Amnesty Hearings — Bloemfontein — 1997-03-27

MR DE RU: And I would also just like to say that my motive to, when one looks at these people who tried to overthrow the Government and through their acts that they did, that I tried to stop them so that I could keep the Government of the day in power and later on, I was informed by Voigt and the officers later on that it was approved and that I would be protected.  These acts and instructions, I now see them as unlawful, but not then.  Then it was part of my duties and in investigation of attacks and murders on farmers and that I believed that I was actually promoting stability in the rural area and to try to keep the Government in power and that you will see my acts in this regard.
	I believed in the policy of the National Party, the apartheid policy and I believed that I had to do my duty as best I possibly can.  I also believed that in every instance I acted to the benefit of the Government and the White community, especially the farmers and the aged people and that my contribution or that my acts contributed to keep the Government in power.  
	Your Honours, you already have knowledge of the testimony of General van der Merwe and this also applies to me.  I am only going to mention a small part of this.  The opinion of members of the security on grassroots level that they had approval of the previous Government, that they actually could commit these acts, were justified.  
	I also want to mention to you that in his testimony that there were never reports with true facts as now presented to the Truth Commission and he also said that that fact that there was not any action taken against these members, could also lead to these beliefs as I already 
mentioned it to you.  I realise today that I was involved in a war to keep the Government and apartheid in power.  I was loyal and I had belief in the South African Police and the whole system of the Government and I would follow that at all costs and I would also have protected and defended it.  I did my duties in such a way and I believed in what I did and that I believed that it was right and it was good and that it was approved by my heads and I believed that all attacks on farmers were politically motivated and that it was part of the ANC and PAC and that they were seen as soft targets.  
	Your Honour, I want to conclude, I want to quote from the Honourable Benjamin Franklin, 
"When you have an injustice against someone, it places you as the same as your enemy and to forgive someone, places you above him".
I ask you and the Commission to forgive me and also the friends and family of the victims to forgive me.  I would also like to ask my colleagues, my parents, my parents-in-law, my children and my family as well as my wife and also the Afrikaner community who I served to the best of my ability.  
	I thank you for the opportunity to come and testify before you.  I also thank each person present here for their support, as well as Advocate Becker of the State Attorney's office and the investigators there.  And I also ask the family and friends of the deceased and thank them for their attitude of forgiveness towards me.  I also thank the Afrikaners and the aged in Koppies, Parys, Heilbron and the whole district of Kroonstad who supported me in my application.  And also express my thanks to the Free State Agricultural Union for the letter which they also lodged to this Commission and which will be submitted by my legal representative and for everything which was done for me and my family.  Thank you your Honour.

MR MADASA: Mr de Ru, how was your relationship, during your career as a policeman, with the farming community in the Free State?

JUDGE WILSON: He has told us that several times, hasn't he?

MR MADASA: As Mr Chair pleases.  Mr de Ru, when you killed these two people what did you want to achieve?  What was your purpose?

MR DE RU: It is as I explained to the Commission, your Honour, and I accept that the Committee understood it as such.

MR MADASA: Okay.  During your career as a policeman did you all the time work in the Free State or was there a stage when you worked outside of the Free State?

MR DE RU: Your Lordship, I served in the Free State throughout my entire police career.  It started in Theunissen, which is a farming community, Virginia which is also a farming community, Sasolburg, back to Virginia and back to Sasolburg.  Basically I served the entire Northern Free State.

MR MADASA: That is all Mr Chair.
NO FURTHER QUESTIONS BY MR MADASA

JUDGE WILSON: Mr Mpshe.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Thank you Mr Chairman.  Mr de Ru, at the time when you committed or at the time when you killed the two deceased what was your rank?

MR DE RU: I was a Captain, your Honour, a Detective-Captain.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Between a Colonel and a Captain who is senior?

JUDGE WILSON: I think we can take knowledge, judicial knowledge of that Mr Mpshe.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Thank you Mr Mpshe.

MR DE RU: Thank you, your Honour.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Now to, as a policeman, to which department were you attached, which section?

MR DE RU: I was attached to the Investigative Unit of which I was the Commanding Officer.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Yes, you have said that, but in the police force there are various sections like Murder and Robbery, like Vehicle Theft Unit and so forth.

MR DE RU: As I indicated, I was the Commanding Officer of the Investigative Unit and I was tasked with investigating murder and robbery on the farms.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: So, can I accept that you are attached to Murder and Robbery?

MR DE RU: Yes, your Honour, but not the Murder and Robbery Unit.  I would not have been the Murder and Robbery Unit's Commanding Officer.  Perhaps I could assist by explaining that the Murder and Robbery Unit were specialised units.  We did not have a Murder and Robbery Unit in the Kroonstad district.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Now would I be correct to state that in your position as you stated to this Committee, your duty was to investigate criminal matters?

MR DE RU: Yes.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: And right through your career as a policeman you dealt, you were dealing with criminals only?

MR DE RU: That is correct.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Will I be correct, Sir, then if I state that the deceased, Johannes Rampalile, when he was arrested, he was arrested purely as a criminal?

MR DE RU: That would be correct, your Honour, but I would like you to take note of the fact that I did not arrest Johannes Rampalile myself.  I was requested to go and do the identification with him.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Good, then I stand under correction.  When you took him out to do, to show you the scene, to point out and to take photos necessary, you were doing that with a criminal?

MR DE RU: That is correct.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Now, the two killings, did you do them on behalf of the AWB organisation of which you were a member?

MR DE RU: No, your Honour.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: You did the two killings in order to stamp out the criminal element that was existing in the area there, is that correct?

MR DE RU: Seen in the light of the testimony which I have already given, that persons who committed such crimes were politically orientated.  There was a difference between them.  I locked up thousands of criminals, I was a detective for 20 years.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Mr de Ru, during your time as a policeman was there no Security Branch in the Free State dealing with the political incidents?

MR DE RU: I did mention at some stage, your Honour, that there were such things as Security Branches, but all their investigations were channelled back to the Investigative Unit.  Examples of which I can mention about policemen who were murdered, arson, attacks on schools and so forth, policeman's houses which were set alight, all those investigations were done by the Investigative Branch.

MOKOTEDI MPSHE: Mr de Ru, are you telling this Committee that in the whole of the Free State there was no Security Branch, the whole of the Free State?