Simelane: NPA failure to prosecute apartheid-era cases post-TRC ‘backdoor amnesty’

Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane has described the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s failure to prosecute apartheid-era cases post the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a "backdoor to amnesty" for perpetrators who have yet to be held accountable for these crimes.

Simelane has been giving evidence at the TRC cases inquiry probing allegations of political interference in apartheid-era prosecutions on Thursday.

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The inquiry is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe.

Simelane told the inquiry that after the TRC referred her family’s case and that of 25 others to the NPA, they were simply ignored and the docket lost.

"I don't know what will be the best way, very uncaring for the NPA not to even look for one or two people to say, what do you think? I refuse. Now that you have gone through the TRC, I view it as a backdoor amnesty. We kept on being dragged and pulled as if no one cares about how we feel.”