Amnesty Hearings — Pretoria — 1996-07-01

JEAN DU PLESSIS: We then executed our first operation in Louis Trichardt at the civilian base camp. White was responsible for all the planning.  He knew the base very well.  He did the reconnaissance and drafted the commands.  We had a lecture before actually executing the operation.  We ran through all the various possibilities and it was I think during August, that we went to Louis Trichardt to try and obtain weapons and equipment, such as two-way radios.  We wanted to go and steal these.

UNKNOWN: Then what happened?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Well, we arrived there.  We reconnoitred the area very briefly and we moved into the area round about midnight.  We moved into the area and across the road there was a small field, and that's where we took up position initially.  We then realised that a caravan was parked on that field, which hadn't been there before.  I was also aware of the fact that the Army had become aware of people tampering with the locks during the previous weekend. I felt that they had possibly established certain precautionary measures and that the caravan could be connected to the police in some way, and I felt that it was dangerous to enter the area.  At that stage, as it was we were in our infancy, I wanted to avoid confrontation as far as possible. We simply couldn't afford it.
	White was very upset about this, he was very familiar with the place, far more so than I, and he felt that despite the caravan, we should still enter the area and I however said no, it was far too dangerous.

UNKNOWN: Did he listen to you?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Well, he had to at that stage, yes.

UNKNOWN: Mr Du Plessis, how were you armed during that operation?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: We were armed with two pistols, as well as an Ak-47 and an R1 rifle, and a Molotov cocktail or petrol bomb.

UNKNOWN: Where did you obtain this AK-47 and the R1?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: White, the R1 was White's commando weapon and apparently White at some stage obtained the AK-47 in Nelspruit, he bought it.

UNKNOWN: Don't you think you were well-enough armed to confront the people at Louis Trichardt, should they attack you?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Please just repeat?

UNKNOWN: Didn't you think you were well-enough armed to defend yourselves in Louis Trichardt?  Why did you have to retreat?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: I felt that any contact, any unnecessary contact with security forces, had to be avoided at all costs. Especially at that stage when we were such a small core group.  I felt that we weren't armed that well and we didn't have enough men to really counter any police action.  I felt as a result of my Army training that we should at least we should at least have had an RPG7 and we should have had another section of men in order to frighten the police in any way.

UNKNOWN: Did you have enough ammunition?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Yes, we had a reasonable amount of ammunition, but not really sufficient.

UNKNOWN: So you retreated there.  What was the next operation?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: We retreated and then we went to Pretoria.  For a while we separated while I was trying to find more funds.  At some stage I had to take the vehicle back and we decided to steal a car.  That was the Golf that has been mentioned already.

UNKNOWN: Just for the record, what was the date of the abortive operation at Louis Trichardt, and on what date was the Golf stolen?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: The Louis Trichardt operation was about August.

UNKNOWN: Which year?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: 1991.  The Golf was stolen on the 20th or the 21st of September.

UNKNOWN: So what did you do with the Golf, did you change its appearance in any way?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Yes, it was a white Golf and I bought a compressor and we sprayed it red and we corrected one dent, where it could easily have been identified.  So we basically changed the appearance of the Golf and the number plates.

UNKNOWN: So you put it in a better condition than it had been when you had stolen it?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Yes.

UNKNOWN: Good, then the next operation that you planned?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: From there we went to Durban. Because I couldn't get hold of any funds and we needed money for the next couple of operations, my plan was to rob a shebeen.  I also a canister of Mace in Durban, because I felt that we could use that to enter and use the Mace to immobilise the people there.

UNKNOWN: Is that a highly irritating gas?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Yes, it was what was referred to yesterday as tear-gas, it is similar.

UNKNOWN: Continue.

JEAN DU PLESSIS: After we had done our reconnaissance, we felt that it was too dangerous and that there were too many people and that possibly people might be injured, innocent people.

UNKNOWN: Mr Van Wyk was a little vague yesterday about the details of the planning that you have just referred to.

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Mr Van Wyk was not part of the plan, he didn't himself participate.

UNKNOWN: Who did the planning?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: I did some of the planning and White did some of the planning. The military operations as such, there White was more of an expert than I was, because of his military background.  Perhaps I could mention that at that time he just completed a captain's course in the Defence Force. So he was really more the military adviser and leader. However, I also participated in some aspects of the planning.

UNKNOWN: Now the planning for the tragic incident at the farm in Louis Trichardt, were you also involved in that?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: Please repeat yourself?

UNKNOWN: The planning of the incident, the modus or the planned robbery, theft at the farm in Louis Trichardt, involving the Roux family, were you involved in that planning?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: When we had returned from Durban, after we again failed in our operation, White said it was of cardinal and crucial importance that we should obtain more weapons. What we contemplated was to break into the Oudsthoorn military base, although we felt it was too dangerous considering the number of weapons we had, and that we also needed more specialised weapons, automatic weapons.  Then White came up with the proposal that he knew where to get hold of an R4 and a ,22. Apparently the ,22 had a telescopic sight and a silencer, and that could be used in subsequent operations.  He said he knew the people who owned it, it could be found at a private residence.

UNKNOWN: Good.  So did you have anything else to do with the planning?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: No, at that stage I felt that so many times I had rejected operations, stopped them after we had begun with them, so I felt that no, I would allow this, although I was not really part of our modus operandi to break into private dwellings. Because our view was that we should involve innocent people as little as possible.  I felt that the police, the security forces, the financial powers could be held responsible for the situation in our country, and that as far as possible we should not involve private individuals.

JUDGE WILSON: Did White say these people were friends of his?

JEAN DU PLESSIS: White did tell me that he knew the people well.

UNKNOWN: Could you tell this Committee what your perception, your feeling was when you realised what had actually happened at that farm?