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Justice Sisi Khampepe
The Foundation for Human Rights has expressed disappointment in what it says is a lack of seriousness on the part of the parties involved in the Khampepe Commission in Johannesburg that is probing the failure to prosecute TRC cases.
Inquiry Chairperson Justice Sisi Khampepe adjourned proceedings to the 26th of November after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Justice Ministry objected to Advocate Ismael Semenya as an evidence leader.
The decision to adjourn the commission’s proceedings is to give the NPA and the Ministry of Justice time to submit a formal application for the recusal of Advocate Semenya.
The NPA has requested Advocate Semenya to step down due to a potential conflict of interest.
The Foundation’s Executive Director Zaid Kimmie says, “If they had applied their minds from the very moment the commission was set up, they would have been prepared to file their papers in time, which they weren’t. They would have been prepared to lodge objections if they felt those were reasonable. They didn’t. And you have to ask, are they taking this inquiry seriously at all. The president instituted this commission of inquiry, and members of his government are treating it with disdain. And that, I think, is something that has to be answered as well.”
TRC Inquiry | Adjourned until 26 November after NPA objection: Zaid Kimmie weighs in
Families of victims of apartheid state sponsored violence have expressed disappointment at the adjournment of the TRC Cases Inquiry – the first day of public hearings in Newtown, Johannesburg.
They have accused government of continuing to stall – over twenty years after the TRC’s Amnesty Committee handed over cases for investigation and prosecution to the South African Police Services and the National Prosecutions Authority.
