Mail & Guardian Reporters
PRETORIA Attorney General Jan D’Oliveira, whose office this week wound up its marathon prosecution of Eugene de Kock, plans to charge more security force members in high-profile “political” murder trials over the next “month or two”.
These prosecutions may pre-empt applications by perpetrators of apartheid crimes to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission — and may, in at least one instance, help appease a victim who has been vocal in his opposition to the commission.
It appears likely that D’Oliveira’s office, which was instructed to investigate and prosecute “third force” crimes in early 1994, will bring the alleged killers of Pretoria anti-apartheid doctor Fabian Ribeiro and his wife Florence to justice soon. Their son, Chris Ribeiro, is one of a number of victims who have mounted a Constitutional Court challenge against the truth commission’s right to dispense amnesty.
But well-placed sources indicated this week that D’Oliveira was still in no position to dispense justice in what he called his “first real third force trial”.
D’Oliveira told Parliament’s Justice Portfolio Committee last September that he could not prosecute in the case due to a lack of staff. The sources said the staffing problems remained in spite of D’Oliveira’s appeal at the time.
The charges, which may implicate at least two former police generals, are understood to revolve around the alleged supply of large amounts of weaponry to the Inkatha Freedom Party by security force elements in the run-up to the 1994 general elections.
Prosecution against perpetrators of “political” crimes can be interrupted when application for amnesty is made to the truth commission, but the decision rests with the attorney general and the trial judge. Even when charges have not been formally laid, there is no automatic recourse to the commission where charges have already been investigated.