TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

JOSEPH KOETLE 1ST APPLICANT

(AM 7500/97)

SOLLY ZAKARIA SHOKE 2ND APPLICANT

(AM 5303/97)

WILLIAM MABELE 3RD APPLICANT

(AM 5313/97)

The applicants apply for amnesty in terms of Section 18 of Act No. 34 of 1995 for their participation in a bomb attack on members of the S.A.P. at or near Johannesburg Magistrates Court on the 20^th of May 1987.

The first and second applicants were members of the ANC and its military wing Umkhonto We Sizwe at the time of the bombing. Their avowed aim was to cause as many fatalities as possible amongst members of the South African Police congregated in and around the Johannesburg Magistrate Court premises.

The bombings were authorized by Siphiwe Nyanda who was the then Chairperson of the Swaziland Regional Politico-military Committee (RPMC) of the ANC, and the second applicants' direct superior. He was in cooperation with the first applicant, who identified the area adjacent to the Johannesburg Magistrates Court as one of the potential targets for bombing members of the SAP when, as was expected, they met there. It is noteworthy that according to the evidence of the applicants targets for attack were not chosen at random and indiscriminately. They included systematic attacks against the army and the police, care being taken to cause as little injury to civilians as possible.

Nyanda, acting in his capacity as chairperson of the RPMC with the cooperation of the first applicant, decided on an attack in terms of which members of the SAP present at the Johannesburg Magistrates Court and its environs would be lured to the scene of the explosion caused by a mini-limpet mine. It was anticipated that the police would, as was their usual practice, cordon off the area before conducting their investigation into the explosion of the mini-limpet mine. Members of the public would either flee from the scene when the explosion occurred or they would be kept away from the scene by the police cordon.

When members of the SAP entered to cordon off the area approached the spot where the limpet mine exploded, the first applicant would activate, by means of a remote control, a bomb placed in a car close to the scene of the first explosion. The first applicant would remain in visual contact with the scene to ensure he detonated the car bomb at the moment when several members of the SAP were in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle in which the car bomb was concealed.

It is not denied that Nyanda, who incidentally is currently the head of the SANDF, was entitled to plan and command the proposed operations in terms of ANC policy which gave the RPMC's authority and responsibility for coordinating political and military activities in their areas of responsibility. In furtherance of the mission, the second applicant, a commander in MK, was briefed about the plan and instructed to provide the first applicant with ordnance in the form of explosives. The first applicant received a remote control device from Nyanda which, however, proved to be defective. He replaced it with one given to him by the second applicant.

The Second applicant supplied the first applicant with a sketch plan of a dead letter box in which the explosives to be used in the car bomb, as well as the limpet mine, would be found. The first applicant thus acting under the instructions of his commander, retrieved the ordnance from the dead letter box and assembled the bomb in a golf motor vehicle which he had bought from persons in Soweto who in turn had stolen the vehicle. The first applicant asked the third applicant to assist him by driving a second motor vehicle to the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on the day of the explosion and thereafter to give the first applicant a lift back to Soweto.

On the night before the explosion the third applicant was present at the first applicant's premises when he noticed what he later realized were explosives in the boot of the golf.

He also saw the first applicant working with certain wires. The third applicant was not a member of MK or the ANC at the time although he later joined MK. Apparently in an attempt to avoid the possibility that he might be detected and through him the first applicant, the third applicant was sent beyond the borders of South Africa.

Earlier in the morning of the operation the first and third applicants drove to the Johannesburg Magistrates Court where the first applicant secured a suitable parking spot for the golf from which he, in terms of the agreed plan, would detonate the bombs. Thereafter the third applicant drove the first applicant to his home in Soweto. Before they parted the third applicant was informed by the first applicant to watch television that night to might see what happened.

The first applicant returned to the scene which he surveyed from a vantage point. He had been warned to minimize civilian casualties. He did so by placing the explosives near the rear entrance to the Court house and by timing the explosions to occur before the court attendees left the building during the lunch break. At approximately 12H10 the first applicant connected a battery to the main bomb and placed the mini-limpet mine near the spot where the golf car was parked. He set a timer on the mini-limpet mine to detonate in about fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes later whilst sitting in a café close to the scene the first applicant heard the limpet-mine explode. He left the café and saw policemen place a cordon around the area and move towards the scene of the explosion. At what he considered the appropriate time he activated the bomb using the remote control device supplied to him by the second applicant. He witnessed the explosion which, it was common cause, led to the death of the four policemen and injury of several more. A number of vehicles were damaged in the second explosion and some civilians were slightly hurt.

The third applicant watched the television news as instructed by the first applicant and saw a report on the bombing. He recognized the car as that driven by the first applicant to the Johannesburg Magistrates Court that morning. He realized that the first applicant was responsible for the explosions. He deliberately refrained from informing the police of his knowledge concerning the event as he associated himself with the activities of the first applicant and in particular his activities in detonating the bomb at the magistrates court. He joined the ANC and later left South Africa for military training in a neighbouring state.

We are satisfied on the evidence we have heard and the other information before us that the first and second applicants did what they did on instructions given to them by Nyanda, a high ranking officer of MK, the military wing of the ANC, a publicly known organization and that the act was done in furtherance of the policies of that organization. It was thus an act associated with a political objective as defined in Section 20(3) of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 1995. The third applicant was not a member of the ANC at the time of the occurrence but he associated himself with the act committed for the purposes referred to in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of Section 20(2) of the said Act within the meaning of sub-section (g) of that section. We are further satisfied that the applicants have made a full disclosure of all relevant facts in accordance with the provisions of section 20(1)(c) of the abovesaid Act.

Having regard to the political climate at the time and the means used by political organizations or liberation movements to achieve their objectives, we are satisfied that the applicants have met the requirements of Act No. 34 of 1995. They are accordingly GRANTED amnesty in respect of all the acts and offences associated with the bomb explosions in the vicinity of the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on the 20^th of May 1987 and the casualties and damage caused thereby.

Signed on the 23 day of October 1998.