Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 2000-09-27

MR P DU PLESSIS: Perhaps we could deal with this briefly.  So with regard to Aitchison, if we understand your evidence correctly, it was not a short term thing?

LEON A MAREE: No, I was instructed to place Aitchison in Namibia and there was also a plan for him to be a so-called English sleeper because Namibia was on the verge of its reawakening at that stage.

MR P DU PLESSIS: If I recall correctly, the election took place approximately during August in 1989.

LEON A MAREE: Yes, that is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Was funding made available by the CCB as well?

LEON A MAREE: Yes.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And you said that he had to take his family there, did he have a family?

LEON A MAREE: I don't know if it was his wife, I think he also had two children.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And the lady who was going with him?

LEON A MAREE: Yes, so originally there was a problem, he would have had to wait a month because the school times for the children were not suitable and I had to get quotes for his family, the Defence Force wanted three quotes for the transportation of his furniture to Namibia.

MR P DU PLESSIS: So he was established in Namibia at that point, but his family was yet to follow?

LEON A MAREE: Yes.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And the arrangements for this were underway?

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And he agreed to go and stay there?

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And at that point, was there any particular instruction which Mr Aitchison had to execute there that you knew of?

LEON A MAREE: Yes, he had to try and get a job, but I also told him that the job wasn't the most important, because we would be paying him a salary while he was there.

MR P DU PLESSIS: So he was already receiving funding?

LEON A MAREE: Yes and there was also a problem with housing because in Windhoek there wasn't a lot of housing because UNTAG was in Windhoek at that stage, so all the housing was occupied, but he did find a garden cottage with somebody.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And that was also another reason why his wife and family couldn't join him, because the housing situation hadn't been sorted out yet.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And he did get a job.  Did you find the job for him, or did he find it himself?

LEON A MAREE: No, he found it himself.  He was a journalist and a cartoon sketcher so he managed to get the job himself.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Did you have any instructions for him with regard to illegal activities that he had to execute there with regard to the political situation and the intimidation or murder of persons?

LEON A MAREE: No, nothing whatsoever.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Did you yourself have such orders which you would ultimately have to send through to him?

LEON A MAREE: No, not at all.

MR P DU PLESSIS: If I understand you correctly, your instruction was merely to establish him there for later usage.

LEON A MAREE: Yes.  I did not recruit him either, I was simply given a document and I was told to go and meet this man and to establish him in Namibia, that is all.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Very well.  We are now aware of the fact that at a certain point Adv Anton Lubowski was murdered in Namibia, the date being the 12th of September.

LEON A MAREE: Correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Where were you on the 12th of September?

LEON A MAREE: In Johannesburg.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Had you visited Namibia at any point during that time?

LEON A MAREE: I was in and out of Namibia.  Four days before Mr Lubowski's death I was in Namibia.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Did you have anything whatsoever to do with the death of Lubowski?

LEON A MAREE: No.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Did you have any knowledge that it was going to happen?

LEON A MAREE: No.

MR P DU PLESSIS: We will deal with the following matter at a later point.  By nature of the situation it became known to you that Mr Aitchison was indeed arrested.

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Now with regard to his recruitment by a certain Knox police officer who introduced him to Mr Barnard who was then handed over to Mr Botha and brought in to the CCB, did you have any knowledge of that background?

LEON A MAREE: No.

MR P DU PLESSIS: You said that you regarded him as an unconscious member.

LEON A MAREE: Yes.

MR P DU PLESSIS: It would appear from the evidence that he was conscious.

LEON A MAREE: Yes.

MR P DU PLESSIS: If this whole situation had been known to you, would you have placed your man there?

LEON A MAREE: It was my order.  If I had known, in retrospect it is easier to say, but I think I might have acted differently.

MR P DU PLESSIS: It is clear that there was no particular cut-off date or point with Mr Aitchison.

LEON A MAREE: Yes, from my side I followed it through as such.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Someone else other than Mr Botha who received him from Mr Barnard.

LEON A MAREE: Yes.

MR P DU PLESSIS: While we are on the subject, were you at any stage aware of Mr Barnard's application?

LEON A MAREE: No.

MR P DU PLESSIS: You or any other members?

LEON A MAREE: No, not at all.

MR P DU PLESSIS: I beg your pardon?

LEON A MAREE: I knew Mr Barnard from the police, but I didn't know about anything else.

MR P DU PLESSIS: So you knew him?

LEON A MAREE: Yes, I knew him.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Were you aware of his involvement with the CCB?

LEON A MAREE: No.

MR P DU PLESSIS: With Region 7 specifically?

LEON A MAREE: No, not at all.

MR P DU PLESSIS: In terms of the structure as it existed then, would Mr Barnard's application - let me rather not deal with that.  You have stated that you were not aware of his application.

LEON A MAREE: Yes, that is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: After it became known that Aitchison was arrested, what were the actions thereafter or the reaction at the very least?

LEON A MAREE: I was called in and told to break off all contact with Aitchison, which is what I did.

MR P DU PLESSIS: So regarding you, ...

LEON A MAREE: My cut-off points were correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: After Aitchison's arrest, did you continue with your CCB activities in the sense of the proposed establishment in Germany?

LEON A MAREE: Yes.

MR P DU PLESSIS: So it was not suspended?

LEON A MAREE: No.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And did you return to Germany?

LEON A MAREE: Yes, I did, in December of that year.

MR P DU PLESSIS: December 1989?

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: So were further funds made available for you in that regard?

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: The trip to Germany at that point, was it still with the objective that you were supposed to establish yourself there?

LEON A MAREE: Yes.  Me and my partner from Lema went together.  He was not aware of what I was involved with, but I took him with to Germany.  The Defence Force paid for it.  We went to make acquisitions and while we were there, we dealt with the other business that he was indeed aware of, that we were looking for contact points and persons in Germany.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And while you were in Germany, were there any developments in South Africa with regard to the CCB?

LEON A MAREE: Yes, there were.

MR P DU PLESSIS: I'm referring to the arrest of Calla Botha in December.

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Also the arrest of Mr Slang van Zyl in January, just the following year, 1990.

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: Which then threw the entire CCB into turmoil.

LEON A MAREE: That is correct.

MR P DU PLESSIS: And what emanated from that?  Did you receive any orders from that?