South African President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday ruled out granting a general amnesty to perpetrators of gross human rights violations during the apartheid era.
However, government officials who briefed the media indicated that plea bargain arrangements could be sought by those who did not apply for amnesty during the truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) process.
Depending on information provided, the National Director of Public Prosecutions would then determine whether to act against the alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses.
Mbeki told the National Assembly at the start of a debate on the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that: ”Any such approach (a general amnesty), whether applied to specific categories of people or regions of the country, would fly in the face of the TRC process and subtract from the principle of accountability which is vital not only in dealing with the past but also in the creation of a new ethos within our country.”
But striking a sombre note, Mbeki added: ”Yet we also have to deal with the reality that many of the participants in the conflict of the past did not take part in the TRC process. Among these are individuals who were misled by their leadership to treat the process with disdain.”
”Others themselves calculated that they would not be found out, either due to poor TRC investigations or what they believed and still believe is too complex a web of concealment for anyone to unravel.”
”Yet other operatives expected the political leadership of the State institutions to which they belonged to provide the overall context against which they could present their cases: and this was not to be.”
Government officials earlier pointed out that this could refer to senior officers in the former South African Defence Force. It is also understood to refer to perpetrators of violence in the KwaZulu-Natal province, where internecine violence occurred between Inkatha Freedom Party and African National Congress self defence and self-protection unit elements. The violence between the two organisations was widespread during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Mbeki noted that government was ”of the firm conviction that we cannot resolve this matter by setting up yet another amnesty process, which in effect would mean suspending constitutional rights of those who were at the receiving end of gross human rights violations.”
The president said the matter had been left, therefore, in the hands of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, for it to pursue any cases that as is normal practice it believes deserve prosecution and can be prosecuted.”
However, ”as part of this process and in the national interest, the directorate, working with our intelligence agencies, will leave its doors open for those who are prepared to divulge information at their disposal and to cooperate in unearthing the truth for them to enter into arrangements that are standard in the normal execution of justice and which are accommodated in our legislation.”
He noted that ”in each instance where any legal arrangements are entered into between the directorate and particular perpetrators the involvement of the victims will be crucial in determining the appropriate course of action.” – I-Net Bridge