Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-10-20

JOHANNES LODEWIKUS GRIEBENAUW: That is correct.  I'd like to emphasise that this onslaught was not limited to certain areas but that it was aimed against the Republic as a whole.  We therefore can't judge issues and incidents in the Western Cape in isolation and we also can't judge the actions of members of the security branch in the Western Cape, in isolation.  There was a line of command which went from the most junior member to the commissioner of police.
	There was legislation and departmental regulations and provisions determined exactly how a detainee should be dealt with in terms of Section 29 of  Act 74 of 1982 - The Internal Security Act.  This legislation and regulations placed certain obligations on the inspector  of detainees, district surgeons, magistrates and commanding officers on various levels and attached to other divisions of the police.
	From time to time it also necessitated reporting to certain bodies.  There was a register which had to be kept up to date and visitors to the detainees would have to fill in this register during their visits to the detainees and have to sign it.  There was a prescribed procedure to be followed should a Section 29 detainee lay a complaint.  
	Allegations of assault inter alias had to be investigated by a senior officer in the detective branch and not by an officer attached to the security branch.  By means of Advocate Cook, I requested the police to place at my disposal the relevant Section 29 detainee files but I was told that it couldn't be traced.  
	In respect of the armed struggle against the RSA, as I've already said, it was necessary to go back to that issue to 1961 when the ANC/SACP Alliance committed themselves to an armed struggle.  As the armed struggle escalated, it was expected of the police more and more to become involved in situations which fell outside the normal boundaries of policing functions.
	The South African police was since 1967 used to do border duty in Zimbabwe and obviously they had to receive special training for that and in this way they were introduced to conventional warfare.  This exposure resulted in the fact that principle of minimum of violence was severely prejudiced and to a certain extent was actually just swept aside.  Border duty for the police was later extended to Namibia and also in relation to our own borders with our neighbouring countries, which brought about more and more exposure to conventional warfare.
	Even later the battle which was being waged on our borders moved to within our country and this condition and situation and how it developed was discussed by the former Commissioner of Police, General van der Merwe, in a statement which he handed in the amnesty application of Brigadier Jack Cronje and others and a copy has been attached to this statement in front of you now.
	I'd like to refer to specific portions in this statement because it deals with a period and circumstances which has an influence on or an effect of the application of these two members.    And if you just look at these portions, paragraph - page 3, paragraph 5:
"Amongst other things the principles of minimum violence and the bringing of perpetrators before criminal courts was to be seriously effected and even eroded".

MR COOK: That's the second last paragraph from the bottom.

JOHANNES LODEWIKUS GRIEBENAUW: Page 8, paragraph 10 - three quarters of the way down the page the dates are set out
"Other channels which were to be used included sympathetic organisations, the distribution of pamphlets and the establishment of revolutionary themes for the ensuing years, themes included
1979 - The Year of the Spear
1985 - The Years of the Cadre
1986 - The Year of Umkhonto weSizwe, The People's Army
1987 - The Year of Advance to People's Power
1988 - The Year of United Action for People's Power
1989 - The Year of mass action for People's Power"
Page 9, paragraph 10:
"The people's war strategy was described as a war in which the entire nation is engaged, Umkhonto weSizwe, The People's Army, workers, the rural masses, women, intellectuals, the religious community selectively in groups or as organised individuals were used in all forms of revolutionary warfare, armed or non-combat.  Legal and illegal means to attack and destroy all symbols and structures and organs of apartheid power, including all those who manned them.
Page 10, right at the bottom - it is actually page 11, yes it is page 11, the second last paragraph:
"By July 1985, it was reported that only 5 of the 38 Black Government structures had survived and 396 innocent people had already been murdered.  In destroying these structures the ANC was creating the necessary prerequisites for liberated zones".
Then on page 15, paragraph 13:
"Another organ of people's power was the so-called: "people's courts".  They were originally regarded as instruments whereby the so-called: "concept of people's war", could be upheld and defended.  Their task was to ensure healthy revolutionary and democratic inter-relations within society and to serve the interests of the people in general".
And at the bottom of that very same page, we continue - last line:
"It was very often quite sufficient to be merely suspected of being a sell-out of collaborator in order to pay the ultimate price in the most dreadful manner".
And then page 18, which refers certain statistics regarding necklace murders, and here I would like to point out the following:
1986 - The number of people killed, the total number along with injured - people injured, in relation to the others you will see that in that year it reached it's height.
	On the next page where it deals with: "Setting alight of persons", once again we have the same position there.  Paragraph 16 on page 19:
"As a direct result of this particular revolutionary climate, the South African police and the South African defence force were compelled to pool their various resources to combat the ever increasing tide of unrest and violence.
	Joint planning was undertaken in terms of the various structures of the National Management System which functioned of the authority of the State Security Council and which also incorporated the constitutional, economic and Social Affairs Cabinet Committees.  All Government departments were eventually drawn into the National Management System in an all out effort to find solutions to the ever increasing security problem".
Back on page 3, paragraph 8.1:
"Since the ANC/SACP Alliance and other organisations decided to topple the Government by means of violence, the South African police and more specifically the security branch, were actually facing a super human task.  On the one hand they were supposed to maintain law and order according to normal legal principles and on the other hand they were supposed to protect the Government and society against violence and acts of terror in circumstances in which the other party was not bound by any rules"

JUDGE WILSON: Sorry, what page and paragraph?

JOHANNES LODEWIKUS GRIEBENAUW: Page 3 Mr Chairperson, down paragraph 8.1.

CHAIRPERSON: We've gone back to your statement?