Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has granted amnesty to a member of the African National Congress Youth League who is serving a lengthy prison term for public violence.
Ben Sepato Lehloo applied for amnesty after he was convicted of public violence and sentenced to nine years imprisonment in the Rustenburg Court in 1994. His conviction was a sequel to an incident at Phatisma, Rustenburg in which a group of ANC supporters marched to the house of Mr Jimmy Deswaye, a former ANC member who allegedly defected to the National Party . The marchers then ran amok stoning Mr Deswaye's house before setting alight a car belonging to Mr George Matuse on August 8 1993.
The Committee said it was satisfied that Lehloo was entitled to amnesty and recommended to the Commission's Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation that Mr Deswaye and Matuse should be considered as victims of gross human rights violations.