Former police officer Wybrand du Toit, who received amnesty for the 1989 car-bomb killing of the Motherwell Four, on Tuesday lost a court appeal to regain his job in the police.
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed an appeal against a judgment in the Pretoria High Court which dismissed an application by Du Toit to be reinstated as a member of the police.
Du Toit used to be a director and the national commanding officer for technical support services for the apartheid era police.
The Motherwell Four, three black security policemen and an "askari" (police informer) were killed when their car was blown up.
Du Toit was convicted on four charges of murder, and in June 1996 he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.
He applied for amnesty, along with three other former security police officers, in terms of the Amnesty Act and it was granted.
He approached the police to get his job back on the grounds that he had received amnesty. He submitted he was entitled to such a reinstatement in terms of the Amnesty Act or the SA Police Services Act.
Du Toit submitted that in terms of section 20(10) of the Amnesty Act a conviction in respect of which amnesty had been granted "shall be deemed to be expunged from all official documents or records and the conviction shall for all purposes be deemed not to have taken place".
He argued that the effect of this section was to undo his deemed discharge in terms of the SAPS Act.
The SCA dismissed his submission and held that the Amnesty Act did not operate retrospectively so as to undo consequences that came into effect before the granting of amnesty.
The court found to interpret the section to be retroactive would probably affect many other contracts and statutory relationships to the potential detriment of people who had not committed any wrong.
The panel of five judges felt it was highly unlikely that the legislature intended such a result in legislation aimed at improving future relationships.
The judgment also dismissed two other arguments forwarded by Du Toit and dismissed the appeal as a whole. - Sapa