DECISION
The applicants apply for amnesty in respect of crimes committed by them in relation to the abduction, assault and killing of Petrus Lubane also known as Comrade X (the Deceased) and the destruction of his body by the use of explosives. At the hearing of the matter testimony was received from all the applicants save the third applicant who had died after he had duly lodged an application for amnesty regarding this incident.
The facts pertaining to the events which led to the death of the deceased which are common cause to the applicants may be summarised as follows:-
The third applicant was the head of the Unit C, a unit of the Northern Transvaal Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) with offices at Compol Building. Its task was to trace and arrest activists with a view to prosecution. The second applicant was second-in-command of the unit and the other applicants all members of the unit. The first applicant was their overall Commander.
During approximately 1987 the unit, through an informer network, had certain information on the Deceased. The information included that the Deceased, operating from Katlehong on the East Rand, was responsible for training activists through crash courses in the handling of firearms and explosives. It was furthermore believed that he acted as a convenor between Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) structures in the area and the MK Commander in Swaziland, Gebuza. The Deceased, according to this information, was a member of MK operating in the Pretoria area who, apart from training and communication, was also responsible for the recruitment of new members. At the time there was also information that he had received instructions from Gebuza to reconnoitre Wachthuis, the headquarters of the SAP in Pretoria with a view to launch a bomb attack similar to the Church Street bombing. This information was relayed to them by an informer M.T.(G) 42 who had accompanied him on a reconnaissance of the Wachthuis parking area.
The informer was co-handled by the second and fourth applicants. This informer also told them that he had accompanied the Deceased on a trip to Swaziland. The second applicant had in the meantime instructed the fourth application to infiltrate the Deceased's group. Their fourth applicant infiltrated under the pretext that he wanted to undergo training in the use of arms and explosives. A number of appointments made with the Deceased were postponed with the excuse that the weapons had not arrived. Fearing that the planned attack on Wachthuis may be threatening it was decided to abduct the Deceased. This was done with the consent of the first and third applicants.
The fourth applicant and one Mbatha made an appointment to meet with the Deceased in Pretoria. On arrival he was abducted to Klapperkop outside Pretoria where he was transferred to another motor car with which the second and fifth applicants took him to a farm near Rust de Winter. The Deceased's vehicle, a yellow Cortina was also taken to the farm.
The 4th applicant and Mbatha returned to Pretoria. On the way to the farm the 2nd and the 8th applicants were met by the 6th and the 7th applicants, who had been so instructed by radio by 2nd applicant. The Deceased was again transferred to their vehicle.
On the way they assaulted him and suffocated him to intimidate him with a view to his further interrogation on the farm. At the farm the Deceased was taken to a room in the old deserted farmhouse where he was further assaulted and interrogated by the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th applicants.
The Deceased soon co-operated, confirming the information with which he was confronted and told them that he had drawn sketch plans of Wachthuis, the House of Coffees and the parking basement of Wachthuis. The plan were hidden in the panel of the door of his car. The indeed found the plans.
In order to confirm that he was the author of the plans, found to be on three separate sheets, he was handed paper to draw from memory the same sketch plans. The 2nd applicant was satisfied that he was indeed the compiler of the original plans.
He also gave them information on one Brown Sugar who headed an MK cell in Soshanguve and who was later identified as Conrad Lekombi. This led to the subsequent arrest and successful prosecution of Lekombi, Makhulela and Magoirani.
He was also given a photo of persons suspected of having been involved in acts of terrorism from which he identified some while later while under the guard of the 5th and 7th applicants. He was kept on the farm for about 5 days. All efforts to persuade him to turn and work for the SAP failed. He refused to be recruited.
The 3rd applicant approached the 1st applicant and it was decided that the Deceased should be killed and his body destroyed by the use of explosives. The 3rd applicant instructed the 8th applicant to obtain the necessary explosives for the complete destruction of the body of the Deceased. The 2nd applicant gave the deceased a beer, spiked with grounded sleeping tablets, which he drank, soon passing out. He then sent the 4th applicant, who had since joined them on the farm, the 6th and 7th applicants, to a store to buy some beers. The store was 30 to 40 minutes' driving from the farm.
Near the farmhouse, about 150 metres away was something like a quarry hole. The Deceased was taken to this place on a bakkie, placed in the hole and shot once in the head by the 3rd applicant. The body was then draped with landmines by the 8th applicant and the mines were detonated. The body of the Deceased was totally destroyed. Small pieces of flesh and bone were recovered from the area, placed in the now bigger hole and again blown apart by the 8th applicant, using commercial explosives. Again they searched the area for remains which they buried in the hole.
Present while this was happening, were the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 9th applicants as well as one Bester and one Botha, both of whom have since passed away.
Shortly after the second explosion, the 4th, 6th and 7th applicants returned to find the others still at the scene. They did not hear the explosions but two of them assisted in gathering the last of the remains.
The vehicle with which the Deceased had travelled to Pretoria was then taken to a place, Boplaas West near Hammanskraal in Bophuthatswana by the 4th and 6th applicants where it was set alight. They returned in the company of the 2nd applicant to Pretoria. The 3rd applicant reported to the 1st applicant.
The above then is a summary of the facts. There were minor discrepancies in the evidence of the various applicants which can all be put down to faulty recollections, nothing of which was of a material nature. The roles of the various applicants in the incident are as described above. The 9th applicants was only present on the farm on the last day, having travelled with the 2nd applicant on that day. He played no active role.
On behalf of the relatives of the Deceased, who did not formally oppose the application, a statement was read into the record by Jacob Lubane, a brother of the Deceased. According to this statement the family felt that the applicants did not convince them of the Deceased's MK-activities as alleged. They felt that the evidence was not proved and therefore not true and that the applicants should not be granted amnesty. No evidence however was led on behalf of the Deceased's next-of-kin.
The Committee, on the evidence, is satisfied that the applicants have all made a full and truthful disclosure, that the incident in question did occur within the context of the conflicts of the past and that their acts were associated with a political objective as envisaged in the Act.
For their various acts, as described above, related to their respective roles in the abduction, assault and killing of the deceased as well as for the destruction of the body, amnesty is accordingly GRANTED to all the applicants.
The Committee is further of the opinion that Petrus Lubane is a victim as envisaged in the Act and his name with the particulars of his next of kin is being forwarded to the Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee for its consideration.
Signed at Cape Town on this the 31st day of May 2001
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JUDGE S. KHAMPEPE
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JUDGE J. MOTATA
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MR W. MALAN
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