Amnesty Hearings — Boksburg — 1998-06-17

MS VAN DER WALT: And then the evidence was then further that, and Judge Flemming finding was also that Koekemoer could then or told the police that there was a bomb on it's way to Johannesburg and that he did not do it, is that correct?

MR LE ROUX: At that stage the telephone worked and the: "marnet" radio worked, everything was available for him.  He also knew that we would be away from the farm for quite a while but he didn't do anything.

MS VAN DER WALT: After this bomb went of in Bree Street, where did you go then?

MR LE ROUX: I went back to Koesterfontein and from there we went to Ventersdorp.  Barnard said that he wanted to pick up money at headquarters for petrol for the people who had to plant the bomb.

MS VAN DER WALT: If you know talk about headquarters are you talking about the AWB headquarters?

MR LE ROUX: Yes.

MS VAN DER WALT: And Eugene Terreblanche works from that office?

MR LE ROUX: Yes.

MS VAN DER WALT: Was a further decision made that Sunday that there'd be further explosions?

MR LE ROUX: While driving back Myburgh told me that they wanted to plant a bomb in one of the residential areas of Johannesburg.  From Koesterfontein we went to Ventersdorp.  First we went to the head office, I think he got money but I can't confirm that but he did hand out money to the people for petrol.
	After that we went to his house on the farm and there we took a shower.  After that we went to the farmhouse General Nico Prinsloo, there we picked up a trailer of the AWB, hooked it and went again back to Koesterfontein.

MS VAN DER WALT: At Koesterfontein, what did you do there?

MR LE ROUX: At Koesterfontein we again started building a bomb in the trailer.

MS VAN DER WALT: Why was it build in the trailer?

MR LE ROUX: We asked Nico Prinsloo to provide us with vehicles, cars, for the bombs that we are building but at that stage there weren't any vehicles available as nobody stole any so we began to build this in the trailer.

MS VAN DER WALT: If you talk about: "we", who is this?

MR LE ROUX: It was Koekemoer, Barnard and myself.

MS VAN DER WALT: Yes?

MR LE ROUX: We took a gas bottle as the principle part of the bomb.  It was a gas bottle that was full of gas.  We then tied cortex around this gas bottle and placed it within the trailer with the same idea that we had with the previous bomb.  We then put loose explosives around this gas bottle in the trailer, we then picked up shrapnel, metal, and placed it on this bomb.  The next morning we would place sand on top of it just to stack it together.

MS VAN DER WALT: This bomb, did it also have a fuse or how would you detonate it?

MR LE ROUX: This bomb worked differently, it had a crisis detonator.  It was - from within the car we had a wire that led from the trailer to the car so if we go into a roadblock we could then detonate it there.

MS VAN DER WALT: But if you then detonate it, what would happen to the occupants of the car?

MR LE ROUX: They had to leave the car and run and that was one of our discussion points.

MS VAN DER WALT: With the building of this bomb, what was discussed?

MR LE ROUX: The discussion went around where we would place this bomb.  Barnard was responsible for this and we decided to place it in the Eastern side of Johannesburg.  Barnard said that he thinks the best place is at Germiston station and I told him that it is deserted and it's not like in the past, but not far from there is a taxi rank and close to that there is a big Volkskas building which would also heighten the effect of the bomb.
	He then agreed with the placing of the bomb there.  One of the points that we also took into consideration was that the highway near Germiston also ended there and we could easily escape from there.

MS VAN DER WALT: Whose vehicle would you use then to pull this trailer?

MR LE ROUX: At that stage he looked for a car or vehicle, I do not know how he got it but he contacted Jan de Wet.

MS VAN DER WALT: Jan de Wet is also an applicant?

MR LE ROUX: That's correct Chairperson.

MS VAN DER WALT: Yes?

MR LE ROUX: He had a trailer and that evening while we were building this bomb he arrived ...[intervention]

MS VAN DER WALT: This is now Jan de Wet?

MR LE ROUX: Yes.  The following he and Flokkie, also an applicant, arrived there - sorry, was dropped off the previous evening and he stayed with us that night.
	The following day, that is now the Monday the 25th in the morning, I took my car and I pulled the trailer up to where we were not far from the house.  There we put soil or ground on it and at that stage the other applicant also arrived.  
	We then hooked this trailer onto his car and took the wire through up into the car and we were on our way to Germiston.  I drove and we were also in radio contact.

MS VAN DER WALT: Did you drive alone in the leader car?

MR LE ROUX: That same morning another applicant, du Plessis, he arrived and he drove with me in training for the next bomb that we would place.

MS VAN DER WALT: And did you then indicate the place where the bomb would go off?

MR LE ROUX: We drove into Germiston, I first indicated one place, I don't think they saw me, the second place I indicated with pointed over my shoulder where to plant the bomb and then after I indicated the second place I saw that he understood what I meant.  He stopped and drove into a one-way.
	Afterwards I saw that the car with the bomb was driving past me and at that stage I did not know where they were going but I could not follow him.  Johan du Plessis and myself then decided to escape or get away out of Germiston because they knew where to place the bomb.

MS VAN DER WALT: And did you then hear that the bomb did explode?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, I did.

MS VAN DER WALT: You are talking now about the places that you indicated to where they must plant the bomb, that is now the taxi rank and the Volkskas building, did you have a specific target or what was the purpose of placing a bomb there?

MR LE ROUX: Mr Chairperson, I knew at that stage that in the Volkskas building there was an East Rand, as I understood the East Rand's CEO and that was one of the reasons why we wanted to, or this police station we wanted to target them.

MS VAN DER WALT: Why?

MR LE ROUX: Because the police were part of the current government or of the previous government then.

MS VAN DER WALT: After you left from Germiston, where did you go to from there?

MR LE ROUX: From Germiston we went back to Koesterfontein.  At Koesterfontein we again went to the game farm.

MS VAN DER WALT: Koekemoer at that stage when the Germiston bomb left that Monday morning, he was once again alone on the farm according to the evidence in Court and he once again did not contact the police?

MR LE ROUX: Yes, he was alone again.

CHAIRPERSON: Mrs van der Walt if you've reached a convenient stage do you think we could adjourn now?

MS VAN DER WALT: I think it is an appropriate time.

CHAIRPERSON: We'll adjourn for tea.
COMMITTEE ADJOURNS
ON RESUMPTION

ETIENNE J LE ROUX: (s.u.o.)

CHAIRPERSON: Gentlemen, I'm going to give you three minutes to take all your photographs, be my guest.  After that I'm going to carry on.

MS VAN DER WALT: Mr le Roux, you have mentioned to the Committee that you were in Germiston and you and Mr du Plessis then returned, did you go back to Koesterfontein?

MR LE ROUX: That is correct.

MS VAN DER WALT: And did you see Mr de Wet and Vlok that day?

MR LE ROUX: I'm not sure but we definitely saw them on the game farm.

MS VAN DER WALT: And when you arrived at Koesterfontein, what happened there?

MR LE ROUX: At Koesterfontein we found Koekemoer there and we returned with him to the game farm.

MS VAN DER WALT: You have no knowledge concerning what happened on the game farm with regards to pipe bombs?