DECISION
The applicant makes application for amnesty in terms of Act 34 of 1995 as amended (the Act) in respect of the murder of Zwelibanzi Ntuli (the deceased).
The applicant testified that he was campaigning for the African National Congress (ANC) before the General Election in April 1994. The deceased and others accosted him and his colleague at Road 8, Chesterville, Durban. The deceased and the others were known political opponents.
The applicant and his colleague ran away and were being shot at. They left behind the pamphlets and a motor cycle. A while later, he returned to Road 8 in order to recover the pamphlets and the motorcycle. On his way there he met Xolani Muntu Mkhize and Robert Mngadi. They accompanied him to Road 8 but could find neither the pamphlets nor the motorcycle. They then proceeded along Road 13 en route to Road 18. In Road 13, Mkhize's girlfriend indicated the presence of some people including the deceased. Mkhize then went to them and shot the deceased who died as a result. The applicant testified that he associated himself with the killing on the basis that it was committed on a political basis.
However, it transpired that Mkhize killed the deceased for some personal reason unrelated to any political motive.
The applicant testified that he had no intention of killing the deceased at that time and did not even know that Mkhize intended killing the deceased. Indeed, he did not even know that Mkhize wanted to harm the deceased. It follows there fore that even if the applicant associated himself with the killing of the deceased, it could not have been in furtherance of a political objective.
The committee is not satisfied, in the circumstances, that the applicant's contribution to the death of the deceased, if any, was politically motivated. He has consequently not complied with the requirements of the Act.
In the result, his application for amnesty in respect of the murder of Zwelibanzi Ntuli is REFUSED.
SIGNED THIS THE
: DAY OF
: 2000.
R. PILLAY, J
D. POTGIETER, A.J.
MR I. LAX
