Amnesty Hearings — Durban — 1999-09-03

MR SHEZI: Thank you, Mr Chairman.  Mr Chairman, first with regard to the application by Nofomela, it is apparent and even from his evidence, both under cross
examination and his evidence in chief, even though the point was not canvassed in much detail by his legal representative that there was no political motive.  In fact under cross-examination it would appear that Nofomela, he himself never had any political motive, nor was he even aware or sure of the political motive of his masters, that there was any.   All that one can submit, Mr Chairman, is that he just followed orders and on those basis Mr Chairman, his application ought to fail.
	However, Mr Chairman, the significance of his application serves to highlight one point, that the Chesterville Incident, with regard to that incident and how it came about, there were more forces at play and that there was planning, there was conspiracy.  Infiltration, as one understands it, whether in the manner it was being used or applied or practised at the time, or if one follows the convention or the dictionary meaning of the word infiltration, it is not something that can be done within the span of a short space of time and something which can just be delegated to some junior officers or to some junior members of the operation.  It is something which is normally well-planned, with such precision.  For Mr Radebe to come and say their instructions were to go, infiltrate, look for information about Charles, if you find any, well and good, if you find no co-operation, kidnap them, come back with them.  That Mr Chairman I submit doesn't make sense. 
	 Mr Radebe in his statement which he made subsequent to the event, he says they came after he had decided that the people in the room must be arrested on whatever basis, however questionable that basis might be.  They took up positions around the shack.  What for, it is not clear and even the whole question of arrest, it was canvassed thoroughly during Mr Radebe's cross-examination and some questions came from the Chairman and the Panel, that how did they go about arresting you know, when they asked other members of the group to go out?  
	My submission in that regard, Mr Chairman, is that this was part of a plan, they took position because they intended to shoot and calling out the other members was that it's now time.  The whole plan of going to Chesterville was to, I submit, assemble as much comrades as you can, wherever you can and then shoot.  This was very much well-planned, use and AK to elicit their co-operation and their trust and then once they trust you, then you can shoot them.  And it is not something that Sgt Radebe and the askaris that were in his company, with respect, Mr Radebe's competence and capability, it is something that I submit it was not within his domain to plan and do, but somebody in the higher echelons of the C10 Vlakplaas Unit had to do.  
	Mr Eugene de Kock was the Commander of the C10 Vlakplaas Unit which came down from Durban to Pretoria, yet according to Mr Vermeulen, when this aspect was discussed of going to Chesterville or of rather conducting the search of the killers of Security Policemen at the initial briefing the Commander was not there.  This whole thing of going to Chesterville, it would appear that it was just an initiative by Willie Nortje.  The taking of the AK47 which was under the control of Commander de Kock and who had requested it, somewhere at some point in time he never knew where it was, he never knew it was controlled, Willie Nortje could take it and go wherever he wanted to go.  I submit even some junior member of the Unit could have taken it to Umlazi or to kwaMashu if Sgt Vermeulen was to be believed.  
	Also and finally Mr Chairman, Mr Vermeulen applies for amnesty for unlawful possession of a firearm, an AK47.  His evidence under cross-examination reveals that both in fact and in law, he never possessed any firearm.  Under cross-examination he told this Hearing that in fact he did not even know that there was even a firearm in the vehicle he was driving from Pretoria to Durban and he only saw it, or alternatively became aware of it when Willie Nortje handed it over to Sgt Radebe, somewhere in Chesterville.

CHAIRPERSON: There is not even an indication that Vermeulen knew for what purpose...(intervention)

MR SHEZI: That is so, Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: The firearm was handed over.

MR SHEZI: That is so and even at that time, he did not even touch it.  Mr Chairman, I thought that maybe had he told these two legal representatives, they would surely have advised him, but you have committed no offence here, there is no point for you to apply any amnesty because as I indicated, even if he was charged, I do not believe that any competent or right-minded prosecutor will take this thing anywhere, even if is taken anywhere, it was not contested in court.
	I submit Mr Chairman, that his only purpose to bring an application here, it was merely to cover up and dispel any fear that there was any conspiracy from the higher-ups, in the higher echelon's of the C10 Vlakplaas unit.  His application with respect Mr Chairman, is nothing else but a farce.  One cannot understand why Nofomela would just out of the blue, out of whatever vendetta, however that vendetta might be defined, would place himself in the scene, implicate himself on a number of other charges, purely because he wants to get back at de Kock.  I submit, Mr Chairman, that there are far more serious issues, or there are far more many ways even, Nofomela said it before with regard to Mr de Kock, that he was going to take this incident as part of the thing.  The idea that de Kock was sleeping when this whole thing happened, that he never knew anything about it, I submit, Mr Chairman just doesn't make sense.  
	Finally Mr Chairman, shortly after the incident in Chesterville, the shooting, they left.  That whole crew left Durban, they abandoned the main purpose why they came down here i.e. to search for the killers of the Security Policemen, because of the incidence in Chesterville, they just abandoned it and went back.  The people who came to conduct such a search, by their own admission, they had no investigative skills.  These were murder cases, whether of Security policemen or Municipality policemen, they were murder cases, local policemen ought to have been involved, local C I D's ought to have been involved, but they weren't part of it.  I submit a specialised unit was sent to Chesterville to carry out a certain .... (intervention) mission i.e. to kill comrades, i.e. to kill the people that had been assembled at that point in time.  I submit, Mr Chairman that, as I said earlier on, that application by Mr Nofomela in particular, is nothing else but a farce, this is not a Commission of Inquiry, one may add, however Mr Nofomela's application highlights the fact that there were more other forces at play, de Kock and the others were involved.  Those are all my submissions, Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: You mean the case that was raised by the other witnesses was that Nofomela hates de Kock so much that he's prepared to implicate himself in the murders falsely and taking the risk that de Kock is able to bring incontrovertible evidence that places him totally elsewhere from where the scene of the attack was, so he took that risk, if I understood that argument correctly.  He took the risk that he's now going to lie and say that de Kock was on the scene, well knowing or taking the risk that de Kock is able to bring witnesses like it's happened here, to indicate that clearly he was elsewhere, he was somewhere else.