With a career spanning 46 years investigating some of apartheid's worst atrocities - including the 1992 Boipatong massacre - as well as prosecuting apartheid's 'Doctor Death', the head of the army's chemical warfare unit Dr Wouter Basson, and Vlakplaas leader Eugene de Kock, Torie Pretorius has played a key role in the South African justice system.

Advocate Torie Pretorius appeared before the Khampepe Commission into Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) prosecution delays on Monday, confirming the view of his former boss, former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head, advocate Vusi Pikoli, that there had been direct political interference in post-TRC matters.

Pretorius told the panel that while he had no personal knowledge of the interference at the time, he accepted and believed Pikoli's account of events that had transpired under his tenure, until his suspension.

Then president Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli after he had initiated fraud charges against the late SAPS national commissioner Jackie Selebi in 2007.

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Pikoli has testified to being subjected to "withering pressure from political forces" - specifically from former justice minister Bridget Mabandla, and Selebi - to abandon TRC cases.

For context - Former police chief Jackie Selebi used president Thabo Mbeki as a 'scarecrow', inquiry hears May 13, 2026 Pikoli's affidavit, said Pretorius, "clearly indicates that the highest office of the National Prosecuting Authority was subjected to political interference and pressure not to prosecute TRC leftover cases".

Pretorius cited the suspension of Pikoli as a key example of this and also that the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) had "faced...