April 2, 1996 — Sapa

TRUTH BODY REJECTS REQUEST FOR COETZEE AMNESTY APPLICATION

The Truth Commission has turned down a request from lawyers acting on behalf of the Mxenge, Biko and Ribeiro families for a copy of former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee's amnesty application.

However, the families could still bring a court application challenging the ruling, the chairman of the commission's five-member amnesty committee, Judge Hassen Mall told Sapa.

In a letter to the commission last week, attorney Cyril Morolo gave notice of the families' intention to have the commission declared “null and void” by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it deprived them of their constitutional right to seek redress.

He requested Coetzee's application, saying it could be helpful in preparing their Constitutional Court challenge.

Morolo said he was not satisfied with Mall's reply as it did not give sufficient reasons for refusing the request.

The families' application to the Constitutional Court would now be filed on Tuesday.

He dismissed Johannesburg newspaper reports this week that the family of slain Cradock activist Matthew Goniwe was party to the application.

“We have not received any instructions from them.”


© South African Press Association, 1996
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