Issued by: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A former member of the ANC's former military wing UmKhonto weSizwe today told the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission how he sprayed a prominent KaNgwane homeland politician David Lukhele with a machine-gun fire leaving his body drenched in a blood bath in 1986.
Neo Potsane, now a member of the National Intelligence Agency, was testifying before the TRC at the Telkom Club outside Pretoria where he and three other former MK's "elimination unit" members, Frans Ting-Ting Masango, Joseph Elias Makhura and Jabu Obed Masina are seeking amnesty for the murder of Mr. Lukhele and the bomb blast at a bus stop in Silverton, Pretoria which injured 17 people in 1986. The TRC heard that the unit was set up to assassinate people the ANC considered "collaborators" including homeland leaders and members of the security forces. Enos Mabuza was regarded as an ANC sympathiser, said Potsane.
Mr Lukhele, an opposition party leader in the former homeland and Mrs. Busisiwe Dludlu were gunned down at his home in Mamelodi on June 6, 1986. His wife, Elizabeth, was wounded when Potsane burst into their home and sprayed them with high-caliber gunfire. Describing this incident, Potsane said Mr. Lukhele fell foul with the ANC in exile after he had penned and distributed a document which called, among others, the incorporation of KaNgwane into Swaziland.
Potsane said homeland leaders were perceived as legitimate targets for elimination, " Mr. Lukhele was targeted by our unit and killed by me only after the specific authorisation of the ANC was sought to eliminate him", said Potsane. He added that after the ANC had given Mr. Lukhele's assassination a thumbs up, he was deployed to reconnoiter the deceased's movements. After ascertaining that Mr. Lukhele would be at home on Friday June 6, Potsane accompanied by Masina left for Mr. Lukhele's home. "We left the vehicle we were travelling in a few paces away from his home and walked into the yard armed with an AK47 with two magazine while Masina stood guard outside".
"I knocked at the front door, someone opened the door and I burst inside with my AK47 already drawn. I fired at least 31 rounds at Mr. Lukhele who fell on the floor. While lying dead on the floor I continued pumping his body with more than 31 rounds of ammunition. His wife was also hit in the leg as she was crawling towards the door apparently attempting to escape", testified Potsane.
He added that he escaped with his accomplice Masina leaving behind Mr. Lukhele's body riddled with bullet wounds and drenched in a pool of blood.
"The impression I had when I left the scene was that Mr. Lukhele was dead and that his wife was slightly injured. But I was shocked to read from newspaper reports later that another woman who was at the house at the time, Mrs. Dludlu had also been killed", said Potsane. He expressed regret at the murder of Mrs. Dludlu and the injury of Mrs. Lukhele, whom he said were not intended targets for elimination.
Addressing the committee the applicants' lawyer Danny Berger said the fact that the applicants were prepared to face the death sentence during their trial testified to the commitment to the just cause they were fighting for.
He appealed to the committee to grant them amnesty arguing that their actions fell within the ambit of the TRC amnesty provision. Mrs. Lukhele and the surviving victims of the Silverton bomb blast did not oppose the applications.
Vuyani Green : 082 452 7858
10 June 1999