Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission this week has granted amnesty to members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbewiging, former South African Police and an African National Congress aligned member for incidents ranging from illegal possession of weapons including AK47 and explosives to arson.
Captain Gert van Huysteen and Sergeant Magezi Ndaba, both members of the former SAP, have been granted amnesty for their role in the bombing of the King's Cinema, Alexandra where the movie "Cry Freedom" was going to be screened in July 1988.
Andre Voster, Frans Johannes Strydom Van der Walt and Abraham Young all AWB members have been granted amnesty, among others, for bombing a trading store of Rosemary Hepburn at Patensie, Despatch near Port Elizabeth in 1993. Another AWB member Carl Mathinus Kriel has been granted amnesty for bombing Hill View School in Pretoria in June 1991.
A member of the ANC Youth League Lefa Kele has been granted amnesty for illegal possession of arms and ammunition at Mohontsha, Qwaqwa in June 1993.
The Amnesty Committee has also granted amnesty to a student charged with arson after protesting students from Masibulele Higher Primary school went on rampage and torched two trucks at Needs Camp, near East London in 1993. Charges against Thembile Zilibele were temporarily withdrawn pending the outcome of his amnesty application. In its decision, the Amnesty Committee said:" ...The education system that prevailed at that time in such areas as Needs Camp was a cause for great dissatisfaction and was a highly politicised issue. The incident...can be described as an occurrence associated with a political objective committed in the course of the conflict of the past."
Inquiries: Vuyani Green, 082 452 7858