Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
12 OCTOBER 1998
Five people will apply for Amnesty at a three-day TRC Amnesty Hearing this week, which will be held in Pinetown near Durban from Wednesday, October 14 to Friday October 16.
The hearing, which will be chaired by deputy chairman of the Amnesty Committee, Judge Andrew Wilson, will be at the Pinetown Magistrate's Court. It will start at 9 am each day.
The applicant who will appear on Wednesday is Bongani Herbert Mthethwa (29). He is serving a life sentence and an 18-year prison term for the killing of three men, who were all killed in Mtunzini on the Natal North Coast, on different days in 1993. Mr Siphiwe Mthiyane was killed on March.2, Mr Solomon Jali was killed on May 2 and Mr Bhekinkosi Mkhwanazi was killed on May 17.
Al victims were first robbed of their vehicles and subsequently murdered. The applicant, (Mthethwa) claims that at the time of the killings he was the chairman of IFP Youth Brigade and that his victims were political enemies.
On Thursday three alleged supporters of the ANC who were convicted for the murder of four people in Nkangala at Inanda near Durban in December 1989 will appear. The applicants are Thulani Percival Cele (33), who is serving a 37-year prison term, Bongani Richard Khumalo (31), who is serving a 15-year sentence, and Roy Bongumusa Cele (39), who is also in prison for 15 years.
Their victims, who they say were all members of the IFP, are Mr Bone Cele, Mr Martin Ngcobo, Ms Dudu Ngcobo and Mr Amos Cele.
Mtungokwakhe Frank Nxumalo (59), who says he was chairman of the Newtown branch of the IFP in Port Dunford near Empangeni , will appear before the amnesty committee on Friday to apply for amnesty for the murder of Mr Buyangaye Petros Mntambo, and the attempt on the life of Mr Zakhele Robert Mntambo in April 1990. Nxumalo was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1992.
Inquiries: Mdu Lembede, 082- 458-8464