South Africa: Mbeki denies blocking prosecutions of apartheid-era generals
Before the Khampepe commission of inquiry, former President Thabo Mbeki rejected claims of secret meetings with generals. His government never instructed the prosecuting authority, he said.
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Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has told the Khampepe commission of inquiry that he did not block prosecutions of those responsible for apartheid-era crimes. He denied holding secret meetings with generals of the old regime to prevent prosecutions, according to the news portal allAfrica. He said generals approached him in 1996 about amnesty applications. The ANC later pursued a collective amnesty for some of its leaders, but the courts overturned that decision, he said.
His government never directed the National Prosecuting Authority to halt investigations, Mbeki stressed. Prosecutions were the NPA's responsibility, he argued. He also defended his 2003 speech to parliament and later arrangements for pardon requests, saying they aimed to encourage truth-telling rather than grant blanket immunity to those responsible for apartheid-era crimes. The commission is examining delayed prosecutions of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases.