Mbeki denies interference in TRC case prosecutions

Former president Thabo Mbeki denied that his administration interfered with prosecutions of cases referred by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and rejected allegations that he met apartheid-era security officials to secure amnesty for them. He gave evidence on Monday, October 19, 2026, before the TRC Cases Inquiry, which is examining claims of political interference in the handling of the cases. Mbeki told the inquiry that no national executive intervention stopped prosecutions referred to the National Prosecuting Authority. He said his office did not instruct investigators to abandon criminal investigations or prosecutors to withhold cases they considered warranted. The Calata Group, representing families of victims, has accused successive administrations, including Mbeki’s, of failing to direct law-enforcement agencies to act on TRC reports. The inquiry has not issued findings on those allegations. Mbeki acknowledged a meeting with generals from the former South African Defence Force and South African Police, but denied that it was a secret arrangement to protect them from prosecution. He said the generals proposed that their former political leaders,...