Former Vlakplaas operative Almond Nofemela may soon be a free man. Nofemela turned to the Pretoria High Court in an attempt to be freed following a 21-year stint in jail. He was recommended for parole by the parole board in February.
The recommendation was awaiting the signature of Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour, Nofemela's attorney, Julian Knight, said. "The document has been on Balfour's desk since March and he has done nothing about it. I wrote to ask him to make up his mind, not to place Nofemela on parole, but to make a decision to either rubber stamp the approval or refuse it," he said. Nofemela went to court in an urgent bid to get answers. Correctional Services, represented by a senior and a junior advocate, asked for a two-week postponement, as the department was not ready to go ahead. The matter was eventually postponed for a week, and on Friday the minister agreed to consider Nofemela's placement on parole. The agreement was made an order of court by Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann. Knight said if the minister refused Nofomela parole, he would go to the Constitutional Court.
On the eve of his intended execution in the 1980s for the non-political killing of a Skeerpoort farmer, Nofemela spilled the beans on the security police hit squad operating from the Vlakplaas base. His death sentence was later commuted to a life sentence.
Showing posts with label Butana Almond Nofemela. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Butana Almond Nofemela. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Hit squad whistleblower still in jail
The man who exposed the apartheid security force hit squads is trying to get out of jail - but Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour is ignoring him. Butana Almond Nofemela is in Pretoria Central Prison and has spent 21 years behind bars for a non-politically related murder. His request for parole was approved months ago and the documents were sent to Balfour, as legally required, in March.
Balfour has still not made a decision, Nofemela said in papers filed with the Pretoria High Court, citing the minister. Correctional Services is opposing Nofemela's application, although the court action is a demand for a decision from Balfour, not for parole." The department will defend the case although we have thus far received only a letter of demand," said Correctional Services Ministry spokesperson Manelisi Wolela. He did not respond to requests for further comment. Nofemela has been trying to secure parole for a year. "During November 2007 I was seen by the case management committee of the Pretoria Local Prison, who recommended my placement on parole," Nofemela said in an affidavit supporting his application. The request was then approved by the parole board, then forwarded to the National Council for Correctional Services which is headed by Judge Siraj Desai. The council's recommendation to grant parole was forwarded to Balfour in March, but Balfour had "failed, neglected and/or refused to consider" it, said Nofemela.
Nofemela's lawyer, Julian Knight, wrote to Balfour's office asking for a decision but received no response. Knight said it was "completely unacceptable" that the minister would neglect since March to make a decision, not just for Nofemela but for an unknown number of other parole applicants. "It displays callous disregard for the constitutional rights of prisoners," he said.
Judge Desai confirmed having dealt with Nofemela's case, but would not say what the decision was. It's not known how many other prisoners serving life sentences are also still waiting for decisions by the minister. It's understood that usually the parole board makes the decision, which is then endorsed by the minister. Judge Desai said his 20-member council had met three times this year and dealt with "30 or 40 cases". Another 20 are due to be discussed next month. Once the cases are referred to the minister, the council doesn't see them again as the minister refers his decisions to the department to implement. Judge Desai said there was an increase in parole applications by life-sentence prisoners because the death penalty was abolished about 20 years ago.
Democratic Alliance MP and party spokesperson on correctional services James Selfe said that in terms of the law, an inmate sentenced to life imprisonment could not get parole until he had served at least 25 years, or 15 years if he was over 65 years old. However, he said the act had been amended, which could affect Nofemela's case, or he could have qualified for "special or meritorious remission of sentence. Decisions about releasing inmates on parole should be taken by independent parole boards (or, in serious offenders' cases, by the Parole Review Board) after they have satisfied themselves that the inmate has corrected his behaviour and is rehabilitated," said Selfe. "Such decisions should not be made by any politician, particularly one as inefficient as Ngconde Balfour."
Nofemela was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in September 1987 for the murder of farmer Johannes Hendrik Lourens at Skeerpoort near Brits in September 1986.
In 1989, the night before he was due to be executed, Nofemela got an urgent application to stay the execution when he confessed to being an askari - a turned guerrilla working for the police - involved in a security police hit squad which operated from Vlakplaas near Pretoria. This was the first confirmation of a security force hit squad, and Nofemela's execution was put on hold while his claims were investigated.
Nofemela's story was supported by his former Vlakplaas police commander Captain Dirk Coetzee and fellow askari David Tshikalanga. Their story was also told to the Harms Commission of inquiry into hit squads, which ultimately did not confirm that there were any hit squads. In September 1994 Nofemela's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment but he remained in jail due to his conviction for Lourens' murder, as this was not politically related but a robbery. Nofemela and Coetzee were later granted amnesty for killing human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge in Durban in November 1981. Nofemela was refused amnesty for Lourens' killing.
Last month Clive Derby-Lewis, jailed for killing SACP leader Chris Hani in 1993, brought an application in the Pretoria High Court to demand parole. The matter has been postponed. Derby-Lewis, 72, has been in jail for 15 years and is eligible to apply for parole because of his age.
Source: IoL
Balfour has still not made a decision, Nofemela said in papers filed with the Pretoria High Court, citing the minister. Correctional Services is opposing Nofemela's application, although the court action is a demand for a decision from Balfour, not for parole." The department will defend the case although we have thus far received only a letter of demand," said Correctional Services Ministry spokesperson Manelisi Wolela. He did not respond to requests for further comment. Nofemela has been trying to secure parole for a year. "During November 2007 I was seen by the case management committee of the Pretoria Local Prison, who recommended my placement on parole," Nofemela said in an affidavit supporting his application. The request was then approved by the parole board, then forwarded to the National Council for Correctional Services which is headed by Judge Siraj Desai. The council's recommendation to grant parole was forwarded to Balfour in March, but Balfour had "failed, neglected and/or refused to consider" it, said Nofemela.
Nofemela's lawyer, Julian Knight, wrote to Balfour's office asking for a decision but received no response. Knight said it was "completely unacceptable" that the minister would neglect since March to make a decision, not just for Nofemela but for an unknown number of other parole applicants. "It displays callous disregard for the constitutional rights of prisoners," he said.
Judge Desai confirmed having dealt with Nofemela's case, but would not say what the decision was. It's not known how many other prisoners serving life sentences are also still waiting for decisions by the minister. It's understood that usually the parole board makes the decision, which is then endorsed by the minister. Judge Desai said his 20-member council had met three times this year and dealt with "30 or 40 cases". Another 20 are due to be discussed next month. Once the cases are referred to the minister, the council doesn't see them again as the minister refers his decisions to the department to implement. Judge Desai said there was an increase in parole applications by life-sentence prisoners because the death penalty was abolished about 20 years ago.
Democratic Alliance MP and party spokesperson on correctional services James Selfe said that in terms of the law, an inmate sentenced to life imprisonment could not get parole until he had served at least 25 years, or 15 years if he was over 65 years old. However, he said the act had been amended, which could affect Nofemela's case, or he could have qualified for "special or meritorious remission of sentence. Decisions about releasing inmates on parole should be taken by independent parole boards (or, in serious offenders' cases, by the Parole Review Board) after they have satisfied themselves that the inmate has corrected his behaviour and is rehabilitated," said Selfe. "Such decisions should not be made by any politician, particularly one as inefficient as Ngconde Balfour."
Nofemela was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in September 1987 for the murder of farmer Johannes Hendrik Lourens at Skeerpoort near Brits in September 1986.
In 1989, the night before he was due to be executed, Nofemela got an urgent application to stay the execution when he confessed to being an askari - a turned guerrilla working for the police - involved in a security police hit squad which operated from Vlakplaas near Pretoria. This was the first confirmation of a security force hit squad, and Nofemela's execution was put on hold while his claims were investigated.
Nofemela's story was supported by his former Vlakplaas police commander Captain Dirk Coetzee and fellow askari David Tshikalanga. Their story was also told to the Harms Commission of inquiry into hit squads, which ultimately did not confirm that there were any hit squads. In September 1994 Nofemela's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment but he remained in jail due to his conviction for Lourens' murder, as this was not politically related but a robbery. Nofemela and Coetzee were later granted amnesty for killing human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge in Durban in November 1981. Nofemela was refused amnesty for Lourens' killing.
Last month Clive Derby-Lewis, jailed for killing SACP leader Chris Hani in 1993, brought an application in the Pretoria High Court to demand parole. The matter has been postponed. Derby-Lewis, 72, has been in jail for 15 years and is eligible to apply for parole because of his age.
Source: IoL
Friday, September 3, 1999
De Kock tells of Vlakplaas 'invasion'
Apartheid assassin and former Vlakplaas unit commander, Major Eugene de Kock, took the stand to respond to claims about his involvement in the murder of four Chesterville anti-apartheid activists 13 years ago. De Kock told the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission sitting in Durban that the entire Vlakplaas unit descended on the city to deal with "terrorists" who had murdered three white policemen.
Applying for amnesty for the killing are Warrant Officers Butana Almond Nofemela and Nicholas Vermeulen, who were part of the contingent which killed the United Democratic Front (UDF) members. Although he gave the orders to kill, De Kock did not apply for amnesty but he was implicated by Nofemela and Vermeulen. He merely testified to state his version of the events. The purpose of the operation was also to eliminate Charles Ndaba, who was reported to be responsible for the murder of several policemen.
In a spectacular turn of events at the hearing, an askari (ANC-turned-informer), Simon Radebe, shocked the committee when he said he was the driver of the minibus which transported the contingent that attacked the UDF members at Chesterville in 1986. Radebe said: "I am telling the truth because I know what I was doing that day. You can say whatever you want, but I was the driver." But in a contradictory statement, Nofemela said: "I was the driver of the minibus that day. When I drove the men I did not know they were going to be killed."
Radebe's evidence corroborated De Kock's testimony. Radebe was De Kock's confidant and both have given testimony which contradicts Nofemela's statements. Nofemela fell out of favour when he was left to "feel the pain" for robbing and killing a farmer. De Kock did not cover up for Nofemela, who later exposed Vlakplaas unit activities which got De Kock into trouble.
Source: IoL
Applying for amnesty for the killing are Warrant Officers Butana Almond Nofemela and Nicholas Vermeulen, who were part of the contingent which killed the United Democratic Front (UDF) members. Although he gave the orders to kill, De Kock did not apply for amnesty but he was implicated by Nofemela and Vermeulen. He merely testified to state his version of the events. The purpose of the operation was also to eliminate Charles Ndaba, who was reported to be responsible for the murder of several policemen.
In a spectacular turn of events at the hearing, an askari (ANC-turned-informer), Simon Radebe, shocked the committee when he said he was the driver of the minibus which transported the contingent that attacked the UDF members at Chesterville in 1986. Radebe said: "I am telling the truth because I know what I was doing that day. You can say whatever you want, but I was the driver." But in a contradictory statement, Nofemela said: "I was the driver of the minibus that day. When I drove the men I did not know they were going to be killed."
Radebe's evidence corroborated De Kock's testimony. Radebe was De Kock's confidant and both have given testimony which contradicts Nofemela's statements. Nofemela fell out of favour when he was left to "feel the pain" for robbing and killing a farmer. De Kock did not cover up for Nofemela, who later exposed Vlakplaas unit activities which got De Kock into trouble.
Source: IoL
Sunday, November 19, 1989
A SOUTH AFRICAN TALKS OF HIT TEAM
A former South African security police captain says he commanded an assassination team created to track down and eliminate opponents of the Government. The former officer, Capt. Dirk Johannes Coetzee, who quit the police in 1986 and left South Africa last week, made the statement in an interview in Mauritius with a reporter for Vrye Weekblad, an Afrikaans-language weekly newspaper. The paper published the story in its current issue.
On Friday, Maj. Gen. Herman Stadler of the South African police said Mr. Coetzee's ''unfounded, untested and wild'' allegations would be investigated by T. P. McNally, the Attorney General of the Orange Free State, and Lieut. Gen. Alwyn Conradie, head of the police criminal investigation division.The police said Mr. Coetzee had made his accusations in a foreign country where they could not be verified. It also said he had been dishonorably discharged in 1986 for criminal misconduct. Vrye Weekblad said Mr. Coetzee, who is 44 years old, had left the force ''for health reasons after a departmental inquiry.'' Corroboration by Doomed Killer
A few weeks ago, Butana Nofomela, a convicted murderer awaiting hanging in Pretoria, asserted that he served as a member of the hit squad and named Captain Coetzee as his operational commander. His execution was stayed so his assertions could be investigated. Mr. Coetzee confirmed that Mr. Nofomela had served under him. ''I was the commander of the assassination squad of South African police,'' the newspaper quoted Mr. Coetzee as saying. ''My men and I killed and eliminated opponents of the Government.'' He said he was guilty of, or an accomplice to several murders.
Mr. Coetzee said the security police operation had five squads, including his, and had carried out attacks in Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Britain, as well as inside South Africa. ''We operated in civilian dress and were armed with the strangest weaponry and explosive devices,'' the newspaper quoted him as saying. ''We operated underground and were not recognizable as policemen.''
Some opponents of apartheid have insisted that the police were behind the killing of a number of Pretoria's adversaries, among them members of the outlawed African National Congress living in exile. The police have consistently denied the existence of any such ''hit squads,'' and General Stadler reiterated this denial on Friday.
Mr. Coetzee asserted that the operation was run from Vlakplaas, a restricted police training base near Pretoria, using former guerrillas from the African National Congress, nicknamed ''askaris,'' who had been recruited to fight their old comrades. Not for That Purpose The police confirmed on Friday that Mr. Coetzee had been stationed at Vlakplaas, but said that he had ''irresponsibly'' misidentified the base's purpose. ''The base was not open to the public because it houses former A.N.C. members, who are now proud South African policemen and citizens,'' the police statement said. ''They provide the force with valuable intelligence and also play a cardinal role in the identification of A.N.C. terrorists infiltrating South Africa,'' ''Their lives are constantly in jeopardy, and the base provided a safe haven for them,'' the statement said.
The former South African Police Commissioner, Gen. Johan Coetzee, told the South African Broadcasting Corporation today that the askaris were used to identify guerrillas trying to infiltrate through border posts with forged documents and were not involved in assassinations. General Coetzee, who is not related to Mr. Coetzee, said there were no ''hit squads.'' ''The police are there to maintain law and order,'' he added, ''and just the thought of such a squad would defeat all that the police stand for.''
The victims of his team, Mr. Coetzee said, included Griffiths Mxenge, a Durban lawyer stabbed to death in 1981. ''Yes, we killed Mxenge,'' the former officer was quoted as saying. He said the four killers each were paid 1,000 rand, now about $380. ''They assured me it looked like a robbery,'' he said. Guerrilla Targeted
On another assignment, Mr. Coetzee said, he was issued a Scorpion machine pistol concealed in a briefcase and ordered to kill Marius Schoon, an A.N.C. member living in Botswana. The mission was called off when other plans were made, he said. A letter bomb killed Mr. Schoon's wife, Jeanette, and young daughter in Angola in 1984.
Vrye Weekblad quoted Mr. Coetzee as relating other cases, in which he said captured guerrillas were drugged and shot with pistols fitted with silencers. Mr. Coetzee said his unit broke into the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mbabane, Swaziland, and stole ''whatever we could find.'' One of the official envelopes they took, he said, was later used to mail the letter bomb that killed Ruth First in Maputo, Mozambique, in August 1982. She was the wife of Joe Slovo, who heads the South African Communist Party in exile.
Mr. Coetzee, who said he headed an assassination squad until 1982, told Vrye Weekblad: ''I decided to confess to cleanse my conscience. I think with contempt of the things that I did.''
Source: New York Times
On Friday, Maj. Gen. Herman Stadler of the South African police said Mr. Coetzee's ''unfounded, untested and wild'' allegations would be investigated by T. P. McNally, the Attorney General of the Orange Free State, and Lieut. Gen. Alwyn Conradie, head of the police criminal investigation division.The police said Mr. Coetzee had made his accusations in a foreign country where they could not be verified. It also said he had been dishonorably discharged in 1986 for criminal misconduct. Vrye Weekblad said Mr. Coetzee, who is 44 years old, had left the force ''for health reasons after a departmental inquiry.'' Corroboration by Doomed Killer
A few weeks ago, Butana Nofomela, a convicted murderer awaiting hanging in Pretoria, asserted that he served as a member of the hit squad and named Captain Coetzee as his operational commander. His execution was stayed so his assertions could be investigated. Mr. Coetzee confirmed that Mr. Nofomela had served under him. ''I was the commander of the assassination squad of South African police,'' the newspaper quoted Mr. Coetzee as saying. ''My men and I killed and eliminated opponents of the Government.'' He said he was guilty of, or an accomplice to several murders.
Mr. Coetzee said the security police operation had five squads, including his, and had carried out attacks in Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Britain, as well as inside South Africa. ''We operated in civilian dress and were armed with the strangest weaponry and explosive devices,'' the newspaper quoted him as saying. ''We operated underground and were not recognizable as policemen.''
Some opponents of apartheid have insisted that the police were behind the killing of a number of Pretoria's adversaries, among them members of the outlawed African National Congress living in exile. The police have consistently denied the existence of any such ''hit squads,'' and General Stadler reiterated this denial on Friday.
Mr. Coetzee asserted that the operation was run from Vlakplaas, a restricted police training base near Pretoria, using former guerrillas from the African National Congress, nicknamed ''askaris,'' who had been recruited to fight their old comrades. Not for That Purpose The police confirmed on Friday that Mr. Coetzee had been stationed at Vlakplaas, but said that he had ''irresponsibly'' misidentified the base's purpose. ''The base was not open to the public because it houses former A.N.C. members, who are now proud South African policemen and citizens,'' the police statement said. ''They provide the force with valuable intelligence and also play a cardinal role in the identification of A.N.C. terrorists infiltrating South Africa,'' ''Their lives are constantly in jeopardy, and the base provided a safe haven for them,'' the statement said.
The former South African Police Commissioner, Gen. Johan Coetzee, told the South African Broadcasting Corporation today that the askaris were used to identify guerrillas trying to infiltrate through border posts with forged documents and were not involved in assassinations. General Coetzee, who is not related to Mr. Coetzee, said there were no ''hit squads.'' ''The police are there to maintain law and order,'' he added, ''and just the thought of such a squad would defeat all that the police stand for.''
The victims of his team, Mr. Coetzee said, included Griffiths Mxenge, a Durban lawyer stabbed to death in 1981. ''Yes, we killed Mxenge,'' the former officer was quoted as saying. He said the four killers each were paid 1,000 rand, now about $380. ''They assured me it looked like a robbery,'' he said. Guerrilla Targeted
On another assignment, Mr. Coetzee said, he was issued a Scorpion machine pistol concealed in a briefcase and ordered to kill Marius Schoon, an A.N.C. member living in Botswana. The mission was called off when other plans were made, he said. A letter bomb killed Mr. Schoon's wife, Jeanette, and young daughter in Angola in 1984.
Vrye Weekblad quoted Mr. Coetzee as relating other cases, in which he said captured guerrillas were drugged and shot with pistols fitted with silencers. Mr. Coetzee said his unit broke into the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mbabane, Swaziland, and stole ''whatever we could find.'' One of the official envelopes they took, he said, was later used to mail the letter bomb that killed Ruth First in Maputo, Mozambique, in August 1982. She was the wife of Joe Slovo, who heads the South African Communist Party in exile.
Mr. Coetzee, who said he headed an assassination squad until 1982, told Vrye Weekblad: ''I decided to confess to cleanse my conscience. I think with contempt of the things that I did.''
Source: New York Times
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