Next week sees the beginning of the end of one of the most sordid chaptersin South Africa’s history. Ann Eveleth previews the Malan trial
History will also be in the dock when the multiple murder trial of former defence minister Magnus Malan and 19 other security force officers gets under way next week.
As it starts under the grey stone pillars of Durban’s Supreme Court on Monday morning, the legal floodlights will turn on to the murky genesis of the “third force” and how the security forces helped create the myth of “black-on-black” political violence.
A new charge added to the indictment this week suggests a conspiracy far beyond the gruesome 1987 murder of 13 innocent civilians in KwaMakhutha with which they were originally charged.
The alternative count of conspiracy “to wrongfully and intentionally kill members of the ANC, UDF [United Democratic Front] and related organisations” broadens the initial charges of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder to the murder of UDF activist Victor Ntuli.
It places back-room schemes of the shadowy State Security Council squarely on the centre stage of the carnage which has by now claimed at least 20 000 lives.
The foul winds of the “ethnic” brew the security forces allegedly stirred still blow in the province more than a decade after Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi allegedly detailed his security “requirements” to then Military Intelligence head Tienie Groenewald.
But, as the men who allegedly responded to that request for security stand trial in a courtroom that will probably be packed with many of the “terrorists” they once targeted, the opportunity is there for them to finally clear the air.
Ironically, the trial is likely to increase tensions in the province as political parties use it to score propoganda points in advance of the local government elections due in May.
The IFP will use the trial to mobilise its mainly rural constituents again in a campaign that paints the party as the victim of an ANC conspiracy. The ANC will use it to portray the IFP and the National Party as the aggressors of war — vital in its bid to win over Indian and white voters in theprovince.
With a court transcript that promises to read like a who’s who of apartheid state-sponsored violence, the world will be watching the proceedings. Even ordinary civilians may find themselves under the glare of the public spotlight as the witnesses — ranging from alleged co-conspirators to others listed as being from “Autopage cellular” and “Radiospoor” — take the stand.
Unfortunately, it will be standing room only outside the court, with 65 spectators — including 20 journalists — allowed into the public gallery. Even the seven defence teams will have a tight squeeze after extra space was taken up to expand the dock for the 20 accused.
Watching the proceedings in-tensely will be the Investigation Task Unit (ITU), which faces its first crucial test more than a year after it began probing KwaZulu-Natal hit squads. Mired in unwanted political controversy throughout its existence, the team — led by its indomitable director, Frank Dutton — has achieved what previous commissions could only dream of: getting to the belly of the proverbial beast.
If the unit’s allegations are validated, it will be a milestone in South Africa’s legal history.
For Dutton — whose successes in solving the Trust Feeds massacre, which sent killer policeman Brian Mitchell and others to prison, and on the Goldstone Commission placed him under the glare of public ridicule years ago — a conviction will be a personal vindication for the course he has chosen.
The short walk to the Durban Supreme Court down Salmon Grove’s single block in the old section of Durban adjacent to the bay is a stark constrast to the long road Dutton and his team have travelled to get there.
From the constant condemnation of the IFP to the indignant outcry of the right wing when Malan and others were arrested, the ITU has battled on, gradually piecing together one of the most astonishing chapters of South Africa’s sordid past.
Monday morning will be the beginning of the end of that chapter. The trial will feature a battle of legal giants as the prosecution advocate, KwaZulu-Natal Attorney General Tim McNally, squares off against the chief defence advocate, former Witwatersrand attorney general Klaus von Lieres, and six other advocates. It is set down for three months, but could take more than a year.
The case will cost the taxpayer millions of rands as the Defence Ministry has said it will pay the costs of former and serving members who are on trial. It is still unclear who will foot the bill for the airfares and accommodation for the accused, most of whom live outside KwaZulu-Natal.
The Mail & Guardian disclosed last November that key witness, Major JP Opperman, has been under witness protection in Europe with his family. He will have to be flown in for the trial. Opperman will tell the court that he was at the heart of Operation Marion, the covert state plan to train a paramilitary unit for the IFP.
He will be giving evidence against his former defence force bosses, and may say he decided to own up after reading a press interview with former political commissar for Inkatha’s paramilitary forces, Daluxolo Luthuli. At the time, Luthuli told a reporter from the M&G that he had personally been in charge of a 300-strong hit squad which operated out of Ulundi.
Andre Cloete, another former permanent force member, will also give evidence against his former leaders.
Their testimony, together with that of Luthuli and dozens of other witnesses, as well as stacks of documentation seized from Military Intelligence, is expected to put pressure on a number of other politicians also believed to have facilitated the birth of the “third force”.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s name —which featured in the original indictment and again in this week’s supplementary indictment — will resonate throughout the trial.
Deputy President FW de Klerk, who has announced his intention to make submissions to the Truth and Reconcilation Commission on behalf of the NP, will also have his ears glued to the testimony in anticipation of his submission.
Those in the dock, however, will have little recourse to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at this stage. While they could ask for a stay of proceedings to apply for amnesty, McNally, the judge and the Amnesty Committee will have to agree to hand the case over to the commission — and even then, the nature of the alleged crimes may preclude amnesty.