members in the area.

The TRC said Sonkalana Mabhena, 35, who applied for the attempted murder of Sergeant Jan van Zyl in KwaThema near Springs in November, 1992, and for the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, had also been pardoned.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA December 11 1998 - SAPA

COURT SHOULDN'T BE USED AS POLITICAL PLATFORM: MBEKI'S OFFICE

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's office on Friday said courts should not be used by members of the Bench as platforms to make politically-motivated comments.

It was commenting on the row between National Director of Public Prosecutions Bullani Ngcuka and Pretoria High Court Judge Piet van der Walt about bail for the so-called Eikenhof three.

The office said it recognised and respected the court's right to make decisions on matters placed before it, and did not challenge the court's authority in refusing bail to any applicants, including the so-called Eikenhof three.

On Thursday, Van der Walt refused bail to African National Congress cadres Siphiwe Bholo, Sipho Gavin and Boy Titi Ndweni. The three are appealing against their 1994 conviction for a multiple murder in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

A Pan Africanist Congress member has claimed responsibility for the attack and has applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty.

Ngcuka ordered the withdrawal of the State's opposition to bail, a decision Van der Walt said was "extremely unfortunate, ill-considered and unwise".

"He himself is an ANC member, appointed by an ANC government, any person in his position should be extremely wary to take a decision of this nature," Van der Walt said.

Ngcuka rejected Van der Walt's allegations that he was "unduly influenced" in deciding to withdraw the State's opposition to the bail application.

He said in a statement on Thursday that Van der Walt had "absolutely no factual basis" for the remarks he made.

Ngcuka said he had initially opposed bail for the Eikenhof three.

He said after representations from the defence it was clear that new evidence that had considerable bearing on the case had come to light.

"I was of the view that in the event that the court accepts the evidence and the accused are acquitted as a result thereof, a substantial injustice will have occurred if the accused remained in custody."

Mbeki's office said it was unfortunate such remarks should come at a time when there was a movement towards accepting the legitimacy of the country's judicial system by the majority of South Africans.

"The Judicial Services Commission, established in terms of the constitution, is the appropriate structure to address this and other relevant matters," said the office. © South African Press Association, 1998

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association CAPE TOWN Dec 16 - SAPA

RECONCILIATION MAY BE AT RISK IN 1999 ELECTION DRIVE: NNP

The risk of 1999 was that reconciliation could disappear in the heat of a confrontational election campaign, New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Wednesday.

The task of political leaders would be to strike a balance between healthy debate and the national interest, he said in a statement.

He said 1998 was meant to be the year of great reconciliation, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as the major instrument of reconciliation.

"Unfortunately, the TRC failed in bringing South Africans closer together. As a matter of fact, South Africans are further apart that before the start of the TRC's biased activities," Van Schalkwyk said.

It was now necessary to ensure a proper process of reconciliation. Basic elements for success included:

- the recognition that minorities needed to feel accommodated as part of the process of unlocking their potential to the benefit of all;

- a form of inclusive government making provision for the country's broad range of interests; and

- changing the struggle culture of entitlement and aggressiveness to one of empowerment and constructive participation.

Hate speech by senior members of political parties did not contribute to reconciliation.

"Reconciliation should not be a PR exercise reserved for one day in a year - it must be a continuous process of which responsible leaders of all parties are co-owners," Van Schalkwyk said.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 17 1998 - SAPA

PAC CALLS ON MANDELA TO RELEASE EIKENHOF THREE

The Pan Africanist Congress on Thursday called on President Nelson Mandela to use the powers available to him to secure the release of the "Eikenhof Three".

PAC secretary general Mike Muendane said it was unacceptable that the three African National Congress cadres remained in jail, despite the PAC having publicly claimed responsiblity for the crime the ANC men were jailed for.

Phila Dolo, a member of the PAC's armed wing Apla, has applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty for the murder of a woman and two children in a 1991 attack in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

The Eikenhof Three - Siphiwe Bholo, Sipho Gavin and Boy Titi Ndweni - are appealing against their 1994 conviction.

Last week, in a High Court decision which sparked a political storm, the three were ordered to remain in jail while their appeal is heard.

Muendane said the case illustrated the corrupt nature of the legal system under which the three were convicted.

"Those boys should be home with their families for Christmas," Muendane said.

Muendane said Stanley Magoba, the president of the PAC, would make an offer to President Mandela on Friday in his opening speech to the PAC's national conference in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria.

Muendane did not give details on the offer but said it would test the government's commitment to the gains of the liberation struggle.

"The Eikenhof Three are in jail for a crime that was not commited by them."

Muendane said the issue raised the question of how many other people had been sent to jail for crimes they had not committed.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association JOHANNESBURG December 23 1998 - SAPA

ANC CRITICISES PAC'S EIKENHOF THREE PROTEST ACTION

The ANC on Wednesday said the Pan Africanist Congress seemed to be using its campaign for the release of the Eikenhof Three to try to bolster its otherwise poor pubic profile - and to try to discredit the African National Congress.

Responding to the PAC's Tuesday announcement that it would stand with candles outside the prisoners' family homes every day over the Christmas week, ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe said the PAC was trying to score cheap political points by launching a campaign which had already been launched by the ANC.

"The ANC has always believed that the three comrades are innocent, and has campaigned tirelessly for their release," said Masebe.

ANC members Sipho Gavin, Boy Ndweni and Siphiwe Bholo were sentenced to long-term imprisonment for the murder of a woman and two young teenagers in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

Subsequent to their conviction, a member of the PAC's military wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he ordered the murders, which were then carried out by Apla cadres.

"It would not be surprising if the PAC was part of the conspiracy to convict the Eikenhof Three for the crimes they did not commit, given the fact that PAC Secretary General Mike Muendane once accused the ANC of having killed Dr (Fabian) Ribeiro and his wife (Florence)".

Earlier this month the Eikenhof Three won the right to appeal against their sentences but were denied bail.

Masebe said the PAC might be feeling guilty about the Eikenhof Three but he questioned why the party, fresh from its national conference, did not tell its supporters and the South African people what it planned to do next year, instead of launching a campaign in support of ANC members.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association HARARE Dec 29 - SAPA

ZIM GROUP CALLS FOR SPEEDING UP OF INQUIRY INTO CHEMICAL WAR

A pressure group, Sangano Munhumutapa, on Tuesday called on the Zimbabwean government to speed up inquiries into the suspected use of chemical and biological weapons by Ian Smith's regime during the liberation war, Ziana news agency reported.

Sangano Munhumutapa president Lawrence Chakaredza said in a statement that the commission of enquiry - set up by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare - was taking too long to announce its results. "We are really incensed that since the announcement there has not been any visible progress at all," he said.

Chakaredza said since 1995 his organisation had been calling for investigations into the entire Smith regime. They were also pushing for the subsequent prosecution of those involved in the alleged atrocities.

"World truth commissions and tribunals are working daily searching for the truth, sentencing all those found to have been perpetrators, nd the same should happen in Zimbabwe," he said.

Chakaredza said it was crucial for the people of Zimbabwe to know the atrocities the minority Rhodesian government committed against freedom fighters.

A bitter liberation war raged between nationalist guerillas and the Rhodesian regime from the early 1970s until 1979. The Lancaster House negotiations culminated in independence in 1980.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Dec 31 - SAPA

NTSEBEZA WAS NOT APPROACHED TO TAKE OVER FROM FIVAZ

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chief investigator Dumisa Ntsebeza on Thursday said he had not been approached to take over from national police commissioner George Fivaz next year.

He described as flattering a newspaper report that he was a contender for the post, but said: "I cannot see how it can happen."

Ntsebeza told Sapa he would take up the position of acting judge in the Cape Town High Court on February 1 and remain in that post until April. After that, he intended returning to his career as a lawyer.

Asked what he would do if approached to take over from Fivaz, Ntsebeza said: "I have always been willing to serve my country. But I can only consider such a move if somebody asks me. Up to now, it has never entered my mind."

A daily newspaper on Thursday quoted government sources as saying that Fivaz' successor would be black and recruited from outside police ranks.

It said Ntsebeza and former national intelligence co-ordinator Moe Shaik were strong candidates for the post, adding Fivaz had indicated that he planned to retire when his contract expires in July.

The newspaper said Fivaz' three deputies, Morgan Chetty, John Manuel and Zolisa Lavisa, were likely to be disgruntled if an outsider took over, adding that senior officers at police headquarters may consider resigning.

Fivaz' office described the report as pure speculation.

Spokesman Director Joseph Ngobeni said the matter had never been discussed within police ranks, adding the decision lay in the hands of the president.

Ngobeni could not say whether Fivaz would retire at the end of his term in office in July next year, saying: "I don't know what his intentions are."

Shaik could not be reached for comment.

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association PRETORIA Dec 31 - SAPA

NTSEBEZA, SHAIK NOT APPROACHED TO TAKE OVER FROM FIVAZ

Truth and Reconciliation Commission chief investigator Dumisa Ntsebeza and Foreign Affairs official Moe Shaik on Thursday said they had not been approached to take over from national police commissioner George Fivaz next year.

Dumisa described as flattering a newspaper report that he was a contender for the post, but said: "I cannot see how it can happen".

Shaik said he heard of the possible job offer for the first time when he read about it on Thursday.

"I am very humbled that somewhere there is someone who considers me capable of doing this job," he said from Cape Town.

Shaik described himself as a political animal, saying: "If I am told to do something, I will do it. I am deployable."

Shaik, who had just returned to South Africa after a stint as Consul-General to Germany, was previously the deputy intelligence co-ordinator of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee.

A daily newspaper on Thursday quoted government sources as saying that Fivaz' successor would be black and recruited from outside police ranks.

It said Fivaz had indicated he planned to retire when his contract expires in July, and named Ntsebeza and Shaik as strong candidates for the post.

The newspaper said Fivaz's three deputies, Morgan Chetty, John Manuel and Zolisa Lavisa, were likely to be disgruntled if an outsider took over, adding that senior officers at police headquarters may consider resigning.

Fivaz's office described the report as pure speculation.

Spokesman Director Joseph Ngobeni said the matter had never been discussed within police ranks. The decision was in the hands of the president, he said.

Ngobeni could not say wether Fivaz would retire at the end of his term in office in July next year, saying: "I don't know what his intentions are".

This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association