Amnesty Hearings — Pietermaritzburg — 1997-02-10

ANSWER: Thank you sir.   The offence for which I am applying for amnesty is the murder on Mr Jama on 24-2-1991.  My personal background;  I was born on 25 March 1969 in Klerksdorp.   I grew up there and I matriculated there.
My political affiliation at school was apolitically affiliated to the right.   As a working young man I was affiliated to the right and anti-ANC.  At the time of the offence I was affiliated to the right and trained to be anti-ANC.   I am currently a non-active member of the AWB.  My addresses;  I am currently at Grootvlei maximum security prison in Bloemfontein and my home address is No 64 Ivan Walker Street, Dorkensville in Klerksdorp.   Both my parents are deceased.   My father was a miner at Hartebeesfontein Gold Mine and my mother was a housewife.
My career; Immediately after matric I joined the police force in 1987 on 23-12.   Thereafter I went to Pretoria College for training.  After my training I was deployed to Berghol(?) police station and thereafter to the Riot Squad, No 8 in Pietermaritzburg.   If I should be released I would like to go back home and work.   
Factors which influenced me; I grew up believing that the ANC was the enemy and that they were terrorists.  At the time of my police training I was taught that the ANC was our enemy, that they were terrorists and that everything should be done to stop them.   When I joined the Riot Squad our
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Commanding Officer was Major Terblanche.   He informed me that the ANC, we had to fight the ANC with all our might, that they were our enemies and that if we should be prosecuted or get into trouble in any way, he would be there for us.   There were weekly meetings and discussions between Inkatha leaders and high-ranking officers of the unrest squad.   That is when I realised that the police and the Inkatha were working together.   Early in my career at the unrest unit, my colleagues and I were shot at and our vehicles were stoned.  There I could clearly see that we were the ANC's enemy and that they wanted to shoot and kill us.   On 15 March 1990, Major Terblanche was murdered by an ANC member.   He was also an officer in the Unit.   This led to my indoctrination against the ANC being incensed even more, not just me but everyone in our Unit had lost someone who was very dear to us.   All the special constables were proclaimed members of the ANC, there were no ANC members in the special constables.   A good policeman was one who worked long hours and was anti-ANC.   It was normal procedure to search people and houses and detain people for questioning.  Assaults occurred regularly and it was common practice to take firearms from the ANC and give them to the Inkatha or to sell it to them was also a common occurrence.
Happenings of 24 February 1991; on this day I was the driver of the vehicle and we received the instruction to go and monitor an ANC gathering of approximately 2 000 ANC supporters.   With the arrival of the ANC supporters, the special constables danced in a little group with their shotguns and shouted Inkatha slogans.   The ANC representative came to Constable Harrington and asked him to please control the constables because they were inciting the
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people.   Harrington did so.   At approximately 16:00 the meeting dispersed and we escorted them out of the Inkatha area.   After approximately five minutes' drive, we passed a group of plus/minus 10 black men at the railway crossing who were dressed in ANC T-shirts.   As we were passing one suddenly stuck his hand into the back of his pants and my first instinct was that he was going to pull out a firearm.  I stopped the vehicle.   We decided to search them.   The deceased, Jama, did not want me to search him and I slapped him.   Some of the special constables held him so that he could be searched.   Constable Harrington decided that Mr Jama should be loaded into the back of the vehicle for further information.   I got back into the front of the vehicle and continued driving.   I drove for a short distance and then I heard him screaming.   I stopped, got out of the vehicle and slapped Jama and said that he should not make noise.   I then continued driving to the Elandskop area where we were to pick up the next shift of special constables.   I stopped at the pick-up point and this is where Constable Harrington informed me about the pocketbook, the content, and that they had thrown it out of the vehicle.  Jama then attempted to grab Nglameni's shotgun.   He failed and then jumped out of the back.   He ran around the vehicle, straight into me.   I put him back into the back of the vehicle.   Bengu and Madlala then went, took the vehicle and went to Bengu's father's shop to get cold drinks.  When they came back we were all standing there and talking and I mentioned that Jama should be killed.   We took a decision as a group of eight policemen that Jama should be killed.  Madlala said that he would shoot him and Bengu said that he knew of a place where we could shoot Jama.   He then got
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into the front with Van der Hoogen and I to show us the place.   The others got into the back.  We drove for a distance and then stopped in a bush, deep in the IFP area.  I got out and saw Jama running away.  I drew my 9mm pistol and directed it at him.   Harrington said that I should not do that for fear of ballistic tests.   Harrington and Madlala chased him, the rest of us followed.   Madlala took the shotgun from Nglameni, the rest of us strolled back to the vehicle and we heard the shot go off.   Back at the vehicle everyone got in.   I started the vehicle and slowly drove back so that Harrington could erase any tracks.   Back at the tarred road we dropped of the special constables and we all agreed that no one was to say anything about the murder.   We then went back to our Unit and went off duty. 
My feeling and state of mind at the time when we detained Jama, the decision at the bottle store to kill him and finally when he was shot at in the bush; when we detained him it was normal procedure to detain ANC people, assault them, interrogate them and acquire more firearms to give to the Inkatha.   At the bottle store here we were with an ANC member, our enemy, a communist, with plus/minus two years indoctrination against the ANC.   Something inside me exploded.   The death of my Commanding Officer, Major Terblanche also unwound me.   The death of IFP members and other policemen were killed by ANC members.   I had to fight the ANC who was the enemy, this was the cause of our decision to kill Mr Jama.   My indoctrination against the enemy was what controlled my state of mind and it was not my motive.   After he had been shot I felt relieved.   I had made my contribution towards fighting the ANC which was our enemy and trying to stop it in its objectives.   I was not
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worried about being prosecuted for murder or assault.   I did what I had to do and what was indirectly expected of me.  In conclusion;  I wanted him to die at the hands, the context in which it was committed, I wanted him to die at the hands of a group of policemen because he represented the whole ANC and attacks which were launched on us and other policemen and also Major Terblanche who had died at their hands, and Inkatha members who now worked with us.
The nature of the offence; Mr Jama was assaulted, strangled and shot dead. 
The objective of the act; I had proof that he was an ANC member through the ANC T-shirt which he had on.   The information which I received about acts of terrorism which he had committed against IFP members.   He was my political opponent and my enemy and at that moment represented the whole ANC, and to stop him from participating from any more acts of terrorism, Mr Jama had to die.
The organisation or institution to which I belonged; I was a Constable in the unrest squad at Pietermaritzburg on the day of the murder and I was driving a vehicle.   Mr Harrington was in charge of the vehicle and the men working with him were Constable Van der Hoogen, special constables Madlala, Bengu, Nglameni, Kosu(?), Mlambo(?) who had also done courses in riot squad control.
The relationship between the deed and the political objective;   Mr Jama, an ANC member, our enemy, was firstly very deep in the IFP area, which was Elandskop.   If his interrogation was unsuccessful, like so many before him, we would have left him there in the Inkatha area.   If we were to have left him in the IFP area he would definitely have died at the hands of IFP supporters.   Because he attempted
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to escape, and at that stage represented the whole of the ANC, he had to die.   The deaths of Major Terblanche and also other policemen, IFP members and attacks on myself and other policemen necessitated me to commit the offence.  By killing Mr Jama, to a certain extent, I was putting a stop to communism and I could stop Mr Jama from killing or attacking any more people in any other places.   I did not hate Mr Jama.  I later regarded his deeds as part of his work in the ANC which he represented.   I received no personal gain by means of cash remuneration from killing Mr Jama.   I had no personal grudge against Mr Jama.   I did not know him personally except that he was an ANC supporter and also that he had launched attacks on the IFP, which that I found out on that day.   In conclusion I would like to make use of the opportunity to extend my apologies to Mr Jama and his family.   I would like to apologise for the role which I played, the death of your son at our hands, and I would like to ask you to forgive me for what I have done to you and your family.   I am very sorry.   I would like to make use of this opportunity to say to the ANC supporters that I am sorry for the role which I played in the apartheid era against you, I would like you to forgive me as well.   Thank you very much.