DATE=5/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SAF / PLANE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263007
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Families of the victims of a 1987 South
African airline crash say new allegations about the
cause of the disaster should be fully investigated.
The appeal came as the newspaper that has been
revealing new details of the incident reported the
pilot of the ill-fated plane at first refused to take
off because what was described as a deadly cargo was
on board. VOA's Alex Belida reports from
Johannesburg.
TEXT: The Afrikaans-language newspaper "Beeld" says
pilot Dawie Uys (DAH-WEE ACE) initially refused to fly
his 747 jumbo jet from Taipei to
Johannesburg in late November 1987 when he was told a
dangerous cargo was on board.
The newspaper says the pilot took a phone call from a
cabinet minister in South Africa's then white-minority
government ordering him to take off before he agreed
to fly. The plane, carrying 159 people, later crashed
into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mauritius.
"Beeld" says the latest revelations come from a
retired pilot in the South African Air Force who
obtained the information while on duty in
Air Force headquarters in Pretoria 13 years ago. The
source said he did not know what the cargo was, only
that it was described to him as "deadly."
Previous reports have suggested there may have been a
nuclear weapon on board or possibly chemicals needed
to produce rocket fuel. A judicial inquiry into the
incident during the apartheid era found no one was to
blame for the fatal crash.
David Klatzow, a forensic investigator who looked into
the accident for the plane's manufacturer, tells South
African national radio there are many reasons to
reopen the investigation.
/// INVESTIGATOR ACTUALITY ///
Firstly, we've had allegations over many years
that the truth is not out. We've had
allegations been made that our national carrier
airline is in some way implicated in a deep and
very dark criminal activity. We have
allegations that a judge of our Supreme Court
has somehow been involved in a cover up of
Olympian proportions.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
Families of the victims are now demanding a new probe,
including public release of secret testimony given two
years ago to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, a panel set up to look into human rights
abuses during white-minority rule in the country.
/// opt /// This man, the son of one of the victims,
voiced his support for a fresh investigation at a
Johannesburg news conference.
/// VICTIM RELATIVE ACTUALITY /// /// opt act ///
We've gone through our pain in various different ways,
now all we want is the truth.
/// END ACTUALITY /// /// end opt ///
South Africa's Director of Public Prosecutions has
been ordered to coordinate a new probe of the crash.
His office has already received copies of the closed-
door testimony given to the Truth panel.
The country's former white minority government is
known to have developed nuclear weapons as well as an
extensive conventional arms capability through a
clandestine support network set up to circumvent
international sanctions imposed during the apartheid
era. (Signed)
NEB/BEL/GE/KBK
31-May-2000 12:08 PM EDT (31-May-2000 1608 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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