: DECISION
These are applications for amnesty in terms of the provisions of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No.34 of 1995 ("the Act"). At all material times all of the Applicants, who will be referred to in the order listed above, were members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging ("AWB"). The applications relate to a series of offences committed by the Applicants in the course of their opposition to the implementation of a new political dispensation in South Africa. The activities of the Applicants entailed 19 different counts but this was limited to 18 counts for the purposes of the amnesty application since count 19 concerned the possession of pornography, which matter was abandoned. The remaining counts concern a wide-ranging series of offences for which the Applicants were criminally charged but the criminal trial was suspended pending the outcome of the amnesty applications.
The subject matter of the applications, which are virtually identical in respect of both content and motivation, is set out below. The Applicant to whom each incident relates is indicated in brackets.
1) Theft of BMW 5201 motor vehicle in Bloemfontein on November 1992. (Second Applicant)
2) Robbery with aggravating circumstances of a Toyota Corolla motor vehicle in Amanzimtoti on 2nd August 1993. (First, second and third Applicants)
3) Robbery with aggravating circumstances of a Toyota mini-bus at the Oryx mine in Theunissen in the Free State on 1 September 1993. (Second Applicant)
4) Robbery with aggravating circumstances of a Ford Cortina 3 litre truck in Sasolburg on 22 February 1993. (Second Applicant)
5) Theft of a Sprite Swift Caravan at ESCOM, Bethlehem during June 1993. (Second and fourth Applicants)
6) Theft of a Comet trailer at or near Melkbosstrand during August 1993. (First, second and third Applicants)
7) The forgery and uttering of various motor vehicle licensing documents during June-September 1993, as well as the forgery of ESCOM identity documents. (Second and fourth Applicants)
8) Theft of a licensing disc of a trailer at Struisbaai, Western Cape during July 1993. (First, second and third Applicants)
9) The use of the already mentioned motor vehicles with forged number plates and/or licensing discs. (First, second and third Applicants)
10) Possession of unlicensed firearms namely 1 x hand carbine, 1 x 6.35 Taurus pistol, 2 x self-made pipe guns, all during the period July 1993-September 1993. (First, second and third Applicants)
11) Theft of 28 x R4 machine guns at Kimberley during January 1993. (Second and third Applicants)
12) Unlawful possession of 13 x R4 machine guns as well as 259 magazines during the period January to October 1993. (Second Applicant)
13) Unlawful possession of tear gas during the period July to September 1993. (First, second and third Applicants)
14) Unlawful possession of police uniforms during the period August to September 1993. (First, second and third Applicants)
15) Bomb explosion at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on 15 July 1993. (First, second and third Applicant)
16) Contravention of Section 54(3) of Act 74 of 1982 in performing acts calculated to terminate the supply of electricity from the ESCOM power stations in the Eastern Transvaal and Witwatersrand areas. (First, second and third Applicants)
17) Contravention of Section 54(1) of Act 74 of 1982 in performing acts calculated to terminate the supply of electricity from the Koeberg power station and/or neighbouring power stations in the vicinity of Cape Town. (First, second, third and fourth Applicants)
18) Unlawful possession of explosives at Bloemfontein during June to October 1993. (First, second, third and fourth Applicants)
The Committee considered all the documentation in the file including further particulars provided by the Applicants and came to the conclusion that the matter can be dealt with in chambers. No-one was injured in any of the incidents and the bombing at the Magistrate's Court took place late at night when there was no-one in the building.
The decision in the matter centred around the question whether, in terms of Section 20(2) of the Act, the Applicants "were members of a publicly known political organisation or liberation movement" and whether they "acted on behalf of or in support of such organisation or movement, bona fide in furtherance of a political struggle waged by such organisation or movement against the State or any former State or publicly known political organisation or liberation movement".
At the time of the incidents the Applicant was the head of the military wing of the AWB. Although he was in disagreement with a decision taken by the organisation to join the Volksfront, a movement headed by General Constand Viljoen, he did not resign his membership nor was he suspended by the AWB. He still enjoyed the support of at least some of the other members including the three co-Applicants who ere under his command. At the time of their arrest it was widely reported in the media that they were members of the AWB. It appears from numerous press clippings on the file that the leader of the AWB, Mr Eugene Terreblanche and one of his Generals, Etsebeth, knew of the arrests and, in fact, attended the application for an interdict against their detention under the applicable security legislation. Etsebeth indicated to the media that a bail application would be lodged but when asked for comment, Terreblanche is reported to have declined to do so. Nowhere is an indication to be found that Terreblanche or anybody else from the organisation repudiated the Applicants or tried to distance themselves from the Applicants in any manner. The Committee is of the view that the AWB, even if it may have been tacitly, approved of the actions of the Applicant and associated itself therewith.
It is quite clear, and the Committee accepts the written statements of the Applicants, that the Applicants were actuated by their opposition to the National Party and committed the offences in a bid to realise their own political idea of a so-called Volkstaat. The Committee is further satisfied that the vehicles and arms and ammunition, were stolen to assist them in their planned operations.
Although the charge sheet avers that the Applicants intended to sabotage power stations so as to cut off the supply of electricity, they state that their actions relating to the power stations were solely aimed at occupying the power stations in the event of a violent take-over by the political opponents of the government of the day. There is nothing to gainsay this.
After having considered the applications and all the documentation in the files the Committee has come to the conclusion that the Applicants are entitled to amnesty. Accordingly amnesty is GRANTED to all four of the Applicants for the offences relating to each of them as set out in paragraphs 1-18 above.
SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN THIS THE 2ND DAY OF MARCH 2001
