Amnesty Hearings — Bloemfontein — 1999-05-24

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: The burning specifically I didn't see, but I know that petrol was thrown over him, and who scratched the matches to burn him, that I will not be able to tell.  After that, we ran away, we dispersed and the police arrived. And then I ran away, I went to Namibia, Windhoek, where I was arrested on the night of the 19th November 1985. That is the tale for which I am seeking amnesty at this Commission.

MR MALAN: You were subsequently charged?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: Sorry, I was subsequently charged with murder, with 25 others ... (indistinct) and after the trial from 1986 up to 1989, we were found guilty of murder and 14 of us, of which I was one of them, were sentenced to death. However, on appeal, the sentence was set aside for a 10 year sentence. And after 10 year, I didn't serve the 10 year sentence, I was released on the 6th of January 1992.

ADV GCABASHE: Was that in terms of the indemnity?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: That was in terms of the Indemnity Act. That is my rendition of my application for amnesty.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes. Thank you, Mr Bekebeke. Now in 1985, can you just give us a little of your personal circumstances. How old were you at that stage?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: In 1985, if my recollection serves me well, I was 24 years old.

CHAIRPERSON: Were you politically active?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I was highly politically active.

CHAIRPERSON: Can you give us some information about that?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I was the founding member of the Paballelo Youth Organisation, which amongst others, strived to better our conditions in Paballelo.

CHAIRPERSON: Was it affiliated to any larger body?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: We affiliated to the UDF then.

CHAIRPERSON: So you a member of the Paballelo Youth Organisation. Anything else?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: That was, except that I used to be a member too, where I used to be in Transkei, of what, actually, was not allowed then, of the Students Representatives Council. Because the process then it was a process of prefects and we decided that we are going to be having a Student Representative Council elected by ourselves and not by the teachers.

ADV GCABASHE: This would have been at high school.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: That was at high school.

ADV GCABASHE: The name of the school?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: It was Bethel College in Butterworth.

CHAIRPERSON: Are you submitting to us that the incident itself was a politically motivated incident?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: It was definitely politically motivated within the milieu that was happening, specially in 1985 in Paballelo specifically.

CHAIRPERSON: What was the position of the deceased?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: The deceased was a municipal policeman.

CHAIRPERSON: And what was the relationship at that time between members of the community in Paballelo and police personnel?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: There was not per se an antagonistic relationship between us. For example, the Sunday of the 10th I was sitting with a policeman in a shebeen drinking together with him. And the name of the policeman is Mr Dick Mooki.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes. Is there anything else you wanted to add.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: Nothing else.

CHAIRPERSON: Not. Well, thank you. Mr Steenkamp, have you got any questions?

ADV STEENKAMP: Thank you, Mr Chairman. If I may just be permitted to a few questions and place some
information regarding the deceased on record. My information is that the deceased's full names was Lucas Tshendo, sorry, Sitwala. At the time of the incident, the time of his death he was 24 years old, and indeed he was a policeman, a municipal policeman, Mr Chairman. Furthermore, Mr Chairman, I may just point out to you for your record purposes, a full detailed statement was taken from Mrs Beatrice Sitwala, who is present here today, which appears on page 69 to 85 in the bundle. Furthermore, there was also a public hearing held on this matter and further testimony was taken down from Mrs Sitwala, which appears on page 87 to 90. My instructions from Mrs Sitwala is, Mr Chairman, that at this moment she is not opposing the amnesty application, but she needs - I will ask a few questions on her behalf regarding the actual killing of the deceased, if that will be permitted.
	Mr Bekebeke, the family, and specifically the mother of the deceased, would like to know why it was necessary at all to kill the deceased, first of all. Secondly, was there not other avenues or ways to prevent the killing or to resolve this problem in this specific township except by killing the deceased.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: As I said initially, there was no overt antagonistic action from members of my organisation against the police. What happened on the 13th must be seen in the light of that we were called to a meeting, shot at after that, and when we tried to run away, we are being shot at by another policeman from the front. We would have passed that house without doing anything to him. But the shooting, that's what incensed specifically me. That incensed me, and in that moment of what was happening in Paballelo then, really took a back seat. The only action that I could think of, I'm not speaking on behalf of any other person, but of myself who was the one who ran and caught him, was that I was going to hurt him for what he was doing to us.

ADV STEENKAMP: It's common knowledge, but you were still convicted of murder.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I was convicted of murder, yes.

ADV STEENKAMP: Now, I would also like to know if you are applying for amnesty for malicious injury to property to the house.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I did not cause any property, I did not cause any damage to any person's property on that particular day.

ADV STEENKAMP: You see, it's their feeling that this killing was, at best, only a revenge attack. There was no political motivation whatsoever.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: Revenge against what?

ADV STEENKAMP: Their feeling is there was no political motivation whatsoever to attack their house and subsequently to kill the deceased.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I would just like to get clarity as to revenge against what?

ADV STEENKAMP: Their feeling, it was a revenge attack propelled against the police and specifically the deceased in this matter.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I think it's an undisputed fact that the deceased did shoot a child in front of us as we were trying to run away from the fuller body of police who were behind us. The only way that I saw fit to defend myself was to go over to attack.

ADV STEENKAMP: Mr Chairman, can he just tell me again. Where did you get the weapon from, which you assaulted the policeman with?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: That was the deceased's own weapon, which after I ran after him, I took it out of his hands and I beat him with it.

ADV STEENKAMP: Do you know if anybody else was hurt at the time of this attack on the house of the Sitwalas.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I'm not aware of any other person who got hurt on the 13th.

ADV STEENKAMP: Is it possible today for you to name any other people that were involved with this incident? Can you give us more names?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: Unfortunately not, Sir. It was thousands of people who were congregated there. We were not looking as to who is next to who. We were fighting as we were being shot at. We were fighting then.

ADV STEENKAMP: What about the people that was convicted with you?

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: I am, I was so surprised when I saw, when we went through the trial and people were giving evidence, stating that more than a hundred people were standing in front of a house stoning the house. The surprise of it all, two or three windows were broken. Seems to me those hundred people really had to get lessons in stoning. I don't see how a hundred people can just stone three windows.

ADV STEENKAMP: Can you give us an idea or indication who was actually in charge of this operation.

JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: Nobody was in charge. We were driven by our anger.

ADV STEENKAMP: Did you receive any instructions or did somebody just make a decision?