President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday announced a once-off final reparations payment for anti-apartheid victims and ruled out any general amnesty for human rights violations perpetrators who did not apply to the TRC for amnesty.

Introducing debate on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report during a joint sitting of Parliament, he said the commission had reported that about 22 000 individuals or surviving families appeared before it.

Of these about 19 000 required urgent reparations and virtually all of them, where the necessary information was available, were attended to as proposed by the TRC for interim reparations.

"With regard to final reparations, government will provide a once-off grant of R30 000 to those individuals or survivors designated by the TRC."

These payments would be processed as a matter of urgency, during the current financial year.

"We do so with some apprehension, for as the TRC itself has underlined, no one can attach monetary value to life and suffering."

Nor could an argument be sustained that the efforts of millions of South Africans to liberate themselves were for monetary gain.

"We are convinced that to the millions who spared neither life nor limb in struggle there is no bigger prize than freedom itself, and a continuing struggle to build a better life for all," Mbeki said.

Turning to the amnesty issue, he said a general amnesty, whether applied to specific categories of people or regions of the country, would fly in the face of the TRC process.

It would also subtract from the principle of accountability, which was vital not only in dealing with the past but also in the creation of a new ethos within South African society.

"Yet we also have to deal with the reality that many of the participants in the conflict of the past did not take part in the TRC process," he said.

These included individuals misled by their leadership to treat the process with disdain, and others who calculated they would not be found out, either due to poor TRC investigations or what they believed and still believed was too "complex a web of concealment for anyone to unravel".

This reality could not be avoided, and could not be resolved through another amnesty process, which would effectively suspend constitutional rights of gross human right violations victims.

Therefore, this matter would be left in the hands of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to, as normal, pursue any cases it believed deserved prosecution and could be prosecuted.

However, in the national interest, the NDPP, working with the intelligence agencies, would leave its doors open for those who were prepared to divulge information at their disposal and to co-operate in unearthing the truth.

Such people could enter with the NDPP into arrangements that were standard in the normal execution of justice, and which were accommodated in legislation.

"Relevant departments are examining the practical modalities of dealing with this matter; and they will also establish whether specific legislation is required in this regard," he said.

Mbeki said government would not be party to any litigation and civil suits against companies that benefited from apartheid, adding that government would also not impose a once-off wealth tax on corporations, as proposed by the TRC.

Referring to proposed law suits against local companies in the United States, he said it was unacceptable that matters central to the future of this country could be adjudicated in foreign courts.

"While government recognises the right of citizens to institute legal action, its own approach is informed by the desire to involve all South Africans, including corporate citizens, in a co-operative and voluntary partnership to reconstruct and develop South African society."

Consultations would continue with business to examine ways in which they could contribute to the reconstruction and development of the country, Mbeki said - Sapa