SPOKESMAN ON JUSTICE
OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
JOHANNESBURG : MAY 4, 1999
The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has received evidence in support of applications related to the Boipatong Massacre. Andries Nosenga had previously testified before the TRC that he was one of the people responsible for the Boipatong Massacre. One of the highlights of his testimony, which has been widely sensationalised by the media, has been his claim that after the fact he was congratulated for the massacre by IFP President, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, during an IFP Conference in Ulundi.
During his cross examination, Mr Nosenga has given the full measure of the indecency of the TRC process, which enables our worst criminals acting under political manipulation to assault the credibility of our most earnest statesmen. The absurd aspect of Mr. Nosenga’s testimony, which has been highlighted during cross examination, is his claim that Minister Buthelezi congratulated the perpetrators of the massacre during a public meeting attended by the many media representatives, the diplomatic corp and a vast audience, and yet no one took notice or bears memory of Minister Buthelezi’s alleged remarks, in spite of their sensational nature.
During the cross-examination the credibility of Mr. Nosenga has been destroyed and a thick conspiracy to implicate Minister Buthelezi in the massacre exposed, prompting the IFP’s lawyers to call for an investigation.
The lodging of a complaint with the Public Protector is now being evaluated by the IFP.
In fact Mr. Nosenga admitted to having been convicted of 9 murders and 6 attempted murders, but claimed that he confessed to these crimes only after having been tortured by the police. However, he applied for amnesty for his alleged participation in the Boipatong Massacre out of the blue, without having being charged for, or even implicated in it by anyone. All the other people who have applied for amnesty for the Boipatong Massacre have indicated that they did not know him and that he was not one of the perpetrators of the massacre. He has also admitted that lawyers for the victims of the massacred visited him while in prison. He is clearly a plant.
Moreover, Nosenga has admitted that while in prison for murder he had contacts with Brian Koopedi, the person within the ANC responsible for the TRC process, and with lawyers representing the ANC who visited him.
The IFP’s lawyers have asked the TRC to investigate how Nosenga’s application was lodged. In addition to the improbable nature of his involvement in the massacre, the cross examination has revealed outrageous aspects of his application. He has denied signing documentation attached to his application which have implicated other people in the massacre, which implies that some TRC officials may have committed fraud. Initially his application for amnesty was not in relation to the Boipantong massacre, but for other crimes. The only document associating him with the massacre is his draft affidavit which he has refused to sign.
Furthermore, Mr. Nosenga implicated Voctor Kheswa, known as the "Vaal monster", in the Boipatong Massacre, claiming that he participated in the massacre with weapons supplied to him for that purpose by police sergeant Peens. However, it has been established that at the time of the massacre the Vaal monster was physically detained in jail. Moreover, during the cross examination, it has emerged that Nosenga has an axe to grind with sergeant Peens and he has claimed that sergeant Peens tortured him.
Furthermore, on cross examination Nosenga admitted having implicated two other innocent people in an armed robbery on a prior occasion. This self-confessed criminal has tried to undermine the credibility of a statesman of the stature of Minister Buthelezi who has earned his reputation through forty years of integrity and commitment to nonviolence. For months the media and the TRC have given Nosenga credibility. The TRC has even based its report to Parliament on his statements. It is now clear that he is nothing but a pawn in a greater conspiracy aimed at defaming and vilifying Minister Buthelezi on the eve of elections.
The travesty of justice which has been exposed today shows how we have already plunged in the moral and social corruption of a banana Republic.
Issued by JH van der Merwe, MP
Contact number 082 4444944