The presidency on Wednesday denied that former president Kgalema Motlanthe nearly freed four members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) with presidential pardons.
The Sowetan newspaper reported on Tuesday that, if Motlanthe had his way, four right-wing ”racist killers” would be released from prison.
However, the presidency said the article was ”misleading to the public and devoid of any truth”.
The four were named as Ryan Allbut, Alexander George Whitehead, Arend Christian de Waal and Hans Jacob Wessels, who, the paper wrote, went on an ”unashamedly racist attack against black people in Kuruman in the Northern Cape in 1995”.
The four went to jail in 2006 to serve terms for culpable homicide and assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The Sowetan reported that their names appeared on a list of 120 people Motlanthe tried to pardon last month, but was prevented from doing so by a coalition of victims’ families and six civil society organisations.
According to the newspaper, the presidency had refused to release the list. However, it reported that it included former apartheid minister of police Adriaan Vlok.
Responding to the claims, presidential spokesperson Thabo Masebe said on Wednesday that it was ”imperative” that the procedure of presidential pardons be set out.
”Former president [Thabo] Mbeki at a joint sitting of Parliament outlined a special dispensation of pardoning certain individuals who allegedly committed crimes in furtherance of their political objectives prior a specified date,” said Masebe.
Termed by some as ”the unfinished business of our democracy”, Mbeki had decided to deal with the matter decisively and lay it to rest, said Masebe.
”However, the former president did not find any of the applicable pardoning measures suitable for a flexible, decisive and speedy outcome.
”As a result, the former president [Mbeki] decided to utilise his presidential powers to set up a special dispensation to grant qualifying applicants pardon in terms of Section 84(2)(j) of the Constitution of 1996 in order to deal with this ‘unfinished business’.”
Masebe said Mbeki established a ”reference group”, consisting of representatives of all political parties, to consider requests for pardon and make recommendations to the president.
”The recommendations made by the reference group in respect of each application for pardon were to reflect the majority as well as the minority views of members, if any, in respect of each application,” Masebe said.
”The president is not bound to agree with the recommendations of the reference group.
”Like any other pardon application, the president was going to carefully consider each application and make his decision whether to refuse or grant pardon.”
Masebe said the Sowetan article insinuated that the former president would have ignored his constitutional obligations and blindly followed the recommendations of the reference group in order to pardon those recommended. — Sapa