Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
12 November 1997
Nearly a year after the TRC revealed the involvement of Vlakplaas in the deaths of seven young men in Guguletu in 1986, two former Vlakplaas members will appear before the Amnesty Committee next week in relation to their deaths.
The two amnesty applicants are a former sergeant at Vlakplaas, Wilhelm Riaan Bellingan and Constable Thapelo Johannes Mbelo. Both were previously questioned by the Western Cape Investigative Unit in closed Section 29 Inquiries about the incident. The amnesty applications will be heard from Monday, 17 November 1997 in the Cape Town offices of the TRC at 106 Adderley Street, central Cape Town.
Seven young men died, allegedly in a shoot-out with the police, on 3 March, 1986 in Guguletu. Two consecutive inquests cleared the police. During the TRC's Special Event Hearings on their deaths - in November 1996 and February 1997 - evidence uncovered by the Investigative Unit indicated that C Section of the former security police, better known as Vlakplaas, might have lured the seven into an encounter with them.
The seven men, who became known as the Guguletu 7, were: Zandisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Godfrey Jabulani Miya, Themba Mlifi, Zabonke John Konile and Christopher Piet. The families of some of the victims first made human rights violations statements to the TRC in early 1996, urging the Commission to find out the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
The Investigative Unit of the Western Cape Region subpoenaed nine policemen to the Special hearings to give evidence in public on the matter in terms of Section 29 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act (1995). They were: Superintendent William Rudolf Liebenberg; Senior Superintendent John Johannes George Christoffel Kleyn; retired Colonel Cornelius Adolf Janse Odendal; Senior Superintendent John Martin Sterrenberg; Director Leonard Knipe; Detective Inspector Karel Bothma; Detective Inspector Andre Grobbelaar; Inspector Bertram Oswald Moggee and Detective Inspector Louis Ferdinand Coetzee.
Inquiries - Christelle Terreblanche at 021-245161 (during office hours) or 0824588461.