Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-09-15

MR BRACHER: You see I am not talking about preparation, I am not talking about planning. I am talking about implementation. Presumably when you got an order to go and plant bombs in taxi ranks and restaurants and other black targets you would have gone out and done it immediately. Was it within the week before the election that, that decision was made by the General staff at head-office?

MR PRINSLOO: The person on the ground level who would have received such an order would have received that order from the Generals in staff via his commanders on a specific and given point in time.

CHAIRPERSON: How old was that decision before it was carried out?

MR PRINSLOO: I beg your pardon?

CHAIRPERSON: How old was the decision to plant bombs at restaurants and taxi ranks before it was actually executed?

MR PRINSLOO: Approximately a week or two.

MR BRACHER: So it is during April of the election?

MR PRINSLOO: Correct.

MR BRACHER: Now at that stage you were in battle mode if I can put it that way?

MR PRINSLOO: Correct.

MR BRACHER: You had been promoted from secretary general to general in the fighting corps.

MR PRINSLOO: No, I was not promoted. It was just another term for it. Well in our system or hierarchy it worked that way. Your duties simply shifted from secretary of the AWB to operational and combat general of the AWB.

MR BRACHER: When were you appointed a general in the AWB then?

MR PRINSLOO: November 1992.

MR BRACHER: And when your functions were changed was that at the same meeting in April about two weeks before the elections?

MR PRINSLOO: No it could have been at least a week or two before that still.

MR BRACHER: Now the meeting where it was decided to plant bombs, about two weeks before the election, who was the chairperson of that meeting?

MR PRINSLOO: Well, there wasn't a specific chairperson of such a staff meeting. The chair would be occupied in some instances by Mr Terreblanche or General Ackerman or the person with the greatest length of service.

MR BRACHER: Don't give me "some instances". I am talking about that actual meeting.

MR PRINSLOO: I can't remember.

MR BRACHER: Who was at that actual meeting?

MR PRINSLOO: Who was the chairperson?

MR BRACHER: No, just tell me who was at the meeting? Is that the names you gave us yesterday?

MR PRINSLOO: Is that the Trimpark meeting?

MR BRACHER: The General staff meeting about two weeks before the election at which the General staff decided to plant bombs at taxi ranks, restaurants and other black targets. That meeting.

MR PRINSLOO: That was at Fyndoorings, outside Ventersdorp.

MR BRACHER: Am I correct? I have got Kiewiet Roodt, Cruywagen, Eugene Terreblanche, Jaco Oelofse, Dirk Ackerman, his brother Ackerman, the other Terreblanche and yourself.

MR PRINSLOO: That is correct.

MR BRACHER: Are those the people who decided to bomb soft targets?

MR PRINSLOO: That is correct.

MR BRACHER: Who when you were in the war mode was the commander in chief of the war that you were now going to fight?

MR PRINSLOO: Well every general had his own region in which he was supposed to act.

CHAIRPERSON: Well who was the overall chief commander of the entire war effort?

MR PRINSLOO: At the end of the day that would have been Eugene Terreblanche.

CHAIRPERSON: Was he in control?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes.

MR BRACHER: Now you have been asked this morning about why you didn't claim the success of the Johannesburg bomb. You said after the Johannesburg bomb someone said: "Well it looks good," you considered it to be a success and then two things happened that I find surprising. First of all Mr Rundel who is said to be AWB spokesman. Rundel said: "The recent bombings ( I am reading from a report of the 25th of April, Business Day). Rundel said: "Recent bombings could have been carried out by any number of right-wing groups operating outside usual right-wing structures and denied the AWB was involved in any of the incidents." It is not just that you had said nothing. Your structure actually denied that you set the bombs. Now why would that be?

MR PRINSLOO: I can only tell you that Mr Rundel was not at all and never has been a military official or part of a Wencommando of the AWB. If he had made any statements at that stage that he himself would then expose himself to prosecution.

MR BRACHER: Because he gave the same evidence in mitigation at the criminal proceedings. He said: "that it wasn't upon the instructions of the AWB," or something to that effect. That is not correct?

MR PRINSLOO: I don't know about that.

MR BRACHER: The other thing that is very surprising to me, forget about public announcements, but all the people who were at the wildsplaas and none of them knew about it, nobody said: "We have had our first success in our war." Nobody told them that it was an AWB bomb. Why would that be?

MR PRINSLOO: Why didn't anybody know about it?

MR BRACHER: Well, you knew about it and you were there. Couldn't you call a meeting and say: "We have had a - things look good," as you put it. "We have killed 7 innocent people, we have injured 13 innocent people and we have blown up the shops and cars of other innocent people"?

MR PRINSLOO: No, I didn't communicate the successes which had been achieved.

MR BRACHER: You see the impression that we got the last time is that by that stage the ordinary members were becoming demoralised. They were happy to go back to their families by then. Wouldn't the proper thing to do would be to announce a successful mission, if that is what you thought it was?

MR PRINSLOO: No, I think that the morale of everybody at any stage was very high. The fact that members would return to their homes was not because the fact that they had low morale, it was simply to visit their family members or their families. It was not because they had to boost their morale.

MR BRACHER: But you asking other people to go out and plant bombs, wouldn't you expect the leadership to say: "We have already had a success. You are one of a great team here"?

MR PRINSLOO: No, I think that at all times by various commanders it was communicated to their subordinates that success had been achieved.

MR BRACHER: But you didn't do it with your region?

MR PRINSLOO: Well I am speaking about my region.

MR BRACHER: Why didn't you do it in your region if it was an AWB event?

MR PRINSLOO: That is correct. Perhaps through the commanders it was communicated that certain successes had been achieved but I personally at a certain stage did not call the people together and say: "You have done well."

MR BRACHER: But you had a meeting there to talk about pipe bombs by which time the Jo'burg bomb had already gone off, not so?

MR PRINSLOO: That is correct.

MR BRACHER: You didn't have to call a meeting. You just had to say: "This is an AWB bomb. We have done it, we are going to do some more."

MR PRINSLOO: Where was this meeting?

MR BRACHER: Wildsplaas.

MR PRINSLOO: No, I didn't address any public gathering.

MR MALAN: The question is not that. The question is that everybody was busy with the execution of their duties as you had determined it and others in terms of their own discretion and they would implement the plans and achieve success. They would know about the Germiston, Randfontein, Jo'burg and other bombs but you don't tell anybody: "Look at how successful we are." Why not? Just answer me regarding that. Why didn't you announce your successes?

MR PRINSLOO: Well I simply didn't do it.

MR MALAN: You asked de Wet to make his vehicle with the towbar available. He receives his orders from Myburg and Barnard, he goes out, they carry out their orders, a terrible bomb, he returns and he is on the same terrain where you are -you don't even thank him.

MR PRINSLOO: Yes I would have done that but I wouldn't have called everybody together.