By Simon Nare
Former cabinet minister Jeff Radebe has denied responsibility for delays in the prosecution and investigation of apartheid-era crimes during his tenure as justice minister, arguing that those entrusted with prosecutions in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should have carried out their duties independently.
Testifying before the Khampepe Commission on Tuesday, Radebe said he had no power to prosecute as justice minister and that responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes rested with the police and the NPA.
The commission, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe, is probing the handling of cases arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Radebe said delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes were regrettable because they had denied victims’ families closure, but said he could not tell the commission what had caused the delays because he did not know the underlying reasons.
Advocate Howard Varney, representing families of victims, questioned Radebe about the delay in starting an inquest into the deaths of three Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation leaders who were allegedly lured to their deaths while on their way to Chief Dawid Stuurman Airport.
The three men — Sipho Samuel Hashe, Qaqawuli Godolozi and Twasile Champion Galela — became known as the Pebco Three. They were allegedly lured to the airport on the pretext of meeting a British Embassy donor before being abducted by apartheid-era security officers.
They were taken to the disused Post Chalmers police station, where they were killed and their bodies burned beyond recognition.
Varney asked Radebe whether he agreed that the post-apartheid government had ample time to pursue the Pebco Three case but failed to do so, denying their families justice.
“Well, I can only respond by saying that those who are responsible for investigating or prosecuting them did not do what they were supposed to do.
“It is the police who have the constitutional responsibility of investigating crimes, and in this instance, apartheid crimes. To prosecute, it is the NDPP who have the sole responsibility to prosecute without fear or favour. Minister of Justice is not responsible for prosecuting people because the NDPP NPA is independent of the Minister of Justice,” he said.
Asked about the government’s efforts to introduce new measures to deal with apartheid-era crimes, which Varney suggested could allow perpetrators to escape responsibility, Radebe said those responsible for crimes during apartheid should have come forward and taken responsibility.
He said he had also used the TRC process to take responsibility for crimes he had committed and had been granted amnesty.
Radebe declined to offer an opinion on the government’s intention to introduce new measures.
Varney told Radebe that his legal team would submit to the commission that records, including Cabinet minutes, showed the government had taken steps to subvert justice.
Radebe disputed the claim, arguing that former president Thabo Mbeki had told Parliament in 2003 that those who had failed to approach the TRC and confess to their crimes should be prosecuted.
“Well, it is then the most curious that government would take these steps to provide further avenues for perpetrators to escape justice,” Varney said.
Radebe responded: “Well, I would come back to the same issue about the TRC process itself. Was it subversion of justice for the people who killed our people in Matola, in Sharpeville? They are walking scot-free, some of them today.
“Some of [those] who went to the TRC and confessed their crimes.”
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