Ann Eveleth
The head of a KwaZulu-Natal police unit that allegedly failed to respond to warnings before the Christmas 1995 Shobashobane massacre has been promoted to lead police crime prevention efforts on the province’s South Coast ahead of the elections.
Superintendent Jan Botha was head of the Umzimkulu region’s internal security unit (ISU) at the time of the brutal massacre of 18 African National Congress supporters. The ISU management has still to formally answer charges in mid-May, at the Moerane Commission of Inquiry, that it ignored a series of warnings that the attack was imminent.
Botha’s appearance on a list of new appointees published on Wednesday was confirmed by South African Police Service national human resources management representative Senior Superintendent Johan Smal.
Smal said Botha’s appointment was conditional on the final approval of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Chris Serfontein, but added that Serfontein had recommended the appointment.
Serfontein said on Thursday that he would confirm the appointment. “Superintendent Botha and all the applicants went through the normal process of applying, being shortlisted and appearing before an interview panel. He was found to be the most suitable candidate.
“As far as we are concerned, Botha was not in any way implicated in the Shobashobane massacre and … the Moerane Commission of Inquiry is an administrative inquiry and not in any way related to the taking of criminal steps. Therefore the appointment still stands,” said Serfontein.
However, Serfontein added that the national commissioner would be advised to watch the outcome of the Moerane inquiry with respect to Botha’s promotion.
Botha sat on regional police intelligence structures where decisions were regularly taken on how the police would respond to information handed to the security forces. The Moerane inquiry was tasked to probe allegations that area police failed to heed prior warnings about the attack from police intelligence, the ANC, violence monitor Mary de Haas, and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
The NIA warning was the most powerful and specific. Dated December 14 1995, it warned that an attack would take place in the area before December 26. Yet when the 1 000-strong marauding impis crossed the valley from the Inkatha Freedom Party stronghold of Izingolweni to attack the remnants of ANC supporters still living in Shobashobane on the morning of December 25, not a single security force member was in the vicinity. It took four hours for police to respond.
Victims were unable to defend themselves as police had conducted a weapons raid on the ANC stronghold the night before the attack.
Former Izingolweni station commander Shaun van Vollenhoven has consistently alleged that his area was under the control of the ISU at the time of the attack, and that he could not account for the ISU’s absence from the scene that night.
Attorney John Wills, who represents the families of the victims in the inquiry, said this was not the first such appointment. Botha’s second-in-command, Jeff Cromholdt – whose work also faces scrutiny by the Moerane inquiry – was promoted to head police human resources several months ago.
Wills said he supported the policy that if a policeman’s integrity was questioned, he “clearly shouldn’t be promoted until the matter is fully investigated”.
KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor De Haas said: “The policing situation is so bad in this province that I don’t think the appointment will make much difference.”
Botha’s appointment follows hot on the heels of concerns over the allegedly cosy relationship between the IFP-led provincial government and provincial police, who officially report to the national minister of safety and security through national police structures.
The speaker of the provincial legislature last week refused to open a debate on IFP MP Phillip Powell’s alleged participation in a farm raid by right-wingers and security forces in February, claiming that Serfontein had instructed him not to allow the debate. The ANC safety and security portfolio committee head, Bheki Cele, was subsequently axed from his post after calling for the debate. Cele is considering legal action to regain his post in the face of rising tensions between the two parties ahead of the elections.
Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi said he felt no need to comment on the matter.