PRESS STATEMENT BY MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, MP,
MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS
AND
PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
IFP TRC STATEMENT
22 August 2002
One cannot but be flabbergasted, dumbfounded and astonished by the statement made by TRC Chairperson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, today, who indicated that "We are quite despondent that surprisingly the IFP should take four years to take umbrage with our report".
The facts of the matter, which are well-known to any sober person are as follows:
- Both I and the IFP reacted to the TRC interim
report as soon as we had the opportunity to cast our eyes on it, and
we did so vociferously, clearly and unequivocally.
- Within a matter of weeks of the publication of
the interim report, we demanded access to the documentation on which
the TRC ostensibly based its outlandish and preposterous findings
against me and the IFP.
- The TRC denied access to such documentation,
which forced us to begin litigation against the TRC. The litigation
was based on our rejection of the TRC's findings. This litigation
brought us before the Constitutional Court and on the eve of the
Constitutional Court judgement the TRC conceded that we had the right
to access their documentation.
- We have taken the TRC on review, challenging its
findings before a court of law on the grounds that nothing in the
documentation before the TRC can offer the basis to justify or excuse
their falsehoods. It must be stressed that the TRC is not held to the
standard of truth and its findings can be completely false and beyond
the reach of any challenge for as long as they are based on some shred
of evidence and documentation collected by the TRC. There is no
independent or adversarial verification of such evidence, which will
stand no matter how ludicrous it may be. These are the flaws in the
TRC process which we have constantly highlighted. However, even the
TRC has not been authorised to lie without having at least some basis
to justify its doing so.
- After almost four years of litigation, the TRC has not produced one single document or shred of evidence to justify the ludicrous findings it made against me and the IFP. The TRC defied and ignored many requests to produce such documents. In the end, it was subjected to a stringent court order requesting it to produce the record of its findings and decisions. The
Technically speaking, Archbishop Tutu is in contempt of court.
Against this background, stating that the IFP has only now taken umbrage with the TRC's interim report defies any logic known to me. Similarly, I fail to see the logic in Archbishop Tutu's statement that "the victims will have to bear the brunt if... the final report... is postponed". The truth of the matter is that the long delays and the postponement that may be caused because of them are the direct consequence of the TRC's legal obstructions. It took years for it to concede to our right to access documents. They have not yet complied with their duty to motivate their findings. They have postponed the moment of judicial truth in any way they could, not least in today's hearing, in which they asked for a five day postponement.
My only desire is that of restoring the truth. I have never ordered, authorised, condoned or ratified any gross human rights violation. The findings in the TRC report relating to the black-on-black conflict cannot stand as the record of our national history. They are flawed and represent an insult to the millions of people who suffered because of the black-on-black conflicts. The TRC process might have had value in shedding light on the dynamics of the black-on-white and white-on-black conflicts, but its shortcomings in understanding the tragedies of the struggle within the struggle must be exposed to ensure that the dignity of all those concerned may be protected for their sake and that of our future generations.