Stefaans Brummer
WITWATERSRAND Attorney-General Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau says Defence Minister Joe Modise’s moratorium on prosecuting people who fail to respond to call-ups is a “puff in the wind”.
Modise said in parliament members of the Citizen Force and commando units — all white, because they were fed by whites-only conscription until it was abolished last year — would not be prosecuted if they ignored camp call-ups.
“The National Defence Force will not be handing over cases to the civil courts and will not proceed with prosecutions in military courts,” Modise said. He said he respected the authority of attorneys-general to proceed with prosecutions, but appealed for their co-operation.
Von Lieres und Wilkau responded yesterday: “The objective facts are that the Department of Defence has for the last approximately two years refused to submit dockets. We never got the stuff, and they acted like a law unto themselves … Really, it’s a puff in the wind.”
He said there might be a few pending cases, but these did not correspond to the “stupendous” number of people reported to have defaulted.
Asked about Modise’s appeal for the co-operation of attorneys- general, Von Lieres und Wilkau said it depended on the status of the case. If someone had already pleaded to charges in court, the case could not be stopped. Otherwise, “we will consider the matter”, he said.
Under pressure from the End Conscription Campaign and the Conscription Advice Service, who slated the call-up as “racial discrimination in a disguised form”, Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils announced last month that prosecutions would be halted — only to be contradicted by ministerial spokesman DAS Herbst who said they would continue.
He said yesterday: “There were no contradictions, it was just a matter of time. This was in the pipeline, but it was one of the problems of having to exercise reponsibility for the Defence Force.”