A Goldstone report urging action against police ‘dirty=20 tricks’ was never released by president FW de Klerk.=20
Stefaans Brummer and Eddie Koch report
THE Mail & Guardian today publishes a secret Goldstone=20 Commission report, sent to former President FW de Klerk=20 weeks before the April 27 election, and which urged=20 immediate action to “neutralise” police security=20 structures involved in “murder, fraud, blackmail and=20 political disinformation”.
The report recommended that then-police chief General=20 Johan van der Merwe and senior generals be “effectively=20 relieved of their positions forthwith”, saying it “is a=20 bleak prospect that this country enters its first=20 democratic election with this security structure in=20
De Klerk failed to act against Van der Merwe and the=20 police branch which Judge Richard Goldstone implicated,=20 the Crime Intelligence Service (successor to the=20 security branch), and Van der Merwe retired only in=20 March a year later. While Van der Merwe maintained=20 his resignation was voluntary, the M&G has information=20 that he was forced out by Safety and Security Minister=20 Sydney Mufamadi.
The explosive document — to which President Nelson=20 Mandela’s office and key government of national unity=20 figures had access, but which was never made public –=20 was given to the M&G by former security policeman Paul=20 Erasmus this week.
“The report corroborates statements I have made over=20 the last three weeks and rebuts claims by FW de Klerk=20 and a senior member of the police that they were=20 unaware of or not involved in covert actions against=20 the liberation movements,” Erasmus said. “The reports=20 show these activities included bombings and other Third=20 Force activities that continued well after the release=20 of Mandela and various agreements with the ANC to end=20
The report raises serious questions about the role of=20 De Klerk, who appears to have handed his successor a=20 political hot potato, despite the urgent request from=20 Goldstone that “immediate steps must be taken to=20 neutralise the activities of the CIS” before the=20
It may also be asked why the ANC-led government of=20 national unity did not release the report publicly=20 after the elections. And why it took a year before Van=20 der Merwe was forced out and new police commissioner=20 George Fivaz appointed. Sources suggest Mandela’s=20 concerns about a possible police revolt may have caused=20 him to sit on the report.
Fink Haysom, legal advisor to Mandela, yesterday said=20 Mandela’s office was “not in a position to respond” to=20 the report. Although it had been made available to=20 Mandela, “this office has never received it as an=20 official report. It appears to be Goldstone’s advice to=20 the office of the previous President.”
De Klerk, who is abroad, was unable to respond at the=20 time of going to press.
Goldstone is known originally to have favoured the=20 public release of the report, like the 47 other reports=20 he authored during the commission’s three-year mandate=20 to investigate violence. Goldstone was apparently=20 convinced otherwise, but, betraying his strong=20 feelings, said in November: “The information, I=20 imagine, will go to the Truth Commission. The=20 information should be made public then. If it’s not=20 made public, I will do so … as a citizen.”
The document was completed in the month before the=20 April elections last year after lengthy investigation=20 and evidence taken by Goldstone from a number of police=20 witnesses who were kept in Denmark for security=20 reasons. It said Van der Merwe — and former Police=20 Minister Adrian Vlok — would have been aware of the=20 criminal activities outlined in the report.
“An unfortunately large number of police officers=20 currently holding high office, including the=20 Commissioner of Police, were not only aware of some of=20 the earlier criminal activities, but must have approved=20 them and the funds which were neccessary to have made=20 them possible. So, too, according to the commission’s=20 evidence, the then Minister of Law and Order, Mr A=20 Vlok,” the report says.
“It is a bleak prospect that this country enters its=20 first democratic election with this security structure=20 in place,” it adds
Goldstone handed the report to the international=20 investigating team under Transvaal attorney-general Jan=20 D’Oliveira, charged with bringing security force=20 members involved in criminal activities to book, after=20 it had been made available to De Klerk and Mandela.
D’Oliveira’s team may use affidavits contained in the=20 report in evidence against Eugene de Kok — the former=20 commander of the security police Vlakplaas unit now on=20 trial for multiple murder and corruption — and in=20 prosecutions against other security force members.=20 Erasmus asked that the affidavits be withheld from=20 publication in order not to prejudice court=20
The evidence contained in the report, some of which=20 provides further corroboration of Goldstone’s earlier=20 “Third Force” report, relates inter alia to:
* Large quantities of arms transported from Namibia to=20 Vlakplaas, and arms delivered by Vlakplaas police to=20 Inkatha in the run-up to the elections. Implicated are=20 Celani Mtetwa, now KwaZulu/Natal MEC for Justice, and=20 IFP leaders Themba Khoza, Victor Nlovu and James=20
* The bombing of Khotso House and Cosatu House in the=20 late 1980s.
* Vlakplaas “hit squad” activities.
* Interference in March 1994 by former Vlakplaas=20 operatives and senior serving police officers, with the=20 apparent knowledge of Van der Merwe, with a witness of=20 the Goldstone Commission.
* Vlok’s knowledge of the bombing of Khotso House and=20 the Namibia arms cache at Vlakplaas.
* A network of Inkatha soldiers in Johannesburg.
* Security police disinformation, torture, and=20 assault. The death of activist Stanza Bopapi would have=20 been the result of police assault.
* How police practised in a mock-trial to prepare for=20 the inquest of Dr Neil Agget, who died in detention.
* The blackmail of a senior clergyman of the South=20 African Council of Churches.
* The near-fatal poisoning of Reverend Frank Chikane=20 in 1989.
* Operation Romulus, a disinformation campaign to=20 destabilize the ANC.
* A relationship between the security police and the=20 Returned Exiles Committee, an organisation ostensibly=20 of former inmates of ANC detention camps.
* That the Support the Police Action Group was a=20 security police front.
* Links between the security police and the=20 Confederation of Employers of South Africa (Cofesa).
* The shredding of about 135 000 security police files=20 after the Inkathagate scandal in mid-1991.