Ignored TRC recommendations leave former activists with criminal records

Lester Kiewit speaks with Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza, lawyer and former commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

Under the unjust system of apartheid, many were unfairly convicted of crimes.

One of these victims is Julian Stubbs.

He was arrested in the 1980s for participating in a student rally.

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Stubbs spent a year behind bars and was found to be a victim by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Despite this, his criminal conviction still reflects on every background check.

To remove it, he would have to apply for a presidential pardon, and accept his conviction, even though he was deemed not a perpetrator.

Ntsebeza says the government should have acted on recommendations the TRC made in 2003, which would have dealt with these matters, but that was not done.

He says this case is a consequence of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) not addressing these cases.

“There has been an awakening by the people to the realisation that none of the recommendations from 2003 have been followed by the NPA… that is why you are finding these new inquests.”

- Justice Dumisa Ntsebeza, lawyer and former commissioner of the TRC

Ntsebeza has recommended there be a commission of inquiry into why these cases were not addressed when they should have been.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.