Rightwingers including the killers of struggle hero Chris Hani will be considered for presidential pardon, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said on Wednesday.
He was speaking amid growing confusion and controversy over President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to pardon 33 people jailed for crimes including murder and robbery.
Mbeki told journalists at Tuynhuys on Wednesday morning that the 33, reportedly mostly African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) members, had been petitioning the government for ”some years”.
”It’s a group of people who petitioned the government on the basis that they were involved in the struggle, and the reason they are in jail is as a result directly of those activities,” Mbeki said.
He said any other requests for pardon would be dealt with ”on the basis of whatever approaches are made”.
However Maduna said the recommendation he sent Mbeki for the pardon contained no reference to their part in the struggle. Responding to a question from journalists at his office on Wednesday afternoon, Maduna said he had made only ”a bare recommendation” to Mbeki.
”You will never find… in our document a suggestion that they are pardoned because they were part of our struggle. I don’t think you’d find wording to that effect.
”But it’s true, isn’t it, that they had quite a lot to do with the struggle for liberation in this country. The president himself may have taken this into account, but I made a bare recommendation.”
Maduna said that in processing applications for a presidential pardon, his department did not look at ”a particular category of people”.
Asked if there had been a pardon application from former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, both of whom are serving jail terms for Hani’s murder, he said he was not aware of one.
However he added: ”I have met some of the parties, and last week met with General Constand Viljoen and told him that indeed if anybody he knew of would require presidential pardon, these are the procedures”.
”And we agreed with him that indeed we would look at people whom he regards as his own foot soldiers who may need similar treatment,” said Maduna.
He said he also met Conservative Party leader Dr Ferdi Hartzenberg for a ”similar discussion”.
”They came, I saw them, I had a good discussion with them, and then they agreed they should encourage people to seek assistance and let the president make his own decision in this regard.”
He denied that the pardons were a slap in the face for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying South Africa was not the only country where the head of state pardoned people.
”We didn’t do this secretly at all. We didn’t,” he said.
Hartzenberg confirmed that he had met Maduna in about March and submitted 18 names to him, including those of Derby-Lewis and Walus. However, at that stage there had been no decision on what procedure would be followed.
”We made a proposal for collective amnesty and he said they would consider it,” said Hartzenberg.
Hartzenberg said he would expect amnesty for the two men in the wake of the release of the 33.
”Definitely so, because they have done what they have done before 1994. Hani was a high profile political person, and it was a political deed, out and out with a political aim.”
Although the government has refused to release the names of the 33, they reportedly include former Ciskei strongman Kwane Sebe and vigilantes convicted for mob killings.
Among them are men who were refused amnesty by the TRC on the basis that their deeds had no political motivation.
Government to discuss a general amnesty
Government representative Joel Netshitenzhe said the government is to discuss — in the next few months — a general amnesty for prisoners convicted of crimes that might be politically motivated.
Netshitenzhe said the matter would arise when the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was released by June or July.
”It (general amnesty) will be part of the discussion, taking into account all kinds of matters,” Netshitenzhe told reporters after the fortnightly Cabinet meeting in Pretoria.
He said attention would be given to the fact that there might be people who had been misled not to seek amnesty from the TRC. This especially applied to people in KwaZulu-Natal.
”There are going to be questions on whether we should grant general amnesty or not (and) the criteria you should use to determine who should be granted such amnesty,” Netshitenzhe said.
Comprehensive discussions would take place within the scope of the TRC report, he said. – Sapa