Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
August 3, 1998
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to the former commander of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) in the Queenstown area for the bombing of two houses in the Eastern Cape shortly before the 1994 elections.
Nicolaas Willem de Jongh and two other AWB members bombed the house of Mr Wiseman Zitembile Sana in Queenstown on August 13, 1993. The following day they attacked with explosives the house of Mr Johnson Dumile Sateni at Hofmeyer. Extensive damage was caused in both incidents but no one was injured.
De Jongh was later convicted on two counts of bombings and for illegal possession of explosives. Sentencing was postponed pending the outcome of his amnesty application.
His application was dealt with in chambers as the offences in respect of which he applied for amnesty do not constitute gross human rights violation as defined by the TRC's governing Act. In its decision, the Committee said it was clear the bombings were carried out in pursuit of AWB policies with a clear political objective associated with the conflicts of the past.
The committee also recommended to the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee that Mr Sana and Sateni should be officially declared as victims in terms of the Act.