JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Former South African President Thabo Mbeki said Monday that he had neither ordered prosecutors to stop cases involving apartheid-era crimes nor struck secret deals to shield former security officers from justice.
“I did not direct, authorize, or approve the suppression of the investigation or prosecution of crimes,” Mbeki told a judicial inquiry in Johannesburg examining allegations that political interference in democratic South Africa prevented investigations and prosecutions of crimes committed under white minority rule.
Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999 and served until 2008, said in a written statement that the National Prosecuting Authority must explain why it failed to pursue cases referred by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
His testimony comes amid renewed efforts to resolve apartheid-era crimes left unprosecuted for decades. Ahead of his appearance, the Foundation for Human Rights and 25 families of victims and survivors called for an explanation and an apology.
“After so many years of waiting and obfuscation, the families really look forward to a candid explanation of why they have been denied justice,” the foundation’s executive director, Zaid Kimmie, said in a statement.
The African National Congress was at the forefront of the battle against the system of white minority rule and led South Africa to democracy when apartheid ended in 1994. But ANC-led governments since then have been criticized by some for prioritizing national reconciliation over justice for victims.
President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the inquiry last April after survivors and victims’ families sued successive governments for failing to investigate unresolved killings, disappearances and other crimes.
The truth commission, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu from 1996, offered perpetrators amnesty in exchange for full disclosure of politically motivated crimes. Those denied amnesty or who did not apply remained liable to prosecution, but many victims’ families have waited decades for justice.
The truth commission received about 7,000 amnesty applications. By November 2000, roughly 850 had been granted, and about 5,400 refused, according to an interim tally published by the Justice Department, with other applications partly granted, withdrawn or still being processed.
The truth commission referred about 300 cases for further investigation and possible prosecution, according to an NPA-commissioned review, but only a handful resulted in successful prosecutions. Many referred cases have stalled amid allegations of political interference. Missing evidence and the deaths of witnesses and suspects have made prosecutions more difficult.
Allegations against Mbeki include secret talks with former military generals to secure a clandestine agreement to avoid prosecution. In his April 2003 parliamentary address responding to the TRC's final report, Mbeki said prosecutors, “working with our intelligence agencies,” could enter into lawful arrangements with people willing to disclose information about past crimes.
Critics argue that Mbeki’s cabinet response paved the way for political interference.
Mbeki acknowledged Monday that he met with former military and police officers, but denied agreeing to protect them from prosecution — he said the discussions were intended to encourage their participation in the truth commission.
He said his 2003 remarks concerned people who had not gone through the truth commission’s amnesty process, rather than cases it had referred for prosecution. He said the speech rejected blanket amnesty and affirmed the NPA’s authority to decide which cases to prosecute.
As for presidential pardons, the former head of state said the process applied only to people already convicted and did not prevent investigations or prosecutions.
Mbeki and his successor, Jacob Zuma, unsuccessfully sought to have the inquiry’s chairperson, retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe, recuse herself, arguing that her prior roles with the TRC and NPA compromised her impartiality. The Constitutional Court dismissed their challenge.
Authorities have also reopened inquests into apartheid-era deaths, including the 1967 death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, the 1981 killing of lawyer Griffiths Mxenge, and the 1977 death of iconic anti-apartheid figure Steve Biko in police custody.
Mbeki’s testimony continues Tuesday, with three former Cabinet ministers due later this week. Zuma’s appearance, initially scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed to a date yet to be confirmed.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
FILE - South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki speaks, during his Reflections on the 30 years of democracy at Freedom Park, in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
GREEN RIVER, Wyo. (AP) — On Jackson Ramsay's family ranch late in the summer, there were few signs it had just weathered the worst-ever winter snowpack and record-setting heat.
Water twisted unhurriedly through the land, splayed into various branches that rejoined to form pools behind mounds of piled sticks. Young willows stretched from the bank across an expanse roughly the length of a football field, fed from moisture below.
Then a familiar brown head emerged from a deep pool: a beaver.
“They're thriving here,” Ramsay said, beaming at the creature. “They benefit us, and hopefully we benefit them.”
The Ramsays' ranch in southwest Wyoming is one of many areas embracing the semiaquatic rodents as nature's engineers. Conservation groups and government agencies are increasing their use of “starter homes” made of wood and brush to encourage the creatures to move in and expand upon the initial structures. Beaver dams slow moving water in a way that promotes localized year-round availability, creates habitat for native fish and provides a natural break that slows wildfires. Proponents hope that by increasing active beaver dams, the ecosystem will grow more resilient. This is increasingly vital as climate change and overuse make the U.S. West drier, experts say.
“In their blood, they have one thing and that’s to dam streams up and make deep water habitat so they can survive,” said Nick Walrath, a project manager for the nonprofit Trout Unlimited. He first pitched the idea to Ramsay, who now proudly hosts more than 100 human-made beaver dams in addition to natural ones.
Walrath has overseen construction of some 500 “starter homes” for beavers across snow- and spring-fed streams — including Trout Creek on the Ramsay ranch — that form the headwaters of the Green River, the largest tributary to the Colorado River. The materials are simple: several raw posts jammed vertically into streambeds, branches loosely woven around the posts and mud to pack it down.
The structures, known as beaver dam analogs, are typically built near existing beaver families to encourage them to “move in” and customize them. The ultimate goal is to cultivate thriving beaver populations in key watersheds across both public and private land in the western U.S.
“Beavers are uniquely positioned as our allies in the battle against climate change,” said Samantha Miller, senior carnivore campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Without beavers, water can also move so fast that it erodes the bank.
“Where the water is held there, sediment builds up, the soils build, vegetation takes off and really makes it lush,” Ramsay said. “They’re really beneficial when they build where you want them to, but they can be a nuisance when they build where you're trying to divert water.”
Flooding caused by beaver dams may be a boon for ecosystems, but can present problems for homes and infrastructure built near streams.
Utah State University operates the state's beaver relocation program that takes unwanted beavers from private property and moves them to remote streams where they're needed. It uses live-trap cages and quarantines the beavers at a facility, aiming to keep families together and prevent the spread of invasive species, before re-releasing them in wilder areas. The program has moved approximately 100 beavers each year since 2019.
The state bans lethal beaver trapping along key watersheds where it is trying to grow the population. It also pays trappers to live-trap beavers to hand over to trained experts for relocation.
Aquatic ecologist Nick Bouwes, a Utah State faculty member who helped launch the program, said he received countless requests to get rid of the furry creatures that had caused a nuisance for property owners. But before moving them, he'd recommend solutions to coexist. There's a flexible tube known as a pond leveler that runs through a beaver dam and acts as an overflow drain, as well as “beaver deceiver” cages that protect drainage pipes from damming and fencing for tree base protection.
Still, if beavers are unwanted, nonlethal means are worth the effort because the animals can benefit other water bodies, Bouwes said.
Beaver populations have made a strong recovery since fur trappers nearly caused their extinction in the 19th century, but protection is still needed because of their role in preserving scarce water resources in the American West, Miller said.
Oregon and Wyoming limit commercial beaver trapping, while California has banned it altogether.
Walrath and other advocates for beaver expansion understand that a lot more work is needed to make a meaningful difference across the basin.
“It’s a drop in the bucket,” he said of the work they’ve done so far. But after the worst snowpack ever measured, followed by record-setting summer heat, any effort is “much more meaningful.”
On a recent August morning, Walrath and his crew were putting up several “starter homes” on private grazing land along Spring Creek in western Wyoming. Water rose several feet across the dry, eroded bank in a valley thick with sagebrush shortly after the structures were erected.
“If we can replicate that a hundred, a thousand times over the entire Colorado River basin, we can have a much larger impact to the system itself,” he said.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
A beaver sits in the Green River, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, near Green River, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
Nick Walrath holds a trout at Trout Creek, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, near Rock Springs, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
A beaver swims in the Green River, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, near Green River, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
Water sits in Trout Creek, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, near Rock Springs, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
Workers build a beaver dam on Spring Creek, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, near Rock Springs, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
Jackson Ramsey walks over a beaver dam on his property Friday, Aug. 19, 2026, near Rock Springs, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
A beaver sits in the Green River, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, near Green River, Wyo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)
