DECISION
The applicants apply for amnesty in respect of the theft of weapons and equipment from the group 34 Commando Base at Welkom during the night of 2nd/3rd January 1993.
The applicants were all members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweeging (AWB). They, under the leadership of Roelof Jordaan (who holds the rank of General in the AWB), all broke into the military base of the Group 34 Commando at Welkom during the night of the 2nd/3rd January 1993. They stole and made off with a large amount of weaponry, including rifles, handguns, ammunition, flares and smoke grenades as well as other equipment. Nobody was injured during the incident. The stolen weapons and equipment were recovered by the police on a farm in the Hobhouse district a few days later.
The applicants state that they committed the offence as an organised group of AWB members pursuant to a decision that was made by the AWB at regional level. The motivation behind the theft was to arm farmers on the eastern border of the then Orange Free State in order to enable them to protect themselves from attacks by members of the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army who were operating from Lesotho. The applicants state that it was necessary for them to arm the farmers as the Government of the day was unable to maintain law and order in that region. None of the applicants made any personal gain from the theft of the weapons and equipment.
We are satisfied that :
. the applications comply with the requirements of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, no. 34 of 1995;
2. the offence to which the applications relate was an act associated with a political objective committed in the course of the conflicts of the past in accordance with the provisions of sections 20(2) and 20(3) of the said Act;
3. the applicants have made a full disclosure; and
4. there is no need to hold a hearing in these matters as the offence did not constitute a gross violation of human rights.
In the result the applicants, Roelof Johannes Fouche, Guilluame Cornelius Loots, Petrus Johannes Pelser, Roelof Johannes Jordaan, Cornelius Johannes Strydom and Coenraad Josephes Pelser are
GRANTED: amnesty in terms of section 19(3)(b) of Act 34 of 1995 in respect of the breaking into of the Group 34 Commando Base, Welkom, on the 2nd/3rd January 1993 and the theft of weapons and equipment therefrom.
SIGNED ON THE 27 DAY OF OCTOBER 1998.
