WATCH | Missing files, dead witnesses, no investigators: Shaun Abrahams details TRC prosecution failures

Former National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) boss Shaun Abrahams told the TRC cases inquiry that the unit responsible for investigating apartheid-era crimes could not do its job properly because it did not have its own investigators and had to rely on other state units for help.

Abrahams was testifying before the inquiry, which is looking into whether political interference, failures within the NPA, or internal resistance delayed prosecutions linked to apartheid crimes.

According to Abrahams, the priority crimes litigation unit lacked internal investigative powers, forcing it to rely entirely on the Scorpions, a specialised unit of the NPA at the time, and the police’s crimes-against-the-state unit to investigate TRC cases for possible prosecution.

“The unit’s lack of internal investigative capacity, combined with this heavy reliance on outside structures, made operations extremely difficult when you consider the individual autonomy of each unit and department. Literally, our hands were tied behind our backs,” he said.

Abrahams, who joined the unit in 2004 before being appointed as the national director of public prosecutions in 2015, said investigators faced severe systemic challenges caused by the passage of time.

“Many witnesses had already died, evidence needed to be located, witnesses had to be re-interviewed, and a significant amount of crucial evidence had gone missing. There were many compounding issues.

“During the first period from 2004 until 2013, before I was appointed to head the unit, any perceived political interference was above my pay grade at the time,” he said.

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Abrahams said that by the time he headed the priority crimes litigation unit, the original pool of more than 400 TRC-related cases had significantly shrunk because many matters had either been withdrawn or decisions had been taken not to prosecute.

“Ultimately, this left us with a refined pool of matters where we envisaged reasonable prospects for potential prosecutions moving forward, entirely depending on the evidence we could gather,” he said.

Literally, our hands were tied behind our backs.

—  Former NPA boss Shaun Abrahams

Abrahams explained that some cases could not proceed because amnesty had already been granted, suspects or witnesses had died, or there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

“In some cases, there was no satisfactory or available evidence upon which a successful prosecution could be instituted. We cite examples such as the unavailability of previous court records and police documents or instances where key witnesses and suspects were deceased,” he said.

Abrahams told the inquiry that prosecutors also struggled to access historical documents and records needed to pursue apartheid-era prosecutions.

“After the closure of the TRC, the director-general of justice issued a directive that all enquiries over the preceding 10 years should be destroyed.

“Police documents could not be located either because they had been returned to the TRC, lost during the investigation or [the] integration process of the former police forces, or misplaced due to the closure of various police units. We also encountered severe difficulties in locating historical court records,” he said.

Abrahams said the audit found that about 350 of the original 400 matters had already been finalised for various legal or evidentiary reasons, leaving about 50 active cases requiring deeper investigation.

The commission continues.

Sowetan