Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha recently announced the imminent release of political prisoners who are members of Inkatha, Afrikanse Weerstand Beweging (AWB) and perhaps Die Wit Wolfe but didn’t mention the release of real political prisoners who belong to the PAC/APLA.  There are scores of PAC/APLA political prisoners who are currently serving life sentences for offences committed during the Apartheid era.

During the struggle for liberation, there were only three guerrilla armies – the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), Umkhonto we Sizwe and Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) recognized by the United Nations and Organisation of African Unity (OAU) except the latter.

The exclusion of PAC/APLA political prisoners from consideration for parole is unjust, unconstitutional, unconscionable, outrageous, scandalous and vindictive especially because the Case Management Committee recommended that APLA’s Kenny Motsamai be considered for parole. The Parole Board also recommended that he be considered for parole with no conditions. Whereas Kenny Motsamai has spent 26 years behind bars, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services has not risen to the occasion in spite of the recommendations by the Case Management Committee and Parole Board forwarded to him.

Mr. Kenny Motsamai has met all the requirements expected of him in preparation for his release. He has participated in a number of pre-release programmes designed to prepare him to become a constructive member of the community after his release. Moreover, in preparing for the hearings of the Case Management Committee and Parole Board, Mr. Motsamai was able to get and present before the relevant bodies documents as proof of where he will be residing and domiciled after his release and that he will be gainfully employed by the APLA Military Veterans Association (APLAMVA).

The latest hearings Mr. Motsamai attended pertaining to his release were on the 16th July 2015 before the Case Management Committee and before the Parole Board on the 30th July 2015 whereupon these bodies recommended that Mr. Motsamai be considered for parole. Minister Masutha is privy to this information.

In early 1998, I was one of the thousands of PAC/APLA members who marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria for the release of PAC/APLA cadres and to present a memorandum to former President Nelson Mandela. Mandela, the much vaunted human rights champion and reconciler ignored the memorandum. I was marching in front with former APLA Director of Operations, Letlapa Mphahlele who was leading the march. He addressed the marchers at the entrance of the Union Buildings before presenting the memorandum to a government official who accepted it.

There were many such marches in the intervening period the last one being about four months ago which coincided with marches against attacks on fellow Africans and some Asians. The South African government refused to accept the memorandum giving a lame excuse for their refusal to accept the PAC’s memorandum. There was also a march to the parliament of South Africa on the 24th April this year. Most political parties, especially white and predominantly white parties such as the Democratic Alliance led by a black person couldn’t be bothered by the injustice perpetrated against PAC/APLA cadres by the ANC government. Prior to the last march there were radio interviews on the plight of PAC/APLA political prisoners by two dynamic female radio personalities, Masechaba Lekalake of Power Fm, a privately owned radio station and Sakina Kamwendo of SAfm, a public broadcaster.

Minister Masutha is well aware of all these campaigns but he hasn’t budged an inch despite the fact that the continued incarceration of PAC/APLA political prisoners is illegal. It is illegal firstly because these are political prisoners and secondly because they should have been considered for parole after serving only 15 years of their sentence according to the prescripts of the law as it applied at the time of their arrest. More perturbing is the fact that Minister Masutha has granted Eugene de Kock parole who was sentenced to two life prison terms and 212 years imprisonment for the horrible crimes he committed under the Apartheid government when he was running the counter-insurgency death squad unit of the South African Police Force from Vlakplaas outside Pretoria. A total of 89 charges against him included 6 counts of murder. In his application for amnesty before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997, De Kock testified that he was involved in more than 100 criminal acts of murder and torture as well as fraud. The TRC granted him amnesty for political offences but couldn’t escape imprisonment for the 6 counts of murder and other criminal acts that were not politically motivated. However, most PAC/APLA cadres were denied amnesty by the TRC.

Unlike Mr. Motsamai, De Kock didn’t participate in the Victim-Offender Dialogue programme which was introduced in late 2012 but was released unconditionally on parole. It seems every Minister of Correctional Services since the inception of the “new” dispensation in1995 has his/her agenda. However, what they all have in common is not to free PAC/APLA political prisoners. It seems PAC/APLA political prisoners will only be released if and when they can apply for an urgent court application for their case to be heard.

Minister Masutha recently released on parole De Kock and Clive Derby Lewis, an accomplice in the murder of SACP and ANC leader Chris Hani but failed to release Ferdi Barnard who is serving two life prison sentences plus 63 years imprisonment for a number of crimes including the murder of anti-Apartheid activist David Webster. This shows lack of consistency and a reliance on gut feeling instead of following the rules.

Most media outlets, especially television and print media are failing to champion the cause of PAC/APLA political prisoners who are illegally imprisoned in South African jails by the Apartheid government and are still languishing in South African jails under the “new” ANC government 21 years after they came to power. Civil society organisations and most political parties’ silence is also deafening. Organisations such as Lawyers for Human Rights are only interested in cases involving immigrants.

What does Freedom Under Law say when the South African government is trampling on the constitutional and human rights of PAC/APLA cadres? What about the Southern African Litigation Centre which ran helter-skelter during a visit to South Africa by Sudan President Omar Al Bashir and took the South African government to court. Where are the lawyers who are willing to take up the cudgels on pro bono basis on behalf of our freedom fighters whose continued incarceration offends the core of our morality and human values and dignity and defeat the purpose of the African people’s struggle for liberation?

Why should freedom fighters such as Kenny Motsamai spend 26 years in the prisons of what is supposed to be a democratic country for having fought against the Apartheid government and for the attainment of that democracy? Let us rally all progressive groups including media organisations worldwide to call upon the South African government to release forthwith all PAC/APLA political prisoners because theirs appears to be a settling of old political scores.
 
By Sam Ditshego

The writer is a fellow at the Pan Africanist Research Institute. This is written in his personal capacity.