Cape Town — A former Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) killer, currently serving a 28-year term in Baviaanspoort Prison near Pretoria, claims to have taken part in the death of former Mozambican President Samora Machel.

The Sowetan Sunday World reported that Hans Louw, a Namibian national, claims the 1986 plane crash killing Machel and 33 others on board, was no accident.

He was allegedly part of a clean-up team tasked with insuring the then Mozambican president died.

However, the back-up team was not activated as the original plan -- to lure the plane off course by using a false beacon -- worked.

According to the report, Louw said the false beacon was put in position by military intelligence operatives of the apartheid government.

A commission of inquiry headed by Judge Cecil Margo, set up in 1987 by the apartheid government, discounted the false beacon theory and found that pilot error caused the crash.

The newspaper revealed that former Rhodesian Selous Scout operative, Edwin Mudingi, also claims to have taken part in the hit, and confirms Louw was part of the murder.

The Scorpions are investigating the case.

Louw says he was part of a squad that spied on Namibian activist Anton Lubowski and knows the names of his killers.

He apparently also took part in a team that lured an Angolan military plane off course, again using a false beacon, causing a crash that killed key figures in the Angolan military in 1989.

The Sowetan Sunday World said Louw has confessed to being part of a squad that killed five youths in a shebeen in Lulekani, Phalaborwa in March 1986.

He is to appear next week along with other alleged hitmen in court on six murder and 70 attempted murder charges.

Louw -- who is currently serving jail time for convictions committed outside the service of the CCB -- says he decided to confess to his killings after meeting jailed former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock.