: DECISION
First Applicant testified that he was the commanding officer of the Security Branch in Tembisa from March 1986 and that he held the rank of Captain. School and consumer boycotts, unrest and violence were the order of the day in Tembisa at the time.
There was immense pressure from higher structures in the SAP to "normalise" the situation. It was expected of the police to do everything possible to combat the revolutionary onslaught. Because of intimidation by the alternative structures on potential witnesses it was virtually impossible to resolve the situation with court-directed investigations, which fact in turn led to more violence and chaos in the area.
Information was that especially two persons, Gregory Thulare and Godfrey Qwabe, were the leaders of those mainly responsible for these activities.
In desperation 1st Applicant discussed the matter with the 4th Applicant who then introduced him to the 3rd Applicant and another person whose identity 1st Applicant cannot recall. They promised to contact him to assist. He knew that this assistance would entail illegal action.
A few days later an appointment was made and they met late at night at the Olifantsfontein Police Station. 1st Applicant travelled with the two persons in their vehicle to Tembisa and pointed out the homes of Thulare and Qwabe, after which he was dropped at the police station and went home.
Later that same night a report was made to him that an explosion had occurred in Tembisa. He immediately proceeded to the scene to find that it was the Qwabe home and there he learnt that a female had been injured.
He later also learnt that during that same night shots had been fired at the residence of Thulare, but that no-one had been injured. The house was slightly damaged. He immediately knew that the 3rd Applicant and the other person were involved in both incidents but never disclosed his knowledge to anyone.
After these incidents there was a marked decrease in unrest in Tembisa.
The 2nd Applicant testified that he was the person the 1st Applicant could not identify. He was a detective in the Northern Transvaal Security Branch working in Mamelodi, referred to as the Special Investigation Unit, and held the rank of Captain. He suffers lack of memory due to post-traumatic stress and also as a result of the lapse in time and the fact that he had been involved in numerous such incidents. He cannot remember the specifics of the case for which he has to rely on the evidence of Roos, the 1st Applicant.
He does recall though that he with the 3rd Applicant received instructions to attack homes of people in Tembisa. He can remember that they used an explosive device at one house and AK47s to shoot at a second house. He cannot remember why they used different methods of attack, but it was probably due to the fact that they could not get close enough to the second house. He also recalls that at the first house, where they used the explosive device, that the bomb exploded while they were running from the house and that some shrapnel landed in the street in front of them.
The 3rd Applicant, as in other of his applications, had no independent recollection of the incidents and relied on the evidence of the 1st and 2nd Applicant.
The 4th Applicant, from his written application, made it clear that he too relied on the evidence of other Applicants as he had no independent recollection of these incidents. He was not available to give evidence as at the time he had just had heart surgery.
The applications were not opposed.
The Committee, having heard all the evidence, is satisfied that the acts of the Applicants, related to these incidents, were associated with a political objective, committed in the course of the conflicts
of the past, and that a full disclosure of all material facts related to these incidents was made.
Amnesty is therefore GRANTED to all four the Applicants.
The Committee is further of the opinion that both Thulare and Qwabe as well as the unknown female injured in the attack on the house of Thulare, not identified by name at the time of the hearing, are victims in terms of the Act, and their names are being referred to the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee for their consideration.
SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN THIS 14TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2001
JUDGE A WILSON
JUDGE R PILLAY
MR W MALAN
