Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela yesterday won her demand for a public hearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) into allegations implicating her in murders committed in 1988 and 1989 when her former husband, Mr Nelson Mandela, was still a prisoner.
But, while acceding to her demand for a public hearing so that the allegations could be "settled once and for all", the truth commission insisted that a scheduled in-camera meeting between Ms Madikizela-Mandela and the commission's investigative unit take place. She was subpoenaed to help investigators with their inquiries and was not on trial, the TRC investigation chief, Mr Dumisa Ntsebeza, said explaining that the law under which the TRC functioned required investigations be conducted in private. But once its inquiries were complete - two days, yesterday and today, have been set aside for them - the way was clear for an open hearing, Mr Ntsebeza said.
"The panel. . .is persuaded that it is in the interests of justice, of fairness and in the public interest that the matter should be [fully] ventilated," he adding, noting the TRC had recommended that the hearing be held in November.
Even if the TRC had not complied with Ms MadikizelaMandela's request, at least some of the implications against her would almost certainly have been aired. Two of her accusers, Mr Jerry Richardson and Mr Katiza Cebekhulu, have applied for amnesty and their applications would, in all probability, be held in public.
Mr Richardson was the coach of Mandela United, the putative soccer team that served as Ms Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards and, in the view of her foes, her private army. He was convicted in 1990 of murdering 14-year-old Stompie Moeketsi-Sepei but has since applied for amnesty and is on record as saying that he killed the teenager on Ms MadikizelaMandela's instructions.
Ms Madikizela-Mandela's lawyer, Mr Ismael Semenya, disclosed yesterday that she had been given summaries of 45 statements involving her, more than widely expected. "We are entitled to more than summaries," Mr Semenya said. Uncowed by the allegations against her, Ms Madikizela-Mandela (who turned 63 yesterday) is standing as a candidate for the deputy presidency of the African National Congress, a position which virtually ensures the incumbent of even higher office: the Deputy Presidency of South Africa.
Meanwhile, there were ugly scenes at an amnesty hearing in Port Elizabeth yesterday when an angry crowd tried to prevent four police amnesty applicants from leaving the venue where the hearing took place. The four policemen, including two generals, earlier admitted complicity in the abduction and murder of two activists in 1982.