OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Saturday
KEY testimony to the Margo commission of investigation into the Helderberg air crash of 1987 – in the form of unscrambled flight tapes – is incompatible with new evidence recently acquired with the help of the American FBI, Beeld newspaper reports.
The controversial developments in the Helderberg probe have been revealed in a letter written by Advocate John Welch of Pretoria, the man appointed to probe new allegations into the true reason for the air disaster, and make recommendations to Transport Minister Dullah Omar over a possible re-opening of the investigation.
Welch confirmed that the unscrambled flight recording he had commissioned from the FBI corresponded with unscrambled tapes produced by US forensic expert Jack Mitchell.
These tapes revealed that Helderberg pilot Captain Dawie Uys, shortly after take-off, informed the Helderberg crew that they were carrying an extremely dangerous cargo, the newspaper said. When he revealed the contents of the cargo to his crew, one member said it was “madness” to carry that kind of freight on a passenger aircraft.
Meanwhile, Dr David Klatzow, a Johannesburg forensic expert who has been involved in a probe into the Helderberg crash, revealed that he was in possession of a sworn statement made by an eyewitness to a “helluva fight” at the Taipei airport because Uys had refused to take off with the dangerous cargo on board.
Uys reportedly only agreed to take off following telephone calls from a “senior SAA manager and a former cabinet minister”, threatening him with summary dismissal if he did not take off immediately.
Testimony regarding the flight recording submitted to the Margo Commission – on which Margo largely based his finding – was mainly based on unscrambling carried out by former Civil Aviation, but which has now proved incompatible with the new testimony.
In a letter which Welch wrote to DA MP Stuart Farrow, Welch referred to the FBI version of the unscrambled tapes which he and investigating officer Mark Whale of the Scorpions police unit had compared to Mitchell’s unscrambled tapes in Mitchell’s presence. “We compared Mr Mitchell’s version to ours in his studio, and found they were the same.”
“Although Mr Whale and I are no experts in the area, we were unable to reconcile the (new) unscrambled flight recording version with the version submitted as evidence in the (Margo) judicial enquiry,” said Welch.
Welch on Friday confirmed the contents of the letter. “I personally compared the FBI graphs and those of Mitchell in his presence. They were exactly the same. The dips and dents were the same. Frankly, we could not hear all the words spoken, but that could be because we were listening as laymen”.
In his letter, Welch nonetheless stated that there is “little or no” new evidence to justify re-opening the investigation. He did, however, confirm to Beeld that the probe is not yet complete.
ZA*NOW:
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The TRC’s Helderberg tragedy November 21, 2000
The full transcript of the hearing may be found at the TRC site www.truth.org.za
Ghosts of Helderberg raised again August 19, 2000
No new inquiry into Helderberg disaster June 15, 2000
Ngcuka’s office to head Helderberg probe May 29, 2000
‘We murdered the Helderberg passengers’ May 26, 2000
New Helderberg claims May 24, 2000
‘New’ Helderberg tape May 19, 2000
The Helderberg’s ‘deadly’ cargo May 17, 2000