TRC Secrets and Lies: Apartheid security apparatus withheld wider ‘hit list’ of activists, inquiry hears
The apartheid security apparatus deliberately withheld a wider ‘hit list’ of activists targeted for ‘elimination’ as well as the names of those who had authorised the murder of political opponents, the Khampepe Inquiry into delayed TRC cases has heard.
The Khampepe Inquiry into delayed TRC cases revealed that the apartheid security apparatus withheld a wider 'hit list' of activists targeted for 'elimination,' as well as the names of those who authorized their murder, during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process. Human rights lawyer and former TRC commissioner Yasmin Sooka testified that in 2007, following a change in political pardon policies, over 2,000 perpetrators applied for pardons, including those involved in the 1989 poisoning of Rev Frank Chikane.
A 'reference group' chaired by lawyer Tertius Delport was established to resolve the 'unfinished business of the TRC' by issuing pardons for politically motivated offenses. Former head of the TRC's Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, Advocate Anton Ackermann, testified that Jan Wagenaar, the generals' legal representative, used groundless threats of ANC arrests to prevent post-TRC prosecutions.
The NPA was set to arrest former police minister Adriaan Vlok, former police commissioner Johan van der Merwe, and their collaborators for the attempted murder of Chikane. Despite this, the second charge against the men, alleging conspiracy to commit murder, was dismissed during the court case. The inquiry also heard that former acting head of the NPA, Mokotedi Mpshe, mentioned that the intended arrests led to a rift between him and Ackermann.
Critics argued that granting pardons would undermine national reconciliation by burying the truth and allowing nameless perpetrators to remain silent.
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