DECISION
The applicant applies for amnesty in respect of the following offences:
1. The illegal possession of explosives and the malicious attack on and the damage of the property of Mayeza Peter Mahaule at Bosfontein in the Nelspruit district on the 27th April 1980, as part of a process to overthrow the then Government of the Republic of South Africa and thereby with a hostile intention to disturb, impair or endanger the safety of the State and in doing so committing the offence of high treason.
2. The illegal possession of firearms and ammunition on the 1st August 1980.
The applicant became a member of the ANC after he left South Africa in 1978 to receive military training at three camps in Angola. He thereafter returned to Mocambique as a trained MK member and infiltrated the Republic of South Africa. He frequently returned to Mocambique to report to his commanders about possible targets identified by him for attacks in order to enhance the cause of the ANC.
During the beginning of 1980, he visited the Bosfontein area and found that Mr Mahaule played a prominent role with other policemen in disrupting a school boycott which was aimed at furthering the cause of the ANC. The applicant further testified that after he gathered the information about Mr Mahaule he went back to Maputo where he reported to his commanders and received instructions from Mr Joe Slovo, then Chief Commander of MK, to proceed with the attack on the property.
The applicant testified that as a result of the instructions received he then threw a handgrenade at the house of Mr Mahaule during the night of 27th April 1980. An explosion followed and the property was damaged. It was not his intention to kill anybody and that was the reason why he used a low intensity handgrenade, designed to cause disruption and panic but not to kill people. No one was in fact injured. His motive was to send a message to the victim, who was a policeman, and to other people in the service of the then Government that they as Black people should not co-operate to keep the Government in power.
Mr Mahaule was selected as a target after investigations conducted by the applicant.
The Committee is satisfied that the offences were associated with a political objective, that it related to the conflicts of the past and that the applicant made a full disclosure of all relevant facts. The attack was made by the applicant as a member of a known political organisation and was directed against a member of the police then serving the Government of the day and regarded as a political enemy.
In the result amnesty is GRANTED to the applicant in respect of:
1. The illegal possession of explosives and the malicious attack on and the damage of the property of Mayeza Peter Mahaule at Bosfontein in the Nelspruit district on the 27th April 1980, as part of a process to overthrow the then Government of the Republic of South Africa and thereby with a hostile intention to disturb, impair or endanger the safety of the State and in doing so committing the offence of high treason.
2. The illegal possession of firearms and ammunition on the 1st August 1980.
The Committee is of the opinion that Mr Mayeza Peter Mahaule should be considered to be a victim in terms of Act 34 of 1995 and in terms of Section 22 of the said Act recommends accordingly.
SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN ON THE 5th DAY OF APRIL 2000.
WILSON J
ADV. S SIGODI
DE JAGER AJ
