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ZAF: ANC News 4.6

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Debra Guzman

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Jun 26, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/26/98

Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author : anc...@wn.apc.org
## date : 11.06.98
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A N C D A I L Y N E W S B R I E F I N G

THURSDAY 4 JUNE 1998

PRETORIA June 3 1998 Sapa

MAINTANANCE PAMPHLETS OUTLINING BETTER PROVISIONS LAUNCHED

Deputy Justice Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang earlier this
week launched the department's maintenance pamphlet outlining
initiatives taken by the department to make provision for better
maintenance dispensation.

The launch at Mmabatho in North-West marked the celebration of
the International Day of the Rights of the Child, Justice Minister
Dullar Omar said in a statement on Wednesday.

The department's provisions would compel those legally liable
to pay maintenance to meet their obliagations, Omar said.

"A special project committee of the SA Law Commission is
currently finalising legislation which will drastically change
South Africa's juvenile system."

The new maintanance legislation will be debated in Parliament
later this year.

"This will be a preliminary measure as the South African Law
Commission is looking at a more comprehensive legislative
framework."

The department was committed in implementing such measures in
both the government and civil society to promote the best interests
of the child.

"At the same time a project on victim empowerment, under the
leadership of the Welfare Department, has been registered with the
national crime prevention. In this regard wide consultation with
civil society is taking place," Omar said.

ANDRIES GOUS APPLIED FOR AMNESTY

Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

3 June 1998

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
has granted amnesty to a member of the former Security Branch who
bombed a property belonging to a leading political activist in
Springs, East Rand in 1989.

Andries Gous applied for amnesty for the bombing of a property
of Dr Bulbulia causing extensive damage at Bakerton, Springs in
October 1989.

His application was dealt with in chambers as the offence for
which he applied for amnesty does not fall within the definition of
gross violation of human rights as laid down by the law which
governs the operations of the TRC.

For enquiries media can contact Vuyani Green on 082 459 5464.

THIRTEEN AMNESTY APPLICATIONS TURNED DOWN

Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

3 June 1998

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
has turned down amnesty applications of thirteen members of the Self
Defence Unit (SDU) who applied for amnesty relating to their role in
the 1993 Kathlehong Massacre.

The applicants, some of whom are serving prison terms are,
Michael Armoed, Michael Nkomo, Mohale Motlokwa, Petrus Mthembu, Zola
Sonto, Paulos Shongwe, Tsekimyana Rodrick Singo, Norman Mashinini,
Lefu Mokoena, Thobile Luphindo, Joseph August, Bennet Ndaba and
Themba Mtshali.

The applicants, ANC members themselves, applied for amnesty for
the killing of nine ANC Youth League members at Molekeli Section on
December6, 1993 in what became known as the Kathlehong Massacre.

Those killed were Alfred Buthelezi, Thokozani Buthelezi,
Itumeleng Mootsi, Lucas Hlatshwayo, Isaac Mogadi, Ditaba Mthembu,
Peter Modishwa, Miles Simelane and Isaac Motloung.

The incident occurred at the hight of conflict between the
Kathlehong community and Inkatha Freedom Party aligned hostel
dwellers.

According to evidence before the Amnesty Committee, the deceased
were abducted and taken to the veld where they were shot
execution-style and hacked with knives, axes and spears. Testifying
before the Committee, the applicants said they regarded Youth League
members in the area as criminals who were harassing the Moleleki
Section of the Kathlehong community.

They further claimed the killing of the Youth League members was
in relation for the killing of Mr Malusi "Blanco" Kiyane who was an
SDU chairman and Ms Bulelwa Zwane - an ANC activist in the area.

The Amnesty Committee said evidence before it showed that there
was a dispute regarding what triggered the conflict between the SDUs
and the Youth League in the area. "However, what emerged from the
evidence is that these two groups accused one another of failing to
protect the (Kathlehong) community and of engaging in criminal
activities instead."

As the result, the Youth League broke away from the SDUs and
conducted separate patrols.

Rejecting the applications, the Committee said: "Having regard
to the motive for the massacre, the context in which it occurred, in
particular, the fact that the attack was not directed at a political
opponent, we are satisfied that the killing of the deceased was not
an act associated with a political objective as contemplated in the
Act."

The full txt of the judgement is available from Odile Pearce on
021-245161.

For more enquiries media can contact Vuyani Green on 082 45 95464.

The trial continues.

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

MANDELA TELLS SQUATTER COMMUNITY HE WILL PROBE THEIR PROBLEMS

President Nelson Mandela on Wednesday morning told a squatter
community at Tafelsig on the Cape Flats that he would discuss their
problems with his Cabinet colleagues, but could not make any
promises.

Braving the early morning cold of the Cape winter, Mandela said
he would report back to the community after his return from an
overseas trip on June 18.

The community of between 2000 and 3200 squatters is at the
centre of a dispute with the Cape Town city council over the
invasion of the land they occupy.

After talks with community leaders, Mandela told a crowd of
about 150 that he had come to listen to their problems first hand
and to see the site for himself rather than receiving a delegation
of community leaders in his Tuynhuys office, as was originally
requested.

He said he did not wish to make any promises - as unkept ones
led to credibility gaps - but he could assure the community that
"we love you" and would like to see a resolution to the problems.

Mandela also appealed to the community to behave "properly" and
to be polite to those they saw as their opponents.

In a memorandum handed to the president, the chairman of the
community's governing council, Najwa Gallant, appealed to Mandela's
office to provide interim relief through provision of water and
sanitation infrastructure "until such time as the formalisation of
the area is started".

The memorandum further asked for permanent relief through
full-scale housing development and infrastructure in co-operation
with the local authority.

Mandela then walked through the settlement and entered some
shacks to view conditions.

Chairwoman of the city council's executive committee, Ms
Nomaindia Mfeketo, told reporters that negotiations were underway
to find a solution to the squatters' problems.

The council had said from the start that it could not condone
land invasions, but was trying to adopt a "very humane and
humanitarian" approach.

The whole issue of housing in the greater Cape Town area was to
be addressed at a housing summit for a representative group of
stakeholders on Tuesday next week.

Council spokeswoman Leonora de Sousa said it had to be borne in
mind that there were about 100,000 homeless people in Cape Town.

The site the squatters had invaded had been cleared and set
aside for a school, she said.

A local who did not want to be named said "it is not a
political issue
- it's just that the people are in need of housing".

Most of the inhabitants came from existing houses in the area
which were overcrowded and all had been on the council's housing
waiting list for many years, he said.

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

TRC REJECTS AMNESTY APPLICATIONS BY 13 SDU MEMBERS

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee has
turned down the applications of 13 members of a self-defence unit
(SDU) who applied for amnesty relating to their role in the 1993
Kathlehong massacre, the TRC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The applicants, some of whom are serving prison terms, are:
Michael Armoed, Michael Nkomo, Mohale Motlokwa, Petrus Mthembu,
Zola Sonto, Paulos Shongwe, Tsekimyana Rodrick Singo, Norman
Mashinini, Lefu Mokoena, Thobile Luphindo, Joseph August, Bennet
Ndaba and Themba Mtshali.

The applicants, all African National Congress members, applied
for amnesty for the killing of nine ANC Youth League members at
Molekeli section on December 6, 1993, in what became known as the
Kathlehong massacre.

Those killed were Alfred Buthelezi, Thokozani Buthelezi,
Itumeleng Mootsi, Lucas Hlatshwayo, Isaac Mogadi, Ditaba Mthembu,
Peter Modishwa, Miles Simelane and Isaac Motloung.

The incident occurred at the hight of conflict between the
Kathlehong community and Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned hostel
dwellers, the statement said.

According to evidence before the amnesty committee, the
deceased were abducted and taken to the veld where they were shot
execution-style and hacked with knives, axes and spears.

Testifying before the committee, the applicants said they
regarded youth league members in the area as criminals who were
harassing the Moleleki section of the Kathlehong community.

They further claimed the killing of the youth league members
was in retaliation for the killing of Malusi "Blanco" Kiyane, who
was an SDU chairman, and Bulelwa Zwane, an ANC activist in the
area.

The amnesty committee said evidence before it showed that there
was a dispute regarding what triggered the conflict between the SDU
and the youth league in the area. "However, what emerged from the
evidence is that these two groups accused one another of failing to
protect the (Kathlehong) community and of engaging in criminal
activities instead."

As the result, the youth league broke away from the SDU and
conducted separate patrols.

Rejecting the applications, the committee said: "Having regard
to the motive for the massacre, the context in which it occurred,
in particular, the fact that the attack was not directed at a
political opponent, we are satisfied that the killing of the
deceased was not an act associated with a political objective as
contemplated in the Act."

The amnesty committee granted amnesty to a member of the former
police security branch who bombed a property belonging to a leading
political activist in Springs in 1989.

Andries Gous applied for amnesty for the bombing of the
property of a Dr Bulbulia, causing extensive damage at Bakerton,
Springs, in October 1989.

NELSPRUIT June 3 1998 Sapa

MPUMALANGA SPORTS DIRECTOR CLEARED OF RACISM CHARGES

Mpumalanga's director of sports, Modi Marishane-Nyaka, was
acquitted on charges of misconduct, negligence and racism on
Wednesday.

Marishane-Nyaka, accused of defying her MEC and discriminating
against a white school tennis team, was cleared of all charges at a
Public Service Commission hearing in Nelspruit.

The PSC ruled that she had acted with all necessary diligence
and had performed her duties as expected.

Marishane-Nyaka was charged with misconduct by MEC Lassy
Chiwayo last year after she allegedly refused to submit a report on
why her office had bumbled arrangements for a provincial junior
tennis team to participate in a national tournament in
KwaZulu-Natal.

The mostly white team ended up paying for all its own travel
and accommodation expenses while Marishane-Nyaka organised for a
second largely black team to fly to the tournament at state
expense.

The white team was also unable to participate in the
championships after the sports department failed to organise their
accreditation.

PSC investigating officer Mdu Ngomane told African Eye News
Service that senior provincial legal officer, HM Mbatha, found no
proof of conscious discrimination by Marishane-Nyaka.

Ngomane said Marishane-Nyaka was expected to return to work
within a week.

PIETERSBURG June 3 1998 Sapa

NORTH PROV MEC CRITICISES VIGILANTES FOR VIOLATING AGREEMENT

Northern Province safety and security MEC Seth Nthai has
sharply criticised a vigilante group for violating an agreement
concluded with his department two months ago.

Nthai told a media briefing in Pietersburg on Tuesday night
that members of the Mapogo a Mathamaga (Business Shield)
organisation had been assaulting crime suspects before handing them
over to police during the past week.

He pointed out that the agreement made with the organisation
spelt out clearly that when citizen arrests were effected, suspects
would be handed over to police "without being assaulted, harrassed
and intimidated".

The organisation had also undertaken to work closely with
community policing structures.

"Arrested members of the vigilante organisation are facing
serious charges such as attempted murder and violent assaults,"
Nthai said.

Their actions had become "completely intolerable and
unacceptable", and the group's leadership had been informed that
police would continue to arrest their members if they persisted
with illegal activities.

Nthai said the problem lay mainly with a group of nine
vigilantes but the fact that their activities were spread over a
wide area was cause for serious concern.

A Mapogo a Mathamaga spokesman admitted that the organisation's
leadership had been unable to exercise effective discipline over
certain of its members.

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

CHILDREN CALL ON MANDELA TO MAKE SIGN LANGUAGE OFFICIAL

A group of pre-primary school children on Wednesday urged
President Nelson Mandela to ensure that sign language became one of
South Africa's official languages, so that deaf people would no
longer be oppressed.

Mandela, like many others present at a school for the deaf in
Khayelitsha, did not understand what the children were signing and
had to rely on an interpreter.

The group are among 166 pupils attending the Noluthando School
for the Deaf, which celebrated its 10th birthday on Wednesday.

In a speech translated into sign language as he spoke, Mandela
said the foundation had been laid for making South Africa
completely deaf-friendly.

He was referring to the Constitution, which prohibits
discrimination against anyone on the grounds of gender, race and
disability.

The Constitution also provided for the promotion and
development of sign language, he said, although he did not address
the pupils' call for it to become an official language.

Government could not make South Africa completely deaf-friendly
on its own and needed the co-operation of private business and
non-governmental institutions.

He made a special appeal to employers to assist in whatever way
they could to "give these young people a chance".

"When they have obtained their trade, they must be absorbed in
the formal labour market or helped to become self-employed.

"They have a hearing disability - but they are able to work!
Given a fair chance, they can fend and care for themselves and
their families," Mandela said.

PRETORIA June 3 1998 Sapa

DISPOSING ACTIVIST'S BODY IN RIVER WAS GOOD IDEA: SAP GENERAL

It had been an excellent idea to dispose of Mamelodi activist
Stanza Bopape's body in a river, retired police commisioner General
Johan van der Merwe said on Wednesday.

"I thought it was an excellent plan," he told the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria.

Bopape died under police torture in Johannesburg on June 12,
1988, apparently of a heart attack caused by electric shocks.

Later that day Van der Merwe, then head of the police security
branch, was informed of Bopape's death by former police general
Gerrit Erasmus.

The two men decided that the corpse had to be disposed of.

To bury it would have taken a long time, and disrupted soil
would have raised the curiosity of passers-by, Van der Merwe said.

"The simplest plan is usually the best. The way in which
Captain (Leon) van Loggerenberg acted was excellent."

After giving permission for Bobape's body to be disposed of, he
did not check that it had been done, Van der Merwe said.

He said members of the security branch were imaginative, and he
was sure they had "done it properly".

They were experienced enough to handle any conceivable
situation, Van der Merwe said.

Van der Merwe and nine other policemen are seeking amnesty for
offences arising from Bopape's death on June 12, 1988.

After Bopape died, police claimed he had escaped from custody
and then secretly disposed of his body by dumping it into the
Komati River.

Five of the applicants were directly involved in torturing
Bopape with electric shocks. They are Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan
van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert,
Sergeant Johan du Preez and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Van Loggerenberg and Brigadier Schalk Visser seek pardon for
their role in getting rid of the corpse.

Van der Merwe, Erasmus and another former police general,
Petrus du Toit, were involved in covering up Bopape's death.

Van der Merwe said there had been no option but to conceal
Bopape's death.

Soweto Day (June 16) was just around the corner, and had news
of his death leaked out, the ANC/SACP alliance would have exploited
the situation to increase the revolutionary climate, he said.

Had a formal inquest been held into Bopape's death, there would
have been no way to keep the incident quiet until after June 16,
Van der Merwe said.

"The state pathologist and district surgeon would not have let
themselves be manipulated into keeping quiet. My influence did not
stretch that far."

Bopape's legal representatives and family were only informed of
his "escape" on July 4, but Van der Merwe said it had been
orchestrated to become known as soon as possible.

Police deployed the police dog unit to search for Bopape, and
all border posts were notified.

Van der Merwe denied assertions that Bopape's body was
destroyed because it displayed signs of severe torture.

"That is far-fetched," he said in reply to a question by the
Bopape family's legal representative, Gys Rautenbach.

"No member of the security branch would make himself guilty of
such an act."

Van der Merwe said he did not inform then law and order
minister Adriaan Vlok about Bopape's death because he wanted to
protect him.

Had Vlok been informed, it could have held negative
consequences for him and the National Party government.

"I took the decision in their interests," Van der Merwe said.

The commission also heard evidence from former police General
Gerrit Erasmus, chief of the Witwatersrand security police branch
at the time of Bopape's death.

He and Van der Merwe had decided to get rid of the activist's
body.

Erasmus said the former government had to know what was
happening during the struggle.

"I am convinced that the politicians of the past understood
that the statements they made and what they expected from the
security forces would go into a certain direction," he said.

"It did not matter whether legal or illegal means were used,
just as long as the problem was solved."

Erasmus said Bopape's death came at a very unlucky time, as it
would have caused the government great embarrassment.

He was shocked and surprised when told the news. Because
Bopape's death was likely to have far-reaching political
implications, he decided to discuss the matter with Van der Merwe
instead of making a decision on his own.

His part in covering up Bopape's death was part of his police
work, Erasmus said.

"I saw it as my duty. I believe my actions were necessary to
save the previous government embarrassment and to protect them."

Erasmus said his support of the policies of the former
government was partly a result of his conservative upbringing, but
also because of what he described as the behaviour of radicals.

He said the African National Congress/SA Communist Party
alliance would not have hesitated to kill and maim innocent
civilians in its quest to overthrow the former government.

The security police was the only defence against total chaos
and anarchy, Erasmus said.

PRETORIA June 3 1998 Sapa

BARNARD SAYS HE EXPECTS LENGTHY PRISON SENTENCE ON THURSDAY

Sentence will be passed on Thursday in the trial of former
Civil Co-Operation Bureau operative Ferdi Barnard, who says he
expects a long prison term.

He was convicted on 25 charges earlier this week.

The charges included the murder of anti-apartheid activist Dr
David Webster and the attempted murder of Justice Minister Dullah
Omar.

On Wednesday, the State and Barnard's defence asked the court
to sentence Barnard to life imprisonment on two charges of murder.

Further sentences on charges ranging from robbery to fraud
would automatically be served together with a life sentence.

Barnard, dressed in a dark suit and striped shirt, appeared
pale but relaxed.

He told reporters earlier that he expected a long prison
sentence.

He is already serving a ten-year sentence for diamond robbery,
although an appeal is pending.

Transvaal Deputy Attorney-General Anton Ackermann, acting for
the State, argued that Barnard's previous conviction for the
murders of two drug addicts should weigh heavily against him.

In that trial, a high court Judge sentenced Barnard - who
committed the murders when he was a police detective - to six
years' imprisonment with the emphasis on Barnard's rehabilitation.

"That sentence failed miserably. He served only three years of
his sentence and thereafter went on to commit two further
cold-blooded murders and a series of other crimes.

"He was given a chance, but did not make use of it. The
interests of the community must now come to the fore. The community
looks toward the legal system to protect it from those who have
chosen crime as a way of life," said Ackerman.

"Barnard is a danger to society. He has caused much pain and
suffering to the community and should be removed from society."

He said the cold-blooded nature of Webster's murder, as well as
the murder of Barnard's business acquaintance, Mark Frances, should
count against him.

Frances was clubbed to death with a baseball bat to prevent him
from incriminating Barnard and one of his friends in a
Bophuthatswana robbery.

Ackermann said there was not a shred of evidence that Webster
had ever been involved in any violent or terrorist activities. His
activities had been noble and the country had been robbed of a
dynamic philanthropist and leader.

Judge Johan Els remarked during argument by defence counsel
Faan Coetzee that Webster might still be alive today if Barnard had
served his full prison term for his first two murders.

ANC WOMEN'S LEAGUE ON CONTINUING ROAD CARNAGE

Issued by: African National Congress

The ANC Women's League is alarmed and dismayed at the tragic
accidents that continue to claim the lives of many men, women and
children.

The carnage on our roads has to end! We appeal to drivers,
especially taxi drivers ferrying commuters to and from work, to
obey
traffic regulations and stop their recklessness. We are sick and
tired of reading in the press of entire families being wiped out in
one single accident.

The ANC Women's Gauteng Province expresses its deepest sympathy
and condolences to the bereaved families of the people involved in
the tragic accidents that occurred in our province and elsewhere,
over the past weekend, in which more than 30 people lost their
lives. The most tragic accident happened on the N1 near the
Grasmere tollgate where more than eighteen people lost their lives.
A similar accident in Springs, on the East Rand cost the lives of 5
people, including children. Death is cruel as it rob families and
friends of loved ones, bringing untold grieve to them.

We appeal to drivers to drive slow down. As has been shown over
the weekend, speed kills. If you know that you are going to travel
long distances, ensure that you are well-rested before undertaking
the journey. Also, do not drink and drive. Not only is it dangerous
to be drunk when driving, it is also a criminal offence.

To the families and friends of the victims of last weekend's
accidents, the ANC Women's League wishes you to find strength and
courage to deal with this terrible blow and to find peace in the
fact that many people share your sorrow and grief.

For information contact Storey Morutoa at 083 763 6782.

Issued by the ANC Women's League
Gauteng Province
P.O. Box 8299
Johannesburg 2001
03 June 1998

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

NEW INTERNET FACILITY AT PARLIAMENT

National Council of Povinces chairman Patrick Lekota launched a
new information facility at Parliament on Wednesday which will give
NCOP delegates access to the internet.

Lekota said the new facility - situated in the NCOP's reading
room - was "another powerful weapon in the arsenal of MPs'
research and information facilities".

He celebrated the occasion by sending a message to the website
of United States President Bill Clinton.

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CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

APARTHEID HISTORY STILL AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT OF THE POOREST

The squalor of living in Cape Town's informal settlements was
raised when the Speak Out on Poverty hearings began in Khayelitsha
on Tuesday.

A member of the Homeless People's Federation, Dalina Tyawana,
said access to water and sanitation was a major challenge.

"Each toilet in our area serves 20 people," Tyawana said. "We
have only recently received access to water."

On a more positive note the community now had access to
electricity and telephones, but no houses, Tyawana said.

"Houses are still built for some and not for others. We are
expected to move from shack to shack while others have houses."

Jacqui Boulle, co-ordinator of the hearings, said the poor were
defining their poverty as a lack of opportunities, a lack of
choices and a lack of skills.

ANC STATEMENT ON JOHAN VAN DER MERWE

Issued by: African National Congress

The admission by former police Commissioner Johan van der Merwe
that the National Party authorised police to engage in illegal acts
against anti-apartheid activists flies in the face of earlier
counter claims by the NP leaders to the TRC.

What Van der Merwe's testimony reveals is the extent to which
the NP government aided and abetted in the commission of serious
crimes against humanity through its state security establishment.

In this regard, Van der Merwe has not confessed what is unknown.
We have always been of the view that gross human rights violations
by the previous security and intelligence structures were not
isolated acts committed by mavericks but were perpetrated as part of
the overall state terrorism designed to undermine efforts to bring
about the dawn of peace, freedom and democracy.

Yet, alas, the political masterminds behind these nefarious
activities claim to have had no knowledge of nor having sanctioned
such activities. The time has come for these political masterminds
to own up to their deeds in the interests of reconciliation.

Full disclosure remains a condition for reconciliation. The
country and its people expect nothing less from the former National
Party government.

For more info contact Ronnie Mamoepa at 082-990-4853

Issued by Department of Information and Publicity
P.O. Box 61884
Marshalltown
2107
3 June 1998

DURBAN June 3 1998 Sapa

KWAZULU-NATAL HAS INSUFFICIENT FUNDS TO MEET DELIVERY: MILLER

KwaZulu-Natal has insufficient funds to meet delivery its
obligations to the people of the province, finance, local
government and planning MEC Peter Miller said in Pietermaritzburg
on Wednesday.

During his budget speech in the legislature, Miller said the
biggest problem was that more than R10,5 billion of the R17,9
billion available to meet the needs of the province was being spent
on personnel.

"Expressed in percentage terms, the province spends 92 percent
of its budget on personnel, transfer payments and fixed costs, and
only eight percent on productive, service delivery oriented
activities.

"The result is schools with no books, hospitals and clinics
with no medicines, roads full of potholes, deteriorating
infrastructure, shabby buildings, no capital expenditure and no
fixed investment," Miller said.

He said a seven percent reduction in the personnel and fixed
cost portion of the budget would effectively double the amount
available for essential service delivery.

Miller said it was essential that the provincial leadership
implement a properly funded and effective retrenchment tool to deal
with the problem.

"An increase of the discretionary budget from R1,5 billion to
R3 billion would be sufficient to remedy all our education and
health deficiencies and would pump an extra R1,5 illion into the
provincial economy, stimulationg growth and investment, probably
sufficient to absorb all the retrenched public servants and more."

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

MANDELA, MASIRE HOPE CHILUBA WILL STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY

President Nelson Mandela and former Botswana president Ketumile
Masire on Wednesday said they hoped that Zambian President
Frederick Chiluba would make more gestures to strengthen democracy.

Speaking after a private lunch with Masire at Genadendal,
Mandela also dismissed reports that he had played a central role in
brokering the withdrawal of coup charges against Chiluba's
predecessor, Kenneth Kaunda.

"The release of President Kaunda from detention is the
initiative of one man
- one man only - and that is President Chiluba."

Media reports that Kaunda's release was "in response to what
I've done, is not very accurate".

Masire and former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere had played
an even greater role in discussing the matter with Chiluba, Mandela
said.

However, the initiative was solely Chiluba's and no-one should
believe he was reacting "to any one of us".

Mandela said he hoped that Chiluba "in making this gesture is
not going to stop there, and that he may make it possible for us to
persuade former President Kaunda not to continue in party
politics".

Mandela said he also hoped that Kaunda, as the father of
Zambian independence, would be able to recognise the importance of
stepping down from party politics and "try to help Chiluba in
uniting the country".

Masire described the withdrawal of charges against Kaunda "as a
great thing".

"We all feel relieved that President Chiluba has taken this
step and we hope from now on positive things will follow."

He hoped that the Zambian authorities "would cease the problems
in developing the country".

Mandela would not specify what role was being envisaged for
Kaunda.

However, it is understood that Zambian and South African
authorities are facilitating a role for Kaunda, similar to Nyerere,
who has played a prominent role as a mediator since he relinquished
power after 23 years.

Nyerere also established the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, aimed
at promoting peace and development on the continent.

Kaunda, who was arrested on Christmas Day last year on
suspicion of involvement in a coup plot, found himself a free man
on Monday after charges were withdrawn against him.

News reports said Chiluba had agreed to withdraw the charges on
condition Mandela persuaded Kaunda to quit active politics.

JOHANNESBURG June 3 1998 Sapa

NP SHOULD ADMIT CRIMINAL PAST, SAYS ANC

The National Party should own up to its past complicity in
illegal acts against anti-apartheid activists, the African National
Congress said in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ANC said former police commissioner Johan
van der Merwe's admission to the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission in Pretoria this week that the NP authorised police to
engage in illegal acts against activists flew in the face of
earlier counter-claims by NP leaders to the TRC.

Van der Merwe's testimony revealed the extent to which the NP
government aided and abetted the commission of serious crimes
against humanity through its state security establishment, said the
statement.

"In this regard, Van der Merwe has not confessed what is
unknown.

"We have always been of the view that gross human rights
violations by the previous security and intelligence structures
were not isolated acts committed by mavericks but were perpetrated
as part of the overall state terrorism designed to undermine
efforts to bring about the dawn of peace, freedom and democracy."

Yet, the political masterminds behind these nefarious
activities claimed to have had no knowledge of nor having
sanctioned such activities. The time had come for these political
masterminds to own up to their deeds in the interests of
reconciliation.

Full disclosure remained a condition for reconciliation. The
country and its people expected nothing less from the former
National Party government.

Van der Merwe testified that the government ordered security
police to commit acts outside the law to fight the ANC in the
1980s. These included bomb explosions at two Johannesburg buildings
used by the ANC.

Van der Merwe said former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok
approved an attack on Cosatu House. Later Vlok told him that former
state president PW Botha also wanted Khotso House to be destroyed.

TRC HAS GRANTED AMNESTY TO FOUR AWB MEMBERS

Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
has granted amnesty to four Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)
members and the slain Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) South Coast leader
James Zulu for acts relating to an attack on a police station in
Flagstaff, former Transkei shortly before the 1994 elections.

Mr Zulu was killed in Port Shepstone earlier this year. The four
other applicants who are AWB members are Harry Jardine, Morton
Christie, Andrew Howell and Christo Brand.

Their applicants related to an incident which left one
policeman, Constable Barnabas Jaggers dead and two others, Constable
Edmund Nyangana and Inspector Mzingisi Mkhondweni wounded in ensuing
gunfire at Flagstaff Police Station on March 5, 1994. The applicants
fled with a number of weapons and rounds of ammunition in a police
van which they used as a getaway vehicle.

They were later arrested and convicted of murder, attempted
murder and robbery but were not sentenced pending the outcome of
their amnesty applications.

During their appearance before the Amnesty Committee the
applicants implicated an AWB commander in the Umkomaas area Mr
Patrick Pedlar and Mr Robin Shoesmith of the IFP as the ones who
ordered them to assist in obtaining weapons which would be used by
the IFP's Self Protection Unit.

In its decision, the Amnesty Committee said it was satisfied
that the offence for which the men applied for amnesty were acts
associated with a political objective committed during the conflict
of the past. It also said that it was satisfied that the applicants
had made full disclosure.

Relating to Mr Zulu's application, the Committee invoked the
provisions of Section 20 (7) (c ) of the law governing the
operations of the TRC. In terms of that section, no person,
organisation or State can be held responsible for acts or offence
committed within the prescribed period by a person who is deceased.

The full text of the judjement follows.

Media inquiries: Vuyani Green - 0824595464.

BEFORE THE AMNESTY COMMITTEE

APPLICATION FOR AMNESTY IN TERMS OF SECTION 18 OF THE PROMOTION OF
NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ACT. NO 34 0F 1995

THE AMNESTY APPLICATIONS OF :

1. JAMES MKHAZWA ZULU 5864/97
2. HARRY SIMON JARDINE 6178/97
3. MORTON JS CHRISTIE 6610/97
4. ANDREW HOWELL 5961/97
5. CHRISTO BRAND 6422/97

DURBAN 29 APRIL 1998

DECISION

The five applicants were convicted in the Transkei Supreme Court
of :

1. Murder in contravention of Section 84 of Act 9 of 1983 in
that on or about 6 March 1994 at the Flagstaff Police Station they
wrongfully and intentionally killed and murdered Barnabas Jaggers, a
33 year old male.

2. Attempted murder in contravention of Section 31, read with
Section 84 of the above act in that at the same time and place they
wrongfully and intentionally attempted to kill and murder Wele
Edmund Nyanguna and Mzingizi Abednego Mkhondweni, both male adults.

3. Robbery in contravention of Section 155 (1) of the said act
at the above mentioned place and time, in that they unlawfully and
intentionally stole one Nissan LDV and one metal trunk, containing
R140,67 cash, keys, two R1 rifles, one R4 rifle and rounds of
ammunition and a further 3 R4/R5 rifles, the property of or in the
lawful possession of the Transkeian Police by using violence.

The facts leading to the convictions and which formed the basis
of the applicants applications for amnesty can be summarised as
follows:

Applicants 1 and 3 were members of the Inkhata Freedom Party
while applicants 2,3,4 were members of Afrikaner Weerstandbeweging.
Applicant 3 had dual membership of both organisations.

The applicants were requested by Patrick Pedlar, who was the
commander of the AWB in the area from Umkomaas to the Transkei and
Robin Shoesmith, a member of the IFP to assist in the obtaining of
firearms to be used by the IFP's self protection units in their
political war against the ANC. The Flagstaff police station was
considered an easy target for this purpose because according to
information obtained there would only be one policeman on duty on a
Saturday night and he could easily be overwhelmed.

The operation was planned for the night of 5/6 March 1994 but
unbeknown to the applicants the police was tipped-off, alledgedly by
Pedlar.

Reinforcements were sent to the police station and what was
foreseen as an easy task, became a shoot-out in which Mr Jaggers was
killed and Messrs Nyanguna and Mkhondweni wounded before the
firearms could be robbed. In the same process a police vehicle was
robbed by some of the applicants to get away.

Before the start of the hearing and after the matter had already
been set down for hearing the first applicant was killed in a
violent altercation. His application could therefore not be
proceeded with.

Section 20 (7) (c) of the Promotion of National Unity and
Reconciliation Act, No.34 of 1995 may however be relevant in so far
as civil claims against his estate may be instituted. There is
nothing in the evidence pointing to a different decision in his
regard than the conclusion reached in the other applications.

Affidavits by Messrs Mkhondweni, Tshwane and Dlamini were filed
in opposition to the applications. It was argued on their behalf and
on behalf of the deceased that amnesty should not be granted because
the applicants did not disclose who actually killed the deceased and
wounded the other victims. In this regard the evidence was:

Brand, the 5th applicant, had no gun at the stage that the
shooting took place, Christie had a revolver and he shot and wounded
Mr Mkhondweni. Howell, the 4th applicant, testified that he is of
opinion that he wounded Mr Nyanguna because he fired in his
direction. He also testified that it is not impossible that he might
have shot Mr Jaggers but considers it to be improbable because Mr
Jagger's body was found in the rear of the bus whilst he was
shooting towards the front of the bus. He is of opinion that it is
more probable that Mr Jaggers could have been shot by Shoesmith.

All the applicants testified that it was dark and that the
others could not observe who shot in which direction. Only the
marksmen themselves could testify in which direction they shot.
Messrs Shoesmith and Roy Lane who also participated in the attack
did not testify. They were state witnesses in the prosecution of the
applicants and were indemnified against prosecution at the end of
the trail.

In conclusion, the committee after considering the applications,
all the affidavits filed and the evidence, is satisfied that:

a) the applications comply with the requirements of Act 34 of
1995;

b) the offences to which the applications relate, are acts
associated with a political objective committed in the course of the
conflicts of the past

c) that the relevant facts relating to the particular offences
have been disclosed, bearing in mind the circumstances prevailing on
the scene during that night.

The committee therefore grant amnesty to applicants 2,3,4 and 5
in respect of the offences referred to under paragraphs numbered
1,2, and 3 at the outset.

As far as the deceased applicant, Mr Zulu, is concerned the
committee refers to what has been said about the application and the
relevance of Section 20 (7) (c) of Act 34 of 1995 herein before.

SIGNED ON THE OF 1998

JUDGE H MALL

ADV. C DE JAGER

DR WM TSOTSI

CDJ/svd

ADDENDUM

COMMITTEE MEMBERS : J, H Mall, Adv C de Jager, DR WM Tsotsi

DATE OF HEARING : 29 April 1998

VENUE : TRC Office Durban

EVIDENCE LEADER : Mr Robin Brink

FOR THE APPLICANTS : Mr L de Klerk
No 3,4,5 Nell Coetzee van Dyk
P.O. Box 3761
Durban 4000
: 031- 3071974/5 (tel)
: 031- 3071974 (fax)

FOR APPLICANT : SD, Slabbert
No 2 501a Salmon Grove Chambers
407 Smith Street Durban 4001
: 031 - 3018600 (tel)
: 031 - 3068429 (fax)

FOR INTERESTED & : TW Mgidlana
VICTIMS Mapoma Mgidlana & Asso.
P.O. Box 914
Umtata 5100
: 0471-26357 (tel)
: 0471-26357 (fax)

N.O.K. : Mrs N Jaggers

IMPLICATED PARTIES : Ferdi Wentzel, Patrick Pedlar,
Robin Shoesmith & Sipho Ngcobo.

JOHANNESBURG June 3 1998 Sapa

ANC CONGRATULES POLICE ACTION ARMY WEAPONS' THEFT

The African National Congress on Wednesday congratulated the
police for the speedy arrest of two suspects implicated in the
theft of weapons and ammunition from 44 Parachute Brigade in
Bloemfontein.

"These arrests are a clear indication that those forces who are
loyal and committed to the defence of democracy, the constitution
and the rule of law are much stronger than those opposed to the
process of fundamental transformation," ANC spokesman Ronnie
Mamoepa said.

He said statements by certain political leaders linking the
weapons theft to the discredited Meiring report, which suggested a
coup was being plotted, were unhelpful and helped create a negative
perception of the stability of South Africa's democracy.

The ANC called on such leaders to resist the temptation to
pre-empt the outcome of police investigations into the matter, said
Mamoepa.

"Whoever may possess information relevant to such
investigations must put it at the disposal of the police services
rather than attempt to turn this into a political football," he
said.

The party called for the beefing up of security measures at 44
Parachute Brigade and other military bases throughout the country
to ensure that similar thefts were thwarted.

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

FOUR AWB MEN, SLAIN IFP LEADER GRANTED AMNESTY

The amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission has granted amnesty to four Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
members and a slain Inkatha Freedom Party leader for acts relating
to an attack on a police station in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape
shortly before the 1994 general election.

AWB members Harry Jardine, Morton Christie, Andrew Howell and
Christo Brand and IFP south coast leader James Zulu, who was killed
in Port Shepstone earlier this year, were granted amnesty for
attacking the Flagstaff police station on March 5, 1994.

Constable Barnabas Jaggers was shot dead and Constable Edmund
Nyangana and Inspector Mzingisi Mkhondweni were wounded in the
attack.

The TRC said in a statement released on Wednesday that the men
fled with a number of weapons and rounds of ammunition in a police
van which they used as a getaway vehicle.

They were later arrested and convicted of murder, attempted
murder and robbery, but were not sentenced pending the outcome of
their amnesty applications.

During their appearance before the amnesty committee the
applicants implicated an AWB commander in the Umkomaas area,
Patrick Pedlar, and Robin Shoesmith of the IFP as the people who
ordered them to obtain weapons which would be used by the IFP's
self-protection units.

The amnesty committee said it was satisfied that the offence
for which the men applied for amnesty were acts associated with a
political objective committed during the conflict of the past. It
also said it was satisfied that the applicants had made full
disclosure.

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

DP WELCOMES WEAPONS ARRESTS

The Democratic Party on Wednesday welcomed the arrest of
suspects in the recent theft of arms from Tempe defence force base
near Bloemfontein, but said it was shocked at the apparent laxity
and dereliction of duty which made the thefts easy.

Those arrested should be prosecuted as quickly as possible and,
if convicted, severely punished, DP defence spokesman Douglas
Gibson said.

"We must deter others from taking any similar action to subvert
our democracy," he said.

GEORGE June 3 1998 Sapa

DE KOCK BRANDS PW BOTHA A COWARD

Apartheid-era assassin Eugene de Kock on Wednesday came face to
face with his former political master PW Botha, and branded him a
coward who had no pride.

De Kock, dubbed Prime Evil by his collegues because of his
ruthless modus operandi, was testifying in the George Regional
Court at the former state president's trial for ignoring a Truth
and Reconciliation Commission subpoena.

"I do feel myself and others in the security forces... have
been sold out by cowardly politicians - in the National Party
especially," De Kock said. "They want the lamb but they don't want
to see the blood and guts; they are cowards."

The 82-year-old Botha, who wore a grey three-piece suit, a
light blue shirt and grey shoes, sat in his chair next to the dock
staring straight ahead as De Kock testified and turned his back on
him during a short adjournment.

Speaking in English, De Kock repeated his earlier claims that
Botha ordered the 1987 bomb attack on the trade union headquarters,
Cosatu House. The attack was the first of its kind on South African
soil and De Kock wanted to know from how high up the order came.

He described a meeting with his commanding office, Brigadier
Willem Schoon, who said the "higher-up" person who gave the order
had complained it was taking too long to execute.

De Kock testified he had responded: "If PW Botha can do it
better, he should go and do it himself".

De Kock, 49, is serving a 212-year sentence in Pretoria's C-Max
prison after being convicted on 89 charges, including six of
murder.

He said he and others bombed Khotso House, headquarters of the
South African Council of Churches, and the headquarters of the
African National Congress in London in 1982, for which he received
a Star of Excellence. This was a decoration normally reserved for
generals and could only be authorised by the state president - PW
Botha.

Former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok has claimed in his
amnesty application for the Khotso House bombing that Botha also
ordered this attack.

De Kock was not immediately cross-examined and TRC chairman
Archbishop Desmond Tutu took the stand.

In an opening statement he said: "I stand here with the
greatest possible reluctance and filled with considerable distaste.
I believe this is something that should not have happened."

The 66-year-old Tutu said he had tried to reach out to Botha
"out of a deep compassion for him". He had told Botha he was "his
brother" many years ago before it was politically correct to do so.
Under questioning from the prosecutor, Western Cape
attorney-general Bruce Morrison, Tutu denied having agreed to
exempt Botha from appearing before the TRC if he answered its
questions in writing, as claimed by the former state president.

Tutu replied: "I am surprised at that assertion. I did not give
such an undertaking. I have never given that kind of immunity to
any potential witness of the commission. I do not believe I have
the power to do so."

Tutu said the TRC was deeply concerned about allegations made
against Botha by senior policemen, and wanted his perpective on
what had transpired.

No one in the TRC would have exempted Botha from testifying
without canvassing the quality of his written responses to
questions.

He said he had never gloated over Botha. "There was no
gloating. I don't gloat."

Tutu said he had been vidicated in his opposition to apartheid
"most spectacularly". He had told Botha when he was still in power
that this was a moral universe - "In the end you are going to bite
the dust and going to bite it spectacularly. God is in charge."

Tutu said he had also told people living under apartheid not to
worry because this evil would not prevail over the goodness of God.

He denied that he ever intended to humiliate Botha, saying all
their interaction had been courteous and and friendly. He pointed
out that he had sent condolences to Botha when he was ill and when
his house was flooded, attended his wife's funeral, helped arrange
funding for his legal submission for the TRC and set up a special
TRC hearing for him in George.

"That is extraodinary evidence of malice," Tutu said.

All the TRC wanted was for Botha to co-operate. "Even now I
would hope reason would prevail."

The court case follows Botha's refusal to adhere to a TRC
subpoena to appear at a hearing on the State Security Council,
which he chaired. If convicted he faces a two-year jail sentence or
a fine of up to R20000.

The trial has focussed on Botha's government's appalling human
rights record.

Had Botha agreed to testify before an in-camera hearing as the
TRC suggested, much of the evidence led would have been presented
out of the public's eye. The trial continues on Thursday, when
Botha's counsel are expected to cross-examine Tutu and De Kock.

CAPE TOWN June 3 1998 Sapa

MASIRE WARNS THAT FOCUS ON SA COULD SKEW SADC DEVELOPMENT

Southern Africa as a regional power was on the rise but was
being threatened by an intense international focus on South African
affairs, said former Botswana president Sir Ketumile Masire in Cape
Town on Wednesday night.

Sir Ketumile was speaking in Camps Bay at the presentation of
the 1988 Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights to the
Western Cape's leader of the provincial opposition Ebrahim Rasool,
for his work in the field of primary health care and community
leadership.

"Polarisation and development in South Africa's favour could
have the unintended and undeserved effect of importing the problems
of the Southern African Development Community to this country," he
said.

"The process of developing South Africa should not be halted
but the fate, if not the future, of South Africa is inextricably
bound with that of the Southern African region as a whole.

"Now there is hope for an African renaissance driven by trade
and investment," he said.

The former head of state warned that despite this nothing short
of fundamental transformation would catapult South African society
on to the social plateau already reached by other SADC countries.

He noted that countries such as Botswana and Mauritius
succeeded in ensuring widespread benefits to their people despite
having a gross domestic products a fraction of that of South
Africa's.

PORT ELIZABETH June 3 1998 Sapa

GONIWE FEARED ATTACK ON THE NIGHT OF HIS DEATH, TRC HEARS

Murdered activist Matthew Goniwe feared that he might be
attacked while travelling from Cradock to Port Elizabeth at night
but undertook the journey to be with his family, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission heard on Wednesday.

Prof Derek Schwartz was one of the last people to see Goniwe
and three other United Democratic Party activists before they were
killed by police on June 28, 1985.

He was testifying before the TRC's amnesty committee in Port
Elizabeth at which six policemen have applied for amnesty for the
murder the Cradock Four - Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata and
Sicelo Mhlauli near Port Elizabeth in an attack made to look the
work of vigilantes.

Colonel Harold Snyman, General Nico van Rensburg, Major Herman
du Plessis, Captain Izak van Zyl, Lieutenant Eric Taylor and
Sergeant Gerhardus Lotz are applying for amnesty for planning and
carrying out the murder.

Schwartz who was the Secretary General of Eastern Cape United
Democratic Front at the time, told the committee he attended a UDF
meeting with the activists in Cradock on the night of June 27,
1985.

He denied a claim by the applicants that the meeting had been
held at his home. He said as a high profile UDF leader they would
not have risked holding a meeting at this home which was probably
under surveillance.

Schwartz told the committte he warned Goniwe and the others
after the meeting about the possiblity of being intercepted by
police who had regularly made death threats against UDF leaders. He
said he advised the four to sleep over and travel the next day.

However Goniwe had replied that he appreciated the danger of
travelling at night but wished to be with his family in Port
Elizabeth. He said he would not stop for anyone except official
police vehicles or the traffic police.

Schwartz said he became worried when Goniwe's wife phoned the
next day and said her husband had not arrived. Police at first
denied any involvement in the death of the four who were found
stabbed and burnt at the roadside near Port Elizabeth.

The six policemen admitted more than ten years later in their
applications for amnesty that they planned the murder of the four
and intercepted their car, handcuffed them and then killed them at
a desolate spot.

Schwartz who is now a professor of history at the University of
Fort Hare was questioned at length about the role of the UDF in the
unrest in the Eastern Cape at the time of Goniwe's death.

He replied that the role of the UDF had been to create new
structures to replace the state institutions which were rapidly
collapsing. He denied that the UDF had advocated or used violence,
saying this would have resulted in the organisation being banned.

He conceded that some people took part in violent activities in
the name of the UDF but were not acting with the authority of the
organisation.

He blamed the police who adopted Nazi methods in their
treatment of the poor and deprived communities who were demanding
democratic rights. He said it was the systemic violence that led to
the state of chaos in the Eastern Cape and not the activities of
the UDF.

The hearing continues on Thursday.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY June 3 1998 Sapa

BLACK EMPOWERMENT A GUISE FOR AFRIKANER DISEMPOWERMENT: FF

It was now clear to the Freedom Front that black empowerment
and affirmative action were merely guises to obtain Afrikaner
disempowerment, Dr Corne Mulder (FF) said on Wednesday.

"Enough is enough - if this ANC government wants
confrontation, so be it; we are ready to take up that challenge,"
he said during debate on Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's budget
vote.

The time had finally come for all Afrikaners and the broader
community to pick up their heads with pride.

"It is time to look the world and this ANC/SACP government
squarely in the eye; we have had enough of the one-sided attacks of
the Truth Commission and attacks of the ANCBC ( ANC Broadcasting
Corporation)," Mulder said.

National Party justice spokeswoman Sheila Camerer said Mbeki
should explain why he, like 36 other top African National Congress
officials, had applied for amnesty if there had been no specific
deed he had committed for which he could be charged or sued in a
court of law.

This was the test set out very clearly in the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission Act.

On paper it looked as if Mbeki's application had been merely a
symbolic one, Camerer said.

TRC STATEMENT ON AMNESTY

Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

3 June 1998

The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has
granted amnesty to three Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) members
relating to their attack on a night club which left one person dead
and two others wounded at Newcastle, KwaZulu/Natal in 1994.

Two of the applicants Andile Shiceka and Walter Thando are
former African People's Liberation Army operatives - PAC's armed
wing while the third applicant, Bongani Malevu is an ordinary member
of the organisation. All three of them are serving lengthy prison
terms.

Armed with heavy calibre weapons, the men launched an attack on
the Crazy Beat Disco - a night club which was frequented mostly by
whites, killing Mr Gerbrecht Salomina Van Wyk and wounding two other
patrons on February 14, 1994.

The applicants told the Amnesty Committee last year that the
weapons, including grenades, which were used in the attack, were
ferried from the former Transkei to Newcastle. In its decision, the
Amnesty Committee said :' It is common knowledge that the PAC did
have armed struggle as its policy 85that the attack was an act
associated with a political motive 85it is (therefore) our
conclusion that the applicants have met the requirements for
amnesty.'

The full text of the judgement follows.
Media inquiries: Vuyani Green 0824595464

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION AMNESTY COMMITTEE

In the amnesty application of :

ANDILE SHICEKA Application No:
AM5939/97
(hereinafter referred to as `Shiceka')

WALTER FALIBANGO THANDA Application No:
AM5784/97
(hereinafter referred to as `Thanda')

BONGANI GOLDEN MALEVU Application No:
AM0293/96
(Identity Number : 6301245359084)

(hereinafter referred as `Malevu')

DECISION IN TERMS OF SECTION 20 (1) OF THE PROMOTION OF NATIONAL
UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ACT NO. 34 OF 1995

This is an application for amnesty in terms of Section 18 of the
Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995
(`the Act').

The applicants who are currently serving long terms of
imprisonment were at all material times members of the Pan
Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and the Azanian Peoples
Liberation Army (APLA), with the exception of Malevu who was only a
member of the PAC and not APLA.

On the evening of 14 February 1994 Thanda and Shiceka attacked
with firearms the Crazy Beat Disco at Newcastle which was frequented
by predominantly white patrons. As a result of the shooting, one
Gerbrecht Salomina Van Wyk was killed and at least two guests were
injured. Malevu had previously transported the arms which were used
in the attack from the Transkei to Newcastle.

It is in respect of this incident that the applicants have
applied for amnesty. The application is unopposed. The matter has
been investigated by the Investigative Unit of the TRC and the
Committee has heard evidence in support of the application.

Walter Falibango Thanda

Thanda says he was brought by his commander code named `Power'
from Port St Johns to Umtata where, for the first time, he met
Shiceka.

Eventually, they were to go to Newcastle, where they would find
the weapons. In Newcastle they were of course to meet with Malevu.
Thanda's home was in Molteno; the only reason he went to Newcastle
was to carry out this kind of operation. These were instructions
from `Power'. In fact, Thanda was the commander of this small unit
which planned and carried out the attack. He says he would keep on
giving reports to `Power' from time to time so as to keep him up
date with the developments. Asked whether he did question the order,
he said it was not for one to do so; if one had any questions to
ask, it would only be after the execution of instructions. Apart
from the fact that as a soldier he had to carry out instructions, he
was caused to join APLA by the political conditions under which he
lived and grew up. He regarded the operation as unsuccessful because
only one person was killed.

Apart from stating that he acted on orders, he therefore
justifies the attack, and the selection of the targets, on the same
basis as applicants Bongani Golden Malevu and Andile Shiceka.

Andile Shiceka

He received his military training outside the country. He was
given orders in Umtata to go to Newcastle for this kind of
operation. Thanda was to be his commander in this operation. Asked
why he had to attack white people, he said he was merely following
the orders; to him defying orders would have amounted to `mutiny'.
Asked whether there had been a shift of policy on the part of the
PAC or APLA from attacking `hard' targets to attacking `soft' ones,
he said that was a question to be answered by his seniors; for his
part, all he had to do was to carry out the order. He was told that
he would find the arms in Newcastle; he did not know how they got
there. He gave details of his personal involvement, how the attack
took place, what happened thereafter until their arrest the next
day. Apart from stating that he acted on orders, he gives the same
explanation given by applicant Bongani Golden Malevu as to why white
people were targeted. Although he regrets the attack, he did not at
the time regard it as a success as only one person was killed. He
says the whites were the only people who were the oppressors; that
is why they were targeted. Accordingly he denies that his action
smacked of racism.

Bongani Golden Malevu

He says he was told by his high command that there was to be an
operation in Newcastle. He was supplied with arms in Umtata, which
he took to Newcastle where he hid them. He was aware that some
reconnoitering was being done.

He helped transport the other applicants to a point where a
vehicle was forcefully taken from its owner, which was eventually
used in the attack. Thereafter he also helped with transporting the
other applicants and with hiding the weapons. He says they were
ordered to identify as a target, a place frequented by white people.
They had initially planned to attack a restaurant, but, as there
were a number of black people in the vicinity, decided instead to
attack the Crazy Beat Disco. The latter, according to them, was
frequented by white people. He says the attack on white people was
because they were regarded as political oppressors; they had to
fight them in order to get their land back. If they attacked white
people, the government would take them seriously; the white people
were the ones who could go to the government to urge it to change.
He says that as a member of APLA, he was never told that the armed
struggle had been suspended, and , at any rate, he merely carried
out orders. He says at a meeting of the PAC in 1993 at Umtata held
before the incident, a resolution was passed, after a heated debate,
not to suspend the armed struggle.

Was this an APLA operation?

Of importance here is, amongst others, the fact that the
applicants were strangers to each other until they met for the
purpose of carrying out this operation; moreover, two of them did
not live in Natal at all.

This gives credence to their story that they were brought
together by their military commander `Power' who was known to all of
them. If this was not a planned military operation by APLA, what
possible motive was there on the part of these people to go to Natal
and attack a discotheque? The victims of the attack were not known
to them and they derived no personal benefit from the attack. How
can strangers come together and plan such a thing? How could they
possibly trust each other to that extent, and for what possible
benefit? The answer to these and similar questions leads to the
inescapable conclusion that the operation must have been ordered and
coordinated by APLA.

Armed struggle as a policy of the PAC/APLA

The applications had to be considered against the question
whether or not the organisation to which the applicants belonged,
did have as its policy violent struggle. It is common knowledge that
the PAC did have armed struggle as its policy, hence the creation of
its military wing. The applicants stated that at its meeting in
Umtata before the incident (a meeting at which Malevu was given the
weapons used) the PAC passed a resolution not to suspend the armed
struggle; they also say that APLA was at any rate autonomous on
military matters.

Shiceka went further, sadly, to say that there had in the past
been attacks on white people; he mentioned this to refute the
suggestion that the applicants acted on their own and that they were
prompted by a feeling of racism.

The fact that the PAC and /or APLA had openly adopted the policy
of violent struggle brings the applicants within the category of
applicants referred to in section 20 (2) of the Act; it also goes a
long way towards determining whether or not the act was associated
with a political objective. Regard being had to the explanations
given by the applications for the attack, the nature thereof as well
as the circumstances under which it occurred, it is our view that
the attack was an act associated with a political objective.

The weapons and the ammunition were possessed for the purpose of
carrying out military activities at the behest of APLA; therefore
their illegal possession by the applicants at various times was also
an act associated with a political objective.

Conclusion

It is our conclusion that the applicants have met the
requirements for amnesty. Accordingly, amnesty is hereby granted to
all the applicants as follows:

Andile Shiceka:

Amnesty granted in respect of all the offences the applicant was
convicted of, namely,

a) Murder: The killing of Gerbrecht Salomina Van Wyk at Crazy
Beat Disco, Newcastle, on or about 14 February 1994.

b) Attempted murder: Attempt at or near Crazy Beat Disco on or
about 14 February 1994, Newcastle, to kill members of the public
there present.

d) Contravention of section 32(1) (b) read with sections 1, 39
and 40 of Act 75 of 1969 (unlawful possession of grenades, to wit,
four M26 hand grenades and one M791 rifle grenade) on or about 14
February 1994 in the district of Newcastle and/or Dannhauser.

Walter Falibango Thanda

Amnesty granted in respect of all the offences the applicant was
convicted of, namely,

a) Murder : The killing of Gerbrecht Salomina Van Wyk at Crazy
Beat Disco, Newcastle, on or about 14 February 1994.

b) Attempted murder: Attempt at or near Crazy Beat Disco on or
about 14 February 1994, Newcastle, to kill members of the public
there present.

d) Contravention of section 32(1) (e) read with sections 1, 39
and 40 of Act 75 of 1969 (unlawful possession of ammunition intended
to be fired from a machine gun, to wit, 659 5.56 x 45mm cartridges)
on or about 14 February 1994 in the district of Newcastle and/or
Dannhauser.

e) Contravention of section 32(1) (b) read with sections 1, 39
and 40 of Act 75 of 1969 (unlawful possession of grenades, to wit,
four M26 hand grenades and one M791rifle grenade) on or about 14
February 1994 in the district of Newcastle and/or Dannhauser.

F) Contravention of section 36 read with sections1, 39 and 40 of
Act 75 of 1969 (unlawful possession of ammunition, to wit, two 9mm
short cartridges, two.38 special cartridges and one .22 cartridge)
on or about 14 February 1994 in the district of Newcastle and/or
Danhauser.

g) Contravention of section 2 read with sections 1, 39 and 40 of
Act 75 of 1969 (unlawful possession of an arm, to wit, a 9mm pistol)
on or about 15 February 1994 at or near Madadeni in the district of
Newcastle.

h) Contravention of section 36 read with sections 1, 39 and 40
of 1969 (unlawful possession of ammunition, to wit, seven 9mm short
cartridges) on or about 15 February 1994 at or near Madadeni in the
district of Newcastle.

Bongani Golden Malevu Amnesty granted in respect of all offences the
applicant was convicted of, namely,

a) Murder : The killing of Gerbrecht Salomina Van Wyk at Crazy
Beat Disco, Newcastle, on or about 14 February 1994.

b) Attempted murder: Attempt at or near Crazy Beat Disco on or
about 14 February 1994, Newscastle, to kill members of the public
there present..

c) Contravention of section 32(1) (a) read with sections 1, 39
and 40 of Act 75 of 1969 (unlawful possession of machine guns, to
wit, three R4 and one R5 machine guns) on or about 14 February 1994
in the district of Newcastle and/ or Danhauser. The committee is of
the opinion that GERBRECHT SALOMINA VAN WYK and/or her dependents,
as also the people injured, are victims in relation to the incident
and they are accordingly referred to the Committee on Reparation and
Rehabilitation in terms of Section 22(1) of the Act.

Signed at Cape Town on this the ----------- day of -------1998
JUDGE BM NGOEPE -----------------------
ADV. D POTGIETER SC -----------------------
ADV. N. J. SANDI -----------------------

ADDENDUM

Committee Members : Ngoepe J., Adv. Potgieter,
Av. Sandi

Date of Hearing : 10 February 1997

Venue : Bloemfontein

Evidence Leader : Adv. Paddy Prior

Counsel for the Applicants : Adv. Norman Arendse
Address : Advocate Chambers
Cape Town

Tel. : (021) 249 788 (w)
(021) 249 689 (fax)

PRETORIA June 2 Sapa

EX COP SAYS HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO CONCEAL BOPAPE'S DEATH

Retired police commissioner General Johan van der Merwe had no
choice but to cover up the 1988 death in detention of Mamelodi
activist Stanza Bopape, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
heard on Tuesday.

Handling the matter differently would have sparked mass
demonstrations and could have destroyed the morale of security
police, Van der Merwe testified in Pretoria.

Van der Merwe, head of the security police at the time, said he
kept up the charade in the ensuing months and years that the
activist had disappeared after escaping from police custody.

Neither former police commissioner Johan Coetzee nor former law
and order minister Adriaan Vlok were told that Bopape's body had,
in fact, been secretly thrown in the crocodile-infested Komati
River.

"In conversations and in letters I wrote, I presented the mock
escape as a fact," Van der Merwe said.

He and nine other policemen have applied for amnesty for
offences arising from Bopape's death during police torture in
Johannesburg on June 12, 1988.

Five of the applicants were directly involved in subjecting
Bopape to electrical shocks. They are Lieutenant-Colonel Adriaan
van Niekerk, Major Charles Zeelie, Warrant Officer Hendrik Mostert,
Sergeant Johan du Preez and Constable Jakobus Engelbrecht.

Brigadier Schalk Visser and Captain Leon van Loggerenberg are
seeking amnesty for their role in getting rid of Bopape's body.

Van der Merwe and two other former police generals, Gerrit
Erasmus and Petrus du Toit, were involved in covering up Bopape's
death.

Van der Merwe testified that Erasmus visited him at his
Pretoria home on the afternoon of Sunday June 12, 1988 to inform
him of Bopape's death under torture earlier in the day.

Violent attacks in the anti-apartheid struggle were at the time
reaching new heights, and members of the security police were
literally working day and night to counter this onslaught, Van der
Merwe said.

"The security branch was the most important shield... between
order and anarchy in the country. In this respect, the morale of
security police played a crucial role."

The country was at war and unusual methods were required to
fight the enemy.

Van der Merwe said it was also feared that the African National
Congress would use Bopape's death to whip up emotions during the
commemoration of the June 16, 1976 Soweto riots.

"Erasmus and I, therefore, decided to conceal Bopape's death,
and to arrange for his body to be disposed of secretly."

It would have served no purpose to inform his superiors, Van
der Merwe said. That would only have compelled them to become
involved in a crime.

"I could offer them nothing but a choice between two unenviable
possibilities. Whichever course they chose, they would have been in
trouble."

Van der Merwe denied his actions amounted to condoning the
death of Bopape.

Police realised that assaulting, torturing or killing an
individual in detention would cause serious embarrassment for the
government and the police.

"There was, nevertheless, sympathy for police members guilty of
such actions in efforts to obtain information which could save
lives," Van der Merwe said.

Earlier, he testified that the government ordered security
police to commit acts outside the law to fight the ANC in the 80s.
These included bomb explosions at two Johannesburg buildings used
by the ANC.

Van der Merwe said Vlok approved the attack on Cosatu House.
Later Vlok told him that former state president PW Botha also
wanted Khotso House to be destroyed.

Members of the Vlakplaas police unit carried out both
operations.

Security police also staged bogus terrorist attacks. These
included actions in townships planned to create the impression that
the perpetrators were members of the ANC, Van der Merwe said.

Members were also ordered to create arms caches, which were
then "discovered" to provide excuses for cross-border raids on ANC
bases.

"On both sides of the battle there were people who inherited
the situation. To that extent we were footballs of circumstances,
and we did things we would not even have considered otherwise," Van
der Merwe said.