The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has informed three security policemen that they are to be prosecuted for apartheid crimes, Beeld reported on Wednesday.
The case was related to attempts to poison the Reverend Frank Chikane, who is now Director General in the Presidency.
The NPA did not want to confirm or deny that the prosecutions were to begin.
The trio’s lawyer, Johan Wagener, told the paper that the NPA had informed him of their decision at the end of January. He did not want to comment on the particulars of the case.
The decision to prosecute the policemen paved the way for the prosecution of former minister of law and order Adriaan Vlok and former chief of police Johan van der Merwe. Both Vlok and Van der Merwe did not want to comment.
Vlok was in the news recently when he washed Chikane’s feet to atone for the attempt to poison him while he was general secretary of the South African Council of Churches.
President Thabo Mbeki last year lauded Vlok’s gesture and said that South Africans should learn to listen more closely to each other across the boundaries of apartheid.
A prosecution policy on apartheid crimes was tabled in Parliament last year. It included a clause that gave the NPA discretion on whether or not to prosecute, if it was not ”in the national interest”.
One of the factors to be taken into account was whether the apartheid victim wanted the prosecution to go ahead.
Chikane had indicated that he was not interested in prosecution, but wanted full disclosure on the attempt on his life.
The NPA has indicated, nevertheless, that prosecution would go ahead, Beeld reported. – Sapa