EXAMINE some of the bizarre and totally unproven claims made in the name of Desmond Tutu’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission and you are left with a very strong assumption: that the TRC has been inspired with two imperatives. One, to blacken the name of all SA Whites, the Afrikaners the particular target. Two, to convince the international community that apartheid was so heinous, so murderous, a system that by comparison the Holocaust pales into insignificance.

Too harsh a judgement? I don’t think so. Recall some of the truly grotesque hares the TRC has sent up, all guaranteed to bring the old SA Government and its security forces into massive international disrepute. We present a particular bracket of such TRC allegations:

1. That it was the old SAG which caused the crash of a SAA passenger aircraft off Port Elizabeth. This allegation was later expanded in The Sunday Tribune. It was claimed that "they" forced the plane to fly into a storm, killing all on board. Why would the White fiends do this? To rid "them" of the Broederbond head, because he was "too verlig." It was further stated that after the crash a SA submarine had "surfaced" at the scene. Those better informed pointed out that the pilot had been informed he was flying into turbulence: and that SA did not acquire its first sub till three years after the crash.
2. That the old SAG caused the crash of Samora Machel’s plane, an allegation repeatedly refuted by aviation experts and judicial commissions.
3. That the old SAG caused the crash of the Helderberg, with the death of all on board.
4. A hoary old favourite: that this same fiendish old SAG orchestrated the murder of Sweden’s Marxist Prime Minister, Olof Palme. Even the Swedes dismiss that. And now, the latest:
5. The TRC releases "sensational evidence pointing to direct South African involvement in the international plot to kill former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in December 1961." Star, 19.8.98.

Both men were adamant that the crash was the result of pilot error, which slotted in with the initial findings: that no operating chart for Ndola, Zambia, was found in the wreck, though a chart for Ndolo in nearby Belgian Congo (now Zaire) was recovered. Both men dismissed any suggestion that the aircraft had been either blown up or shot down.

The doctor wrote: ‘I was in hospital when the first ambulance brought in the body of Dag Hammarskjold. I had never seen him but recognised him at once from photos I had seen. I can assure you that he was externally uninjured. There was not a scratch, a drop of blood, a burn or anything visible. His peaceful features gave the impression of some one who had died in his sleep.

"I personally do not believe in a mysterious cause to this tragic accident. Had the plane carried ordinary passengers the world would have been satisfied with the verdict, ‘pilot error.’ Neither did any of the burnt bodies show signs of explosive injuries."

Mr Eccles was the man who brought in the diplomat’s body. His version differs somewhat from that of the doctor: but bear in mind it was written 17 years after the crash. In his covering letter, he wrote: "I am so tired of hearing that the plane was attacked by the Rhodesian Air Force, Tshombe’s forces, etc. All a lot of nonsense. I hate hearing all this rubbish, and have made up my mind to make public what I know."

In his statement: "Naturally there was a great deal of excitement about the coming of the UN Secretary-General. At about 11 p.m. that night I heard that the plane had passed over and disappeared. At 3.10 p.m. (the next day) I was alerted that the plane had been located, I was told to take an ambulance and a light truck. I collected a cylinder of oxygen, several extra blankets, an African orderly and two drivers."