THE former South African Defence Minister, Gen Magnus Malan, yesterday admitted in testimony before the Truth Commission that he had authorised establishment of the covert and - in the view of most South Africans - sinister Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB).
"The role envisaged for the CCB was to penetrate ... and disrupt the enemy," Gen Malan said. "It provided the South African Defence Force with good covert capability."
Evidence before the Harms Commission of Inquiry in 1990 by former CCB agents pointed to another role undertaken by CCB agents: "maximal disruption" - a euphemism for assassination - "of enemies of the state".
CCB agents were suspected of involvement in the murder of several prominent anti apartheid activists in the late 1980s, including university lecturer, David Webster, community doctor Fabian Ribeiro and his wife, Florence, and Namibian leader Anton Lubowski, all of whom were shot by unknown gunmen.
Several men under suspicion as CCB assassins are reported to have applied for amnesty.
Gen Malan, however, denied that he had ever ordered the assassination of activists. While he admitted authorising operations in which innocent civilians were slain in the crossfire, "the killing of political opponents never formed part of the SA DF's brief," he said.
He accepted moral responsibility for cross border raids - "As a Christian I regretted the loss of lives but that unfortunately is the reality of war" - but would not apply for amnesty as he considered them to be legal actions against enemy targets.
Gen Malan's testimony came, amid a controversy over a decision by the former President, Mr F.W. de Klerk, not to seek an amnesty from the Truth Commission. He argued it was "not the correct channel" to take for leaders wanting to acknowledge political responsibility for past policies.
Mr De Klerk's decision drew a sharp rebuke from the ANC deputy secretary general, Ms Cheryl Carolous, who accused him of being a "disgraceful coward" and distancing himself from the rank, and file of his security forces.
In a separate development, a black policemen, Mr Ontlametse Menyatsoe, yesterday confessed to killing three men from the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) in Mafeking as they lay wounded on the ground in March 1994. The policeman who was widely suspected of shooting the men was Sgt Philemon Nare, whose photograph has been published in many South Africa's major newspapers.