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Subpoenas Issued in Mandela Probe

Winnie Mandela/AP photo
Trevor Samson — AP
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

Monday, January 12, 1998;
11:10 a.m. EST

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Fifteen former policemen and two government agents have been subpoenaed to testify in connection with alleged human rights abuses by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

President Nelson Mandela's ex-wife, who underwent a 10-day public hearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission late last year, will not testify but can attend and ask questions, the commission said today.

Madikizela-Mandela has been accused of ordering murders and torture by her gang of thugs in the black Soweto township in the late 1980s. The gang, called the Mandela United Football Club, conducted a reign of terror in the township that caused anti-apartheid groups to condemn it and disassociate themselves with Madikizela-Mandela.

In her hearing, Madikizela-Mandela denied any role in the killings, beatings and other abuses by football club members, calling her accusers lunatics and liars.

The three-day hearing beginning Jan. 28 will question the former policemen and two government intelligence agents on an apartheid government smear campaign against Madikizela-Mandela, whether she was spied on, and their investigations of murders and other crimes in which she allegedly was involved.

The Truth Commission is investigating apartheid-era human rights abuses and will write a report this year aimed at detailing the atrocities to promote reconciliation.

It also can grant amnesty to people making full confessions of political crimes. Madikizela-Mandela did not apply for amnesty from the panel before the deadline last year.

© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

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