MONDAY, 3.30PM
GAYE DERBY-LEWIS, wife of the man who planned the murder of ANC leader Chris Hani, says a written admission she made while in detention was forced upon her by police and was untrue. She told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday she had changed her statement five times under police pressure, while “tired and disorientated”, but had no prior knowledge of her husband Clive’s plan to murder Hani.
MONDAY, 12.30PM
MORE than half of South Africa’s journalists are “in the pay of somebody”, Gaye Derby-Lewis told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday.
The wife of one of the killers of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani added that “journalists are poorly paid and susceptible to bribery”. Derby-Lewis was testifying in the amnesty application of her husband Clive, a former Conservative Party MP, and Janusz Walus, a Polish immigrant, both serving life sentences for Hani’s assassination in April 1993.
Gaye Derby-Lewis was questioned about a list she compiled in 1992, that contained the names of several journalists, including former newspaper editiors Ken Owen and Willem Wepener. She said these men were working against their own people. She said she focused on members of the media because she was convinced journalists were often used by intelligence agents.
“They are the first line of penetration, the KGB says.”
Derby-Lewis asserted that more than half of South African journalists are being used in this way in exchange for money.
She sent the document to former Citizen reporter Arthur Kemp to obtain the home addresses of the people listed. “This was done for no other reason but to expand on their backgrounds. I had no other plan with the names on the list,” she claimed.
Walus earlier testified that he went ahead with Hani’s assassination after receiving a list of names from the Derby-Lewises. The list was described as a “hit list”.