AC/99/0313

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

AMNESTY COMMITTEE

APPLICATION IN TERMS OF SECTION 18 OF THE PROMOTION OF NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ACT, NO.34 OF 1995.

FRANCOIS SWARTZ APPLICANT

(AM 7830/97)

DECISION

The applicant applies for amnesty in respect of the offences of malicious damage to property and public violence which were committed at Touwsrivier during June 1986.

The applicant was a member of the United Democratic Front (the UDF) and, at the time, was a scholar at the De Kruine Secondary School. The offences were committed during the course of a protest which was directed against the employment of white teachers at the school and which was held in commemoration of the 1976 Soweto uprising. Stones were thrown at vehicles and the tyres of vehicles were slashed.

The applicant was charged with and convicted of the abovementioned offences and was sentences to undergo a term of five years imprisonment, the whole of which was suspended on certain conditions.

We are satisfied that the applicant has made a full disclosure and that the offences were committed with a political objective. We are also satisfied that the application complies with the requirements of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34 of 1995.

In the circumstances the applicant is GRANTED amnesty in respect of the offence of malicious damage to property and public violence which were committed by him in Touwsrivier during June 1986 and for which he was sentenced to undergo five years imprisonment, the whole of which was suspended.

SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN THIS THE DAY OF 1999