Cape Town - The National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, said on Wednesday that Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola had reopened the inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist Imam Haron.
Judge Daniel Thulare of the Western Cape High Court Division will hear the matter.
This was revealed when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) briefed the justice and correctional services portfolio committee on progress made on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission cases.
Batohi told the committee she was approached by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Western Cape, Nicolette Bell, who had been working with the Haron family, and recommended to Lamola that he reopen the inquest.
“The minister has done that and even appointed a judge in the Western Cape to deal with this matter and the families have been informed of this development,” she said.
Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Rodney de Kock said the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court Division had responded to a letter from Lamola and appointed Judge Thulare to hear the inquest.
“The prosecution team in the DPP office will now engage with the court in terms of the process to manage the inquest under the direction of the judge that has been assigned by the judge president,” De Kock said.
Batohi said it was a travesty of justice that victims of atrocities committed during the apartheid era were still waiting for justice in the form of prosecution or an inquest so that they could understand what had happened to their loved ones.
“It is really important that victims, survivors and families receive some level of justice for these atrocities. The lack of accountability for these crimes continues to undermine the rule of law in South Africa,” she said.
Although Batohi said they would not discuss the reasons for delays and why victims of apartheid crimes did not receive justice, there had been a lack of action on the part of politicians.
“The NPA was, in fact, hampered from doing its work in many ways. Because of all of that we realise that we need to act with a real sense of urgency in terms of trying to deliver justice to as many victims, survivors and families that we can,” she said.
“We need to learn from lessons of the past and ensure the NPA works independently and ensures its credibility as we move forward.”
Batohi also said time was not on the side of the NPA.
“Families are dying, potential accused are dying, witnesses are dying and families are dying not knowing what happened to their loved ones. We even have accused dying in one or two of our matters,” she said.
The NDPP said urgent action was needed.
“We have to work very closely, in particular with our colleagues in the SAPS, in the DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) to ensure that we are able to deal with these matters with a sense of urgency.”
Batohi said the NPA had established a dedicated TRC component under De Kock, in place of the defunct Priority Crime Litigation Unit (PCLU), which had a number of other issues they needed to deal with including international crimes and terrorism.
“We created a TRC component in the National Prosecution Services. We have appointed additional, dedicated capacity. The prosecutors that deal with these matters deal with nothing else but the TRC matters.”
She also said the DPCI had done the same.
Batohi said they had a full time co-ordinator at the national office who was working closely with teams in the divisions across the country.
“I am pleased to say our efforts are paying off. We have had substantial improvements over the last seven months which resulted in the reopening of 38 new investigations into the deaths of detainees.”
She noted that there were families of detainees who died who had the means to hire lawyers to push apartheid-era cases.
“We try to look at all these matters even in cases where families can’t afford (lawyers). We are looking at all deaths in detention,” she said.
“There are currently 97 matters under investigation and there are more matters that will be reopened,” Batohi said.
Cape Times