Key Facts

• South Africa's President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has called for a legal investigation into claims of political involvement in the prosecution of crimes from the apartheid period.
• This decision comes thirty years after the ending of apartheid, a system where the white minority ruled over the non-white majority and led to widespread discrimination and violence.
• A group of survivors and relatives of victims sued the South African government, accusing them of not providing justice for these past crimes.
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created in 1996, discovered many crimes committed during apartheid, such as murder and torture, but few cases moved forward to trial.
• This new inquiry is a result of a court case started by 25 families and survivors, who say that crimes during apartheid era have not been properly investigated.
• For many years, there have been claims that the African National Congress, the ruling party after apartheid, made a secret agreement with the old government to prevent old crimes from being prosecuted.
• The presidency has admitted that there have been ongoing allegations about inappropriate influence delaying or obstructing the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era crimes.
• Details about the leader of the investigation and when it will start will be announced.