Despite being implicated in the cover-up of two police killings, a policeman is still on duty, reports Ann Eveleth
A POLICE investigating officer twice implicated in cover- ups protecting colleagues involved in Third Force-style murders in KwaZulu/Natal is now “investigating” crime as a member of the Internal Investigation Unit at Soweto’s Kliptown station.
Major Joseph van Zyl — first implicated for allegedly covering up evidence of police involvement during his investigation into the 1988 Trust Feeds massacre — was last week implicated for the second time by New Hanover Magistrate Rod Stewart for his similar role in connection with the 1990 murders of United Democratic Front activists Vusi Ngcobo and Bonokhwakhe Gasa in the rural Natal village of Swayimane.
Closing the formal inquest into the murders more than five years later, Stewart found “prima facie evidence that Van Zyl is an accessory after the fact to murder” and called for an investigation with a view to possible prosecution.
An earlier “informal inquest” into the killings in 1991 following Van Zyl’s investigation found that Ngcobo and Gasa were killed by “unknown persons”. Legal Resources Centre lawyer Howard Varney said in his closing arguments on behalf of the families of the deceased last July that the investigation “turned into a deliberate cover-up the moment Van Zyl took it over”.
Van Zyl took over the investigation from then Captain Patrick Wattrus a week after the murders. Wattrus was also implicated in the Trust Feeds cover-up and, sources say, has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Varney alleged Van Zyl had removed a police statement from the docket and had disposed of the bullet removed from Gasa’s head. He also alleged that Van Zyl had set about trying to discredit the family witnesses as he took his
Judge Andrew Wilson made a similar observation in his landmark Trust Feeds judgment convicting Brian Mitchell and four police special constables of 11 murders. Wilson intimated a cover-up when he said: “The statements taken at that time were taken by investigation officers who in our view had little interest in obtaining accurate information or securing a conviction.”
Varney quoted Wilson in his closing arguments to the Swayimane inquest, adding that “the same state of affairs pertains in this case”. Van Zyl was the District Crime Investigation Division (CID) officer in Greytown at the time of the Trust Feeds case and played a leading role in the investigation.
He was specifically cited by Wilson as someone who “must have been aware of the fact that he was concealing information from the court or had acted improperly in some other way”. Wilson called for an inquiry into the suspected police cover-up in the case, but the inquiry never
Retired Pretoria magistrate Willem Krugel, the broederbonder whose appointment by then law and order minister Hernus Kriel to head the preliminary investigation caused a public outcry, told the Weekly Mail & Guardian this week he recommended Kriel open a public commission of inquiry into the cover-up.
Kriel subsequently did announce his intention to appoint such a commission. But co-ordinator of commission investigations Colonel Christo Davidson said he could not recall any investigation ever taking place: “As far as I know, it never went any further than the announcement.”
Davidson could not elaborate on the reasons for the dead-
Both Krugel and Pietermaritzburg Acting Area Commissioner Brigadier Eric Du Preez, who participated in the initial investigation with Krugal, said this week they believed the investigation was taken up by the Goldstone Commission. Du Preez added that he believed the matter was now with the special Investigation Task Unit (ITU) into hit-squads.
But former Goldstone investigator Lieutenant Colonel Frank Dutton said such an investigation never took place under the commission.
Varney, who now heads the ITU, similarly denied his unit was investigating the Trust Feeds cover-up.
Since Wilson’s 1992 ruling, Van Zyl has been promoted to the rank of major, and reliable sources say he was considered for further promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel, but this appointment was held back pending the Swayimane inquest.
Magistrate Stewart found former South African Police Services Constable Peter Smith, Special Constable Welcome Hlope, KwaZulu government driver Abraham Shoba and an unknown male “prima facie directly responsible for the death of the deceased” in the Swayimane inquest.
Stewart added that there was “a strong suspicion” that former KwaZulu Legislative Assembly member Psychology Ndlovu orchestrated the murders and that KwaZulu government driver Phillip Thabathe was also directly responsible, but said there was insufficent evidence to support the
All of the accused have remained within the security forces since the initial cover-up.
KwaZulu/Natal Attorney General Tim McNally said this week he would decide on possible prosecutions after receiving the judgment from New Hanover. Stewart is expected to take up to a month to compile the 3 000-page-plus inquest. A source in the attorney general’s office, however, stressed that McNally is not bound by the magistrate’s findings.
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