Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
April 2, 1997
A range of right-wing supporters, a former township youth and a member of an elite Umkhonto weSizwe military unit are scheduled to apply for amnesty at a hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Amnesty Committee next week.
The hearing will take place from next Tuesday April 8, at the Council Chambers of the Greater Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council at 158, Loveday Street, Braamfontein.
Pieter Johannes Harmse, 45, and Leo Hendrik Froneman, who describe themselves as members of the Boere Weerstandbeweging, were spotted placing a bomb at a shopping centre in Bronkhorstspruit on September 18, 1993. When Warrant Officer Abraham Labuschagne and Constable Hendrik Maree were called to the scene to investigate, the bomb went off, killing the former and injuring the latter.
Harmse is serving an 18-year prison term and Froneman eight years.
Phineas Ndlovu, 29, who says he was a member of the Daveyton Youth Congress and the ANC, is applying for amnesty for the killing of four people who were burned to death in a house in Daveyton on June 2, 1987. Those who died were Ms Christina Masupa, Ms Eunice Shabangu, Ms Catherine Nkosi and Melzinah Mbatha. Four other people were injured.
Of the six convicted of the murder and attempted murder of those in the house, four were given indemnity under previous legislation and one was released on parole. Ndlovu is serving a 18 years prison term.
William Mokotjo Sebiloane, 29, was a member of an MK special operations unit under the late Mr Chris Hani who declared in his amnesty application that he returned from exile in April 1991 to help set up Self-Defence Units in Reef townships.
He was convicted of attempted murder for injuring two policemen who were involved in his arrest, Constables F P van Heerden and J Oosthuizen, on May 25, 1991 and is serving a 13-year jail sentence.
James Wheeler, 30, and Cornelius Rudoph Pyper, 29, who both declare themselves as former Conservative Party and AWB supporters, are applying for amnesty for the murder of a minibus taxi driver, Mr Viyani Kenneth Papiyane, and the attempted murder of his brother, Mr Godfrey Papiyane, on Election Day, 1994.
In an alleged attempt to disrupt the elections, they shot at the two brothers on the R24 from Westonaria to Randfontein on April 27, 1994. Wheeler is serving 21 years and Pyper 15 years on the charges.
ENQUIRIES: John Allen, 082-452-7859