Mduduzi ka Harvey
THE ANC has backed a campaign to have Dimitrios Skoularikis and Friedrich Brenner, who were found guilty of a brutal triple murder in 1987, released on political grounds.
The two men were found guilty of the 1986 murders in Germiston of Costas Phakos, his wife Anna Maria and her father, “polony king” Alphons Talpa.
The ANC has added its support to calls by international human rights organisations, the International Commission of Jurists, foreign embassies and local legal practitioners to grant the two a full and free pardon, or to have the case retried, as the charges against them were politically motivated and much of the evidence allegedly fabricated.
In a submission to Minister of Justice Dullar Omar, the Skoularikis family says local and international experts have sworn under oath that they believe evidence produced at the trial was falsified or highly dubious.
New evidence has made the family believe there was a political motive behind the alleged frame-up. Their submission says Skoularikis had acquired mineral rights in Transkei under a lease agreement and was going to turn Port St Johns into a harbour — making it possible for South African harbours to be bypassed and a new access point created in Southern Africa. The move would have brought greater economic and political independence to the homeland.
Interest had been shown in the project by former Lesotho prime minister Leabua Jonathan. The South African government felt threatened, according to the submission, as it could lose its hold over Lesotho at a time when Lesotho was under pressure from Pretoria for harbouring ANC activists.
The family adds, in its submission, that its belief that a political frame-up was involved is also based on the fact that Skoularikis’ co-accused and co-worker was blackmailed by a Captain Cilliers, identified as a “state security” agent, to spy on Skoularikis.
At the time of the trial, General Basie Smit, who was head of all special investigations in the South African Police, denied the existence of a Captain Cilliers. In 1990, a Braam Cilliers was cited as a key member of the Civil Co- operation Bureau and it was stated that he appeared before the Harms Commission in disguise.
The Skoularikis family submission says not only was the trial one of settling political scores, but it was riddled with insufficient evidence and witnesses lacked credibility: “The verdict of guilty was arrived at besides the fact that there was no direct evidence against them and no motive was found or mentioned. The verdict was based entirely on circumstancial evidence alone,” it reads.
Highly placed government officials were also unhappy about the conduct of investigating officer Lieutenant Nicholaas Vlok, against whom serious allegations were made of perjury and of defeating the ends of justice. In fact, Vlok had been forced to resign from the police force due to the mishandling of evidence obtained during the course of investigation.
The submission also mentions a string of mysterious deaths of people involved in the case, including:
* Warrant Officer Barrie Nortje of the Narcotics Division told the family he had information that Vlok was fabricating evidence and said he would report this to police headquarters in Pretoria. Thereafter, the family heard that Nortje had been killed in a motor collision with a truck. His informant subsequently suffered a similiar fate.
* An ex-senator called Steenkamp promised to look into the case and warned a witness called Papadopoulos that the case was “extremely dangerous”, according to the submission. Steenkamp died of a heart attack and his daughter and close confidant also died of a heart attack within 24 hours of her father’s death.
* Two other witnesses identified in the submission as Revithis and Gudelius were allegedly harassed and assaulted by Vlok. An attempt was made on the life of Revithis.