Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1999-10-18

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: (sworn states)

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.

MR WILLS: Thank you, Mr Chairperson, Members of the Committee.
	Mr Gold, you made an application for amnesty which appears at pages 1 to 6 of the bundle and attached to that you made an affidavit which appears at pages 7 to 20 of the bundle, is that correct?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: That is correct, Sir.

MR WILLS: Do you confirm the contents of those two documents?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: I do, Mr Chairman.

MR WILLS: Mr Gold, you confirm further that you are withdrawing your applications in respect of those items which appear at 4.3 and 4.4 of the bundle, i.e. the kidnapping of an ANC operation, or the attempted kidnapping of an ANC operative in Swaziland and the crossing from Swaziland into South Africa without going through a border post.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: I do, Mr Chairman.

MR WILLS: Thank you.  Mr Gold, you've had a fairly long career in the Security Branch of the SAPS, up to the point of this incident that you are applying for amnesty, i.e. in 1980, is that correct?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: That's correct, Mr Chairman.

MR WILLS: Can you briefly explain or briefly tell the Committee what your career was involved in.  I know it's quite well documented, but just briefly run through it for the benefit of the victims.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Mr Chairman, after being recruited into the Security Branch, end of January 1972, I went on course -sorry, November 1972, I went on a course, basic Security Branch course.  I was then transferred to Pietermaritzburg Security Branch.
	My duties here included, my first duties included undercover intelligence gathering to do with academics and students on the campus of the University of Pietermaritzburg.
	Towards the middle of 1973 I was transferred to do field work among white suspects, including students, as well as assisting in intelligence gathering operations along the Swaziland and Mozambique borders with Natal.  	
	In 1974 I was assigned to the Howick/Bulwer, basically the southern Drakensburg area and the Natal Midlands area, where I continued with tasks related to intelligence gathering and keeping eyes on suspects and other security matters.  These duties included stints along our eastern border with Lesotho.

MR WILLS: Mr Gold, to cut a long story short, this appears in your affidavit, but I want you to concentrate on paragraph 21 on page 12, and you confirm that during that period of involvement with the Security Police, you were a loyal and dedicated member trying to do the job to the best of your abilities.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Yes, Sir.

MR WILLS: Your motivation in what you did was that you were operating against the ANC and its communist influence and you felt that that was the right thing to do.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: That is correct, Mr Chairman.

MR WILLS: Now I want to turn specifically to the incident in respect of which you're applying for amnesty, and that appears at page 15 of the bundle.  This is the murder, your involvement in the murder and defeating the ends of justice in respect of the demise of Mr Madondo, the deceased in this matter.  Do you know exactly, or did you know at that time the identity of the person whose body you destroyed?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Not at all, Mr Chairman.  The only time I heard a name mentioned was a week or two ago when I saw this bundle for the first time.  Up until that time I had no idea.

MR WILLS: Now you have been shown the photographs that appear on the bundle, at the end of the bundle from pages 140, can you recognise this person from those photographs?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Mr Chairman, I can neither confirm nor deny the identity of this person.  I wish I could.

MR WILLS: Yes.  You also are adamant that to the best of your recollection the incident occurred during April 1980.  Can you indicate to the Committee why you are sure that this was the date the incident occurred?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Mr Chairman, I can't recollect why exactly, but the 1st of April sticks in my mind.  I remember thinking at the time the irony of it all.

MR WILLS: Mr Gold, you indicated that you indicated to Mr van Zyl that you were available to do work, this combating and elimination of ANC guerrillas, that you were prepared to get involved in this type of work.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Well, Mr Chairman, one must just remember that that was the nature of the work of the Security Branch per se.  We worked according to strict compartmentation, one hand didn't really know what the other one was doing.  I mean that's in accordance with the strict rules of intelligence.  And from time to time you happened to pick up things, you happened to hear innuendoes or whatever and through the grapevine and through the odd little slip, whether it be at teatime or at social gatherings or sometimes in meetings, you would glean or gather that there was something extra going on and I did let it be known, through innuendo as well, that I would be available for such things, not knowing what they were, I would be available.

MR WILLS: Now your relationship with Apt van Zyl, his indicated in his evidence that it was a good relationship and you trusted him implicitly.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Oh yes.

MR WILLS: Now when he called you to perform this operation, what was your attitude and how did you view this communication between him and yourself?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Well I realised that he was in need of help related to the type of innuendo message that I sent him and I realised that this was something of this nature that was about to happen.  And him being as highly respected an officer as he was at the time, I had no hesitation in assisting him or agreeing to help him.

MR WILLS: And what did you think the purpose of this operation was in terms of the sort of bigger picture as regards the position of the Security Police and the politics in the country generally at that time?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: Well I had no doubt that this was involving what we used to term terrorists and that here was a chance to get into action against the same terrorists, as we knew them at that time, and that obviously there was going to be some kind of ambush or other.  That's how I saw it.  Or some kind of operation where people would be arrested.

MR WILLS: Now your involvement in this commenced with a telephone call which it's common cause, that Mr van Zyl called you and asked for your assistance.  Can you relate to the Committee what you recall about the contents or what was discussed on the telephone at that particular point in time.

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: No, Mr Chairman, I don't think we should be restricted to one telephone call, it might have been more, but all I remember was that I was asked to report - I thought it was in Mbazwaan, I still think it was, but I was asked to report to Mbazwaan, with some explosives and that there was a job that required my expertise as a bomb disposal specialist, or as an explosives man.

MR WILLS: You say you cannot recall, and I'm referring to paragraph 34 on page 16, you cannot recall as to whether or not you were told at that stage that your expertise were going to be used for the purposes of blowing up a body, is that correct?

DONALD SPENCER GOLD: No, I cannot recall that exactly, but I may have surmised it, yes.

MR WILLS: Now before I forget, there is an issue regarding who brought the main charge of the explosives.  You've said in your affidavit that you didn't bring all of the explosives to the scene, can you ...(intervention)