Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's spotlight will fall on the 1993 murder of a Grahamstown lawyer Mr Allistair Weakley and his brother Glenn near Port St Johns and the mystery behind a spate of armed attacks on farmers near Stutterheim in the 1990s during its sitting in East London early next week.
Pumelele Hermanus, Mlulamisi Maxhayi, Lungile Mazwi and Fundisile Guleni are seeking amnesty for their role in an ambush in which the Weakley brothers were shot dead and Mr Keith Rumble was wounded. Two boys, Thomas O'Keeffe, 11 and Mr Rumble's son Brett, 7 escaped unscathed. The Weakley brothers were returning to their cottage at a holiday resort after a fishing expedition near Port St Johns when their bakkie came under heavy gunfire.
Hermanus Maxhayi and Mazwi are serving 25 years imprisonment following their conviction of murder and attempted murder.
The Amnesty Committee will also hear amnesty applications relating to a number of related but separate farm attacks in Stutterheim in 1990. Mr Hansel, 60 was assaulted, robbed of his belongings including a firearm by a group of armed men while on his farm Greenlands on January 31, 1991. His assailants cut telephone wires and left him tied up in his bed.
A week later, another farmer, Mr Eric Kobus, 74 was fatally attacked on his farm Sunrise. A few days later, attackers pounced on Spes Bona, a farm owned by Mr and Mrs Pretorius and left Mr Pretorius dead and his wife injured.
Later, Mrs Klackers, who ran a trading store on her farm End Well was injured when she was attacked on her farm in the same month.
Mrs Marillier, 65 was also attacked on her farm Bush View near King William's Town in March 1990. She was wounded after she was shot in the chest. Her house was later ransacked by her assailants.
Melumzi Nokawusana, Jimmy Nokawuzana, Randile Bhayi, Bonakele Bhayi and Mziyanda Ntonga are seeking amnesty for their role in the attacks. The Amnesty Committee will also hear amnesty applications relating to sporadic incidents which occurred in the rural areas of the former Ciskei following the shooting of scores of ANC supporters by soldiers loyal to Brigadier Oupa Gqozo in 1993.
The hearings will take place at the Catholic Centre, Queen's Street, Cambridge in East London from October 5 to 9.
Media inquiries : Vuyani Green, 082 452 7858