In 1980, five of its leaders were detained, including Thozamile Botha, the founding member, who in the previous year – 1979 – was dismissed at the Ford Company in New Brighton for his political involvement and organising workers on site.
This was due to the fact that PEBCO had now affiliated itself with the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was believed by some at the time to be an internal wing of the then-banned African National Congress (ANC).
On 11 November, former Security Police Officer Colonel Gideon Nieuwoudt,[3] while applying for amnesty during a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing, confessed to participating in the beating, robbery, and murder of the PEBCO Three.
According to his testimony, Nieuwoudt lured the three men by having a paid police informant pose as a British embassy official interested in providing a cash donation to PEBCO call Sipho Hashe at his home.
The TRC refused to grant amnesty to the three perpetrators Van Zyl, Nieuwoudt and Lotz, citing that the three had failed to make full disclosure in the case of the PEBCO Three.