WEDNESDAY, 5.00PM
FORMER security policeman Colonel Andre Erwee denied on Wednesday that one of his colleagues executed a wounded Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier, after interrogating him following a shootout near the Botswana border on July 10, 1986. He was testifying on the third day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s amnesty hearing in Pietersburg.
Another former security policeman, Sergeant Mathews Sehlwana, told the hearing on Monday that he saw Captain Tokkie Fuchs shoot the soldier.
“It is unthinkable that Captain Fuchs would do such a thing in full view of all the other security force members present,” Erwee said.
He confirmed that he was part of the border operation, in which security police supplied a minibus to transport six MK soldiers from Botswana to Pietersburg. He said the intention had been to arrest the soldiers inside the country. However, the six opened fire on a police Casspir vehicle when an attempt was made to arrest them. Erwee insisted the occupants of the minibus fired first.
Erwee said that after the shooting was over he looked into the minibus and saw six dead men. It later transpired, however, that one of the vehicle’s occupants was still alive. The badly wounded man was taken from the minibus and laid in a river bed. Erwee said he asked Fuchs to help him question the man, as he was able to speak the man’s language. “When the wounded man lost consciousness, I asked a military medical person to give the wounded man an injection, to stabilise his condition.” Erwee said he personally gave instructions that the wounded man should be taken to a clinic in the nearby town of Alldays. The soldier died on the way.
Under cross-examination, Erwee admitted he had submitted a “watered down” report on the border operation to an inquest hearing. He concealed certain facts in respect of police intelligence and advised other policemen to follow his example. This was considered expedient in order not to give away details of methods used by security police.