OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 9.00PM.
AN Umkhonto we Sizwe special operations unit commander on Tuesday described to the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission how he watched as two men were killed by a bomb he set outside Ellis Park rugby stadium in 1988.
Lester Dumakude (45), now a lieutenant-colonel in the South African National Defence Force, said he thought the victims — Clive Clucas (48) and Linus Marais (34) — were Ellis Park security guards. They died instantly in the explosion, after a Currie Cup rugby match on July 2 1988. Dumakude said the bomb was set to explode before the match ended, at 5.00pm, but that he detonated it sooner by remote control when he saw the victims leaving the stadium, as he wished to avoid killing more in the departing crowds.
Asked by committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson why he didn’t set the bomb off earlier if he did not wish to kill people, Dumakude said he didn’t want to “disturb the match”. This, Wilson implied, was somewhat at odds with setting a bomb in the first place.
Dumakude conceded that he detonated the bomb after the two men had noticed him, but turned away from approaching him.
Dumakude, who has applied for amnesty for all acts committed by units under his command since 1981, took over an MK special operations unit in 1987 from renowned MK commander and amnesty applicant Aboobaker Ismail.
Clive Clucas’ wife Sally has said she cannot forgive her husband’s murderers, while Marais’ wife Magriet Erasmus describes suffering psychological problems as a result of her husband’s death.