A Sailor's Honour (20 page)

‘Shit,' Weber said. ‘And I was hoping for a quiet Friday.'

‘I'm sorry,' De Villiers said, and opened the door for him.

Weber lifted his briefcase off the back seat. ‘Don't worry. It will be quick. Where's your ship now?'

‘They towed her to the naval base at Salisbury Island.'

‘Are you able to identify them?'

‘Strike Craft
P
1561. Officially named the
SAS
Jan Smuts
. Also known as Patches, after all the repairs they had to do in the Israeli shipyard.'

‘Let's go. We have a case on our hands,' Weber said.

‘I need some clothes first. I can't go to court like this.'

‘No, Pierre. I'm going to take you to court exactly as you are. We have to show that the case is urgent and I can't think of any better proof than you standing there barefoot and dripping wet.'

Weber's reception area was deserted. He turned the kettle on in the adjoining kitchen. ‘Rooibos, one sugar, as I recall.'

They carried their cups to Weber's chambers, and stood side by side at the window, looking out over the bay. ‘Salisbury Island is over there behind the container terminal,' De Villiers indicated, ‘but you can't see it from here.'

‘I know,' Weber said. ‘You forget that I was in the navy. A long time ago, I know, but we came here once and moored at the island. I was on the
President Kruger
.'

‘She's below the waves now,' De Villiers said.

Weber grinned. ‘But I got off in time, ten years earlier.'

‘Some people died on that ship,' De Villiers commented.

‘I knew some of them,' Weber said and returned to his desk. De Villiers remained at the window with his hands in his pockets. Weber called him back. ‘Come and sit down. Don't worry about the chair. Now tell me exactly how you came to have the ship registered in your name.'

‘They needed a ship for a special operation.'

‘So what is the argument about now?'

De Villiers hesitated before he spoke. ‘They put her in my name and promised me a special pension of one million rand when the operation was completed. But when I arrived here with the ship, they said the operation had been terminated. They said they wanted their ship back. I asked for my pension, and they said I was a captain in the army, and that I would get the normal pension when I reached retirement age.'

‘And then?'

‘They wanted to give me orders, but I said I wasn't in the
SADF
anymore. I said I was going to sail the ship back to Malta and sell her to get the pension they had promised me. That's when they came with that first application.'

‘Who?'

‘I can't tell you,' De Villiers said.

‘Alright, then. But I can guess. It's some strange, unnamed unit operating outside the usual command structures of the
SADF
.'

De Villiers stood up and went back to the window. Weber picked up his dictaphone and started speaking. ‘Please do a notice of motion, an affidavit and a certificate of urgency for me as follows. The notice of motion first. In the Supreme Court of South Africa, Durban and Coast Local Division, sitting as a court of admiralty, case number to be inserted. In the matter between Pierre de Villiers, applicant, and the Minister of Defence of the Republic of South Africa, first respondent, and the Commander of
SAS Jan Smuts
, second respondent.'

De Villiers turned to speak but Weber continued dictating. ‘… the following orders,' he heard behind him. ‘An order calling upon the respondents to show cause, as a matter of urgency at 2:15 today, why the following orders should not be made final: One, an order directing the respondents to restore possession of the motor vessel
Alicia Mae
to the applicant forthwith. Two, an order interdicting and restraining the respondents, or anyone acting under their orders and under their command, from assaulting and/or threatening the applicant. Three, an order directing the first respondent forthwith to issue an order to all armed forces under his command notifying them of the order in paragraph two of this order and ordering them to comply with it. Four, an order directing the first and second respondents to pay the costs of the application on the scale as between attorney and client.'

At the window, Pierre de Villiers had to smile.

At 9 a.m. Johann Weber
SC
stood in the judge's chambers with his client still barefoot beside him. The judge laughed. ‘Okay, okay. You've made your point. I'll issue a rule returnable at 2:15. You'd better serve it on the state attorney on your way back. Then we'll see what the minister has to say for himself after lunch.'

Weber waited for the judge to note the order and to sign the front of the file cover. The judge slid the file towards him. ‘Better get going,' he said. ‘I've still got to get through the motion court roll.'

They were disappointed when the respondents failed to turn up for the hearing at 2:15 p.m. Instead, the state attorney arrived on the run and out of breath. But he was in good spirits. ‘I'm sorry I'm late,' he said, ‘but it took me a while to explain to those jokers in Pretoria what a spoliation order is. They have no idea of what it means.'

‘Do you want time, Graham?' Weber asked. ‘To file affidavits?'

‘No,' the state attorney replied. ‘I think we can settle this.'

‘Make me an offer,' Weber said.

‘We'll consent to the order, except for the costs aspect. We think attorney and client costs is a bit heavy.'

‘Come on, Graham,' Weber said. ‘This is the second time. And they literally threw him off the ship into the bay. There is assault involved, robbery in fact. And since they were armed and used weapons to threaten my client, this was armed robbery. And if you want to be technical, it is piracy: the unlawful taking of a ship by force. People go to jail for this. And you won't find a more blatant instance of taking the law into your own hands in the law reports. It's not as if they don't have access to legal advice up there.'

The state attorney held his hands up in surrender. ‘Alright. I told them I would try and I've tried. Take it by consent.'

They went into C Court and the judge came in to grant the order by consent.

On the way out, the state attorney said, ‘The next time, we'll do it right.'

‘Is that a threat or a promise, Graham?'

The state attorney smiled. ‘As if it makes a difference.'

‘Order granted as prayed,' Weber said as he shook hands with De Villiers.

‘Good,' De Villiers said. ‘Is the sheriff going to fetch my ship or do I go myself?'

‘Go and wait for her at the place where she was moored. They'll bring her around in an hour or so,' Weber said. ‘I've made the arrangements with the state attorney.'

‘Thanks,' Pierre de Villiers said.

‘It's too soon to say thank you. This is just the start. They'll come back quickly, and if I know my friend from the state attorney's office, they'll do it properly this time round.'

‘Thanks,' De Villiers said a second time.

‘Pierre,' Weber said, ‘who are these people? Are you going to tell me, or leave it to me to guess?'

De Villiers shook his head. ‘I can't tell you. That's my part of the deal. And I intend to honour it.'

The state attorney was true to his word and issued arrest papers for the ship. De Villiers watched as the sheriff approached in a small pilot's boat. Once alongside, the sheriff picked up a loud-hailer. ‘Ahoy,' he said dramatically. ‘I'm the sheriff of the Supreme Court and I have papers to serve on you. I have to come aboard.'

De Villiers dropped the gangway and steadied it.

The sheriff handed him a sheaf of papers and said, ‘I have to place your ship under arrest. Your lawyers will explain the finer detail to you, but what it means is that the ship is now in my custody and that you are not allowed to take her anywhere. Is that understood?'

De Villiers was used to the voice of authority and nodded.

‘I need you to stay on the ship for the time being,' the sheriff said. ‘Once I have been able to make alternative arrangements for her safekeeping, you'll have to leave. How many crew do you have on board?'

‘Five,' De Villiers said.

‘They will also have to go.'

De Villiers went to court with Johann Weber for an order declaring the arrest to be a malicious proceeding and to set it aside, but the judge dismissed the application with costs. They had been outmanoeuvred.

After Weber and De Villiers had lost the previous round so decisively, a change of tactics was required. They found an exit strategy in the admiralty rules, which allowed them to file their own arrest papers and to bring an application for the sale of the ship. The
Alicia Mae
was technically army property, although registered in De Villiers's name as a subterfuge. They both expected the Minister of Defence, the nominal defendant representing the
SADF
, to prevail in the long run, but they were not interested in the long run. All they wanted was a quick but honourable exit.

They prepared the application papers in some haste, but did not file them at court as the rules required. Instead Weber phoned his friend at the state attorney's office.

‘Graham,' he said when he had been put through, ‘we've issued our own arrest papers and have also prepared an application for the sale of the boat by public auction and the establishment of a fund to be kept under the control of the registrar until we have completed the litigation, but we haven't filed the originals at court. I'm sending a copy to you by hand, Graham, for you to consider and to let us know whether we should file them at court where they will become part of the public record of the case.'

‘Ah,' the senior deputy state attorney said. ‘There must be something special in them. What is it? Give me a preview, all off the record, of course.'

‘Long story short,' Weber said. ‘The boat is a fishing boat acquired with state funds and converted at
SADF
expense for a special operation.'

‘What sort of operation?'

‘That we don't know,' Weber said. ‘But it is sure to come out when the ship is appraised by a ship's surveyor to determine its value so that we can set a reserve to be achieved at auction.'

‘Let me take instructions,' Graham said. ‘God knows, we have taken quite a few knocks in recent months with all sorts of illegal operations being exposed. I know for a fact that the minister is very worried that there might be a rogue element within the
SADF
working underground with the security police to destabilise the country as much as possible before De Klerk hands over power to Mandela.'

‘Why would they want to do that?' Weber asked, but at the back of his mind he knew the answer. ‘The minister must know what's going on,' he insisted. ‘After all, he has to account for the expenditure. And they must have needed a lot of money to buy the boat, refit her, sail her back here with a crew, and for the further plans they had with her. These things cost money, and the money can always be traced to its source. In this case, the minister and his generals.'

‘No, Johann, I can tell you this much, all off the record of course. A lot of money was provided outside the
SADF
's usual financial reporting channels to be used for special operations, all cleared by the proper Treasury approvals. But about half of the money has disappeared and now they can't even trace the operators to whom the money was entrusted. No one is telling what operations are still current, and they have no means of finding out.'

‘Who is behind this, do you think?'

‘Third Force, no doubt,' Graham replied.

‘There is no such thing,' Johann Weber said. ‘It's a convenient scapegoat for the black-on-black violence in this province.'

‘As sure as God made little green apples, Johann, it exists. And off the record, I've been putting out their fires for quite a while now.'

It took less than an hour to settle the matter and to commit the agreement to writing.

Weber and De Villiers had to fly to Pretoria for the final meeting. There were men around the table De Villiers had never seen before. Men who watched and said nothing. High-ranking officers, he thought. So high that they didn't have to wear uniforms. A woman who could only be from national intelligence. Maybe a lawyer, but she didn't say anything. And the major. His old friend, the major. Who also said nothing. He looked as if he was in the dock, and didn't make eye contact with any of the others.

Johann Weber did the talking, and the responses and counteroffers came via the state attorney. But not before he had glanced at the man at the head of the table. An admiral, De Villiers thought. The top dog there. The message was clear: we want this operation to be closed down at all costs, with no further risk of exposure in the courts. Whatever it takes.

The
SADF
was to keep the
Alicia Mae
and pay all her port expenses. De Villiers was to resign his commission as an officer of the
SADF
and retire on full pension with immediate effect and promotion by one rank to major as a combat veteran on full
SADF
medical aid for life. The
SADF
was to pay him the one million rand he had been promised against him signing the necessary documents over to them, so that they could have the boat registered in the name of their nominee, and could withdraw all the funds from the Hamburg and Zurich bank accounts in his name. The accounts were to be closed upon the last withdrawal or transfer of funds. Both sides were to keep the settlement confidential, and all copies of the application papers were to be destroyed under the supervision of the state attorney's office.