Ferdi Barnard was an operative of the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a covert unit of the apartheid state, who was convicted in 1998 of the murder of David Webster in Johannesburg in 1989. The same verdict found him guilty of a second murder and of the attempted murder of Dullah Omar. On June 4, 1998 he was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and 63 years. He was released on parole on April 2, 2019, and the Minister who approved the release stated that the decision did not end the life sentence.
Before his work for the Bureau, Barnard had been a policeman. He had been convicted of two murders in the 1980s and received an effective sentence of six years. He was placed on parole on December 10, 1987. The murder of David Webster, in May 1989, was committed while he was on parole. The victim of that second murder, and its date and town, are not on record.
David Webster was killed on May 1, 1989 in the Troyeville area of Johannesburg. At an inquest held in 1992, several witnesses named Barnard as the person responsible, but the presiding judge ruled that his culpability had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report on the Civil Cooperation Bureau records that Barnard was detained under the Internal Security Act and that information he gave led to the unit being exposed and other members being held. At that stage the identity of Webster's killer was not revealed. The report states that he was later charged with the murder of Webster and convicted of it.
He pleaded not guilty to 34 charges, ranging from murder and attempted murder to fraud and intimidation. The trial was held in 1998 in the High Court at Pretoria.
On June 1, 1998 Barnard was convicted of the murder of David Webster and of the attempted murder of Dullah Omar. He was found not guilty on a further nine charges for lack of evidence. The convictions included murder (two counts, one of them the Webster killing), attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice and a further offense. On June 4, 1998 he was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and 63 years' imprisonment.
Barnard applied for parole on November 28, 2014. An agreed court order required the National Council for Correctional Services to consider the application by December 19, 2014. On February 19, 2015 the Council recommended release, with a release date of June 1, 2015. On February 25, 2015 the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services declined to approve the release and ordered a further profile, citing among other things Barnard's lack of participation in self-development programmes.
Barnard asked the North Gauteng High Court to set the decision aside and to order his immediate release. In October 2015 the court dismissed the application, holding that the Minister had weighed positive and negative factors and that his refusal to follow the Council's recommendation did not make the decision unreasonable. Barnard was considered for parole again by the Minister on August 29, 2016.
On March 7, 2019 the Minister approved full parole, effective April 2, 2019. His ministry said he was satisfied that Barnard had served more than 20 years and had met the requirements. The ministry stated: "this decision does not mean the end of Barnard's life sentence." Barnard is supervised by a community corrections office for the remainder of the sentence.
The Civil Cooperation Bureau was a covert unit founded by the South African Defense Force during the apartheid period. Its work was examined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Barnard did not seek amnesty from it.
The 1992 inquest did not find Barnard culpable; the 1998 trial court convicted him.
December 10, 1987: Barnard placed on parole after earlier murder convictions.
May 1, 1989: David Webster killed in Johannesburg.
1992: Inquest names Barnard in witness evidence; culpability not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
June 1, 1998: Convicted of the Webster murder, a second murder, the attempted murder of Dullah Omar and other counts.
June 4, 1998: Sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and 63 years.
November 28, 2014: Applies for parole.
February 25, 2015: Minister declines to approve release recommended by the Council.
October 2015: North Gauteng High Court dismisses his review application.
March 7, 2019: Full parole approved.
April 2, 2019: Released on parole; life sentence continues.