/ 22 July 1997

PAC admits murders for which ANC trio jailed

TUESDAY, 8.00AM

THE PAC yesterday admitted to the murder of a mother and two teenage children south of Johannesburg in 1993 — for which three ANC men were jailed.

Zandra Mitchley, her son Shaun and his friend Claire Silberbauer, were murdered in an attack that injured several other family members. Two Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres, James Bholo and Sipho Gavin each received three death sentences, and their colleague Boy Ndweni received 17 years. All three are still in prison.

At their trial, Mr Justice DJ Curlewis rejected evidence that they had made confessions under torture by Brixton police station commander Charlie Landman — although the PAC had already claimed credit for the murders. A member of the PAC, currently jailed in Port Elizabeth on an unrelated charge, has applied for amnesty for his part in the murders.