Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1999-10-28

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Yes.  Actually after the unbanning of the ANC all the units which were based inside the country in particular in the Western Cape where the negotiations were taking place, Groote Schuur, we were given further mission to protect the leadership from prison and to protect those leadership who were attending this negotiation in Cape Town.  Chris Hani was part of those comrades who were supposed to be protected by the units based in Cape Town at that time.

MR PAPIER: Now you have amongst others, been charged I understand Mr Booi, with possession of ammunition, with murder, attempted murder as contained in the draft charge sheets on pages 12, 13, 14, 15, yes pages 12 to 15 of the bundle.  I understand that you are applying for amnesty in respect of all those charges and any related charges flowing from this incident?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Correctly so.

ADV BOSMAN: Mr Papier, I don't know whether I missed something, did you include charge number 1, or did you exclude that?

MR PAPIER: Charge number 1 can be excluded.

ADV BOSMAN: Okay.  Thank you.

ADV SIGODI: Sorry, whose car were you driving when you went on this mission?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: I was a passenger in a white Toyota Corolla.

ADV SIGODI: And whose car was that?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Unfortunately it was a car driven by Comrade Wiseman, it was used by that unit.

ADV SIGODI: You have no knowledge where he got that car from?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: No, not at all, until I was told in court.

MR PAPIER: And so just to contextualise the question, Mr Booi, I understand that at the meeting with the late Chris Hani on the 6th, you had gotten to that meeting on your own means and it was there, if I understand you correctly, that you were ordered to join your other colleagues in the car.

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Yes.  Actually what was happening, the unit, it's not my unit from Angola, I had my own unit.  There were special units, many various units, I was just called for that special mission to go and join that unit, so I left my car and joined the unit in that car because they were all ready in securing the late Comrade Chris Hani, I was just to command them on the mission on that particular day, until the comrade left Cape Town then join my unit back.

ADV BOSMAN: So at what time did they pick you up?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: It might be, if I'm correct about 9, past 9 around that time, I never observed the time, but it was late in the evening.

ADV BOSMAN: Thank you.

MR PAPIER: Now, Mr Booi, I understand that there a number of case reports and your photo and identikit was also displayed at police stations throughout the country.  These two documents do not form part of the bundle, I beg  your pardon for that Commissioners, I just received it this morning and I now beg leave to just hand in...(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: What is the purpose of you wanting to hand it in?

MR PAPIER: Judge, you will notice that in terms of the Act, my learned colleague requested certain information and there seemed to have been a doubt as to whether Mr Booi was in fact a member of MK.

CHAIRPERSON: He's testified to that.

MR PAPIER: I withdraw the application.

CHAIRPERSON: Perhaps, if there's a question of dispute that arises, maybe then we can enter into this exercise.

MR PAPIER: As it pleases the Committee.  Thank you, I have no further questions.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR PAPIER

MS PATEL: Thank you Honourable Chairperson.

MS PATEL: Just for the record, Mr Booi has referred to a previous matter where he was arrested, charged and then acquitted.  It is in fact one of the - well that specific incident that he was acquitted on, is an incident we heard last week, the Beaton and the Jansen incident, he was one of the co-accused in that matter.  And then just a couple of clarifying questions Mr Booi.  You stated that when you went to report back to Chris Hani, you informed him that you were ambushed by askaris.

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Yes.

MS PATEL: But the policemen who were shot and were injured were definitely not askaris and they were in fact all white.

FUMANIKILE BOOI: I won't agree with you in that because the askaris are not only, were not only the unit of those soldier who deserted from MK.  What the then government did on these operation forces, it took a couple of specialised, in particular white males in the police, in the army and formed a special unit which has been tracking down MK cadres around the country and assassinating some high leadership members.  They were not of any colour, but they were based - they were not only from the ranks of MK, we dubbed them all as askaris, because they were doing the same mission and what I further say, that ordinary police don't use conventional arms in a normal urban area.  The presence of sub-machine guns was a clear indication that this is part of the Special Force which will be assembled to assassinate and delay the talks inside the country.

CHAIRPERSON: Are you saying that the askaris were being used in that system of destabilising the negotiations?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Of course.

CHAIRPERSON: Why do you say so?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Because the askaris and some of the Special Force members in the government were not necessarily supporting the ...(indistinct) negotiation and further, you have to understand that when the government and the ANC started negotiation, there were still skirmishes which were happening between the two armed forces and those skirmishes were always involved with askaris, Special Units, MK forces around the country until late 1993, before the election actually.  Some of those sinister forces are actually those who participated in assassinating Comrade Chris Hani, that far the skirmishes had been going, so they were not of any colour.

MS PATEL: Well perhaps your understanding of the term askari is not the normal understanding that we have here of an askari being a turned liberation or MK, PAC person who would then be turned and then used by the Security Forces against the liberation movements, but I'll take it no further.

FUMANIKILE BOOI: No, I don't disagree with you in that but I'm just going further that they were not operating on their own solely as the turned guerrillas of APLA and MK but they were operating under the command of white policemen and soldiers as a group of askaris, so you dubbed them all as askaris when they operate in that fashion because they were no longer ordinary police which are supposed to maintain law and order in the country, but they have special missions of assignment.

MS PATEL: ...Those special assignments would be what, can you just clarify that for me please?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: (1) it will be to take down the leadership of the political organisations, that means ranging from Cosatu, SACP, ANC, the UDF at that stage, their missions were either to assassinate some to the leaders, also to assassinate activists, they were highly trained to track down MK operatives inside the country at that time, those were their missions.  They were also crossing borders outside the boundaries of South Africa, carrying this mission.

MS PATEL: Alright.  Did you notice that the persons who were injured, the policemen, were in their normal uniforms, that they weren't plain-clothed?

FUMANIKILE BOOI: They were not in plain clothes.  I said that they were in camouflage.  It was not the blue uniform of the police, but it was a camouflage similar to that of the army, worn by the army.

MS PATEL: Alright.  Just to go to the specifics of the incident, you say as you slowed down and the policeman had indicated that you must stop, they then passed you.

FUMANIKILE BOOI: Yes.

MS PATEL: And what happened after that?  Did the policemen come to you first, to your vehicle, or what?