Former Justice Minister, Dr Penuell Maduna, has told the TRC Cases Inquiry that he has always insisted on the application of the law without fear or favour.
He said this in relation to a meeting in Cape Town that he and former Police Minister Charles Nqakula had, with former generals of the apartheid regime in February 2003.
Maduna is appearing at the inquiry in Newtown in Johannesburg.
He says the generals had attempted to negotiate post-TRC legislation which would not require full disclosure with the democratic state.
The inquiry earlier heard testimony that delays in the investigation and prosecution of TRC Cases may have been the result of a secret agreement between leaders of the former apartheid government and the African National Congress (ANC).
“There has never been a decision made by me or in my presence to afford any amnesty outside the legal prescripts, regardless of whether such person fought for or against the apartheid regime. This is despite some contending that we intervene by providing blanket amnesty to our comrades without them making full disclosure of the crimes that they may have committed. The law simply did not provide for this,” he says.
Meanwhile, Dr Maduna described the early 2000s as a difficult moment South Africa’s security cluster.
Maduna says that forces of state capture had crept in, which could explain the hostility between the leadership of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
At the time, the SAPS was headed by the late police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and the NPA by Advocate Bulelani Ngcuka.
Various testimonies at the judicial commission chaired by Justice Sisi Khampepe speak of the numerous unsuccessful attempts by the NPA’s Priority Crimes Litigation Unit to secure investigators from SAPS to deal with TRC Cases.
“We could see that there was never going to be any rapport between the NDPP and the head of the police. Now, you can imagine what would happen. They would be taking those battles and those fights into the system that was expected to be dealing with TRC cases. What we didn’t know was that some people had formed relationships already with the likes of Glenn Alioti. He was a downright thug. Take someone, buy him, buy them a pair of shoes at Mandela Square and that’s it, you’ve got them on your side.”
