(Fwd) hani murder

[Curtis Price <cansv@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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ELECTRONIC MAIL & GUARDIAN

January 31, 1997

New evidence in Hani death plot


Documents given to the Mail & Guardian point to a conspiracy beyond
the right wing. Stefaans Brümmer and Hazel Friedman report

SECRET Military Intelligence reports warning of Chris Hani's
impending assassination have raised the startling possibility of a
wider plot to kill the popular South African Communist Party leader
before the 1994 elections.

The Mail & Guardian is in possession of two documents, at least one
which appears certain to have been delivered to the old South
African Defence Force's Department of Military Intelligence (MI)
before the assassination. Julie Wilken, long-time girlfriend of MI
agent Eugene Riley, says in a sworn statement that she typed the
documents, which Riley had composed for his MI handlers. She has
passed a lie-detector test on the contents of her affidavit. Riley
died of a single gunshot wound to his head on January 31 1994. His
death remains a mystery.

The documents raise the question why MI, pre-warned, had done
nothing to prevent Hani's death. More surprisingly, they claim an
unidentified group of African National Congress operatives had a
hand in Hani's death.

To many, the book was closed on one of South Africa's most
emotional chapters when Conservative Party politician Clive
Derby-Lewis and Polish immigrant Janusz Waluz were sentenced to
death for the April 10 1993 murder.

But both have now applied for amnesty from the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission -- the start, perhaps, of a new chapter
that will look more closely at forces other than the small group of
rightwingers that wanted Hani dead.

Key to the mystery is an apparent ANC-MI double agent codenamed
"Ramon" -- described in the documents as the source of the
information on the impending assassination. Wilken names "Ramon" as
Mohammed Amin Laher, whom M&G knows independently to have
co-operated with Riley.

Laher this week threatened to take M&G to court should it name him
as Ramon, adding that "the only two people who can [identify him as
Ramon] are dead".

Wilken says in her affidavit: "I found out Laher was a member of
the ANC's Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS) when I
typed a number of reports over a period of several months --
reports which Riley made to his handler at MI after debriefing
Laher ... The reports contained sensitive information on ANC
matters."

About two weeks before Hani's assassination, Laher started giving
Riley information on an assassination attempt that would be
launched against an unnamed "prominent political figure". In
follow-up meetings, Laher gave more detailed information, including
that Hani would be the target. Wilken states she was present at
some of the earlier meetings.

Her affidavit says she recognises the two documents in M&G's
possession, one dated April 8 or 9 1993 and the other April 10, the
day of the assassination, as true copies of the documents she
typed. The first document wavers between whether it would be an
actual assassination or an attempt to "frighten" Hani. The later
document confirms the intent to kill -- and even talks of a "Polish
member of the 'strike unit'".

Wilken says to the best of her knowledge Riley had, before the
assassination, handed at least the first report to his handlers at
MI.

A number of weeks after Riley's own death, Laher told her the plot
to kill Hani had come from a small group within the DIS which had
found out that the rightwingers were planning the assassination
already. Laher told her the DIS members' role had been to
"facilitate" the right-wing attempt and mentioned "something about"
Hani's bodyguards (who were absent at the time of the
assassination). "Laher also threatened me not to say anything about
the ANC involvement in Hani's death or his own role."

The M&G was unable this week to confirm Laher's exact position with
the DIS. But one senior intelligence source said: "This may be
related to a policy that we will never confirm or deny the identity
of a source."

AMONG a number of explanations for the contents of the reports is
that it was a conscious disinformation attempt against the ANC by
"Ramon". But the question remains how he could have had
foreknowledge of the assassination, which still indicates at least
acquiescence on the part of the agency -- ANC or the government --
where he gleaned his information.

But, like Wilken, who believes Laher had been with the DIS because
of the regularity with which he provided ANC information to Riley,
there are some in the ANC who believe ANC members had something to
do with Hani's assassination.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was reported in the London Sunday Times,
a week after the assassination, to have told confidants she
believed moderate ANC leaders had "conspired" with the National
Party government to eliminate Hani. The report said: "According to
her, details of Hani's movements, including critical information
about when his bodyguards would be absent, were passed to
government security agents, who in turn made this known to Waluz."
Madikizela-Mandela is believed still to hold the same view, but
would not comment this week.

Indications in support of this thesis include:

Both MI documents state that the planned assassination would be
moved from April 11 to April 10 "since no access could be obtained
to Hani on 1993/04/11". Strong evidence emerged during the
investigation and trial that Waluz had acted earlier than
originally planned.

A previously unpublished fact is that Hani had secretly spent the
final hours of his last night at a Johannesburg hotel. He might
have had reason to send his bodyguards home because of the
clandestine nature of the hotel visit. Few people would have had
that intimate a knowledge of Hani's movements to feed to Waluz.

Journalist Arthur Kemp, originally arrested for having provided
address details for the "hit list", had connections with the
apartheid security establishment. A former security police
sergeant, he claimed at the time of his arrest to have been an
informer for the National Intelligence Service. While there is no
evidence to suggest he had in fact played such a role, this gives
an indication how the Derby-Lewis-Waluz group could have been
infiltrated and manipulated by an outside agency. Kemp was a state
witness during the trial.

Wilken says Riley told her some time after Waluz' arrest that Waluz
would secretly be freed from jail after sentencing, and that a
large award would await him. In June 1995, the Sowetan published an
article quoting "highly placed intelligence sources" as saying
there were negotiations secretly to deport Waluz to Poland and
Derby-Lewis to Australia. While it was denied by the government at
the time, the Sowetan journalist this week maintained: "I am sure
the negotiations took place."

The first MI document says "Ramon" claims Hani's "own agenda has
become a big headache for the MK [Umkhonto weSizwe]/DIS hierarchy".
This may well be true. Hani, never one to be dictated to, first
came into conflict with his ANC seniors as far back as the ANC's
1969 Morogoro conference, when he was suspended for his militant
approach.

And in 1991, when the ANC had its first National Executive
Committee leadership elections in South Africa, Hani's immense
popularity led him to challenge Thabo Mbeki for the party's deputy
presidency. Many in the ANC hierarchy disapproved as the ANC at the
time wanted to project a more moderate image. After intense
behind-the-scenes jockeying, both Hani and Mbeki agreed to stand
down in favour of Walter Sisulu as compromise candidate.

A few months before his death, Hani said in a foreign newspaper
interview that he was thinking of starting an outside
communist/labour organisation to act as a check on the ANC in the
government. No doubt this made him more enemies because of the
serious threat posed to the ANC power base. For that, he had only
his popularity to thank.

Mpumalanga Premier Matthews Phosa, who headed the ANCs own
investigation into the assassination, this week commented: "It is
very clear that those who aided and abetted Janusz et al are now
doing everything in their power to further cover their tracks. We,
however, remain convinced that the truth will ultimately out. The
ANC has kept its file open on this matter until such time as
Janusz's principals are fully disclosed and brought to book."


Riley warned me of 'hit list'

Hazel Friedman

EUGENE RILEY told me that Chris Hani would be assassinated a few
days before the death of this charismatic South African Communist
Party leader .

"You mark my words", he said. "There is a hit-list of top African
National Congress officials who are seen as a threat to both sides.
There will be chaos in this country."

At the time I did not take his warning seriously. It was only after
Hani fell and Riley introduced me to Amin Laher, that the full
impact sank in.

A chubby, dapper man of dubious repute, Laher was described by
Riley as one of his most "reliable" sources. This much was
confirmed to me by Laher himself, soon after our first meeting.

Laher, Riley confided, was not merely a respected "MK" soldier and
"intelligence source" who had earned the grudging respect of the
Civil Co-operation Bureau. He had also supplied Riley with
invaluable information on the Hani assassination. Now Laher wanted
to reveal the details to me, a freelance journalist at the time.

Soon Laher offered to give me documents that would confirm that the
assassination had been planned by factions hostile to Hani within
the ANC. But he insisted that I not investigate their veracity. I
declined.


New evidence in Hani assassination
 FRIDAY, 3.30PM: SECRET Military Intelligence reports in the
possession of the Mail & Guardian show that MI operatives and
certain members of the African National Congress's security
department were forewarned of the 1993 assassination of popular ANC
and SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, but did nothing,
suggesting the possibility of a wider conspiracy to kill Hani.
The documents in the M&G's possession were dictated MI reports
typed by Julie Wilken, the long-time girlfirend of MI agent Eugene
Riley. Riley died on January 31 1994, in an execution-style killing
which still remians a mystery. Key to the mystery is an informer
codenamed "Ramon", who gave Riley the information on the impending
Hani assassination. According to Wilken, Ramon is Mohammed Amin
Laher, who was a member of the ANC's department of intelligence and
security. Laher is known to have been associated with Riley.
Wilken is adamant the reports she typed for Riley were handed to
his MI handler, suggesting that both MI and ANC intelligence were
aware of the plot to kill Hani, but did nothing.



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