: DECISION
The salient facts relating to this incident, briefly summarised, are as follows. Scheepers Morudu was a leading activist in Mamelodi, responsible for the planning and execution of boycott actions and petrol bomb attacks on the homes of policemen, and black councillors.
The 5th Applicant received instructions at the beginning of 1987, after a daily "crime conference", from Brigadier Le Roux Stemmet to have a petrol bomb thrown at the house of Morudu in order to scare and intimidate Morudu, making it known to him that the police were aware of his activities. 1st Applicant was then the commander of the Unrest Unit, Number 1, Northern Transvaal, responsible for the maintenance of internal stability in the Pretoria area.
5th Applicant approached Brigadier Jack Cronje the 4th Applicant, who in turn instructed Captain Jacques Hechter, the 3rd Applicant to do the necessary.
The 3rd Applicant then instructed Joe Mamasela to scout the place and Mamasela reported that he had found the address and that nobody had been at home. The information was that nobody would be at home that night and the 3rd Applicant immediately proceeded to call on the 1st and 2nd Applicants to assist him in the operation. Both of them were members of the Security Branch, Northern Transvaal, attached to Unit A, and respectively held the rank of Lieutenant and Sergeant. 4th Applicant, Mamasela, 1st and 2nd Applicants proceeded to Mamelodi from the Compol building and all four of them took part in bombing the house, the first two from the lounge window and the other two at the kitchen window. The house was dark.
Despite the fact that the intimidation of Morudu was the main objective, everyone of the Applicants foresaw the possibility that someone might be injured or killed during the operation. As it turned out, the 5th Applicant learnt the day after the operation that indeed a young girl, presumably a niece of Morudu, was killed and the 5th Applicant attended the funeral "in his official capacity'. He reported the incident to Stemmet. Stemmet filed an affidavit, denying any knowledge of or involvement in the incident.
All the Applicants save the 4th Applicant, testified. The 4th Applicant at the time had just had heart surgery and could not attend the hearing. Both the 3rd and 4th Applicants had no independent recollection of the specific incident, having been involved in numerous such attacks, and relied on the evidence of the other Applicants.
The Committee is satisfied that acts of the Applicants related to this incident were acts associated with a political objective,
committed in the course of the conflicts of the past and that full disclosure of all relevant facts related to the incident was made.
Amnesty is therefore GRANTED to all the Applicants.
The Committee is further of the opinion that Scheepers Morudu, as well as the niece of Morudu whose name, the Committee could not establish, are victims as envisaged in the Act and they are referred to the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee for their consideration.
SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN THIS THE 14TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2001
JUDGE A WILSON
JUDGE R PILLAY MR W MALAN
