At this stage, the National Prosecuting Authority is only prosecuting members of the former security forces, while ANC leaders and others involved in terrorist acts against civilians “still get off scot-free”, Kallie Kriel told the Khampepe Commission. (Photo: Marthinus Koekemoer)
Kallie Kriel, the CEO of AfriForum, testified before the Khampepe Commission on Thursday that political interference in the criminal justice system prevents ANC leaders who were not granted amnesty for gross human rights violations from being investigated or prosecuted.
In his testimony, Kriel asked for equality before the law in all cases.
According to him, either all persons guilty of human rights violations during the previous dispensation, regardless of their political affiliation, must be prosecuted. Or no prosecutions should take place.
He argued that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is currently only prosecuting members of the former security forces, while ANC leaders and others involved in terrorist acts against civilians “still get off scot-free”.
The Khampepe Commission was established after pressure from, among others, the families of the Cradock-4. The commission must determine why those who were responsible for political crimes during apartheid but did not receive amnesty were not prosecuted.
According to AfriForum, crimes by ANC members also fall within the commission’s mandate, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that the ANC was responsible for a series of gross human rights violations, including bomb explosions and landmine attacks on civilians.
The TRC also found that 37 ANC leaders did not receive amnesty for these offences.
Adv. Gerrie Nel, head of AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, led Kriel and Cilliers van der Merwe’s testimony. Van der Merwe’s father, Jaap, was killed on 1 November 1978 near the Botswana border when ANC infiltrators pretended to be hitchhikers. He was shot in the back and then in the face. His body was never found.
A policeman questioned an MK member about this in the 1980s and the information about Van der Merwe’s death was shared there.
Kriel also asks why no ANC leader was ever prosecuted for the 1985 landmine attack in which Dirk van Eck’s wife, Kobie, and their two children, Nelmari (8) and Nasie (2), died.
(Photo: Marthinus Koekemoer)
There is “clear evidence” of political interference within the NPA, says Kriel. He testified that adv. Paul Fick indicated that he had instructions from adv. Bulelani Ngcuka, the then National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPO), received not to investigate further into ANC leaders’ alleged involvement in acts of terrorism.
The files were then returned to the police without prosecution.
Kriel further referred to col. Tollie Vreugdenburg, a retired NPA investigator, who according to him confirmed that adv. Chris Macadam, a senior NPA member, “showed no appetite to investigate ANC members”.
He also after an affidavit from adv. Vusi Pikoli, another former NDPO, refers in which Pikoli indicates that there was political interference in not prosecuting cases that the TRC had referred for further investigation. This included cases against ANC leaders.