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Apartheid-era killers hired by U.S. firm to protect Iraqi oil
By: Henry Hamilton III
Milwaukee Courier
Originally posted 4/23/2004


Ever wonder how the money to rebuild Iraq is being spent? Well, a portion is being spent to employ ruthless South African apartheid-era killers.

It appears that Halliburton and Bechtel are not the only American companies living large off your tax dollars. SAS International, an American based private security company, has joined the group. In August 2003, Erinys International, a British security company, was awarded an estimated $ 39.5 million contract to guard Iraqi oil wells. Seeking assistance, Erinys subcontracted SAS International.

On January 28, 2004, a van disguised as an ambulance exploded outside the Shaheen Hotel in Baghdad. Francois Strydom was among the dead. Deon Gouws was among the injured. Strydom and Gouws were revealed to be former apartheid-era killers from South Africa employed by SAS International.

Strydom, a member of the South Africa military, did most of his killing in the border country of Namibia. Gouws, a South African police officer, honed his skills in South Africa.

Strydom has joined his comrades and we will let him rest in peace. Gouws was wounded and still lives. An internet search quickly revealed Gouws’ dark past. Before being recruited by SAS International, Gouws was a major player in the 1986 “KwaNdebele 9” incident. KwaNdebele was one of South Africa’s 10 Homelands prior to formation of the new government in 1994. Nine represented the number of young men who were slaughtered and whose bodies were subsequently torched to hide the evidence.

In July 1986, Gouws and his cohorts entered a KwaNdebele home under the guise of training nine young men in the use of firearms. The young men lined up to receive the training and were gunned down by Gouws and company. Their bullet-riddled bodies were then set on fire. It was reported that one of the men had been in the area to visit his grandparents.

While seeking amnesty under South African law, Gouws testified that he may have fire bombed 40 to 60 residences and buildings. Amnesty hearing documents (available on the Internet) indicate that he could not recall specific details. Having being involved in more than 40 fire bombings, its not difficult to understand that Gouws would have difficulties differentiating the details of one bombing from another. Gouws did recall detonating a car bomb in 1986 that killed Piet Ntuli, a KwaNdebele cabinet minister.

Ntuli’s death was not the end. In March 1992, Gouws and several others ambushed a van containing four unarmed individuals. Having successfully lured the van to a predetermined location, Gouws and others drew their weapons and opened fire on the van. The occupants of the van were killed. Gouws then placed an AK47 in the van, and watched as an accomplice did the same with two hand grenades. According to the testimony of his partners, the plan “was to create the false impression that the police had set up a road block and that the occupants of the [van] opened fire on the police at the road block whereafter the police returned fire and killed the occupants.” A potential witness, who happened to be Winnie Mandela’s driver at the time, was found nearby. Fearing he could tell all, the group shot him, set his clothes on fire, and blew up his remains with explosives.

In 1996, Gouws was dismissed from the police force for allegedly being medically unfit. He was hired by SAS International earlier this year.

The question for the curious minded - Why are our taxpayer dollars being used by an American company to employ apartheid-era killers? Looking at things in this context, Halliburton does not seem so bad after all.

Henry Hamilton III is the host of “Ripped from the Headlines” heard each Saturday, 8-9 a.m., on 860 WNOV.


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