A special committee has refused to grant amnesty to late former security police officer Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt, according to its report released in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Nieuwoudt died on August 18 this year after a battle with lung cancer.
The report was released by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla, according to a statement from her office.
The special amnesty committee, comprising two judges and an advocate, was set up after Nieuwoudt and others appealed a refusal by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to grant them amnesty for the Motherwell car bombing in Port Elizabeth in 1989.
The high court ordered in 2001 that the justice minister establish the committee.
A psychiatrist testified at the Motherwell amnesty hearing last year that Nieuwoudt suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by a 1987 incident in which he drove a Casspir over a shack, killing an armed guerrilla and his girlfriend inside.
Nieuwoudt had also been denied amnesty in 1999 for his role in the death of black consciousness leader Steve Biko, but had not been prosecuted for it.
He told the panel hearing his application that he had hit the ”arrogant” activist with a rubber hose when Biko was being interrogated in the security police offices in Port Elizabeth.
Nieuwoudt also faced murder charges for the 1985 deaths of the anti-apartheid activists known as the Pebco Three, for which he had been denied amnesty. Their bodies were burned and thrown into the Fish River.
His gaunt face became familiar to television viewers when footage was shown of a 1998 encounter in which he, accompanied by a camera crew, went to the family of slain student leader Siphiwo Mtimkhulu to ask forgiveness for his role in the killing — for which he had been granted amnesty.
A family member of Mtimkhulu’s put an end to the reconciliation attempt by hitting Nieuwoudt on the head with a heavy vase, fracturing his skull.
Nieuwoudt’s attorney confirmed that amnesty has been granted to Wybrand du Toit and Martinus Ras, two former police officers, for their role in the Motherwell bombing, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Thursday.
However, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, another former police officers who has also died from cancer, was also refused amnesty.
Jan Wagner, the attorney, said Nieuwoudt was denied amnesty because the three commissioners hearing the appeal said they did not believe he had disclosed all the facts relating the incident.
Nieuwoudt’s family have declined to comment. — Sapa