October 6, 1999
Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to hear 41 amnesty applications by former Special Branch Members for acts committed in the areas of Northern Transvaal, Bophuthatswana, Botswana and Soweto in the late 1980's.
The acts committed by these policemen included abduction, kidnapping, interrogation, torture and murder of youths belonging to the ANC/MK. The acts also include the murder of an informer.
Northern Transvaal Security Branch Members, Hendrick Johannes Prinsloo, Sarel du Plessis Crafford (deceased), Chenny William More, Ernst Bester, Smuts Mathebula, Kokela Jeremiah Matjeni, Jose Antonio Tyixyiva Dos Santos and Johannes Jacobus Stijdom are applying for amnesty for killing former ANC courier Petrus Lubane (combat name Comrade or Comrade X).
Lubane is alleged to have recruited for the ANC in the East Rand in the 1986/7 period. It is also alleged that he was instructed by Gebhuza (former MK commander, now SANDF head Siphiwe Nyanda) to monitor Wachtuis, (the South African Police headquarters in Pretoria) for a possible attack.
The amnesty applicants, with the help of an informer, abducted Lubane and interrogated him for four days before shooting and destroying his body with explosives.
In another application ten Special Branch Members are seeking amnesty for detonating limpet mines on the body of Justice Mbizana (combat name Mandla) in Phokeng, Bophuthatswana between 1987 and 1988. Mbizana is said to have operated in the Eersterust area and was monitoring residences of SAP members in Mamelodi. The policemen were to be killed to avenge the killing of an ANC activist Frans Ting Ting Masango and other MK cadres.
Police informer and suspected double-agent Ernest Ramango was killed between 1987 and 1988 near Mamelodi after falling out of favour with his handlers. Three Security Branch Members are applying for amnesty for this act.
Six Special Branch Members are seeking amnesty for killing Nceba Cassius Snuma, Caswell Castro Khumalo and Elias in Soweto between 1988 and 1989. Nceba, Castro and Elias were sold by an informer to the Soweto Special Branch and led to believe they were to commit acts of sabotage on railway lines in and around the township. They were intercepted by the Special Branch and executed.
Two Security Branch Members are applying for amnesty for a cross-border operation 1986. Police had planned with an informer that the latter go to Botswana and convene a meeting with ANC/MK operatives in a motel in Gaberone wherein Special Branch Members would detonate a bomb.
Three Special Branch members are seeking amnesty for the kidnapping and interrogation of Moses Morudi. Morudi was kidnapped from his home in Potchefstroom by members of the Special Branch after an informer had spilled the beans that he wanted to join MK and undergo military training.
Six Special Branch Members here are seeking amnesty for killing Mahlangu, who is alleged to have been training youths around Mamelodi with the use of AK 47's and hand-grenades. Police used Askaris (turned liberation army soldiers) to infiltrate Mahlangu's activities. He was killed and his body blown up near a railway line.
These hearing are scheduled for five weeks starting on October 11 to November 12, 1999 at the Idasa Centre in Pretoria.
Inquiries: Nhlanhla Mbatha - 082 458 9968.