THURSDAY, 3:30PM:
A subpoena was served by the truth commission on former state president PW Botha on Thursday, although at some remove. The five-page subpoena and 700 pages of supporting documentation were handed to a member of Botha’s staff, although the former president was apparently at home at the time.
Mike Barnardo of the truth commission’s witness protection programme and Cheslin America, a commission investigator, travelled to Wilderness on the Garden route to deliver the subpoena to Botha’s retirement home.
The subpoena orders the former president to appear at a truth commission hearing in Cape Town on December 5 investigating the role of the former state security council. The state president said he was too ill to participate in a hearing on the same subject several weeks ago, and has indicated he is not likely to attend the next batch of hearings, whether or not he is subpoenaed.