Brigitte Mabandla denies blocking post-apartheid prosecutions in South Africa

Former South African Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla denied on Wednesday 21 October 2026 that she had called for a moratorium on prosecutions related to apartheid crimes. Before the Khampepe Commission, she said she had never called prosecutor Silas Ramaite on 11 November 2004 to give him that instruction, the Daily Maverick reported.

Ramaite, who was then overseeing prosecutions related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), said in February that Mabandla had told him a team was being set up to review the cases and that prosecutions were to be suspended pending further instructions. He said he had then asked lawyer Anton Ackermann, head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s priority crimes unit, to pause the investigations.

Mabandla told the commission that she had checked the dates with her legal team and was in Bangui, Central African Republic, at the time of the alleged call. She said she was certain she had not made the call, while acknowledging that she had no documents to support that claim. She also explained that she had consulted Vusi Pikoli, the former head of the National Prosecuting Authority, to clarify her recollections.

The hearing is part of an inquiry into post-apartheid prosecutions and allegations of interference in their handling. Former president Thabo Mbeki, who testified earlier in the week, was in attendance. He denied interfering in post-apartheid justice in his testimony on 20 October.