Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Five leading members of the notorious Vlakplaas death squads were granted amnesty today by the Amnesty Committee of the TRC, including for some spine-chilling murders and atrocities that they perpetrated with impunity in various parts of the country in the mid-80's.
Offences that these killers were granted amnesty for include the brutal slaying of 10 youths who were lured from their homes in Zeerust in 1987 under the pretext that they were being assisted to leave the country for military training. The Vlakplaas gang "ambushed" the combi transporting the youths which was driven by askari, Joe Mamasela.
The youths were injected with an unknown chemical which knocked them all out. Their combi was pushed by the applicants over the cliff, it burst into flames and they all perished in the blaze.
The five applicants are Jan Hatting Cronje, the leader of the pack and Vlakplaas Commander during 1985, Willem Wouter Mentz, Paul Jacobus Jansen van Vuuren, Roelof Jacobus Venter and Jacques Hechter.
They were also granted amnesty for the killing of Zweli Nyanda the younger brother of the current SANDF chief, General Siphiwe Nyanda who was assassinated in Manzini Swaziland in 1983. They were also granted amnesty for the murder of Piet Ntuli in July 1986. Mr Ntuli was Minister of Interior at the KwaNdebele homeland at the time of his murder.
Some of the applicants were also granted amnesty for the role they played in the events that led to the cold-blooded murder of popular Soweto medic, Dr Fabian Ribeiro and his wife at their home. During his application in connection with this matter, Cronje told the committee that he was personally only involved in the conspiracy and planning of the slaying of the Ribeiros but did not take part in the actual killing. He told the committee that the couple was murdered by two black soldiers who had been flown in from Angola especially for the hit and they were flown home the same night.
Apart for the murders the five were also granted amnesty for either conspiring or attempting to kill high profile political opponents including attempts to kill current deputy national Education Minister, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, in Durban in 1985, conspiracy to kill leading businessman, and former PAC deputy president, Advocate Dikgang Moseneke, in Pretoria in 1987 and other high-ranking personalities.
Another applicant was granted amnesty for assaulting top righ-twing leaders while interrogating them in detention. Assaulted right-wing leaders include Eugene Terreblanche and Jan Groenewaldt. The incidents happened in 1994.
The applicants were also granted amnesty for the deaths of a number of young activists from KwaThema in Springs, whose cell had been infiltrated by Vlakplaas askari, Mamasela, who supplied the youngsters with booby- trapped handgrenades. They died in numbers after attempts to use the grenades.
Venter was granted amnesty for his role in the killing of another Vlakplaas askari, Brian Ngqulunga, who was part of the team of Vlakplaas murderers that killed Durban human rights lawyer, Griffiths Mxenge. Ngqulunga was killed by his colleagues when they suspected that he was about to spill the beans about Mxenge. His murder was ordered by Colonel Eugene de Kok.
The five applicants were also granted amnesty for a number of other murders, attempted murders, arson, a number of cases where they bombed properties, burned down homes in the townships, instances of torture, cases of severe assaults and abduction.
They were refused amnesty on few instances where they failed to furnish the committee with enough details to establish whether the acts they were
applying for had a political objective.
They were also refused amnesty for acts that were committed outside the borders of South Africa. They were also granted amnesty for killing a policeman, Richard Motsabi in Hammanskraal during 1987, whom they suspected of being a secret agent of the ANC. But they were refused amnesty for the killing of the policeman's wife, Mrs Irene Motsabi, who was killed to silence her because she had recognised Mamasela among her husband's killers.
For more info contact TRC Media Director MDU LEMBEDE on 082 4588464