Johannesburg - The GOOD party has welcomed the appointment of advocate Dumisa Ntsebenza to probe apartheid TRC matters.
Speaking on behalf of the party, Brett Herron said it is about time that the TRC’s non-performance with respect to the prosecution of long-outstanding truth and reconciliation matters was done.
He said that in its final report, published two decades ago, the TRC recommended that approximately 300 apartheid-era cases involved perpetrators who had not applied for or been granted amnesty. Herron added that these should be investigated with a view to prosecution. But for nearly 20 years, no cases were investigated.
"Many of the ghastliest perpetrators have since died. Former National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli revealed in an affidavit in 2015 that he was instructed not to proceed with the matters.
"Two years later, when the NPA bowed to family and civil society pressure to re-open the Ahmed Timol inquest, the presiding judge ordered it to prosecute a former security policeman, Joao Rodrigues, for Timol’s murder," Herron said.
Herron said keeping a lid on the TRC cases had proven to be increasingly difficult to sustain, adding that the appointment of Ntsebenza was a step in the right direction for the many victims of apartheid crimes.
"Announcing Ntsebeza’s appointment today, the prosecuting authority said that 'over the last couple of years', it had focused on reopening and pursuing priority cases and enhancing its capacity "to prevent any undue political influence. More than 60 new cases had been registered for investigation, and 25 prosecutors and 40 investigators had been appointed to deal with TRC matters," he said.
Herron said they would be monitoring the work of advocate Ntsebenza, and should there be evidence of a violation of the NPA Act, they would insist on a criminal investigation.
"Should Ntsebeza find evidence that could amount to a violation of the NPA Act, the matter would be escalated to the National Director of Public Prosecutions and, if necessary, referred for criminal investigation, the NPA said.
"The State’s failure to follow through on the TRC matters, combined with revelations of the alleged existence of an informal agreement on non-prosecutions between representatives of the old South African government and the new, is a betrayal of post-apartheid morality.
Victims’ families have been marooned without closure or any sense of justice, and the integrity of the TRC has been severely damaged," he said.
Herron said the appointment of Advocate Ntsebeza to probe the matter and make recommendations was a brave endeavour and called on the state to do right by the victims of apartheid crimes.
"First, the State must acknowledge the wrongfulness of its post-TRC inaction. Then it must explain why.
*In 2019, a Full Bench of the South Gauteng High Court, in Rodrigues v National Director of Public Prosecutions of South Africa and Others, said: "… there must be a public assurance from both the Executive and the NPA that the kind of political interference that occurred in the TRC cases will never occur again. In this regard, they should indicate the measures, including checks and balances, which will be put in place to prevent a recurrence of these unacceptable breaches of the Constitution," he said.
The Star