OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday
THE eight former Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) operatives who attempted to kill Transport Minister Dullah Omar, his wife Farida and journalist Gavin Evans should be denied amnesty because they gave only “glimpses of the truth”, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has heard.
Ferdi Barnard, Carl “Calla” Botha, Joe Verster, Abram “Slang” van Zyl, Eddie Webb, Daniel “Staal” Burger, Leon “Chippies” Maree and Wouter Basson have applied for amnesty for their roles in the attempted assassinations of then-United Democratic Front activist Omar and journalist Evans, and the bombing of the Early Learning Centre in Athlone, Cape Town.
According to a report in the Cape Times, Advocate George Bizos said the applicants had failed to make full disclosures or to show that their strong political beliefs had motivated them to take part in a death squad.
Barnard, who is serving two life sentences for his apartheid-era crimes, including the murder of academic David Webster, has admitted that he cocked his firearm ready to shoot Omar, but decided not to pull the trigger when he saw Omar emerging from his house with his wife.
During the hearing at which he gave evidence, Barnard broke down in tears and apologised to the Omar family. Farida Omar and her daughter, Fazlin, hugged Barnard and wept with him.
According to the Cape Times report, Bizos said Barnard should be refused amnesty for Omar’s attempted murder because his evidence was only “a glimpse of the truth”. Financial gain had motivated Barnard to try to kill Omar, said Bizos.
Barnard’s advocate, SJ Coetzee, said his client should be given amnesty because he hadn’t done what he did only for the money, but had clear political motives and objectives.
“He was a foot soldier sent out to kill. He and many others in the defence force were so often told: ‘Yours is not to question. Yours is to do and die’,” said Coetzee.
Bizos’s assistant, advocate Colin Kahanovitz, said the applicants were not “mere cogs in some huge military machine”, and the CCB had chosen former policemen known for their character defects and criminal propensities to join the organisation.
Selwyn Hockey, on behalf of those affected by the bombing of the Early Learning Centre, asked the amnesty committee to reject the applicants’ claims that they had wanted to frighten, not to hurt, members of the Kewtown Youth Movement who used the centre.