DECISION
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The three applicants made application in terms of Act 34 of 1995 as amended ("the Act") for amnesty in respect of High Treason, two counts of attempted murder regarding the attack on the Soekmekaar Police Station on or about the 4 January 1980 in which Constable M.E. Mashapa and Constable T.M. Mothibi, members of the SA and Police robbery related to a motor vehicle belonging to Mr Montle also committed on the 4 January 1980 at Matolis, in the Ramagopo suburb in the then Northern Transvaal.
All four offences were committed in the process of a planned attack on the said police station. The applicants were all trained members of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). They were trained in combat and arms in the Soviet Union and Angola. At the time many people were being forcibly removed from areas, albeit informal settlements, which were partly developed by the residents of those settlements. The forced removals were seen as mechanisms to advance the policy of apartheid which was the root of all the political problems in the country at the time.
The ANC employed as one of its strategies the concepts of armed propaganda to indicate to those advancing apartheid that their actions were not going to be taken lightly and also to breed confidence within the body of victims of apartheid. The attack was conducted with firearms and hand grenades. They went to the police station with the motor vehicle they robbed Mr Matoko of. They also retreated from the scene in it. As a result the two aforementioned policemen were injured and the police station damaged.
The whole plan of the attack carried the approval of Mr Joe Slovo, who was the head of the High Command of MK at the time. The Act provides that amnesty shall be granted provided the formalities of the Act have been complied with, the acts for which amnesty is applied for were committed with a political motive(s) and a full disclosure regarding the relevant facts pertaining to the commission of these acts is made.
We are satisfied that the formalities of the Act have been complied with. Clearly, in the circumstances, the offences were politically based. It is also quite clear to us that they have all satisfactorily made full disclosure of the facts pertaining to the offences. In the circumstances, we are satisfied that the applicants have complied with the requirements of the Act.
In the result, the applicants are GRANTED amnesty for the following offences committed on or about 4 January 1980:
High Treason,
Two counts of attempted murder and
Robbery of the motor vehicle.
Dated at ..............................this ............day of
......................1999.
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JUDGE R. PILLAY
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ADV. S. SIGODI
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MR W. MALAN
