International Media Network Aljazeera, made a documentary regarding the Cato Manor units atrocities committed, titled “Echoes of Apartheid“. I was interviewed by an investigative reporter and my evidence presented to them.
Amnesty International appointed Advocate Julian Knight to legally represent my interests and advise me, so he tried to get further details from the NPA regarding my witness protection status, but the NPA kept stalling.
In 2015, a letter that was sent by the NPA to Julian Knight was leaked to the press. The letter outlined some of the challenges the NPA was facing in using me as a witness. I suspect it was leaked by Johan Booysen to damage my credibility as a witness.
On 23rd July 2015 I received a call from General Mabula, the investigator officer of the Cato Manor case, to persuade me again to return to South Africa in order to testify in court as a witness for the prosecution. When I confronted him regarding the NPA’s betrayal as well as the letter that was issued by Maema, he added to the confusion by telling me that” it was not valid and was not issued by the NPA“. He also said the letter was used in another case against Jiba and the NPA was planning to withdraw it officially in the court.
He further told me that he had spoken to the National Commissioner last week, who had no problem authorizing money for my flight to South Africa!
Mabula also said that he was talking to the witness protection unit and that they would protect me in South Africa if I traver there to testify. I refused to do so because I didn’t had confidence in their ability to protect me. I furthermore, reminded the General that I had strongly advised them since 2012 to expand the indictment and original charges against Booysen in order to include my evidence and testimony against him. For some peculiar reason they did not do so.
I must point out that I have subsequently read in the media that General Mabula also faced charges himself of serious human rights abuse, but I don’t have any personal knowledge of those cases.
On January 2016 I received various calls from General Mabula, and he informed me that he wanted to return to Greece to convince me to testify. I demanded that the NPA advocate who had issued the letter referred to above, Sello Maema, should personally come to Greece and explain himself as well as retract his letter, as it was defamatory as well as damaging to my credibility. They complied and the delegation of officials returned in January 2016, to Greece with Maema, Dawood and the officials apologizing for the letter that was issued and leaked. Here is a script of what Adv. Maema is saying regarding the letter to my Attorney as well as the apology.
They further apologised for the manner that they had treated me as a witness. They asked me to give them another chance as they intended to prosecute those perpetrators that I had blown the whistle on, on human right violations, torture, and extrajudicial killings in South Africa. They stated that the false allegations by the domestic worker of Booysen, was indeed a plot to discredit me as a witness and they just ignored it. They further advised me again to stay away from the media in South Africa and avoid engaging with journalists as this could damage their case.
Advocate Dawood, the head of the witness protection program of South Africa, was also present at the South African Embassy in Greece and he emphasized to me how important a witness for the state I was, as this was a crucial National case. I concluded that Dawood could not be trusted as he tried very hard to convince me to sign a statement at the Embassy, although I had not secured either witness protection, or a MLA process. He further committed to enter myself and my family within a preliminary witness protection, for a period of 15 days, in order to have time to return to South African and speak to the minister.
This is a voice recording of this incident.
Here is a script of what Adv. Dawood is saying regarding the significance of this case and me as a witness.
By October 2016 I had not yet received the agreed preliminary witness protection promised and the MLA application had arrived in Greece. On a call that can be heard here with Maema, I strongly protested regarding the absence of communication since February and expressed my frustration. I also shared my safety concerns with Maema. I informed Maema of the latest intimidations I had suffered, as Booysen had tried to call me via Viber within the same week that I was notified that the the MLA has arrived in Greece. I found that the timing of Booysen’s Viber call was very sinister.
Around the same time I found out that my South African Attorney Julian Knight was threatened and that Booysen “Had gate crashed my Attorney’s meeting with Colonel Botha “. I informed Maema about this incident, as well as the recent incident of suspicious people taken photos of my residency ( Photo 1, Photo 2 ).
He asked me “to please look after myself”. Here is the recording of this call conversation with Maema. Here is a screenshot of the incoming call from Booysen.
I reminded Maema that in a previous letter that he had sent to my South African Attorney in 2015, he had cast doubts as to my status as a witness and it was used to attack my credibility. Although the NPA had apologised for it and withdraw it at the Embassy in Greece, it was still used by the media against me.
Maema replied that he had legal grounds not to include my name in this witness list, for my own protection, referring to section 144/3 of the constitution. Adding to the confusion he now told me that he had deliberately written the previous letter I referred to, to my attorney in that matter, since he knew that Booysen will run to the media with it, and he wanted to protect me. It sounded to me that he was giving me a different version of what we had discussed at the Embassy previously.
His story had also changed, regarding promises made regarding my witness protection. He now informed me that I could only get witness protection after I had signed the MLA statement. Previously they had committed to provide me with witness protection before signing the MLA statement.
In conclusion, the various allegations that have been made that the NPA never intended to call me as a witness were false and the letter issued by Maema in 2015 was intended to protect my identity, had been withdrawn, and an apology was issued to me.