The move comes after survivors and relatives of victims of apartheid-era crimes launched a court case against Ramaphosa’s government.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry to establish whether previous governments led by his party intentionally blocked investigations and prosecutions of apartheid-era crimes, taking a step that survivors and families of those who were killed had demanded for decades.
The landmark move will address allegations of “improper influence in delaying or hindering” investigations levelled against post-apartheid governments led by the African National Congress (ANC) party, Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.
“President Ramaphosa appreciates the anguish and frustration of the families of victims, who have fought for so many years for justice,” Ramaphosa’s office said.
The president’s announcement of a judicial commission of inquiry came after 25 survivors and relatives of victims of apartheid-era crimes launched a court case against his government in January, seeking damages.
They alleged that successive South African governments since the late 1990s had failed to properly investigate unresolved killings, disappearances and other crimes during the time of forced racial segregation despite recommendations made by the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The commission was set up in 1996 by then-President Nelson Mandela under the chairmanship of fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu.
Its mission was to expose and record apartheid-era crimes and give some of those responsible an opportunity to confess their role, including members of the apartheid government’s state security forces that were implicated in many killings.
The ANC was the organisation at the forefront of the battle against the system of white minority rule and led South Africa to democracy when apartheid ended in 1994. But ANC-led governments since then have been criticised by some for prioritising national reconciliation ahead of justice for victims.
One of the most prominent unresolved cases is that of the Cradock Four, a group of Black anti-apartheid activists who were abducted and murdered by security forces in 1985. Their bodies were burned and security officers were suspected of torturing them.
No one has been prosecuted for the killings, and the circumstances of the deaths have never been fully revealed. These are among the thousands of crimes during apartheid where victims and families still haven’t seen justice.
Lukhanyo Calata, whose father Fort was one of the Cradock Four, is part of the group that took the current South African government to court in January.
Calata said at the start of that court case that successive South African governments since the administration of President Thabo Mbeki from 1999-2008 had failed to act on the commission’s recommendations and had denied victims and their families justice.
He and other relatives say that government ministers intervened to prevent the investigation and prosecution of crimes.
