/ 18 August 2009

Apartheid-era cop loses court bid to get job back

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday dismissed a bid by former apartheid policeman Wybrand du Toit to get his job back.

”The appeal must be dismissed,” said Chief Justice Pius Langa, handing down a unanimous judgement.

He said the judges considered the purpose behind the Reconciliation Act in writing this judgement.

It was made to lift the burden of crime from the shoulders of the perpetrators while also bringing some closure to victims. But the benefits to the perpetrator were never meant to outweigh the benefits to the victim.

”It is vital to the success of the process,” said Langa.

Also, amnesty was not meant to undo the past.

”To seek to undo all the consequences would be an endless task and place an undue burden on the state,” said Langa.

However, the Constitutional Court set aside orders for costs that were handed down by the high court in Pretoria and the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

”The cost orders … are, however, set aside because the issues raised are important and complex. The applicant should not be burdened with costs,” Langa said.

Du Toit was convicted on four charges of murder for the deaths of the so-called Motherwell Four — three black security policemen and an ”askari” (police informer), whose car was blown up in December 1989.

He was sentenced to 15 years in jail in June 1996 and lost his job as a policeman.

But he was granted amnesty along with three other former security policemen in terms of the Amnesty Act.

Before the amnesty, the national commissioner indicated that Du Toit would be reinstated should he be granted amnesty.

But the SCA in Bloemfontein dismissed his bid to be reinstated in his job, arguing that an undertaking by the national commissioner did not amount to a binding agreement.

Du Toit, who used to serve as a director and the national commanding officer for technical support services for the apartheid-era police, turned to the Constitutional Court after he lost his SCA bid last September. — Sapa