charged
Peta Thornycroft
SEVERAL “third force” trials may not take place because the Transvaal attorney general’s office is grossly under- resourced. Dozens of former and present members of the security forces are likely to escape being charged for their crimes.
Knowing that they will not be prosecuted will also enable them to avoid applying for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Few of those being investigated by the attorney general have applied and the cut-off date for doing so is May 10. Until now it is mostly the threat of prosecution which has sent some perpetrators of gross human rights violations scurrying to the truth commission for protection.
For more than three years, investigations into the “third force” and apartheid-era crimes have been under way in the Transvaal attorney general’s office in Pretoria.
Several former police generals, including “Krappies” Engelbrecht and Nick van Rensburg, have been on the list of those who could face prosecution.
So have Inkatha Freedom Party leaders Themba Khoza and Phillip Powell, who have faced being charged, with others, in a spectacular “guns for Natal” trial – using much information gathered in last year’s successful prosecution of the former Vlakplaas commander and mass murderer, Eugene de Kock.
But a third of the senior legal posts at the attorney general’s office are unfilled, some for three years. In addition, there have been resignations by senior legal staff involved in the investigations. One advocate was close to writing up a docket in what would have been a major “third force” trial; his resignation has put the prosecution on the back burner, perhaps for ever.
Even worse is the toll the gruelling years of investigations, which are additional to the normal workload, have taken on those involved in tracking down politically motivated killers in the police and military.
At least one deputy attorney general has collapsed under the mental and physical strain of untangling the network of South Africa’s most sophisticated criminals. This official will not be able to continue with the work.
Two policemen assigned to the attorney general’s office as “third force” investigators have also cracked under the physical and emotional stress, and the danger in trying to pin down prosecutions against their former colleagues.
The attorney general’s office has about seven major ongoing investigations, several of which will die out. The tentacles of one of the “third force” cases reach into the heart of South Africa’s present crime wave. Another huge investigation is into South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare programme, which stretches into illegal international procurement of materials of war.
The attorney general’s office has, in the mass of documentation it has collected since the Goldstone Commission of Inquiry closed down and handed over its files, enough material and leads to uncover substantially the remaining mysteries of the “third force” and outstanding apartheid-era murders – and to mount prosecutions. Insiders at the office believe the basic material and confessions collected could expose the modus operandi and funding of a mass of covert projects.
But the information is likely to remain locked away in filing cabinets and most “third force” killers and conspirators will remain safe from prosecution.
The Transvaal’s media-shy Attorney General, Dr Jan D’Oliveira, in a rare press interview, confirmed this week that the whole range of “third force” prosecutions was threatened by staff and resource shortages.
“This is taxing, difficult work, it needs experienced investigators. And we don’t have them,” he said. “We need 10 advocates and 10 more investigators for special investigations alone.”
D’Oliveira is understood to have made an approach to President Nelson Mandela about his resource problems, and records show he alerted the Department of Justice three years ago to the growing crisis.
He also said that although the possibility existed of engaging lawyers from the private sector to beef up his prosecution capacity, the leeway was more apparent than real. He had to work through the Justice Department, whose budget was notoriously underfunded.
“This work needs the most experienced legal minds. It is extremely demanding work, stressful. We don’t have the money to hire senior people,” he said.
Enver Daniels, special adviser to Justice Minister Dullah Omar, confirmed there were vacancies in the attorney general’s office, “but we wanted to fill them with people who were representative of the population as a whole. The attorney general’s office is not representative of the population. In terms of a recent high court action, we have to submit action plans to fill vacant posts to the bargaining chamber of the Public Service Commission.
“Those plans include information on how to fill the vacancies. The minister has given the go-ahead for hiring from the private sector, and Business against Crime has also made an offer.
“The attorneys general [throughout the country] are also resisting the establishment of a national prosecution authority.”