Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
February 23, 1996
STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, CHAIRPERSON OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION, ON BEHALF OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE COMMISSION
An application for amnesty was handed to me at the Commission's offices in Cape Town today by the applicant's attorney. As the attorney handed me the application, he made a serious verbal allegation against Advocate Chris de Jager, a member of the Commission. However, in the application itself, no reference was made at all to this verbal allegation. Advocate de Jager was, however, named in the application as a member of a conservative secret organisation, Toekomsgeprek.
Since this event occurred during a regular meeting of the Commission's Executive Committee, it was discussed by the Committee, following which I asked Mr de Jager to travel urgently to Cape Ton. The Comittee has been assured by Mr de Jager that the verbal allegation has no foundation whatsoever. In addition, he has never been a member of Toekomsgeprek or any other secret organisation. This has been independently corroborated to my satisfaction.
In terms of Section 19(8) of the Act governing the Commission's operations, amnesty applications are confidential until the Commission decides to release information about them or they are dealt with in a public hearing. The Commission will not at this stage release further information about the application in question.
Inquiries: John Allen, tel. 082-452-7859