Amnesty Hearings — East London — 1998-10-09

THEMBA DAVID MARAMBANA: To the family of the deceased and the TRC authorities I want to say these words.  I didn't think or I never thought that I would kill the deceased because first of all we had good relations between ourselves.  We had nothing against each other when we were growing up.  The reason why I killed him was because of something that happened in Bisho because what happened there made us to be in conflict with the people.
	I would like the family of the deceased to view this as that those were not my intentions but it was the political situation that was happening in the former Ciskei.

CHAIRPERSON: Is that all?

THEMBA DAVID MARAMBANA: What I would like to add to the family members of the deceased is as I'm in the Middledrift Central Prison I had a request that I made to the headquarters in Pretoria if they would re-employ me as a member of the South African National Defence Force. Their answer was that I should wait because they are still looking at my request.  I took that letter and I sent it home and that gave me hope that when I'm released, even if I'm not released by the TRC Amnesty Committee but if I'm released I would try to make peace between myself and the family of the deceased because what happened happened suddenly.  So if I do get a job I would show the family members of the deceased that I regret what I did.  Those were not my intentions.  That is all.

CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you, you are excused.

THEMBA DAVID MARAMBANA: Thank you.
WITNESS EXCUSED

CHAIRPERSON: Miss Collett, are there any other witnesses you'd like to call?

MS COLLETT: No, Sir, there are no further witnesses.

CHAIRPERSON: Mr Mapoma, are there any witnesses to be called?

MR MAPOMA: Chairperson, not for the purposes of merits for the application, they are victims.  I can just put their names on record.  Oh, fortunately I've already put their names on record, yes.

CHAIRPERSON: Is that all to be done about this case then?

MR MAPOMA: Yes, that is all Chairperson.

CHAIRPERSON: Miss Collett, have you got any submissions you'd like to make?  It's not ...[indistinct].  If you wish to then we'll listen.

MS COLLETT: I merely wish to place before this Committee that the gist of what the applicant has been saying is that he was a member of the CDF at a time when the CDF and the Ciskei Government seemed to be particularly unpopular as a result of Bisho Massacre.  	His testimony as I understand it is that but for these circumstances he might not have found himself in the situation of having to take the life of another person or having taken the live of another person, because he would not have been a victim of the circumstances at the time, which he perceived to be that his life and other members of the CDF were at threat or threatened.

ADV SANDI: Ja, but his life could never have been in danger if he left his firearm at Bisho.

MS COLLETT: I hear what you say Sir, but my submission in that regard is that he was home for one single day.  If one has regard to the fact that he said he would go home in the evening so that he wouldn't be seen maybe the intention of the deceased or maybe the intention of the burning was not to burn him per se, maybe it was just to burn the house.  One never knows.  That is certainly an option which one could look at.  But the fact of the matter is that his evidence goes as far as saying: "But for the circumstances that I find myself in, the political circumstances that I find myself in I would not have acted the way that I did.  He obviously believed and he had reasonable grounds to believe that he was in a volatile situation at the time.  I do believe that he's made full disclosure.
	The Judgment of the High Court found that there had in actual fact been a petrol bomb attack at his house.  There was evidence to that effect and I do believe that he has made a full disclosure to this Committee about what he did, that he shot the deceased several, many times, I think several isn't enough, many times and for the bona fide reason that he believed that he was at threat.  And I want to ask this Committee to take that into consideration when considering his amnesty application.  Those are my submissions.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.  We are going to take a bit of time to make a decision on this and we will hand down our decision as soon as it is humanly possible.
	This session is adjourned until Tuesday morning at 9a.m.
COMMITTEE ADJOURNS