Alex Duval Smith
Evidence of PW Botha’s personal role in ordering bomb attacks and killings to thwart anti- apartheid activity was revealed at this week’s trial of the former state president.
The sensational minutes of top- secret meetings in the 1980s, obtained from the national archives by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, confirm claims that the State Security Council, chaired by Botha, masterminded some of the dirtiest tricks of emergency rule.
They include details of a “national strategy against the revolutionary onslaught against South Africa” which in November 1986 ruled that “intimidators must by means of formal and informal policing be neutralised”.
At another meeting in July 1986, the State Security Council, which included the intelligence services and top Cabinet ministers such as defence and law and order, drew up a list of “politically sensitive people” for whom “methods other than detention must be considered”.
The 82-year-old former president’s role during his years as chair of the State Security Council between 1978 and 1989 may never have been confirmed publicly had he accepted a compromise offered by commission chair Desmond Tutu.
Botha is appearing in the George Regional Court on charges of contempt for ignoring a subpoena to testify before the truth commission. The commission had agreed with Botha’s lawyers that he could avoid the humiliation of a court appearance by agreeing to be questioned by an in camera sitting of the body.
But despite 24 hours of negotiations, a personal plea by Tutu and an offer from President Nelson Mandela that he would accompany Botha to the private hearing, the Groot Krokodil refused. Against the advice of his own lawyers, he now faces a trial, presided over by a black magistrate, Victor Lugaju, which could last more than a week.
Tutu, who is expected to be called as state witness, said: “Fundamentally it stuck in Mr Botha’s gullet to have to appear in front of the commission at all. We never intended to belittle him. The thing would have been over in a few hours. All we wanted from him was `Can you answer these questions’. If he doesn’t remember, he doesn’t remember.”
In the small courtroom, where journalists outnumbered his supporters, Botha sat silently on Wednesday, rising only to confirm his name. Looking gaunt, with waxy skin, wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt – both of which were too big – Botha appeared a pathetic figure. He was not in the dock – because of stiffness after a hip operation – but sat on a chair for which he brought his own cushion.
As the first witness, Paul van Zyl, executive secretary of the commission, read out four hours of damning evidence against him, Botha smiled occasionally, either feigning confidence or not entirely mentally alert.
Botha’s lawyers are believed to be urging him not to testify, but they do not rule out his doing so.
Van Zyl began by reading from a long correspondence between Tutu and Botha, who so far has only agreed to answer questions from the commission in writing.
Detailing the content of minutes from the State Security Council, Van Zyl underlined that his intention was not to prove guilt on Botha’s part. He said: “The fact that the State Security Council may have authorised gross violations of human rights does not mean the commission has come to the conclusion that it did. We were requesting assistance from the person who chaired the council.” Van Zyl said attendance lists showed that Botha was either present at the meetings or would have seen minutes from them.
He stopped short of revealing details of specific attacks ordered by the State Security Council. But he used details from the amnesty application of former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe to show that Botha had personally ordered the 1988 bombing of Khotso House.
Van Zyl gave details of a strategy to “neutralise, eliminate enemy leaders” and another to “neutralise the African National Congress leadership”. He said the commission had wanted to canvass Botha on the meaning he gave to such words as neutralise and eliminate.