E EPISCOPAL CHURCHPEOPLE for a FREE SOUTHERN AFRICA c 339 Lafayette Street, New York, N.Y. 10012·2725 s (2,2) 4n.0066 FAX: ( 212) 9 79-1013 A founded Z2 June Z956 #176 23 September 1996 Minister's book slams pro-apartheid business

A new book co-authored by cUssed -1:lre fear theJr company would be remembered a8 the IG Farben of Kader Asmal is likely to apartheid, a reference to the company cause embarrassment in that, through slave labour, became - some of South Africa's the industrial backbone of the Third Reich.. they wrtte. Harry Oppenheimer: Apartheid was boardrooms, reports The authors also accuse South en 'honest llltempt' to deal with Mungo Soggot Africa's mining gtants ofexploiting the South Africa's racial problems migrant labour system, killing more OME of South Afiica'stop than 69 000 workers In the past 94 business .leaders come years, and boasting of the availablltty under fire in a new book on of cheap apartheid labour to mtema­ the Truth and Reconcilia­ tionallnvestors. tion Commission - co­ But while the book implies the Sauthored by Water Affairs Minister Truth and Reconclliatlon Commission Kader Asmal-which fingers compa­ should pay more attention to the cor­ nies which supported apartheid. porate world's connivance in Reronci1iation through Truth. soon to Anton Rupert: 'We have to find a apartheid, it does not examine the be published by Da\'id Philip. makes solution that won't end up giving us sensational but linproved claims by a strong case for the truth commis­ one man, one vole' human lights campaigners and sion to seek testimony from company l!lwyers that some companies bosses who either supported its support of Pretoiia. In 1967 the Indulged in *dirty tricks" operations­ apartheid or whose corporate prac­ South Afiica Foundation. whose claims which would be ideal material tices trampled human rights. members included Oppenheimer and for any truth commission. The text recalls pro-apartheid Rupert, said in an advertisement in Oneofthemostcelebratedofthese statements from men such as Gavin theSundayTimesthatSouthAfiicans allegations is that Sasol used ReilY. who took o\'er the helm of should stop apologi.sing for apartheid KwaZulu police hit-squad operatives Angio American when Harry Oppen­ and instead "substitute a tone of con- trained in the Caplivi Stiip to help Gavin Reily: UniverSal suffrage heimer retired in I 982. Rell\' said at fident self-assertion which publicised quell strikes in the early 1990s. would be a formula for chaos the time he. like Oppenheimer. did the opportunities of apartheid". During the Goldstone Commission not favour ·one man. one vote" as In 1971, the foundation claimed its on "third force" violence. ·witnesses that was taking place there." that "Would simply be a fol'trlula for propaganda efforts had helped to alleged that nine former Capiivi In wiitten argument presented to unadulterated chaos at this point in "stem the tide of igno------trainees -including a the commission. la\\Yers cited e\'i­ time in our histon··. ranee, ciiticism and mis- man called Xesibe who dence from Bongeni Khumalo that a The authors quote Oppenheimer's representation against the Harry was in charge of the Sasol official had on several occa­ official biographer, Anthony Hocking. republic". Oppenheimer trainees - were dis- sions asked Mz Khumalo to organise who said the magnate "never sub­ The Asmals and Roberts 'never patched to Secunda, the men to act as strike breakers and scribed to the view that apartheid was say South Africa's truth subscribed to hub ofSasol's sanctions­ that MZ Khumalo had personally morally wrong. In his view, it was at seekers have so far not the view that busting synthetic fuel selected Xesibe and the others to root an honest attempt to cope with broached the idea of "cor- operations. attack strikers. The commission was overwhelming racial problems.· porate war ciiminals" - apartheid was MZ Khumalo, Mango- also presented with a Jetter sent to Rembrandt head Anton Rupert, like Japan's Kajimi Guml morally wrong' suthu Buthelezi's light- the KwaZulu Depa::tment of the now a member of the influential company, tried in 1945 for hand man, told the com- Chief Minister. in which Khumalo "Brenthurst Club" which advises the using war plisoners and mission at the time that referred to the seconcirnent ofXesibe government on economic issues had kidnapped Chinese civilians as they .were sent as *ordiruuy labour­ to Secunda for "my ;:~roject". How­ similar views: "After manv Afiican labourers. ers". Asked how he could reconcile ever. a Business Day article quoted countries became free they "got dicta­ Although the authors hint there is this explanation and the decision to Khumalo denying u.at Sasol had torships like ldi Amin's. We have to much light to be shed on the details of send Xesibe to accompany the men, used KwaZulu police members as hit find a solution that won't end up giv­ corporate connivance in apartheid, he said under cross-examination: men at Secunda. ing us one man. one vote." they signal the collaborating compa- "The atmosphere was very tense in The truth commission is unlikely. The authors - Asmal. his wife nies themselves were aware of the the mines and all the places at the at this stage. to hold any hearings on Louise and Trinidadian Iawver Ronald substance of their "ciimes". time and I was anxious about keep- hwnan rights abuses committed by Roberts - show that in the 1960s big " In the late-middle 1980s. Anglo tng control of the group that they did vaiious companies during the business had been <:'\'en more open in American directors piiYately dis- not get involved in any of the violence apartheid era. .:.A:.Jl!~S::;A:.:.:11l::RD::::A~Y::..:,S:::EPTEM:.=::BER:;:.:..7~,..;;.1,;..;99;..;;6~...;R;;..______TH=E WASHINCTON Posr SOuth Mrican Court Orders Revisions I in Proposed New Constitution

By Lynne Duke constitution," said Kate Savage, a tein of racial separation called apart­ WllllliDclon IUt Fan:ip 5erW:e coostitutional expert with the Legal heid and the first all-races election in R~urces Center. "'t really goes to 1994. Legal scholars and lawmakers JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 6- the heart of the structure of gover­ are eager to see the .transformation Sputb Africa's highest court ruled nance." of the legal system concluded so its today .that the new, post-apartheid Beyond the revisions, the court's new democratic rights and protec­ constitution must be amended to decision coUld throw open political tions can be exercised and tested. ~ its bill-of rights, ensur~ the debate. on is!lues -previously ·.settled, One .such e~rt.Jody Kollapen, di­ independence of "watchdog'" agen­ such as the death penalty. which last rector of Lawyers for Human cies ~ enhance the powers of pro­ year was ruled unconstitutional. Re­ Rights, said the eourt's ruling repre­ vilcial governments. cently, a groundswell of support for sents a "short-term loss, but a long­ ~Constitutional Court accept­ the death penalty has risen along term gain." ed most of the proposed ptew coosti­ with the level of violent crime. Polit­ "'ne tends to think of South Afri­ tution and called the document a ical parties said today that they ca now. Perhaps we ought to think of ·~onumental achievement" in the would restrain themselves during South Africa in the future: Kollapen ~rmation from white-minority the revision process. But some legal said. "Once again, our Constitutional rule to democracy. But the broad re­ analysts fear scores coUld be settled Court has reasserted its indepen­ vjsiori it ordered on provincial pow­ and axes ground during the coming dence and has emphasized the im­ ers opened the way for a new round 90 days of constitutional haggling, to portance of the constitution as the « political debate over the embat­ be followed by a vote of the Consti­ supreme law of the land." tled province of KwaZulu-Natal, tutional Assembly. which must ap­ Some here saw the court's.ruling where the lnkatha Freedom Party, prove the new charter by a two­ as a blow to Mandela's ANC, which the Zulu-based rival to President thirds majority. hosted huge public and private cele­ Nelso~ Mandela's African National Constitution-making here has brations three months ago when the Congress, holds political power. been a long and tedious process dat­ Constitutional Assembly, made up of Provincial powers were among ing from the multi-party talks of the both houses of Parliament, passed the most "widely, massively, in­ early 1990s. Those talks laid the the document. But Mandela wel­ tensely negotiated sectioos of the groundwork for the end of the sys- comed the ruling, as did most other

party leaders. Mandela said the rul- constitution now says the bill of rights cient powers to the provinces. Sup- ing "helps to clarify issues that were may be amended by a two-thirds vote porters of the ANC and lnkatha have -'vaguely.iormulated".tturing,th~ mw·~~'he.l.ls.e of Parliament~

By Lynne Duke general allegedly put it, for "a thousand apartheid government's most brutal deeds Woolm\8tOII Pool F.... Senil:e years." aimed at stamping out the underground Convicted last month on 89 counts stem­ guerrilla struggle waged by blacks. PRETORIA, South Africa, Sept. 17 -His ming from his confessed occupation as an as­ De Kock is the first high-level white leCU­ bluish-gray suit is of nondescript cut His sassi.., during the apartheid era of white-mi­ rity official to be convicted of apartheicJ-er8 hair swoops to the side. as if to cover a bald nority rule, de Kock promised to sing before crimes and to attempt to lay ultimate respon­ spot. His demeanor is awkward. His voice is he was sentenced. This week, in an extraor­ sibility at the feet of high-level politicil and flat. His thick glasses rest on a deadpan face. dinary series of allegations about dirty tricks security officials. In fingering higher-level of­ Eugene de Kock cuts a figure so unremark­ under white-minority rule, he told a sentenc­ ficials, he seemed to be trying to get a reduc­ able that he could be any pencil-pushing civil ing hearing eX his work as a leader of an as­ tion in what promises to be a heavy sen­ servant in the old South Africa or the new­ sassination squad, implicating former presi­ tence. except that this week he is talking, and his dent Pieter W. Botha as well as cabinet The accusations are part of the detritus of I words are drenched with blood. members and a collection of generals from apartheid South Africa is trying to grapple De Kock talks of killing children, blowing the 1980s. with, the backwash from state repression l up bodies, bombing church offices, and being These officials, de Kock said, either or­ that was the order of the day until the coun­ congratulated for his deadly endeavors by a dered, knew ,about cr•saluterl the:covert oj)- ·· try's first all~races election in 1994. The Af; racist government bent on ruling, as one erations, which represented some of the See SOUTH AFJliCA, A22, CoL 4

other bombern would be on a flight homeland called KwaZulu. whose bacj{ to Johannesburg when the blast seat was in the northern KwaZuiu· occurred. Kock said he received town of l'lundi, where de Kock said A truth commission, led-by Angli­ De a medal from Louis le Grange, then he made several weapons shipments. _· SOUTH AFRICA, From Al can former archbishop Desmond the law and order minister. Tutu, is attempting to ferret out the De Kock, a colonel who led the rican National Congress. won that • The 1985 and '86 raids on neigh­ facts of apartheid-era human rights South Africa police force's v1akplaas election, which elevated its. leader, boring Botswana in search of ANC hit squad during the 1980s, !).as , Nelson Mandela, to the prestdency. abuses by offering amnesty to per­ operatives. On one of these raids, a emerged as the worst nightmare of­ Today, de Kock described a 1987 petrators like de Kock and repara­ couple and two children were killed the apartheid-era officials who wish order to bomb the Johannesburg tions to victims. But on a separate when de Kock's operatives blew up a to remain silent about their reign. headquarters of the then-new Con­ track, prosecutions like de Kock' s house. De Kock said no one told him The web of conspiracy and mur­ gress of South Africa Trade Unions are being heard in the courts. children would be there. On another der that de Kock has described in (COSATU), a black labor federa­ De Kock has cooperated as a pro­ raid, four other people were killed, tion. Initially, he balked at the or­ tected witness on related criminal three of them Botswanan. Not nam­ the Pretoria Supreme Court this· der he recounted, then asked who cases, and he also has applied to the ing which incident he was describ­ week contradicts earlier assertions authorized it. "From the highest," truth commission for amnesty. De ing, de Kock said evidence taken that the Vlakplaas unit was a rogue he said he was told. "From where, Kock has confessed to six murders, from the scene suggested none of element within the security estab-' the state president?" he responded. and his testimony this week links the victims was with the ANC. lishment. 1 The answer, he said, was yes. him to far more. • The 1988 bombings of Khotso Fonner defense minister Magnus- · Botha was president at the time, Aside from de Kock' s fate, how­ House, the Johannesburg headquar- Malan, on trial in a separate .hit· · serving from 1984 to 1989. After ever, several other cases ~ge_ W· . ters of the· SOuth African ·Council Gf . squad conspiracy case; hils denied-· the bombing, de Kock te~tified to­ part on his testimony. Prosecutors Churches, followed by bombing of that police were used for mill~ day, the law and order minis~er, Ad­ who hope to build other cases took Khanya House, the Pretoria offices ends: But in testimony led by his at~ , riaan Vlok, congratulated him at a notes in the front row of the court of the South African Catholic Bish­ torney, Flip Hattingh, de Kock tod~ _; barbecue held for members of the this week, adding to the cases they ops' Conference. portrayed his unit, based on a farnl :, are building against other figures in covert unit. Botha, who is 80, has • The 1990 gun-running to the ln­ called Vlakplaas near Pretoria, as_ a~·. kept a low profile since he lost the the security branches. katha movement of Mangosuthu kind of clearinghouse for weapons :: In addition to the COSA TU Buthelezi, which helped fuel a con­ presidency in 1989 and has re~ procurement, fraud, bombings bombing, de Kock today admitted flict that claimed thousands of black ana .: to take part in the new South Afri­ assassinations ordered by an ·· he took part in the planning or exe­ lives in the townships around johan­ array-~ ca's process of truth-te!linl(. police and military cution of: nesburg and in Natal Province. Be­ officials. ~ .. ~ some of Malan's co-defendants also, • The 1982 bombing of the ANC fore the the so-called black "home­ headquarters in London. A detona· lands" were dissolved in 1994, are implicated in de Kock-relatet\ ~ tion timer was set so that he and the Buthelezi was chief minister of the crimes. ,..._.~/·'""Day of the assassin promises to thrill ~

Pronounced guilty, Eugene gtve evidence implicating at least eight terms with its violent past the oppor­ This means he could refuse to pro­ generals from the old security forces. tunity to hear and nnderstand-from tect hitmen like "Chappies" Kloppers de Kock will now have his Whether this information extends to a member of the and Joe Mamasela. who are now tum to incriminate members members of the National Party Cabi­ inner circle of receMng material benefits from the of the old security forces, net and the State Security Connell Pretoria's "total war" strategists - Justice Department. including v..it­ remains to be seen. why they did the things they did. ness protection and monthly writes Eclclle Koch Here there is an intricate interplay More importantly. Justice Willlani stipends. just because they gave e>i­ with the workings of the Truth and van der Merwe will have to take into dence against their former colleague. HE day of judgment had Reconciliation Commission. That account De Kock's own testimony, The way this matter is handled will come. Yet there was no air of organisation's investigative unit has as well as that of a psychologist have a crucial bearing on how the anticipation in the court­ issued subpoenas to seven of the men and criminologist. when he judicial system's need to induce room. No munnurs of De Kock could point out: Generals decides at the end of the hear­ informants to come out of the wood­ approval tn the gallery as the Johan van der Merwe. Mike Gelden­ Ings on what kind of punish­ work is married with the creation of a Tjudge. delivered his verdict. Not a single huys. Johan Coetzee - all fonner culture that refuses to rev.'llfd people ment to hand down to the self­ family member to sni.ffie as he was police commissioners - and Basie confessed killer. Although the who abuse human life. The De Kock trial falls outside the taken down to the cells. In fact. it was Smit, Krappies Engelbrecht. Johan le comparison is both inaccurate ambit of the Truth and Reconciliation the kind of denouement that could Roux and Bertus Steyn. and cliched - it will be the Commission. But. just as that body have ruined the entire show. The timing is convenient lf the gen­ closest that South Africa has was set up to do, the marathon case After a coUrtroom series that took erals lie. or fail to volnnteer slgnffieant come to an Eichmanri trial. 18 months and cost at least R5-mfl­ details about their role in covert oper­ could help find the elusive formula to lion to produce. the judge asked ations. they could wcll be caught out This places an enormous burden promote reconciliation and respect Eugene de Kock to stand up in the when De Kock begins to talk next on the judge. He will have to come up for all those who died. dock and. in just two minutes, sum­ month. This will effectively minimise with a sentence that is not only bal­ If it succeeds. the taxpayers· marised his judgment: guilty of six the generals' chances of lodging suc­ anced. but one that, he has indi­ RS-million may have been worth it. murders, two connts of conspiracy to cessful applications for amnesty cated. will have taken into account murder. one of attempted murder. one before the cut-off date, thus plac- the broader political imperative of the of culpable homicide. one of abduc­ ing them nnder strong pres- times: to understand and forgive if tion, one of serious assault. one of sure to come clean when this can promote national reconcilia­ being an accessory to culpable homi­ they begin answering ques- tion without nndermining a culture cide. one of defeating the ends of jus­ tions in camera to the that respects human life. tice, nine of illegal arms and ammuni­ truth commission on Fri- By taking into acconnt De Kock's tion possession: and 66 of fraud. day. social. psychological and political In the old days these multiple crimes The colonel will also background. Justice Vander Merwe·s - a total of 89 colints. probably more talk about his in­ sentence could end up using the key sertous than one person has ever been volvement in the sup­ "proportionality" test contained in convicted of in South Africa. would ply of weapons. internationally accepted principles on have warranted the hangman's noose ammunition and how to prosecute war crimes. or at least a sentence of 200 years. explosives to lead- He will have to decide whether the Yet De Kock sat down without ing members of acts that De Kock committed - flinching. A group of bored schoolkids the Inkatha Free- including conspiracies to murder who had been sent to write up a·pro­ dom Party tn the friends and colleagues who either ject about the case shuffled out of early 1990s. told or threatened to tell the truth court clutching pens and notebooks. war material about the activities of his Vlakplaas And the legal teams got down to plan­ that may well unit at the time and gruesome ways ning. in a matter-of-fact way. their have been used of disposing of victims' bodies by next episode: the one that everyone in to acconnt for burning them or blowing them up court knows is going to be the block­ the huge num- into tiny pieces - were in proportion buster which will probably justify the ber of murders to the political motives and the mind­ extra•-agant costs of this drama committed ·dUI'- set that drove him to do it. On September 16 Colonel de Kock. ing the low key a man who has described himself as ctvU war that still he judge has already indicated the most accomplished of the many rages in that that, during the mitigation assassins who executed the apartheid province. Thearings. he wants to deal \vith government's covert wars, will explain IFP senator Philip issues like this that are beginning to why he did these gruesome things. Powell. fonner KwaZulu shape the jurisprudence of post­ Political ideals, fears of a commu­ police minister CJ Mthetwa and apartheid South Africa. nist take-over, violent bush wars in IFP heavyweights in Gauteng, He v..ill weigh up any evidence that Rhodesla (now ZJmbabwe) and South Humphrey Ndlovu and Themba De Kock presents about the political West Africa (now Namibia). battle Khoza have all ~n implicated in nature of his actlvities. especially ·fatigue and shock. instructions from the supply of weaponry to with regard to the charges of gun­ the political hierarchy ... all of these Inkatha's self protection units and runnl.ng to lnkatha. before he deliv­ factors will be woven into a personal will be holding their breaths when ers sentence. He has also made it narrative that could turn this conn­ the Pretoria Supreme Court hear­ clear that witnesses who gave evi­ try's recent history into the stuff of a ings open on September 16. dence against De Kock will not auto­ Frederick Forsyth thriller. But the true importance of De matically be granted indemnity The mitigation hearings will also Kock's mitigation hearings lies not against prosecution for crimes they have serious implications for other in political significance or the enter­ were personally involved in. political murderers and assassins. tainment value of the event They will, De Kock has already stated he Will. probably more than any judicial as part of his explanation for the mur­ process ever held in this country. pro­ ders he has confessed to canying out. vide a nation desperate to come to DmgTrade MAJOR COCAINE SHIPMENT ROUTES

Countries of ortgm \ ! Moves in on i ' I ; .S.Africa I ' 'Ilaffickers Prey on Fragile New Democracy

By Lynne Duke Waslqton Poot F~ Semce JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Aug. 31-By land, by sea, by air, co­ caine arrives daily in South Africa. It is hidden in cargo containers shipped to South Mrica's poorly policed ports or stowed in cars driven across tbe nation's porous borders. It ar· MAJOR HEROIN TRAFFIC ROUTES rives at Johannesburg's Jan Smuts International Airport in false com-. partments of suitcases or stuffed in­ side aerosol containers. even in tbe soles of shoes. Last month, however, a man named Martin Makengo Kinsombi performed an trafficking feat un­ precedented here. Narcotics agents questioned Kinsombi, a Zairian, when be arrived on a flight from Rio de Janeiro frequently used by drug couriers. A search uncovered noth­ ing in his luggage or on his person. But an X-ray revealed an alarming freeze.frame of the drug trade's in­ tensity here: 92 thumb-sized cocaiDe ITransfer countries I packets filled Kinsombi's stomach. Couriers like Kinsombi-black, white, young, old, local, foreign­ are streaming into South Africa ev­ "' ery day. They are the workhorses of agents as far afield as Brazil, Thai­ stantine, bead of the DEA, who has the international drug trafficking· land, India and Pakistan. advised South African narcotics offi­ syndicates whose tentacles have When it ushered in democracy af­ cials on the task ahead in their new f reached into this vulnerable nation iD ter its first all-races elections 28 fightagmnstblcdfickers. ~r:.n transition and made it one ci the bot- months ago, South Africa invited the And, as Kobus van Aarde, South ~ test new transshipment points and world to invest and help develop the Africa's national police superinten­ ~ domestic markets in the world. new nation. As global investors have dent for narcotics, poir.ted out: I In a nation beset by local and in­ come, so too have criminaJs, preying "South Africa is no longer just a ; temational gun running, vehicle on a democracy whose police force is transit· point for the cocaine courier. .:- theft, fraud and extortion rings, tbe struggling with corruption and We're becoming a bigger and bigger -~ drug tr~de is causing organized whose laws only now are being re­ consumer market, especially for ~ crime here to spread lile a aacer. vised to deal with the trafficking oa­ crack." The price of cocaine here has )II South Mrica's emergence as the slaught. Traffickers also are attract­ plummeted in recent months, from a tJ southern anchor for international ed by South Mrica's relatively high of abOut $55 per gram to about traffickers is prompting such coo­ sophisticated physical and 6nancial $33. . cern that tbe U.S. Drug Enforce­ infrastructure, including a banking · In addition to the Chinese, Japa­ ment Administratioa baa said it will sector that bas bad few controJa on nese, Israeli and Russian syndicates open an office here, perhaps by Dl PosT

SOUTH AliUCA, from ASS is fueled by cocaine from the Cali • \.:oeatne's surge here is changing cartel of Colombia. Nigerian syndi­ drug use patterns. During the years SouthScan Vol.11 No.30 2 August 1996 ~ move the Colombian cocaine cl white-minority rule, most cocaine 1flrough Argentina or Brazil, then use was confined to affluent across the Atlantic to Angola or Na­ whites-the ooJy people Vibo could 1 mibia « directly into South Africa afford it For poorer people within i Commission to probe arms 1 ~ local distribution or transship­ the nation's black majority, the drug 1 smuggling allegations of choice was a smokable mixture of I JDeDt to distributors in Europe or ! Cameron Commission of Inquiry officials said this week i Worth America, tbe world's biggest marijuana and Mandrax, called "'white pipe." Although statistics are / they may press for a special police unit to investigate alleged J markets, awidiag the more heavily arms control contravention, after reports that South Mrican ! policed direct routes. Last month, hard to come by, Jaw enforcement and drug abuse experts say cocaine arms are being smuggled to Hutu groups in Rwanda and : police in Bogota, Colombia, arrested Burundi. i and crack use is replacing "'white a group of Nigerian, Liberian· and There have, also been allegations that the former Angolan : K~mibian traffickers preparing to fly pjpe" as the drug of cboice is some areas. rebel group Unita is involved (SouthScan v11128 p223). I ::tt.tt v.ith «pounds of cocaine. · A confidential UN Arms Commission report on SA arms ' Heroin moves similarly, altilough The presence of new drugs also is . smu~gling to Rwanda and Burundi was sent to the Foreign Ji'om the east, with Nigerians, Indi­ chaUenging the nation's law enforce­ i Affairs Department early this year. · ans and others moving tne drug ment apparatus, in which police are poorly trained, poorly paid and ! The government has apparently not responded to the UN I from Bunna, Thailand, Pakistan an!! ; report, nor &uppEed the commission with relevant infor- \ Afghanistan. Although South Africa ·spr:ead thin. ; mation .. The government was also supposed to launch an ! is the largest and most convenient 1 investigation into these illegal arms deals with Rwanda and transshipment point in southern Af­ ; T~ nation's legal system has i . Burundi, but until the present furore had given no response · WCW~ ineffective at combating drug rica, other COWltries also have been I d' I ' targeted. · syndicates. Money laundering is un­ 1 accor mg to ocal reports on Wednesday. ; I Cameron Commissioner Laurie Nathan said it was believed i Authorities here in South Africa. checlted. There is no currency re­ ; the arms - light weapons, explosives and communications like their counterparts in the United porting requirement for large cash ; equipment - were being sent by air from airports in fairly : States, believe they seize 10 per­ traBsactions at banks or other finan­ I remote rural areas. 1 cent, at most, of the drugs that are cial institutions. The money trail available. Nationwide, narcotics tlaat is a mainstay of narcotics inves­ : According to newspaper reports Wonderboom airport near agents seized 411 pounds of cocaine ttptions in the United States cannot : Pretoria and the Lanse ria airport near Johannesburg have in 1995, up from only a little more be traced. , been used. This was the same route allegedly used to ship than 24 potmds in 1992. And so far ; As for. Kinsombi, the courier ar­ , arms to llnita in Angola in the period after there-start ofthe this year, 249 pounds have been rested With 92 packets of pure co­ , war there in 1992. seized at Jan Smuts airport, up from caine in his stomach, he excreted all l __ Unita radio itself added some detail this week while slightly Jess than nine pounds back in but .one packet while in custody. The last one got stuck and required sur­ i claiming that the Luanda government was involved. It said 1992. ; that aircraft are flown by Russian soldiers and normally gical removal. While in the hospital Officials seized abnost 59 pounds ! stop over at Saurimo, in Lunda Sui Province, where it said a~aiting the proced1,1re, Kinsombi d heroin throughout South Africa in ! there are South African mercenaries. ~ped with the cocaine still in his 1994, up from a little more than two Armscor has already admitted that in the past it did sell pounds in each of the two previous body, no doubt. risking poisoning as his stomach acids slowly dissolve the . I a substantial quantity of small arms to the government of ,ears. In 1995, only 11 pounds were ! Rwanda, but had ceased such sales prior to the commence- ~. . cocaine's packaging. He has not beep apprehended. ment of the genocide. Nathan said that South Africa had : Locally, tbe drugs are marketed : "fiopefully," said airport narcotics continued to supply weapons to the Hutu forces in Rwanda through a network of street gangs u,spector J.W. Verrall, "he's pushing in 1995 until in September 1995 the government ordered that have grown more sophisticated up daisies somewhere at the mo­ Armscor to halt its exports. with the volume oi cash· that the co­ ment." · , Accm·ding to local reports tonnes of small arms, explosives qline trade bas brought. They in­ and communications equipment worth millions of dollars ~ude gangs such as the Hard Liv­ were being flown to the central African war zone. illgs of Cape Town, whose violent Burundian officers have also voiced their suspicions that ckqg enterprises sparked such com­ arms are coming via Unita, acting as a proxy for the Zaire IIIUDity outrage that one of the gang government (SouthScan vll/28 p223). leaders, Rasbaad Staggie, was shot ~ccording to t~e Johannesburg Sunday Independent, and burned to death earlier this shipments were e1ther mislabelled or added to other loads ·month by oubaaecf residents. destined for airports in Angola, Zambia and Zaire, without ~-· · South Africa bas for several years reflecting the additional weight. In one cargo only 17 tonnes . llieeD a 80IIl"Ce a mari;lana, a local ofa 32-tonne shipment was accounted for in papers accepted ~ crop that is smuggled as far by customs officials, north as Europe, and even to Aus­ This operation is reported to be directly connected to the tralia. It also has hosted a brisk trafficking ofdiamonds in Angola and Zaire. A former South trade in the sedative Mandrax, African agent, a number of South African secret service Which drug officials said is similar to officials, other people close to former President PW Botha Quaalude. The tablets are manufac­ and Unita officials are said to be implicated, the Portuguese tured in factories in the region or news agency Luso reported. imported from India via East African ports such as Durban in South Africa «Maputo in Mozambique. ANCreopens ·debate on the death penalty

tered Its "disappointment" at the AnnE~ ANC's call to reconsider. "It ts difficult AUGHT between the rock of to Imagine how the reintroduction of ltsabolltlontstprlnclplesand the death penalty wtllln any way the hard place of a con- assist the pollee, the justice system Cstltuency ravaged by crime or the penal sytem In dealing \\(ith and clamouring for revenge. the crime." said LHR national director African National Congress seized Jody KoUapen. control of the dt:ath penalty debate Amnesty International expressed this week. dismay at the possible volte face: A recoounendatioo from the ANC's "South African society cannot be fur­ crtme swruntt last 'llVeekend asked Its ther brutalised by lnstitutlonallslng leadership to "ca&der reconsidering" state-sanctioned murder. The death Its long-standing opposition to the penalty Is the gravest form of human death penalty. Senior ANC MP Carl rights abuse. and the ANC should · Niehaus moved quickly this week to not be deterred from Its course of "clarify" the resolution as little more human rtghts." than a recommendation to the ANC's A recent Amnesty report on the National Executive Commtttee to deathpenaltysuggestedSouthAftlca ·consider whether we need tore- would be bucking the global trend examine our~·. but added that away from capital punishment tf It a "poslttve outcome ~the reversed the current sta- debate oould be aPJOVe-to tus quo: 100 countries Gaping_question: The ANC'S abolitionists &rgW ag&Jnat 8. 'knee-jert( reaction tO crime' PHOTO: tENNER FRANKENFELD restate the ~C'a afgt.J- 'If we were to worldwide have either ments ~death hold a . outlawed the death committed the crime that he'd. be Despite the· summit's decision to McBride argued there were other penalty". : ;, .. '.. referendum on penalty or have not used h~nged. Even In the heydey of "acknowledge" the public outcry In equally contentious tssues. like land Nlehaw. noted that every It sln~e 1985. Only four apartheid, when they were hanging favour of hanging - Including publlc reform. over which nobody ·once the~ hype set- · ontentl countries have rein tro- 167 people a year, crime skyrock­ opinion polls placing support fOr hang-. demanded referendums: "If we called lled dawn. tbere has sub- c oua duced. the death penalty eted. The real problem ts that crtml­ lng at abo\Jt 7mb and lndlcatlhg sub­ a vote on land reform, most people ~begun to be a 1..... , this In the past decade- of nals know they won't be caught,· stantial ANC f1PSSlOOls supportf

:\It hough private visits had hcen reported. this was a particular era in her country's history and the 10!11 the lirst time Machcl had heen with Manuela on ofti­ of political idealism and hope. This is the story of cial business. It was all vcrv hrt·athlcss. hut the offi­ Just as with Kennedy, conspiracy theories still happiness that has ci;~! "just good friends" line persisted as recently as abound concerning the death of President Machel. a f11rtnight ago when the c.:ouplc were reported to On 19 October 1986, a jet carrying Machel and sev­ emerged from tragedy haw atlt'ndcd to~ethcr Africa's "mother of all wed­ eral cabinet memben crashed into a hillside in East­ dings". the ma;riage of 7.imhahwean President ern ltanl!Vaal near the Mozambique-South .African and trauma. Nelson Rohert Mugahc and (lraee Marufu. his former scc­ ~Jrder. killing a1135 on board. An inquiry concluded Mandela has endured rctarv. 411 vcars his junior and tht~ mother of his two that the Russian crew was tired and the airaaft low "sec.:(c.:t" t·hildren. watched hy 211.!Kl0 close friends. on fuel and that the jet took a wrong navigational · the public humiliation The otlit"ial line_ was that Grac.:a was not the presi­ reading; But there are allegations that Macbel's air­ 1 tknt's <>fficial partner at the wedding although they craft was lured into the mountaius by a faiJe navi­ of a fai~ed marliage. sitt .iust one person apart. That diJ not stop the Zim­ gation bearon set up by South Afril:-. -=urity fort:es, Graca Machel has bahwcan papers speculating that the wuplc "har­ which financed Renamo, Motiiiilb ...'l rebel guer- boun:d nuptial sentiments of their own". . rill as, as part of the general policy 10 destabilise the suffered much worse. The wnfirmation. while some time in coming. is country and Macbel's Marxist ~,UYernmentJust a rather sweet; love in la.tcr life for tw<> monumental month ago, Graca said she intended ·to hne the Now they are together. African figures. revolutionaries in separate hut sim­ inquiry reopened and that she hoped the new demo­ By Mary Braid ihlr struggles for whom the white minority South cratic South African government would establ~h the African government hccamc a common enemy. truth. Although they never actually met until I 991. their Times have moved on. Frelimo ~a different party e rumours have persisted for a year. rising every lives have hccn intertwined since Manuela's n:lcase now and Rename's guerrillas haYe turned •nto politi­ from prison. During the president's years of con­ cians. But Graca's symbolic signifk:anoe to her coun­ so o.fte.. n to. tickle a n.ation in lo.. ve with its 78 year old terrorist-turned-legend and president. But finement. Gra<:a's hushand Samora Mm:hcl made lib­ try remains much the same. "She just i:an't marry now the spray painters and tree carvers can get crated Mozambique a haven f(~r ANC' guerrillas. That him," said one of her friends recently. "She belongs o work, for Nelson loves Graca, OK"- and that's made the country and its ca._pit;ll Maputo. where m;my . .. .. to Samora and to Mozambique." Iofficial. ANC supporters lived in exile,' a t:irgct for covert ~ · When Archbishop Desmond Thtu heard news of This weekend. President Mandela and Graca operations and even authorised invasions from the the official confirmation this weekend he was as Machel, widow of Mozambique's former prellideftt S1H1th Afric.:an security forces. delighted as only he can be. And despite the state­ Samora Machel, at last decided to make pttblic their When Samora Machcl died in IQRO in a plane crash ment from Mandela's offtce that the couple planned romance. The couple, the South African Sunday Winnie and Nelson Mandcla wwte jointly to his to spend two weeb of every month taðer in South Independent reported, have become intimate and widow expressing their grief. Graca replied with a Africa but not to marry, Thtu encour&Fd them to plan to spend more time together. but do not intend moving letter: "From within your vast prison you tie the knot. A year ago, when Mandela and WiMie to marry. . hrought a ray of light in my hour of darkness ... lh divorced, Thtu was criticised for saying that the pres­ It has been a ooy process: for 12 months there haYe Winnie she wrote: "Those who have locked up your ident needed a shoulder to cry on and someone to been rumours, beginning during the president's husband arc the same as those who have killed mine. bring him his slippers. divorce.from his second wife, Winnie. Even as he They think that hy cutting down the tallest trees they Graca Machel is unlikely to be such a companion. faced the indignity of an open court statement about can. destroy the forest."' And the man who chose - whatever her later short- ~ emptiness and lack of intimacy in his marria~, tt was reported that Mandela was already in love With As a mark of respect f(lr Samilfa Machel's con- comings - the fiery, free-spirited Winnie, as his sec­ someone else and had plans to remarry. · trihution h> the S\>uth African ~truggle. Oliver ond wife. is unlikely to want one anyway. Despite his Mandela. or Madiba as he is affectionately knon To1mho. forme.r president of t_hc ANC. hccarhc god- age" the joke is that two weeks in every four.should in South Africa, was characteristically tight-1~ father to the children Sitmnra left he hind, When be enough for a man of his advanced years.- Man­ about the speculation, being old fashioned and iidfr T;mtlm died the rcspOnsihility fell ·ltl 'Mandel a. deJa in his colourful; trademark Madiba shirts, still about maners of ttle heart. The formidable Gtac:a. Graca's daughter Jozina has heen staying with Man- cuts ~ d~sh . In his youth he was a bit of a dandy and 28 yean his junior and described by her mBII,)' acJmiis. dda in Cape li1wn for St>me months while studyin!! a ladtes man. That has not changed. He still loves en as possessing enough charm to warm -.y man's at the city's university. women, showing particular concern for the comfort heart, was rather more straightforward. She detded In South Africa few will frown upon the union. of female journalists. the ~rs outright. Widowed for a decade, She !lad There was widesprc,ld sympathy for the president His enduring and obvious liking for women is the no plaas to marry Nelson, she said. after his divorce. And while he is feted on the inter- cause of some amusement. Last week he opened his home to Peggy Sue Khumalo, the new Miss South Whilt: the president apparently teased close tnenus national stage. his personal life is said to he empty. Africa: ~e caption under the picture of the presi­ ahnut the veradty of the stories. Gra~·a. as much of A recent interview with the young housekeeper at his dent ktssm~ the beauty 9ueen stated that the presi­ a heroine in Mozamhique as Mandela is a hero in official Cape li.1wn residence portrayed an essentially dent had satd he always hked to congratulate achiev­ South rica. was dearly irritated hy the persistent lonely man. "Jncir relationship had been fonnal at first A~ ers personally. speculation. A tireless advocate for the hundreds of hut latterly president and employee have het:ome as In Graca Machel he has found a woman who has thousands of children who have died and suffered dose as father and daughter. Now she tucks him in been exceptional all her life. In her 20s, she studied Africa's wars. she would hold a UNICEF press con- hed night heforc giving him his eye drops, fc>r ev~ry at Lisbon University, a remarkable achievement for ference to highlight a new report, only to tinclthliL., _a c~l_ nut.tloncau~ed hy dust durmg h1s years of hard a Mozambican woman of her day. She had convic­ allthc journalists wanted to talk ahout was love and l:1hi>t1r m t~e :mso~ quar~ . -- ":-- . the president. Walter S1sulu. h1s old fnend and .Rohbcn Island tion 8nd revolutionary spirit, and'eventuallftlCd Por­ . tugal after threats from Salazar's secret police. She The rumours persisted. Manuela was reported to cellmate for more than 2(} yea.rs, sau.l rece~tly that headed to Thnzania to be trained as a guerrilla against have made several dandcstine visits to Mrs Machcl's M;mdcla was essentially a famtly ma.n and. tt ~ad to the Portuguese and was fighting for Frelimo when she home ovl'flooking the sea in the Mozamhican capi- be as.sumed that he ~as a lonely '!!an smce hts d1vorcc. met Machel. · tal of Maputo. "lncn five weeks ago South African ~ow that _he has smd that h~ Will not stand as prcs- ~innie Mandela is probably 8JilOIII the few South speculation reached frenzy point after M:mdcla agam. t.he of deputy pres1dent ~r~ss ~dent ~md groomm~ Africans unhappy with the union. When Graca's f1mshcd h1s pop-star-like visit to Britain and headed fhaho Mhekt as hts IS well advanced. most suc~cs.sor daughter Jozina moved in with Maadela, Winnie was fi1r France. "Mandela's Paris Romance" screamed the South Afncans would hkc to see an old m?~· who said to be distraug~rtain it meant that Mandela headline in the Sunday Times with a straplinc which h~s made such :1 monumental personal sacnftce for and Machel were invOlved. She told clole friends she churned that the President and Mrs Mochel had "held h1s wuntry. retire ~appy. . . hands and em I) raced in the City of Love". Apart fro~ dcanng the matterw1th h1s daughters, was worried that a new union would upeet her dauah­ ters. But friends assume the upset is closer to home. In what were uescrihcd as their "first tentative who arc satd to. had doubts the new ha~c. a_~'u! "What right does she have to be so upset?" said a steps into the puhlic eye" they kept their joint r~1mance. Nelsons dtfflcult1cs a~1~t makmg a pub- close friend. "She treated him with so little respect appear!tnce confined to a close circle of aides and h~ dcc!arat~on were prohahly nothmg cum~art•d to when he got out of prison. She could have had it all , . dtplomats. It was a highly signific·1nt development Ctraca s. Graca Machcl has hcen dcscnhed as · ' · · · · · · Mozamhiquc's Jackie Onassis. Like .the former Mrs - ~veiled the world with ~im and basked in the glory John F Kennedy. she was left with two children when - if only she had been a httle ITIOre discreet." her hushand died and like her she came torcprescnt Africa's new enforcers THE INDEPENDENT SECTION TWO •MONDAY 16 SEPfEMBER 1996

What is a mercenary? The staff of Executive Outcomes shy away from the label. But beyond doubt is their reputation as one of the most efficient private armies in the world. Michael Ashworth reports

he offices of Sand line lntermitional are much professional training packages available to armed The end of the war in Angola prompted Execu­ like those of any otht:r succt:ssful, London­ forces". And then there is the name: smooth, tive Outcomes to look for other opportunities. Sierra based firm wit~ internat_ional interests. They. deadly, but with a hint of professionalism and even Leone, a former British colony in West Africa, was occupy part of a glass-fronted block on the value for money. "The corporation has experienced a prime candidate. Its government was under des­ King's Road, Chelsea: inside, the tloors arc an above-average growth, and has been able to assist perate pressure from the rebel Revolutionary United Twooden, expensive paintings decorate the black clients in ensuring that their outcomes arc met," the Front which had reduced much of the country to walls, and well-dressed employees enter.and lt:avt: brochure reads. anarchy and chaos. More importantly, Sierra Leone had extensive concessions of titanium oxide, oil and watched by security ca~er~s. All tha.t th1s tt:lls the There is mort: to this company than war. Execu­ some of the best diamond deposits in the world. visitor is that Sandline IS nch: what IS nut so clear tive Outcomes is one clement in a unique fusion of is the fact that these offices arc a first port of call muscle and money. Sandline International is located The first indications that Executive Outcomes was for governments wishing to hire one of tlte most in the same offices as Heritage Oil and Gas and interested in Sierra Leone were some tentative effective private armies in the world. · Branch Energy. two companies that have employed approaches in November 1994 to Sierra Rutile, a the services of Executive Outcomes in the past. US/Australia-owned titanium dioxide mine in the Sandline International provides expertise in mil­ There is no evidence of a corporate connection south-west of the country. In the event, the National itary and security matters. As such, it works closely between these companies. Nonetheless, Executive Provisional Ruling Council hired a Gurkha merce­ with- and contracts work to- Executive Outcomes, . Outcomes's dose tics to capitalism have earned it nary force to provide the security advice, leadership which, with the possible exception of the Sn<>!h ., the name "the diamond dogs of war". and training. Little further was heard about Exec­ African Army. is the most deadly and efficient army utive Outcomes involvement until May 1995. operating in sub-Saharan Africa today. But Exec­ Executive Outcomes' links to mining and oil com­ On 10 May 1995, the vice-chairman of the utive Outcomes is the army of no state. no govern­ panies are no secret, though their extent and National Provisional Ruling Council announced to ment: it is a private security force. nature are hard to detail. Heritage's use of Execu­ British, Nigerian and Ghanaian diplomats that a Executive Outcomes offers a wide range of secu­ tive Outcomes has been questioned in the light of South African company had been contracted to pro­ rity services and is capable of mounting sophisticated the influential personalities on Heritage's board of vide training services to the ·Republic of Sierra operations involving armour. artillery and air­ directors. These include Sir David Steel, the former Leone military. Subsequently, a man called Rupert power. Its soldiers have uniforms, hadges of rank, Liberal Party leader, and Andrew Gifford of GJW Bowen gave details of how the operation would run. and arc paid well. If those men in the field fall under Government Relations, the influential London­ Branch Energy was to co-ordinate the operation. the definition of mercenaries -.and, according to based parliamentary lobbyist. The security aspects would be run by Executive Out­ Executive Outcomes, they d<> not- they are a new Anthony Buckingham, a director of Heritage Oil comes while the commercial elements would be breed, qualitatively and quantitatively different and Gas and Branch Energy, admits that there are headed by Alan Paterson, a South African who had from anything that Africa or the world has seen business links because Executive Outcom~s looks formerly headed a de Beers subsidiary in Sierra before. They have already fought in Sierra Leone after the security of Branch Mining concessions in Leone. Bowen indicated that the project was and Angola, intervening on the side of the govern­ Sierra Leone, but "there is no corporate link expected to run for 35-40 years. Rupert Bowen was ment on hoth occasions against rebel groups, and between Executive Outcomes and the Branch­ the Deputy High Commissioner in Namibia. By with devastating results. Heritage group". Whatever the relationship between 1995, he worked for Branch Energy; he also knew The popular image of mercenaries has been the companies, it is not the first time a security com­ Andrew Gifford, the Westminister lobbyist. · shaped by the pirates who operated throughout pany has been contracted to secure a multinational's Executive Outcomes operations in Sierra Leone Africa in the Sixties and Seventies. Mercenaries arc corporate assets. BP. for instance, has recently hired turned the tables on the rebels almost overnight. outlawed in the Geneva Convention. Article 47 over 500 personnel to protect an oil pipeline in Rebel forces were driven from the capital, Freetown, defines the mercenary as "any person who is a) spe­ Columbia. and important economic and strategic assets were cially recruited locally or' abroad in order to fight Executive Outcomes has its roots in South Africa, seized for the government, including the all-impor­ in an armed conflict; b) does in fact take direct part and in the apartheid years. It employs ex-members tant diamond region of Kono and the ore-produc­ in the hostilities; c) is motivated ... essentially by of notorious apartheid military units such as 32 Bat­ ing southern coastal region. the desire for private gain and in fact is promised talion and Koevoe!, an anti-insurgency unit in The intervention of outside forces, their rapid suc­ by or on behalf of a party to the conflict material Namibia. Its directors include Eeben Barlow and cess and their uncertain political allegiances have compensation substantially in excess of that Lafras Luittingh, ex-members of the apartheid era made enemies for Executive Outcomes. The man­ promised or paid to combatants ... in the armed government's misleadingly-named Civil Co-opera- aging director of Executive Outcomes, Eeben Bar­ forces of that party". In the Sixties and Seventies, low, will have none of this. "Executive Outcomes colourful (if murderous) characters such as "Mad" tion Bureau, which carried out a campaign across Mike Hoare, "Black" Jacques Schramme and Bob southern Africa and in Western Europe. "ill onlv work for legitimate governments. We an: Denard took advantage of the crisis that followed Although Execuiiw Outcomes has cxi>h:d since not mcrcen;trics ... African decolonisation in the Congo, Angola, Biafra, 191!9, it first enierged as an apuliti<:al security force Nick v;m dcr 13crg. a representative and director Uganda, Gabon, Benin, Rhodesia, Mozambique, the during the Angolan Civil War. Ranger and Heritage of Fxccutivc ( )utcomes in S1>uth Africa. says of the Seychelles and the Comoros Islands. They were the Oil contraded the group to protect their commer­ colllpany·s inv\llvcrnent in Angola: "Unita was an leftovers of empire, small-time figures with a hand­ cial interests. The initial success of the fort:e in recap­ anti-dcm11Cratic force and Savimhi was motivated ful of colleagues recruited from the back streets of turing the oil town of Soyo in 1993 prompted the hy greed and power. When we arrived they con­ Glasgow, Hamburg, Marseille. Sometimes, they Angolan government to offer them aeon tract report­ trolled llO per cent of the country; a year later the made it big: Denard lived as a sort of local dictator edly worth over $40m. This involved the training of situation was reversed:· in the Comoros Islands between 1978 and 1989. Most commandos and involvement in military operation~. Equally. the fact that Executive Outcomes con­ often, they were grubby, violent and dangerous char­ They were instrumental in the capture of important centrates its efforts on the areas of economic inter­ acters, often dying violent and sordid deaths. objectives such as Uigc and the head4uartcrs of the est has aroused some concern. In Sierra Leone, the That is not. Executive Outcomes. This is a well­ rebel leader Jonas Savimbi at Huambo. Although the Freetown newspaper For Di People claimed that drilled, disciplined force that can field aircraft, give government forces would probably have worn Unita "Executive Outcomes is made up of killers who are training in naval tactics, and has used helicopter gun­ down in the end anyway, the presence of Executive very dangerous. hecause their presence can quickly ships. It is staffed by former members of elite units Outcomes made the process much quicker atlJ lead to p11litical unrest. Let's be honest, they"re not of the South African forces, and top-line British reg­ more sure. Men who had fought in Angola on the here for the security of Sierra Leoneans. they're here iments. Its glossy brochure explains that it "provides side of the rebels were now being empli.lycd to tight for diamonds ... a highly professional and confidential military advi­ against their former allies, on the side of the Marx­ sory service to legitimate governments".lt promises ist government .they had tried to un~eat. "sound strategic and tactical advice" and "the most THE IND£PEHDEN1 SECHON lWO •MOND.\Y 16 SEPTEMBER 1996 THE INDEPENDENT • SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 1996

Executive Outcomes would say that the securing of strategic economic assets is the first step in win­ ning any conflict; and it docs not argue with the fact Pretoria to that it is not in Sierra Leone for anything other than commercial gain. At the same time, it argues that hchaving in an undisciplined and underhand man­ ncr is had for husincss. It has hecn as ruthless to the government units that have hcen involved in loot­ ing and handitry as it has heen to the rehels. To date put troops Executive Outcomes has conducted itself well in Sierra Leone, according io all availahle reports. It is rumoured that it threatened to withdraw support for Valentine Strasser, the ex-president, when he expressed a desire to postpone the elections. Strasser has since heen deposed in a bloodless coup into ·'crime Like any modern army, Executive Outcomes has a "hearts and minds" policy. It has worked in close association with aid agencies and government offi­ cials in returning child soldiers to civilian life. It assists in"civilian re-settlement for displaced persons jungle' and provides security, logistics and intelligence to humanitarian. organisations. Terence Taylor, the managing director of the International Institute of MARY BP.AID· respond qaickly to incidents, Strategic Studies, says: "Despite their dark hegin- Johannesburg particularly car hijacks. The police spokeswoman nings in th~ ashes of apartheid. thcr~ is a general Units from the South African said joint operations had pro­ move towards r~spectability."' Army and Air Force, under the duced good results in Kwa­ D~spitc this. some feel that a dangerous prece­ dent is h~ing set. A recent report from the parlia­ command of two veterans of the Zulu-Natal and it was hoped mentary Human Rights Group stale!>: "Even if Exec­ war in Angola, and 1,000 extra that could be repeated. "Being utive Outcomes' role in Sicrw Leone proves to he police have been called into much more visible should affect hcncfici<~l. it may lead to a situation where any gov­ Johannesburg to spearhead an the level of crime." ernment in a difficult position can hire mercenar­ anti-crime drive that will adopt The announcement of the ini­ ies to stay in power." In the case of Sierra Leone "the principles of warfare". tiative follows the death this and Angola this is an oversimplification. In hoth One of the men leading Op­ week of Eliakim "Pro" Khu­ countries Executive Outcomes assisted in the eration Anvil will be Colonel malo, a 1970s soccer star and fa­ process of democratisation: it hrought stability to Buks Pieterse, formerly sec­ ther of the South African Sierra Leone. which would h<~ve almost cert<~inly fol­ ond in command of the notori­ international "Doctor" Khu­ lowed Lihcria into uncontrolled anarchy without ous and now disbanded 32 malo, during a car hijack out­ assistance. and, in the eyes of many. - including Battalion, which earned a vi­ side his home in Soweto. senior representatives of the Angolan Government cious reputation as part of Earlier, a German business­ - Executive Outcomes played a part in returning South Africa's military force in man, Erich Ellmer, was shot · Ang6la to a semhlancc of stability. the Angolan civil war. The oth­ dead in his driveway by car hi-­ The links to commercial organisations, to the pur­ er, Colonel Theunis du Toit, was jackers. Such high-profile cas­ suit of resources and profits, leads some to see Exec­ head of the South African air es have increased pressure on utive Outcomes as nco-colonialists, Cecil Rhodes operation in Angola. politicians to curb the crime returning in a Toyota Landcruiser with a satellite Bush-warfare methods would wave, in which Johannesburg is phone. But it has brought relative peace and pros­ be employed against criminals among the worst-hit areas. perity in a way that no other organisation has dared "in the Johannesburg jungle", The involven;tent of the mil­ to do in the past. It is there for profit, of course; hut said Col Pieterse, now a senior italy will please some of the crit­ then this is just a particular illustration of a gener­ staff officer. . ics who say politicians are doing ality, that out of chaos can come cash. Private secu­ Johannesburg has the high­ too little to tackle crime. rity is a large and flourishing husine.ss in Africa, in est murder rate in the world and For them, the police are part the plush suhurhs of Johanneshurg and Cape Town, it is rising. Police Service of the problem. The National but also across the continent. Executive Outcomes A -or companies iinked to them -can provide that, spokeswoman $aid tbe level of Police Commissioner, George too. This is more akin to the Condottiere, the pri­ car hijackings and murders, in­ Fivaz, has admitted that cor­ vate armies that fought for the Italian city states, cluding the killing of police of­ .ruption is widespread. than the grubby toughs of the Seventies. ficers, demanded "drastic This week a policeman was · The existence of Executive Outcomes is sympto- measures". The Defence Force shot while allegedly robbing a matic of the failure of the international community and· the police have already shopping centre and the head and African political leaders to prevent the eco­ joined forces to tackle~ of a car-theft unit was held in nomic, social and political hreakdown of many states violence in the run-up-lib elec-. connection with stolen vehicles. in Africa. If the United Nations or the Organisation tions in KwaZulu-Nidal. The They are the latest in a long list. of African Unity were ahle to field a viahle peace new joint operation is alreadY of cases in which those charged keeping force then perhaps Executive Outcomes in evidence in Johannesburg with upholding the law have would not exist. and the surrounding Gauteng been caught breaking it. province, with a rash of spot It is widely acknowledged roadblocks and searches. Heli­ that some officers are in the pay copters are being deployed to of crime syndicates operating allow small crack police units to throughout the country.