TRC ROULETTE : Victims’ families place key hidden evidence before Khampepe inquiry

A piece of hidden evidence is promising to be a significant find in the dispute between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with regard to advocate Anton Ackermann’s alleged threat to arrest senior ANC leadership in 2006.

Ackermann had a sterling track record when he was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki in 2003 to head the newly formed Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU) set up within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to deal with post-TRC prosecutions.

In an affidavit dated June 2026, attorney Asmita Thakor, part of the legal team representing the families of victims, noted the handwritten index and original memorandum provided crucial evidence to the inquiry, supporting Ackermann’s claim that the 2006 memorandum was fake.

In her submission, Thakor expressed deep concern that a “vital index” was inexplicably withheld from the commission by the evidence leaders.

“The families are perplexed and deeply concerned that this key document was not previously placed before the commission,” she noted.

Project Gnome 

In March 2026, Ackermann gave evidence before the commission about the note dated 2006, which he claimed had been forged, regarding an investigation into ANC leadership in various landmine incidents. Ackermann was adamant that the note was not composed in 2006.

The forgery of this document, an internal office note originally drafted in 2003 to track the status of police Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) dockets, was not “a mere clerical error”, Ackermann told the inquiry. 

It had been used, he said, to frame him as a “rogue” prosecutor who was obsessively pursuing the arrest of then president Thabo Mbeki and other high-ranking ANC leaders in 2006, when this had not been the case.

Testifying in May, former SAPS head of its legal division, Dr Petrus Jacobs, had informed the commission the original note was still being held at the SAPS offices under lock and key in the General Piet Joubert Building in Pretoria.

Immediately after this, the legal team requested evidence leaders to arrange a physical inspection of the note, which occurred on 24 June 2026. Previously, evidence leaders had not made this index, compiled by Ackermann, available to the parties. “We do not know why this decision was taken”, Thakor noted.

What the index revealed is that Ackermann took the “A15” (as the memorandum is described in papers) decision on 26 June 2003 (marked line four in the index) alongside several other decisions that year.

The 2007 forgery

Ackermann previously testified that upon assuming his duties in 2003, he had conducted an audit of 395 police dockets at the Pretoria office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). 

Because the PCLU had initially lacked office space, Ackermann said he worked between the DPP office and the VGM Building in Pretoria, supported by his secretary Tia Pienaar, who typed his internal memoranda.

These notes were intended to be placed directly into police dockets to track their status, most notably whether the suspects had received amnesty or if investigations were still required.

The forgery came to light, he noted, on 19 August 2007, after an article in Rapport newspaper which alleged that Ackermann had given written instructions to the police to continue gathering evidence against ANC leaders, for the purpose of prosecution.

The newspaper reported that it had obtained the information “on good authority”. Startled by this news, Ackermann contacted SAPS head of legal services, Commissioner Phillip Jacobs, and requested a copy of his original office note from the landmine docket.

The alleged 2007 note and then SAPS Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s utmost conviction that it was genuine tipped the post-TRC prosecutions carriage off the rails.

Selebi’s lock and key

Retired South African police colonel Louis Bester, the man with the keys to the safe where TRC master files were transferred in 2004, last week told the inquiry that he sealed 10 boxes on the instruction of Selebi.

Bester maintained his role had been strictly limited to the safekeeping of official documents and securing expert forensic analysis regarding a disputed memorandum.

Bester testified that on 27 August 2007, he was contacted by Divisional Commissioner Johan de Beer and summoned to National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s office. 

Upon arrival, he had encountered De Beer, Assistant Commissioner Phillipus Christoffel Jacobs of SAPS legal services, and the National Commissioner. At the meeting, they discussed the disputed Ackermann memorandum.

Advocate Chris Macadam, Ackermann’s deputy, previously testified at the commission that SAPS member Superintendent Hennie Brits and Bester had met him, expressing a desire for the “ANC 37” and president Thabo Mbeki to be prosecuted. The ANC 37 were high-ranking party members who had applied for a general collective amnesty, without specifying exact offences or making full disclosure to the TRC, and were ultimately denied amnesty.

He alleged that Bester had been unhappy with the NPA’s decision not to prosecute the ANC 37. Bester denied this on Friday. Two forensic inquiries were conducted on the memorandum, one being “Project Gnome” headed by advocate Gerhard Nel (not to be confused with Gerrie Nel), regional head of the NPA’s Directorate of Special Operations, Gauteng.

The SAPS conducted an internal inquiry, commissioning an independent forensic expert to analyse the document. The SAPS ultimately maintained that its inquiry had revealed no one could be criminally investigated.

Bester also testified to a tug-of-war between the Directorate for Special Operations and the SAPS about the handing over of the original. The hearing has been adjourned to a date yet to be announced. DM