OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 2.10pm
THE Cape High Court on Friday began hearing an appeal by ex-president PW Botha against a conviction of contempt after his refusal to appear before the truth commission probing apartheid-era abuses.
Botha, (82), is not attending the hearing, choosing to stay in his home town of George where he has lived since stepping down as president in 1989 after 11 years in power.
In August, the George court fined Botha R10000 or 12 months in jail, with another 12 months suspended, after he refused to cooperate with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The truth body wanted to question him on the role of the state in human right abuses committed during apartheid.
Although clearly annoyed with Botha’s lack of cooperation, the judge imposed a only a symbolic sentence on the ex-president because of his age, ill-health and as it was his first offence.
On Friday, in a deserted courtroom, Botha’s lawyer Ernst Penzhorn launched into technical arguments questioning the validity of the TRC and its decision to subpoena the fiery former president. Penzhorn told reporters the hearing could spill over into next week.
Botha, dubbed the “Great Crocodile”, has refused to appear before the TRC to explain his role in the State Security Council, a panel of security chiefs who allegedly condoned the killing of political opponents and ordered bloody cross-border raids on ANC activists.
Like all senior politicians of the former National Party, which implemented apartheid and ruled until 1994, Botha has always claimed to have known nothing about these atrocities, and blamed “uncontrollable” elements of the security forces. –AFP