Cape Town/New York — The court decision today that blocks South Africa’s president from granting pardons for political offenses until victims are given a greater role in the proceedings is a major victory for victims’ rights and the rule of law, the International Center for Transitional Justice said.

“This court decision reminds South Africans that the views of victims cannot be ignored,” said Juan E. Méndez, president of ICTJ. “It’s a reminder to the world that even in political transitions, courts must and can demand full disclosure of the truth and protect the rule of law.”

In his decision, Judge W. L. Seriti of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria was ruling in a case brought by a coalition of civil society organizations including ICTJ to prevent the country’s president from issuing pardons under a new, “political pardons” process.

The court ordered that the president and the minister of justice provide the civil society coalition with a list of prisoners recommended for release by a review panel created by the president. The court also ordered the president to allow victims or their families and others to be heard prior to the pardon of any prisoner.

Background

In 2008, former President Thabo Mbeki established a special pardons process, which created a review panel of political party representatives that would consider applications for pardons to deal with what the government called “unfinished business” of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Unlike the TRC’s amnesty process, the Special Pardons Process worked in secrecy. None of the applications for pardons have been disclosed to victims, interested parties or the public. Civil society groups filed suit after President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision on March 13 to maintain the secrecy of the proceedings and not to allow victim participation. Lawyers for the civil society groups argued that the process allowed only the views of perpetrators to be heard, and thus could not determine whether requirements set by the government had been met – that perpetrators fully disclose their acts, and that those acts had a political objective.

The coalition of civil society organizations includes the Khulumani Support Group, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, the Human Rights Media Centre, the Freedom of Expression Institute, the South African History Archives and ICTJ. The coalition was represented in court by the Legal Resources Centre.

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. ICTJ works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.