Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
15 April 1997
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to another eight applicants, including members or supporters of the African National Congress, the United Democratic Front, the End Conscription Campaign and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.
The applicants all applied for amnesty in respect of offences which do not fall within the definition of a gross violation of human rights, as laid down in the law governing the operations of the commission. As a result no public hearings were necessary and the Committee took its decisions in chambers. (The law defines killing, abduction, torture and severe ill-treatment as gross violations).
The following are the details:
1. Abel Bhila
Abel Bhila, 29, who describes himself as a member/or supporter of the African National Congress and Umkhonto weSizwe, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for unlawful possession of firearms and/or handgrenades. He said in his application he was found in possession of a handgrenade in a bag he was carrying in central Johannesburg on March 24, 1993.
2. Saul Barrie Batzofin
Saul Batzofin, 27, a member of the End Conscription Campaign, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment in 1989 for refusing to serve in the former South African Defence Force. He has completed his sentence but told the Commission that he wanted to apply for amnesty to clear his criminal record. He said although he was proud to have been a conscientious objector, the record caused difficulties with visa applications for foreign countries.
3. Reginald Jameson
Reginald Jameson, 38, who described himself as a UDF supporter, also applied for amnesty in respect of a sentence which he has already served. He told the Committee he was jailed for a year on arson and public violence charges after student unrest in June 1976. He said he had taken part an arson attempt at Modderdam High School, Bonteheuwel, in the expectation of a new, better school being built.
4. Mncedisi Mzolisi Klaas
Mncedisi Klaas, 27, an ANC Youth League organiser, applied for amnesty in respect of charges of robbery, malicious damage to property and sabotage. He told the Committee that the offences were committed during the course of a conflict over services between township residents and the local authorities in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, in 1992. He said the vehicles which were the subject of the robbery and damage to property charges were targeted because they were government vehicles. The sabotage charge arose out of damage to electricity lines and the sub-stations. He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
5. Duke Wellington Moilwanyane
Duke Moilwanyane, 24, who described himself as a ANC supporter, was convicted on charges of public violence and malicious damage to property after a confrontation with police at Ikageng, Potchefstroom, on March 24, 1993. He said he was among protest marchers who clashed with police at the entrance to Ikageng as they attempted to march to the office of the former Department of Education and Training in Potchefstroom. He was jailed for four years on the public violence charge and 2 years on the charge of damaging property.
6. Alison Motsopi
Alison Motsopi, 27, described himself as a member of ANC Youth League. He told the Committee he had possessed handgrenades in Vosloorus on the East Rand in 1992. He said his actions should be viewed against the background of conflict with the IFP in the region at the time. He said in his amnesty application that although the charges had been withdrawn at the time, police had later re-opened the case.
7. Kevin John Trytsman
Kevin Trytsman, 28, of Sandton, was granted amnesty in respect of charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, vehicle theft and perjury. He said in his amnesty application that he was found in possession of an AK-47 rifle, two magazines and a car on a farm he was renting near Knoppieslaagte. Trytsman was given a suspended sentence for possession of the firearm, a fine for the possession of the magazines and a five-year jail sentence for vehicle theft. He told the Committee he had given the court false explanations for possessing the material - in fact he had been storing them on behalf of Umkhonto weSizwe. Mr Trytsman was sentenced in 1994.
Motivating his application relating to the perjury charge, Mr Trytsman said that while awaiting trial on the other charges, he had been approached by one Ferdi Barnard and one Eugene Reilly regarding information about his MK commander. He had "to a certain extent" become friendly with Barnard and Reilly. Barnard had bragged to him that he had shot Dr David Webster and that Reilly had been driving him at the time. Mr Trytsman said he was called to give evidence at the inquest into Dr Webster's death but had failed to tell the inquest of Mr Barnard's statement.
(THE AMNESTY APPLICATION FORM FROM THIS APPLICANT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE TRC MEDIA DEPARTMENT)
8. Albertus Francois van der Merwe
Albertus van der Merwe, 58, who describes himself as an AWB member, was jailed in 1994 for eight years on charges of sabotage and the transport or storage of explosives. He told the Committee he was a member of the explosives unit of the AWB's special task force which was responsible for explosions during November and December 1993 at a government weighbridge in the Krugersdorp district, at an electrical sub-station at Munsieville, Krugersdorp, and at the shop of a suspected ANC supporter at Burgershoop, Krugersdorp. He had also been involved in attempting to cause an explosion at a sub-station near the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria.