Special Hearings — Helderberg Flight Special Hearing — 1998-06-02

DR KLATZOW: Yes Mr Chairman.  The aircraft had a political problem wherever it landed with that cargo.  They could not go back to Taipei, for exactly the reasons that they couldn't land at Bombay or anywhere else along the route and the moment that aircraft landed it was faced with the problem of a search as to what had caused the problem and that would have been a disaster for South African Airways.
 For it to have become public knowledge that South Africa's national carrier was flying contraband military equipment on a highly dangerous nature over civilian territory with civilian people on board would have killed that airline stone dead.  Nobody would have flown it and nobody would have given it landing rights.  And I want to put it to you that that was what was at stake in this whole disaster.
 That is why Uys, who was a responsible pilot took the awful decision to allow himself to be overruled by somebody to fly on because he would never have done it off his own bat.

VERNON NADEL: I understand.

CHAIRPERSON: And on that understanding note can we really move on.  Thank you Mr Nadel.  I would only say from the Commission's side you should understand that we are all doing something that we do not enjoy doing.  We are trying to find the truth of what happened because we continue, this is one enquiry I thought that the Commission would not go into precisely because it has been done before.  It is huge, it always results in more questions being asked than there are answers that we are able to elicit.
 But the  letters from the Friends of Victims of Helderberg and other material that has been sent to the Archbishop or to the investigative unit have been of a nature that we could not ignore and we have to thank people like you who have come, at what really is short notice and in your case I understand from abroad and one would hope that your assistance will be for having come and testified will assist us in getting to the bottom of this tragedy.
 So I thank you very much and for the moment I think you are excused and should you at any stage have anything that you can remember which you consider would be of value and assistance to the Commission, please do not hesitate to contact us.

VERNON NADEL: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Thank you members of the board.

MS TERREBLANCHE: Thank you Mr Nadel and thank you also for the documents you've given us and thank you for coming all this way from Argentina.

VERNON NADEL: Thank you.  If there is anything I need to send through, do I fax it to the regular fax number or must I fax it to any particular number, to yourself?

MS TERREBLANCHE: Yes.  To myself and to the regular fax number.

VERNON NADEL: Thank you.

MS TERREBLANCHE: We are closing down in two months.

VERNON NADEL: I hope it will be before then.

MS TERREBLANCHE: Thank you very much.

CHAIRPERSON: Ms Terreblanche are you calling any other witness?

MS TERREBLANCHE: Yes, our person from Mozambique cannot come again, he's got a number of problems so we are calling Mr Mickey Mitchell, our last witness for the day.  I think that you will be able to get away to your meeting with the Minister.
WITNESS EXCUSED