THURSDAY, 6.00PM:
IT has emerged that President Nelson Mandela overruled truth commission legislation guidelines to ensure that apartheid president PW Botha’s legal team was paid almost double the going rate for representing a potential witness.
Justifying the decision this week, Justice Minister Dullah Omar said: “Mr Botha is a former head of state of South Africa. He symbolised apartheid South Africa and was therefore the most important person to speak on behalf of apartheid SA. We did not want to be vindictive; we did not want to create problems. We wanted to facilitate matters for him as much as possible.”
THURSDAY, 8.30AM:
TWO senior police officers On Wednesday handed a subpoena to former president PW Botha to appear in court on January 23 for refusing to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (see below).
Meanwhile, the attorney-general announced that the state will no longer pay Botha’s bills due to his ‘obstructive attitude’. The state has so far paid R520 000 to Botha’s lawyers, all of whom are being paid above the normal rate to encourage Botha to appear.
Botha faces a maximum of two years in jail if found guilty. But his lawyers can very easily tie up the battle on technical points for several years, arguing that the ex-president fulfilled his duty by making written submissions.