Appearing before the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into delayed Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) prosecutions, John Jeffrey, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, denied claiming that the ANC had made compromises with apartheid-era leaders.

Lukhanyo Calata, son of activist Fort Calata â one of the Cradock Four murdered by security police in 1985 â has presented evidence to the inquiry that Jeffrey, in 2017, had said that the lack of TRC prosecutions had been part of a ânegotiated settlementâ at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa, 1991/92).

Calata was three when his father was murdered alongside Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mlauli and Sparrow Mkonto. In June 2025, he told the reopened inquest into their deaths that the deputy minister had intimated that delayed TRC issues were âthe price that had to be paid for the negotiated settlementâ.

This, he recalled, had been âa punch in the gutâ.

Jeffrey, however, disputed that he had conceded that the ANC government had agreed not to prosecute TRC cases or that compromises reached with perpetrators had prevented some cases from proceeding.

âOut of contextâ

On Friday, Jeffrey appeared before the inquiry and denied the concessions attributed to him by Calata, saying his words may have been taken out of context.

âWhat I did not [say was] that the ANC or the ANC government had taken any decision that there shouldnât be prosecutions,â said the former deputy minister, adding that his reference to a âpolitical decisionâ had to do with the wider question of whether prosecutions should have taken place while amnesty applications were still being considered.

âMaybe itâs more the broader issue of the broader qualification of political â was it appropriate to be running criminal prosecutions at the same time as TRC amnesty applications were [being submitted for those same crimes], and thatâs what I think I meant by a political decision,â he said.

Jeffery said he had set out for Calata the difficulties surrounding the National Prosecuting Authorityâs (NPAâs) prosecution policy for apartheid-era crimes, stating that there had been mounting pressure with âcontemporary violent crime, corruption and cases arising from State Captureâ.

He had attempted to explain what he had understood to be the âpractical constraints under which the criminal justice system was operating at the time, including the need to make difficult decisions about the allocation of limited resources.

âIn doing so, I was not suggesting that apartheid-era crimes were unimportant or undeserving of investigation,â said Jeffrey.

He said the NPAâs capacity had also declined after 2009 when prosecutors began to leave the troubled authority and widespread corruption linked to the State Capture period had forced the NPA to prioritise other cases, shifting resources and attention away from outstanding TRC matters.

Witness to murder

Jeffrey said that as someone who had been present in 1992 when a car bomb exploded, instantly killing ANC KZN deputy chair, Reggie Hadebe, and injuring activist Shakes Cele and Jeffrey, who was also in the car, he was aware of the impact on families.

He told the commission he was an activist and lawyer at the time and caught up in a âlow-intensity civil warâ in the Natal Midlands when the blast occurred in Pietermaritzburg. Later, he said he had been called to testify at the TRC.

âThe hearing was into the assassination of Reggie Radebe. So I was asked to testify there, which I gladly did. I think because of that, then the TRC bureaucracy included me as a victim of a human rights violation.

âI didnât want to be listed as one, as I made my contribution, you know, out of commitment and there are many people who suffered far greater human rights violations than I did simply by being black.â

âI was not seeking to minimise the suffering of the Calata family. Rather, I sought to explain that their experience formed part of a broader national tragedy in which many families were left without full answers about the deaths of their loved onesâ.

Role in TRC matters

Jeffrey, the commission heard, had received an official ministerial memorandum from the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), advocate Shamila Batohi, regarding the strategic handling of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases.

He was also the primary recipient of ministerial memoranda on the implications of the Rodrigues judgment, which found there had been political interference in the delay of TRC cases.

In that instance, Judge Jody Kollapen noted in 2019 that âjustice and truth were never meant to be compromised in dealing with our troubled, turbulent and shameful pastâ.

Jeffrey was also formally copied on the October 2022 memorandum informing the Minister of Justice of the decision to appoint advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC to review the NPAâs measures for handling TRC matters.

The âNtsebeza SC Opinionâ, as it is known, later opened with a quote from Corazon Aquino: âReconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace, it shouldnât be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.â

The Khampepe Commission is scheduled to wrap up in December 2026. DM