decisions AMNESTY DECISIONS JOHAN MARTIN VAN ZYL, DONALD SPENCE GOLD, SCHALK JAN VISSER, GERHARDUS STEPHANUS SCHOON, DISRE CARR AM 5637/97; AM 3686/96; AM 5000/97; AM 5006/9 GRANTED https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/hearing.php?id=59133&t=&tab=hearings https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/originals/decisions/2000/ac200151.htm DECISION The applicants applied for amnesty in respect of the killing of a person who at the time of his death was not clearly identified. The death occurred on the farm Leeuspoor near the Josini (or Pongolapoort dam) during the 1980. Van Zyl further testified that at that stage during the political conflict he considered it a warranted and necessary operation to protect the interests of the state and the identity of people working with the security forces. He had no other motive than the political considerations mentioned, and confirmed that he acted under orders. Gold withdrew his application for amnesty insofar as it related to the attempted kidnapping of an ANC operative in Swaziland on the Maputo/Manzini road between 1979 and 1982 and the illegal crossing of the RSA/Swaziland border during the period mentioned. These incidents were referred to in paragraphs 4.3 and 4.4 of the affidavit annexed to his amnesty application. Visser testified and confirmed that during 1980 he was divisional commander of the SB at Soweto. He referred to the volatile political situation in the country at that time. He testified about an MK member known as Scorpio who had been arrested in the Western Transvaal while coming from Angola. This person became an agent of the SB after detention in terms of the then security laws. His handler was Martin van Rooyen, then a member of the SB at Soweto. His further evidence is in accordance with what van Zyl testified to. He confirmed that the motive behind the killing was purely political and considered the operation to be in the interests of the State and the SB as representatives of the State. Visser was convinced that Scorpio was not the person known as Oupa Madondo because the latter, from reports he had read, was not a trained MK soldier from Angola but an activist involved in the Black Power Movement. It was put to him that according to some of the documents annexed and used in the Section 29 hearing there might have been another person known as Oupa Ronald Madondo who was a trained MK soldier and he conceded that that might have been the position. The latter person disappeared according to the family in 1979 and was never seen again. Disre Carr, at the time of the hearing, was in hospital and could not give oral evidence. By agreement between all interested parties he later filed an affidavit. All interested parties received copies of the affidavit and agreed that seeing that this version corresponds with what the others have already testified to in the public hearing it would not be necessary to incur the costs of a further hearing. Ms Thokozile Mavis Madondo gave evidence and stated that she was the sister of Oupa Ronald Madondo. She identified him as being the person whose photographs appear on pages 99, 140 and 141 of the bundle of documents which included the applications. It must be mentioned that none of the applicants were able to confirm or deny that these photographs were photographs of the person they killed 20 years ago. She testified that her brother was, according to a report they received on making enquiries at the Protea Police Station in Soweto arrested on the Potchefstroom/Roodepoort Road during 1979. The Committee considered all the evidence and the submissions made on behalf of the applicants and the family of Oupa Ronald Madondo. On the evidence before us we cannot conclude that the person referred to as Scorpio who was killed and whose corpse had been destroyed was in fact the same Oupa Ronald Madondo whose family appeared before us. On the other hand it can also not be concluded that it was not the same person. This fact, however, does not alter the fact that on the evidence before us a person was murdered and his corpse thereafter destroyed. In view of the conclusion arrived at, the Committee does not find it necessary to deal with any contradictions between statements made by Ms Madondo and her oral evidence before us. The Committee is fully aware of the fact that all the parties who testified at the hearing had to deal with facts relating to an incident which happened 20 years ago. The Committee is satisfied that all the applications are formally in order as required in terms of Section 20(1)(a) of Act 34 of 1995, and that all the applicants had to the best of their ability made full disclosure of all the relevant facts. The Committee often in hearing of this nature has to struggle with the question as to why people committed such horrendous acts as testified to in this instance. It may be appropriate to make reference to their own explanations. Gold, at the end of his evidence, requested to say a few words to the family of Madondo who, as pointed out, might have been the person killed. He proceeded: You must remember that from a very, very early age I was exposed to the violence that was happening in the country. I can remember at the age of eight, looking out of my bedroom window in Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg and seeing the community hall of Sobantu Village burning during unrest and that was the first indication to me that we had a problem here. It remains to be decided whether the applicants meet the requirements of Section 20(1) of Act 34 of 1995 as to whether "the act, omission or offence to which the application relates is an act associated with a political objective committed in the course of the conflicts of the past in accordance with the provisions of sub section (2) and (3)." The Committee is satisfied that the offences were committed in the course of the conflicts of the past and that all the applicant fall within the provisions of Section 20(2)(b)(f) and (g). The Committee, after considering the guidelines set out in Section 20(3) is further satisfied that the offences committed were associated with a political objective. In the result amnesty is GRANTED to all the applicants in respect of the following offences: The murder of a person known as Scorpio (and whose real name might have been Oupa Ronald Madondo) during 1980 on the farm Leeuspoort at Candover in the Ngotje district near the Josini (Pongola) dam and any other offence or delict, including desecration of the corpse, directly linked to the said killing and the disposal of the body. Although the committee on the evidence could not make a finding that the person killed was indeed Oupa Ronald Madondo, it is in any event clear that the said Madondo referred to by the family disappeared in circumstances related to the conflicts of the past. The committee is of opinion that the next of kin of the said Madondo should be considered to be victims in terms of Act 34 of 1995 and therefore refer the matter to the Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation in terms of section 22 of Act 34 of 1995. SIGNED AT CAPE TOWN ON THIS THE _______ DAY OF ____________ 2000. ___________________ C. DE JAGER (AJ) ___________________ADV. N. SANDI ___________________MR I. LAX