Former president Thabo Mbeki and ex-justice minister Brigitte Mabandla have accepted the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria judgment on Friday dismissing their application to intervene in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) case.

Mbeki and Mabandla approached the high court in a bid to intervene in the application for R167 million in constitutional damages by families of victims of apartheid-era atrocities in their personal capacities.

Max Boqwana, chief executive of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, said they agreed with the judgment that the respondents (survivors and victims of apartheid-era atrocities) cannot rely on allegations from collections of books and journalists’ comments and further that they have therefore no direct information to implicate either Mbeki or Mabandla.

“The country would have benefited from both the insights of both President Mbeki and Ambassador Mabandla from their direct accounts of what exactly happened. The judge said because of the absence of direct allegations against them except perhaps media sensation there is no need for intervention,” Boqwana added.

He continued: “We fully support the justice process in relation to these cases and we are very interested in the real truth about why there were / are no prosecutions…The country and everyone concerned are entitled to truth not fabrications, conjectures and jaundiced allegations.”

Boqwana said this maybe will be done in the commission inquiry led by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe.

“This painful part of our history must not be exploited for political and financial opportunism,” he said. 

Survivors and victims of apartheid-era atrocities as well as the Foundation for Human Rights want the high court to award R167m in constitutional damages including about R115.3m over five years to enable families and organisations supporting them to advance truth, justice, and closure by assisting in pursuing investigations and research, inquests, private prosecutions, and related litigation.

An additional R8m over five years will enable families and organisations supporting them to play a monitoring role in respect of the work of the policing and justice authorities charged with investigating and prosecuting the TRC cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority.

Another R44m over 10 years to enable families and organisations supporting families to pursue commemoration, memorialisation and public education activities around the TRC cases including the holding of public events, publishing of books, and making of documentaries.

However, Judge Anthony Millar dismissed Mbeki and Mabandla’s application on Friday.

“Mbeki and Mabandla have no direct and substantial interest in the granting of any declaratory order against the government respondents and would have no obligation in respect of the granting of that order or any damages awarded in consequence thereof,” the judge said.

Judge Millar said the appropriate forum for them to “tell their side of the story” is the commission of inquiry established by President Cyril Ramaphosa and will be chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe.

According to the judgment, Mbeki and Mabandla will have an opportunity to address the allegations that the survivors and victims make against them including those that are of a hearsay nature. Mbeki and Mabandla submitted in court that they have a direct and substantial interest sufficient to justify intervention.

The survivors and victims opposed the intervention application, arguing that the relief sought in the main application is only against the government parties who are the current state functionaries in their official capacities and not against either Mbeki or Mabandla personally.

They also added that no order is sought against either of Mbeki or Mabandla and for that reason, their application for intervention ought to be refused by the court.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za

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