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The civil rights organisation AfriForum has expressed its disappointment after the first session of the Khampepe Commission, which was due to begin in Pretoria today, was postponed, and the families of at least seven victims of ANC acts of terror will now have to wait even longer for answers. AfriForum represents the family of Jaap van der Merwe, who was murdered by ANC insurgents near the Botswana border in 1978, and received a mandate from Dirk van Eck in 2007 to ensure that justice is served for the deaths of his wife, two of his children and three family friends, who were killed in an ANC landmine attack in 1985. Van Eck has since passed away.

The Khampepe Commission was established after pressure from the families of the Cradock Four in particular to find answers to the reasons for the delay in the investigation and prosecution of crimes identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). 

Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, made submissions to the commission on behalf of the Van der Merwe family and Van Eck. According to Kriel, the families of the victims of the ANC’s landmine and bomb attacks and murders of civilians also deserve answers, just like the families of the Cradock Four. Kriel insists that the commission must provide answers, among other things, as to why no ANC leader has been prosecuted for these crimes.

Van der Merwe’s family recently officially requested AfriForum to find answers about possible political interference that prevented prosecution of an identified suspect in this case and former ANC leaders. Van der Merwe’s body was never found. Although the one surviving suspect in this murder, who at the time used the pseudonym John Msibi, did not receive amnesty and his identity is known to the authorities, he was never prosecuted. Moreover, he was later employed by the state security services under the ANC government. 

AfriForum is also acting in the interests of the Van Eck family at the commission pursuant to Van Eck’s 2007 request. An ANC landmine led to the deaths of Van Eck’s wife, Kobie, and their children, Nelmarie (8) and Nasie (2), as well as Marie Denysschen and her two grandchildren, Carla (9) and Kobus (3). No ANC members have yet been prosecuted in connection with these murders.

“These families also deserve answers. Despite the TRC finding the ANC guilty of gross human rights violations, the party accepting responsibility for the Van Eck murders and the TRC categorising Van der Merwe’s murder as the handiwork of the ANC, no ANC member has been prosecuted for these crimes. It has been 45 years since Van der Merwe was brutally murdered and 40 years since the landmine murders of the Van Ecks and Denysschens, and to hear today that the commission has been postponed leaves families even more embittered and disappointed,” Kriel emphasises.

In its submission, AfriForum requested the commission to:

·expand its investigation to also investigate political interference that resulted in senior ANC leaders not being prosecuted;

·ensure that recommendations of the commission also include the interests of the families of victims of ANC acts of terror;

·recommend that the principle of equality before the law be upheld and that, should former members of the security forces be prosecuted, ANC leaders who were responsible for crimes and did not receive amnesty should also be prosecuted.

The commission’s sittings have now been postponed until 26 November.

Download soundbites here.

Issued by AfriForum