New deal for apartheid offenders

2003-04-20 14:22

Johannesburg - The government has outlined a new process that will give apartheid-era offenders immunity against criminal prosecution, but does not take away victims' rights to sue for civil damages, a news report said on Sunday.

The new mechanism is aimed at those who under South Africa's white nationalist regime did not apply for amnesty at its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Sunday Independent reported.

"The new mechanism provides for immunity against criminal prosecution, but does not take away the right of victims to sue for damages," the newspaper said, quoting Justice Department spokesperson Paul Setsetse.

Setsetse said those wanting to apply for amnesty should approach South Africa's director of public prosecutions, who will decide whether amnesty should be given and who would inform the victims' families.

The TRC, headed by Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, handed over its final report to President Thabo Mbeki last month, closing the door on seven years of probing apartheid offences aimed at bringing reconciliation between races.

In total the commission granted amnesty to some 1 200 while turning down around 5 500 other applications. Many others, including top military officials and political leaders of the apartheid regime ignored the TRC process.

Setsetse said the new planned process, for which no deadlines have been given, would continue the TRC's work and that "the truth would automatically be released to the public".

"We will take into account a range of factors (in this process), because this is really about a commitment to establish accountability," he told the paper, but he did not elaborate.

Mbeki announced last week that there would be no general amnesty for apartheid offenders, and that prosecutions for those without an indemnity ticket from the TRC would be pursued by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Archbishop Tutu, however, said last month he believed that South Africa was unlikely to prosecute offenders who did not get an amnesty.

"There are very many, I agree, who should have applied for amnesty and who didn't," he said.

If they were charged, "the burden on our system would be quite intolerable... and the cost astronomical," said Tutu.

- AFX