MS LOONAT
Thank you.
	Mr Chairperson, Honourable Members of the Committee, my learned friends, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Ndlovu is a 30-year old man, unmarried, with no criminal record except the present one.  That is why we are here today.  As we have heard, he was caught up as a student, in the ugly apartheid times.  He was a young virile, impressionable teenager at the time and he was very frustrated with the political situation as it existed in the 80s.  He did not sit back and accept the situation.  He went into exile, leaving his single mother and family, to fight for something he strongly believed in -freedom for his people.  
	He spent approximately three years abroad training in guerilla warfare and rose to the status of a CO, when it was announced that the ANC and other political parties were unbanned, together with the release of President Mandela from Robben Island.  It was safe to return home, or so he thought.  The truth was that those were the headlines, but at grassroots level, nothing changed for him.  In the townships there was still political turmoil amongst the residents.  IFP attacking the ANC and vice versa, followed by the retaliatory attacks in some instances.  My client could not sit back and do nothing, whilst his people were subjected to these sporadic attacks.
	My submissions are that he soon learnt that gangsters were influenced by the IFP, to carry out raids on the ANC.  To name one of the gangs, my client submitted a name called "Sinoras"(?)  My client was trained for close on two years to defend his people and he realised he had to take the initiative to do so>  Relying on his training whilst in exile and fearing for the safety of his family and people, who wanted to live their lives without these attacks, he did what he did. Essentially he wanted firearms and ammunition, in line with his training, to defend his area.
	Chairperson, he has made full disclosure, he has served five years prison sentence for this conviction, he has no other previous convictions, no criminal record whatsoever.  It is my submission that the application complies with the requirements of the Act, and his application for amnesty should be granted in terms of Section 20(1)(a), (b), (c), (2)(a), more especially (d) and (f) and (3) and (a).  Thank you.