A former national serviceman has claimed that SADF involvement in illicit=
ivory smuggling continued well into the 1980s, writes Ann Eveleth
A JUDICIAL commission of inquiry heard claims this week that the old=20 South African Defence Force (SADF) was involved in ivory smuggling on=20 behalf of Angola=D5s Unita rebels until at least 1987. Testimony by former national serviceman Fernando Gomes contradicted=20 earlier SADF claims to the Kumleben Commission of Inquiry into ivory=20 and rhino horn smuggling that its involvement in the illicit ivory trade to=
fund Unita had ceased in 1979. Gomes =D1 who approached the commission last week after reading press=20 reports of SADF testimony that the force=D5s involvement ceased in 1979 =D1=
said he saw an SADF commander allow ivory transportation by Unita=20 soldiers through the Caprivi Strip as late as 1987. Gomes, who was doing his national service at the Western Caprivi Omega=20 base during 1986 and 1987, said the SADF set up a roadblock outside the=20 Omega base after an informant told him ivory was being smuggled from=20 eastern Caprivi to Rundu in Namibia. On the second day of the roadblock, a lorry driven by two Unita soldiers=20 was stopped. =D2I looked into the back of the truck and saw tusks under a=
canvas sheet. They were all a metre long or longer =D1 about 50 of them.=D3 Gomes said when he asked the soldiers for a permit, they replied that they=
had permission, but no permits, and refused to give the destination. He sai=
the base commander then made a phone call and came back and gave the=20 soldiers permission to proceed. Two to three weeks later, Gomes was=20 transferred to Windhoek without explanation. Former special forces corporal Abraham Gedula testified earlier that he had=
seen SADF soldiers transporting ivory as late as 1986. He told the=20 commission this week that SADF Major Marius Meiring had sent out ivory=20 hunting parties, which included Bushmen employed by the army, from=20
Meiring and another SADF member were extradited to the United States in=20 1989 and convicted of illegally dealing in ivory and rhino horn as well as=
South Africa=D5s commercial =D2underworld=D3 was also implicated in evidenc=
heard this week. Former SADF special forces officer Gray Branfield=20 testified that several heavy vehicle transport companies were involved in=
smuggling operations between South Africa and neighbouring countries=20 which included ivory and rhino horn. Branfield was assigned to infiltrate =D2anti-government forces=D3 in=20 neighbouring countries, particularly Zambia, Namibia and Botswana in the=20 early 1980s.=20 Following intelligence reports that these organisations used =D2the South=
African underworld=D3 to finance their operations, Branfield placed several=
of his operatives as drivers with cargo operators going into neighbouring=
His operatives reported to him that several of the cargo companies and=20 drivers were involved in smuggling ivory, rhino horn, cobalt and precious=
Under cover as a hardwood buyer, Branfield then recruited an old friend=20 and =D2schlenter=D3 businessman, Kieth Rouse, for assistance. =20 Rouse set up a timber company called African Timber, and Branfield=D5s=20 operatives were employed as drivers. Branfield then discovered that Rouse=
was using the operatives to smuggle ivory in a false compartment in his=20
During trips to Zambia, the drivers were told to leave the truck with a cur=
dealer named Hans Beck overnight. When Branfield opened up the=20 compartment on one occassion, he discovered =D227 large ivory tusks and=20 five rhino horns=D3. Branfield said it appeared to him that Rouse and Beck, together with=20 Beck=D5s sister Goodran and girlfriend Brenda Voue were in business=20 together =D2either smuggling or whatever … I believe they were a general=
wholesaler of curios in Johannesburg=D3.