CHAIRPERSON: ... to all members of the public who have been sitting here for some considerable time this morning, waiting for the hearing of the application. As you have no doubt noticed, there has been a great deal of discussion between the legal advisers of the applicant, of the victims and of the Evidence Leader and with Members of the Panel.

In consequence of the discussions, we have come to the conclusion that it would not be desirable or possible to continue with this hearing today. I think it's only fair to explain that this cannot be laid at any one door. We have decided that it would be desirable for the applicant to rephrase, if one can use that term, his application to set out in more detail precisely what incidents he is requesting amnesty in regard to and what part he played in each of them. At the moment he has set out an affidavit which gives a great deal of information, but it does not specify precisely his personal involvement and that will be done and when it has been done the new application will be circulated by Mr Magozo to the - sorry, by Mr Kader, to the victims' attorney, Ms Reddy, and to the Leader of Evidence, who will make it available to us. The victims will then be given the opportunity of agreeing with the version that is now put, or of raising any queries they may and we hope that by doing this we can ensure that when the matter comes for hearing, there is as little factual dispute as possible.

At the same time, the Leader of Evidence will be making arrangements for adequate and proper notice to be given to a number of implicated parties, who up to now have not been given such notice. If necessary, it may be considered necessary to subpoena potential witnesses if they are not co-operative when approached for information, preparing affidavits and things of that nature.

We would also like to stress that there's not a great deal of time available and we would ask all of those who have tasks to perform, to do so as quickly as possible. We are not, as a Committee, seized of the present application, it might be set down before another Panel, but I would like to indicate that I will be available at all times if anybody wishes to communicate with me to make any arrangements or suggestions, then I could so. And we will be preparing, my colleague Mr Lax will be preparing a letter setting out what we think should be done, which will be circulated to all of you.

And in those circumstances, we think the proper procedure now would be to remove the application from the roll.

And I would also express my sympathy with the applicant, this is not the first time he has had to come here, but we hope he realises that we are now trying to arrange everything as smoothly as possible.

I have already expressed my sympathy with those sitting here today, which as far as I understand it, are a number of the victims and they have also had to come here before. We trust that now we can reach agreement on the factual aspects as I have explained.

I would also like to indicate that I intend in this letter which will go to our Head Office, to make it clear there should be adequate notice given to all the legal advisers as to when the matter is to be heard and that they should be approached as to whether such date is suitable for them, that the matter can then be set down at a time suitable for all, when you are all satisfied that it is not necessary to take any further preliminary steps, that it's ready for hearing.

I have already indicated that the Committee has not got that much time left, so we look to your co-operation here. Thank you.

There's nothing else on the roll for today?

MR MAPOMA: None, Chairperson, for the roll today. We have got only one remaining matter, that of Dlamini, and it has unfortunately been set down specifically for tomorrow.

CHAIRPERSON: Well I understand that there was a misunderstanding or a lack of co-operation between the office and the attorney concerned in that matter. I think, I understand, I may be incorrect here, that you have been trying to alter and get things moving, but have not been able to do so because of this preliminary misunderstanding and we'll just have to wait till tomorrow. 9 o'clock?

MR MAPOMA: 9 o'clock tomorrow, Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: I think the legal adviser knows that time. Perhaps you could get in touch with her and confirm 9 o'clock.