______________________________________________________ DECISION
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These are applications for amnesty by former members of the Vlakplaas Unit of the South African Security Police. At the time of the occurrence of the incident, Colonel Eugene Alexander De Kock was the Commanding Officer of the Unit. The applications arise out of an incident which occurred at Komatipoort in the Western Transvaal when four arms smugglers were killed by Lucas Kilano and Simon Hidimbwasa who worked for the Security Police. The two were former Ovamboland citizens who were previously members of the anti-terrorist Koevoet Unit.
At the commencement of the hearing the Evidence Leader, Ms Ramula Patel, informed the Committee that all attempts to trace the names and whereabouts of the families and relatives of the deceased were in vain. The applications were therefore heard unopposed. At a previous hearing Wouter Mentz, also a former member of the Vlakplaas Unit, testified and sought amnesty for being an accessory after the fact and defeating the ends of justice. It is in respect of the same offences that Klopper and Tait presently seek amnesty.
Briefly, the facts of the matter can be summarised as follows. In 1991 the Vlakplaas Unit was investigating smuggling of weapons from Mozambique into South Africa through Komatipoort. The information came through Willie Nortje who handled a source. The weapons were intended for the military wing of liberation organisations (The ANC and PAC) but were also available for use by supporters of the IFP, the AWB and criminals who used them to commit acts of violence and terror in the Republic of South Africa. The infiltration of arms through the said point had to be stopped and it was decide that those responsible were to be led into a trap. They would be arrested and questioned with the view to establish who they had sold the weapons to.
The operation was carried out with members of the Special Task Force of the South African Defence Force. Simon and Lucas were to be used to pose as prospective buyers and the Applicants also had information that the smugglers were going to be driving towards the South African borders in a white Ford Cortina.
According to the plan, the Applicants and other Special Task Force members were to park their vehicles and wait on a dirt road near the South African borders. Lucas and Simon were to go into Mozambique and lure the suspects into a trap by posing as prospective buyers. They were to bring the suspects to the dirt road and when close to the Applicants and others, who included Wouter Mentz and Willie Nortje, make a signal. The suspects were then to be arrested and interrogated to ascertain who their clients were.
The Applicants and Nortje who also testified, say they waited at the point for quite some time and at some stage abandoned the operation. Later Lucas and Simon came to report that they had shot and killed the suspects because they suspected that the latter were trying to get them into a trap for robbery. They had taken them to some place with a dead-end road for discussion. It is then that they decided to kill the suspects to save their own lives. At that stage the Applicants had already consumed a great deal of liquor, hence the confusion and discrepancies in evidence as to what precisely followed after the report and on whose suggestion. The Applicants decided to withdraw from the area altogether. They went to Schoemans Police Station where there was more consumption of liquor. In his testimony Mentz said he was so drunk he could not clearly recall of the events that followed, let alone the sequence.
At the time there were strong rumours and accusations that the police were using hit squads and "Third Force" operatives against liberation movements. It was particularly feared that if it became known that the police were using ex-Koevoet members, this would compromise the National Party Government in the negotiations which it held with liberation movements to secure a political settlement in the country and would have made things even more difficult for the Nationalist Party Government. What followed thereafter was a cover-up.
Klopper testified that he contacted De Kock and Brigadier Engelbrecht to whom he reported the incident. He then went to the scene of the shooting with photographers. He took Lucas and Simon and Nortje was also in their company. The plan was to "reconstruct" the scene so that it would appear as if the smugglers had opened fire on the Special Task Force members who were parked on the side of the road.
The plan was going to be further that the said members had returned fire in self-defence. The two (2) ex-Koevoet members were to be left completely out of the picture and no mention was made of their involvement or role in the incident. The corpses were taken to the mortuary at Komatipoort where a docket was opened. Mentz made a false affidavit, in line with the concealment of the truth and this was filed in the docket.
Having considered all the evidence, we are of the view that the Applicants are entitled to amnesty. They have complied with the requirements of the Act and appear to have given a full disclosure of all the relevant facts. It is clear that they acted on behalf of the South African Security Police and in furtherance of perceived interests of the previous government.
Amnesty is therefore GRANTED to both Klopper and Tait for the following offences arising from the killing of four alleged arms smugglers at Komatipoort:
1. accessory after the fact to murder;
2. defeating the ends of justice; and
3. For any other offence or delict flowing from the incident.
In his application Klopper also sought amnesty for omission to take steps against Mentz for killing one of the smugglers who he thought was still alive. There is no evidence that the said smuggler was alive at the time and on the contrary evidence being that they were all dead when the Vlakplaas Unit members came, amnesty cannot be considered in this respect. No offence of murder is committed by shooting an already dead person.
SIGNED at CAPE TOWN this day of 2000
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JUDGE A WILSON
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ADV N SANDI
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MR J B SIBANYONI
