WATCH | Budget woes weighed heavily on TRC prosecutions, says Lamola

Tight financial constraints facing the justice department and the NPA had a firm impact on stalled Truth and Reconciliation Commission cases, says former justice minister Ronald Lamola.

Lamola was being cross-examined before the TRC Inquiry on Monday after an appearance in early August.

The former minister, now international relations minister, said the justice department had been operating during a period of government-wide budget cuts, while also dealing with the fallout from state capture.

“We were coming from the period of state capture, and the budget of the department was declining. The NPA itself, we were discussing with the National Treasury how to support them in terms of their budget. And it was not just for the TRC cases, but for the overall operations of the NPA,” he said.

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He said the NPA’s financial constraints had also affected its ability to expand its prosecutorial capacity. “One of the examples I provided previously was that, for almost five years or so, the NPA could not appoint aspirant prosecutors because of the level of financial decline.”

At the same time, the state-capture investigations and prosecutions were competing for resources. “We had to reprioritise for everything, including the state-capture matters and cases that required a lot of resources every time.”

Lamola said the families of TRC victims had raised concerns about the lack of dedicated resources for their cases.

Lamola was being cross-examined by advocate Howard Varney, representing families affected by delayed TRC prosecutions.

Lamola said the department had been forced to make difficult choices over where to direct resources, adding that the NPA and Hawks were already struggling with their capacity to prosecute those accused of apartheid-era crimes when he took office.

“The NPA and the Hawks were struggling, because of resource constraints, to prosecute the perpetrators of apartheid-era crimes and bring them to justice. In my view, that was the first and primary responsibility,” Lamola said.

“I had to look for resources that were not there, engage with the National Treasury and the department of public service and administration, and say, ‘This is what the NPA needs. They need human resources, they need funding, and they need the capacity to prosecute these crimes.’”

But, Lamola said, the department was simultaneously dealing with the financial demands of the state-capture inquiry. “I was not only responsible for TRC matters. There was also the state-capture matter, where there was already a commission of inquiry, which was also costing a lot of money at the time. I think it was the most expensive commission of inquiry in this democracy.”

According to Lamola, the competing demands forced the department to make difficult choices when families called for a commission of inquiry into the handling of the TRC cases.

“If you were in my shoes, you would have had to make choices at that time. Do I abandon the course of supporting the NPA and the Hawks to prosecute the perpetrators of apartheid-era crimes and shift those resources to a commission of inquiry,” he asked.