Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has denied holding secret meetings with apartheid-era military and police generals, telling the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into delayed Truth and Reconciliation Commission prosecutions that he met them only once, in 1996, Daily Maverick reports.
On his first day of testimony, Mr Mbeki said the generals had approached the ANC saying they would not seek amnesty unless FW de Klerk and his cabinet did. The ANC leadership then applied for collective amnesty to set an example, he said, but a court later overturned that grant.
Mr Mbeki rejected claims of executive interference in later prosecutions, saying he had been president, not a prosecutor, and that the National Prosecuting Authority was responsible for cases after the TRC.
Source: Daily Maverick
