Apartheid victims must be heard before presidential pardons
2010-02-23 14:30
VICTIMS of apartheid-era atrocities are entitled to make
representations before the president grants pardon to perpetrators, the
country’s highest court ruled today.
In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo said “victims
must be given the opportunity to be heard in order to determine the facts on
which pardons are based, namely, whether the offence was committed with a
political motive”.
AWB activist Ryan Albutt applied for a pardon under the special
dispensation process initiated by former President Thabo Mbeki in November
2007.
Albutt participated in a 1995 attack in Kuruman, Northern Cape, in
which one person died and 200 were hurt.
Mbeki established the Pardons Reference Group (PRG), which
considered more than 2?000 applications for pardons and the group made
recommendations to him.
The PRG was established to deal with pardon applications from those
convicted for offences they claim were politically motivated, but did not
participate in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The president and the justice and constitutional development
minister supported Albutt’s applications during a high-court bid, insisting that
victims of apartheid-era offences for which the pardon was sought were not
entitled to make representations before a decision to grant the pardon is
made.
In April, the North Gauteng High Court granted an interdict
preventing Mbeki’s successor, then President Kgalema Motlanthe, from pardoning
121 inmates and others recommended by the PRG.
A group of non-governmental organisations was granted the interdict
against the issuing of pardons under the special dispensation.
Albutt brought his failed Constitutional Court application against
the NGOs as well as the president and the justice and constitutional development
minister.
During the hearing in November, Geoff Budlender accused Albutt of
not caring about the plight of the victims.
Budlender was acting on behalf of seven of the 15 respondents,
including the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Khulumani
Support Group and the Freedom of Expression Institute.
- City Press