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-23 12143 ; J I K : C U Z ' ' K ' + G ' E I K T zP , B I

AFFIDAVIT

l, MAFTHTNUS DE WETJACOBS,lD 5506055051008,residingat No 7 OleaCresenl,Mornlng

Vlew,
HillBedford declareunderoathas follows:
beingan adultmaledo herebyvoluntarily

I wasthe Managerfor Talwanfor,southAfricanAirwaysand wasstationedin Taipei,from

March19g7untilDecember1990. Thisatfidavit relatesto the'Helderberg'accidenton
28 November 1987.

SAAconveyednumerousconsignm6nts frornTaipeltoJohannesburg
of lropical{ish during
my term of employmentin Taipei. All shipmentsoriginated from Singaporeand were
shlppedvia Taipeito Johannesburg.The fishwerecor'rveyed heavyduty
in transparent
plasticbags,partially filledwithwaterto whlchenoughpur6oxygento lastfor the duration
of thaflight,had beenadded. Thebagswerethensealedand placodln cardboardboxes,
labelledand conveyedas livestock. All relevantSAA regulationswith regardto the
conveyance of livestock hadto be compliedwithpriorto livestock beingacceptedas cargo.
ln termsof the said regulations it was importantthatall livestockbe declaredas livestock
on the cargomanifest,and that the captainof the flightwas to be notifiedby way of the
loadsheet whichrequiredhis signature,beforedepartureof a flight. All conslgnments of
tropicalfishwereto be loadedin the pressurised cargohold5 (bulkhold)as wasstandard
for all livestock, (withthe exceptibnof largeanimals, whichwereto be loadedon the upper
deckof the7478Combiaircratt).

Talpeiairportmovestons of live fish, especiallylive eels,to Japan. All shipmentsare

packedand loadedas describedabove. Anyshipmentof livefishnot packedand loaded
as above,wouldimmediatety havearousedsuspicion and lwould havebeeninformed.

I am in possession of a copy of the originalcargomanifestand loadsheetof the ill'fated

'Helderberg'and 'tropicalfish'doeenot appearon anyof lhe documents.

'gone missirtg'- the originalmanifeslwas aboardthe

The cargo manifesthad never
Heldorb6rg, but at least15 copies,as was standardSAAprocedurebeforedeparture of a
flight,was made.

6 Despatchers was indeedas

were visitedto verifythatthe natureof tlrecargotransported
on the cargomanifest.
indlcated

I was personallyat Taipeiairporton the oveningof 27 November1987to overseepre'

departure as wasthe normalpractisein tholineof my dutiea. At approximately
formalities,
20:00,I wasirrformedby CathayPacificAirwaysstaf{,thattheirflighlslromSeoulandTokyo
weredelayeddueto fog at Taipeiairporl. Bothllightsweredivertedto Khaoshiung airport
and wereoxpectedto irrive in Taipeiat 21:00. lthen established that we had in excess
of S0 connectingpassengers on those two flightsand declded,in the interestof SAA
passengers, to obtainpermissionfrom CaptainUysto delayour flight. I sawCaptainUys

@ q
 and his cockpitcrewin the Operations
Roomat the airportwheretheywerereceiving their
pre-flight
briefingwhichincludedweatherreports,flightplaninformation
etc,and discussed
with him the requestfor a possibledelay. He agreedthat the numberof connecting
passengers, morethan50, warranteda delay,but of no morethan2 hours.

8 At no stagedid CaptainUysexpressanyconcernaboutthecargoor anythingon boardthe

Helderberg. In fact he told me that he had boughta bicyclein Taipeifor his child for
Christmas.He alsotold me that he wouldliketo visitAustraliain March1988,and asked
my assistance in gettinghim a ticketfrom Hong Kongto Sydney. At no stagedid he
mentionor appearto be concernedaboutanythingon boardthe flight. I againsaw him
in the cockpitsoon beforedeparture, whilehe was signingthe loadsheet,
and he did not
mentionor showany concernwhatsoever aboutcargoor anythingelseon board.

I saidgoodbyeto themand closedthe door of the aircraft. Theflightthendeparted.

 ITSCONTENTS.
AND UNDERSTAND
I HAVEREADTHISSTATEMENT
OATH.
TO TAKINGTHE PRESCRIBED
I HAVENO OBJECTION

ON MY CONSCIENCE.
THEOATHTO BE BINDING
I CONSIDER

IS TRUE,SO HELPME GOD.

OF THISSTATEMENT
I SWEARTHATTHECONTENTS

THATTHEDEPONENT
I CERTIFY ADULTUNDERSTANDS THESTATEMENT.THISAFFIDAVIT
IS SOWRNBEFOREME ANDTHE DEPONENTSIGNEDIT IN MY PRESENCEAT BEDFORDVIEW
ON

l- Ek sertiflseer dat voordat ek die

1, I certify that,beiors adminls'
"19^"":,:T t.rino'tni-oirit,'ait;tAion I ssked thc
uooigesi,.!;e €€d/beves-ticin^g-
ver' -e;"; tiJ"
i-.ii,l"ii- iJiicrrir0 questions and
-his/&r
irii Ei 'iie volgende vree ean- c;e
'kiaarde, ;;;; an-swersin hls/hsr
gesrst- en .sy-/li'ar it""o':ce
pr€sence:
in-li/t"ai' itent"ocrilghcid nre:g3sl::vf
het : anC undersland tha
jnhoud vnn bo-' "(1) Dc yau i::;rl
"( l' ) l s u v e r t r o u d m e t C i e ioite.li 3; the qcc!aration ?
eiainde verklaringen begrvp u dlt ? I/,t I
Ari.er: -y'r*:-:-::---
Anluoord i -----*
ttle (2) D-, 1':J har6 a':Y o:;eciion to taking
t2) Het u eniSe bes\raar ttcn d:e
'-' i:- , . - c : i I l l 3 d c 3 ' i l j/
"i]t' olc Jocrge:kreuc erc ?
Antivoord : ----.-.__-- '-
(3) Beskcu u die vo.rc:s. :;: ::' '-s
b i n d e n d v i r u g e \ ' . e i e'

i]r-
2. Ek serti;iscer cit c'e ii.' : '':
cs erl'en cc: hy,'s) v€i":-10 '5
u
JG ;lrr'oro rln i e r':rkiciirq 9;r i
becryp. tiierdie verkitrirt.c rs. tJ(!;9 s e
["i!'.iig-t;.i irv - ci . v:rxi:a'ccr
rr'y
iancjte\irir'r d; n::,'i::k'tr'r'l .s ir
teenwoordigireid ca3ri ) ))sttacir ir'9'

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