DECISION
The applicant is seeking amnesty for the following offences:-
1. Theft of a motor vehicle at Phongola in KwaZulu-Natal;
2. Bombing a railway line between Mzimhlophe Station and Phomolong Station in Gauteng and
3. The attempted murder of an unknown school girl between Mzimhlophe and Phomolong Stations, Gauteng.
All the offences were committed in 1987. He acted as a member of the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). His Commander Joseph Koetle who had issued the orders for the above operations did not testify at the hearing but, instead, sent a letter in which he confirms having given the orders and the fact that he was the applicant's commander at the relevant time.
Briefly, the evidence of the applicant is as follows. He received military training under the auspices of the ANC in Swaziland whereafter he was infiltrated into the Republic of South Africa to carry out operations on its behalf. During the training he was told that they should attack Government installations and railway lines were seen as legitimate targets to spread the propaganda of the ANC and its presence in the country, with the view to the ultimate defeat and demise of the Apartheid order. Vehicles were needed to execute the operations and these were usually stolen.
The applicant stole a Mazda vehicle at Phongola which he used to carry a bomb to the point between the two railway stations. The intention was not to kill or injure any person, hence he placed the bomb in the very early hours of the day. He says at that stage no trains would be operating. The aim was only to damage the railway line. He later became aware from newspaper reports that a young girl was injured.
At the hearing the Evidence Leader Mr Andre Steenkamp informed the Committee that all attempts to ascertain from Spoornet the name and possible whereabouts of the said girl were in vain. Her name could not be established from the police records.
We are satisfied that the applicant has complied with all the requirements of the Act. He has shown that the offences committed are acts associated with a political objective in terms of the Act and, further, has made a full disclosure of the relevant facts.
Amnesty is therefore GRANTED for all the offences.
Signed at Cape Town on this the 5th day of April 2000.
Judge S. Miller
Mr W. Malan
Adv. N. Sandi
