Members of the Khulumani Support Group and the Galela Campaign have resumed their protest outside the Constitutional Court, demanding reparations for crimes committed during apartheid.

• Dozens of elderly people have been sleeping outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg.
• They are members of the Khulumani Support Group and the Galela Campaign who are demanding that they be paid reparations for damages suffered during apartheid.
• The Department of Justice says the process of paying individual reparations, set up in 1995 through the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, has been finalised and the protesters do not qualify.

About 50 elderly people have been sleeping outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg since 2 November, demanding reparations for crimes committed during apartheid, according to GroundUp.

The group, which includes members of the Khulumani Support Group and the Galela Campaign, says the government has not addressed its concerns. Some say they sustained injuries in confrontations with apartheid police and still have bullets in their bodies. Others say they lost loved ones or were chased from their homes.

The protests have been going on intermittently for years.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up in 1995 through the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, was tasked with identifying and verifying victims qualifying to get reparations. The report arising from those consultations included a list of 21 000 people. This was later cut down to 17 000 people eligible for reparations.

According to the President’s Fund, which is mandated to pay out reparations, everyone who applied and was found eligible received a R30 000 grant, except for 13 people, seven of whom were confirmed to be living overseas.

The Department of Justice considers the process finalised, but the protesters want it to be opened up again.

They say there is money in the President’s Fund which should be paid out.

The fund is supposed to make reparations in six categories:

The fund’s investments have been growing much faster than its disbursements and as of March 2022, with just under R1.9 billion on its books.

Judy Ann Seidman from Khulumani told GroundUp that promises by the Ministry of Justice and the Gauteng premier’s office to meet the group had not been kept. The protesters want an urgent meeting.

“The number of members is slowly decreasing because some have died because they are sick and elderly. All we want is for the government to hear our call in the name of our democracy and pay what rightfully belongs to us. As we speak, the money continues to lie in the President’s Fund, to the tune of R2 billion. What more do we need to do for our government to hear us?” Seidman asked.

Members of Khulumani and Galela say they will not vote in the 2024 elections if reparations are not paid.

ALSO READ | Why pensioners have been sleeping outside the Constitutional Court

Seventy-year-old Jabulile Sithole from Katlehong in Ekurhuleni, who has been sleeping at the court, said she developed an eye problem when she was tear-gassed. Since 2019, she has been on the waiting list for an operation at a government hospital, she says.

“A private hospital asked for R25 000 to do the operation quicker. I would go there if only the government would pay us, but nothing seems to be happening,” Sithole said.

Thabo Shabangu, 61, said:

He said he would go on sleeping outside the court until reparations were paid.

Sithole and Shabangu both said their names were not on the TRC list because they heard about the reparations process too late.

Department of Justice spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said most of the people from the group who had come forward did not meet the criteria stipulated by the TRC.

“Reparations are specific only for TRC victims. If you had gone to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and given them your story, you would have received a number. Some people didn’t have a TRC number, which is the only way we could identify if someone is a TRC victim or not,” Phiri said.

He added that there were plans to have a meeting with the group to see how the department could help.

However, he said, “our mandate as a department is limited to people who are victims of gross human rights violations and specified in law”.

Phiri said those who did not qualify for the once-off payment could still benefit from community rehabilitation programs.

He said as of 30 September 2023, R805 million had been paid out to beneficiaries identified by the TRC – R53.2 million on interim reparations; R497.7 million on final reparations; nearly R5 million on exhumations and reburials; R129.2 million on higher education and training; and R120.1 million on basic education.

In terms of housing benefits, Phiri said, regulations are yet to be finalised by the Department of Human Settlements.