Special Hearings — Helderberg Flight Special Hearing — 1998-06-03

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: Mr Chairperson, the procurement person who did the procurement at Somchem for many years, there's a person by the name of Humphreys and I would think that he, Francois Humphreys, would be the suitable person to be able to answer your questions.

CHAIRPERSON: Where can we get hold of him?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: Until recently he was still involved in Somchem and then he was transferred to Denel, head office in Pretoria, but I have an idea that he retired a month or two ago and I do not know exactly where he is at this moment.

CHAIRPERSON: Ms Terreblanche, does that assist you?

UNKNOWN: At this stage it assists me.  I would just like to ask that if either of the two gentlemen have any idea where to locate Mr Decker or Mr Humphreys if they could pass on that information to us.

CHAIRPERSON: Can I just put a few questions.  Now, I don't know if I got it correctly from you, at the time of the Helderberg incident, where you with Armscor?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: That's correct, yes.

CHAIRPERSON: And what position did you hold then?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: Manager of Shipping Services.

CHAIRPERSON: And would the decision to send the Maritime Institute to participate in the investigation taken by you or would it be taken by somebody higher than you?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: No, it was not a decision made by me.  I had to accept that it was made by the Management of Armscor.  I only read about their involvement in the newspapers, I was not involved in the decision making.

CHAIRPERSON: Were you not aware that after the crash, such as it was called, South African Airways and the Military immediately dispatched an aircraft to Mauritius, are you aware of that, and that on board some of this aircraft were a number of Armscor personnel who stayed at the Meridian Hotel in Mauritius?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: At the time that this was arranged I was not aware of the fact.  I read about it for the first time in the newspapers.

CHAIRPERSON: Dr Steyn who was before you confirmed this that there was a group who was sent, and he said it was the Maritime Institute who had been requested by SAA to go and assist in the search.  Now, what did you read in the newspapers, what was the purpose of them going there?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: What I read in the newspapers is that they went to look at certain things which had washed up on the beach, they were looking for certain objects, cargo, I don't know what it was, but they were looking for one or other item which could have washed up from the sea, that's what I read in the newspapers.  What I understood from Armscor when this was said in the newspapers was that they were sent there, IMT was sent there to help with the investigation, but I cannot comment any further, I do not know.

CHAIRPERSON: You yourself never saw the investigation report when your group of people came back, did you?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: No, I did not see it.

CHAIRPERSON: So you know nothing about either their going or their returning or the report that they compiled?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: That's correct, I do not know.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Magadhla?

MR MAGADHLA: Do you know if Armscor participated in the investigation by Justice Margo, by perhaps making a submission as to what their side of the story was?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: No, I am not aware of any submission made by Armscor to the Margo Commission.

MR MAGADHLA: But were you yourself approached by the investigators of the crash itself for your own role as what you were at the time?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: No, I was not approached by the investigative team, I was only approached by my own Management, that of Armscor and at a stage we were visited by the SOS security, who came to question us and look at our records at that stage  as to whether there was any possibility that we had any cargo on that aeroplane, that was my only involvement in the investigation of the Helderberg incident.

MR MAGADHLA: Was it that they felt that it would have happened that you had cargo on that plane and it was left for you to say, no or yes, you did?  Did this mean that, according to them, this would have been practised at times where there would have been any incident like the one, but seeing that now there was this incident, they felt they should come and find out from you whether this time around you had any cargo in that plane, in that particular plane?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: The way in which I interpreted it, was that it was merely a routine visit, because at that stage in the newspapers there were reports or rumours that Armscor could be involved, they did not ignore this, but they then came to ask the questions and do the investigating.

MR MAGADHLA: Their investigation as you know, did not extend beyond the country.  They wouldn't perhaps have investigated Armscor activities in Taipei for instance, or in Israel, with regards to conveying that kind of stuff in aeroplanes?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: It is very difficult for me to comment on this question because I cannot say yes or no, whether the airline SAA or the Margo Commission did such investigations, I'm not aware of any such investigations.  I cannot answer, I do not know.

MR MAGADHLA: Would you have been part of a panel or a group of officials of Armscor who would have received a briefing from representatives of Armscor in that situation, for instance, a representative of Armscor would have under normal circumstances perhaps after the whole investigation, the whole Margo report or Commission, would then have come to that panel of people or that group of people, officials to say, look this is how it has all gone, our contribution has been appreciated and this is - now it's over?

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: At that stage, I'm now referring to the late 80's, '87 when the accident took place, I was not in the Senior Management team of Armscor and if such sessions were held, then I was not involved because I have no knowledge of any such sessions.

MR MAGADHLA: Thank you.

UNKNOWN: Mr Chair, I think we have concluded.

CHAIRPERSON: Well, it remains for me, Mr Steyl, to thank you and your legal representative, Mr Peyaga, for having come and in circumstances where notice was possibly short where you could not even try and get documentation if you would have been able to from your offices or the offices which you held at the time.  I would like you to appreciate that this is an enquiry we are having to do in the light of persistent requests from families of people lost friends and relatives in that tragedy.  It's an enquiry that we would have loved to do on the scale of the Margo Enquiry, but we just do not have the resources and the capacity and the time to do it in, but we are trying and endeavouring to come to terms with the reality of this tragedy, but our own direction is to follow the paths that we hope will reveal at some stage the truth about what happened, and I'm sure it will be in the interest of everybody if we're able to get to that truth.  And to the extent that you have contributed to telling the story in your own way, in the way in which you heard whether it was rumours, and in the way in which you have information that you can share with us to that extent, we thank you.  You are excused and in the event, as Ms Terreblanche asked, you are able to trace or assist us in tracing people in Somchem who you consider might shed light on this mystery, we would be very much indebted to you if you could let us know, whether by yourself or through your legal representative, Mr Peyaga.  You're excused.

JOHAN LODEWIKUS STEYL: Thank you very much.
WITNESS EXCUSED

UNKNOWN: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman ...(intervention)

CHAIRPERSON: Do you have any further evidence, Ms Terreblanche?