23 July 1997
Monday July 28 to Friday August 1
The amnesty application of altogether ten people will be heard when the Amnesty Committee sits for five days at the City Hall in Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu-Natal next week from Monday, 28 July to Friday August 1st.
On Monday the applications of Robert Zuma and Mduduzi Gumbi will be heard Gumbi (26), who describes himself in his application for amnesty as a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and having been employed by the party when he played an active role in the killing of several people during fighting between supporters of the IFP and the ANC at Ndaleni near Richmond.
Gumbi states that acting on instruction from his leaders, he killed people on July 23 1991.. He was sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of 13 counts of murder and several attempted murders along with 13 other people of his group. The victims included children and women between the ages of nine and 65.
In his application, Zuma (27) claims that he too was an IFP member when he took part in the same conflict. He is applying for amnesty in relation to 6 counts of murder and four of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.
On Tuesday, 29 July, four applications are scheduled to be heard. The applicants are: Sipho Motaung (33), Nhlanhla Sibisi (30), Johannes Sithole (45) and Philemon Dlamini (45). All four are asking for amnesty in respect of the murder of an IFP member - Arnold Lolo Lombo of Edendale on 31 October 1990, which they maintain was done under orders in the fighting between UDF/ANC groups and an IFP warlord. The applicants maintain that they were field workers for the UDF/ANC structures as well as MK soldiers in the Pietermaritzburg area at the time.
Two applicants, Mandlenkosi Phoswa (49) and Mafuka Anthony Nzimande (27) will be heard on Wednesday.
Phoswa asks for amnesty in relation to the murder of IFP members who he alleges had killed his son during September 1992 at Kwa Gengeshe near Richmond. Altogether nine people were killed during the skirmish while 52 houses were burned the next day. According to Phoswa he is responsible for the murder of one person only.
Nzimande is applying for amnesty for taking part in the killing during the same incident.
On Thursday, July 31, the application of Dumisani Mthembu (34) will be dealt with by the Committee. Mthembu claims to have been an ANC member when he was arrested for two counts of attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition during September 1992 at Sundumbili township, in Mandini on the Natal North Coast.
A member of the South African Police was injured in the incident, which the applicant claims was done to protect a Natal chairperson of Cosatu in an assassination attempt. Mthembu says he was charged by the organisation to guard the chairperson.
The application of Bheki Fred Mbuyazi (26) will be heard on the Friday. He describes himself as an "ordinary ANC member" at the time of three murders and assault in the Ingwavuma district. Mbuyazi applied for amnesty for the murder which he said he committed at the time of a third attempt on his life while he was living in a so-called IFP stronghold. The murders were committed during September 1990.
The five-day hearing at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall will start at 10h00 am daily.
The Amnesty Committee is also scheduled to hear four applications in Durban during the week starting Monday, August 4. Applications during this period include those of Msizi Jethro Hlophe of Clermont who was sentenced together with former KwaZulu government deputy cabinet minister Samuel "Mhlahlo" Jamile. Vakuthethhwa Yalo the man who assassinated Lamontville community leader, Msizi Harrison Dube, will appear before the committee.