Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-11-19

MS PATEL: So, then in terms of the way things panned out, at least that part of your instructions were carried out.  He then came back and the Kombi stopped at that part of the intersection, as per your agreement?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, it did.

MS PATEL: Okay.  He says further in terms of, maybe I should deal with the question of how they were armed.  He says that they were armed, Chris Piet was armed with an AK47, Chris Piet was in the van with him still at the time that they moved on to the intersection, the driver had a pistol with him and he had his Makarov on him, all right.  Then he says that two of the AK47's that were subsequently found in the blanket, as per the agreement, those were where they were, all right.  Then he says, if I may just confirm before I give you the incorrect, that of the group that was dropped off on NY1 with Maluleka, those two were unarmed, because the agreement would be or the arrangement was that they would then go and get the two AK's that they had buried the previous or that they hidden the previous night.  That was then found.
	So, in terms of Mr Mbane, the two gentlemen with Mr Maluleka were unarmed at that stage.

CHAIRPERSON: You are going on a long way.  Should you not ask him to deal with it point by point rather than ask him to deal with it, a long story?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: The instructions to Jimmy were clear, that they had to retain control of the weapons and that they bring them all to the crossing where we could arrest them, that we could then link them to these weapons, if we found them with weapons in their control.  I cannot say whether these weapons were hidden or whether they got off at the bridge.  I just heard that he had dropped them off somewhere, but I do not know where exactly this happened.

MS PATEL: So, there were specific instructions in respect of the ammunition, so that it could be checked later for fingerprints and it could be, then, connected to specific individuals on the scene or specific deceased on the scene?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is normal tactics.  It is no use that I arrest seven people in a bus and I cannot link them to the weapons.  They will just say that it is the driver's baggage.  So, in order to get this proof, we would have to link or lift the fingerprints on the weapons.

MS PATEL: Was this evidence ever led at the inquest?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I just gave my evidence and I left.  I did not attend the inquest from beginning to end.

MS PATEL: I put it to you that that evidence was never led at the inquest, Mr Bellingan.  That was never done.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Mr Brits, the Investigative Officer, you will have to ask him.  I cannot speak on his behalf, because I had nothing to do with the investigation.

MS PATEL: It would be, at best, shoddy workmanship, do you not think, that such crucial evidence would then have been led, would not have been led.
MR BOOYENS OBJECTS

MR BOOYENS: Mr Chairman, is the witness to be blamed because he was counsel, appearing at the inquest for somebody or is he being blamed because he was the Investigator, because he was neither, or is he just asked to express an expert opinion about the way council should have done it, which I submit, he is not qualified for. I do not think this question is really taking us anywhere.

MS PATEL: May I respond?  My learned council, learned friend seems to lose sight of the fact that Mr Bellingan is accepting responsibility for this entire incident and that is his words.  Those are his words, he is accepting responsibility for the manner in which this operation was conducted, for the people that were killed.  So, surely, by that same token, and it is a natural extension, that Mr Bellingan should be able to explain how the investigation was conducted subsequently, because his men were directly involved in that incident and so it would be in his interest to, at least, ascertain the manner in which the evidence was handled, the investigation was done and to what extent his personnel on the scene are going to be implicated or not, because this was a covert operation at best.

MR BOOYENS: Mr Chairman, if by accepting responsibility Mr Bellingan is supposed to answer for the way subsequent investigations were handled by Murder and Robber and so, then it is a valid question, but quite frankly I cannot, fail to see the relevance of it, but, in any case, if the Commission allows it ... (intervention).

CHAIRPERSON: How long did he stay in Cape Town after this?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Mr Chairman, a month and a half after we have withdrawn I remained in Cape Town.  We stayed here for quite a while, a month and a half afterwards.  During that time we returned and then we came back.  It was about a month and a half to two months while we were still active here.

CHAIRPERSON: What were you active in doing?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: We, there was still movement of freedom fighters in the area, we tried to track them down.  If I can remember, we changed some of these people and brought in new askaris.  We continued with this and arrested a very big freedom fighter cell during April.  I think 14 or 17 of them were arrested as a result of information that we followed up.

CHAIRPERSON: And did you have anything to do with the investigation of the deaths of these seven people?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, all that would have happened is that they would have asked me to send my people for statements and my own statement and that was all.  I did not go to visit Mr Brits or anything like that.

CHAIRPERSON: And did you feel you could rely on Mr Liebenberg to do anything that was necessary to keep you out of it?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, that was what he was supposed to do.

CHAIRPERSON: I do not think you can take the matter much further, can you?

MS PATEL: Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
	To return back to the question of how the members on the scene or the members of the group were armed, Mr Maluleka had a Tokarev with him.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: And if I can remember correctly, I have given earlier evidence, I think there is a Tokarev on the scene and yesterday I said that that Tokarev that we issued, from security head office, had been lost a little while before that.  So, this is a new Tokarev.  Whether he got it from the freedom fighter cell I cannot say, but he must explain how he obtained this Tokarev, but his Tokarev, if they had conveyed this correctly to me, was lost when the Kombi got stuck in the sand, before the shooting of the Guguletu 7, if I can remember correctly.

MS PATEL: Okay.  He says further that two of the members that he dropper further towards the bridge were armed with AK47's of two.  So, that makes it five all in all.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: If everything that is in the encoded message is what was conveyed to me.  I cannot give any clarity about what he is saying.

MS PATEL: Okay and he says some of the members were given the hand grenades that, and this is all part of the arms and ammunition that were supplied to him by you.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I did not provide them with hand grenades.

MS PATEL: Perhaps this is an, I have here copies that have been made available to me of the, what I think is called, the SAP13.  It is the register of the arms and the ammunition that was ... (intervention).

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Handed in.

MS PATEL: ... handed in.  If I can just pass this out and, perhaps, if we could mark this EXHIBIT, where are we now, D.
	Perhaps, Mr Bellingan, while they are passing that around, if I may just add, there were also two revolvers that certain of the members on the scene had.  
	Now, if one looks at the exhibit, Mr Bellingan, you will notice that there are only three AK47's that were handed in.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MS PATEL: Would it then be fair to infer that the two AK47's that you mention were given to the askaris, was then held back and it was not handed in or would that have been handed in as well?