Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-09-14

MR PRINSLOO: The generals in staff conveyed this, they informed me of what was going on in the rest of the country.  They also said that we cannot stop now, we will have to continue, it is too late to turn around.  There were some of my senior officers present and they can support my evidence in this.

MS VAN DER WALT: After the Johannesburg bomb exploded, did you receive any other instructions to create any other explosions?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, we received instructions that we will urgently have to continue and that it looks good, at that stage.

MS VAN DER WALT: Were there specific instructions as to where these explosions had to take place?

MR PRINSLOO: No, there weren't specific instructions given as far as I can remember.  There wasn't a specific town or street chosen or isolated.

MS VAN DER WALT: Do you carry any knowledge or do you know about the pipe bomb meeting that happened or occurred on that Sunday evening before the elections?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, I know about that meeting.

MS VAN DER WALT: What was your involvement in this meeting?

MR PRINSLOO: Are you now talking about the large meeting that was held outside?

MS VAN DER WALT: No, I was talking about the closed meeting.

MR PRINSLOO: Well at the closed meeting we held I conveyed the message that people reported that the bombs were ready and that they were looking for volunteers in order for the explosives to be sent out.

MS VAN DER WALT: Were you involved - according to the previous witness there was also talk about the Germiston, do you know about the bomb in the trailer?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, I do.

MS VAN DER WALT: What happened?

MR PRINSLOO: I was looking for a person, or it was reported to me that a trailer was taken from Ventersdorp for the making of a bomb.  At that stage I did not know whose trailer it was.  Mr Barnard reported to me that he took the "oubaas's" trailer.

MS VAN DER WALT: If you talk about "oubaas", are you talking about Eugene Terreblanche?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes.  I said it's not Terreblanche's trailer, it was the AWB's trailer and that he had to go and explain.

MS VAN DER WALT: If you now talk about explain, the fact that he took the AWB's trailer?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, the fact that he took the AWB's trailer.

MS VAN DER WALT: And then, did you then give any instructions concerning the bomb that had to go to Germiston?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, I looked for a volunteer - Mr Barnard said he was looking for a vehicle with a towbar, I looked for a volunteer and I then asked Mr Jan de Wet to make his vehicle available.  At that stage he did not know what it was for.  I said it was a mission that he had to go and complete, he had to drive through to Koesterfontein to a person, Koper Myburgh and that it was his farm and then he will receive further instructions there.

MS VAN DER WALT: This discussion that took place, where did it take place, because according to the previous witness there was a meeting held outside on the game farm?  This discussion concerning the Germiston bomb and the instruction that you gave, where did this take place?

MR PRINSLOO: That took place in the hall itself.

MS VAN DER WALT: In the open meeting or in another room?

MR PRINSLOO: I cannot say with certainty if it was during the open meeting, there were various people coming and going and arrangements were made, commanders shouted their orders.  I only gave the specific person the instructions and it was not far from where I slept.

MS VAN DER WALT: Evidence exists that people then moved from the game farm to the shooting range close to Rustenburg.  Do you know of a bomb that went to Jan Smuts Airport?

MR PRINSLOO: That's correct, yes.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did you have anything to do with this?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, the instruction would then be to focus the attention more or to get attention from foreign countries and the international community and that a place like the Johannesburg Airport had to serve for this purpose.

MS VAN DER WALT: From whom did this instruction come?

MR PRINSLOO: It came from the generals in staff.

MS VAN DER WALT: When did you receive this instruction?

MR PRINSLOO: It would have been the evening when the members of the generals in staff visited me.

MS VAN DER WALT: On the game farm?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, on the game farm.  It would have been that morning.

MR MALAN: I beg your pardon.
	Mr Prinsloo, your answer to an earlier question was that you received instructions from staff, that would be after the generals in staff had come through and saw you.  "They told me that I should continue, that it was too late to turn back.  There were members of the senior officers who were present and who can confirm this".
	Then on a further question you said that you received the orders from staff, in other words they said it looked good but they didn't isolate a town or a street in which bombs would be planted.  If I understand you correctly, you say the instruction ...[intervention]

MR PRINSLOO: That's correct, because they knew what my area was.

MR MALAN: But you've said that this order had specifically to do with Jan Smuts Airport.

MR PRINSLOO: This one specifically, yes.

MR MALAN: Was that on the same evening, on the same occasion?

MR PRINSLOO: It was during that time period, that morning that it was mentioned to me.

MR MALAN: Why didn't you tell us this when you were talking about the generals in staff?

MR PRINSLOO: The generals in staff were at least there for 12 hours ...[intervention]

MR MALAN: No, the other evidence ...[intervention]

MR PRINSLOO: They arrived there in the evening.

MR MALAN: Yes, and they left early in the morning?

MR PRINSLOO: That's correct.

MR MALAN: They came in the night and they left early in the morning?

MR PRINSLOO: That's correct.

MR MALAN: And you spoke to them, they looked at everything, they told you it looks good, go ahead, you can't turn back, but they didn't give you any instructions regarding towns and places?

MR PRINSLOO: No, they didn't tell me specifically.

MR MALAN: And then they left?

MR PRINSLOO: They didn't say specifically to send a vehicle to Germiston or Springs or whatever.

MR MALAN: But your evidence now has been that they told you to send a vehicle to Jan Smuts?

MR PRINSLOO: Well in consultation we made a joint decision.  They said that it was necessary to create an international event or incident.

MR MALAN: Thank you.

MS GCABASHE: Mr Prinsloo, you know you've just helped me a little bit with your last sentence: "in consultation" you did whatever, because you've been saying you received, I understood you to be saying you received instructions from the generals in staff to do this, do that, when they visited you at the game farm.  Are you with me?
	Now earlier on you testified that you were a member of the generals in staff, of equal standing  with any other member.

MR PRINSLOO: That's correct.

MS GCABASHE: When the first decision was taken to bomb at Bree Street in Johannesburg, let's call it Johannesburg, I have understood you to say the generals in staff, all of you would then have talked about it but the specific instruction came to you from General Ackerman, is that correct?

MR PRINSLOO: That's correct.

MS GCABASHE: So your "in consultation" starts from the very first incident?  You were consulted as a member of the generals in staff but the specific instruction came from one particular person?

MR PRINSLOO: Yes, that's correct as you've put it, it came from one specific person.  But you must understand that in all cases everything would be discussed before a general would plan an action or execute an action, there would be consultation first.  One person could not do as he wished or carry out an operation, or not carry out an operation but assign operations and have them executed, without consulting or making aware the rest of the staff.