Former Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla is next to face the Khampepe Commission on Wednesday, after former President Thabo Mbeki told the inquiry that the blame for more than 300 unprosecuted TRC cases lies with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and not his Cabinet.
Mbeki concluded his evidence-in-chief on Monday in Newtown, with the Commission adjourning on Tuesday until Wednesday to hear from Mabandla, Ronnie Kasrils and Charles Nqakula.
It is a critical turn for the Commission, which is investigating allegations of political interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes.
Mabandla has emerged as a pivotal figure in the inquiry, after former officials from the Justice Department and the NPA testified that she issued an instruction in 2004 for prosecutors to suspend all TRC-related investigations pending political guidance from an external Amnesty Task Team.
Mbeki and Mabandla have both denied political interference. Both failed in a legal bid to force retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe to recuse herself as chairperson, with the Constitutional Court dismissing their challenge in August.
On the stand, Mbeki doubled down on his March 2024 position through the Thabo Mbeki Foundation – that his administration never interfered with the NPA to suppress prosecutions of apartheid atrocities, including the 1985 murder of the Cradock Four.
Instead, he pointed directly at prosecutors.
“It is illogical for Mr Calata to characterise my statement supporting Justice Jody Kollapen as disrespectful. This could only follow if he sought to shield the prosecutors that Justice Kollapen said had failed in their duties,” Mbeki said, responding to Lukhanyo Calata, son of Fort Calata.
“Accountability requires these prosecutors to explain why they did not prosecute, which cases were affected, whether anyone prevented or attempted to prevent prosecution, how any such interference occurred, who was responsible and why they were not prosecuted,” he added.
Mbeki argued that such an inquiry “cannot be reasonably regarded, not least by Mr Calata, as disrespectful of him, his father’s memory or the families that have waited so long for accountability.”
Mbeki further suggested the NPA itself was compromised from within, having inherited prosecutors from the apartheid era.
“A decision was therefore taken that the prosecution of these large numbers of former apartheid operatives who had been denied amnesty by the TRC Committee must be avoided at all costs; it is in this context that we must take into account that the post-apartheid NPA inherited prosecutors from the apartheid era, the question remains whether some or all of these were motivated to prosecute some who had been their comrades in the defence and perpetuation of that system,” Mbeki testified.
It is a defence families of victims have dismissed as a “complete fabrication.”
The Khampepe Commission, established in early 2025 and mandated to report to the President by 18 December 2026, must answer why more than 300 cases referred by the TRC Amnesty Committee for prosecution were never pursued.
Mbeki insisted the TRC was not established merely as an institution for investigating historical crimes, but to balance accountability, truth, reparations and national unity.
Former Justice Minister Penuell Maduna has already testified that he applied the law without fear or favour, confirming a failed February 2003 meeting where apartheid generals demanded blanket amnesty without full disclosure.
