Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-06-24

CHAIRPERSON: Sit please.

J P NEL: (sworn states)

MR PRINSLOO: The applicant's application Mr Chairperson appears on page 152 and 171 and 214 to 233. May I continue Mr Chairperson?
	Mr Nel together with your co-applicants you were charged in the High Court on various charges of murder, etc and you were then found guilty of charges related to what is known to this Committee as the pipe bombs Western area, Randfontein and Pretoria.    As well as attempted murder, damaging of property and the possession of explosives.

J P NEL: Yes that is correct.

MR PRINSLOO: And that is why you ask for amnesty in front of this honourable Committee. And you were also convicted to 21 years of prison sentence. Mr Nel in your application on page 160 it would be your page 2 paragraph 4 there is a typing error, the second sentence of paragraph 4 the word AWB must be deleted and it must be said ANC. It is very clear what is said there. It is line 2, ANC must be AWB. Just a moment please.
	Mr Nel I refer to page 167 paragraph 23 at the game farm there where you were gathered together the Saturday evening the 23rd of April 1994 are you aware or not that Generals who gathered there at that game farm?

J P NEL: Yes Mr Chairperson after we returned from the vehicle mission everybody went to sleep and in the evening the Generals arrived there and had a meeting and I was placed as a guard at the door.

MR PRINSLOO: Who were these Generals? Can you please name them?

J P NEL: It was General Andries Terreblanche, General Etsabeth, General Nico Prinsloo, General Dirk Ackerman, his brother also Mr Ackerman and then it was Brigadier Leon van der Merwe as well as General Cruywagen and General Smit.

MR PRINSLOO: And after this meeting that evening did they leave there or do you know what happened to them?

J P NEL: They held their meeting in the room where Nico Prinsloo and van der Merwe stayed in the camp. And when they finished they got into the vehicles and left.

MR PRINSLOO: Sunday evening the 24th of April 1994 you received instructions to create certain explosions?

J P NEL: Yes that is correct.

MR PRINSLOO: What was the target?

J P NEL: Commandant Johan du Plessis told me directly that the target was a taxi rank in Pretoria.

MR PRINSLOO: The following day did you then go to Pretoria together with Piet Steyn and Gert Fourie?

J P NEL: The Monday I left I was the driver of my vehicle and Piet Steyn sat behind and Gert on the passenger's seat.

MR PRINSLOO: Your target was in Pretoria?

J P NEL: That is correct.

MR PRINSLOO: And Mr Nel when you left for Pretoria did you get to a taxi rank or what happened?

J P NEL: I know Pretoria well. I drove in. I directly drove to the taxi rank in Bloed Street and van der Walt Street. When we arrived there I identified it but there were too many police in that area. I drove past and did not plant the bomb there.

MR PRINSLOO: Did you place the bomb later at a different place?

J P NEL: That evening we left again and went to go and look at the taxi rank again. The policing was still strong there and from there we drove, I wanted to go and look in Pretoria North at the station there is another taxi rank. I was on my way there when I saw this area in Bloed Street and thought that it would have the same effect and we detonated the bomb on the side on the pavement of the building.

MR PRINSLOO: Why didn't you detonate the bomb at a taxi rank?

J P NEL: Because we believed that it would have the same effect if it was planted at a taxi rank.

MR PRINSLOO: Was there any policing there?

J P NEL: No there were no policing at that stage but there were black people who moved around there. And that is the reason why I placed it there.

MR PRINSLOO: Mr Nel do you confirm that the application that appears before this honourable Committee as it is in the record?

J P NEL: Yes that it is correct.

MR PRINSLOO: And Mr Nel today as you sit there how do you feel about the occurrences that happened in terms of lives that were lost, injuries and damage to property?

J P NEL: Mr Chairperson I feel bad about it. I am unhappy about it. If I could I would like to ask the people personally or apologise to them personally. I would like to talk to them and by doing that also state my side of this whole matter and explain why I did it and to tell them that I am sorry that I did it. And that they were in the wrong circumstances at the wrong time.

MR PRINSLOO: Mr Nel are you presently still a member of the AWB?

J P NEL: No not at all.

MR PRINSLOO: Thank you Mr Chairperson.

MR PRINSLOO: .

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: Thank you Mr Chairperson. Just a few aspects. If you look at paragraph 22 of your application page 166.

J P NEL: That is correct.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: "The men went to a game farm in Magaliesberg where our instruction was to provide security for the farmers in that area."

J P NEL: That is correct yes.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: In other words that was the main purpose why you went to the game farm or were you sent there?

J P NEL: No Mr Chairperson in my call-up instructions the day when I was called-up Major Johan Smit told me directly that today we going to fight the war. We must establish our Volkstaat and that we must move up and then we will receive further instructions in Ventersdorp.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: And in Ventersdorp you were given the instructions to go to the game farm for security and protection of the farmers?

J P NEL: There Brigadier Leon van der Merwe at the Trim Park  once again said to us. First we went to Clifton Barnard's farm and the day when we left to the game farm Major Smit once again came to me and said we going to Magaliesberg now to the game farm. I did not know where it was. I drove with other people there. And there he said to us that we will be on the borders of the Volkstaat close to the PWV area.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: But your words and that is the point that I want to make is that the instruction was the protection of farmers in the area. And this aspect runs right through all the applications and that is the protection and security of the farmers in that area.

J P NEL: During that time we would still have looked after the people in that area. We did go on patrols where we did look after the farmers.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: That is exactly the point that I would like to make. Can I just take you back for a moment. The group that went to Bophuthatswana or was sent there in order to secure Bophuthatswana when did this happen?

J P NEL: I do not carry any knowledge of that. I was not involved in that.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: Did you not see on television people who were killed there or shot there?

J P NEL: I did see that people were killed there and shot there but I carry no knowledge of that.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: But what I would like to find out when was this?

J P NEL: If I get my dates right I think it was in March or February.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: When you went to the West Rand, to this Volkstaat area am I correct if I accept that you then forgot about Natal and the Free State and that is why you gathered in the Western Transvaal?

J P NEL: Yes Mr Chairperson for me my instruction was we are going to move up. The Volkstaat area - if I can just go back there was a meeting in February where we did security. It was a closed meeting where Mr Ackerman indicated on a map that we would use the Western Transvaal and implement that as a "Volkstaat." And that is why we went up to the Western Transvaal. When the Volkstaat then became a bit smaller we forgot about Natal and the Free State. We just want a part of the Western Transvaal.

ANDRIES STEPHANUS KRIEL: And here is an election that is going to take place. Did you see this election as a threat?

J P NEL: Yes Mr Chairperson?