Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
7 July 1998
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Amnesty Committee has refused amnesty to two members of the Inkatha Freedom Party who applied for amnesty for their role in the killing of seven African National Congress supporters in two separate incidents in Piet Retief, KwaZulu/Natal in 1993.
Arthur Kheswa, 29, a former IFP Youth Brigade chairman in Belgrade was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment following his conviction for the fatal shooting of five ANC supporters and wounding five others at Tandukukhanya Township, Piet Retief on August 20 1993.
Those killed were Mr Bonginkosi Nkosi, Mr Mbongeni Ngwenya, Mr Khanzi Mthenjwa, Mr Mbalekelwa Ndaba and Ms Nonhlahla Sithole.
During his appearance before the Amnesty Committee last year, Kheswa told the Committee that he was promised R10 000 by senior IFP members in the area to kill the deceased who were regarded as ANC supporters. He was later given R3000 after he had killed the deceased.
Rejecting the application, the Amnesty Committee said: "The applicant was a hired assassin. He tried to suggest that this (R3000) was not payment for his nefarious deeds and that he would have done what he did even if he had not been promised any payment, but the fact of the matter is that he also acted for personal gain. Not only was the money promised to him in advance but payment was actually made in the amount of R3000 which he accepted."
Meanwhile, the Amnesty Committee has refused amnesty to another IFP member who applied for amnesty for the killing of two people regarded as ANC supporters in the same area in 1993. Mdu John Msibi's application related to the killing of Mr Mandla Alfred Mgudulela and Mr Mphileleli Joseph Malinga on June 9 1993.
Msibi told the Committee that he was promised R50 000 by the IFP's Mr Ali Msibi - to kill the two ANC supporters. He later received only R15 000 of the promised amount.
In its decision, the Committee said: "It is quite clear that although he was loyal to the IPF, his motive to kill was a desire to get money and not to realise a political objective. He acted for personal gain (and) the offences he committed were therefore not acts associated with a political objectives.
"Although he attempted to deny that the R15 000 he subsequently received was payment for his evil deeds, it appears from the record of his trial that was in fact the case. For the reasons stated the crimes committed by the applicant are not acts associated with a political objective and his application is therefore refused."
Inquiries: Vuyani Green - (021) 245 161 The full texts of both amnesty decisions are available from Odile Pearce - (021) 245 161