TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 6

Part Appendices

Subsection 14

APPENDIX 3

Annual Financial Statements

for the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000

The Chief Executive Officer hereby presents his report and submits the annual financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2000.

• GENERAL REVIEW

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was constituted in terms of The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995 on 15 December 1995. The TRC was established to investigate the nature, causes and extent of g ross violations of human rights during the period 1960 to 1994. To achieve this, Act 34 of 1995 required the establishment of the following committees:

(a ) The Committee on Human Rights Violations (HRV Committee), to investigate gross human rights violations, which, inter alia, afforded victims an opportunity to relate their suffering ;

(b ) The Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation (R&R Committee), which seeks to bring about the granting of reparations to victims, and to rehabilitate and restore their human and civil dignity; and

(c ) The Amnesty Committee (AC) to consider applications for amnesty in respect of acts committed during the period stipulated.

The original deadline for completion of these tasks was July 1997. As the extent of the TRC’s work became apparent, it became clear that it would not be able to meet this initial 18 month deadline. Subsequent extensions have been granted, the last of which allows the TRC, through the AC, to complete its work without setting a fixed deadline. Although the bulk of the work has been completed (as reported in the first five volumes of the TRC Report) the three committees still have important outstanding tasks.

Work still to be completed by the three committees:

The AC has finalised 6 377 matters, but still has approximately 736 matters to finalise. Of these 366 are hearable matters, many of which involve people in senior positions fro m both the liberation movements and former security forces. It is expected that these amnesty applications will in all probability be finalised by the end of July 2000, it is however extremely difficult to accurately assess the time required to complete such hearings. Circumstances beyond the control of the AC often result in postponement of hearings.

The R&R Committee has sent out almost out almost 19 000 Urgent Interim Reparations (UIR) forms. While to date more than half of these have already been forwarded to the President ’s Fund, the Committee still has to retrieve 3 467 forms and process another 2 602 applications in its possession.

The HRV Committee has completed the substantive part of its work. During 1999, it conducted an extensive audit of all negative findings and is now ready to send out negative finding letters, informing approximately 7 000 deponents that they cannot be declared victims. All three committees have to write the codicil to the first five volumes of the Final Report.

Time re q u i red to complete the outstanding work:

The work plan shows that the absolute minimum time to complete the outstanding tasks would be up till December 2000. This would include the preparation and organisation of the intellectual property gathered during the TRC process, prior to handing it over to the Department of Justice and National Archives. It will also include the writing of the codicil and its handover to the Preside n t .

While it is important that the TRC does not delay its own closure, it is equally important to deliver a completed product which will not place in jeopardy the work already done or lay a basis for potential legal challenges. Further, all those who have participated in the project or observed its progress recognise that the work of the TRC has assisted in laying the foundations for a culture of human rights in our country. The perceived failure of the TRC to complete its historic task would compromise such a view.

Moreover, all loose ends need to be tied sufficiently so that a government established structure might take over the continuing work with a minimum of disruption. To achieve all of these goals, the TRC considers it necessary to work within the confines of deadlines, which are realistic hence, the objective to complete its work in December 2000.

The results of these activities are clearly reflected in the attached financial statements and may be summarised as follows:

Retainedincome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R-21510408 Capital Expenditure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R 126739 Retained income at the beginning of the financial year . . . . . . . R 29 255 519

The retained income shows a negative figure of R21 510 408 mainly because of the utilisation of the surplus in the bank.

• STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

The TRC appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on 12 April 2000 in connection with the Auditor- Genera l ’s report for the 1998/99 financial y e a r. After the briefing the Committee requested the TRC to furnish them with m o re information especially about the non compliance with State Tender Board regulations mentioned in the Auditor- G e n eral ’s reports for the previous two financial years. The additional information was submitted on 19 May 2000.

• FINANCIAL STATEMENT S

The Chief Executive Officer acknowledges his responsibility for the fair presentation in the financial statements of the financial position and results of operations in conformity with generally accepted accounting practice.The Chief Executive O fficer has approved the financial statements for the 1999/2000 financial year.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

26 June 2000