The Democratic Alliance has accused President Thabo Mbeki of political partiality and inconsistency in pardoning 33 Eastern Cape prisoners – many of whom were denied amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) – and claimed that six of them had not even applied for amnesty.
Most of those pardoned are either affiliated to the African National Congress or the Pan Africanist Congress’s Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla). The DA said all but one of the released prisoners were convicted of murder, in most cases multiple murder.
Underscoring the arbitrary way in which Mbeki dispensed justice, DA leader Tony Leon said that a prisoner had been released after the ANC invited him to seek a pardon, while his partner in crime, Nzimeni Danster, remained in prison.
The DA released a letter written by Danster – who is doing time at the St Albans Maxi Prison in the Eastern Cape – where he says he was among a number of prisoners given application forms for a presidential pardon by Premier Makhenkesi Stofile.
Calling on the DA to expose the “scandals” surrounding the pardons “to the whole world”, Danster accused Mbeki of applying apartheid standards by releasing his co-accused, Monwabisi Khundulu
The government has not released an official list of pardoned criminals on the grounds that it might jeopardise their safety. However, one of them is believed to be former Ciskei president Lennox Sebe’s son, Kwane, the former commander of the elite unit of the Ciskei police. The TRC refused Sebe amnesty in 1996 after finding that his crimes were not politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Penuell Maduna has hinted in Parliament at possible legislation to enable the government to grant a general amnesty for political crimes.
The Cabinet announced on Wednesday that it might consider general amnesty when the TRC’s final report is released in June or July.
The Cabinet announcement seemed to be a move to appease the right and the Inkatha Freedom Party after the outcry over the presidential pardon to prisoners this week. It is known that former Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen, among other right-wingers, has been pressing for a general amnesty to cover members of the former apartheid security forces.
The IFP, which refused to cooperate with the TRC, has also been unhappy about the sword of Damocles hanging over many of its members. IFP warlord Phillip Powell left the country two years ago, allegedly after being charged by the Scorpions for political crimes committed under apartheid.
There seems to be confusion in government circles over how and why the Eastern Cape prisoners were released. Mbeki told reporters that those pardoned had committed politically motivated crimes, while Maduna said this was not the case.
Moves to grant a blanket amnesty to political prisoners are likely to hit stiff resistance from former truth commission members and human rights victims.
Some TRC members feel a general amnesty, particularly for people who who did not apply to the commission or disclose their crimes, would make nonsense of the commission’s work and undermine it as a model for other countries wrestling with reconciliation after brutal dictatorships.
In its final recommendation, the TRC called for the prosecution of criminals who did not receive formal amnesty.
Leon reminded the government that when Parliament debated the TRC report in 1999, then-president Nelson Mandela said: “We are not contemplating a general amnesty under any guise.” When deputy president, Mbeki told parliament: “We should never entertain the idea of a general amnesty.”
The ANC safety and security spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Bheki Cele, welcomed the move. Surprisingly, he said any new pardons should be granted only after full disclosure.
Cele said hundreds of IFP and ANC members jailed for political crimes during the 1994-1996 unrest in the province, who were not covered by the TRC process, should be considered for amnesty. Political violence had continued in KwaZulu-Natal after 1993, the cut-off period for acts covered by the TRC process.