AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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for their subjects and have controlled many aspects of social and cultural life in
rural areas. They claimed that the new demarcations split and diminished their hereditary
status and power bases. They also complained that new municipal structures
and legislatures denied them voting rights in local councils, which control development
funds for local communities. Although some chiefs advocated a boycott
of the December elections, most decided to participate based on an agreement with
the Government to negotiate compromise legislation. Negotiations continued intermittently
after the December elections; however, there was no agreement on legislation
by year’s end. There were very few reports of violence or irregularities during
the December 5 local elections; however, in the East Rand area of Johannesburg,
there were reports that five persons were killed in two incidents of violence that
may have been politically motivated (see Section 1.a.).
There are no legal impediments to women’s participation in government; however,
women are underrepresented in government and politics. Of the 400 National Assembly
members, 119 are women, while in the NCOP, 17 of the 54 permanent delegates
are women. Women occupy three of four parliamentary presiding officer positions
(speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, and chair of the
NCOP). Women hold 8 of 27 ministerial positions, as well as 8 of 13 deputy ministerial
slots.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation
of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
Human rights groups operate without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials generally are
cooperative and responsive to their views. Many organizations participate in governmental
bodies that seek to gather public input and to fashion policies related to
human rights.
The government-created HRC is tasked with promoting the observance of fundamental
human rights at all levels of government and throughout the general population.
The HRC also has the power to conduct investigations, issue subpoenas, and
hear testimony under oath. While commissioners were named in late 1995, the
HRC’s powers were not determined formally until May 1996. Following the August
release of its report on the 1999 investigation into racism in the media, opposition
parties again questioned the HRC’s broad interpretation of its mandate and the impartiality
of the Commission. During the year, the HRC began an investigation into
allegations of abuse of black farmworkers, local justice system prejudice against
farmworkers, and violence against white farm owners. The HRC report was not released
by year’s end.
The Office of the Public Protector investigates abuse and mismanagement by the
Government, and acts as an office of last resort to which citizens report unfair treatment
by government organizations. Such complaints generally take the form of concerns
over lost pension checks or unfair hiring practices. The office handles an increasing
number of complaints but is hampered by severe resource constraints.
Under its 1995 enabling legislation, the TRC was empowered to investigate apartheid-era
gross human rights abuses committed between 1960 and 1994, to grant
amnesty to perpetrators of a broad range of politically motivated crimes, and to recommend
compensation for victims of human rights abuses. Due to the volume of
work, the TRC’s original 2-year mandate was extended to allow the continuation of
amnesty hearings, and the TRC continued to operate freely throughout its 5th year.
Its five-volume report was released in 1998, and a codicil is to be added upon completion
of the amnesty process. In its report, the TRC found that apartheid was a
crime against humanity, that the former apartheid regime was responsible for most
of the human rights abuses during the era of its rule, and that the ANC and other
liberation movements also committed abuses during their armed struggle. Following
a court challenge in 1998, findings on former State President F.W. De Klerk were
excised from the report, pending a hearing that has been postponed indefinitely.
By January 1999, 7,112 amnesty applications had been filed with the TRC; no
new applications have been accepted since 1997. By September 287 cases remained
outstanding, 136 of which remained unheard. An estimated 80 to 90 percent of all
applications were from persons already incarcerated. In October 1999, the TRC
began amnesty hearings on 10 former members of the Umkhonoto we Sizwe, the
armed wing of the ANC, for their role in a series of 1986 bar bombings; the case
was still pending at year’s end. The killers of ANC activist Ruth First were granted
amnesty, although relatives of First and other victims challenged the decision in
court. During the year, the TRC granted amnesty to a number of other persons, including
Eugene de Kock, the principal of the apartheid government Vlakplaas unit
(although he remains in custody for other crimes); police officers who killed
antiapartheid activist Stanza Bopape; and the IFP members involved in a massacre
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