DECISION
______________________________________________________The Applicant herein is seeking amnesty for the murder of Poppy Seerane ("the deceased"), which crime was committed at Leboeng, Lydenburg District, on 15 December 1990. The deceased was alleged to be a witch and had allegedly caused the death of certain people and to mention but a few, her husband, her husband's brother and a sister-in-law.
At the hearing the Applicant, who claims that he was a supporter of the African National Congress ("ANC"), was the only witness to testify in support of his application.
The Applicant testified that he had known the deceased and her husband for a long time. The husband had died in 1989 after a very short illness and his brother also died after he was struck by lightning. There were several deaths in the village (Leboeng) which included a bus accident in which about fifteen (15) youths died. The Applicant knew all the deceased who died there but is unable to recall their names. When asked what was the political affiliation of the said youths, he said he used to see them in ANC meetings which he frequently attended. He is not certain about the political affiliation of the husband of the deceased and the brother, but "thinks" they also supported the ANC. He did not give a reason for his opinion.
The Applicant says the deaths caused a suspicion in the village and primarily amongst the youth. It was suspected that witchcraft was by some magic way responsible for the spate of deaths and they wanted to consult a witch-doctor ("inyanga") to "smell" (identify) the witch who was behind these deaths. At that stage no fingers were being pointed at anyone by any person in the village as all concerned wanted to know from the witch-doctor. The local chief was asked to call a meeting which he did. It was attended by the youth and the elderly members of the community to discuss the suspected problem of witchcraft in the village. The political affiliation of the chief is unknown to the Applicant.
At the meeting on Thomas Sihlangu, an ANC Youth League members, addressed the attendants and it was resolved that money be collected in the village so they could go and see a witch-doctor. Because they feared that a local witchdoctor could falsely implicate an innocent person to settle personal scores they resolved to consult a witchdoctor who lived very far from Leboeng, namely Sitoto Semnyama of Komatipoort. At the meeting two (2) groups had been elected to represent the youth and the chief's constituencies. The Applicant was elected to represent the youth.
When they consulted Sitoto it was in the evening and they spent the entire night with him. He threw bones to the ground and said witchcraft was the cause of the deaths. He gave a "description" of the witches that were involved but there was no mention of names. When the Applicant was asked what descriptions were given he said normally witch-doctors describe a witch by reference to the physical location of his/her house and objects in the yard. This is the only way those who have come to consult him will know who is being "smelt" and that person will be the witch who has been identified by the witch-doctor. They were satisfied from the descriptions given that the witch-doctor had pointed his finger at the deceased and three other people. It is necessary to state that the Applicant's evidence in this respect was very terse and vague.
When they went back to the village a report-back was given to the chief who again called a meeting. The meeting decided that the four (4) witches should be fetched. When the so-called witches were brought to the meeting they were informed that they had been identified as the witches who were causing all the deaths in the village. Three of them agreed that they were indeed the witches but the deceased strongly denied being a witch. They were all told to leave the village with immediate effect. The others agreed but the deceased continued to deny that she was a witch and said she was not going to leave the village. She was maintaining that she was innocent.
Then the Applicant and his compatriots took the deceased to Sitoto who confirmed that she was one of the witches in the village. There the deceased agreed that she was indeed a witch and promised to leave the village as she was being ordered to do by the community. But when they returned to the village she again insisted that she was not a witch. She was still adamant not to leave the village and walked out of the meeting which had been called to give another report-back. There were many people, including the chief, at the gathering which was chaired by Thomas Sihlangu.
When the deceased walked out the meeting broke down in chaos as all the people there were shouting that she must be killed for refusing to leave the village. The meeting elected certain people to carry out the killing. These were David Nkoma, L. Sekgobela, Mpoya Erick Sekgobela and the Applicant. The Applicant says he believes that he was chosen because he was quite close to the deceased. He adds that it was a very unpleasant experience to have to kill a friend. In the evening in question they proceeded to her place with axes and pangas. They knocked on the door and when she opened the door she was hacked to death.
At the criminal trial, Applicant was the only accused to be convicted of the crime. Charges against his co-perpetrators were withdrawn due to insufficiency of evidence.
The Applicant says he committed the murder in execution of an order from the community and the ANC Youth League. At the hearing no statements or testimonies were received from any one of the implicated persons. This is in spite of the fact that they were notified of the date and place of the hearing. In any event there is no evidence that the murder of the deceased is "an act associated with a political objective" in terms of the Act. The murder of the deceased, simply because she was refusing to leave the village, was completely unjustified in the circumstances. No attempt had been made to force her to comply with the command and her murder was disproportionate to the stated objective to expel her from the village.
In the result amnesty is REFUSED.
DATED at CAPE TOWN this day of 2000
___________________JUDGE DENZIL POTGIETER
___________________ADV N SANDI
___________________MR J B SIBANYONI
