There is R600-million for apartheid victims who appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that has not been paid out as reparations, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday.
DA justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer said it was unacceptable for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Communication to turn a blind eye to people’s suffering despite the President’s Fund having been set up to assist the victims.
”There is surely no excuse for the justice department, which administers the President’s Fund, to continue to sit on a very large and growing amount of money while the vast majority of the identified victims and applicants continue to live in poverty,” she said.
In 2003, the government paid the victims close to R400-million, with each victim receiving a R30 000 pay-out.
Camerer said the Auditor General has indicated there was more than R600\-million still lying in the fund.
”While Parliament decided that in addition to the one-off grant, social assistance should be given to victims where required and that some form of rehabilitation of communities should be undertaken with the money, virtually nothing has been done,” she said.
After three years, Camerer said, the department still has not decided how victims could be assisted.
”The DA believes that at the very least the identified and approved victims should benefit from a further tranche of payments,” she said. — Sapa