Justice was not done in the Pretoria High Court on Friday.
The suspended sentences handed down to former Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok, former National Police Commissioner Johann van der Merwe and three senior former members of the police security branch were summarily rejected by the Khulumani Support Group, one of two civil rights organisations that protested outside the court.
Acting director Marjorie Jobson called the 55-minute trial a charade and public relations exercise that would not build any faith in the justice system among ordinary South Africans.
Together with its partners, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, the Legal Resources Centre and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Khulumani plans to challenge the amended prosecution guidelines for apartheid crimes.
?Friday?s judgment did not contribute to facilitating reconciliation. The court failed to grasp an important opportunity to breathe life into the principles of restorative justice that underpinned much of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?s work. The proceedings failed to assist in the healing of our nation.?
In its response, the DA said Friday?s events brought the Reverend Frank Chikane?s poisoning case to its anticipated conclusion.
The party?s TRC spokesman Dene Smuts said: ?It is a satisfactory conclusion: accountability was established and the men who executed orders did not stand in the dock alone as happened so often during the lifetime of the TRC.?
