Arguments in the Constitutional Court yesterday centred around striking a balance between the rights of victims of political violence and the perpetrators who want to be pardoned.
This after Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member Ryan Albutt challenged a decision by the High Court in Joburg which interdicted the president from granting pardons to perpetrators of political violence without first consulting the victims.
Challenging the high court application with Albutt was the President and the Minister of Justice.
Arguing on behalf of Albutt, advocate Neil Tuchten said the interdict hindered the constitutional processes of reconciliation.
"The main purpose of the pardon process is to achieve national reconciliation and it is within the president's power to exercise it," he said.
But Constitutional Court judges doubted that, and asked how reconciliation could be achieved without the victim's participation.
"How can he (the president) ignore the victims when his aim is national reconciliation?" asked Justice Edwin Cameron.
The case emanates from the November 21, 2007 announcement by former president Thabo Mbeki on the handling of pardon requests.
The process is available to those convicted of offences they said were politically motivated and who were permitted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Mbeki established a Pardons Reference Group, representing each political party in Parliament.
The group was formally constituted on January 18, 2008 and heard 2 114 applications and made recommendations to the president.
From February 2008 to March this year, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and other NGOs attempted unsuccessfully to influence the group, the president and the minister to ensure victim participation in the process.
They also sought greater transparency and public disclosure.
After they failed to secure the participation of victims, they lodged an urgent application in the high court to prevent the president from issuing political pardons pending the final determination of the rights of victims.
The high court held that victims of crime had a right to be heard before the perpetrators could be pardoned and granted an order restraining the president from exercising that power until the main application was decided.
Judgment was reserved. – Sapa
In Pretoria News.
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
