Bulelani Ngcuka denies political meddling in TRC cases

Political meddling in apartheid-era prosecution decisions got flatly denied by the man who built South Africa's prosecuting authority from scratch.

Bulelani Ngcuka's background and testimony

• Bulelani Ngcuka, South Africa's first NDPP from 1998 to 2004, voluntarily faced the Khampepe Commission.
• His mentor Griffiths Mxenge was killed by a Vlakplaas death squad in 1981.
• Ngcuka endured eight months of solitary confinement and three years locked up.
• Fort Hare University is where he studied law before entering the struggle.

Building the NPA on a shoestring budget

• A R6-million budget greeted Ngcuka when he started on 1 August 1998.
• He stood up the Scorpions to merge investigators and prosecutors under one roof.
• Life sentences for Western Cape taxi violence perpetrators followed that restructuring.
• The Priority Crimes Litigation Unit got created specifically for TRC-related dockets.

Why apartheid cases barely reached court

• Only six of 21 priority TRC matters actually made it to trial.
• Destroyed evidence and dead witnesses gutted most cases before they started.
• Biko's killing lacked sufficient proof for a successful prosecution back then.
• NPA has since reopened an inquest into Biko's 1977 death.

Ngcuka's firm stance on independence

• Ngcuka insisted no political pressure ever touched his prosecutorial calls.
• Attempts by outside lawyers to sway non-TRC decisions got shut down.
• An Amnesty Task Team that paused cases came after his 2004 departure.
• Cross-examination by victims' families, notably the Calatas, got postponed.