Howard Barrell
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was ready to declare FW de Klerk “an accessory to gross human rights violations” before the former president brought an urgent court action to stop this conclusion being carried in the TRC’s final report, released in Pretoria on Thursday.
The commission had provisionally concluded that De Klerk’s failure to take legal action against senior government officials who, it alleges, he knew were involved in unlawful acts had “contributed to creating a culture of impunity within which gross human rights violations were committed”.
The TRC also intended finding that De Klerk had “lacked candour” in his dealings with it. Moreover, the commission intended holding De Klerk “morally accountable for concealing the truth from the country when he, as executive head of government, was under an obligation not to do so”.
The harsh preliminary judgment reached by the commission was sent to De Klerk on September 1 for his response, as required by law.
De Klerk contested the intended findings bitterly, and on Wednesday brought an urgent legal action asking the Cape High Court to forbid the commission from making the intended findings against him, from including these findings in its report and from submitting the findings to President Nelson Mandela.
In terms of an agreement between the parties on Wednesday afternoon, which Judge EL King made an order of the court, the TRC made no findings on De Klerk in the final report. The dispute about the TRC’s intended findings will be heard in the Cape High Court on March 4 next year.
The commission found that, despite telling the TRC that “neither he nor his colleagues in Cabinet and the state security council authorised or instructed the commission of unlawful acts”, De Klerk “knew and had been informed by the former minister of law and order [Adriaan Vlok] and the former commissioner of police [General Johan van der Merwe] that the former state president P W Botha and the former minister of law and order had authorised the former commissioner of police to bomb Khotso House”, the headquarters of the South African Council of Churches.
“The commission finds that the former state president De Klerk failed and lacked candour to the extent that he omitted to take the commission into his confidence and/or to inform the commission of what he knew despite being under a duty to do so,” the TRC said in its notice to De Klerk on September 1.
“The commission finds that FW de Klerk failed to make full disclosure to the commission of gross human rights violations committed by senior members of government and senior members of the South African Police despite being given the opportunity to do so.
“The commission finds that his failure to do so constitutes a material non- disclosure, thus rendering him an accessory to the commission of gross human rights violations,” the notice added.
“The commission finds further that Mr de Klerk was present at a meeting of the state security council where former state president PW Botha congratulated [Vlok] for the successful bombing of Khotso House.
“The commission finds that the failure of FW de Klerk to take legal action against minister Vlok and General Johan van der Merwe for the commission of unlawful acts when he was under a duty to do so contributed to creating a culture of impunity within which gross human rights violations were committed.