Masutha to speak with prisoners wanting political pardons

Johannesburg – Correctional Services MinisterMichael Masutha is on Tuesday expected to speak some of the prisoners who have applied for a presidential political pardon.In July, the justice department again invited victims to make submissions. A total of 149 prisoners were applying for a presidential pardon, claiming their offences had a political motive.

According to the list on the justice department’s website, most of the offences were committed in the mid to late 1990s.

The earliest offence on the list dates back to 1965. Heinz Dietrich Guenter Jasson transgressed the Immorality Act on September 15 that year, exactly 50 years ago today.

He was sentenced on December 19 that year by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court. Neither the sentence nor details of his offence are specified. The act made sex between different race groups illegal.

Other offenders include Martin Sehlapelo, who was found guilty of terrorism committed in Polokwane between 1985 and 1987, and Mbongeni Mjwara, who killed 21 people in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, between 1998 and 1999.