THE BIGGEST murder trial in South African history is finally under way, with former defence minister Gen Magnus Malan and, his 19 co accused pleading not guilty yesterday to involvement in the 1987 massacre of 13 black civilians.
With Gen Malan in the dock of Durban Supreme Court yesterday were 11 former army officers, including five of general rank, the deputy general secretary of the Inkatha Freedom Party, a former security police colonel and six former members of the KwaZulu homeland police force.
All 20 men are charged with 13 counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder in relation to the 1987 attack on the Ntuli household at KwaMakutha, near Durban. The case was adjourned on its first day last week to give the seven defence teams time to consider a new charge, that the accused conspired to murder members of the then banned African National Congress and the anti apartheid United Demo cratic Front.
In his opening submission yesterday, the Attorney General for KwaZulu Natal, Mr Tim McNally, said that the case would "cast a shaft of judicial light to a corner of our history which has hitherto been dark and secret. It is a process of truth and justice".
Mr McNally went on to reject the generals' likely defence that they could not be held responsible for the actions of those they had trained.
Gen Malan, who is suffering from arrested leukemia was booed by a small crowd of Zulu demonstrators when he arrived at the court building.
The former chief of the army Gen Kat Liebenberg, who is suffering from prostate cancer and wears a neckbrace, was allowed to sit outside the dock on a heavily cushioned stool.
Among those with Gen Malan in the dock were the former Defence Forces chief, Gen Johannes Geldenhuys, the former chief of staff, Vice Admiral Andries Putter, and the former head of military intelligence, Gen Tienie Groenewald. All 20 men pleaded "not guilty".
Later, police had to use a water cannon to disperse a crowd of 200 Inkatha supporters who were disturbing the proceedings with loud chanting in support of the accused.
The prosecution, led by Mr McNally, is seeking to prove that the senior military officers were part of a conspiracy to set up and train political assassination squads for the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party and its leader, Chief Mangosuthw Buthelezi.
Chief Buthelezi was seen by them as a right wing black counterweight to the jailed ANC leader, Mr Nelson Mandela.
The indictment claims that in 1986 Gen Malan and a military intelligence committee transported 200 Inkatha supporters to the Caprivi Strip in Namibia. While Inkatha claims that the men were trained as bodyguards to protect Chief Buthelezi from the rival ANC, the state is alleging that half of the "Caprivi 200" were in fact trained in assassination techniques and intelligence gathering.
Inkatha's deputy general secretary, Mr M. Z. Khumalo, a close aide to Chief Buthelezi, is accused of liaising between the hit squad members and the military.
Mr McNally said yesterday that Chief Buthelezi, whose name appears frequently in the indictment, was still not on the list of government witnesses but could be called as the trial goes on. Both Chief Buthelezi and the white right have condemned the trial as an ANC "witch hunt" and warned of possible violence if it proceeds.
The massacre was carried out by several gunmen armed with AK47 assault rifles who shot dead 13 civilians - including five children aged under 10 - but failed to kill their target, Mr Victor Ntuli (23). An activist for the anti apartheid United Democratic Front, Mr Ntuli was away on the night of the attack but was assassinated three years later.