Lawyers look at ways to keep SA workers away
May 03, 2004 Edition 1
Graeme Hosken
Less than 12 hours after a South African working for the US-led coalition force in Iraq was gunned down, another was blown up by a landmine. The deaths bring to six the number of South Africans who have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the year.
The latest fatality comes as government lawyers examine ways of legally preventing South Africans from working in any of the world's conflict and military zones.
The sixth South African was killed in Fullujah late on Thursday evening after apparently stepping on a mine while in the US forces' "territory". It is believed that the mine may have been laid by forces loyal to Iraqi rebel leaders holed up in the city.
Shortly after the blast several mines were discovered by US army anti-mine personnel.
The South African is believed to have been working for a British security company and is thought to have been providing close body protection to an Iraqi dignitary.
Falluja has seen some fierce fighting within the past month with coalition forces holding the holy Iraqi city under a violent three-week siege.
Scores of US and Iraqi forces have been killed during the fighting.
The death of the sixth South African, who the department of foreign affairs have refused to name until his next of kin have been informed, comes hours after another South African was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Basra, south east of Baghdad.
The South African killed in Basra, whom government officials have refused to name at the request of his family, was working for the coalition forces as a security officer and was helping to guard a US construction company near the city's oil facilities.
In a press briefing yesterday in Pretoria, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said the government was extremely worried about South Africans going to Iraq.
He said the violence in the country was likely to become a lot worse, adding that it was unknown how many South Africans were in Iraq.
The department of foreign affairs has constantly denied knowing how many South Africans are operating in Iraq, but other government sources have said that it could be as many 10 000.
The department said it was impossible to say how many South Africans were in Iraq, "as we only know if a South African is there when he or she is killed".
Saying that they were looking at the laws to see if there was any way to prevent South Africans from going to Iraq, Pahad said they were appealing to people not to go there as it was extremely dangerous.
Pahad said that it would be very difficult to stop South Africans from going to the country as it would mean breaking parts of the constitution.
The first South African to die in Iraq was Francois Strydom, 42, of Pretoria, who was killed in a suicide bomb blast in Baghdad in January while guarding Iraqi labour minister, Sami Azara al-Mujun.
His best friend and colleague Deon Gouws, of Pretoria, who is now back in the country, was critically injured in the blast.
Both were working for SAS International which is subcontracted to British security firm Erinys International.
The second South African to be killed in Iraq was Gray Branfield, 55, of Roodepoort. Branfield, who worked for Hart Security, was killed in al-Kut in eastern Iraq on April 6. His body was mutilated and hanged for public display.
A week later Henry "Vis" Visagie, 28, also of Roodepoort, died in a US Military hospital five days after being ambushed while escorting a convoy of diplomats from Amman in Jordan to Baghdad.
On April 22, Francois de Beer, 33, was shot and killed in a Baghdad shop while asking for directions to a butchery after he and his interpreter became lost. He was working for Meteoric Tactical Solutions, a South African security company based in Pretoria.
