De Klerk 'acted in state's interest'
August 01 2007 at 04:28AM
By Angela Quintal
FW de Klerk cannot be prosecuted for the 1993 Umtata (now Mthatha) raid in the same way that former British premier Tony Blair cannot be charged for "collateral damage" in Iraq.
This was stated on Tuesday by former presidential aide Dave Steward.
He was reacting to renewed calls for De Klerk's prosecution, given that the country's last apartheid president had authorised the botched South African Defence Force raid in which five children were shot in their sleep.
'We had intelligence from three different sources that it was a legitimate target'
This week, PAC activist Sigqibo Mpendulo, the father of the twins killed, echoed jailed ex-hit squad commander Eugene de Kock's call for De Klerk's prosecution.
Former Transkei military leader Bantu Holomisa, who at the time said De Klerk should be stripped of his Nobel Peace Prize because of the raid, also said that if former law and order minister Adriaan Vlok was to be prosecuted for other apartheid-era crimes, then De Klerk himself should also be charged.
But Steward - now a spokesperson for De Klerk's foundation - insisted on Tuesday that however tragic the result of the raid was, it was not illegal or illegitimate.
"Every state has the right to pre-empt an action when it has evidence that its people are about to be attacked. This was certainly the case prior to the Umtata raid.
"We had intelligence from three different sources that it was a legitimate target. This was a time when Apla was launching raids into South Africa that resulted in loss of life, most notably the St James (church) massacre."
The Mpundelo family's lawyer, Dumisa Ntsebeza, would not comment on whether he believed De Klerk should be charged, saying this was a matter for the government to decide.
A National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson reportedly said this week that De Klerk would not be prosecuted.
Ntsebeza said that in 1993 he had no doubt there had been a cover-up, given that no weapons were found.
"As I argued at the time, if it was a question of knowing where (the alleged safe-house was), why could the place not be cordoned off and the perpetrators be cornered in such a way that the tragedy would have been avoided?
"As it was, 12-year-olds were murdered in their sleep. That was murder in my book, and it continues to be murder in my book."
But Steward said: "You can't charge a head of state for decisions that he takes on a basis like that when he is acting in the military interests of the country.
"On the same basis as Holomisa is now adducing, it could mean that Tony Blair could be charged with the deaths of any people in Baghdad who are killed by accident or as collateral damage. In an ideal world, that might be the case, but in terms of international law that is not the case."
On why De Klerk had not apologised to Mpundelo, Steward said the former president had burnt his fingers before.
"When he tried to express immediate condolences to the people of Boipatong... it was exploited massively by the ANC and it led to further bloodshed."
