TUESDAY, 4.00PM
IN his second day of testimony to the inquest into the death of 19 Inkatha marchers in Johannesburg city centre on March 28 1994, former African National Congress deputy security chief Gary Kruser on Tuesday admitted he had lied to police, the attorney-general’s office and the Goldstone Commission during investigations into the shooting of IFP marchers outside the ANC’s Shell House headquarters in Johannesburg.
Kruser’s admission was made in the Johannesburg High Court inquest into the deaths of marchers in Johannesburg during an IFP anti-election march on March 28 1994, which left at least 50 people dead in its wake.
When presiding Judge Robert Nugent said Kruser’s testimony to the inquest contradicted earlier sworn statements to the police, the attorney-general’s office and the Goldstone commission, Kruser admitted that his earlier statement that the ANC’s firearm register had not been updated on the day of the shooting was not true. Kruser said he lied to protect the identities of the ANC security guards involved. He said he feared that by revealing the guards’ names he would be exposing his colleagues to danger and possible assassination by “a third force element”.
In his submission to the Goldstone Commission, Kluser made no mention of the use of AK47 rifles by ANC security guards on the marchers. On Monday Kluser, who admitted ordering the security guards to shoot the Zulu marchers because he believed ANC leaders inside Shell House were in danger, said two AK47s were handed to the police for ballistic testing in connection with the shooting. Kruser, now a brigadier in the police, also admitted that he did not co-operate with police investigating the massacre because he did not trust them. He only told ANC officials what happened on the day of the massacre.
The hearing continues.