/ 31 July 2007

Father of slain boys wants De Klerk prosecuted

The father of two boys who were killed in the 1993 Mthatha raid ordered by FW de Klerk wants the former president to be prosecuted, the Star newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The twin boys of Sigqibo Mpendulo were shot in their sleep at their home which De Klerk said had been confirmed a Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) safe house.

”I agree with the person who says he must be charged, because he killed my children. They were innocent. They were not Apla [Azanian People’s Liberation Army] forces,” he told the newspaper.

Mpendulo is a PAC activist and former Robben Island inmate.

On Sunday De Klerk acknowledged that the operation was ”tragically botched” and that five children were shot dead and no weapons were found.

His foundation was reacting to a Sunday Times report in which former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock accused De Klerk of ordering the raid.

De Kock is serving a 212-year sentence for apartheid atrocities.

Mzwandile Mfeya (12), Sandiso Yose (12), twins Samora and Sadat Mpendulo (16) and Thando Mtembu were killed during the raid in October 1993.

Mpendulo said De Klerk had never apologised or contacted him to express regret and he believed the former president should be prosecuted.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said on Monday that De Klerk was not being investigated for crimes committed during the apartheid era.

”There is no formal investigation of Mr De Klerk,” Lesufi said.

This comes after De Kock reportedly asked to meet with the NPA to discuss what he said was ”new evidence” linking De Klerk to apartheid era crimes.

”I have not only a clear conscience, I am not guilty of any crime whatsoever,” De Klerk told a media briefing in Cape Town. – Sapa