The ”so-called” out-of-court settlement between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to ”doctor” the TRC report was a cause for serious concern, the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal said on Thursday.
”We regret that the legal battle waged by the IFP against the TRC caused an unnecessary delay in the processing of reparations for the victims of political violence in this province,” the ANC said in a statement.
The IFP instituted legal action after the TRC presented its report to then president Nelson Mandela in October 1998.
The report described the IFP, under the leadership of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, as the ”primary non-state perpetrator… responsible for approximately 33% of all the violations reported to the commission”.
The IFP contended that the commission did not have evidence to support this conclusion.
In terms of the settlement the TRC agreed to certain changes, which were described as minor, in its final report.
These reportedly include that the report will say that human rights violations were committed by members of the IFP, but without reference to the leadership.
The settlement also provides for the inclusion of an appendix to the agreement in which the IFP and Buthelezi express their views about the corrections to the report.
The KwaZulu-Natal ANC, however, said in its statement: ”At least the people of KwaMakhutha, Bhambayi, KwaMthethwa, Esikhawini, KwaMashu, Port Shepstone, Mpumalanga township, Pietermaritzburg, Shobashobane, KwaMthethwa, Trustfeed, Umlazi and students of the University of Zululand know who their killers were, irrespective of how the TRC may doctor its final report.
”The ANC is now convinced that the IFP is clearly hell-bent on frustrating the ANC-led government’s programme of bringing a better life to the people who suffered extreme deprivation during the apartheid era.”
Because the release of the TRC report had to be delayed to accommodate the IFP’s concerns, the reparations for victims of political violence had to be unfairly and unreasonably delayed, the statement said. – Sapa