The Cape Town Regional Court jailed a pensioner for three years on Tuesday after he lied under oath while testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Pensioner Bennett Sibiya falsely implicated the head of the TRC’s investigative unit, Dumisa Ntsebeza, in an attack on the Heidelberg Tavern in Observatory almost nine years ago. Three patrons and the owner were killed in the attack.
Sibiya (63) told both the police and the TRC that he saw Ntsebeza driving a car loaded with machine guns.
He made statements in January 1994 and August 1997 and testified before the TRC in October 1997.
In his statements and TRC testimony, Sibiya said that after the car had been driven off he found a piece of paper with directions to the Heidelberg Tavern in Observatory.
He appeared before magistrate Jan van Zyl on Tuesday and was found guilty of fraud and two violations of the Justice of the Peace and Commissions Act.
Fraud usually involves prejudice in the form of financial loss to the victim.
However, specialist prosecutor Rodney de Kock, of the local directorate for public prosecutions, said Sibiya’s case was unusual because the prejudice involved damage to Ntsebeza’s reputation.
Ntsebeza has twice acted as a judge of the high court and is a former president of the Black Lawyers’ Association (BLA). He is also a trustee of the BLA Legal Education Trust.
Van Zyl said Sibiya had eight previous convictions for fraud, and that jail was the only option.
The magistrate said the testimony had virtually ruined Ntsebeza’s legal practice, and had hampered the administration of the TRC.
Sibiya alleged in court that he had been forced to make the false claims after he was assaulted and threatened by policemen. – Sapa