TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 2

Subsection 3

Low levels of civilian applications

19. By far the greatest number of casualties inside South Africa arose out of violent community conflicts into which ordinary residents were mobilised or drawn. This category was not reflected in amnesty applications from any side of the conflict, including that of the ANC and its allies.

Poor representation of SDU applications

20. Although SDU members applied in large numbers, these applications did not, in the view of the Commission, adequately reflect the full scope of SDU activity. One of the reasons for this was because SDU activity continued in certain areas after the cut-off date for applications.

21. In one significant case, the local ANC political leadership in Tokoza, which had had a strong relationship with the SDUs in the area, threw its weight into promoting amnesty applications. Meetings were held and questions answered. Assistance was provided with completing forms. As a result, approximately 200 SDU members fro m Tokoza applied for amnesty for very serious violations. Most had never been charged for these offences and were motivated by an appeal to their sense of political duty and the national imperative for reconciliation. The Tokoza SDU case points to the merit and feasibility of political parties investing energy at local level.

Low levels of applications in KwaZulu/Natal

22. As with the IFP, the scale of the violence in KwaZulu/Natal is not reflected in the volume of amnesty applications from the ANC in this region. Here again, the vast majority of incidents were inter-civilian.

23. It is possible that political developments after 1994 may also have played a role in inhibiting applications. In the immediate post-1994 era, the national ANC strategy for ending the bloodshed in KwaZulu-Natal was one of incorporation and appeasement of the IFP and a reluctance to inflame the still-simmering conflict. This period of rapprochement resulted in a tendency to draw a veil of silence over the bloody past and a tacit agreement to suspend blame. According to the ANC:

The apartheid counter-insurgency machinery inserted itself into the IFP and, as it carried out its murderous campaign, cloaked itself in IFP colours, whereas the genuine leaders and members of the IFP had nothing to do with planning or car rying out any acts of violence originally conceived of by themselves. ¹¹⁴

24. The ‘special case’ character of the region is also reflected in ongoing suggestions for a special amnesty for KwaZulu/Natal matters, possibly a ‘blanket amnesty’ for perpetrators in that re g i o n .

25. Moreover, as the majority of the KwaZulu/Natal ANC applicants were in jail at the time of making their amnesty applications, they suffered from the same serious problems faced by all applicants in prison, primarily a lack of legal advice. Although some prisoner applicants were assisted to some extent by the ANC, and the ANC leadership visited prisoners in an effort to facilitate their amnesty applications, this collective political advice did not adequately substitute for individual legal advice.

26. One of the consequences of this was that applicants were unable to obtain clarity on what acts or incidents to apply for. Thus an applicant might list only a single incident where a number of related offences should have been specified. For example, one applicant, Mr Skhumbuzo Chris Masondo [AM4183/96] believed he had only to apply for offences for which he had been convicted and he later spoke about many other offences at the hearing. These latter matters were excluded by the Amnesty Committee.

27. Another applicant testified about how helpless prisoners felt when faced with applying for amnesty:

MR LAX: But you did understand that you were supposed to tell the full truth when you filled out this application?

MR MSANI: Yes, I did explain initially that in jail the brain doesn’t function properly when we are in jail. We are like children when we are in jail. The brain is actually sort of disturbed to a certain extent when you are in jail. ( Pietermaritzburg hearing, 23 November 1998.)

28. Another problem was that many perpetrators involved in the same incident were scattered throughout the country indifferent prisons and were unable to contact one another. This tended to discourage applications, as applicants feared implicating others.