Mbeki and ex-minister told to approach commission

FORMER president Thabo Mbeki and ex-Justice minister Brigitte Mabandla want to intervene in the case brought by survivors and families of victims of apartheid-era atrocities, who are demanding answers on why cases referred to the NPA and the police by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were never pursued. | DIRCO

- LOYISO SIDIMBA

FORMER president Thabo Mbeki and former Justice minister Brigitte Mabandla must wait for the commission of inquiry into the failure to prosecute cases referred by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to set the record straight.

This is the response by the families of victims and survivors of apartheid-era crimes to Mbeki and Mabandla's application to intervene in an application they (the victims and families) have brought before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to challenge the government's conduct in unlawfully refraining from and/or obstructing the investigation and/ or prosecution of apartheid-era cases referred by the TRC to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Additionally, the families and survivors of apartheid-era gross human rights violations also want the high court to declare that the conduct amounting to unlawfully abandoning or undermining these cases violated their rights to equality, dignity, and the right to life and bodily integrity as enshrined in the Constitution.

In the application, the families and survivors have asked the high court to declare the state's failure to prosecute the cases inconsistent with the country's constitutional values and the rule of law as enshrined in the Constitution.