Description
This day began with a short re-examination of English Tolo Mashiloane by Dr Yutar. Thereafter, Dr Yutar called Essop Suliman to the witness stand. Essop Suliman was a private taxi company owner who, along with his employees, were hired on several occasions to transport recruits from the SK Building in Orlando to the Bechuanaland border and out of the Republic. His cross-examination detailed the many trips of this nature he conducted, in the years 1962 and 1963, as well as the people who had been involved.
The state’s next witness after Essop Suliman was Alfred Jantjies, a former MK recruit who had been sent out of the country for guerrilla training. Alfred Jantjies was another key witness for the state as his experience receiving military training at a camp in Ethiopia was crucial evidence for the state’s case. During Alfred Jantjies’ examination-in-chief, Mr Berrange informed the court that the defence were extremely frustrated because they had been given the impression by the state that the witness called would be in relation to the Mamre Camp incident. As Alfred Jantjies actually had nothing to do with the Mamre Camp, Mr Berrange and his colleagues were caught by surprise and were unprepared to cross-examine the witness.
Judge De Wet agreed to reserve cross-examination for a later stage and Mr Berrange appealed to the state to give the defence team advanced notice of the witnesses they intended to call. Dr Yutar, however, insisted that the Security Branch had stressed to him that he must not reveal to the defence team, or members of the public, the names and order in which the state would be calling witnesses being held in “protective custody”. Mr Berrange, in a somewhat exasperated tone, informed the court that the term “protective custody” doesid not exist in legal diction and that the state should acknowledge the difficulties this created for the defence team.
Following a brief adjournment, about halfway through Alfred Janntjies’s examination-in-chief, Mr Coaker informed the court that he and Dr Yutar had reached an agreement as to the terms and conditions the prosecution were willing to accede for the granting of bail to Accused No.8, James Kantor. Dr Yutar told the judge that the prosecution stood by their earlier conviction that plans had been made to smuggle James Kantor out of the country but, having been given certain assurances from the defence team, they were reluctantly willing to allow a bail order for Accused No.8 to be submitted. Dr Yutar said to the judge, “We can only hope My Lord that the accused does not do another Hepple on me” – an obvious reference to former accused- turned-state witness, advocate Bob Hepple, who fled the country before giving evidence in court. The terms and conditions were set out in a draft order written up by Mr Coaker and submitted to the Judge, who then granted bail to James Kantor.
Following Dr Yutar’s examination of Alfred Jantjies, Mr Berrange requested that the state give the defence an opportunity to examine Nelson Mandela’s dairy in preparation for their cross-examination of certain witnesses, particularly Bruno Mtolo. Uncharacteristically, Dr Yutar makes no objection, and agrees to make the dairy available to the defence team during the vacation period.
Court is then adjourned for three weeks until 13th January, 1964.
Witnesses Called
17th State Witness: English Tolo Mashiloane – Herbalist, Orlando. (Recalled).
Re-examination by Dr Yutar.
Dr Yutar began his re-examination with clarifications regarding Accused No.9, Elias Motsoaledi’s, and his role in storing paint cans, used for containing explosives, at the SK Building in Orlando.
Thereafter, Dr Yutar confirmed with the witness that he gave his truthful statement to the police prior to the end of his 90-day detention and that the police had not tortured him while he was in custody. Dr Yutar also asks the witness if he and Scotch Papi ever conspired to accuse falsely Elias Motsoaledi when in custody, to which English Mashiloane replied that they had not.
Dr Yutar reminded the witness that yesterday the defence had stated that they would argue that Andrew Mlangeni was not in Johannesburg in 1962. As such, he asked English Mashiloane to detail exactly when and where he claimed to have seen Andrew Mlangeni. To this, the witness responded that Andrew Mlangeni had been involved in the transportation of young recruits and that he had seen him both inside and outside his house.
19th State Witness: Essop Suliman – Private Taxi Owner, Johannesburg.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Essop Suliman owned his own private taxi company, which was comprised of three Volkswagen Kombis. The drivers of Essop Suliman’s vehicles were his brother, Ebrahim Suliman, a coloured man named Piet Coetzee, as well as another driver by the name of Fox.
In looking at the line of the accused, Essop Suliman pointed out Accused Nos. 2, 5, and 10, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and Andrew Mlangeni, as people he had met before. Essop Suliman claimed that he had first met Walter Sisulu in 1962, when he was hired to use all three of his vehicles to transport delegates to the Bechuanaland border from where they would be taken to a conference in Lobatse.
Upon arrival at the border, the group of about 30 recruits alighted the vehicles and Essop Suliman and his brother Ebrahim were told by named co-conspirator, Joe Modise, to collect all the luggage and take it across the border to Lobatse. The recruits crossed the Bechuanaland border on foot through the veld, whilst Essop Suliman and his brother drove the luggage across in their vehicles. Joe Modise instructed them to tell authorities that the luggage all contained “samples” if questioned.
Essop Suliman said that, prior to arriving at the border on this first occasion, Joe Modise had already told him that these “delegates” were actually recruits going to Kenya to be trained as guerrilla soldiers.
It was on the fourth occasion that Essop Suliman was hired to take recruits to the Bechuanaland border that Accused No.5, Ahmed Kathrada, and Accused No.10, Andrew Mlangeni, coordinated the operation. Essop Suliman was instructed that if police stopped them in the Republic, they must say that they were going to a soccer match, but if they were stopped outside the Republic, they were to say there were going to either a wedding or a funeral.
Between January and May, 1963, Essop Suliman and his drivers completed more of these trips dropping recruits off at the border, making 12 in total. On each occasion, Essop Suliman was hired to pick up the recruits at the train station, take them to the SK Building in Orlando (or other nearby locations), and at a later stage, collect them from the Marabi Garage in Orlando to be taken to the Bechuanaland border.
It was on the twelfth trip that two Kombis overloaded with recruits were pulled over by police in Zeerust, and their passengers taken into custody. On his way to the border with luggage, Essop Suliman stopped to assist Piet Coetzee, whose Kombi had broken down. After having fixed the Kombi, Essop Suliman and Piet Coetzee were found by Mbata in his private car. He told them of the arrests and instructed Piet Coetzee to take all the remaining recruits back to the SK Building and Essop Suliman was told to drive separately with Mbata. Essop Suliman and Mbata only got as far as Rustenburg, when they, along with an unidentified “African bantu female”, were arrested. They were taken to Pretoria the following day.
Cross-examination reserved.
20th State Witness: Alfred Jantjies – MK Recruit.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Alfred Jantjies was a member of the AYL when Looksmart Ngudle recruited him for “higher education”. He travelled with about 20 other recruits under fake names from Cape Town to Mara Hotel in Johannesburg. There they joined other groups from Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Bloemfontein, which were all being looked after by Joe Modise and Accused No.9, Elias Motsoaledi. Thereafter, Alfred Jantjies described having been taken By Accused No.9, Elias Motsoaledi, to the SK Building in Orlando. The recruits were taken in a Kombi from the SK Building and across the border into Bechuanaland from where they made their way to Dar-es-Salaam.
After a brief interruption in which the Judge granted bail to Accused No.8, James Kantor, Alfred Jantjies continued with his description of the recruits’ journey through various African countries. It was at Dar-es-Salaam that Alfred Jantjies and the other recruits were cared for by the ANC and spoke with Oliver Tambo, James Radebe, and Denis Makwane. From Dar-es-Salaam, the recruits were taken to their ultimate destination, a camp in Ethiopia where they were “to receive military training designed, inter alia, for guerrilla warfare”.
Upon arrival at the camp in Ethiopia, each recruit was given a basic khaki uniform, a place to sleep, and was told they would receive a wage of $45.00 per month. Alfred Jantjies described the physical drills, such as rifle and other gun shooting practice, first aid training, tactical survival skills, and the preparation of explosives, which recruits engaged in for the three month period they were at the camp – which Alfred Jantjies refers to as “the school” in his testimony.
When recruits completed their training, they were returned to Dar-es-Salaam. From there they were taken in batches of nine back to South Africa. In order to navigate their way back to the Republic, each batch of recruits was given a sketch map (Exhibit CC) and a compass. When Alfred Jantjies and nine others were arrested in Bulawayo, the only documents he had on him were this sketch map, his passport (Exhibit DD), and a photograph taken of himself and the recruits in Ethiopia after they had completed their training (Exhibit EE).
Alfred Jantjies claimed that, had he known that he was not going for higher education but to be trained as a guerrilla soldier, he would not have agreed to go to the camp. He and the other nine recruits arrested were sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Cross-examination reserved.
Sources
Dictabelts: (Vol.49/8A/106b) (Vol.49/8A/107b) (Vol.49/8A/108b) (Vol.49/8A/109b) (Vol.49/8A/110b) (Vol.49/8B/111b) (Vol.49/8B/112b) (Vol.49/8B/113b).
Percy Yutar Papers:
Evidence of E A Suliman (Ms.385/2).
Evidence of A Jantjies (MS.385/2).
Wits Historical Papers:
Defence Team’s record of Witnesses (AD1844.A6.3).
Evidence of Essop Suliman (AD1844.A11.3)
Handwritten Attorney’s notes on Essop Suliman (AD1844.Bb4.1)
As to Essop Suliman, typed notes (AD1844.Ba19.2)
Analysis of Evidence: Essop Suliman (AD1844.Ba19.1)
Essop Amod Suliman’s Evidence (AD1844.A6.4.1)
Analysis of Evidence: Alfred Janntjies (AD1844.Ba6)
Evidence of Alfred Jaantjies (AD1844.A6.5.1).
Key Words
Key State Witnesses, English Tolo Mashiloane, Cyril Davids, Alfred Jantjies, Guerrilla Warfare, MK Recruits, Dar-es-Salaam, Ethiopia.