Sisters oppose brothers' amnesty

TWO sisters have turned against their brothers, one of whom pursued and shot dead their 79-year old father, who was also necklaced and set on fire. Ms Zodwa Cele and Ms Nkosazana Cele on Tuesday opposed the amnesty application of their brother Mr Roy Cele (40), who killed his father, Mr Amos Cele, in the late 1980s. The sisters testified at the amnesty hearing of their brothers Roy and Thulani Cele (34), who together led a group of youth in the Inanda area. Both men have applied for amnesty for the murder in December 1989 of their IFP-supporting father and of their relatives Ms Dudu Ngcobo and Mr Martin Ngcobo, who were also aligned to the organisation. The brothers were each sentenced to five years in jail for public violence and 15 years each for the murders.

The Cele sisters told the amnesty committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, sitting in Durban, that their brothers used the community to settle a domestic dispute following previous conflicts with their father. They dismissed any political motive for the crime. "I pursued somebody and shot him in the bush. I think it was my father, because he was found the next day at that spot," said Roy Cele. He said his father's houses were also set alight by the groups he led.

The amnesty committee, led by Judge Sisi Khampepe, spent time cross-examining Cele. Zodwa Cele told the committee that the two other victims were related to Thulani and Roy, the leaders of the vigilante group. She said they had come from Umlazi to Inanda for Christmas and not for political activities. Trouble started when Martin Ngcobo was found dead at a bus stop. A group of people then came from Umlazi to Thulani and Roy's house to inquire about the murder and the arm missing from the body.

Evidence that a group of people came looking for the brothers was denied by Zodwa Cele. Instead, she said the group beat her with a sjambok, assaulted her with stones and left her bleeding. "As I was running back home I saw a group of people led by Thulani Cele beating up Dudu (Ngcobo)," she said. She told of the chaos in the family when Roy led the group to his father's house. The sisters, one pregnant with twins, held their children and fled from their house. The Cele sisters said they would not like their brothers granted amnesty because they lied in their testimony.

Source: IoL