Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
May 8, 1997
(The following summary of the applications, and the main points of the decisions and reasons therefor, is given purely to assist those journalists needing a summary of the applications and is not a binding document with any legal status.)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission announces that amnesty has been granted to 12 applicants who appeared before the Amnesty Committee in East London during March.
However, three applicants who were granted amnesty on some charges were denied amnesty for crimen injuria after what the Amnesty Committee described as "the horrible torture" of a woman who had been arrested simply because she was the sister of a suspect's girlfriend.
The Amnesty Committee granted amnesty to:
- Seven applicants who claimed to have been members of the South African Youth League, in respect of the 1993 murder of Mrs Mohambile Mphambani at Gobozani Location;
- A Congress of South African Students (COSAS) member who applied in respect of two counts of kidnapping people during a search for PAC weapons;
- An AZAPO leader for arson, two counts of kidnapping and one count of being in possession of firearms; and
- Three former members of the Ciskei Police's Elite Unit on three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. However, they were refused amnesty for crimen injuria.
The Amnesty Committee panel which presided at the hearings comprised the Chairman, Judge Hassen Mall, Judge Andrew Wilson and Ms Sisi Khampepe. Details of their decisions follow:
1. Mvuyisi Raymond Ngwendu, Mzimhle Elvis Bam, Dumisani Ernest Mbhebe, Ndumiso Mdyogolo, Sikhumbuzo Victor Mphmbane, Sakhumzi Bheqesi and Andile Namathe Gola
The seven applicants applied in respect of the murder of Mrs Mohambile Mphambani, an African Democratic Movement (ADM) leader in the former Ciskei. They were sentenced to prison sentences of between 14 and 18 years for the murder, which was committed on April 27, 1993.
The presiding Committee members said the ADM stood for the system of chieftanship and "this was aggressively propagated by Mrs Mphambani in Gobozani Location. The Youth League was totally opposed to the system. This gave rise to open conflict between the two groups."
The applicants testified that they received a report that Mrs Mphambani had made arrangements to bring armed members of the ADM from Bhele Location to Gobozani Location to kill members of the Youth League. On the day of the murder, a large group of about 300 angry people, including the applicants, came to her house. She fled towards the veld, but the group caught up with her and fatally attacked her with stones, knives and sticks.
The Amnesty Committee found:
"From the evidence placed before us it is clear that the tragic events of that day arose out of the struggle between the ANC and the ADM for political control of Gobazani Location.
"The applicants were all below the age of 18 at the time of the commission of the offence. They believed that they were acting on behalf of the Youth League. They were part of a large group of people and, as the trial court found, were probably subjected to peer pressure.
"We are accordingly satisfied that the killing of the deceased by the Applicants was an act associated with a political objective and their applications for amnesty are accordingly granted."
2. Tobani Makrosi
Mr Makrosi, 30, was granted amnesty in respect of two counts of kidnapping of which he was convicted in 1994.
In their judgment, the Committee members said the "offences of which he was convicted arose out of a conflict between the Congress of South African Students, which is affiliated to the ANC, and the Pan Africanist Students' Organisation, which is affiliated to the PAC."
During February 1993, the applicant - a COSAS supporter and ANC Youth League member - joined a group which was searching for PAC weapons. The group took two women away to be interrogated about their knowledge, if any, of hidden PAC weapons. (One of the women were subsequently murdered, but the applicant was found not guilty of her murder.)
The Committee found:
"At the hearing he (the applicant) admitted his participation in the kidnapping and, having regard to the findings of the trial court, it cannot be said that he has not made a full disclosure of the facts relating to his participation in the kidnapping. There can be no doubt that they were acts associated with a political objective committed in the course of the conflicts of the past."
3. Mzwandile Nkwenkwe Alfred Madela
Mr Madela (41), was granted amnesty in respect of arson, two counts of kidnapping and one count of being in possession of firearms in 1993. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence. At the time of the offences he was chairman of the Eastern Cape Region of AZAPO and also chairman of its Uitenhage branch.
The Amnesty Committee found that the applicant, "accompanied by three others, set fire to and destroyed Levens Service Station in Uitenhage. Their intended target was a house in close proximity to the garage and in which some members of the South African Defence Force lived. Their operation did not go according to plan and all that was destroyed was the service station itself." A petrol attendant, Mr August Majola, and his girlfriend were bundled into a car and driven away, an act which the applicant said was performed to ensure they were not injured in the fire.
The Committee aid it was clear from the evidence before them that the offence was committed on behalf of AZAPO as a gesture of protest against the negotiations which were then taking place between the former government and the ANC at Kempton Park.
"The applicant believed that his act would assert the independence of AZAPO which had declared that the negotiations with the National Party were conducted on unequal terms... It was, in our view, an act associated with a political objective committed in the course of the conflict of the past.
"The kidnapping of August Majola and his girlfriend are closely connected and formed part of the act of arson. We have no hesitation in accepting the applicant's explanation that the kidnapping was done in order to ensure that nobody was injured during the operation."
4. Kwanele Enough Thoba, Jonginkose Makom and Wakhile Ronald Thompson
The three were granted amnesty in respect of convictions on three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, for which they are currently serving prison sentences. All three were members of the Elite Unit of the Ciskei Police, headed at the time by General Kwane Sebe, son of former Ciskei President Lennox Sebe.
However, they were refused amnesty in respect of a charge of crimen injuria.
All the offences were committed during the course of the detention and interrogation of Brigadier Bolisile Sibanda, Miss Nomthunzi Msuthwana, a Mrs Nomoyi and a Miss Maqoma, allegedly involved in anti-Ciskei activities.
The detentions followed the imprisonment of Lennox Sebe's brother, Charles Sebe, formerly Commander of the Ciskei security forces. It was reported at the time that Charles Sebe was plotting to overthrow his brother, and also that he joined an organisation called Iliso Lomzi, which was founded by Ben Nomoyi and Lind Maqoma.
The Committee said these developments caused a measure of panic in government circles in Ciskei and led to mass detentions and interrogations of those perceived to belong to Iliso Lomzi and who were sympathetic to its cause.
Ciskei intelligence sources believed that Brigadier Sibanda, head of the prison in Middledrift, facilitated the escape of Charles Sebe. The three applicants and another policeman detained him, interrogated him, and in the course of so doing ordered him to undress, forced him to lie on his stomach, and put a rubber tube around his face, causing him to suffocate. He was also punched, kicked and burnt with a lit cigarette. He lost consciousness.
Mrs Nomoyi and Miss Maqoma were also detained and, at the Alice Police Station, they were questioned, assaulted and abused. They were undressed and kept naked while being questioned. They were choked with a rubber tube which was put around their faces and were throttled with wet towels.
The Elite Unit also arrested and interrogated Mrs Nomoyi and Miss Maqoma and, at the Alice Police Station, assaulted and abused them. They were undressed and kept naked while being questioned. They were choked with a rubber tube which was put around their faces and were throttled with wet towels.
The Elite Unit also decided to arrest and interrogate Miss Nomthunzi Msuthwana, known as the sister of Charles Sebe's girlfriend. The Amnesty Committee said in respect of this event:
"Despite the fact that it had become clear to her interrogators that they could get no information from her they slapped and kicked her and forced her to undress and lie on her back. She was abused and humiliated and horribly tortured. The applicant (Thoba) sat on her chest facing her feet and while in that position he poured a substance known as Sixhwapha-Xhwapha onto her thighs and on her private parts. The substance was known to cause burning and itching of the skin..."
In the judgment on Thobe, the Committee accepted that he had acted on the orders of their superiors in arresting the four people.
It added:
"We accept that the interrogation of Brigadier Sibanda, Mrs Nomoyi and Miss Maqoma, and the assault to which they were subjected, was either authorised or approved by his superiors. Applicant has made a full disclosure and we have come to the conclusion amnesty should be granted to him for the assaults on those three persons.
"Insofar as the assault on Miss Msuthwana is concerned, she was arrested and tortured for no reason other than that her sister was a girlfriend of Charles Sebe.
The pain, suffering, humiliation and utter degradation to which she was subjected, served no political purpose. It was done with sadistic, if not lascivious intent. The applicant is refused amnesty for the offence of crimen injuria on Miss Msuthwana."
The Committee made the same decisions in relation to Makom and Thompson. In Thompson's case, he was not charged with the offence of crimen injuria, but nevertheless applied for - and was refused - amnesty.
Inquiries: Christelle Terreblanche, 082- 458-8461