Advocate Howard Varney, appearing on behalf of victims represented by the Calata Group, has applied to cross-examine former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) legal adviser and Amnesty Task Team (ATT) member Yvonne Mabule after she repeatedly told the TRC Cases Inquiry on Wednesday that she could not remember key events because they had occurred many years ago.
The commission said it would determine the date for the cross-examination in the coming days. Proceedings at the inquiry in Newtown, Johannesburg, were delayed by 15 minutes because of Mabule’s poor health.
Wearing dark glasses because of deteriorating eyesight, she testified for just 35 minutes, one of the shortest sessions of the inquiry. She repeatedly said she could not recall most of the events in question.
Mabule told the inquiry that she first became involved in TRC-related matters when then NIA director-general Vusi Mavimbela, whose agency is now known as the State Security Agency, asked her at short notice to represent him at a meeting of the Director-Generals' Forum dealing with TRC matters.
Having received no briefing beforehand, she arrived just as the meeting was about to adjourn after 10 to 15 minutes. “I did not know what the name of this meeting was nor did I know of its purpose.
“Mr Mavimbela asked me to represent him at very short notice. I arrived there late and the meeting was adjourned. I asked around about the details of the meeting. I cannot remember how the task team came about,” she said.
Her name nevertheless appears in a confidential 2004 report alongside Vincent Mogotloane of the NIA; Gerhard Nel and Lungisa Dyosi of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA); Ray Lalla of the South African Police Service (SAPS); and Joy Rathebe of the department of defence. Deon Rudman chaired the task team that compiled the report.
Despite attending the meeting and being listed as a member of the task team, Mabule told the Khampepe Commission she had not seen the report until the day before giving evidence. She also said she had not read the meeting minutes, instead passing them on to Mavimbela.
The meeting related to the ATT, an interdepartmental structure established by the Director-Generals' Forum in February 2004. In 2006, the ATT established the Interdepartmental Task Team to coordinate resources and support for the NPA’s investigations and prosecutions of outstanding TRC cases.
Mabule said the NIA’s role was to gather intelligence that could assist the NPA in pursuing successful prosecutions.
“The NPA wanted all the records of the people who appeared before the TRC,” she said.
She also described the ATT’s meetings as inconsistent and said she could not remember attending any meeting other than the one she attended on Mavimbela’s behalf.
According to the confidential report, responsibility for prosecutions rested with the National Director of Public Prosecutions, while intelligence agencies, such as the NIA, were responsible for gathering information to assist the NPA in pursuing prosecutable cases.
The inquiry will hear evidence from former acting director-general advocate Jacob Skosana, current acting director-general Kalayvani Pillay and former national police commissioner Lieutenant General Kgomotso Phahlane on Thursday.