Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission May 13, 1999
An African National Congress member Bongani Gilbert Ngobese is applying for amnesty for destruction by fire of the property of Dingiswayo Xulu and killing of twelve members of the Khuzwayo and Xulu families near Mahlabathini district on January 1990.
The Ngobese's application was partly heard last year. The families were attacked while they were mourning the deaths of two of their sons who had been killed a few days prior the killing incidents.
Ngobese is currently serving long sentence for the killings. Also appearing before the Amnesty Committee in the same hearing will be Dennis Felamandla Gumede who is serving long sentence at Waterval prison.
Gumede is seeking amnesty for the murder of Bhekumuzi Zondi on 18 July 1991. The applicant together with others attacked Zondi and opened fire.
The applicant and his companions were IFP members and they alleged that victims were ANC followers. Gumede claimed that during this period there was political unrest in the Greytown area.
The third applicant in this hearing is Bongani Cyril Thusi. Thusi seeks amnesty for the murders of about seventeen people at Richmond in 1991.
He together with others attacked and killed members of the ANC at Magoda and Ndaleni in Richmond. Thusi also seeks amnesty for the murder of Petrus Zulu in Ulundi in 1991.
The applicant alleges that Zulu was an ANC sympathiser and for that reason he was killed. The hearing will be held at the Marian Centre, Pietermaritzburg next week May 20-21.
Inquiries Nosisi Tyantsi 0824588459