AC/2001/286

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.

STEVEN MUTSHUTSHU MAMPHAGA APPLICANT

(AM6027/97)

DECISION

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

The Applicant applied for amnesty for "Recruiting for military activities" and in the application he described himself as a member of the ANC Liberation Army who had commanded various units for twenty (20) years. This application was received before the cut-off date, 30 September 1997, although it was only attested to on the 10 February 2000.

In 1999 the Applicant informed the Committee that he now wished to amend his application by including an application for amnesty in respect of the murder of Enock Tinyiko Sithole. The matter was set down for hearing and the only issue raised was this. The Committee was not prepared to accept this as an amendment to the original application which made no mention of killing and found that what was being sought was to introduce an application in respect of a completely different event to that covered by the original application which related to recruitment and that it was not within the powers of the Committee in terms of the Act to permit a fresh application to be instituted after the cut off date. During the course of argument, the Committee indicated that in these circumstances the Applicant would have to obtain an order from the High Court. In the light of this decision the Applicant did not proceed with any other application because "basically the Applicant was here to apply for the murder of the Deceased, Mr Sithole".

The present Committee is now considering the application for amnesty for recruiting for MK and illegally crossing the South African border which was set down for hearing but not proceeded with. We regard the other application arising from the proposed "amendment" as one which has been finally disposed of at the earlier hearing.

It is clear that the Applicant was a member of MK and we are satisfied from the information made available to us that the Applicant did recruit and train members of MK, that is the ANC's military unit. As he said in his statement in the process he would also accompany recruits to the neighbouring States and we accept this to be the illegal crossing of the borders referred to.

It is our view that these applications relate to incidents associated with a political objective and were part of the political struggle of the past as envisaged in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995 and were committed on behalf of and with the knowledge of the ANC.

In the circumstances we are satisfied that the Applicant complied with the requirements of the Act and amnesty is GRANTED to the Applicant in respect of all offences and delicts arising from his recruitment and training of MK recruits between 1981 and 1989; this includes unlawfully crossing the borders of South Africa in the course of escorting recruits to neighbouring States.

DATED AT CAPE TOWN THIS DAY OF 2001.

JUDGE A WILSON

/...