'Prosecute apartheid grafters'

2006-05-29 22:20

Johannesburg - Perpetrators of apartheid-era government corruption should be investigated and prosecuted, a report on corruption under the apartheid regime said on Monday.

"If we choose to forthrightly engage with the past, head on, through initial calls for more information and eventually criminal investigations, resourced by the state, we will have chosen a risky option, but one which may reward us in many ways," the 103-page report stated in its conclusion.

The author of the report, Hennie van Vuuren of the Institute for Security Studies, said in the last chapter that the truth about much of South Africa's history was still elusive.

"However, what we do know is that when the apartheid state was at its most repressive, it was also at its most corrupt.

Elite

"The racist state was criminalised by an elite that was not only bent on retaining exclusive political power, but also wished to profit handsomely while doing so."

Several questions also arose from the research for the report.

One of the most important was if an economic Truth and Reconciliation Commission was needed.

Van Vuuren said there were two ways of dealing with the findings of the report.

If it was only seen as adding another chapter to the history of the country, "then we will benefit, at the very least, from the wisdom of hindsight".

But this could be a missed opportunity, he added.

"...for, as the past slips away so too do the perpetrators and witnesses to such crimes."

'Beneficiaries of corruption'

Evidence would become extinct while the stolen money would continue to line the coffers of the "beneficiaries of corruption".

"In taking this path, we choose to close the book on the past. Such a decision will not threaten the South African elite and will no doubt be welcomed by many."

Choosing the other path, of investigation and prosecution, would be more risky, but more rewarding at the same time.

"It could help in seeing money returned to the country and long-denied justice being done."

- SAPA