WEDNESDAY, 12.30AM:
FORMER Civil Co-operation Bureau operative Ferdi Barnard shrugged off any personal involvement in the 1989 murder of Wits academic David Webster in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, admitting, however, that the CCB could have been involved, and that some of his CCB colleagues may have taken part in the murder.
A lucid Barnard, claiming to be free of the crack addiction that was revealed during the prosecution’s case, admitted to being a member of the CCB, which he said he assisted in disinformation, discrediting and intimidation projects.
Barnard is pleading not guilty to 34 charges, including murder, attempted murder, theft, housebreaking and fraud.
Barnard admitted he played a role in handing the media disinformation linking freelance CCB agent and Irish national Donald Acheson to Namibian activist Anton Lubwoski’s murder. Acheson was later deported from South Africa.
Asked why he had occasionally borrowed the shotgun allegedly used to kill Webster, Barnard told the court he had “tested” it, shooting guinea fowl on a farm. He added that he sees no significance in the way he fired at the bird from a moving vehicle, and that he often tested firearms.
Barnard admitted lying at the 1990 Harms Commission inquest into Webster’s murder: “Lawyers and advocates at the commission had to dance to the tune of the CCB,” he said. Barnard also told the court that a CCB-type organisation may currently exist. He said his former boss Joe Verster had once told him he had R100-million to fund such an organisation.
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