Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 2000-03-16

ABRAM VAN ZYL: (s.u.o.)
My project name was Goldie and the projects which I undertook would be registered under that name.  Our Region 6 also had a project name, "Choice".  The administrative procedures which were prescribed were explained to us during the course and basically it agrees with the procedures as described by Brig Veil.  We were also informed that Region 6 would be the only region that would be active internally, but we were not informed whether we would be the only cell in Region 6 and whether there would be other cells active in the same region.  We were informed that the cells should not be aware of each others' activities.  	During the course, we were also informed how the presentation and approval of the projects would happen.  An aware member would gather information from which a project could be given to him and in which who or what the target would be would be mentioned and full particulars would be given along with motivation.  This is called a pre-study.  Unaware members who were used during these projects, their names would also be mentioned with the part that such a member would have in such a project.  A budget would then be approximated for the proposed project and this would be part of the presentation.  The aware member who had to motivate the project, would sign it and this would then be handed over to the co-ordinator, who would give it to the Regional Manager.  If the Regional Manager approved it, he would sign the pre-study and he would give it to the Managing Director with his proposals.  If the project is approved, a so-called in-house would be held by the Regional Manager and the Managing Director with the member.  During such an in-house, an oral presentation would be made by the co-ordinator to the Managing Director in the presence of the member, the Co-ordinator, the Regional Manager and the Managing Director.  A discussion would then take place after which the in-house would be placed in writing and approved by the Managing Director and he would then present it to the Chairperson of the CCB.  This presentation is known as the second in-house, which is held when the Managing Director, the Co-ordinator and the Chairperson are present.  The Chairperson can approve or reject the project.  All projects had to be approved by the Chairperson.
		The concept red plan and blue plan was explained to us during the course.  The red plan entailed those activities of the members that would be aimed at the promotion of the aims of the CCB.  The blue plan entailed a private profession or business enterprise that every one of us had to manage and that would be a front and would also be a security arrangement.  The arrangement was that gains by such a private enterprise, would go to the specific member.  
		The first blue plan that we had was Matthysen Bus Transport.  My monthly salary was received by me in cash and then I would give the cash to Matthysen.  The necessary income tax was gathered and a company cheque in the name of Matthysen Bus Transport was given to me.  From May 1988 to the end of March 1989, I received my salary monthly by these means.  During May 1988 an amount of R30 000 was given to Matthysen and he bought the vehicle with which I would do my work for the CCB, namely a BMW 318i.  The registration certificates relating to the vehicle were in my own name, but I signed a blank change of ownership right, as a precaution for when I would leave the organisation.  I could use my vehicle for the blue plan and also the red plan and I could also use it for private means.  I kept a monthly travel book.  
		In 1988 I bought a pager which was supposed to be used for the red plans.  I rented this pager for a time of 1 year at the cost of about R1 200 per year and the money was paid by the CCB.  The aim of the pager basically so that unaware members could be contacted.  I also want to mention that Matthysen had no knowledge of any of our projects or activities as far as I know.
		At a stage, the Managing Director gave instructions that we had to get our own fronts and that everyone should not work with Matthysen Bus Transport anymore.  On the 1st of March or the 1st of April 1989, I left Matthysen and I started my own business enterprise.  The CCB, amongst others, paid for the rent of my offices and other secretarial services.  My blue plan business enterprise was very successful.  Later on I got someone else in the business but his expenses and his salary were carried by the enterprise itself.  I also want to mention that my partner was not connected to the CCB although he was informed of this after I left the CCB, as I will describe underneath here.  
		The other members of the cell also started blue plans which were approved, after the blue plans had been presented to the CCB's Managing Director, and I am aware of it that the blue plans were supported financially.  
		I started acting actively in the CCB organisation from the 1st of January 1989.  I was informed that the approval that we could now become active, came from the Chairperson of the CCB, Gen Joubert.  I was informed that the Cape Province was allocated to me as the region that I would be responsible for.  
		In 1988 I had already visited Cape Town to recruit an unaware member that I could use.  I informed my brother telephonically that I was looking for a person with contacts in the criminal world, who was a criminal himself and who could be an informer for theft at Matthysen Bus Transport.  I did not inform my brother about my involvement with the CCB and he told me that he would be looking for a suitable person.  Later he introduced me to a person by the name of Peaches and I introduced myself as Tinus to Peaches.  I told Peaches that I wanted to meet him regarding business interests and we arranged a meeting, to meet each other at the Golden Acre in Cape Town.  I went to a hotel in Cape Town where I met Peaches and where I introduced him to the Regional Manager.  The Regional Manager had an interview with Peaches and Peaches was informed that we were working for a group of businessmen from overseas and that we were trying to protect the group's business interests in South Africa.  Peaches shouldn't know that we were working for the State or the CCB.  Peaches was asked if he had any contacts within the ANC or UDF and other radical organisations.  He answered that he knew quite a lot of people.  He was informed that our organisation - that we were interested in the organisation because their actions against the Government were putting the investments of the people that we were working for in danger and that he would be remunerated for the work that he was doing for us.  Peaches agreed to work for us and then we gave Peaches R200 in cash.  I told Peaches that I would contact him telephonically and he left the hotel room.  Myself and the Regional Manager went to Johannesburg the next day by plane.
		In Johannesburg I put the details of Peaches in writing and I signed the report with the Regional Manager and this was handed over to the Co-ordinator.  The report contained full details of Peaches and I am of the opinion that the report was aimed at the Managing Director and that it would be in the file "Goldie".  Peaches was an unaware member of the CCB, in other words, and about two weeks later I contacted Peaches from Jo'burg and he wanted to know from me if I was not a member of the Security Police.  I denied this and I assumed that he believed me.  I further told him that I would see him early in January in 1989 in the Cape.
		In January 1989 I went by plane to the Cape in order to check Peaches' reliability, on instructions of the Regional Manager and also the Co-ordinator.  In the Cape I contacted Peaches at a restaurant where we ate a meal and where I gave him a package that I sealed, with the instructions that he would have to go and deliver it at a cafe.  I told him that there was a firearm in the packet which he should not open under any circumstances.  Inside the packet, which consisted of a cardboard box, there were only two rocks.  The instructions were that Peaches had to deliver the packet the next morning at 10HOO.  Arrangements were made at the cafe that the packet would be received and that it would be taken and the next day at about 10HOO in the morning I went to the cafe, where Kalla Botha, who was with me in the Cape, went to fetch the packet.  Botha gave me the packet and I was satisfied that Peaches had executed his instructions.  I gave Peaches an amount of R200 for delivering the packet.  I also informed him that I would contact him later and myself and Botha went back to Jo'burg the same day, or the next day.  
		A report concerning the project was made to the Managing Director in writing and the Co-ordinator also sent it through according to the prescribed manner.  
		From time to time I did contact Peaches and he contacted me.  He used the pager that I kept with me.  He used the pager that I had with me and he knew me as Tinus de Wet.  
		Early in February I received the names and addresses of six persons from the Co-ordinator and also the Regional Manager.  My instructions were to confirm the particulars of these people who allegedly were members of Swapo.  The names and addresses I cannot remember, but it was in the Cape.  
		My application for an amount of money I handed in and also the instruction that I received and in February 1989 I went to the Cape by plane where I met Peaches.  I gave Peaches the particulars of the people with the instructions that he would have to check and confirm these particulars.  It was still in February 1989 when Peaches contacted me on my pager and informed me that he had found one of the six persons and that he gave me particulars regarding an address in Athlone.  I gave the particulars, or reported the particulars to the Co-ordinator.  
		At the end of February or the beginning of March 1989, I went down to the Cape again where I met Peaches in order to discuss the particulars of the above mentioned persons.  He also mentioned to me that he had recruited two other people who would then be working for me.  I received the particulars of the Swapo member orally from Peaches who then told me that the Swapo member had a microbus with which he daily transported ANC and UDF members to a terrorist hearing that was taking place in the Cape.  He gave the particulars of the microbus and also the address where the bus would be parked.  I also received the particulars of the two people that would now be working for me from Peaches, namely the particulars of two coloured men, Ismail and Isgak, also known as Gakkie.  The same day I met the two people at the hotel and I presented myself to them as Tinus de Wet with the same version that I gave to Peaches.  They indicated that they would work with me and I undertook to contact them again.  I also gave them the number of my pager and I requested them to infiltrate banned organisations like the ANC and the UDF.  I gave them each R200.  
		That evening I went back by plane to Jo'burg and I gave all the particulars concerning the member of Swapo and also the two members in writing to the Co-ordinator.  The Co-ordinator gave me instructions about a week later to do a pre-study for a project and to hand it in, so that the involved microbus could be burned out.  I did organise such a project and I gave it to the Co-ordinator, who then presented it to the Regional Manager.  The proposal was that the microbus would be burned out by Ismail at the address where it would be parked in Athlone in the evenings.  An in-house was then held and later I received approval for the project and also the cash amount of about R1 500 which would be paid to Ismail after the execution of the project.  
		During the first two weeks of March 1989, I went to the Cape where I met Ismail and I informed him of what he had to do.  I gave Ismail particulars of the microbus and also the place.  The instruction was that he would have to burn the microbus in the evening and that he would then meet me the next day when the instructions had been executed.  The next morning at the hotel where I was staying, he came to speak to me and he informed me that the bus had been burned out.  I wanted to ensure that he was telling the truth and I phoned Peaches who confirmed this fact.  After I was satisfied, upon his confirmation that the bus had been burned out, I gave R1 500 in cash to Ismail and the same day I flew back to Jo'burg, where I gave a report in the normal fashion.  I never again made use of Ismail after this incident.  I also have to mention that I determined later that the bus was never burned out because such a bus did not exist.
		A budget was handed in for the monthly salary of Peaches and a decision was made that he would receive R1 480 per month and upon two occasions, I paid this amount into his account and also on a third occasion where I handed it over to him.  This was during March 1989 and I became of the opinion that the quality of Peaches' work was not satisfactory and a decision was made that he would only be remunerated for work that he did and that the monthly payments would not happen anymore.  I discussed this with the Regional Manager.  	At a stage I, as a result of an instruction from the Regional Manager, requested Peaches to gain information in respect of prominent radical figures in the Western Cape.  Peaches gave me particulars about Adv Omar at the end of March 1989.  This information, amongst others, entailed that he was the Regional Secretary of the UDF in the Western Cape and that he was also associated with the Executive Management of various other banned organisations, but I cannot remember the names of those organisations at the moment.  I was also informed that these organisations were fronts for the organising of unrest and violence in order to usurp the Government.  The information that I got hold of was then handed over to the Co-ordinator in writing and a few days later, in a flat, the Co-ordinator confirmed this information with me and he gave me instructions to do a pre-study in order to eliminate Omar.  Later I received instructions from the Co-ordinator to register a project in this regard.  	A week later I went to the Cape by plane where I met Peaches and then I told him that he would have to present a plan to eliminate Omar.  Peaches suggested that he gets hold of two people so that they can shoot Omar in his house, that they could kill him in such a way and he also gave me the necessary particulars and I returned to Jo'burg where I then presented the project.  It was signed and it was presented to the Co-ordinator.  The Regional Manager signed the report and it was sent through to the Managing Director.  A week later I was informed by the Regional Manager that I would have to attend an in-house regarding this matter.  This in-house was held in the Rosebank Hotel, in a room where myself, the Co-ordinator, the Regional Manager and also the Managing Director discussed the matter and it was decided that Omar would be shot at his house with a Makarov pistol.  The weapon had to have a silencer so that attention would not be drawn to it.  Two unaware members that Peaches would recruit and who were unknown to me, would commit the deed.  Peaches would remunerate the two people and he would receive a total amount of R15 000 form which he then would have to remunerate the two people.  The CCB would give me a weapon and a silencer with a magazine and seven rounds.  The Managing Director approved the project and he said that he would motivate it to the Chairperson.  
		A few days later I was notified by the Regional Manager that the project as presented was approved and that he would give me the weapon.  A day or so later, I met the Regional Manager at his house where he gave me a Makarov pistol with a silencer and a full magazine.  This was in a blue plastic bag.  He took out the pistol and he showed me how it worked and I kept the pistol in my baggage.  
		I went to the Cape by motor car and I gave Peaches the weapon in the blue plastic bag in a briefcase.  He told me that he knew how the weapon worked and I told Peaches that he would receive R15 000 and the next day I went to Jo'burg.  
		I received no rewards for this project or any other project, apart from my salary.  In Johannesburg I orally told the Regional Manager about the progress of the project.  Three days afterwards I was informed by Peaches, after he paged me, that he had found two people to do the work and that the two people would each receive R2 500 beforehand and that they wanted this amount of money.  The Regional Manager then gave me instructions to fill in an application for an amount of R15 000 and I then handed it in with the Co-ordinator.  Shortly afterwards I received the amount in cash from the Co-ordinator and I paid it into the bank account of Peaches in Jo'burg, in other words R5 000 of this money.  The R10 000 that remained I put in the safe in my house.  
		Peaches would contact me by pager with the message:  "The sun is shining", if the project had been executed.  The project dragged on for four to five months and Peaches made no progress with the project.  Upon this I asked Ferdi Barnard to monitor Omar during July, August and September 1989.  I just want to add that my distrust around Peaches was discussed with the Regional Manager on more than one occasion.  
		Ferdi Barnard went to the Cape during July 1989.  If I can remember correctly, that was for the first time and he met me there in a hotel.  I informed Barnard regarding the approved project, that had to do with Omar.  I mentioned to him that I was worried about the reliability of Peaches.  I gave Peaches's particulars to Barnard and I also introduced Peaches to Ferdi Barnard.  Later I was informed by Barnard that Omar arrived home at different times and that people would normally arrive at home with him.  The problems surrounding the project, I reported to the Regional Manager and we decided to continue with the project.  At this stage a lot of pressure was put on me that the Omar project had to progress and I went back to Jo'burg where, at about the middle of August 1989, I decided that Barnard would once again have to be sent down to Cape Town in order to go and monitor Omar again.  In the meantime, during the cell meeting in August 1989 with the Regional Manager, the Co-ordinator, Botha and Maree who were present in a hotel room close to Sandton, instructions were given by the Regional Manager that myself, the Regional Manager and Maree had to go to the Cape to hang a foetus of an ape in a jam bottle in Desmond Tutu's place.  We were informed that this instruction came from the Chairperson.  Maree could not accompany us.  Myself and the Regional Manager would then go on our own.  
		I received an amount in order to cover the expenses and I went to the Cape by plane on my own.  The foetus in the bottle had already been received by me from the Regional Manager and it was in my baggage.  Barnard was in an hotel in the Cape regarding the Omar project and I was informed that the Regional Manager would later come down to the Cape.  In the meantime I told Barnard of the new instructions and I also showed him the foetus.  
		The morning, just after midnight, Peaches met us at an hotel and I told him to go to Bishop's Court, or to drive to Bishop's Court.  Barnard accompanied me and the project was executed in the following way, upon guidelines that we received from the Regional Manager.  There were eight long nails that would be doctored by a witch doctor that during the hanging up of the foetus on both sides of the driveway, would have to be hammered into the ground.  The nails, along with the orders of the Regional Manager, were received.  There was an unknown coloured man accompanying Peaches who drove the vehicle.  
		At Bishop's Court myself, Peaches and Barnard went over the fence of the plot and then I hung the foetus of the ape as described from one of the branches of a tree while Barnard knocked in the nails on both sides of his driveway.  The nails were knocked in with the sharp side downwards.  We went back to the hotel where I gave Peaches R200 plus petrol money.  The next morning I reported back to the Regional Manager that the project had been finished.  Because the Omar project was still continuing, Barnard would stay in the Cape and the following day I went back to Jo'burg by plane.  
		After a few days Barnard returned to Jo'burg without the Omar project having been executed.  I received information that Omar had a heart attack and that he was at home and this apparently jeopardised the project.  Barnard proposed that the project regarding Omar had to be postponed for a few weeks.  According to instructions from the Regional Manager, I contacted Peaches and I asked him if he could get hold of Omar's heart pills and he told me that he would try and get hold of them.  The issue of the pills was discussed with the Regional Manager in the presence of the Co-ordinator, Nick Botha and Chappie Maree, by me.  There was another person who was present there whose name I cannot remember, but who was previously in the Medical Regiment of the Defence Force.  He was responsible for the logistical support, in other words, he would help with the pills.  
		I did mention that an attempt would be made to get hold of a pill of Omar's and I was told by the Regional Manager to give the pill to the unknown person who was present.  He said that they would make a similar pill that would look exactly like the pill that was given to him and that Omar, after he had taken it, would then die of a heart attack.  The Regional Manager said that he would have to discuss the matter via the Managing Director with the Chairperson, seeing as there had already been an approved project concerning Omar.  I then received an order from the Regional Manager to continue with the project and to try and get hold of the pill.  
		Shortly afterwards, during August 1989, I received two small white tablets from Peaches.  I was informed that these were the pills that Omar drank for his heart and during the cell meeting I handed the pills in an hotel room to the person who was involved with the Medical Regiment.  I cannot remember who was present at this meeting.  
		At the beginning of August 1989 I sent Isgak to South West Africa in accordance with an order from the Regional Manager, to ascertain details of about four vehicles with South West African registration plates.  These numbers I received from the Regional Manager and I gave them to Isgak.  I was told to give Isgak orders to get the particulars of these buses, in other words where these buses were parked and to monitor the movement of these buses.  He returned from South West Africa and he gave me the particulars that I then gave to the Regional Manager.  I understood that some of these buses were registered in the name of the South African Council of Churches.  The particulars were handed over to the Co-ordinator by means of a report and Isgak went back to the Cape. 
		At the end of August 1989, approximately the 25th, I received an order from the Regional Manager that Isgak would have to go to South West Africa again and the particulars of one of the microbuses was given to me by the Regional Manager and I gave it to Isgak.  The order was that he would have to go to Windhoek and that he would then receive the order there from the Regional Manager, through me.  I remember that it dealt with one of the buses that Isgak would have to damage in Windhoek.  It was not my project.  Money was given to Isgak for his travel and also his accommodation costs.  Isgak went to South West Africa by plane but the next day I was informed by the Regional Manager that all projects in South West Africa were stopped and that Isgak would immediately have to come back.  Two days afterwards he went back to Jo'burg, as I instructed him to do.
		In the meantime I had gathered information over a period of time of about one month, amongst others, by means of Isgak, in relation to the violent disruptions of the September elections in the Cape, especially the coloured elections.  The information was in relation to a hall which was known as the Early Learning Centre in Athlone which was used by prominent UDF and ANC activists.  Secret meetings were held there where deeds of sabotage and terror were discussed and planned against the State.  It appeared that the UDF and ANC activists who, according to emergency regulations, who were under emergency regulation limits, were now under a new organisation by the name of the Kewtown Youth Movement. 
		The aims of this organisation were to try and usurp the coming elections and to disrupt the coming elections that would be held on the 6th of September 1989 in South Africa and my information was that the organisation was responsible for, or helped with the planning of several school boycotts and also deeds of terror which included explosions.  My information was that the organisation was responsible or helped with the bomb explosions in Athlone Magistrates Court, which happened right next to the police station and also the Athlone Post Office.  With the limpet mine explosions in the Magistrates Court in Athlone, two people who were purportedly there to set the mine, had died.  The two people were, according to my information, members of the above-mentioned organisation.  The Post Office that was damaged in the explosion was an election venue for the elections in 1989.  
		I also received other information, including documentation, which indicated that the persons who died in the explosions and other persons related to the organisation, were involved with the bomb explosions and that further bomb explosions were planned up to and including the 6th of September 1989 in the Cape.  The apparent reason for the bomb explosions was the intimidation of people, in order to intimidate them so that they would not take part in the election that was also meant for the coloured people.  Amongst others, I was in possession of a letter that the same organisation had written to one of the candidates in that election, Mr Alex Anthony, in which he was warned that he should not take part in the racist elections.  All these facts were, on about the 10th of August, presented to the Co-ordinator during the pre-study, in written form, where the in-house was organised on about the 25th of August by the Regional Manager.  
		As a result of information that I presented, the destruction of the hall that is known as the Early Learning Centre, was identified as a project and I proposed that it be done by the placing and activating of a limpet mine.  I actually - I did not want to use only the limpet mine because that would possibly lead to the loss of life and that is why I proposed that the limpet mine would have to have a detonation mechanism.  The motivation for this project was to disrupt the members of the organisation or the people responsible for the bomb explosion in the Cape area and to give them a fright so that they would not continue with their violent campaign.  The organisation had to be disrupted so that the planned violent campaign against the election and also the Government, could not continue.  The aim was to prevent further deeds of terror and also possible loss of life in the Cape.  
		During the in-house all the documentation that I have just referred to and also the information was made available to the Managing Director.  I asked that a remote control limpet mine be given to me through the CCB for the execution of this project.  The limpet mine would be given to Isgak, who would then place it in the hall and he would then activate the limpet mine, although I would help him if problems occurred.  Isgak, at that stage, in principle, had already agreed to help with the placing of the limpet mine in the hall.  R30 000, via the Regional Manager, would be asked for for this project and the explosion was planned for the 31st of August 1989, during the evening.  
		On Wednesday 30 August 1989, I was requested by the Regional Manager to go to Protea Gardens Hotel in Berea, Johannesburg.  There I met the Regional Manager, Nick and the person attached to the Medical Regiment in a room.  The Regional Manager then informed me that the project of the Early Learning Centre had been approved and that the Managing Director had indicated that if one more bomb should be activated by the Kewtown Youth Movement, he would regard it as my fault.  The Regional Manager informed me that a co-ordinator was on his way with a limpet mine and approximately three quarter's of an hour later, the co-ordinator arrived at the hotel with the limpet mine in a cardboard box.  He showed the limpet mine with the remote control to me and demonstrated the function of it.  
		The limpet mine was a large grey Russian manufactured limpet mine, while the detonating mechanism was a pocket calculator with an aerial.  The calculator would detonate the bomb by pressing the minus button on the calculator.  I had never worked with any explosives before that and I was concerned that there would be loss of life because I was not an explosives expert.  I then requested the Regional Manager and Co-ordinator for assistance and proposed that Botha go with me to the Cape so that he could handle the bomb because he had knowledge of explosives.  The Regional Manager then said yes and he paged Botha."