"The applications do not relate to any specific act, omission or offence. On their own admission, none of the applicants have been involved in any act for which they would require to apply for amnesty," it said in a statement.
Rejecting the leaders' applications, the panel said these had been based on the notion of collective responsibility and on the claim that the leaders had not committed any offence in terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act.
"In so far as the applicants seek to apply for amnesty for acts committed by their members on the basis of collective political and moral responsibility, their applications fall outside the ambit of the... act and accordingly they do not require to apply for amnesty," the TRC said in a statement.
The panel, comprising Judges Sellwyn Miller and Sisi Khampepe, and advocates Jon Motata and Wynand Malan, said the intention of the applicants to support the thousands of cadres did not warrant an application of this nature.
It would have been sufficient for the applicants to have supported their members' applications for amnesty, without themselves applying for it.
In its reaction to the panel's ruling, the ANC said it would push for the amendment of the TRC Act, which currently left open the possibility of endless litigation against the new democratic government and organisations that were involved in the apartheid-era conflict.
ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said the party agreed with the committee's view that the TRC Act did not give the right to liberation movements, political organisations, or the state, to apply for amnesty.
It therefore accepted and respected the finding of the amnesty committee in respect of its leaders' applications.
Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen said the committee's decision opened up the possibility that they could now be prosecuted for their actions.
If this was the case, and prosecutions did flow from the TRC's report, everyone had to be treated equally before the law, he said in a statement.
United Democratic Movement deputy president Roelf Meyer said the ruling was legalistically correct.
There was no way the TRC Act could be interpreted to allow the granting of collective amnesty, he told Sapa.
Pan Africanist Congress secretary-general Mike Muendane said the ANC should first learn to admit its mistakes and then take corrective measures to avoid the consequences of its own folly.
He said the PAC had warned the ANC from the start that the TRC Act as it stood was unacceptable.
In its reaction, the Inkatha Freedom Party said the amnesty committee's decision demonstrated the farce of the TRC process.
"The legal challenge to the TRC concerning `ANC 37' has revealed a staggering example of confusion, incompetence or something even more sinister," IFP spokesman Philip Powell said in a statement.
The New National Party said the ANC was in big trouble as it was now vulnerable to criminal prosecution and civil claims.
"All this is of their own doing because the ANC leaders were less than truthful with South Africans and played games with the TRC when they lodged their amnesty applications," NNP spokesman Jacko Maree said.
Indemnity must in future be granted by an administrative body similar to that under the 1992 Indemnity Act, Maree said.
The Federal Alliance said the ANC's attempts to seek amendments to the current TRC laws for its own purposes showed a total disregard for the process of full disclosure that other amnesty a[pplicants had had to go through.
"To tamper with, and change the TRC Act to get amnesty for the ANC leaders will mean that these leaders, including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, have something to hide which could embarass them and the ANC," party spokesman, Jan Bosman said.
DP spokeswoman Dene Smuts said many aspects of the truth remained unexpained or insufficiently explored.
The TRC had hinted in its report that the ANC was following rather than leading the internal revolt.
She questioned whether this is what the ANC leaders meant when they claimed in their applications to have no acts or ommission to apply for individually.
"Or are we to be left forever wondering whether South Africa's leaders caused or committed crimes in exile...?" Smuts asked.