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MK man wants freedom from jail

The Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association in Mpumalanga and relatives of a man who killed an apartheid-era police officer are demanding that he be freed on parole.

Voice Sambo, 50, has been in jail since 1992 for killing the officer who had shot him in the leg. Sambo overpowered the officer and shot him dead.

His twin brother Johannes "Sweet" Sambo was murdered and his body blown up with explosives by members of the apartheid security branch in Komatipoort in 1991.

He was killed by a unit led by then commander Flip de Beer, through orders from apartheid death squad commander Eugene de Kock.

De Kock was released on parole last year after serving 19 years of his 212-year sentence.

Sambo's niece Ouma said her uncle was always in pain when he spoke to them during visits. He recalled how he worked as an MK operative with the likes of former ANC treasurer-general and Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa, former cabinet minister Siphiwe Nyanda and late defence secretary January "Che" Masilela and wants to die at home not at Barberton Park Prison.

"One wish he has is to come home and enjoy the democracy he fought for. He hardly gets visits except from family and few of his comrades," Ouma said.

She said police killed his twin brother "Sweet", who was a businessman, in a case of mistaken identity.

"[Thinking they had Voice] police killed him (Johannes) and then blew up his lifeless body with explosives and dumped it in a river.

"We're just calling for Justice Minister Michael Masutha or President Jacob Zuma to consider releasing my uncle. Some white people who killed liberation activists got parole, we need our uncle out."

His relatives tried to have Sambo released on parole in 2006 but officials told the family that the judge who sentenced him placed an order on his files that he should not be released.

"What makes us angry is that the order was drafted in 2000 when my uncle was sentenced in 1996," complained Ouma.

Voice Sambo has three children and his mother and sisters, who are all unemployed. They all live in a dilapidated house.

MKMVA Mpumalanga chairman Tailor Nsimbini said the organisation was planning a march to the Correctional Services Department to demand Sambo's release.

Acting regional correctional services spokesman Mesia Hlungani said they were aware of Sambo's matter.

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