President Thabo Mbeki’s announcement on Wednesday of a ”window of opportunity” for people convicted of alleged political offences before June 16 1999 has been warmly welcomed by most political parties.
Mbeki told a joint sitting of Parliament’s two houses there would be a three-month period from January 15 for people convicted of offences they believed ”were of the nature of the offences considered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC]” to apply for a presidential pardon.
A special ”reference group” including representatives of political parties would help him consider such applications.
Pan Africanist Congress leader Motsoko Pheko hailed Mbeki’s announcement as an act of courage against odds.
”The announcement the president has made in this Parliament today [Wednesday] is the best I have heard since I became a member here in June 1999.”
It was the voice of reason and the voice of justice, he declared, noting it was also the recognition of something that should not have taken a decade to be done.
”What you have done today is an act of courage against odds,” Pheko told Mbeki.
At the other end of the political spectrum, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder objected to the exclusion of those denied amnesty by the TRC.
This would not help heal the conflicts of the past.
”What it does is try to address on a selective basis conflicts of the present that happened after the adoption of the current Constitution.”
Mulder said there were various Afrikaners who were convicted of political crimes — and denied amnesty by the TRC — who were still in jail, while certain ANC members involved in such crimes were today free.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille fully supported the initiative.
”The Independent Democrats also sincerely hope that the president will deal with the outstanding prima facie gross human rights violations that were not reviewed by the TRC process, or for which no prosecution followed, in the same manner,” De Lille said.
Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Koos van der Merwe said he had mixed feelings about the announcement.
”On the one hand … we are delighted and will obviously cooperate. But we deplore the fact that it took seven years to devise this framework to consider … pardons for politically motivated crimes.”
Tertius Delport of the Democratic Alliance also supported the proposed process.
However, a way had to be found to deal with those still involved in amnesty applications, he said.
The African Christian Democratic Party said it ”will hesitate to support presidential pardons”.
”The establishment of a multiparty forum to look at a new mechanism aimed at resolving outstanding decisions over what are referred to as political crimes may be a good idea, but it leaves us with many unanswered questions.
”We want to know whether the opinions of victims of such will be solicited or not? If they are approached, but oppose the applications, will they be ignored or not?”
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla called for the process to be unanimously supported, as it would allow members of different parties working together an opportunity to dialogue and explore important issues of principle that would invariably arise, such as justice, equity and fairness.
”It provides us with an opportunity beyond just considering lists of names, but an opportunity to talk to one another.
”An endorsement of this process by all parties will send a positive message to society at large that we should continue to talk about the values that anchor this society,” she said.
‘Unfinished business’
Mbeki said using presidential pardons to deal with the so-called ”unfinished business” of the TRC process was in the interests of nation-building.
The May 10 1994 cut-off date for offences that could be considered by the TRC’s amnesty committee did not take into consideration that political violence, especially in certain areas such as KwaZulu-Natal, persisted well beyond that cut-off date.
”Therefore, once the TRC had finished its business, we still had a number of issues, such as the question of amnesty for many South Africans who had not participated in the TRC process for a number of reasons, which had to be finalised.”
Mbeki said a special process would be instituted to help him discharge his constitutional obligation to consider requests for pardons from people convicted for alleged political offences.
This process would cover the requests for pardon of those people convicted for offences they claimed were politically motivated, and who were not denied amnesty by the TRC.
To further entrench unity, political parties represented in Parliament should assist him in considering the requests, Mbeki said.
”I therefore take this opportunity to request the political parties represented in this Parliament each to appoint a representative who would serve on a reference group that would consider each of the requests for pardon which the president would refer to the group, and then make its considered recommendations to the president.”
While the constitutional task to grant pardons would remain with the president, the president would seriously take into account the recommendations made by the reference group, he said.
The proposed process will clearly not include Chris Hani’s convicted killers, Janusz Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis.
Walus and Derby-Lewis unsuccessfully sought amnesty from the TRC in 1999 for the 1993 assassination of the then-head of the South African Communist Party, and applied for a presidential pardon in May 2002.
Lawyers acting for the two said last month they would proceed with an application to the high court asking it to compel Mbeki to make a decision on their application for a presidential pardon. — Sapa