By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation (TMF) confirmed that its patron has accepted the judgement handed down by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday.
Gauteng High Court has dismissed Mbeki and former justice minister Bridgette Mabandla’s bid to intervene in the apartheid-era crimes lawsuit.
Mbeki and Mabandla claimed that their rights may be violated by the court’s finding that they were involved in suppressing the investigation and prosecution of TRC cases.
There is no need for a separate finding against Mbeki in the case and therefore no need for him to intervene, High Court Judge Anthony Millar said in a ruling.
The families, and the Foundation for Human Rights, filed a court application against President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government in January, seeking R167-million in constitutional damages.
The families accuses government for “gross failure” to adequately investigate and prosecute apartheid-era political crimes following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
The TRC was established in 1995 as South Africa’s transitional justice vehicle, granting amnesty to qualifying perpetrators of human rights violations, and making recommendations on reparations for victims and prosecution of those not granted amnesty.
Former National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) officials had stated that interference from Mbeki’s government resulted in the NPA ending TRC investigations into apartheid crimes by those that denied offenders’ amnesty.
Pikoli was fired in 2007 by Mbeki.
Mbeki denied there was a secret pact that would have spared himself and other ANC members from potential prosecution for activities during the anti-apartheid struggle. He added that he never interfered in the cases.
Max Boqwana, chief executive of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, said they agreed with the judgment that the respondents (survivors and victims of apartheid-era atrocities) cannot rely on allegations from collections of books and journalists’ comments and further that they have therefore no direct information to implicate either Mbeki or Mabandla.
“The country would have benefited from both the insights of both President Mbeki and Ambassador Mabandla from their direct accounts of what exactly happened. The judge said because of the absence of direct allegations against them except perhaps media sensation there is no need for intervention,” Boqwana added.
He further explained, “We fully support the justice process in relation to these cases and we are very interested in the real truth about why there were / are no prosecutions…The country and everyone concerned are entitled to truth not fabrications, conjectures and jaundiced allegations.”
Boqwana said this will be done in the commission inquiry led by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe.
Separately the court will hear an application on Aug. 6 from Ramaphosa to halt the case, based on his argument that because he has ordered a commission on inquiry into the matter, there is no need for legal proceedings.
The TRC and Department of Justice figures together show that 7,112 people applied for amnesty for more than 14,000 incidents, and about 5,034 were refused amnesty for not meeting the basic requirements. The rest were referred to hearings by the Amnesty Committee. Eventually, 849 applicants were granted amnesty, while about 358 were refused, most for murders.
The TRC’s Final Report of 21 March 2003 stressed that amnesty should not promote impunity and required a “bold prosecution policy” to avoid any suggestion of impunity or South Africa contravening its international law obligations.