TUESDAY, 3.30PM:
A FORMER Bophuthatswana policeman today confessed to shooting dead three Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members during violence preceeding the downfall of former Bop president Lucas Mangope on March 11 1994.
In a written submission to the Tebbutt commission investigating the violence, Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe, now a constable in the SA Police Service, admitted firing the shots that killed Fanie Uys, Alwyn Wolfaardt and Nick Fourie as they lay injured in a Mmabatho (now called Mafikeng) street. In his confession Menyatsoe, who did not testify under oath, said he had perceived the situation in the former homeland on the day as “a state of war”.
Until Menyatsoe’s confession, Sergeant Philemon Nare was always suspected of having killed the three men.
“I was enraged by the attempts on my life and the indiscriminate shooting of defenceless and innocent members of the public,” Menyatsoe’s submission, read by his advocate Thomas Bokaba, said. “My actions on March 11, 1994, should not just be seen through the lens of the camera that focused on the dramatic moment showing a black policeman firing at three khaki-clad, swastika-bearing white men. We should bear in mind that during this period, more than 40 people had died and many were injured. I see myself as an ordinary policeman who obliged when duty called to defend human lives and dignity, and to prevent anarchy.”
Menyatsoe told the inquiry how he he had been given an R4 automatic rifle on the day and told to guard Mmabatho police headquarters against a possible right-wing attack. He said that after hearing continuous gunfire in the streets outside, he and his colleagues had gone out to investigate and had seen a group of khaki-clad white men in a bakkie driving past. “I heard a shot coming from the direction of the bakkie and a bullet struck next to my boot,” he said. He had then dived for cover near a wall until civilians broke down the gates to police headquarters and demanded protection or that he hand his rifle to them.
“I refused to hand over the rifle as it is against the rules of the police force. I chose to protect them from this attack myself in order to avert further disorder and chaos. I considered giving arms to members of the public irresponsible.” He said he then moved to the other side of the road, from where he heard gunshots coming from a blue Mercedes-Benz travelling from the direction of Vryburg towards Mmabatho. “When the Mercedes-Benz drove past where I was lying, the people in the Mercedes started directing shots at me. I heard a man screaming that he had been shot. He was bleeding from the knee. I took aim at the Mercedes-Benz, and fired several shots. The Mercedes-Benz stopped a distance away. As I was moving towards the Mercedes, I saw a woman lying on the ground, bleeding from the stomach. I approached the occupants of the Mercedes and fired shots at them.”
Menyatsoe said he immediately left the scene and returned to police headquarters. “I met one white officer who said I had done a good job.”
Bokaba said his client is in the process of applying for amnesty and that he intends to do so before the cut-off date on Saturday.