Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
July 31, 1998
TRC media liaison staff have been contacted by a number of journalists asking for details of next week's amnesty hearing relating to, among other attacks, the Ellis Park bomb. For their convenience, our statement announcing this hearing - issued on July 8 - follows.
There are also three other major amnesty hearings next week:
August 3-7 - Shell House killings (resumed hearing), Central Methodist Church, Johannesburg Media Liaison Officers: Mdu Lembede, 082-458-8464 and Vuyani Green, 082-452-7858
August 3-5 - Killing by Bop policeman of three injured AWB members, Mmabatho, during 1994 AWB invasion; Killing by ANC supporter of Bop policemen near Rustensburg - Old Parliament Building, Mmabatho Media liaison officer: Mbulelo Sompetha, 082-452-7870
August 6-7 - Assassination of Bophuthatswana police brigadier, Mabopane (ask Mbulelo for venue) Media liaison officer: Mbulelo Sompetha, 082-452-7870
STATEMENT BY THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (Reissued copy of July 8 statement)
The amnesty applications of four African National Congress members relating to a spate of bombing in and around Johannesburg in 1987 will be heard in Johannesburg early next month.
Joseph Koetle, Solly Zacharia Shoke, William Mabele and Dick Joseph Hlongwane are applying for amnesty in respect of separate but related incidents of bombings and which occurred in and around Johannesburg in 1987.
Koetle, now a senior officer in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and William Mabela are applying for amnesty for a car bomb which exploded in the Johannesburg magistrate's court killing four policemen and wounding others.
The policemen killed were Constables Weyers Ivor Botha, Kobus Wilkens, T.J Duvenhage and Christofell Botha. Constables William Kutwana, Frederick Wilhelm Ernst and Detective-Sergeant M.S Mallo together with a minor were wounded. Several buildings and vehicles were damaged.
Koetle claimed in his amnesty applications that the order to bomb the court was given by the then MK (ANC's disbanded armed wing) commander in the Transvaal and now Chief of the SANDF General Siphiwe Nyanda.
The second applicant Solly Zacharia Shoke, now a senior officer in the army is applying for amnesty for launching a spate of attacks on police stations in Moroko, Orlando, Booysens, Mabopane, Daveyton and for landmine explosions in the Northern Province between 1978 and 1980
Dick Joseph Hlongwane is applying for amnesty for the bombing of the Ellis Park Sports Arena in 1987. Several vehicles were damaged in the attack.
The hearing will take place at the Johannesburg Institute of Social Services, Corner of Queens Road & Battery Street, Mayfair, Johannesburg at 9am on August 3 to 7.
Media liaison officer: Phila Ngqumba, East London Office, 082-458-8463