EXPLAINER | Mbeki defends TRC but cites unresolved political violence

Former president Thabo Mbeki has told the TRC commission of inquiry that the government’s decision to refer certain apartheid-era cases to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was meant to establish the truth about crimes committed during the country’s political conflict, rather than simply pursue prosecutions.

Mbeki was answering questions about the government’s 2003 response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report, and its decision to ask the NPA to examine cases linked to political violence that had not been dealt with by the TRC’s amnesty process.

Mbeki said the NPA was being asked to do something outside its usual work. “We were asking the NPA to do something which was not normal to it because of these particular circumstances of conflicts of the past, rather than go ahead and say, ‘We’re going to prosecute for murder.’

The NPA would have to determine whether it needed additional staff, policies or legislation to undertake that work.

Mbeki said victims’ families had to be consulted before decisions were taken about how cases should be handled. “We’re dealing with the case of somebody who murdered your relative. And we’d like to hear your own views as to what you think should happen in this case.

“Not only information from the state organs, but the information and views of the victims would also be taken into account in terms of deciding what to do,” he said.

He also explained the handling of pardon applications from people convicted of politically motivated crimes but who had not applied for TRC amnesty.

According to Mbeki, the president had the constitutional power to grant pardons himself, but because the earlier pardon process was criticised for lacking transparency, the government had decided to refer politically related pardon cases to the NPA for further scrutiny

He said the referrals concerned offences linked to political conflict, not ordinary crimes.

“If you take it very practically, for instance, take the violence that continued in KwaZulu-Natal after the TRC had completed its work. Here is a practical example of cases which occur in the context of the conflicts of the past,” he said.

Mbeki rejected suggestions that the government believed the commission had failed. “The TRC did its work and completed it.”

However, offences linked to the country’s political past still required attention, including cases involving perpetrators who had not appeared before the commission.

Mbeki said the government’s proposals covered people who had not been convicted and convicted offenders who had not applied for amnesty.

“As it happens, the commissioner, as you recall, they then decide there is a need for an addition to their policy. And they then prepare a policy.”

Mbeki said the government had discussed its approach in the cabinet before reporting its position to parliament.