The case against three former security policemen accused of killing the Pebco Three political activists was temporarily withdrawn on Tuesday, reported the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
The National Prosecuting Authority told the High Court in Port Elizabeth the prosecution could not proceed while there was an amnesty plea pending, according to the national broadcaster.
This could take up to two years to complete.
The Justice Department deposed an affidavit recommending the provisional withdrawal of the criminal charges against Johannes Koole, Martin Van Zyl, who is seriously ill, and Gideon Niewoudt, who died in 2005.
The department made it clear this did not amount to an acquittal.
The Pebco Three — Sipho Hashe, Qaqawuli Godolozi and Champion Galela –were abducted at the Port Elizabeth airport on May 8 1985.
They were murdered on the farm Post Chalmers, an abandoned rural police station outside Cradock.
Pebco is the acronym for the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation.
In 1999 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) refused to grant amnesty to Herman Barend Du Plessis, Van Zyl, Niewoudt, Gerhardus Johannes Lotz and Gerhardus Cornelius Beeslaar on the grounds they had not made a full disclosure.
The TRC was told the three community leaders were interrogated, shot dead and their bodies burnt on wood and diesel fires after which their ashes were removed and thrown into the Fish River.
Human remains thought to be those of the three men were found in an underground septic tank at Post Chalmers farm in July 2007 and were confirmed as those of the Pebco Three in April this year. — Sapa