: DECISION
This is an application for amnesty in terms of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995. The Applicant is seeking amnesty in respect of the following offences:
1. Public violence and the burning of the house of Johannes Mlotshwa at Leandra in the District of Springs in or about August 1984, and
2. The murder and attempted murder of an unknown number of members of the Katlehong Police Station on or about the 5 January 1989;
3. Unlawful possession of petrol bombs; AK47 rifles and ammunition; an unknown number of Russian-made hand-grenades and limpet mines;
4. Any offence in contravention of the Explosives Act;
5. Any offence or delict flowing from the two incidents mentioned above under paragraph 1 and 2.
The application in respect of the attack upon the Katlehong Police Station is unopposed. At the hearing the Evidence Leader, Ms Lynn Coleridge, advised the Committee that a diligent search by the TRC Investigative Unit to establish the identity and whereabouts of the next-of-kin of the police that were killed and those that were injured, was to no avail. In the arson matter Mr Mlotshwa personally attended the hearing. His legal representative, Mr Oupa Nyawuza submitted that his client does not oppose the application. The Committee was further advised that both parties have since met and that Mlotshwa has forgiven the Applicant for burning his house.
We shall only summarise the salient facts and deal with the incidents separately.
1. THE BURNING OF THE HOUSE OF MLOTSHWA
At the time of the occurrence of the attack the Applicant was a nineteen (19) year old youth. He was a member of the Leandra Youth Congress ("LEAYCO") and the Congress of the South African Students ("COSAS") which worked very closely with the Leandra Action Committee (better known as "MPUYCO"). The Applicant testified that at the relevant time there was widespread political unrest in the country at large. His area, Leandra, was also affected. This was during the period that supporters of the Mass Democratic Movement, also known as the United Democratic Front ("UDF"), were waging various campaigns to make the country ungovernable. in particular the homeland system and the infamous Community Councils had to be removed and replaced with democratic structures. As a youth, the Applicant was caught up in these events. Residents of Leandra, which was an informal settlement area, were living under a constant threat of being removed and incorporated into one of the neighbouring Bantustans. In the context, Councillors were seen as part o the discredited Apartheid System and the Applicant and his comrades were prepared to do anything to bring the system to its knees.
On the day in question the Applicant and his companions proceeded to the home of Mlotshwa, the then Mayor of Lebohang Township, Leandra, in Mpumalanga. They were singing and chanting freedom songs and political slogans. Amongst the members of the crowd were Abel Nkabinde; Aaron Kgomo; November (surname unknown); Sipho "Bob" Radebe and others. These were all residents of Lebohang and supporters of the UDF. Some of them were armed with petrol-bombs and they wanted to torch the place. They knew that Mlotshwa and other supporters of the Community Council system had left the township and fled for their lives. When the crowd came to Mlotshwa's house it was stoned and set alight and completely razed to the ground. The Applicant and some of his companions were subsequently arrested and charged for their involvement and participation in the incident. They were convicted of arson and public violence. They each received a sentence of eight (8) strokes.
After this particular incident the Applicant plotted to flee the country and join the African National Congress ("the ANC") in exile. This he did and in 1985 he left. in exile he joined Umkhonto weSizwe ("MK") and received military training under its auspices. He also received political education. Angola is where he received his formal and intensive training on the use of weapons of war. He states that whilst he was there he was commanded by different commanders at different stages of his training. One of them was "Bra T" whose full and further particulars are unknown to him. At some stage the Applicant was elevated to the position of a political commissar. It would appear that the Applicant did so well in his military career as an MK soldier that by 1987 his superiors decided to deploy him in South Africa in order that he could carry out operations. This now brings us to the second incident.
2. THE MURDER AND ATTEMPTED MURDER OF AN UNKNOWN NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF THE KATLEHONG LOCAL AUTHORITY MUNICIPAL POLICE IN OR ABOUT 5 JANUARY 1989
The Applicant testified that he infiltrated the country shortly before the 1989 Black Local Authorities Elections. he states that it was the position of the ANC that the elections were not only to be boycotted, but they were to be disrupted. A number of MK operations were to be carried out to make a political statement and to publicise the presence of the ANC and MK inside the country. This was also to show their support for the local anti-apartheid struggles. It was envisioned by the Applicant and his military superiors that if he carried out attacks, especially on the police, this would serve to boost the morale of the ANC supporters. There were several other MK cadres who had also been deployed all over the country for the same purpose.
The Applicant states that whilst he was moving around in search of a suitable target he observed that the Katlehong Municipal Police could be such a target and he decided to monitor the place. The reconnaissance took him about two (2) weeks before he could carry out the attack. He had already had one Themba (now deceased) introduced to him by a trade union leader so they could work together. He accordingly trained him to prepare him for MK operations.
He states that whilst he was going about reconnoitring the Katlehong Police Station and its surroundings he noticed that the police worked in shifts. They day shift squad would be relieved at 22h00 when a night squad would take over. Large numbers of the police would be around the police station and generally speaking, security was very lax. He states that the police were so easy to attack that one could successfully launch an ambush during the day. At that stage the Applicant had arms which he had obtained from a Dead Letter Box ("DBL") and these included AK47s and F1 hand-grenades.
At the opportune time, and at night, the Applicant and Themba proceeded to the police station. Amongst the arms they had in their possession were hand-grenades; the Applicant having six (6) and Themba four (4). On arrival there they saw many police. They threw the grenades and escaped. They were using a hired Avis vehicle as a get-away car. The car was parked some distance away. The Applicant is unable to say how many police died and how many were injured in the ambush. Before the hearing his legal representative submitted a copy of the City Press newspaper, dated Friday 6 January 1989. It is clear from the contents of the article that it is referring to the incident in respect of which the Applicant is now seeking amnesty. According to the report two (2) police died instantly and many of them suffered extensive shrapnel wounds. However, no names are given in the article, hence the difficulty to trace victims of the incident. In this regard we should also mention that the Nodal Point at the South African Police Service Headquarters also could not help the Committee as all records have since been destroyed.
After the attack the Applicant left the country. He went back to the ANC in exile where he made a request for more "effective" arms as he wanted to intensify MK operations. The MK leadership delayed to respond to his request until Walter Sisulu and other ANC Rivonia Trialists were released in October 1989 and the previous government started discussions with the recognised leaders of the ANC and other liberation organisations. The Applicant says when these historic developments took place he did not pursue his request for weapons as the armed struggle had been rendered nugatory by the reality of the constitutional talks which culminated in the 1994 elections.
When the Applicant was asked what was the political objective of the ambush he said at the time peaceful protests were ruthlessly crushed by the police who were used by the previous government to enforce unjust apartheid laws. In his township there was a spate of killings by the police. He also recalled how his friends, and activists, died at the hands of the police. He identified the place as it was ANC policy to attack police wherever they could be found. It was also a retaliatory attack for the police brutalities on ANC supporters.
After having considered the Applicant's evidence as well as all available information, we are satisfied that the offences committed are "acts associated with a political objective" in terms of the Act. There is also no gainsaying of the fact that the Applicant has given a full disclosure of the relevant material facts. He is therefore GRANTED amnesty for all the offences.
In the circumstances we recommend to the Reparations and Rehabilitations Committee that Johannes Mlotshwa be declared a victim in terms of the Act. We further recommend that as soon as the names and whereabouts of the victims in respect of the Katlehong Police Station attack are established, that they also be considered for reparation in terms of the Act.
SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN ON THIS 23RD DAY OF FEBRUARY 2001
ACTING JUDGE D POTGIETER SC
ADV FJ BOSMAN
ADV N SANDI
