Chairperson, as a brief background, I would like to inform the hon member that the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act created a political and moral climate for grounds of democracy and the fostering of the culture of human rights. It provided for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, TRC, for the specific purpose of promoting national unity and reconciliation in a spirit of understanding that goes beyond the conflicts and divisions of the past.
In order to achieve this goal, the commission was mandated to, amongst other things, conduct investigations into gross human rights violations; facilitate and initiate the gathering of information and the receiving of evidence to establish the identity of victims, their fate or whereabouts and the harm suffered by them and grant amnesty for acts, attempted acts, missions and the offences associated with political activities.
One of the key functions of the TRC was to make recommendations to the President. These recommendations were to include, amongst others, reparations to victims. The Act defines reparation as including any form of compensation, ex gratia payment, restitution, rehabilitation or recognition. Victims are also defined in the Act and include certain relatives or dependants of victims. I would like to inform the hon member that the following number of victims were paid following the truth and reconciliation process.
Firstly, in terms of urgent interim reparations, individual reparations of up to R5 705 were paid to 16 654 victims. In total, an amount of approximately R50 million has been paid to victims as interim reparations, as at 31 January 2009.
Secondly, in respect of final reparations, in other words, once-off individual grants of R30 000, an amount of R476 million was paid, as of 31 January 2009. The total number of persons who applied for reparations as approved by the TRC is 16 837. The total number of beneficiaries paid to date is 15 956. The total number of beneficiaries yet to be paid is 881. The reasons why these 881 beneficiaries could not be paid are as follows: Firstly, the beneficiaries have passed on, and attempts are being made to establish the rightful next of kin, in terms of the regulations directing the payment of reparations, and that explains 219 of those 881.
Thirdly, 662 beneficiaries could not be traced, and I would like to inform the hon member that, as at 30 April 2004, 2 320 beneficiaries could not be paid, as they could not be located. From that time, 30 April 2004, until now, the department has traced and paid 1 439 beneficiaries. Therefore, as at 11 March 2010, 881 beneficiaries must still be paid.
In an effort to expedite the process, the department has taken the following steps: Firstly, the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Health, the Department of Social Development and the Independent Electoral Commission have been provided with a list of the outstanding beneficiaries to assist in tracing them.
Secondly, the service of a professional tracing agency was secured in August 2009 to assist in tracing the remaining beneficiaries. The tracing agency has already established the possible addresses of 201 beneficiaries and the President's Fund office is currently contacting these beneficiaries and confirming their identities. Thank you.
Chairperson, there are those who were excluded by the pardon process that the former President opened on the basis that the Presidency did not want to interfere with the process of the TRC. So, all those whom the TRC did not give pardon to were excluded in the second process of pardon. Hence, I wish to ask the Deputy Minister whether there is a possibility of making presentations on behalf of those who have been excluded in the process, because we do have members of the nonstatutory forces who are Members of Parliament who were excluded by the TRC and were not given pardon. I would like to know whether the Ministry will be amenable to receiving applications from those members, because, to this day, they are not cleared and the state law agencies can easily pounce on them in future if they do not receive the necessary pardon. Thank you.
Chairperson, on a point of order.
Mr Bloem, what is your point of order?
Chairperson, I don't think that this question is relevant; he is talking about pardoning and reparations.
Hon Bloem, please sit down. Unless the hon Bloem wants to tell us that he's got serious ambitions of being a Deputy Minister, the Deputy Minister is here to respond to the questions. If the Deputy Minister feels that the question is irrelevant or he doesn't have the facts, he will tell us that as a Deputy Minister he is prepared to come back to the House to respond to this particular question and not the hon Bloem. Over and above that, I have also been given the responsibility to determine whether the matter is relevant or not.
I've refused to be a Minister, not a Deputy Minister.
Can you please sit down, hon Bloem.
Chairperson, the follow-up question by hon Montsitsi is definitely far from irrelevant. In fact, it is a very relevant question, but it is also a very complex and involved question.
I think members would be aware that the TRC completed its work, that there were a number of people who had not applied for amnesty, that former President Mbeki put in place a process to deal with those matters and that that process has yet to be completed and that aspects of that process have been taken to the Constitutional Court, which has given judgment recently.
In view of the multifaceted and the quite complex nature of the question, I think it would be much better served by a question of its own that would allow us to deal with the matter comprehensively. Thank you.
Assistance given by SA Police Service to mining industry in the Free State to stop illegal mining and details relating thereto
12. Mr D A Worth (DA) asked the Minister of Police:
Whether the SA Police Service is actively assisting the mining industry in the Free State to stop illegal mining; if not, why not; if so, (a) what is the policy of the SAPS in this regard, (b) what is the nature of the assistance provided, (c) what procedures are being followed in dealing with the many illegal immigrants involved and (d) what are the further relevant details?