Johannesburg (EFE).- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is setting up a commission to inquire whether the investigation of crimes committed during the segregationist “apartheid” regime (1948-1994) was intentionally hindered, the South African Presidency said on Wednesday.
“Allegations of undue influence to delay or obstruct the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes have persisted from previous istrations. Through this commission, President Ramaphosa is determined to establish the facts and bring closure to the matter,” the South African Presidency said in a statement.
The investigation will cover crimes referred to the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up under the Presidency of Nelson Mandela (1994-1999) to shed light on the atrocities of apartheid and chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The commission’s creation resulted from talks to settle after the victims’ families filed a lawsuit against the Presidency and other government departments.
However, the parties did not agree on all aspects of the claim, such as the families’ demand for a court order declaring that the actions of certain authorities were “unlawful” and violated their rights, in addition to the payment of “constitutional damages” by the state.
“A commission of inquiry with a broad and comprehensive mandate is an opportunity to establish the truth and provide guidance on the right solutions,” the Presidency argued, noting that the South African government will request that the implementation of these other demands by the families be “suspended” until the new commission completes its investigations.
The South African authorities made the announcement two weeks after the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office reopened an investigation on Apr. 14 into the death of politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli during the apartheid era (1898-1967).
A 1967 investigation found that Chief Albert Luthuli died when he was hit by a train, however, activists and family have cast doubt on this and welcomed the reopening of the inquest.
In recent years, the South African court has reopened other cases of deaths that occurred during the segregationist regime.
Although South Africa’s black and mixed-race population was under white minority colonial rule before that, the laws that shaped the segregationist system were enforced in 1948, making South Africa one of the cruelest and most racist regimes in the world.
It was not until the 1990s that racial segregation began to be dismantled, and it was not until 1994 that the first democratic multiracial elections were held, with the historic victory of Mandela, the country’s first black president. EFE
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