Calls for TRC commission to subpoena Mbeki, Zuma

File: Retired Justice Sisi Khampepe chairs the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Cases Commission of Inquiry on November 10, 2025.

Lukanyo Calata has called for the Truth Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Cases Inquiry to subpoena former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma to come answer for their failings with regards to the investigation and prosecution of TRC cases.

Representing families of victims, Calata, the son of Fort Calata of the Cradock Four, has abhorred the double-speak of the former heads of state, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, who he says pronounce that they understand the plight of the victims’ families while undermining the Inquiry and its proceedings.

The former Presidents are seeking to have the refusal by Justice Sisi Khampepe to recuse herself as Chairperson of the Inquiry put under judicial review.

Ramaphosa after acceding to the establishment of the Inquiry unsuccessfully sought a stay of the proceedings in the Pretoria High Court, launched in January 2025 by the families, which seeks constitutional damages for the delays.

“The TRC handed over its reports. It handed those reports over to former President Thabo Mbeki. As the President of this Republic. What did he do about it? What did his organization do about it? What did his government do about it? If nothing was happening with regards to these cases, why did he not, as the leader, as the President of the Republic, call his ministers of justice, his national directors of public prosecutions, his police commissioners, why did he not call them into a room and say, gentlemen, ladies, I need this to be done pronto. He didn’t do so that is why we are sitting here all of these years later.”