Amnesty Hearings — Johannesburg — 1998-05-11

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I grew up in Cape Town on the Cape Flats and grew up in a family which was very politically conscious at the time, but my direct involvement in politics itself came about in 1976 with the uprise in Soweto.  I was elected onto a Committee which, a school committee, Spes Bona High in Athlone where we managed the first boycotts which took place in Cape Town.

GEORGE BIZOS: Would you please tell us about your home background, whether you came from a well-off family or not.

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I was born to a family of five children.  My father was a bricklayer.  I grew up in a wooden-iron house ...(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: And that your father was what?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: He was a bricklayer, as they called him then.  We grew up in a wooden-iron house with a toilet in the yard, non-flushing toilet, poverty wasn't theory with us, we felt the brunt of poverty in our upbringing.

GEORGE BIZOS: I'd like you to speak up a little and possibly put on the light whenever you speak and speak a little louder so that the members of the Committee and our colleagues don't find it difficult to hear you.

CHAIRPERSON: What kind of education had you had?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I completed my matric in 1978 and I preceded to do apprenticeship in fitting and turning and subsequently changed to boilermaking and welding and I did my further studies at Peninsula Technikon.  I also started with the my degree in B.Admin while in prison, which I never completed.

CHAIRPERSON: I think you better ...(inaudible) at some stages before getting into prison.

GEORGE BIZOS: I'm sure you were not in a hurry to get there.  What did you do in 1982?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I was recruited into the ANC underground in 1982 by a cadre who was killed in the Maseru raid later on and worked in the underground in the Western Cape from there till my arrest in 1987.

GEORGE BIZOS: Were you accused of, among other things,  high treason in 1987?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: That's correct, I was in the Tony Yengeni trial with 11 others and the initial charge was high treason.  It was later changed to terrorism and I was acquitted in 1990.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did you remain in custody throughout this?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I remained in custody throughout my awaiting trial.

GEORGE BIZOS: And did you actually go into exile or did you remain in the country?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I operated in a manner where I left the country on occasions to meet leaders like Chris Hani to bring in cadres into the country and also to bring in arms into the country but I never stayed for long periods or I never went to any camps.  My training was all done informally by the movement.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did your activities form part of the trial that you were in custody for 3 1/2  odd years?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: That's correct, one of the charges was being a member of the ANC and being a member of uMkhonto weSizwe.

GEORGE BIZOS: You were acquitted on all those charges?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: Around 1990 we were acquitted.

GEORGE BIZOS: And you don't have to apply for amnesty in relation to those things?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I think not.

GEORGE BIZOS: What training have you had in relation to the work that you were doing in 1994 and the work that you are doing now?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: My initial training in the security field, I previously trained in the military field and in the intelligence field in the underground structures, but in early 1990 I was sent on a training course and I was trained by the Special Forces of Britain and the purpose of the training was to equip myself for the job I am presently holding, which included protection of leadership, protection of installations, doing threat analysis, doing risk management and at the end of the course the recommendation was made by our course leaders that I should be put in the management, and I was then appointed to the Deputy Head of the Security Department in the ANC.

GEORGE BIZOS: You mention that you went to do part of your training in the United Kingdom, was any part of your training nearer home, although not in South Africa?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I did a three month course in Zimbabwe on special training around the same work with the Special Forces.  It was held in one of the Zimbabwe military camps and it was something that was done with the consent of the present government of that day.

GEORGE BIZOS: What sort of specific training did you have, if any, in relation to the protection of buildings and personnel with the in-buildings during your training?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: The training I am talking about included specifically around different levels of security, which being immediate security around close protection, you talk about protection of the outer perimeters of buildings, protection of mass events where you deal with crowds, crowd management.  I also did a further course with Group 5, which is also a British group around the evaluation and orders of buildings itself where you can look at a building and draw up a security plan to protect that building.  It was also a specialised course which I did for three months with Group 5 at a later stage.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did you consider yourself sufficiently trained to be the Deputy Security Officer of Shell House in 1994?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I think I had more than adequate training to do the job.

GEORGE BIZOS: In so far some of the evidence that may be led, could you just describe Shell House for us please, because I don't know whether all members of the Committee are familiar with it.  Is it a small or a large building?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: Shell House is the headquarters of the ANC.  It's in Plein Street, covered by King George and Plein Street.  It's a 22-storey building, it's probably the highest building in that vicinity.  It is surrounded by taxi ranks, both the long distance taxi rank and the local - probably the main local taxi rank.  It's surrounded by Park Station which is probably the busiest station in the vicinity of Johannesburg.  So, it's situated next to Small Street which is the height of activity for hawkers and other things, so it's situated in the area which is I think fairly well-known and frequented by many people.

GEORGE BIZOS: When did the ANC move into Shell House?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: Sometime in 1991, I don't know the exact date.

GEORGE BIZOS: By 1994, would you say that anyone involved in any sort of political activity or interested in what was happening in 1994 - was this a building that was not known to the general public as the headquarters of the ANC, or was it generally known as the headquarters of the ANC?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: I think it was a fairly well-known building, I think especially people involved with the political activity of the day within the Gauteng area would have known the building.

GEORGE BIZOS: And how many people worked in Shell House in March 1994?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: Numbers are difficult to get, but we had 22 floors and they were all occupied by ANC staff.

GEORGE BIZOS: Was there much activity at that time in relation to any particular event that ...(inaudible) after the end of March?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: The ANC's just generally was a building where there was a lot of activity, and with the election emerging, the ANC set a national election office there which meant even greater activity took place.  There was also a process of where cadres was sent out of the country to train for formal military training and go to Wallmansthal.  They all departed from that place, so there was a hype of activity at any given stage at Shell House.

GEORGE BIZOS: And what about the ANC leadership, where were their offices?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: They were all in Shell House, on various different floors in Shell House.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did Mandela have an office there?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: That's correct, he had an office.

GEORGE BIZOS: Mr Sisulu?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: That's correct, he had an office.

GEORGE BIZOS: Mr Mbeki?

GARY JOHN KRUSER: That's correct.