Ntsebeza calls on NPA to 'crack the whip' on TRC-related matters

JOHANNESBURG - Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commissioner advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza has called on the prosecuting authorities’ leadership to  “crack the whip” on TRC-related matters.

Last January, Ntsebeza was appointed to review the TRC Component’s work since its establishment in 2021.

In a report released by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in February, Ntsebeza raised concern over the snail's pace at which they have been moving. At the time Ntsebeza drafted his opinion, the TRC Component had been in operation for 22 months and he said they were advised it still needed five more years to complete its work.

However, he said that at that stage at least, they were still struggling with simply sourcing documents in many cases - and that against this backdrop, it was “inconceivable that these matters will move forward at an expedited rate and be prosecuted over the next five years”.

The inaction, he said, is either “a glaring indication of incompetence” on the part of the dedicated investigating officers and prosecutors or “evidence of the deliberate slow pace of work”.

Either way, he said that “things must move now” and Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Rodney De Kock, who heads up the TRC Component, “must crack the whip”.