Mbeki, Mabandla accept ruling on TRC case intervention

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.

- LOYISO SIDIMBA

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.