SOUTH AFRICA-POLITICS: SLEAZE AND DIRTY WAR SULLIES ALL

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

CHRIS LOUW

PRETORIA, Feb 21 1995 (IPS) - SERVED UP A REPEATED DIET OF POLITICAL SLEAZE AND DIRTY WAR REVELATIONS, SOUTH AFRICANS CAN BE FORGIVEN THEIR PROFOUND DISILLUSIONMENT WITH THEIR TWO MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES.

NATIONAL PARTY (NP) LEADER AND DEPUTY PRESIDENT FW DE KLERK WAS FORCED TO DENY CLAIMS THIS WEEK BY A FORMER POLICE SPY THAT HE HAD KNOWLEDGE OF APARTHEID ATROCITIES, INCLUDING THE KILLING OF AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC) SUPPORTERS BY LETTER BOMBS.

AT THE SAME TIME, A SENIOR ANC MEMBER IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE, ROCKY MALEBANE-METSING, HAS LAID A CHARGE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER AGAINST HIS PARTY COLLEAGUE AND PROVINCIAL PREMIER, POPO MOLEFE.

MALEBANE-METSING, WHO WAS RECENTLY DEPOSED AS MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE BY MOLEFE, CLAIMS HE IS IN POSSESSION OF SWORN AFFIDAVITS PROVING THE PREMIER HAD PLANNED TO HAVE HIM KILLED.

ON MONDAY, THE ANC WAS HIT BY FRESH ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION — THIS TIME BY WINNIE MANDELA, DEPUTY MINISTER FOR ARTS, CULTURE AND SCIENCE, WHO HAS ACCUSED SENIOR MEMBERS OF THE PARTY’S WOMEN’S LEAGUE OF HAVING BEEN INVOLVED IN “FRAUD ATTEMPTS.”

WINNIE MANDELA CAME OUT FIGHTING AFTER ELEVEN SENIOR MEMBERS OF THE ORGANISATION LAST WEEK ANNOUNCED THEIR RESIGNATION IN PROTEST AGAINST WHAT WAS TERMED HER “UNDEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP STYLE.”

IGNORING EFFORTS BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA, DEPUTY PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI AND ANC SECRETARY GENERAL CYRIL RAMAPHOSA TO SMOOTH OVER THE CONFLICT, SHE PUBLICALLY ACCEPTED THE RESIGNATION OF THE ELEVEN WOMEN, INCLUDING FORMER ANC LEADER OLIVER THAMBO’S WIFE, ADELAIDE.

TO ADD TO THE PUBLIC’S DESPAIR OVER ITS POLITICAL MASTERS, A FORMER SECURITY POLICEMAN, COL. EUGENE DE KOCK, APPEARED IN COURT IN PRETORIA ON MONDAY ON 121 CHARGES, INCLUDING NINE OF MURDER.

DE KOCK, A SENIOR OFFICER DURING THE FW DE KLERK ERA, WAS IN CHARGE OF THE INFAMOUS VLAKPLAATS UNIT NEAR PRETORIA, FROM WHERE COVERT ACTIONS AGAINST THE ANC WERE PLANNED DURING THE LATE 1980S.

HE STANDS ACCUSED OF HAVING BEEN INVOLVED IN THE MURDERS NOT ONLY OF ANC MEMBERS, BUT ALSO HIS OWN BLACK COLLEAGUES AND INNOCENT MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC.

SOME OF THE KILLINGS WERE ALLEGEDLY COMMITTED IN ORDER TO CLAIM POLICE REWARDS.

MEANWHILE, DE KLERK WAS FORCED ON MONDAY TO DENY ANY INVOLVEMENT IN THE ASSASSINATION OF ANTI-APARTHEID ACTIVISTS, INCLUDING RUTH FIRST, WIFE OF FORMER HOUSING MINISTER JOE SLOVO, AND JEANNETTE SCOON AND HER DAUGHTER KATRYN, ALL OF WHOM WERE KILLED IN LETTER BOMB ATTACKS.

DE KLERK’S DENIAL FOLLOWS REVELATIONS BY FORMER “SUPER SPY” CRAIG WILLIAMSON OF SECURITY POLICE INVOLVEMENT IN THE MURDERS.

WILLIAMSON WAS A MEMBER OF DE KLERK’S PARTY UNTIL THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN APRIL LAST YEAR, AND USED TO SERVE ON THE ADVISORY PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL.

THE FORMER SPY, WHO ALSO ADMITTED INVOLVEMENT IN A BOMB BLAST THAT DESTROYED THE ANC’S LONDON OFFICE IN THE 1980S, TOLD THE BRITISH NEWSPAPER ‘THE OBSERVER’ THAT HIS INSTRUCTIONS CAME FROM WITHIN THE CABINET.

THE TEAM INVOLVED IN THE LONDON BOMB BLAST WERE HONOURED BY FORMER LAW AND ORDER MINISTER LOUIS LE GRANGE WITH THE POLICE STAR, THE POLICE’S HIGHEST DECORATION FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE. LE GRANGE DIED LAST YEAR.

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWSPAPERS REPORTED TUESDAY THAT WILLIAMSON’S REVELATIONS, WHICH HAVE SENT SOUTH AFRICANS REELING, WERE PLANNED TO COINCIDE WITH THE TRIAL OF DE KOCK. THEY CLAIM THE INTENTION IS TO EMBARRASS DE KLERK AND THE FORMER NATIONAL PARTY GOVERNMENT.

MARIUS SCHOON, FATHER AND HUSBAND TO JEANNETTE AND KATRYN SCHOON, SAID ON TUESDAY THAT HE PLANNED TO LAY A CHARGE OF MURDER AGAINST WILLIAMSON FOR THE KILLINGS. WILLIAMSON SAID HE WOULD TESTIFY BEFORE THE TRUTH COMMISSION AND WOULD ALSO APPLY FOR INDEMNITY.

A FORMER COLLEAGUE OF WILLIAMSON, GERRY RAVEN, ADMITTED IN PRETORIA ON TUESDAY THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN THE BOMB PLANTING IN LONDON. HE MAINTAINED HE DID NOT PLAN TO ASK FOR INDEMNITY AS “WE WERE ABROAD AND WERE ONLY FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS.”