Wally Mbhele
The former head of the security police, General Krappies Engelbrecht, may be charged for his alleged role in tampering with evidence relating to the plane crash that killed former Mozambican president Samora Machel.
Machel and 24 others died on October 19 1986 when their plane crashed near Mbuzini in Komatipoort.
Engelbrecht and a number of former apartheid security forces are currently under investigation by the Transvaal attorney general’s special investigation team for apparently covering up evidence pointing to the South Africa government’s involvement in the crash.
Engelbrecht is one of several apartheid generals who have been under investigation by the former Transvaal attorney general, Jan d’Oliviera, for offences allegedly committed during their defence of apartheid.
D’Oliviera said this week cases had been lined up against two generals. Although he did not mention their names, the Mail & Guardian has learned that one of them is Engelbrecht and one of the charges he could face is defeating the aims of justice.
The other charges against Engelbrecht relate to his role as a former head of the security branch and also his tenure as a senior officer in the murder and robbery unit. Former Vlakplaas hit squad boss Eugene de Kock is expected to be the main state witness against Engelbrecht.
National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka would not ”deny or confirm” Engelbrecht’s alleged involvement in the Machel cover-up. ”That investigation has reached a sensitive stage,” he said.
Newly appointed head of prosecutions in Gauteng, Silas Ramaite, said he is aware of the Machel investigation but did not know the details as he was only appointed last week to succeed D’Oliviera.
In its final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said a number of South African special forces converged on the site of the crash.
A former military intelligence officer told a commission inquiry that he had been based at Skwamans, a secret security police base shared with military intelligence operatives between Mbuzini and Komatipoort.
He claimed that a number of high-ranking security force officials came to Skwamans for a meeting and a braai the day before the crash. They left late that night in a small plane and some returned after the crash.
The officer said the group included apartheid heavyweights like General Kat Liebenberg, former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha, General van der Westhuizen of military intelligence and about 15 others from Eastern Transvaal command and group 33 of the South African Defence Force.
A senior ANC leader yesterday described Engelbrecht as: ”Mr Fixit in many cases. He has always acted on behalf of a bigger col- lective and it would be interesting to know on whose behalf was he acting.”
Other charges to be brought against Engelbrecht relate to his role in misleading the Harms commission, appointed to investigate claims of apartheid hit squads in the early 1990s. He was the commission’s main investigator.
He also allegedly played a key role in covering up the murder of Japie Maponya by Vlakplaas operatives. Maponya was abducted from Krugersdorp where he worked as a security guard. His brother was a member of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe. He has also been linked to the provision of weapons to the Inkatha Freedom Party.