Wally Mbhele
The Eikenhof saga took yet another dramatic twist this week when it emerged that a large portion of the crucial docket has gone missing amid new claims by three more witnesses that they were duped by police into giving false testimony against the accused in court.
The latest confessions, including a witness who says he was bought a new suit in exchange for lying in court, could further increase chances for the release of the Eikenhof Three.
At the same time, the mysterious disappearance of large portions of the docket could be a severe setback to the investigation into alleged police misconduct in the Eikenhof case.
Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi said this week that he had requested documents which relate to the investigation, but not all were made available to him.
The Mail & Guardian understands that two files were handed to Mufamadi by the head of the priority crimes unit, Commissioner Suiker Brits. But Brits could not account for a third file.
The M&G was told that many sections of the docket – running to about 500 page – are also missing.
“There was no adequate explanation as to why not all documents relating to this matter are available. The minister is still not in a position to say whether it is sheer incompetence or deliberate collusion on this matter,” said a source.
“The fact remains that if these things come to light even some big fish are going to find themselves at loggerheads with the law,” said African National Congress sources.
They said the police investigator whom Mufamadi is to appoint to help the attorney general’s office will assist in tracing the identity of a recipient of the R250 000 reward paid by the police at the time.
Sources say the R250 000 reward, according to the documents handed over, show that it was receipted by a woman. It is, however, believed in the ministry’s circles that such a woman does not exist and that “the whole thing is a fake”.
Mufamadi this week said he was not happy with the police explanation “for the non- availability of some of the documents … This aspect of the matter will be given rigorous attention by the investigators.”
Mufamadi’s investigation follows what he described as “the alleged miscarriage of justice in respect of a case which has become known as the Eikenhof trial”.
Three ANC members were convicted in 1994 for the slayings in Eikenhof of Zandra Mitchely, her son Shaun (14) and his friend Claire Silberbauer (13) in 1993.
ANC activists Siphiwe Bholo, Boy Ndweni and Sipho Gavin were subsequently convicted and jailed for the murders. Bholo and Ndweni were each sentenced to death (later commuted to life), while Gavin received an effective 17-year sentence.
The convictions were based on confessions made by Bholo and Ndweni to the then commander of the Brixton murder and robbery squad, Charlie Landman, and because their alibis were judged false.
Following last month’s Pan Africanist Congress admission that its military wing, the Azanian People’s Liberation Army, had been responsible for the slayings, more witnesses who allegedly gave false testimony in court are coming forward.
This follows a statement by one of the state witnesses, Abel Korope, who claimed he lied as Landman had promised him a R250 000 reward.
In a sworn affidavit published by the M&G last week, Korope confirmed the alibis of the three who had told the court that they were in Wesselsbron when the massacre was perpetrated in Eikenhof.