Description
This day began with the continued examination-in-chief of D/Sgt Du Preez who gave evidence of 61 acts of sabotage and violence committed in the Eastern Cape which he had investigated and directly linked with the ANC and MK. Much time in court is taken by D/Sgt Du Preez description of what was found at the scene of these attacks as well as the known political affiliations of persons arrested in connection with them.
Following from D/Sgt Du Preez the prosecution shifts attention away from the Eastern Cape and towards the Travallyn property in Johannesburg. Dr Yutar calls a number of witnesses who testified to the purchase and occupation of Travallyn by Accused No.3, Denis Goldberg, operating under the alias of Charles Barnard. Dr Yutar also briefly examines two police officers who had been responsible for lifting prints from the Travallyn property and matching them with those of Denis Goldberg and Accused No.7, Raymond Mhlaba.
Following the examination of the two finger print experts Dr Yutar takes the opportunity, whilst waiting for the next state witness, to read a number of documents to the court which had been found at the Travallyn property. However, by the time Dr Yutar was ready to submit these exhibits his last state witness, W/O Erasmus had already stepped down. As such, Dr Yutar handed in the documents found at Travallyn on the understanding that these exhibits were submitted to the court subject to proper proof at a later stage which, Dr Yutar specified, would come from D/Sgt Dirker.
Prior to Dr Yutar’s reading of these exhibits, Judge De Wet granted permission for all of the Port Elizabeth witnesses, including D/Sgt Du Preez and the interpreter, released until Thursday morning at which time they would be cross-examined.
Witnesses Called
52nd State Witness: Detective Sergeant Johnathan Du Preez – Port Elizabeth. (Recalled).
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar continued.
Dr Yutar resumes his examination of D/Sgt Du Preez precisely where he had left off on the previous day – that is with the pamphlets purported to have been issued by the ANC submitted as evidence to court. The exhibits dealt with by D/Sgt on this second day of his examination-in-chief were as follows:
Exhibit VV entitled ‘Listen White Man’ which was sent through the post to the addresses of many prominent white people.
Exhibit XX entitled ‘Our Struggle Now; which was written in isiXhosa and found at a railway station and various other locations in Port Elizabeth.
Exhibit YY entitled ‘The Voice of the People’ which was also distributed in various locations and found by police in December, 1963.
Following from the discussion of these various pamphlets Dr Yutar turns his attention to the various acts of sabotage D/Sgt Du Preez had been involved in investigating. Below is a short descriptive list of some, but not all, of those acts of sabotage dealt with by D/Sgt Du Preez:
Item No.14: The bombing of an electric sub-station on 16th December, 1961. D/Sgt Du Preez had found traces of sand, a sugar packet, and plastic bottles at the scene when he inspected it on the following day. Harold Strachan (identified as a member of the Congress of Democrats), Govan Mbeki, and Joseph Jack were arrested in connection with this act but only Harold Strachan was convicted whilst the other two were acquitted.
Item No.15: The bombing of a second electric sub-station on 16th December, 1961. As with Item No.14, D/Sgt Du Preez found similar materials at the scene on the following day and the arrests which took place were the same as those detailed above.
Item No.16: Bombing of the Bantu Labour Office on 16th December, 1961. D/Sgt Du Preez visited the scene and found that the door of the building had been blown to pieces. Remnants of tin, bags, and other plastic materials were found.
In total D/Sgt Du Preez gave evidence of 61 acts of sabotage in which he had been involved as an investigating officer between 1961 and 1963. These included further bombings of government buildings, beer halls, and private residences, as well as the cutting of telephone poles and wires, amongst other things. D/Sgt Du Preez claimed that in all instances in which petrol bombs had been used they had been made with white port wine bottled.
According to D/Sgt Du Preez on 25th January, 1963, he received information during a trip to Johannesburg which lead to him and D/Sgt Kotze going to a location in Meadowlands where they dug into the ground and found a coke tin with 60ft. of cortex and a few detonators inside of it. Subsequently to this, D/Sgt Kotze made use of a mine detector and discovered tins which had been painted black and later showed these to D/Sgt Du Preez. After this occasion D/Sgt Du Preez was instructed to prepare a list of all known MK members and handed it over to Captain Geldenhuye who was the officer in charge of the Security Police of the Eastern Cape. On 17th July, 1963, all of those named on this list were arrested.
Among those arrested on 17th July, 1963, was a known MK member Jacob Sikundla who had been found in possession of three pangas at the time of his arrest. In addition to this both Joseph Nati and Benson Fihla had been found in a house with a grain bag with nine white port wine bottles, charcoal in tins, rubber gloves, and other items used in acts of sabotage. On 31st July, 1963, D/Sgt Du Preez went to the house of Wilson Betwayo and found large quantities of gunpowder, sulphuric acid, aluminium powder, and more. On the same day he went to Benson Fihla’s house and found flowers of sulphur, charcoal, saltpetre, and other chemicals used for manufacturing explosives.
Dr Yutar asked D/Sgt Du Preez what he knew about the arrest of Titus Jobo in Livingstone, Rhodesia, as he was attempting to leave the Republic. D/Sgt Du Preez stated that he had visited Titus Jobo in Leeukop Prison and made him try on a jacket which he had found on the scene of Bantu Sergeant Hamilton’s house which had been attacked in 1962. Although Titus Jobo denied all knowledge of the jacket, when D/Sgt Du Preez made him put it on, he found that it was a good fit.
In closing his examination-in-chief Dr Yutar asks D/Sgt Du Preez to give details of a number of other people from the Port Elizabeth area who had been arrested and identified as members of the MK involved in acts of sabotage or attempts to leave the country for military training.
Cross-examination was reserved until Thursday 6th February, 1964.
53rd State Witness: George Findlay – Father of Mrs J Smit, Travallyn owner.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
George Findlay was the father of Mrs J Smit who had owned the Travallyn property prior to Accused No.3, Denis Goldberg, who purchased the property under the alias Charles Barnard. George Findlay held power of attorney for his daughter and as such was empowered to sell the property. George Findlay’s Estate Agent was contacted by Charles Barnard and on 1st July, 1963, Charles Barnard took up occupation at Travallyn.
Aside from the occasional visit to the property to collect rent, George Findlay did not have very many interactions with Charles Barnard. However, on the evening of the 6th of August, 1963, George Findlay and his wife were out and noticed that a side window had been broken at the Travallyn property when they drove past. George Findlay went inside the house and found the fridge open and pots and pan scattered around the place. In a small desk drawer he came across many of what he thought were political documents.
Having found these papers he decided to take them to a friend’s house and seek advice as to what to do about them. On his friends advice that these were dangerous documents he got in touch with the police and made a report. George Findlay took the police to the property and showed them the room and the desk in which he had found the documents.
Cross-examination reserved.
54th State Witness: Heine Sleigh – Estate Agent, Johannesburg.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Heine Sleigh was the Estate agent who was approached by Accused No.3, Denis Goldberg, operating under the alias of Charles Barnard, in May, 1963, about purchasing the Travallyn property. He told Heine Sleigh that he was interested in using the property to try modern methods of battery system based poultry farming which made use of prefabricated steel sheds. There were two aspects of Heine Sleigh’s interaction with Charles Barnard which he felt were odd.
Firstly, Charles Barnard refused to give him an address or phone number insisting that he was staying with friends who would not like him to be “phoned or visited” there. Secondly, when they were drawing up the Deed of Sale (Exhibit No.22), Heine Sleigh told Charles Barnard that he could most likely get the property for a cheaper price. Heine Sleigh said that Charles Barnard was the only client he had ever had that said he did not want any dispute and would prefer to simply pay the full price.
Cross-examination reserved.
55th State Witness: Robert Lowery – Clerk, Aladdin Lighting.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Robert Lowery was yet another witness for the state who gave evidence concerning the purchase of certain materials by Mr Don Williams, aka Denis Goldberg, in Johannesburg. In this instance Mr Williams had bought parts for a light box from Robert Lowery on 2nd July, 1963. The address given by Mr Williams for the transaction receipt was No.11 Park Lane, Parktown.
Robert Lowery tentatively suggests that the third man sitting in the dock, Denis Goldberg, could have been Mr Don Williams who had a slight beard and no glasses at the time the witness had interacted with him.
No cross-examination.
56th State Witness: Andries Mhlongo – Labourer, Travallyn.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Andries Mhlongo had been an employed at a general labourer at Travallyn by Mr Findlay since March, 1963. When the property was bought by Charles Barnard his employment at Travallyn was terminated. The only interaction Andries Mhlongo had with Charles Barnard was over a few days whilst Charles Barnard was moving in to the property. Andries Mhlongo helped Charles Barnard move two tables, a bed, and a few other items into the house before leaving the property for good on the 3rd of July, 1963.
Andries Mhlongo was confident that he would be able to point out Charles Barnard if he was present in the courtroom. However, he was unable to recognised Denis Goldberg in the dock and was only about to identify photograph D.3 of Annexure D.
Cross-examination reserved.
57th State Witness: Warrant Officer Jan Van Rensburg – Fingerprint Expert.
Examination-in-chief by Mr Krog.
W/O Van Rensburg went to Travallyn in August 1963 to examine the property for finger prints. On the day that W/O Van Rensburg went to Travallyn he was already in possession of sets of finger prints of Accused No.3, Denis Goldberg (Exhibit EEE), and Accused No.7, Raymond Mhlaba (Exhibit HHH). With these sample sets W/O Van Rensburg was able to identify several matches with prints he lifted from Travallyn directly linking both Denis Goldberg and Raymond Mhlaba to items on the property.
In closing W/O Van Rensburg told the court that he had eight years’ worth of experience as an officer in the Finger Print Department of the SAP.
Cross-examination reserved.
58th State Witness: Warrant Officer Nicolas Erasmus – Fingerprint Expert.
Examination-in-chief by Mr Krog
W/O Erasmus was the officer who had created the finger print sets (Exhibits EEE and HHH) of Denis Goldberg and Raymond Mhlaba and handed them to W/O Van Rensburg.
No cross-examination.
Dr Yutar hands in and reads to the court the following documents, subject to proof at a later stage, which he claims will come from W/O Dirker:
Exhibit T.14: Letter written by N.T.B. to Dear Booth dated 25th April, 1963.
Exhibit T.15: An annexure to Exhibit T.14, which was letter from Christian Action to Walter Sisulu.
Exhibit T.16: Letter by Thunder, to Dear O.R. dated 2nd May, 1963.
Exhibit T.17: Letter by Thunder to Dear O.R. dated 12th May, 1963.
Exhibit T.18: Letter addressed to “Dear Friend” 15th May, 1963
Exhibit T.19: Letter: Dear Gambu – Jones 17th May, 1963
Exhibit T.20: Letter: Dear Booth – M.T.B. 21st May, 1963
Exhibit T21: Letter handwritten and copy: My dear uncle, 22nd May ‘63
Exhibit T.22: Letter: Dear Booth – M.T.B. Jack Molobile 23rd May 1963
Exhibit T.23: Letter: Dear O.R. – Jones 24th May 1963
Exhibit T.24: Letter – handwritten – ‘Friends’ 28th May 1963
Exhibit T.25: Letter Dear O.R. – ‘Thunder’ 30th May 1963
Exhibit T.26: Letter Dear O.R. – ‘Thunder’ 13th June 1963
Exhibit T.27: Letter Dear Friend 19th June 1963. NO COPY GIVEN TO US
Exhibit T.28: Letter Dear O.R. – ‘Thunder’ 28th June 1963
Exhibit T.29: Circular TO ALL REGIONS & BRANCHES Not dated (25.4.63)
In the main these letters all concerned the sending of recruits out of the Republic to other African states or universities overseas. They gave detail of the allocation of groups of recruits to be sent from some provinces in South Africa as well as the preparations for receiving these groups, referred to as “parcels”, by the organisation operating outside of South Africa. Many of the letters were also descriptions of the repressive conditions political activists faced in South Africa under the 90day detention law and pleas for assistance, both monetary and political, from organisations outside of the Republic. Some of the letters also included instructions, justifications, and comments on the struggle against the government within South Africa.
All of these documents submitted by Dr Yutar on this day provided solid proof that the Travallyn property purchased by Denis Goldberg was connected with the conspiracy in regard to sending people outside of the Republic to receive military training. However, it is important to note that recruits were always referred to as students or parcels in these letters.
After the last document of the above listed batch was submitted Judge De Wet adjourned until Monday morning.
Sources
Dictablets: (Vol.50/11A/66c) (Vol.50/11A/67c) (Vol.50/11A/68c) (Vol.50/11A/69c) (Vol.50/11A/70c) (Vol.50/11B/71c) (Vol.50/11B/72c) (Vol.50/11B/73c) (Vol.50/11B/74c).
Percy Yutar Papers:
Handwritten notes from the prosecution for 31st January, 1964 (Ms.385/36/7).
Evidence of Johnathan Du Preez (Ms.385/4).
WITS Historical Papers:
G1 – G105: Evidence includes that by police detectives, and other State witnesses (AD1844.A8.1).
Evidence: J du Preez (AD1844.A14.2)
Evidence: J du Preez (AD1844.A13.5)
Analysis of evidence: Det. Sgt Du Preez (AD1844.A18.12).
Key Words
Denis Goldberg, Travallyn, Police Witness, Exhibits handed in, ANC correspondence.
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