Many so-called political prisoners held in South African jails committed their offences after 1994, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla said on Tuesday.
Briefing the media in Cape Town, she said it would be incorrect to regard any inmate as a political prisoner. ”We do not have what we term political prisoners in our prisons — what we do have are those people that were arrested for certain crimes during the unrest,” she said.
Mabandla said some of these inmates who allege to be political prisoners were arrested for serious offences ranging from rape to robbery.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) last year advised Mabandla to process ”political” prisoners’ application for presidential pardons following a complaint by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) about the matter.
Mabandla said the issue is both sensitive and complex, and she will not be rushed to act. ”I do not think one should act in a haste, no matter how one is being criticised.”
She added: ”We have to first create a mechanism that would be able to stand the test of the Constitution.”
The IFP, which insists there are close to 400 prisoners aligned to the party who are still languishing in jail for what they believe were political crimes, has called for Mabandla’s resignation, saying she has ignored the findings of the HRC on the matter.
However, Mabandla denied having received an official report from the HRC regarding its findings on the issue. ”All I received from the commission was a one-page report from a junior legal official,” she said.
Her department has received requests for pardons from close to 1 200 prisoners who claim that their crimes were politically motivated. — Sapa