WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM
THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission will within the week press criminal charges against three former Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) operatives who refused to co-operate with its investigative unit, TRC acting deputy chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza said on Wednesday.
CCB managing director Joe Verster, operative Abraham “Slang” Van Zyl and regional director Wouter Basson, appeared last week at separate in-camera inquiries at the TRC’s Cape Town headquarters. The three men, who were subpoeanaed, refused to answer questions on the CCB’s foreign operations on the grounds they could incriminate themselves and expose themselves to possible prosecutions in the countries concerned.
Ntsebeza, who heads the investigative unit, said he has received the transcripts of the proceedings and will forward them, along with a formal complaint, to Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn for a decision.
According to legislation governing the TRC, a person served with a subpoena must answer questions “fully and satisfactorily to the best of his or her knowledge”. Failing to co-operate could result in a fine of R2 000 or up to two years imprisonment if found guilty.
The foreign operations apparently include the murder of Swapo lawyer Anton Lubowski in Windhoek in 1989. A Namibian High Court inquest in 1994 named the three CCB operatives as accomplices in the murder.