15 December 1999
Mbekiseni Mgcabeni Jili was refused amnesty for a May 1993 incident in Umkomaas Valley in the district of Ixopo in which two people were killed.
Jili was however granted amnesty for robbery that took place at the same place on the same day. In his application for amnesty he said he was a member of the UDF and that his organisation and the IFP were fighting each other at the time.
He said the deceased, Vetelo Joyce Ferrero was a wife of a farmer and they were members of the AWB and were sympathetic to the IFP. The other deceased, Mbabhama Mtolo was a farm worker.
On the day of the murder Jili said he and his accomplices had gone to the Ferero's to rob the family of firearms to use against the IFP.
The Amnesty Committee was unable to grant Jili amnesty for robbery. The committee found no political objective in the murders.
In another amnesty application Sibakhulu Mqalo was granted amnesty for malicious damage to property committed in February 1992 near Malasi Village in Bisho.
Mqalo on ANCYL said the townships had called for a boycott of white owned businesses to put pressure on the government to change. He was arrested when he and a group of other youths stoned and burnt white owned delivery vehicles coming into black townships.
The Committee found a political objective in Mqalo's acts and amnesty was therefore granted.
Ngobese Bongani Gilbert was refused amnesty in relation to 13 counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and arson - crimes for which he is serving a 45 year jail term.
Gilbert, who says he was a UDF supporter, was a resident of Mahlabathini, Cottonlands in KwaZulu Natal at the time of the murders. Residents of that area belonged to both the UDF and the IFP and were always at war.
It is alleged that the local chairperson of the IFP, Dingindawo Xulu forced people, irrespective of the membership, to pay a certain amount of money into the coffers of the IFP. Sometimes residents were forced by Xulu to attend IFP meetings.
Early in January 1990 two of Xulu's sons were stabbed to death allegedly by UDF supporters. Fearing revenge from Xulu, Gilbert and other supporters of the UDF then attacked the home of Xulu at night and wiped out the whole family.
The Amnesty Committee found the reason to attack Xulu's house to forestall a revenge unacceptable and not a defensive action. The Committee also found the offences disproportionate to any political objective.
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