Former presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki have objected to the presence of retired Justice Sisi Khampepe as chair of a commission inquiring into decades-long delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes. ‘Spurious, vexatious, scurrilous and even malevolent” is how advocate Ishmael Semenya, the chief evidence leader of the Khampepe Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the delayed prosecution of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases, has described an application by former president Jacob Zuma for the recusal of the chair. Zuma was the first to file an initial objection (which was later dismissed) to Semenya’s appointment.
Now he has targeted respected Judge Sisi Khampepe. The commission was established shortly after settlement discussions in April 2025 between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Lukhanyo Calata, son of Fort Calata, one of the “Cradock Four” murdered by apartheid security police in 1985. Former president Thabo Mbeki subsequently filed his own application for Khampepe’s recusal and the two complaints are being treated as overlapping.
Mbeki’s complaint is supported by former ministers Ronnie Kasrils, Brigitte Mabandla, Thoko Didiza and Charles Nqakula. Mbeki was known to support apartheid-era prosecutions but ANC officials and Cabinet members were reportedly opposed to this, including Jackie Selebi who was part of the 37 ANC leaders refused amnesty by the TRC. Selebi enjoyed Mabandla’s support as minister of justice at the time.
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On 7 February 2007, shortly after Adriaan Vlok, the former apartheid minister of law and order, Police Commissioner Johan Van Der Merwe and others werecharged for the attempted murder of Reverend Frank Chikane in 1989, Mabandla wrote to Vusi Pikoli, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head at the time, stating her “surprise” at the development. Vlok received a 10-year suspended sentence in a plea deal that resulted in former colleagues and fellow Cabinet members, escaping the prospect of a full trial and more revelations about what the government at the time knew about atrocities committed by state actors. Calata has accused the NPA of deliberately delaying the process of charging apartheid-era criminals who did not apply for or failed to receive amnesty at the TRC. Specific guidelines for financial reparations to victims as well as a list of more than 300 perpetrators who should have been prosecuted, were included in the final recommendations of the TRC 2003 report.
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