Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-11-17

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I shot him on the side of his head, that is what I gathered from the inquest.  There was blood spouting out on the tar road and there was a lot of blood coming from his head.

MR BOOYENS: How quickly did this blood come from his head?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: It could have been seconds after I had shot him.  I cannot go into detail, it could have been a few seconds.  Immediately I tried to obtain a radio to get control over the situation, because I was frightened that during this peak hour there could be hostages.  There was a helicopter on standby, there were ambulances on standby, because I have a very good background regarding counter-terrorism and I was prepared for all this.  There was no radio in the radio room?

MR BOOYENS: Wait a bit.  This is now the radio room at the airforce?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, this was, was the radio room at the radio station in Mannenberg.  The Alohetta Helicopter was summoned from a neighbouring airforce basis.  I requested Sergeant Mbelo and another member of the Riot Squad to get into that helicopter and at a stage they said certain people got away.  Caspars were summoned and everything was brought there to assist us.  There was total chaos there.

MR BOOYENS: Mention was made by your co-applicant that instructions were given that a person, there is a typing error in paragraph 31, person who put his hands up in the air, that he should be shot.  Do you know anything of that nature?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, I only saw that in the documentation.

MR BOOYENS: It is the, it is "lig", Mr Chairman, in paragraph 31, the third line, the last word, it is "lig" there, like in light, it should be "lug".

CHAIRPERSON: When you come to a convenient stage?

MR BOOYENS: Oh, certainly, Mr Chairman.
	You do not have any knowledge of that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No.

MR BOOYENS: And in paragraph 32 you refer to other allegations from the documents which you deny.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: May this then be a convenient stage, Mr Chairman?

CHAIRPERSON: Very well, we will take the short adjournment now.

MS PATEL: Would everyone please rise?
HEARING ADJOURNS
EXAMINATION BY MR BOOYENS (cont)

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: (Still under oath).

MR BOOYENS: Thank you Mr Chairman.  In paragraph 33 you make a statement that the operation did not go as planned.  Can you please elaborate on that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Chairperson, whilst that bus came from the uniformed branch, we expected that bus to be attacked and the other bus was supposed to have crossed the bridge just a short while before and our idea was to block them off there and to arrest them and whatever else happened there.  So, when the police bus had passed, we withdrew and we thought that, well, that was just a false alarm and nothing was going to happen.  So, the operation actually came to a halt there.

MR BOOYENS: So, the shooting which took place later had, actually had, was not a planned operation?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: Paragraph 34, could you please explain that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.  I cannot recall whether it was a day or so after the shooting, I took the two askaris to the State Mortuary to identify the bodies independently, I did not want to send them in a group and they all identified the corpses as was later indicated also in the encoded messages from head office, the corpses were these people who were trained freedom fighters.

MR BOOYENS: Now, were they alleged to be members of the group?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, and also the person that I shot in the crossing, there was a proper identification done of him by the two askaris and, I think, Constable Mbelo, if he had met him.

MR BOOYENS: Paragraph 35 you simply mention that there was a point 45 revolver in the Kombi.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I later learnt that the investigating officer had found a point 45 revolver in the mini-bus and that related to the person that I had shot.  I cannot say what investigation was done regarding the revolver and whether any fingerprints were found.

MR BOOYENS: Mr Bellingan, after the shooting was over did you have anything more to do with the investigation of the scene and so on?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, what may have happened is that those weapons which Maluleka pointed out to me in the bushes and which had been wrapped in a blanket, well, I cannot say with certainty, but I think that I would have handed those weapons to the investigating officer or pointed it out to the Investigating Officer of Murder and Robbery as belonging to the freedom fighter and I think I would have pointed out the man that I had shot and told him what had happened on the scene, as put in my statement.

MR BOOYENS: Yes, but you did not deal with the actual investigation of the case?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No.

MR BOOYENS: You are aware of the fact that we are possession of a fax from the former Minister of Law and Order, at that stage the Deputy Minister of Law and Order and later he became the Minister of Law and Order, it is, in which he reacts to what you said?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: Mr Chairman, I understand, in fact, that that has been sent to the Commission.  I do not know whether, it is not strictly speaking an exhibit for our side.
	You simply say that you are aware of the statements which he makes there, that he accepts personal responsibility and he makes a number of statements which you can comment on if asked, but as far as you are aware you simply take note of what the Minister says or said?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, Minister or Mr Jan Wagenaar contacted me and said that the Minister wanted to make a statement, because I implicated him.  The Minister spoke to me personally and told me that he takes full political responsibility for what happened at Vlakplaas.  Last night he spoke to me, half past eight, and wished me all the best for today and told me that I should just remember that he bears the full political responsibility for the fact that we, at Vlakplaas, tried to prop up the National Party Government and keep them in power.

MR BOOYENS: You then deal with your political objectives as far as this operation is concerned.  That you deal with on page 38 and 39, 40 and 41, up to page 41, (viii).  Do you confirm that is correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.

MR BOOYENS: Now, briefly, you were a police Sergeant at the time, I am referring to page 41, (viiii), and you here refer to an incident where you actually met Louis le Grange and Johan Coetzee on your way to Robben Island.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.

MR BOOYENS: Please just tell us in your own words what happened there and what the perceptions were?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I was a Sergeant at the time and we went to a function on Robben Island and General Johan Coetzee, who was the Commissioner of the Police at the time, was there and so was Minister le Grange and in the bus he said to Minister le Grange that these are Schoon's people who work in the Cape and he asked me what does the situation look like, what are you doing and I said that I am, I was hoping for a breakthrough and we had started infiltrating and le Grange wished me all the best and shook my hand.
	After the shooting there was also a function held at Maitland to thank us for the good work we had done after the shooting of the Guguletu 7 and we were also wished everything of the best by Minister le Grange.  So, my belief was that our actions carried the approval and the blessing of the Generals and the politicians, because the remark was also made that a silver cross should be, also, given to me for my bravery, but I said I was not interested in that.  I would like to place it on record though.

MR BOOYENS: Now, did you, well, let me put it this way, it is mentioned that some of the askaris received payment after this incident.  Are you aware of that?