Human Rights Violation Hearings — Moutse — 1996-12-04

MR MALAN: Thank you very much, Captain.  I was wondering if we could then just also listen to the brigadier and then we could look at your evidence jointly.

BRIG CRONJE: May I proceed?  Mbokoto was a cultural group of which Piet Ntuli was the leader at the time.  The ANC attempted to destabilise Kwandebele.  It took place via burning of houses, schools, boycotts and school boycotts.  At that stage I received an instruction that I should eliminate Piet Ntuli.  Piet Ntuli had to be eliminated since
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there were attempts to destabilise Kwandebele and thus further the aims of the ANC.   TREVITS is an acronym for the Anti Revolutionary Information Target Centre.  It was a secret section which was seated at the security head office and identified potential targets.  The information which we had available was that Ntuli was involved in several arson attempts, murders, assaults, intimidations, illegal possession of firearms and also consumer boycotts.  It was thus necessary in order for the sake of stability in the region and also to combat the plan of the ANC to destabilise the region, to eliminate Ntuli.   It was necessary to stabilise the region because if there was no peace in the region independence would never become a reality in the area and the government had to do this at all costs.  Piet Ntuli's incident was discussed several times at the Joint Information Centre, which consisted of the regional commissioner of South African Police, the chief of the South African Defence Force, the head of the Intelligence Force, Military Intelligence and National Intelligence.  All security information which was available was discussed there.  All incidents were discussed and solutions and actions were decided upon.  The decisions taken were referred back to the committee which would then take the final decision.  It was thus possible decision that the decision to eliminate Piet Ntuli was taken there and also the decision that TREVITS should be established.  Several recommendations that Piet Ntuli should be detained were submitted to head office by myself personally.  Thereafter it was submitted to Minister Heunis who refused several times that we should detain Piet Ntuli.  This was before the instruction was issued to eliminate Ntuli.  At that stage
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Ntuli was earmarked for the next chief minister in place of Sam Nkosana who was very ill at that stage.  Brig Daantjie van Wyk was chief of the special investigative unit into riots in Kwandebele at that stage in 1986 and Sergeant Gouws and Warrant Officer Oosthuizen were working under him.  After receiving the instructions a specially designed bomb was obtained from Joe Verster of the special task force of the Defence Force and the special task force was the leader of the special security branch and the plan was that it should be attached to the Toyota Cressida which Piet Ntuli  drove.  We worked with the special task force in terms of a special instruction previously received from Brig Schoon to obtain general background information.  Myself, Capt Hechter and Capt Jaap van Jaarsveld went to Kwandebele with the bomb in a kombi.  Later that afternoon Capt Chris Kendal who was the branch commander at Bronkhorstspruit joined us.  Warrant Officer Oosthuizen and Captain Deon Gouws who worked at the murder and robbery unit of the South African Police had to investigate what was going on at Kwandebele and he worked with Brig Daantjie van Wyk.  We met Oosthuizen and Gouws at Siyabuswa.  We waited all day to see if we would get the opportunity to mount the bomb on Piet Ntuli's vehicle.  There was a meeting at the Chief Minister's house, which was at the complex where the ministerial houses were.  There was a field opposite the complex from where we watched the complex.  When it was dark myself, Hechter and Captain Kendal went in Captain Kendal's vehicle and we entered the complex.  I sent Kendal to the Chief Minister to say that I would like to meet the Chief Minister.  While Kendal was in the Chief Minister's house Hechter got under Ntuli's Cressida and mounted the bomb.  At that stage the Minister
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of Police came out of the Chief Minister's house.  I went nearer to him and greeted him and he had a short conversation with me.  After the bomb had been planted under Ntuli's vehicle we went back to Kendal's car.  It was agreed that Oosthuizen and Gouws would handle the two remote control devices.  The remote control devices were designed in such a way that the bomb would be detonated in a remote area through which Ntuli normally rode.  There was also a delaying mechanism designed in it so that innocent people should not be killed if the bomb was activated 30 seconds thereafter.  The intention was for the bomb to explode in a remote area.  After the bomb had exploded we went to Gouws and Oosthuizen's base approximately 4 kilometres from Siyabuswa.   When we got to the base the report came on the police radio about the explosion and we went back to the scene of the explosion.  The commissioner of police at Kwandebele, Brig Van Niekerk also turned up there.  General Schutte, the head of the investigative unit, received an instruction to investigate.  They did not question me. I merely submitted a report. The special task force was to conduct the operation jointly with us because the bomb was designed by them and that is how they were involved in the whole operation.  Mbokoto operated in the exact same way as the ANC in attempting to destabilise the region in exactly the same way as the ANC.  This took place by burning down houses, schools and school boycotts and consumer boycotts.  Mbokoto and the ANC had the exact same aims, which was political unrest and so forth.  Information was received that Piet Ntuli and Mbokoto's actions were aimed at making Kwandebele unruly so that it could be ineffective as a self ruling state.  Hence Mbokoto and Piet Ntuli had the exact
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same aims as the ANC in destabilising Kwandebele.  Hence peace would never be a reality in this region.  Piet Ntuli's behaviour, together with Mbokoto against the government at that stage advantaged the ANC in the destabilising process.  The government of Kwandebele at that stage was permitted by the South African government.  Piet Ntuli was originally placed there by the government to become the next Chief Minister.  However, he went out of control and it was clear that the government could not detain him in terms of the Act because he would have had a bad influence on the other members of the government and hence Piet Ntuli became a poison ivy for the South African government and the only way out was to get rid of him.

JACQUES HECHTER: I would like to rectify.  I received a note that Gouws and Oosthuizen were not yet affiliated to murder and robbery in Pretoria at the time.  They were at other stations and they were only deployed there after their duties here.