MR LEWIN: Mrs Beech are you comfortable?
MRS BEECH: Yes.
MR LEWIN: And is it alright that you will be speaking in English? Because we do have facilities if you want to speak...
MRS BEECH: No, it is alright.
MR LEWIN: And if I could please ask you to stand and take the oath.
MRS BEECH: (sworn states)
MR LEWIN: I will ask Tom Manthata please to lead the evidence today. Thank you.
MR MANTHATA: Who has come with you?
MRS BEECH: My daughter, Dina and my son, Gordon.
MR MANTHATA: That is fantastic. You are all welcome. Please feel at home. Relax.
Mrs Beech can you just tell us about the death of your son, Robert in Zimbabwe.
MRS BEECH: Well in 1980 we came to South Africa from Zimbabwe and in 1980 my son joined the SADF. He was in the Recci and path finder unit.
In the beginning of 1982 he was transferred to another unit and in August the 3rd he left our home for the last time, in 1982. From then on we heard nothing from him. When he died, we were told on the 21st, they knocked on our door and they said, I am very sorry your son, Rob, had been killed. We were told to keep our mouths shut. We were to talk to nobody in Zimbabwe. We were to go to no trade mission. We were just to keep ourselves to ourselves. And that is what we did.
So, really, you know, the whole thing is totally unacceptable to us, because we do not know what happened to him, we do not know where he is and we would like to have his body brought back to us so that we can bury him, put in the right place, so that all my family can rest in the future days. And ourselves we have all suffered from family problems, we have had ill health, just because we do not know. We hear this, we hear that and it is just not fair.
The Death Certificate showed us that he was killed of multiple injuries in Pretoria. Well, he was supposed to be killed in Zimbabwe. So where was he killed?
You know it is just not fair. And I mean they emphasised the situation that he was killed in Zimbabwe on an unauthorised mission. But how did he get a Propatria medal?
I mean I have got extra newspaper pieces that I got and yesterday's newspaper, saying that they never sent anybody on unauthorised missions. And here I got another piece of newspaper of only a few days earlier, saying that that is what they were doing. I have got it with me to give you.
I have also got pay slips. I have also got his tax form. When he filled in his tax forms in 1981 he filled in a form with his father, because he hated forms. I posted them. He got a rebate. When he was killed, a year
later we were still waiting for the estate to be sorted out, telling us that they had never heard of him. His tax papers had disappeared, they said, lost.
We would like to know actually - now they came and told us on the morning of the 21st of August, that they had to tell us that our son had been killed, because the Zimbabwean press were going to release it that night on television or whatever it was.
Now, how did they identify the bodies? And who identified them and where are they? What happened to them?
.... he said that they were unauthorised, I mean it is totally untrue. I mean, he must have known. There was also a group of black soldiers with him on this mission. We believe that they all returned. We do not know. We actually do not know what happened to him, where he went to or anything.
What we have got, is what we have picked up from the press or stories what people said, you know what happened to our brother, do you know what happened to your son... That is it.
So I do not know. We also, my sons, I have got five other sons and people would say, oh, you have got other children. I would say, yes I have got two daughters and five sons. Oh, that is fine. So you won't... I mean how does that feel. You will miss your son forever. And the other kids miss him too. It is not fair on them. I feel for them that this must be put right because my kids also deserve a life that are living here today.
And I feel that this is a fair request. And I would like you to help us please.
MR MANTHATA: Robert went into the Army through this compulsory conscription?
MRS BEECH: He volunteered as a Permanent Force. He joined in August of 1980. Permanent Army, SADF.
MR MANTHATA: He had volunteered?
MRS BEECH: Yes, he was a soldier from school. He loved the Army. It was his life.
MR MANTHATA: Were there any conditions for volunteering into the Army?
MRS BEECH: As far as I... He signed up in the Permanent Force. He was supposed to have done a one year temporary service, but I have got here that he has finished his temporary and he was now on permanent. And he was actually within his third year of Permanent Force, south African Defence Force. He was with the Parabats. He was with path finders and CSI.
MR MANTHATA: Or he had accepted even the promotions.
MRS BEECH: He was taken in as a Sergeant, because we were not South African citizens and when he came home one day, it must have been about July of 1982, guess what mom, I have been promoted to Major. I have got his uniforms at home, but they would not give him that rank officially, until he had his citizenship in his hand and then it was too late.
MR MANTHATA: How long had you been in South Africa before Robert joined the Force.
MRS BEECH: We arrived in South Africa on the 18 of August 1980. He joined the Army of that same month.
He actually applied for the Army in Rhodesia and he was accepted and he went into the Army a little while later.
MR MANTHATA: So, the biggest dissatisfaction is that it
was disclosed to the family how he died.
MRS BEECH: We do not know. They just came to the door and they said, we are very sorry to tell you, Bob has been killed. That was the story. We do not know where he was killed. We do not know who he was with when he was killed. In fact the two who were supposed to have been killed with him, we know nothing. Well we are ... we know nothing.
MR MANTHATA: And you were not even given the remains to bury?
MRS BEECH: No. Nothing. We had never had anything to prove that my son is even dead. I mean, we have no body, we have no story. We have nothing. We were not allowed to go to Zimbabwe. We were told to keep out of that country. And that is what we did. So for many many many years we did not ....
My brother actually was still living out there at the time and he phoned me and I said, I am sorry you have got the wrong number. That was to my brother.
MR MANTHATA: Let me hold my questions there. Let me give it back to the Chairperson.
MR LEWIN: Mrs Beech I just ask the other Commissioners if they have any questions.
DR RANDERA: Mrs Beech you know you gave us one of these press cuttings. And it says there that, this was after the enquiry that was held by the Army and General Viljoen, the Head of the Army at the time, actually made some statements, but says here that your son was accompanied by David Barry and John Andrew Wessels.
MRS BEECH: That is right. They were also killed as well.
DR RANDERA: They were also killed?
MRS BEECH: As far as we know. I do not know. I mean we presume so. I do not know what happened to them.
DR RANDERA: And it also says there were 14 black Zimbabwean soldiers who accompanied, well, Zimbabweans, there were soldiers in the South African Army then.
MRS BEECH: Well the South African blacks who were with him, as far as we know, we waited three months for Robert's memorial, because I could not stand the waiting any longer, to have something. And those blacks attended the memorial, but my sons wanted to ask them questions, but they were removed in trucks in seconds. I could not even tell you what they look like. We were not allowed to talk to them.
DR RANDERA: So you were never sent a full report of that enquiry were you?
MRS BEECH: No, we know nothing.
DR RANDERA: Thank you.
MS SEROKE: Mrs Beech I can imagine how you have agonized all these years for a son who was supposed to have died but you have no proof of his death, but I suppose I could not say there is hope, you must be watching the media, through your television and newspapers. The sort of revelations that are coming out as a result of the amnesty applications and I can only say that probably very soon something is going to come up, perhaps through that there is a hope that you can cling to. That somebody somewhere is going to apply for amnesty and explain what happened to Robert.
MRS BEECH: Yes, because that is all we really want, is a little bit of peace to live with. You know, I am not a
young person any more. And I sit back and I watch my grand kids now beginning to feel the pressure of all this. And it is just not right. You know, I feel it is just not right. Something must be done for all of us, just to live with. And we would like the bodies brought back. We just would like Robert brought back to South Africa, or wherever the body is, so we can live with it.
MS SEROKE: Was Robert married or did he have children.
MRS BEECH: No he was single.
DR RANDERA: Thank you.
MR LEWIN: Mrs Beech I am as puzzled as you are, I think by the nature in which, the way in which you were actually informed of this. I see that one of the cuttings that you gave us is from the Citizen in 1982, which names the three people who were killed. And it talks about... It does not actually use the phrase 'cross border raid' but I mean that is obviously what it was about. And then it was only, well less than a year later that you get the letter from this Brig Terblanche, Chief of the Army.
MRS BEECH: With his Propatria.
MR LEWIN: This Propatria medal, No 109751, awarded to Robert for the part he played in the defence of our country against the onslaught of terrorism. And that is all you had ever had.
MRS BEECH: What I gave you in my statement, except for these two pieces here and I ... the Caprivi was in the SADF.
MR LEWIN: How do you feel about that? I mean how did you feel about it at the time? You came down from Zimbabwe in 1980 and then how did you feel about this business of the onslaught of terrorism?
MRS BEECH: Well, I mean my kids were in the Rhodesian forces when they left school. You know you can live with a war if you know how to handle it. I lived with it pretty well I think and Robert was a soldier from 17 and he used to say to me, mom I wish I could leave the Army for you and dad. And I said to him, Robert if your day is going to be a bullet, that must be the way it goes, because that is where you belong. And in a way he was quite happy with that arrangement.
So I was not paranoid about all this carrying on. You know, I am not new to the game.
MR LEWIN: What did you... I mean you obviously thought about it a great deal and discussed it a great deal, have you ever come up with any explanation for what might have happened?
MRS BEECH: O well, you come up with this idea, you know somebody might say, you know we heard that Robert was, for example, oh well they would just give a reason, you know, then I will think about it and I will feel, well that fits, and then I will maybe say to somebody else, oh, I heard the story today da da da da. And they will say, well I heard one too and this is the story and that also fits, but nothing fits, nothing.
MR LEWIN: And you also gave us a letter from Magnus Malan, expressing deep regret. That was also quite early, that was within a month. I mean, at the time you say you were told not to say anything. Who actually told you?
MRS BEECH: The SADF.
MR LEWIN: Were they the people who came to the door?
MRS BEECH: They came to the door and I remember Maj
Danning, standing with his foot up against my dining room wall and he said, we would prefer you not to have any communication with Zimbabwe. You are not to go to the Zimbabwean trade mission. We will see into the matter. And nothing has been done. Nothing. Nothing.
MR LEWIN: That was in 1982?
MRS BEECH: That was in 1982, August the 21st.
MR LEWIN: And I mean what did you feel about that? Did you have any sort of understanding about why they were making this demand?
MRS BEECH: No, we did not, because we were new to the country really. That came as a very big sort of a sudden blow, if you would like to call it that and one does not think why did this happen and why did that. You only think about that later. When you have time to put it together.
MR LEWIN: Were you living with your family here in Benoni at the time?
MRS BEECH: We were actually living in Kempton Park at the time.
MR LEWIN: I mean, did you know where Robert was based in South Africa?
MRS BEECH: Ja, ja.
MR LEWIN: That was in the old Northern Transvaal, wasn't it?
MRS BEECH: Ja.
MR LEWIN: So the possibility is that he might have gone on some excursion into Zimbabwe.
MRS BEECH: Well, I remember just before this took place, it was about five in the afternoon, I was actually cooking supper, and I heard Robert say to somebody on the phone,
listen I do not trust that, and before I do that I will resign.
Who he was talking to I do not know. We did not ask him, because he worked with Military Intelligence, you don't ask questions.
MR LEWIN: I mean, the surprising thing is it was 1982, which was two years down the line after Zimbabwean independence. So this would have been an illicit attack from within South Africa, going back into Zimbabwe.
MRS BEECH: He was based at Louis Trichardt.
MR LEWIN: So that was sort of on the border, because at the time in Zimbabwe it seems unlikely that there were excursions of this sort which involved the Zimbabwe Army two years down the line.
MRS BEECH: It is hard to say. You know if you do not sort of get involved, as we tried no to do because of his job, but I know he was in the SADF, I know he was very strict about right things. I mean, his men were always his first priority as well and his brother here can vouch for that.
MR LEWIN: And he did not actually say what this Recci and Path Finding Unit involved.
MRS BEECH: Well, the path finders, are as far as I know, like a Recci kind of set-up. You know I do not know much about the path finders.
MR LEWIN: What they called 'scouts' in Zimbabwe.
Because thinking about what was happening in Zimbabwe at the time, towards the end of 1982, that the beginning of a fair amount of activity in Matabeleland by the Zimbabwe Army. Information about that is only now beginning to emerge in Zimbabwe.
MRS BEECH: Ja.
MR LEWIN: It is just strange that there was this apparent troop from within South Africa in Zimbabwe.
MRS BEECH: Well, actually my son has just told me here, which I have forgot to mention, I approach the International Red Cross. I went through to see them in Pretoria and he said yes he remember... He actually went up to Zimbabwe and he was told, yes we remember the incident it is none of your business.
He came back here and he told me this and he went to Geneva and he tried to work a plan from there, and there was nothing.
MR LEWIN: The Red Cross said this was none of your business?
MRS BEECH: Not the Red Cross. The Zimbabwean Government whoever it was he saw in Zimbabwe, told them they told the Red Cross this. The Red Cross were told to forget it.
MR LEWIN: Yes.
Mrs Beech what we will do is obviously try and follow this up through the contacts. The most important opening that has come is that there has been the official submission from the SADF which is something that we as a Commission is following up. So that we are in a position where we can ask specific questions.
I mean, we fully understand the situation that you and your family are in, in not knowing what happened and also in quite legitimately, quite justifiably wanting to know what happened to your son. If he was killed, where he was killed, where he was buried.
MRS BEECH: We want him back.
MR LEWIN: And bring back his remains.
MRS BEECH: Well the international Red Cross said that he had applied for identification autopsy and post-mortem report and a death certificate and we got nothing.
MR LEWIN: So that was the Red Cross in Harare?
MRS BEECH: No that was the Red Cross here in Pretoria. They went up there.
MR LEWIN: So we could follow that up with them as well.
MRS BEECH: Yes.
MR LEWIN: OK. Well thank you. As I say it is a completely unfair situation to be in, where private citizens have no recourse, no way of breaking through this official silence.
We totally sympathise with you on that and will do whatever we can.
We would like to thank you very much and your family for coming forward in this way. It is actually very important that through these hearings we are able to show actually the breadth of experience that took place in these years and we would like to thank you very very much for coming forward. Thank you.
MRS BEECH: Because we just want a little bit of fair treatment. That is all.
MR LEWIN: Thank you.
MRS BEECH: Thank you.
Where do I give in this extra papers?
MR LEWIN: You can give them to us here. Thank you.
MR LEWIN: Ladies and gentlemen we will now break and come back as soon after half past eleven as possible.
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