Ramaphosa to establish Judicial Commission of Inquiry into prosecution of apartheid-era crimes
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) made more than 400 referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority, however, there has been criticism that the NPA has not followed through on the cases.
Earlier in 2025, some families of victims of apartheid-era crimes brought an application against Ramaphosa and five other heads of departments seeking R167 million in damages for allegedly "suppressing" investigations into cases referred to the NPA by the TRC.
In a statement, Ramaphosa said the establishment of an inquiry is due to an out-of-court settlement reached with the families.
Presidency spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said, 'Allegations of improper influence in delaying or hindering the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes have persisted from previous administrations. Through this commission, President Ramaphosa is determined that the true facts be established and the matter brought to finality.'
ALSO READ: NPA says reopening inquests into apartheid-era crimes a complex process
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Daily Maverick
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- Daily Maverick
SA praised for achieving second G20 ministerial declaration on SDGs
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The declaration stressed the need to set floors (minimal levels) for universal and national social protection systems, which should primarily be financed through domestic resources, supported where necessary by international cooperation as well as non-government sources. The declaration also called for stepping up domestic resource mobilisation, including by combating illicit financial flows – particularly from Africa – especially the outflow of taxes from multinational companies to tax havens. 'Big achievement' Norwegian Minister of International Development Åsmund Grøver Aukrust, who attended the Skukuza meeting, said it was a big achievement to have secured a second ministerial declaration – just a week after the G20 finance ministers' declaration – 'when we're living in a world with very clear attacks on multilateralism'. 'So I would really like to honour the South African G20 presidency for bringing countries together and showing that multilateralism is still functioning and it's still possible to get agreements among very different countries,' he told Daily Maverick. This was a special achievement at a time of 'lack of trust among countries and brutal wars on all continents'. Norway is not a G20 member, but President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited it to participate in all the meetings of South Africa's G20 presidency this year. French support France is a member of the G20, and Thani Mohamed Soilihi, the country's Deputy Minister for Francophonie and International Partnerships, who is responsible for international development assistance, attended the Skukuza meeting. He said France fully supported South Africa's G20 priorities on development, including greater social protection; fighting illicit financial flows to mobilise more domestic resources to finance development; and how to protect global financial goods. He stressed the need for the rest of the global community to step up its efforts to address health issues, especially after the withdrawal of the US from international development assistance, mainly by shutting down its US Agency for International Development (USAid). Soilihi said it had been calculated that the shutdown would cost 14 million lives by 2030. Soilihi noted that the G20 development ministerial gathering had been a perfect place to talk about development issues because it included countries providing development assistance as well as the ministers responsible for development at home. 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The chairperson's statement from the meeting included a declaration from Argentina reserving its position on 'all references to the 2030 Agenda' (which set the SDGs). Argentina added that it believed that addressing illicit financial flows lay beyond the scope of the G20 development working group and was better addressed in other G20 mechanisms. SDG challenges and crises The Skukuza declaration nonetheless noted that a host of global challenges and crises – including the economic slowdown, rising debt vulnerability, barriers to gender equality, aid cutbacks, domestic resource gaps, global supply chain disruptions and trade protectionism – had significantly hindered progress toward achieving the SDGs. 'Currently only 35% show adequate progress with 18% being on track and 17% making moderate progress,' it said, adding that financing the SDGs would now require 'a quantum jump from billions to trillions of dollars'. 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The ministers failed to agree on and so did not adopt a call to action on the third main deliverable, which South Africa had hoped for from the development ministerial, to establish an Ubuntu Commission of experts to decide how to protect and strengthen Global Public Goods. Global Public Goods are those which benefit all citizens of the world, says the IMF. They can include a stable climate, scientific knowledge, and disease control. Asked if the consensus on a declaration – especially on illicit financial flows – had been achieved at the cost of avoiding concrete agreements, Norway's Aukrust noted that there was no clear definition of illicit financial flows which everyone agreed on, and that complicated efforts to address them – as did the fact that a 'lot of creative tax planning is going on in the world' and there were also still tax havens and differing tax regimes among countries. 'And those who can buy expensive lawyers can then create company structures that avoid tax.' 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He stressed that Norway itself was not reducing its own development aid, constituting one percent of its gross national income, beyond the 0.7% target set by the OECD, which few countries were meeting. Soilihi said 'We need to channel more resources because there's been a financing shock, and this is why we want to work as a group, first with the European Union, because we have the capacity to bring meaningful financing when we work together, and second of all, within the community of the 4P, which is a political community of now 73 member states from all continents, all revenues, all income levels, and we have with this group a powerful tool to bring meaningful solutions to the table, bridging the gap between the North and the South.' Soilihi noted that the G20 member states produced 75% of global trade and 90% of global GDP. DM
The South African
3 hours ago
- The South African
NPA secures victory against fraud-accused Pretoria businessman
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has secured a victory against Pretoria businessman, Kishene Chetty. Chetty, together with Harry Milanzi and Ravin Ramlall, stand accused of fraud, forgery and money laundering, among other cases. Chetty and his defence team had filed an application before the Pretoria High Court to have all of his alleged corruption matters combined into one case. 'They argue that the charges in all the cases are similar,' said the NPA's Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) unit. However, NPA's IDAC opposed Chetty's application. They further accused his counsel of trying to introduce new evidence before court without prior consultation. 'The legal representatives of Chetty and others attempted to hand in four new lever arch files which were not provided to the court and the state in preparation for the hearing,' said IDAC. According to IDAC, the State argued that in law, an applicant can file a supplementary only if they obtain leave to do so from a court. The supplementary should also be preceded by a substantive application. 'The judge also questioned if it was correct for a criminal matter to be presided on by a civil court,' said IDAC. The court ruled in favour of the NPA, however, and Chetty's application was struck off the roll. He was further ordered to foot the cost of the legal fees. IDAC said among Chetty's co-accused are officials from the South African Police Service (SAPS) and private entities. All of them are facing multiple corruption charges relating to tender fraud within SAPS. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Eyewitness News
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ActionSA introduces bill that would see removal of all deputy ministers
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