Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-11-17

CHAIRPERSON: Right, should we go through the normal formality of asking the representatives to place themselves on record.

MR BOOYENS: May it please the Commission, Mr Chairman, J A Booyens instructed by van der Merwe and Bester on behalf of the first applicant, Mr Bellingan.

MR WILLIAMS: Mr Chairman, members of the Committee, I am Mr P Williams of the firm E Moosa, Wagley, Petersen, appearing on behalf of the second applicant, Mr Mbelo.

MR HUGO: My surname is Hugo, I represent Mr Eugene de Kock.  He is only in his capacity as a witness.

MR WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr Chairperson, members of the Commission, I am Brent Williams, I am from the firm Y Ebrahim and Company Incorporated and I act on behalf of the families of the victims in this matter.

MS PATEL: Thank you Mr Chairman.  It is Ramala Patel, leader of evidence for the Amnesty Committee.  Thank you.

CHAIRPERSON: Right, can we now start with the applications of Bellingan and Mbelo?

MR BOOYENS: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Just before I start there, just one aspect and I can assure you I do, I am not going to delay matters as a result thereof.  I have just been handed a copy of the affidavit of Mr de Kock.  We have not had time to go through it, so at the conclusion of my evidence in chief of Mr Bellingan I will just ask for an adjournment to enable me to go through that quickly.
	I, another aspect of, on which there is certain uncertainty is in the papers at page 387 to 397 appears what purports to be a document by one Frank Mbane.  That, however, at least in the copy I have got, is just what I have been described as purporting to be an affidavit, but it has not been signed by anybody, it is not, it is a piece of paper.  So, I do not know what status, if there is an original that has been signed by anybody, otherwise I have got problems with what status, if anything, this document has got.

MS PATEL: If I may respond, Adv Booyens, to the first point, Mr de Kock's submissions were handed in late on, we received them late on Friday from his attorneys, they were couriered to us, and that is the reason that they were only made available this morning.  Unfortunately, Adv Booyens, the copy you received, did not receive, did not have the full application, I apologise for that.
	Secondly, regarding the statement that is in the bundle, there is a signed copy, it is merely a statement, not an affidavit.  The rest of the statement relates to other incidents not relevant to this matter and that is the reason for only that particular portion having been included in the bundle.  If that satisfies my learned colleague.

MR BOOYENS: I am indebted to my learned friend, Mr Chairman.  Mr Chairman, ... (intervention).

CHAIRPERSON: Before you continue, can I deal with one matter.  I have just been given a note which points out that I should have introduced the Committee members.  Adv Motata, Mrs Khampepe, Judge Miller and myself, Andrew Wilson.

MR BOOYENS: Thank you Mr Chairman, I call Mr Bellingan.  He will speak in Afrikaans.
EXAMINATION BY MR BOOYENS

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: (Duly sworn in, states).

MR BOOYENS: Please sit down.  Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr Bellingan, your application is in front of you which is related to an incident in Guguletu.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, that is correct, Mr Chairman.

MR BOOYENS: If you look on page 128 in the document, that was a written statement by you, you are not going to refer to that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: From page eight up to page 24, you refer to your background, your history in the police, your experience there, your history at Vlakplaas and that type of information.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: Do you want to add anything to that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Not at this stage.

MR BOOYENS: Possibly only on page 21, you refer to other incidents which is the subject of other applications.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.

MR BOOYENS: You referred to annexures to your application, that is in essence, documents to provide background information, it is broad, general information.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.

MR BOOYENS: If we come to page 25, - M'Lord, I have reached agreement with my learned friends that I am going to lead the witness in order to expedite matters as far as possible and that if we get to a controversial point, I will let him speak on his own, but if they are, if they feel I am leading on something which, in their view, might be controversial, they just, they will just give an indication.
	Page 25, in January 1986 you were stationed at C1 Unit, Vlakplaas and early in January or February of 1986, Colonel de Kock, who was the Commanding Officer of Vlakplaas at that stage, told you that you should come to Cape Town and you set that out in paragraphs two, three, four and five.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, it is.

MR BOOYENS: The issue you mention on page 26 regarding the two AK47's and the Tokarev Pistol and the purpose of those.  Now, what further instructions did you give them regarding these weapons?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I brought these weapons from Pretoria, as it was mentioned in the previous paragraph, and the purpose of these weapons was to prove a legend and to build up a legend round the network of the ANC freedom fighters, which had to be infiltrated.  So, the weapons were not to kill people, it was simply to establish a legend.

MR BOOYENS: Did they have to keep the weapons in their possession or did they have to hand it to the people?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: They had to keep it in their possession and they had to keep control of those weapons.

MR BOOYENS: You then drew these weapons from Brigadier Schoon?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Correct.

MR BOOYENS: And also the Volkswagen Panel Van with the false panels?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: Paragraph seven, you there mention the people involved, as far as you can remember, people who came down to Cape Town.  Were those the only ones?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: There could perhaps be another name added there.  I think Sergeant Nobelo or Constable Nobelo was also in this group, he might have been present.  He was a South African Police member, he was not an askari.

MR BOOYENS: Paragraph eight, you mention that Colonel de Kock also gave you some background as to what was going on in Cape Town.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.  The request went to Colonel de Kock from Cape Town and I had to go and report to them.  So, de Kock gave me the instruction to go and report to them and that I would fall under their command for that period.

MR BOOYENS: Now, just for clarity, Mbane and Maluleka had already started infiltrating this place.  So, you did not have to start with this operation right from the ground?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: Did you come from Vlakplaas only for this, let us call it, the Guguletu Operation or why exactly why were you sent down to Cape Town?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: The purpose was they would have received a request from the Divisional Commander in Cape Town, that would have gone to head office and we would have helped them to hunt out these freedom fighters, because at that stage Cape Town Security Branch had absolutely no information and it was not only for the Guguletu Seven, the Guguletu Seven incident arose out of that.  So, it was purely an intelligence gathering operation.

MR BOOYENS: You say that you stayed at the Koeberg Power Station and infiltrated the people?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.

MR BOOYENS: You also mention that you had contact, that is in paragraph 12, with other police units, Sanob and the Riot Squad, etcetera, Narcotics Bureau.  Why was that necessary?