Gaye Davis and Eddie Koch
MARIUS SCHOON is to sue former spy Craig Williamson for=20 R1-million in damages arising from the 1984 parcel bomb=20 which killed his wife, Jeanette, and six-year-old=20 daughter Katryn in Angola in 1984.
Williamson has said he wants to apply for amnesty=20 before the truth commission. In terms of the act, legal=20 proceedings underway against people seeking amnesty=20 will be frozen until their applications have been dealt=20
Should Williamson get amnesty for his part in the=20 Schoons’ murder, he will be immunised from any civil or=20 criminal action against him. This was the bottom-line=20 of the pre-election agreement on amnesty between the=20 African National Congress and National Party.
Schoon’s attorney issued notice of intention to sue two=20 weeks ago. The former ANC operative is claiming R200=20 000 for emotional and psychological trauma and R800 000=20 for that suffered by his son Herman, now 13, who was=20 with his mother and sister in the room where the bomb=20
Schoon’s action follows Williamson’s admission in=20 February that he was part of a team which planned and=20 executed a bombing campaign which blasted the ANC’s=20 London offices in 1982 and in the same year saw a=20 parcel bomb end the life of the late Joe Slovo’s first=20 wife, Ruth First, in Maputo.
Williamson revealed that Slovo and Schoon, rather than=20 their wives, were the targets of the explosive devices=20 fitted in parcels by a special unit at Johannesburg’s=20 Jan Smuts airport. He said the Slovo and Schoon=20 bombings were ordered by his commander, Colonel Piet=20 Goosen (who headed the interrogation of Steve Biko, who=20 was beaten to death in detention in 1977) and the=20 explosives fitted by a warrant officer, Jerry Raven.
Schoon opposes amnesty for people who committed =20 “unforgiveable crimes”.
Minister of Justice Dullah Omar believed people should=20 not hold back or halt legal proceedings against people=20 who committed crimes against them just because there=20 was going to be a truth commission, said ministry=20 spokesperson Sue de Villiers.