AC/2001/237

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION AMNESTY COMMITTEE APPLICATION IN TERMS OF SECTION 18 OF THE PROMOTION OF NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATION ACT

NO. 34 OF 1995.                                                                      

These are applications for amnesty in terms of the provisions of Section 18 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34 of 1995 ("the Act").The matter relates to the killing of a large number of people, mostly women and children, in an attack launched by a group of more than 60 men, including the Applicants at Towlendeni, in the district of Richmond on 23 June 1991.Pursuant to this incident, the Applicants were convicted in the Natal Provincial Division of the then Supreme court on 27 November 1992 of 26 counts including murder, attempted murder and the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition. Pursuant to their conviction, the Applicants were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. The applications were opposed by the next-of-kin of some of the victims of the attack.

Both Applicants testified in support of the applications. Their versions largely coincided and can be set out briefly as follows.  

During the course of the afternoon on 23 June 1991 the Ncobeni residential area, where both Applicants reside, was attacked by a group of men. One of the inhabitants of the area was injured in the attack. The attackers were thought to be members or supporters of the African National Congress ("ANC") which was engaged in a violent political conflict in the area with the Inkatha Freedom Party ("IFP"). Both Applicants were members of the IFP and their residential area was an IFP stronghold. Applicants and other male occupants of the area were able to repel the attack. Soon after the incident, they gathered to discuss the attack. In the course of the discussion it was proposed that they should launch a revenge attack upon known ANC areas in the vicinity. It was left to those present to volunteer to participate in the attack. None of the IFP leadership in the area attended the meeting or authorised the attack. Applicants in fact indicated that the group did not take any steps to consult any of the IFP leaders in the area because they knew that these leaders would not sanction a revenge attack which was in any event contrary to the policies of the IFP.  

An armed group of more than 60 men, including the Applicants, proceeded to Towlendeni where the attacks were to be launched. The first Applicant, Gumbi was armed with a 9mm pistol, a shotgun and a spear, while the second Applicant, Zuma, was armed with a spear.

The group set off in the early evening. Upon their arrival at Towlendeni and just prior to launching the attacks they divided into two groups that went in different directions. Over the course of the next several hours a number of homesteads were attacked and whoever the groups came across was either killed or assaulted very seriously and left for dead. Any house in the vicinity that showed any signs of life was attacked and the inhabitants indiscriminately set upon. As it became apparent that mostly women were being killed, an argument developed amongst the members of the group of attackers. Some of them, including the Applicants, were opposed to the killing of women and children. No consensus was reached and the indiscriminate killings simply continued until approximately midnight. At the end of this killing spree, approximately 12 people, including a 3 year old child, were killed.

Applicants eventually faced 26 counts of murder and attempted murder in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court arising from the incident.

The evidence of Ms Zokhile Judith Dlamini was led in opposition to the applications. Their house was the first to be attacked during the incident. She vividly described how a group of attackers, including first Applicant, Gumbi, attacked her mother and two sisters while she was watching from her hiding place behind one of the doors in the house. Her two sisters were killed and her mother badly injured in the attack. Miraculously she escaped the ordeal unscathed. She described how she looked around for help in order to take her mother to the hospital and how she came across a number of other people who were either killed or badly injured in the neighbouring homesteads. After a considerable lapse of time, the police arrived on the scene and her mother was eventually hospitalised and fortunately survived the attack.

Having carefully considered the evidence, we are satisfied that the Applicants did not act on any orders of the leadership of the IFP in the area. They were, in fact, aware at the time of launching the attack that the IFP leadership would not authorise their actions. It is clear that they were solely actuated by the desire to take revenge because one of their number was injured in an attack by unknown attackers believed to be members of the ANC. They consciously decided against approaching any of the IFP leadership prior to launching the attack. It is accordingly clear that they were not acting on behalf of or in furtherance of a political struggle waged at the time by the IFP. Furthermore, their actions were wholly disproportionate in the circumstances. They decided upon the revenge attack because one of their number was injured. They proceeded to indiscriminately kill mostly women and a 3 year old child. Eventually 26 people fell victim to the attack, 12 of whom were killed.

In the circumstances we are not satisfied that the incident constitutes an act associated with a political objective as envisaged in the Act and the applications are accordingly REFUSED.

DATED AT CAPE TOWN THIS___DAY OF____2001.

		JUDGE A. WILSON
		JUDGE S. KHAMPEPE
		ACTING JUDGE D. POTGIETER

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