______________________________________________________ DECISION
______________________________________________________The Applicant is currently serving a long term of imprisonment for the murder of Matule Bapela. He is now seeking amnesty for the crime and claims that at the time of the occurrence of the incident he was a member of the African National Congress ("ANC") and acted on its behalf.
The matter arises out of an incident which occurred in the evening of 20 August 1992 when the Applicant, a crowd of ANC supporters and residents of the Marishane Village proceeded to the home of the deceased. On arrival there they surrounded the premises and demanded that she comes out. She was being accused of being a witch. When she refused to comply with the order her home was stoned and set alight. She was dragged away and forced to drink petrol. The attackers were demanding that she reveals the identity of other witches who were believed to have been responsible for mysterious deaths of youths in the village. She denied that she was a witch and averred that on the contrary she was also a victim of witchcraft as her son had just passed away. The Applicant doused her with petrol.
Present at the home of the deceased that fateful evening was her husband, Mr Bapela and her son who draw out an axe in an attempt to repel the attackers. Both Mr Bapela and the Applicant pleaded with Bapela (the junior) to put the axe away. This he did, realising that he was no match for the crowd which was very agitated and aggressive. Ironically, the Applicant says he was surprised by the accusation against the deceased.
Before the deceased was dragged away he asked members of the crowd why they had come to the house and they replied that the deceased was a witch. They further alleged that she had caused all the deaths in the village.
Initially, a meeting of residents of the village had been called by the ANC to discuss the problem of witchcraft in the area. Members of the community, young and old, attended. It was resolved that money be collected from residents to consult a witchdoctor. They wanted to find out who was responsible for the deaths, in other words who was the witch in the locality. A delegation was mandated to consult a witchdoctor and report back to the meeting. The Applicant was also elected. When they approached witchdoctor Taledi who resided not far from the village, he refused to accept their money and said they knew who the witches were.
They went back to the meeting where they gave a report-back. Immediately the crowed decided that petrol be acquired to burn witches in the village. At that stage no names had been mentioned by any person from the crowd. Worst of all, Taledi had not mentioned any names of the so-called witches. When the petrol was obtained the crowd made its way to the home of the deceased. They were singing and toyi-toyiing. The Applicant was very much taken aback and nevertheless followed the crowd. He did not know what the destination was. He has never suspected the deceased of being a witch and no person in the village had previously entertained such belief. He did not even know if she had a political affiliation. No person had accused her of being a political opponent or enemy of the ANC. The Applicant also did not believe so but the crowd predominantly comprised ANC Youth League members and supporters and it was an ANC policy that informers and witches be killed. He was aware of similar incidents in other villages but it had never happened in his village, Marishane.
Under cross-examination by Mr Mokoena who represented the Bapela family the Applicant admitted that the attack could have been motivated by jealousy on account of the relatively better standard of living which the Bapelas seemed to enjoy. He has also admitted that at the time of the occurrence of the incident there was no ANC branch in the area. Under cross-examination he said he did not permanently stay in the village and worked in the mines where he attended ANC meetings. He had not previously attended an ANC meeting at Marishane Village.
After carefully considering the Applicant's evidence we are satisfied that the murder of the deceased in the given circumstances cannot be said to be "an act associated with a political objective" in terms of the Act. There is no evidence that the deceased was perceived by the Applicant and his co-perpetrators to be a political opponent or enemy of the ANC of which they were allegedly supporters. The murder and burning of the deceased was totally unjustified in the circumstances.
Further, and having regard to the evidence, it is very doubtful that the crime was committed by bona fide supporters of the ANC acting on its behalf and in furtherance of its political struggle.
In the result the application is REFUSED.
DATED at CAPE TOWN this day of 2000
_____________________AJ DENZIL POTGIETER S.C.
_____________________ADV N SANDI
_____________________MR J B SIBANYONI
