TUESDAY, 12.15PM:
APARTHEID dirty tricks operative Ferdi Barnard on Monday denied in the Pretoria High Court that he killed anti-apartheid activist Dr David Webster in 1989.
Barnard, who faces 34 charges, ranging from murder and attempted murder to intimidation and fraud, did however admit to monitoring former activist and present Justice Minister Dullah Omar for the purposes of planning his assassination.
He said that for much of the time in question he had been under the influence of both cocaine and crack, which “makes your head funny”.
Barnard admitted that he had been an intelligence agent, and had lied to the Harms Commission of Inquiry into the “Third Force” and to the Webster Inquest. Describing his work for the Civil Co-operation Bureau, widely believed to have instigated Wesbster’s killing, Barnard said he had been provided with information detailing the movements of activists, but never received orders in writing.
He said he was aware the CCB had taken “legal violent actions against the enemies of the state” outside and inside South Africa, but that Webster’s name never appeared on the briefings given to him, though he was aware of Webster’s movements.
He denied either monitoring or killing Webster, or confessing that he had done so to journalist Jacques Pauw, or anyone else.