OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 6.45pm.
THE South African hitsquad en route to plant a bomb in the African National Congress offices in London ran into numerous predicaments that almost blew the entire operation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock told the amnesty hearing that he and colleague John Adam were detained and intensely interrogated for about three hours by Heathrow customs officials when they tried to enter the United Kingdom.
He said they both had false names and documents, but the customs officials suspected they were dealing in drugs or contraband because they had large amounts of cash with them. They were released, he said, but kept under surveillance for a few days.
De Kock — who had never been to London — told the TRC that “Goosen and I were like country bumkins, but Craig Williamson was streetwise and really knew his way around”. De Kock told how the leader of the operation, the late Brigadier Piet Goosen was later robbed by pickpockets while walking in the street. Goosen was also stopped when leaving the UK when customs officials discovered a collection of axes he bought to use for wood carving. He was eventually allowed to leave.
Another member of the squad, James Taylor, told the committee he entered Britain as a book dealer on his way to a book fair in London. He said the necessary letterheads and business cards were made for him to support his false identity. After legal argument, committee chairman Judge Andrew Wilson agreed to adjourn the hearing to November 2.
* Meanwhile, the TRC announced it is to next week hear amnesty applications from four applicants for their role in the murder of Grahamstown lawyer Allistair Weakley and his brother Glenn near Port St Johns in 1993. The sitting in East London will also look into a spate of armed attacks on farmers near Stutterheim in the 1990s.