FRIDAY, 4.30PM
JUDGE Robert Nugent, presiding over the “Shell House” inquest into the deaths of 19 Inkatha Freedom Party protesters during an anti-election march in central Johannesburg in March 1994, on Friday refused to subpoena the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to divulge details of an amnesty application by African National Congress security guard Neo Potsane.
The IFP on Wednesday requested Nugent to subpoena the amnesty application after Potsane admitted to having fired on IFP marchers advancing on the ANC’s Shell House headquarters and having applied for amnesty for the shooting.
Nugent on Friday said he would give the reason for his decision at a later stage. Legal counsel for the IFP and the ANC were given the opportunity by Nugent to apply for Potsane’s answer to the court regarding his bid for amnesty to be struck from the record. The ANC’s legal team submitted that his answer should not be struck from the court’s record.