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Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza at the TRC Cases Inquiry on 20 April 2026.
Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commissioner Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza says the suppression of the investigation and prosecution of TRC cases is a terrible stain on South Africa’s post-apartheid history.
He testified at the TRC Cases Inquiry in Newtown in Johannesburg.
Ntsebeza says most of the cases can never be revived since suspects and witnesses have died.
He told the inquiry that in the few prosecutions and inquests that can proceed, these are severely constrained due to persons of interest having passed on.
He says that it is unforgivable that truth, justice and closure have forever been denied to the victims’ families, their communities and the nation.
“The post-apartheid state engaged in various machinations to ensure that the bulk of the TRC cases would never see the light of day. In so doing, they treated the families as second-class citizens not worthy of equal treatment under our law. This must stand as one of the most shameful periods in South Africa’s history.”
