PIETERMARITZBURG 8 October 1999 - SAPA
ANC, IFP MEN AT TRC FOR KWA/NATAL VIOLENCE
Six members of both the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress
will appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pietermaritzburg
between October 11 and 15 to seek amnesty for separate acts of violence,
including murder and arson. TRC spokeswoman Nosisi Tyantsi said in a statement
on Friday that Sbusiso Richard Mbhele would testify on his role in several
murders committed in Ixopo and surrounding areas in 1993. Mbhele, who is serving
a life sentence and 31 years in prison, claims in his amnesty application that
he committed the murders under the auspices of the IFP's Self Protection Units.
Another applicant is Brian Muzokhona Luthuli, an ANC member who later joined the
IFP, for the killing of Elias Mumfe Dlezi, an ANC member who he says he killed
because he saw him as a threat to his life. Dlezi died of seven stab wounds
during an argument with Luthuli, who also tried to behead his victim but was
distracted by passersby and ran away. In another hearing, IFP member Magogo
Bheki Magoso will be testifying on the burning down of houses in the Kwa-Mashu
township, as well as his role in the shootout between Kwa-Mashu and Richmond
Farm residents between 1989 and 1990. Richmond Farm was at the time an IFP
stronghold and all Kwa-Mashu residents were labelled ANC supporters. Ntuthuko
Chuene, an ANC member, is seeking amnesty for the 1992 murder of Godfrey
Frederick Lanz Heuer who was also robbed of his firearm at his home in Vryheid.
Chuene, who broke into his victim's home, claims the purpose of the robbery was
to obtain arms and ammunitions to defend his community from the IFP. Another ANC
supporter, Dumisani Eugene Nkabinde, is applying for amnesty for killing Umzizi
Francis Shabane, an alleged member of the Kapnaars gang, on March 30, 1991in
Umlazi. Shabane was accused of being part of a group collaborating with the
KwaZulu Police and the IFP who were responsible for the death of two ANC
members. The committee will also hear the application of Musa Mahambane for the
murder of Derek Pringle Walters at Umhlanga Rocks Centre in 1991. Mahambane and
his accomplices were on a mission to rob the NBS Bank at Hilton Centre and,
during a police chase, they came across Walters whom they shot dead. They were
apprehended as they tried to escape in his vehicle.
© South African Press Association, 1999
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