The government is considering applications for the pardoning over 1 000 prisoners who claim their crimes were politically motivated, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla said on Thursday.
Briefing the media at Parliament, she referred to repeated appeals by the Inkatha Freedom Party and Pan Africanist Congress for the release of what they called ”political prisoners”.
Mabandla said the power to grant pardons was vested in the president under the Constitution.
Her department had analysed and processed the applications of 1 107 prisoners who claimed their crimes were politically motivated. The applications were being considered within the existing legal framework.
What complicated some of these applications was the fact that some were serious offences in respect of which long prison terms were imposed.
”I call them pardons of a special kind, because there was an amnesty process through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC] and all persons who were involved in the conflict of the time were expected to appear before the amnesty committee and seek a special kind of pardon then.”
But, many of the offences in question happened ”post-TRC”, and therefore it should be considered ”work in progress”.
There had to be proper scrutiny of the applications and those making them should be properly profiled.
”We may also consider whether we need closure around this matter; we must find a way of closing the matter and let ourselves move forward, and so it may be one of the matters we look into to address a number of post-TRC outstanding matters.
”We will revert to you in due course on this matter,” Mabandla said. — Sapa