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Retired colonel denies police could probe apartheid-era dockets

Published

Retired SAPS Colonel Louis Bester told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission inquiry in Pretoria on Wednesday that he was told to keep the dockets safe until instructed. He said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) moved them to police for safekeeping.

Advocate Howard Varney, who represents the Calata Group, cross-examined Bester. Varney put it to him that the NPA had closed most of the dockets before they were removed in March 2004. He said police were free to investigate them and send them back to the NPA for decisions on prosecution.

Bester rejected that view and said the dockets were not in the domain of SAPS. He said he sealed about 10 boxes on the instruction of then national commissioner Jackie Selebi. Bester also denied that he identified seven cases in a 2006 SAPS audit report given to the Investigative Task Unit.

Varney also referred to the evidence of former prosecutor Chris Macadam. Macadam said the NPA position was that SAPS could take the dockets further and return them if the NPA needed to help. Allegations in that evidence said the NPA used the dockets to build a case against former president Thabo Mbeki and other senior ANC officials.

Bester explained why he thought a handover report was needed. He said: "I was tasked to safeguard those documents and dockets, and I deemed it my duty to see that every one was there".

Key facts

Who
Louis Bester (Retired SAPS colonel giving evidence at the TRC inquiry); Howard Varney (Advocate cross-examining Bester, representing the Calata Group); Chris Macadam (Former prosecutor whose testimony Varney referred to); Sue Brits (Former investigator familiar with the dockets)
What
At the TRC inquiry into the handling of apartheid-era political violence cases, Bester, under cross-examination by advocate Howard Varney, said the dockets were transferred to SAPS by the NPA for safekeeping and rejected the suggestion that SAPS could investigate them.
When
28 October 2026
Where
Pretoria
Status
Reported

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