AFRIFORUM ASKS THAT THE KHAMPEPE COMMISSION ALSO INVESTIGATE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE THAT PREVENTED ANC LEADERS FROM BEING PROSECUTED FOR TERROR ATTACKS DURING APARTHEID-AFRIFORUM

By AfriForum

The civil rights organisation AfriForum submitted a formal submission to the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry on Friday, 10 October, requesting that the commission, in its investigation into why some of the crimes identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) were not prosecuted at the time, also investigate the political interference that resulted in senior ANC leaders who did not receive amnesty not being prosecuted for terror attacks during the apartheid era.

The closing date for submissions was 10 October.

The Khampepe Commission was established after pressure from the families of the Cradock-4 in particular to obtain answers to the causes of the delay in the investigation and prosecution of crimes identified by the TRC.

According to AfriForum, the families of the victims of the ANC’s landmine and bomb attacks on civilians, such as the Van Eck family and others, also deserve answers.

The answers include why no ANC leader has been prosecuted for these crimes.

AfriForum’s submission to the Khampepe Commission stems from the fact that the organisations had already assisted one of its members, Dirk van Eck, in 2007 in seeking justice for his wife, Kobie, and two of his children, Nasie (2) and Nelmari (8), who were murdered in an ANC landmine attack in December 1985.

Van Eck himself and his 18-month-old son were also injured in the explosion.

The ANC landmine also led to the deaths of three other innocent civilians, Marie de Nysschen and two children Kobus (3) and Carla (9).

The deceased were standing on the back of a bakkie to view game.

The violence of the explosion meant that no remains of the two-year-old Nasie could be found.

Despite the TRC finding the ANC guilty of gross human rights violations, the landmine attacks being part of the ANC’s “Operation Cetshwayo,” and the ANC itself accepting responsibility for the landmine attack on the Van Ecks the day after, the ANC’s senior leadership was never prosecuted.

The senior leadership approved of terror attacks against civilians, such as the landmine attacks, at a meeting in Kabwe, Zambia, in 1985.

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, Van Eck and AfriForum at the time asked that the book of the past be closed for the sake of reconciliation, but that if prosecutions do take place, they should also include, for the sake of equality before the law, the prosecution of ANC leaders who approved terror attacks at a political level and did not receive amnesty.

“The National Prosecuting Authority has recently begun to unilaterally prosecute members of the former security forces for various crimes, but still refuses for political reasons to also investigate the misdeeds of ANC leaders.

Therefore, AfriForum once again asks that the book of the past be closed, but that if this does not happen, the ANC leaders who did not receive amnesty will also be investigated for the sake of equality before the law,” says Kriel.

AfriForum’s submission to the commission emphasises that there is clear evidence of political interference within the NPA in not prosecuting ANC leaders.

For example, Adv. Paul Fick SC indicated during a recent conversation with Kriel that he was instructed by the then National Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv. Bulelani Ngcuka, not to investigate further the involvement of ANC leaders in these terrorist acts, and the dockets were returned to the South African Police Service (SAPS) without any prosecution.

Adv. Vusi Pikoli, former Director of Public Prosecutions, also indicated in an affidavit in support of the case of the families of anti-apartheid activists that there was political interference in not prosecuting cases referred to the NPA by the TRC for further investigation and prosecution.

This includes cases against ANC leaders.

In its submission to the Khampepe Commission, AfriForum asks, among other things, to:

Expand the investigation to investigate political interference that resulted in senior ANC leaders not being prosecuted;
ensure that recommendations of the commission also include the interests of the families of victims of ANC terror;
recommend that the principle of equality before the law be upheld.

Should former members of the security forces be prosecuted, ANC leaders who were responsible for crimes and did not receive amnesty should also be prosecuted.

Background:

The TRC found “ … ANC to be responsible for a range of gross human rights violations arising out of unplanned operations; the bombing of public buildings, restaurants, hotels and bars: the landmine campaign in the northern and north-eastern parts of South Africa ….”

The landmine attacks of which the TRC found the ANC guilty followed a decision by the organisation’s political leaders in June 1985 at their National Conference in Kabwe, Zambia, that the distinction between hard and soft targets should disappear.

It was decided that terror attacks would also include landmine attacks.

The ANC’s landmine campaign was called “Operation Cetshwayo”.

These decisions were taken in violation of Protocol I of the Geneva Convention, which expressly prohibits the targeting of civilians and the use of methods such as landmines that do not distinguish between civilian and military targets.

This occurred despite the fact that the ANC had already signed this protocol in 1980.

After the Kabwe Conference, the majority of the ANC’s acts of terror were directed against innocent civilians.

In total, approximately 700 civilians were brutally murdered using the necklace method (in which a burning tire was placed around the victim’s neck), 400 were burned alive by other means, and 250 were killed in bombings and shootings carried out by the ANC and its allies.

The ANC itself has mentioned several of these terror attacks for which they were responsible in their publications, such as SECHABA and MAYIBUYE, on various occasions.