Amnesty issue must be tackled

2003-02-17 14:51

Cape Town - The issue of amnesty for those people who did not apply for it to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) will have to be confronted soon, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Penuell Maduna said on Monday.

Briefing the media and diplomats at Parliament, Maduna was asked about a legal mechanism for amnesty.

"We never promised any legal mechanism for amnesty. So we're not thinking of one as yet," he said.

However, the problem of what to do with people "who do not have the shield of amnesty at all" would have to be confronted.

"We know that these people exist. They are out there.

"This issue will have to be debated when the report of the TRC is being debated. In other words, it's part of the way forward beyond the debate of the TRC report."

Government was not saying there would be an amnesty mechanism. "We have never said so."

"But the issue has to be discussed... it will require huge resources if indeed the decision is that if you don't have amnesty, you have to be prosecuted, then you've got to be investigated, etcetera," Maduna said.

Interestingly, people were already beginning to tell government the investigations themselves were costly and time consuming, and "look at what had happened in two very important cases".

The people concerned were exonerated at the end of it all, and much money had been spent on those cases.

"The report of the TRC will be discussed in Parliament, and it surely will provoke a whole host of questions, including these."

"All of us must prepare to answer those questions, and hopefully answer them openly and honestly," Maduna said.

He was not aware when the final report would be tabled in parliament for debate, but understood it was currently at the printers, following the out-of-court settlement between the government and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

The report was supposed to be released last year but was delayed by the IFP court challenge.

Asked about the possibility of a blanket amnesty in KwaZulu-Natal, he said this would also be one of many issues to be discussed when the report was debated.

Therefore, he was not in a position to say at this stage whether there would be a special amnesty in the province or not, Maduna said.

- SAPA