TUESDAY, 6.00PM:
THE Goldstone Commission report into the Truth Commission, released on Tuesday, clears commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza of involvement in the 1993 Heidelberg Tavern killings, but fails to answer the central riddle: who ‘framed’ Ntsebeza, and why?
Goldstone was appointed last month by President Nelson Mandela to probe why Guguletu gardener Bennett Sibaya accused Ntsebeza of driving the getaway car from a bomb attack on a pub.
Goldstone recommends that Sibiya be charged with perjury, but said the evidence he heard did not sufficiently establish who conspired with Sibaya.
Sibiya himself told the commission that police caught him poaching crayfish, and beat him up to persuade him to implicate a “troublemaker from the Transkei” in return for freedom. He named several policemen, one of whom died in a car crash a few months ago.
the report says police should continue to investigate the case, and criticises the Truth Commission for failing to call for an independent inquiry the moment the allegations first surfaced.
“Racism and fear of perceived racism on the part of both the South African Police Service and the TRC may have played a role in the delay and inadequacy of the investigation into Mr Sibaya’s false allegations,” the report said.