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Justice Sisi Khampepe chairs the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Cases Inquiry.
Families of the victims of apartheid-era human rights violations say they feel betrayed by the democratic state in the quest for justice for their loved ones.
This was communicated on their behalf by Thembi Simelane, Minister for Human Settlements and sister of Nokuthula Simelane, a struggle activist who was abducted, tortured and forcibly disappeared by the Security Branch in 1983.
Simelane is the first witness at the Inquiry set up to probe efforts or attempts to stop the investigation and prosecution of TRC cases sitting in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Simelane told the Inquiry of a harrowing tale of endless excuses, lost dockets, a rejected inquest request and years of non-investigation on the part of the SAPS and NPA.
“Ultimately, we feel betrayed. I feel betrayed myself as well. The state has betrayed us. I’d hope the old system may not do anything, but I’d hope that the new system will at least give me the truth, which is what the TRC promised us. Nothing else, just the truth. It is and it has been a very lonely journey. In some instances, we are being made to feel like, why don’t you just forget, move on. I try, I’ve tried so many times, but I sit with an 85-year-old mother who has not buried a child, and I simply can’t forget.”
LIVESTREAM | Khampepe Commission of Inquiry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzMYFFfUbY
