Amnesty Hearings — Pretoria — UNKNOWN

MR DERBY-LEWIS: She was Miss Chris Steyn, it is clear on this letter.

GEORGE BIZOS: Was she married or have any association with a person in the security police at the time?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Not to the best of my knowledge, Mr Chairman, no.

GEORGE BIZOS: Whatever she may have been, at the time that you wrote this on the 30th of the 4th 1993, did you intend pleading not guilty to the charges that you were going to face?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, I was clearly stating that I was taking responsibility for the attack.  That was my only intention.

GEORGE BIZOS: What was the question?  Did you intend pleading guilty  ... (intervention).

MR DERBY-LEWIS: The question was if I intended pleading guilty.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did you intend pleading guilty to the charges on which you were arrested?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: I said when I sent this out I only had one intention, and that was to claim responsibility.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did you intend pleading guilty in court?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, I have answered this to the best of my ability.  At that stage I wasn't even in court, the whole thing was still being investigated.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: There wasn't even finality as to whether I was going to be brought before the Court. I was still held under Section 29.

GEORGE BIZOS: Mr Derby-Lewis, this is an admission of liability, is it not?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: That is correct.

GEORGE BIZOS: Freely and voluntarily made.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Yes.

GEORGE BIZOS: Nobody forced you to write to Miss Steyn that you were - that you were guilty.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: That I accepted responsibility, yes.

GEORGE BIZOS: Now why did you think that she would keep this highly prejudicial statement on your part a secret from the police?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, the media have certain codes of ethics, and I was kind of relying on that.

GEORGE BIZOS: Well ...

MR DERBY-LEWIS: But I didn't send this to her directly, I didn't give it to her directly.  In fact, I can't, I mentioned earlier in my testimony that I couldn't remember how I got it out of my Section 29 detention.

GEORGE BIZOS: Let me just get clarity on your understanding of journalistic ethics. Did you expect Miss Steyn, as a journalist and the editor of The Citizen, that if they got a written confession, such as this appears to be, that you had killed Mr Chris Hani, to keep quiet about it?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, there was no signature on this document to indicate that it came from me, only my handwriting.

GEORGE BIZOS: Well, how would she have known that it came from you?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, I was hoping that with her journalistic knowledge that she would be able to put two and two together and accept it came from me.

GEORGE BIZOS: But why did you trust Miss Steyn to keep this secret of yours when you realised that she could put two and two together and you must have had some respect for the police handwriting expert, why did you take this chance?  Unless you trusted her that she would keep your secret.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, I identified her as one of the few journalists who exist, whose ethics and integrity are more important than anything else.

GEORGE BIZOS: Keeping quiet about murder is good journalistic ethics?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, we have even - we have even witnessed people shooting scenes of people being murdered without intervening. What is the difference?

GEORGE BIZOS: Just answer my question, please.  Did you consider receiving a document admitting to murder good journalistic ethics to keep quiet about it and not hand it over to the police?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: I believed that she would not disclose this, because she was a person of integrity.

GEORGE BIZOS: But ... (intervention).

BERNARD MAKGABO NGOEPE: Sorry.  The question is: did you consider thAT - would you consider that as good journalistic ethics to keep quiet about a document admitting to murder?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Not necessarily, no, Mr Chairman.

JUDGE WILSON: Why did you send that to her?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Because I wanted responsibility for the act, actually I wanted to more motivate why the attack was carried out.

GEORGE BIZOS: We will come to that.  What did you hope she would do with it?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: I hoped that she would do a story on it, and say that she has received a statement with the following information.

GEORGE BIZOS: Did you not expect that the police would pounce on her and say give us the document that you got?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: I didn't, no, Mr Chairman. I don't know to what extent the Press is protected in terms of confidentiality.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Derby-Lewis, correct me.  Do I gather the impression that what you are really trying to do by sending this statement was to make a political statement?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: That's correct, Mr Chairman.

CHAIRPERSON: You were declaring a political statement in which you were claiming responsibility for what had happened.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: That is correct.

CHAIRPERSON: Is that the purpose of it?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: That is correct, Mr Chairman.

SISI KHAMPEPE: May I interpose, Mr Bizos?  Mr Derby-Lewis, how would Miss Steyn have been able to put two and two together that you were the author of that document?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Well, Mr Chairman, I was in detention as she knew and once she read the contents of this, it would have been patently obvious.

CHAIRPERSON: Or it might become clear to her, depending upon who handed it to her.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: As well, Mr Chairman, although as I mentioned, it couldn't remember who I tried to get it through to her.

GEORGE BIZOS: Are you telling the Committee the truth that you smuggled out a highly incriminating document whilst you were alone in a cell and you can't remember who you gave it to?  Whom are you protecting?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Mr Chairman, I am honestly telling this Committee and I have no reason to protect anybody, because as far as I know that's not an offence under the amnesty legislation. I really honestly do not remember. It was four and a half years ago, and I wasn't only detained in a cell, Mr Chairman, I was moved all around the building. I was moved from the Uniform branch section of the building to the Murder and Robbery squad section of the building. I was moved into a separate building where the security police were located and I don't know.  Somebody may, I may have contacted someone, but I really don't know who it was.  Otherwise I would have stated it, Mr Chairman. I have no reason to withhold that information.

GEORGE BIZOS: Now if your answer to the Chairman of the Committee, Judge Mall, is correct, can you please explain why you didn't seek the opportunity when you were asked to plead, to make the political statement that you did it for the reasons that you set out in E11?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Because I was advised by my legal representative to plead not guilty.

GEORGE BIZOS: But surely, if you killed for the purposes of starting a counter-revolution, Mr Derby-Lewis, as you have told us, you are not so weakly minded that you would listen to a legal representative who would deny you the moment of glory in open court, with the world Press to listen to you, that I did this for my God, for my people, for my country, as you say at the end of E11.  Why didn't you take that opportunity if you were prepared to take the opportunity of smuggling the document out?

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Because I didn't see any glory of what I have done, Mr Chairman and I didn't seek any glory for what I have done.

GEORGE BIZOS: You see if any political objective was being sought to be achieved by trying to smuggle this document out, Mr Derby-Lewis, was because you must have known that your anonymity would have been protected by this person that you sent it to, and that it was really for propaganda purposes that you put it out.

MR DERBY-LEWIS: Is that a question, Mr Chairman?

GEORGE BIZOS: Everything I ask is a question.  (Laughter).  (Applause).