Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
8 September 1998
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to four members of the African National Congress's military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe, for killing a former Bophuthatswana policeman, Brigadier Andrew Molope in 1986.
Joseph Elias Makhura, Frans Ting Ting Masango, Obed Masina and Neo Potsane sought amnesty for shooting Brigadier Molope. Brigadier Molope came under a hail of bullets from heavy calibre rifles while at a house in Mabopane near Pretoria.
In its decision, the Amnesty Committee said of the applicants: "They testified that they were all members of the so called "icing" or assassination unit who were instructed by the late Chris Hani, their commander in chief, to infiltrate the (country) and to assassinate appropriate political opponents. They were not given a list of persons to assassinate but told to concentrate on 'sell-outs' and police informers.
" We accept that the applicants bona fide believed that the elimination of Brigadier Molope would protect the opponents of the then Bophuthatswana government from further suffering and would lower the morale of senior officials of the government and thus contribute to the liberation struggle of the ANC.
"The Committee accepts further that none of the applicants were prompted by any personal malice or derived any personal gain from the killing... "
"Referring to the contention of Brigadier Molope's family that the applicants had not made a full disclosure, the Committee said that: " the committee is of the opinion that the conflicting claims and perceptions as to who was responsible for the killing of the deceased was created by the actions of various role players in the political power struggle at the time and there is no reason not to accept that the applicants have made full disclosure of their respective active participation and/or involvement in the planning of the assassination."
The Committee also recommended to the TRC's Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation that the wife of the late Brigadier Molope, Mrs Gadifele Sinah Molope, and their three children, Chalane, Morongwa and Lentheng, should be declared victims as envisaged by the law.
For the full text of the Amnesty Committee's decision, the media can contact Odile Pearce at 021-245-161.
Enquries : Vuyani Green 082 452 7858