Amnesty Hearings — Cape Town — 1997-11-17

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes, that is correct.  It was a normal, standard practice in the security police from the times of Rhodesia, South West Africa, that there was a certain bounty money paid or head money paid, that if a certain killing was made then the askaris would receive money.  In this case they receive R7 000,00 and that was done with the approval of the Commissioner of the Police and the Head of the Security Police.

MR BOOYENS: But that was policy, you had nothing to do with that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, but I would just have given the motivation on the ground and I then would have channelled it through all the normal channels to the top.

MR BOOYENS: Did you, as an ordinary member, did you receive any head money or any compensation?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, I did not.

MR BOOYENS: You mention, as far as orders are concerned, the following.  Colonel de Kock, your erstwhile Commanding Officer, had nothing to do with the situation on the ground as far as you were aware.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: Was Colonel de Kock in any way involved in the planning of this?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, he was not involved in the planning and I can give you some background as to how the chain of command worked.

MR BOOYENS: Yes, I think you should do that.

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I have known de Kock from the 1980's, I have a great deal of respect for him.  He was a Commanding Officer and he kept very strictly to the rules and he would only have sent us down to Cape Town on the request of the Cape Town Security Police.  I reported to him from time to time, but we actually fell under the command of the Cape Town Security Branch and he said to me that we were under the command of the Cape Town people, we should follow their orders.  So, the allegation was made that we came especially from Pretoria to come and shoot dead the Guguletu 7, that is absolute rubbish.  With all respect, I must say then, Colonel de Kock would have done that operation himself if that was the case.  He would not have allowed a junior to do it.  At that stage he was very, very strict in regard to this kind of operation.  So, there was absolutely no question of not knowing what was happening on the ground.

MR BOOYENS: So, when you say that the orders that de Kock gave to you, those were orders that you should come down to Cape Town and infiltrate?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.  Our primary task in Vlakplaas was the identification of the then freedom fighters, whether they were ANC's or PAC's.  We did not only come down to a specific area where there was trouble.  The askaris were the eyes and ears, our eyes and ears and they were used to, perhaps, take up position in places where there was drug smuggling or taxi ranks to try and track down some of their former colleagues and sometimes these things led to a shooting.  So, the primary line was I would never have done anything before clearing it with Colonel de Kock and we were very, very strict as to that chain of command.

MR BOOYENS: Directly in command on the ground was Major Odendal from the Riot Squad?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.  He was the senior rank on the ground at that stage.

MR BOOYENS: And in your planning was Lieutenant Liebenberg also your senior in rank although, as you said, you played a very large role in the planning of this operation?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: In the press one has read certain reports, I do not know what it was based on, but that these people were actually ambushed by yourselves, they were lured into an ambush and that you used ajan provocateurs to actually lead them into this ambush and led them to their death, you wanted to eliminate them.  Is that correct?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is not correct.  I believe that if we knew where they lived and we wanted to kill them or eliminate them, because the word "eliminate" means kill, we would have done so at their homes, at their addresses.  I certainly would not have arranged it for a Monday morning peak hour when I could have been shot or some of my other colleagues could have lost their lives.  If I wanted to eliminate them I would have done so at specific points and they would not have known about it to this day and if my askaris, during their infiltration, had done anything of which I was not aware, then I will assume the full responsibility for myself and my askaris and the members in Cape Town who were my seniors and who say that they were not aware of us, I will then take the responsibility that I mislead them, because I said I was from Vlakplaas, because now, unfortunately, nobody knows who Riaan Bellingan from Vlakplaas is.

MR BOOYENS: Mr Bellingan, if we can, perhaps, get clarity on some other point.  In one of the witness statements reference was made to a man by the name of Benting and I am drawing the inference here that he is making an allegation that it was you, I am referring to the affidavit of page 389, that you were the man in the blue jacket and that you had shot somebody who was lying on his stomach, that you shot this person in the head.  Did you do that?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: No, I did not.

MR BOOYENS: You shot one person there?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: That is correct.

MR BOOYENS: In the circumstances which you already explained?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: Yes.

MR BOOYENS: And as far as the other people are concerned, you can tell us that there was a shooting.  Did you hear an explosion which could have been a hand grenade?

W RIAAN BELLINGAN: I heard the explosion and I know there was a shooting, but I cannot testify about the other people involved in the shooting.

MR BOOYENS: Just a moment please.  Mr Chairman, if necessary, I will just, after the inspection, and I understand there is a video and maybe it may be relevant that we may just have to deal slightly with Mr Bellingan's evidence in chief as a result thereof, but for the time being I am finished with him.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR BOOYENS

MR BOOYENS: It may, perhaps, even be, if I may suggest, I do not want to suggest to my learned friend how she should do it, I do not know whether the Commission has seen the video, but I think his evidence, with respect, would be, perhaps, more understandable.  It is a video that was taken on the scene very shortly after the incident and I would suggest that it may, in fact, shorten proceedings if everybody had a look at it, but that is entirely up to the Commission and up to my learned friend, the evidence leader.

CHAIRPERSON: What are your views Ms Patel?

MS PATEL: Thank you Mr Chairperson, I have discussed this with the other legal representatives and it seems that this is an appropriate time at which to show the video.

CHAIRPERSON: It may be that having seen the video the need for an inspection falls away.  So, perhaps, it would be.

MR BOOYENS: That is what I am angling for, Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: I understood you were going to go and do it on your own.  Very well, we will now, I take it this video was prepared by the police at the scene?  We will now have this video.  Can, now we have got two Mr Williams' have we not?

MR WILLIAMS: Mr Chairperson, I have had sight of the video ... (intervention).

CHAIRPERSON: Oh.

MR WILLIAMS: ... on a few occasions.  I can possibly see from the angle that I am at.  I do not have a problem.

CHAIRPERSON: If any of the representatives have difficulty they can move around.  Could we have the lamp immediately above the video turned off?  Immediately above the screen turned off.
VIDEO SCREENING
"MR LABUSCHAGNE:  26 February 1986, die tyd is nou sewe minute voor twee in die middag en ons staan hierso by Mondingweg reg voor Monding Hoer Skool.  Verskeie klippe kan nou gesien word op (...indistinct)weg ..."
... (intervention).

MR BOOYENS: Mr Chairperson, ... (intervention).
VIDEO SCREENING
"MR LABUSCHAGNE:  ... (...indistinct) Monding Hoer Skool ..."
... (intervention).