Justice, albeit late, looms for apartheid victims

Matthews Mabelane, Nicodemus Kgoathe and Hoosen Haffejee are among the names of more than 20 000 victims of gross human rights violations listed in Volume 7 of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Now, more than 22 years since the commission started its formal hearings, there is a glimmer of hope that justice will finally come for the families of these three men. The TRC was a profound intervention at the beginning of democracy and did much to expose the violence and viciousness of apartheid. It also exposed the suffering and sacrifice of its opponents to white South Africans — and the wider world — who had previously turned a blind eye to the oppressive system.

The commission was a forum for acknowledging the pain and injustice of the past, as well as a way to help South Africans shape a better future. However, the opportunity to use the TRC as a springboard for deep and meaningful justice — both for the people named in the hearings and for victims generally — faded as the years passed.

In 2002, when the then president Thabo Mbeki pardoned prisoners, including some whose applications for amnesty were refused by the TRC, he was criticised for undermining the work of the commission and for ignoring the victims. Five years later, he established a reference group to consider applications for presidential pardons — again without consulting victims. At the same time, there was a dearth of prosecutions of the 5 392 people, mostly apartheid perpetrators, who were refused amnesty.

The inaction on the prosecutorial front reeked. The whiff of murder hung over our celebrated transition like a putrid mist.

Activists in police custody, such as the three people mentioned here, were frequently tortured to death, only to have their deaths written off as accidents or suicides. This was a lie no one believed but which was impossible to prove in the face of cover-ups by police and collusion by inquest courts. Many others disappeared or were murdered.

For the past 20 years, it seemed these deaths would never be held up to scrutiny. But thanks to the persistence of families, investigators and activists, this may change. A high court recently ruled that Ahmed Timol was pushed from a window by security branch policemen — overturning a 40-year inquest ruling that he committed suicide.

Now, 22 cases have been handed to the NPA.

Mabelane, Kgoathe and Haffejee deserve justice — before it’s too late.