Mbeki accused of ‘exoneration bid’ in apartheid reparations case

Legal expert Mpumelelo Zikalala says former President Thabo Mbeki’s application for his former justice minister Bridget Mabandla’s intervention in a case of victims of apartheid is an effort to exonerate his administration.

In January, the families of the victims and the Foundation for Human Rights filed a court application against President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government. They are seeking R167 million in damages.

The families have also accused the government of failure to adequately investigate and prosecute those responsible for apartheid-era political crimes following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) recommendations.

Mbeki and Mabandla say the application is defamatory.

Zikalala explains, “Basically they are looking to exonerate themselves so they are looking to put their version on record to say ‘it is not that it was our unwillingness to do or to execute on this particular mandate that we have the situation that we have now but it was means beyond our control’,  but the problem with that is that what platform are you going to utilise and are you directly or indirectly affected by the decision that you have taken.

He further argues that “Let’s take into account their political home, the one which they will say well after being in the liberation movement for such a long time, after occupying this position which was very strategic and political for such a long time, why didn’t you seek justice for your fellow comrades?  Maybe that is why they are then saying we want to put our points across.”