Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-06-17

MS VAN DER WALT: And the other applicants will give evidence that you carry knowledge of a meeting that was held where the stealing of vehicles was discussed.

MR LE ROUX: That meeting on the Saturday night just before Barnard arrived, I did see a few chair which were placed on the floor in the hall where we were and certain arrangements were made but I wasn't really involved with it but I saw that they were doing a vehicle drill which is to jump out of vehicle and to take certain actions and I understand it was in order to teach them how to steal vehicles.

MS VAN DER WALT: But at Koesterfontein you were not provided with a car which was stolen?

MR LE ROUX: No.

MS VAN DER WALT: And do you carry any knowledge of Corrie Botha and his son who arrived at Koesterfontein?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, Corrie Botha I knew from the Ystergarde, we called him: "klein Corrie".  He arrived there that night with a trailer and out of the trailer we also took explosives.

MS VAN DER WALT: And this Corrie Botha and his son were also co-accused and they were released, is that correct?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, that's correct.

MS VAN DER WALT: And what else did you do at Koesterfontein?

MR LE ROUX: It was a Saturday evening and we started looking ...(tape ends)
 ...[inaudible] back yard and there we looked for things and there was a roller ...[intervention]

MS VAN DER WALT: Is this a lawn roller?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, that's right it's a lawn roller.

MR LE ROUX: We used that to basically build a bomb in.  We cut it open at the top, we made a square hole in it and we bent iron over this and in we threw some of the explosive, first the anthrax, we took that first and we combined it with diesel and we threw it inside this roller and fixed it there with a hammer.  We put a fuse in the centre of the roller.  We made a fuse of cortex and we again closed this up at the top.

MS VAN DER WALT: This fuse, where did this fuse go?

MR LE ROUX: The fuse would serve to activate the whole bomb.

MS VAN DER WALT: Was it inside the vehicle or what was the situation?

MR LE ROUX: No, what we did then is that we placed the whole roller in the car, we took the spare wheel out of the boot and we placed this whole thing inside and around that we also put more anthrax and around that we also put plastic explosives, EE4.  Then we took a fuse and from the fuse itself which stuck out of this roller and the other fuses, we took all of them to the front of the car, in other words so it could be ignited from within the car by means of a flame.

MS VAN DER WALT: Were there any discussions with regard to where this bomb would go?

MR LE ROUX: Barnard at that stage said that the bomb had to go to Johannesburg, the first one.  He also said that he wasn't sure where in Johannesburg but he said he was looking for a place with a lot of buildings in order to exhilarate or exaggerate the effect of the bomb.

MS VAN DER WALT: Why did it have to go to Johannesburg?

MR LE ROUX: The whole idea was to carry over a message in order to cause city terror and that was why the bomb had to be placed in Johannesburg, we had several options. I asked him where did he want to have the bomb placed, I explained to him that there was a certain area which was similar to what he was thinking of, for example we talked about the Carlton Centre but we didn't want to place it there because there are too many open spaces.  We wanted to place it in an area where the buildings were close together and Bree Street was appropriate for this.

MS VAN DER WALT: Why did it have to happen in a place where the buildings were close together?

MR LE ROUX: It was in order to heighten the effect of the blast, that the glass would shatter and things like that would happen.

MS VAN DER WALT: Why did you want to cause city terror or urban terror?

MR LE ROUX: At that stage I believed it would have the same effect as the Church Street bomb had.   It would carry the message about self-determination with regard to the Volkstaat which we stood for and wanted to fight for.

MS VAN DER WALT: Who, a message for whom?

MR LE ROUX: A message for the government of the day and also for the future government and we knew already that the ANC would be governing the country.

MS VAN DER WALT: Now on that Sunday, the Sunday before the election, why did you do it exactly on that day?

MR LE ROUX: I do not know why exactly the Sunday but Barnard said that the bomb had to be planted on the Sunday.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did you want to disrupt the election in such a fashion?

MR LE ROUX: It was in order to carry out the message that there are right-wing activities taking place and that the elections had to be stopped.

MS VAN DER WALT: Who took the lead when you were building this bomb?

MR LE ROUX: Koekemoer took it upon himself and he built the bomb, he told us what to do.  Now and then we'd ask him how to go about it or what we must do.

MS VAN DER WALT: And Koekemoer also gave the same evidence you've given now during the criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court, is that correct?

MR LE ROUX: That is correct Chairperson.

MS VAN DER WALT: On Sunday the 24th of April 1994, were you still on Koesterfontein?

MR LE ROUX: That is correct.

MS VAN DER WALT: And what happened then?

MR LE ROUX: That morning we got into the car, the bomb was completed the previous evening, we then drove to Johannesburg with the bomb.  We discussed it beforehand how we would drive and I drove the leading car and Myburgh and Barnard drove behind me with the bomb.

MS VAN DER WALT: If you say: "the leading car", what was the purpose of that?

MR LE ROUX: That was car was in order to clear the way at the front.  We had radio communication and if something stopped me or if something happened I could contact them and say the police are there or there's a roadblock, whatever.

MS VAN DER WALT: Who would indicate where the bomb would be placed?

MR LE ROUX: I had the responsibility for doing that because I knew Johannesburg.  I drove into Johannesburg and in Bree Street we turned off and I indicated the first place but the car didn't want to in.  I then drove to the second place and I indicated that.  There were various cars behind us and we had to stop around a corner, in other words in order for them to reach me, that is now Barnard and Myburgh.

MS VAN DER WALT: This bomb then exploded in Bree Street?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, they detonated it there, they got into the car, we drove on.  A few blocks onwards we turned around in the same street and that is when the explosion occurred.

MS VAN DER WALT: It was a very powerful bomb?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, it was the biggest bomb we ever built.

MS VAN DER WALT: And during your hearing photographs were submitted with the damage that was done.  When you left that morning from Koesterfontein, the evidence in the Court was that Koekemoer stayed behind alone at Koesterfontein.

MR LE ROUX: Koekemoer stayed there, yes.  Barnard told him because Koekemoer had a problem with the pipe bombs. the pipe bombs did not have a fuse charge.  Koekemoer indicated this to us and he said to us that he will change the bombs and so Barnard gave him the instruction to change all the pipe bombs and put a fuse in.

MS VAN DER WALT: During the hearing the evidence was also that he remained alone on the farm and that Myburgh's parents were not there.

MR LE ROUX: They left early that morning and he was alone on the farm.

MS VAN DER WALT: After Koekemoer gave his main evidence in the Court, and it also seems from the record that under cross-examination he admitted that he was a police informant with the then information service, he was placed by them to keep the police up to date with what is going on in the AWB.

MR LE ROUX: That is correct Mr Chairperson.  He presented himself as a police spy but when he was with us he spoke a different language and he really did his bit.