E EPISCOPAL CHURCHPEOPLE for a ~REE SOUTHERN AFRICA . C 339 Lafayette Street, New York, N.Y. 10012·2725 S (212) 4n-0066 FAX: (212) 979-1013 A #105 15 December 1990

'Confession and forgiveness necessarily require restitution. Without it" a confession of guilt is incomplete. '

- The Rustenburg Declaration, November 1990 'The land must be returned to the people. The land cannot be owned by the . few and worked by the many. '

- The Rev Dr Khoza Mgojo, president, South African Council of Q1Urches 'A new just society must be based on a just redistribution of land or bitterness will continue haunting this country for many years. '

- The Rev Dr Frank Chikane,· general-secretary, South African Council of Churches 'De Klerk says we should have a free market" that we have to b1,.ty the land. Why should we buy the land which was stolen from us in the first place?'

- African delegates at a Transvaal Action Corranittee conference, December 1990 The Land. Nothing is IIDre at the heart of the struggle under way and yet to come in South Africa. The issue of control of the land and its resources is widely discussed and passionately felt. The long-time fonnula of white CMIlership 87% - African 13% is due to change - what will follow? White extremists vow they will fight any taking of It: ~ir' land. A referendum in the Transvaal resulted in 95% of 16,000 white fa.rm:rs wanting sole control of the land. Blacks are fervently ccmni.tted to drastic change.

Three and a half million Africans have been forcibly uprooted :frum their homes and farms since 1960 and until very recently Pretoria was clearing out 'black spots' in I whites only I areas. Half the 28 million Africans in South Africa live in rural dis­ tricts, nine million in the bantustans and five million on white farms. A government scheme advises that five million acres Pretoria had bought fran whites be made part of the bantustans. Another proposal is that bankrupt white farms be sold to Africans. A scant step. Where do impoverished Africans get IIDney or credit?

One small but sensible use of land: The vast African townships built up around the white cities are su.rruunded by open spaces - free-fire zones Pretoria created to con­ tain the ever-feared black uprising. Civic Associations in the tCMIlShips propose to municipal and provincial administrations that oorrmunity trusts be granted use of the open spaces for oonstruction of housing and acoompanying facilities - electricity, water, sewage disposal - to accoIIllIDdate at least same of the residents of the crarrmed tCMIlships and the steady flood o:f people from the overpopulated and increasingly bar­ ren bantustans. The influx of Africans into South Africa's cities is and will be enormous. DeIIDgraphic surveys forecast a doubling of population by the end of the 90s. By 2010 the Pretoria-Johannesburg-Vereeniging triangle will beccme virtually a single city of 16.5 million. Cape Town and Durban will swell to seven million each by 2000.

Non-profit community trusts face the surge of free enterprise forces aiming to 'devel­ op I land for housing to sell or rent to Africans desperate for a better life for them­ selves and their children. What chance the not-yet-established corrmunity trusts vis-a­ vis the well-financed entrepreneurs? _¥, THE INDEPENDENT: -: Saturday'1 December 1990 , f OBSERVER SUNDAY 9 DECEMBER 1990

A' l'.no'-,"- -:-r .,:,.-,.~~Nelson Mandela and be addlZS&Cd in every township. front. the ~t sheuld stop hundred were killed in clashes be­ 'F W de K1erk have embarked, To Not so in Atteridgeville, which tiations tween hostel inmates and town­ this day Mr Mandela blames the has already acted on the Iogit As South Africa's year of stalliDs on the neao , ship residents in August and Sep­ townships war of two months ago proposed by the article in ques­ change draws to a close, the bring tile poljce under· control tember. Dozens more have died on agents provocateurs within the tion, proving that tbe logic works. organisation hopes the com- and eud.. vigilante:. violence. in sporadic incidents since. state security apparatus. He, and David Malema, a hefty man bined effect of its moves will Above all, the ANC,wants an Eleven men were chopped to the ANC, also blame lnkatha, the whose very bearing inspires reo push De .Klerk into taking 'interim govemment\ installed pieces in the township- of right-wing Zulu political party. specr, is tbe leader of tbe Atteri­ another reformist leap when he to supervile electiooI for a con­ Katlehong on Monday. With reo Inlcatha and the police say it takes dgeville hostel-dwellen. Five opens the 1991 sessionofparlia- stituent aaaembly to drafta new venge simmering. just below the two to tango, and pin the blame in years ago he, and by extension all ment on I February, as he did constitution. i:''I. surface, there' is widespread in­ large meallure on ANC militants. his 16,000 fellow inmates, joined when he announced the unban- The other'ProaI of;the strat­ flammable potential. With refreshing candour, a the Atteridleville resideRts' ass0­ Ding of the ANC and releue of egy, the settiDgofcooclitions fOl' But it does not -exist every­ pro-ANC political journal, Work ciation, .wgely l! pro-ANC body. Nelson MandeIa while opening lifting ~ will,lthe ANC where. Atteridgeville; 3Q miles in ~ss, put forward the no­ The aaeociation's purpose is to the 1990 session. . hopes, bring intaDatienal pres- north-west of10hannesti\irg, has tion that "the democratic organi­ battle, if necessary fight, to im­ This hope is baed on a belief sure to beeOft thegovernment a hostel population of 16,000. All sations", meaning ANC affiliates prove tbe material conditions of that nothing the Pretoria gov- to--meet the· COIIditions. This the black. tribes are represented: in the townships, had to shoulder the township. With a corrupt, ernment does steIDl from any policy shift stems from a recog­ Zulu, Xhou. Sotho, Pedi and part of the responsibility. The ar­ Pretoria-imposed black local innate desire for change, but nition by the ANC that local othelli. But there is no inter-tribal ticle made the point that because council in place and pitifully inad­ oo1y from a bowing to internal and internatioDal developments conilict, nor is there any animos­ of the appalling conditions in equate water, electricity, roads and international pressures. mean sanctioDa are inevitably ity between tbe hostel men and which the hostel dwellers live, and and housing, there has been Ease the pressures and the on the way out, and rather than their townshiF neighbours. Can­ more especially be~ they are much to battle for. reformism flags. fight a futile rearguard action to versatiolll with various people on marginalised from' toWnship life, "We figured back in 1985," Mr De Klerk has won interna- preserve them, the ANC should both sides of this ugly apartbeid long-accumulated resentments Malema said. "that our interests tional acclaim since February, take control oftheir dismantling fence revealed as much. " ~ leave th~ people ripe for exploi- would best be setVed by joininl gaining a breathing space, and and turn the process to its

------~~---"':""'=====~~------Ithe ANC feels he is now playing advantage. ,. 1 - games with it, stalling on nego- Nelson Mandela wrote to EC tiations while allowing the leaders last week asking them to police and vigilante groups to maintain sanctions for another forces with the residen18' associa­ fan violence in the townships. two or three months, then con­ tion. So when it is agreed to boy­ Mr Malema said: "We try and , This is sullying the ANC's sider making their, phased Call payments to the council, we de-emphasise the tribal differ­ I image and causing growing dis- relaxation amditional on the join in too; when we have to re­ ences so tbat it doesn't mailer illusionment in the black com- government meeting a number connect the electricity supply whether you're a Zulu or Xhosa munity. The vast majority of ofkey demands So 10Dg as you are looking after which the council has cut off, we political prisoners have still not He these would be sug­ the interests of tbe community," said lend our manpower; when the been released, exiles have not gested later, but they will • JOHANNESBURG riot police come into the town­ come home, people are still almost certainly be the same as ship, we go and fight them along­ South African police said yester­ day they had arrested 12 white ex, being detained without trial and the list of demands now being side all the people who live with exploratory ta1ks on constitu- put forward in the mass action their families at home , .. we re­ tremists in connection with an at­ tack by uniformed nco-Nazis on a tional matters have still not got campaign. e gard ourselves, and we are re, underway. : garded, not as hostel-dwellelli but group of black children picnick­ ing in a park once reserved for On top of all this, the ANC as Atteridgeville residents." itself has been inordinately slow Women and children walk un­ whites, Reuter reports. A police statement said the in setting up its organisational perturbed by the prospect of rape structure inside the country, or robbery - manifestly not the men were being held on public vi­ adding to an overall impression way things are between the com­ olence charges in the rural town of confusion and lost initiative. munity and the hostels of Sowcto. of Louis Trichardt, 260 miles For its part, the government "We hear about the violence 'in nort!I .. JobaDJ;JeSburg. blames the delays on the ANC's other places bu' here we see nothing of it at all," said Johan­ organisational chaos. nes, who comes from a village in Either way, the ANC now Natal province and works in Pre­ wants to project a revitalised toria as a security guard. image. The mass action cam­ paign, which began last Thurs- day with the march of 30,000 supporters through three major ), cities, is intended to do that. Putting people on the streets in ' M8ndeIaa The ANC ~.ma • , mass displays l)f disciplined"., ,...... ;of c:hMttIe- , ~~-~-- 11IIIMPUCA110NS or 1111 u:rr..u. or '!HE IUCX UND ACf AND 11IE DEVELOPMENT 11lt1S'1' AND lAND ACr

1. There bas been a sood deal of specllatioa that duriD& the current Parliamenwy ses.sioa. the Btack LaDd N:t rT ol1913 aDd the OcYelopment Trust and Land AJ:t 11 011936 may be rcpealec!. I baYe been ubd to czplaill wlw the practical impticadoal ol this would be.

L- , 1be 1913 aDd the l~ Ac:u stand tosethu, aDd haw to be read as one Ad. For the sake 01 COIIftDieDCe, I refer to them toptber ill this memorandum as the LudM:&.

3.

3.1 No Black penoa may buy or relit land outside the scheduled and released . ... area awed by the Laad ~ without the permissioD of the Minister.

3.2 No penGIl odaer tbaD a Black penoa or the SA Development Trust may buJ or real 1aDd imide the scbeduIed aDd released areas.. without the pemrieim of the Minister.

4. If tblLaDd Ads were repealed. these restridioas would of course fall away. HOWCftr, this would DOt lead to open ICCCSI to Iaad. because of the provisions ol tbI Group Areas Ad 36 of 1966.

Tim GROW AUAS ACT

5. 1be Group NUS Ad makes prcMsioa f~ two sons of areas which are relevant to tbia memon.odum: IfOUP areu aDd the coaUOUed area.

6. Croap areas are areas w!pcb have been defined and set aside for ownership aDd occupation by people of a particular &roup. AIry person who is DOt a member of the &roup for which the land has been set aside, is a 'disqualified person' and may not own or occupy that 1aDd.

7. ~ is weD knowD. most of the urban areas have been set aside as &rOUP areas for people statutorily defuJed as white. ~iatic or coloured.- Every Black person is a 'disqualified penon' in respect of those areas. It (onaws that the Group Areas _Act prevents Black people lawfully owni.n& or ocxupyiDa land in those areas, whether or Dot the Land Ac1s are in force. (Tbere are DO Black &rOUP areas • ~ the urban Black townships are development areas in terms of the Black - Communities Development Act 4 of 1984.) 8. MOlt of the land outside the urban areu bas DOt becn defined as a J1'OUP area. For these areas, the concept of the controlled area is critical

9. The CODtroDed area is neptively defined: it is mIX area except &fOUP areas, scheduled aDd rcleased areas, Black residential areas, aDd certain other minor exceptions which are not relevant here.

10. The Group Neu Act 'freezes'the positioa in the collb'Olled area. Evay person who is DOt of the same IfOUP IS the OWDU of1lDd ill the cootroDed area. is a 'ctisqua1ified pel'SOD'. As a result, be or she m&J DOt on or ocaJpJ the land ill quaDoa.

1L A simple but typical example wiIl demoastrate bow this works in practice. .4sIume that a fani (which is not in I Jl'OUP area) is owaed b7 I white penon. Becluse it is DOt in a Jl"oup area. it is automaticaDy put of the cootrolled area. Because it iii presently 0WDed by a wbite penoa. DO B1act penoIl may own or occupy it. (If the farm was for some reaIOIl in a poup area, dieD obviously a Blact pelIOII would DOt be able 10 OWD or ocaIPf iL)

12 ~ I have pointed out abCive. the conuolled area is defined neaatively • it is aU land except (or certaiD exceptional areas. U land ceases to be pan of one of those exceptional areas, it automatically becomes pan of the controlled area. SecD this-way, 1M coDtt'oDed area is clastic· it expaM.u~ fill every space which is DOt covered ~ one of the exceptions.

13. ~ is also pointed out above, one of those exceptions is the released and scheduled areas created b7 the UDd Ads. U the LaDd Acts were repealed, there would DO loncer be my cateaory such as scheduled or released 1m The result would be that the 1aDd would automatically become pan of the controlled area. .'AD people in a arouP different from that of the present owner would . automatic:aDy be 'disqualified persons', and would DOt be entitled to own or occupy the 1aDd.

14. 1\ follows from this that the concepts of 'JrOUp area' aDd 'controDcd area' under the Group Areas AJ;t prnut aD)' cban&e iD the 'JI"OUP' of the penoD 0WDiq and occupyiDa both urban aDd rura11aDd. This would also apply to the areas set aside IS scheduled and released under the 1..aDd Ads.

CONCLUSION .

15. Althoup the repeal of the Black Land AJ:t and the Dewlopmem Trust aDd Land AJ;t JDi&bt be of symboUc sipificmce. it would bPe DO pnctical effect wbatsoeYer OIl the present discrimiDatory allocation ofboth urban and runJland. THE GUARDIAN Wednesday November 14 1990 SA President says 6 WORLD NEWS Harms findings 'SA' hit squad belong to the past AMONG the many political man­ in,quiry oeuvrings President FW de KJerk FW de Klerk hopes perceives to be required during South Africa's delicate transition death-squad accusations from apartheid to democracy, one will be buried in the involves a certain economy with name of reconciliation, raps Malan the application of justice. Past sins John Carlin writes have been recognised but, con­ trary to the wishes of some senior from Johannesburg figures in the black liberation movement, there are to be no Nu­ with here. as he made clear in the rembergs. rest of his statement yesterday. This became clear in Mr de '''The events dealt with in .the reo 'Fr.,~.. "HESH .controversy de· ! It later emerged that the KJerk's response to the fmdings of port took place in an era ofserious I ~rmy veloped In South Africa i South African had what Justice Louis Harms' commission conflict, now belonging to the yesterday over the "hit: appeared ~o be Its own team of squad" scandal with pol.lllcal kIllers. a special forces of inquiry into allegations that the past. We should act witb a view to publication of the fin~l ~eport !Unit. know~ as the CIvIl Co-op· security forces had systematically our future and take the concilia­ by the Harms CommIssIon .of eralion BUleau (CCB). T~e CCB carried out political assassinations tory steps which are necessary to Inquiry into allegations that the was alleged to have. car~led ~ut of the government's enemies. again create a peaceful South Af­ police an'd army operated teams a nu.mber of assassinallons.. In· The Harms Commission itself rica,'~ he said. L~bowskl ~ · pf politldu kl1let's. cludmg that of .Mr came out with a wbitewasb of the There is good reason to believe . Cabinet ministers were last shot dead ~JlItslde hIS home m i\lght daimilig that the findings Wmdhoek m September - and far-from-savoury actions of the that Mr de KJerk feels no particu­ police and a critical, but hardly lar affection for General Malan, a cleared them and the security ot a Johannesburg anthropolo· , forces. But in fact the 21O·page gist Dr David Webster. I far-reaching, report on tbe activi­ key figure in the old, brutish PW report.is a strong In~lctment ~f The report throws little new I ties of the army's clandestine Botha guard. But the general · the .,lIilitary estabhshment m light on these allegations. Its 1 counter-insurgency unit, tbe Civil serves two valuable purposes: he .parllcular and may slll1 end t~e main conclusions are: I Co-operation Bureau. Justice has the trust of the army and thus political career of Defence Mm· • The evidence of Nofomela Harms concluded that tbe CCB offers some guarantee, while he Magnu~ Mal~n. ister, Geheral and Coetzee was suspect and - bad been implicated in two mur­ remains on the De KJerk team, Among its cOllctllSlons IS an while parts of it may have been emphatic finding that Anton true _ the facts "could not be ders and three conspiracies. He that there will be no military tin­ Lubowski..-.a Swapo. leader established on a preponderance also said there was reason to sus­ kering with the volatile political tipped for a cabln,:t post III post· of probabilities".. .' \ pect it bad been involve(j in many prC"'-e5S that is afoot; and, his ccn­ Indepellde!)! NamllJla before he I" • There was a possibility more crimes. This, however, was sistently hawkish pronouncements was murdered last year - was that the CCB killed Dr Webster. .secretly working as an agent . not enough, tbe judge noted with help persuade potential, but dith­ for South African military in'l but there was "no prtm~ facie· regret, to restore public confi­ ering, CP supporters to keep faith tel1ige ceo GeJ;! Mala~1 i~ crt.lI· evidence that elevates thiS sus· dence in the "contaminated" state with the ruling National Party. · ~·llil!.d Pol' making the millal diS' piclon to anything more than a security apparatus. Mr de KJerk will have found c llsure about his role. mere suspicion.". Far from taking the logical step much relief in Justice Harms' . He and other leading govern· • Mr Lubowksi was a "paid required to restore sucb confi­ toothless inquiries. Few individ­ ment politicians were yes tel" .agent" and his death a ."serto';ls day engaged in a concerted pub· setback" for South Afrtcan mil· dence, Mr de KJerk responded by uals, if any, are likely to suffer any lic relations exercise. briefing I itary intelligence. absolving tbe head of tbe army, consequences for the dozens of lobby correspondents before Mr De Klerk had refused t~ " Defence Minister Magnus Malan, political murders which millions the report had been released l;Il1ow Jud~e Harms to Invesll· ; of all responsibility for the CCB's of South Africans will continue to ami issuing st~tel11ents to cre· gate the .~Ircumstances of Mr \ activities. There was "no reason to believe were carried out by agents ate the impreSSIOn that the con· Lubowskl s murder. The report condemn the politicians in charge of the state. And the fact is that elusions were exculpatory. notes that Gen Malan made the for the. way in which they carried not dozens, but hundreds, ofANC The State Presiden!. F. W. de disclosure allbl1t his being an out their duties," he ~d. political prisoners are to be re­ agent In an attempt to clear the leased in the next six months ­ Klerk, issued a statement cal1­ CCB of reSponsibility for the The pro-apartheid Conserva­ ing on the country to put the assassination. tive Party, the African National some of them convicted killers. scandal into the past "and take In doing so. Judge Harms Congress and the liberal Demo­ Faced with the impact this will fhe conciliatory steps which are says "the Minister erred", be­ cratic Party all responded with have on the tender sensibilities of necessary to again create a caus~ CCB and milltary Intelli· outrage - richly opportunistic in...· the white population - and the peaceful and prosperous com· gence did not know of each Imunity in South Africa." the case of the CP - to Mr de security establishment - now, Mr includ~ other's operations, The disclo· de KJerk has judged, is not the Such steps, he said, sure needlessly compromised KJerk's statement. General Malan the possibility of granting In' intelligence sources. was the real offender, they all time for a witch-hunt of the police demnity to members of all par· Accusing the CCB of having bayed. His head should roll. and army. ties to the conniet. "arrogated to itself the powers Because such breadth of con­ • White landowners should The one·man commission sensus is unusual in South African compensate blacks for benefits reo under Mr Justice Harms was I to try, to sentence and to pun· appointed by Mr. De Klerk in Ish persons without those per· politics, when it happens it carries ceived from property expropri­ February aner biller protests at \ sons knowing of the al1egations much more moral weight. But it is ated under apartheid laws, the what appeared to be a cover·up against them," Judge Harms not morality, it is practical politics, ANC said in a report yesterday, of the hit squad allegations. says the unit has "contami· that Mr de KJerk is concerned Reuter reports. The scandal was precipitated nated the whole security arm of in October last year when the the Stale." Guardian published the "con, It hired murderers and fession" of a black policeman people with "personality de· about to be executed in Pretoria fects" and seemed to have put ¥ THE INDEPENDENT for an unrelated murder. Its own interests "above the Almond Nofomela claimed he public Interest, or the interest had been a member of a police of the Slate." hit squad based at a Transvaal farm and had participated in Thursday 15 November 1990 polilical killings. His allega· tions were subsequently .en· dorsed bv the former command· er of ttie unit, Captain Dirk Coetzee. 'Ii _------b;;,..4'f·~~~~IIiIliII---- _ Court cases in S.Africa may reveal secrets of regional hit-squads

LoNDOW South African hit squads in­ and saboteurs were created in our coun­ result of the arms cache crisis which tended killing African National Con­ tries in order to destabilise them. By brought about the collapse ofthe unity gress President Oliver Tambo and guer­ excluding foreign operations by hit between Zapu and Zanu, and which rilla leader Chris Hani, a former agent squads from the Harms Commission nowappears to have been orchestrated has revealed. terms of reference, President De Klerk not by Zapu dissenters butby Pretoria. He has also claimed cross-border op­ implicitly concedes that these networks Bnckhill has also been an adviser to erations are still continuing. are not to be dismantled. Clearly South Joshua Nkomo, and during the crucial Guy Bawden, a Zimbabwean citizen Mrica poses a continuing threat to re­ 1984 Zapu Congress is said to have now living in South Mrica, made the gional security." drafted the Central Committee report claim after a summons was issued The attack against Brickhill, which which committed the party to unity against him for his role in a bomb attack initially fitted the pattern of attacks with Zanu. on a leading Zimbabwean activist. against influential anti-apartheid fig­ The at~kon Brickhill took place in Bawden's allegations and other ac­ ures, now appears to have been directed the sen81tive last phase of the unit)' tions in South African courts may begin equally at destabilising local Zimbab­ talks and ala time when Zanu anti­ to unravel Pretoria's regional hit squad weanpolitics. unity hardliners like Enos Nkala and network - kept out of the scope of the AsSouthScan reportedatthetime (v2J Mau~ce Nyagumbo were still openly Harms Inquiry earlier this year - say 5,pI7) the attack appeared to have been oPposIng the process. local observers. setup to suggest that the Brickhill's had Infact two weeks before theattack on Jeremy Brickhill, a Jlrominent mem­ been victims of a bomb earned in their Brickhill,Nkalaclaimedina statement berofJoshuaNkomo'sZapu, andhiswife own car. It was in fact housed in an to have new evidence of a Zapu plot Joan, a South African journalist, were identical car parked next to their own. which would destroy all hopes ofunity. victims ofa car bomb attackinHararein The significance of this was not clear at (He never subsequently produced this 1987. Miraculously the couple survived, the time. evidence.) althoughJeremyBrickhill was seriously As a writer and campaigner, Jeremy Immediately after the bomb attack injuredin theattackandisstill undergo­ Brickhill is known in South African on the Brickhills right-wing press and ing medical treatment in Britain. circles for his role in the mid-'70s in the intelligencecirclesinHararewere link­ Lawyers acting for the couple in British Anti-Apartheid Movement and ing Jeremy Brickhill with ANC and Harare and Johannesburg have filed his long standing association with the "zapu dis81dent" military operations. lawsuits claiming damages against sev­ ANC. He is, however, not a member of At the time this appeared unlikelY to eralindividualsallegedlyinvolvedinthe the ANC, but of Joshua NImmo's Zapu observers close to the ANC in Zim­ attack, against the South African gov­ (now merged with Zanu) in whose army, babwe, and certainly was disputed ernmentanditsministersofdefence and Zipr&. hefought duringtheZimbabwean within Zapu where Brickhill was law and order. liberation war. known to be greatly concerned with Shortly after summons were issued Brickhill is knom to be a close friend South African government links to against Bawden, he confirmed he had ofthe former Zipracommander, Dumiso "dissidents"iand to advocate pro-unity been involved in the attack and was Dabengwa(nowdeputyministerofhome policies for apu. prepared to give evidence in court. affairs), who was detained by Mugabe's The link in these elements may be a Bawden has also threatened to expose government for five years after inde­ large arms cache which was uncovered other operations mounted from Zim· pendence. Dabengwa was detained as a on a p'roperty owned by Jeremy babwe including plots to kill both Oliver Brickhill several months after the at­ Tambo and Chris Hani, and has alleged tack. that he could identify South African According to Harare security sources agents still operating from Zimbabwe. rot squad operations in Brickhill's anticiJ)8.ted death in the at­ He apparently feels ill-served by his Zimbabwe tack was to be followed by a campaign associatin~ former employers, andbaa himselfinsti­ 24 February 1981: Attempted ...... t. him with linksbetween the tutedlegal proceedings againstMinister nation ofANC repreeentative Joe ANC and Zapu dissidents', and then of Defence Magnus Malan, claiming Qpbi by ear bomb in Harare fan. the discovery of a large incriminating damages as a reSult ofhis 18 month de­ 3 Aulfl"t 1981: .A.ua.inationofJoe arms cache. tention in Zimbabwe. (He was released Qnbi in Harare By linkinganadviser and confidante on medical grounds without being 16Augud 1981: Explouon at Inkomo ofNkomoandDabengwato 'Zapu dissi­ charged last year.) He is going ahead Barracks destroy. anenal offormer dents', the South Africans could have with his action despite state attempts to Zipra weapona valued at $M million hoped once again to create conflict be­ 18 December 1981: Bomb blutat gag him, according to South African Zenu (PF) HQ narrowly miuM tween the two nationalist P!lrties. press reports. ~ Mupbe and the leadenhip The link between the ANC and the Another former South African agent February 1982: Zipra arm. each. Zapu "dissidents" was intended to em­ released from detention in Zimbabwe, dUcovery barrass the ANC withRobert Mugabe's BloemfonteinbusinessmanLeslie Lesia, 26 July 1982: One quaner ofZimbab­ Zanu gl?vernment. has also complained ofhis treatment by wean air force plan_ dellt:royed by Brickhill would ofcourse be dead and his South African handlers and threat­ aabotalte unable to deny the allegations. ened legal action. 18Augud 1982: Three former Rhode­ "I can confirm that I was informed .ian .c»ldien killed by Zimbabwean Lesia was implicated in a number of army on operatioDlL SADF admita about the existence ofthis arms cache. assassination plots against ANC mem­ they are on SADF payroll It certainly was not there when I ac­ bers in both Mozambique and Zim­ December 1982: CIn Supt Eric quired the property,infact itcould only babwe. He was held for over threeyears Roberta investiptinlt SouthAfriean nave been put there shortly before the in Zimbabwe but never charged. Lesia, operations shot dead attack on me. I had no knowledge of it who is Coloured, claims the families of MoreA 1983: Lesoma leader, Attati until I was informed ofits discovery." other, White, agents with whom he was Mpakati. a.....inated in Harare He said that South African govern­ held were given preferential treatment 19 May 1986: South Afriean comman· ment-fomented discord between Zapu do. attack ANC office and house in by the South Africans. Harare. SADF admits responsibility and Zanu had already been demon­ Brickhill, Bawden and Lesia have all 11 May 1987: Wife of ANC official strated in numerous acts, not least of called for an inquiry into the eross-bor­ killed by booby trapped TV in which was the setting up of Dabengwa der operationsofthe SouthAfrican secu· Harare in the arms cache case. ritr and military services. Bawden 17May 1987: ANC otlice in Harare The Brickhill, Bawden, Lesia suits claIms to have eVldence that these are shelled . may yet expose in courts the labyrin­ still lfoing on. 13 October 1987: Jeremy Brickhill in· thine workin~ofSouth Africa's dests­ Bnckhill told SouthScan:"The South jured in ear bomb attack in Harare bilisation polIcy - despite the failure to Mrican government carried its war into 8 JGllua~ 1988: ANC house in Bula· get this raised at the Harms Commis­ the Frontline States. Networksofagents wayo blown up sion.

317 SournScAN VOL.5 No.42 NOVEMBER 9 1990 l~--- _ THE GUARDIAN Thursday November 22 1990 4 WORLD NEWS Police chief • • IS pOisoner, SAcourttold

THE CitiZEN soned liquor - beers. vodka, D.vld ...... ford and brandy - from police fo­ In Joh8nnenurg rensic headquarters at Silver­ ton, outside Pretoria. On an­ Lt-Gen LOTHAR- NEETHLING. who will be HE Zimbabwe govern­ other, Mr Bekker pointed out claiming R1,5 million damages In the R.nd ment is assisting a Jo· Gen Neethling at an airport Wednesday 15 August 1990 Supreme Court later thl. year .fter allegedly ! hannesburg newspaper hotel, saying: "He is the man being defamed by two newspapers. T In an extraordinary who is helping us with the legal battle to try to prove that stuff." ~:O~tl~:~canpoliCegeneral The reasons for delivering 'a'tl·on.. the poisoned beers to the Soviet Equipment worthy of the embassy in Gaberone were not Alleged defam Borgias - including a ring with clear from Mr Lesai's evidence. a secret "poison compartment:' He said that Mr Bekker sent was flown to South Africa him across the border in No­ · R1 5-m -from Harare overnight and vember 1986 with instructions handed in to the Rand Supreme to hand the beer and a well­ Gen CIalms , Court yesterday as defence ex· wrapped sma)) parcel to a man called "Big Jack". He did so, ~~~;r~~~~c,:, hi~~~~l~~~~~backevi. identifying himself as a mem­ from p'apers den~ by an alleged' agent of ber ofthe ANC, eral Lothar Neethling. South Mrican Military lntelli. He also described an opera· Vrve Weekhlad and The Weeklv Mail will order that the two actions lished. In the three arti- ers guiltv of the mosl se- gence that he had been sent tion in Mozambique in which - h G N thl" g one IG N hi' nous crl'm,'nal conduct. into neighbouring Mozambique he delivered a consignment of ask the Rand Supreme y en ee In. C es. en eet mg. to polson and blow up members poisoned beer, vodka and Court to ordcr that for. for R1 million against Mr Chler Deput~ Com,:,us. and that he had prepared or··the Mrican National Con. brandy to a member of the S .. Max du Prccz. editor of sloner. ScientIfic TecnOi' and supplied poiSons 10 gress. He also claimed that on ANC. At a party the same night mer AP capta.'". Dtrk Vrye Weekblad. and one cal Services of the SAP. murder people". one occasion he delivered a he saw a friend, Gibson Ncube Coetzee. again gIve for R5f\() IXNl against The had allegedly been de· crate of poisoned beer to the - another ANC member ­ evidence about alleged Weekly Mail. be consoli· famed. The articles allegedly Soviet embassy in Botswana. drinking from one of the laced "death squad" activi· dated. and heard together The court yesterday gave readers the impres- Two Johannesburg weekly beer cans, ties -- this time to be on November 12 this year heard that the source of sion that Gen Neethling newspapers, Vrte Weekblad "It gave me quite a shock." he used in a defamation to reduce costs and save the alleged defamatory al· was guilty of Ihe "worst and the Weekly Mail, are de· said. "I couldn't do anything to hearing involving R 1.5 time. legations against Gen types of criminal offences fending a £300,000 libel action stop him." million against the two The coun will be asked Neethhng had been Capt that could be committed brought by the head of the He had been told the poison on Tuesday that Mr Dirk Coetzee. a self-con- by any person". and lhat South Mrican police forensic took about two weeks to kill newspapers. Eldred Tahachnik (QC). fessed e.-member of an he had "prepared and department. General Lothar and left no traces. Shortly after· Mr JuslIee EL Gold- or Mr Brian Keith. both alleged death squad. He supplied sleeping potions ~ Neethling. They had reported wards Mr Ncube did die. of a stem vestcrdav postponed pf the London Bar. be ap- was now in self-imposed to be used for Ihe purpoM: that the general supplied poi- form ofcreeping paralysis. hearrng an .applicalinn f.l'llnted to hear the evi· e.ile. of drugging persons. so sons to a police hit squad. Mr Bekker also sent him to that a commlS\loner be dence of Capt Coetzee Ca t C~tzee's evi. thallhey could he kidnap. Vrye Weekblad yesterday Mozambiquewith a television appointed to hear all eVI- from October!! to 12 this d p. . ped and removed from produced a surprise witness, set which had a bomb hidden dence. wilhout deciding vear. encr waSimponan~'"dan outside the Republic and Les Lesai, aged 54. who de­ inside. It was designed to be upon admissihilitv. of - The coun will also he . attempt to sustain tee· hrought to the Republic:'. scribed how he had been detonated by remote control by I Captain Coelzec i~ l.on- f fence relIed on by the IWO .... recruited as a professional as. aRother agent in Maputo but " Ihat Ih~ cv,'- asked. hy agreement 0 newspape.rs. one. of truth don. an U < (ien Neethling and the d I'll 1ft sassin by two men posing as US before delivering it he de-acti­ dence become part of Ihe an pu IC .,ene I. 'consular 9fficials, one of whom vated the bomb. " of '. ·••. f·.lmat'·"n two newspapers. to direct Mr DaVId Hoffe. the h d h' . recor U 0 u. that lhe evidence of Capt f h a a penc ant ,or weanng When he returned to South hearing instituted hv Lt Coetzee be adduced he- alt~ney °dte ~wnoaneffiwdas- faIMserbeLael'dsSa'I', a former art Africa Mr Bekker insisted that Gen Neethlino against ,he pa.._rs, sal '" a 1- he return to Mozambique and .. fore the commission upon Vlt that Capt Coetzee had teacher from Bloemfontein, bring back the set. He returned rwo newspapers. 01'11 examination in lhe not given evidence in SA landed up in a Zimbabwe to Maputo by car, only to be The judge granted an presence of all the parties as the posSibility e.isted prison In 1987, facing charges of arrested, taken to zambia, and involved. and that Capt that he might he arrested murder in connection with an then to Zimbabwe, Caelzee be subject to should he return. and exploding television set. The It transpired that the televi­ cross-examination and re- would only return to the charges were dropped after he sion set had been sent to Har· e.xamination. country if he was given in- had been tortured, 'He was are, where it had exploded, kill­ According to coun demnity against prosecu- released in July to return home ing the wife of an ANC activist. papers. the Vrye Week- tion. to South Africa. Under torture he confessed. blad had published two He suhmitted that in all The amateur agent told a Later the car he had left in Ma­ articles. one on Novem- the circumstances it was bizarre story of how he had puto was brought to Harare and . ber 17. the other on De- necessary for the pur- been sulJorned by two mysteri· he showed police a secret com- i cember I. last year. which poses of justice that a. ous men - who he later be- partment in which he had hid· I had broken the story on commission he estab- lieved were acting for Military den equipment given to him by "death squad operations" lished to hear the evi- Intelligence - after inundating his South African handlers: the in South Africa local embassies with appeals poison ring, bottles of poison. These report~ had led dencr of Capt Coetze;. h for funds to keep his art school two syringes, a gun. and a to the "Commission of In. In the articles pub IS - going, He said he used to meet silencer. ed by the newSf'8p"P.;, il Mr Bekker and Mr Brown - After his release he f1ew back i quiry into Certain AI· was alleged that Gen I d M d .. h' d "but I can't say those were to Johannesburg where he was ege ur ers C alTe Neethling was the leader their true names" _ in hotels met by representatives of Mili­ hy Mr Justice l. Harms. of an "illicit criminal or- to receive his instructions. tary Inteili'gence who told him In the edition of The ganisation and gang of On one occasion he accompa- tbat Mr Bekker and Mr Brown Weekly Mail dated murderers", and (hat he nied Mr Bekker to collect poi- did not work for them. November 24. 19l!9. a fur· was "pan and parcel of a ther article had been pub- ruthless gang of murder- 'Vermeulen and I put some of Genl Neethling's previously concocted poison in their cold drink and beer. Neethling had assured us that 60 grammes would be enough to let them die of a "heart attack 1/. The poison wou ldn 't take ef­ fect though. We increased the dosage to 360 grammes~ but nothing happened. ' - translation from the Afrikaans of an interview with former South African Police Captain Dirk Coetzee, VRYE WEEKBLAD, 17 November 1989

This is one of the things former South African Policeman Dirk Coetzee said about Lt Gen Lothar Neethling who is suing two Johannesburg newspapers for libel. Neethling' s attorney is attempting to show up Coetzee as untruthful and unreliable, and so far Coetzee has rrodified his account of poison dosages from grarrnnes to milligrarrmes. The 55-year-old general claims the press articles caused tension in his family, kept him from staying in touch with colleagues and forced him to consider early retirement.

General Neethling is the long time chief of the forensic scientific laboratory of the police. A new branch of the South African Police was created - the Criminalistics Branch - and Neethling was put in charge and prorroted to lieutenant general on 1 June 1985. He is chief deputy commissioner of the Scientific Technical Services of the SAP. Neethling has testified as a forensic expert in over 13,000 court appearances. One of these exploits occurred in 1978 when he explained how Dr Hoosen Meer Haffejee, one of the many detainees who died while being held incommunicado by the police, could have hanged himself with his trousers. The general has an MS in chemistry from the Univer­ sity of ~toria and claims other degrees, one of which appears to be a PhD in foren­ sic science awarded by a university in California. Neethling was, and probably still is, a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police which is headquart­ ered in the USA.

I.D-cl"J.a:" Paul Neethling has a long history of exte.nded stays and frequent visits in the USA. He entered this country as a visitor on 28 September 1959. His change to non­ immigrant status was approved by Immigration Service at San Francisco on 16 November 1959, with authorization to remain in the USA until 15 November 1960. Neethling's stay was extended for one year for the following three years - until 15 November 1963 ­ a total of four years, commensurate with a full course of university study.

Neethling made a string of short trips to the United States in the 70s. We know some­ thing of a 1974 visit from a US goverrunent document showing Brigadier Neethling, head of the South African Police laboratory, asking to be shown the FBI laboratory and to confer with an assistant FBI director. Arrangements were made with the FBI by the resi­ dent liaison officer in Washington of Pretoria's secret service, the Bureau for State Security. Neethling was accompanied by another SAP official, whose name is censored out of the US governrrent rneno released under the Freedom of Information Act. Also inked out is a hefty paragraph probably descriptive of the nature of the visit.

Neethling pitches up again in October 1981 when he and the SAP general commanding the apartheid regime's counterinsurgency force (officially a police element but operating in the Namibia-Angola war and elsewhere in a manner indistinguishable from the army) were admitted to this country 'on private visits'. Washington at the time averred it was not granting visas to South African army general officers - in observance of United Nations calls for a boycott of ~toria's military machine. A US government spokesman said Victor Verster and Lothar Neethling were maj or generals in the South African Police 'a separate and distinct organization from the South African Defense Force' . ecsa &c 90