PRESS RELEASE

To: All Media

ATT: News Editors, Human Rights Reporters

For Immediate Release

30 January 2026 

Survivors and Victims’ Families Welcome Dismissal of Recusal Applications Against Justice Khampepe 

Statement by the Foundation for Human Rights

The survivors and families of victims of apartheid-era crimes, together with the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR), welcome the dismissal of the applications brought by former Presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki seeking the recusal of Justice Sisi Khampepe as Chairperson of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into political interference in Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases. 

In a comprehensive ruling delivered on 30 January 2026, Justice Khampepe dismissed both applications, finding that neither former President Zuma nor former President Mbeki had established actual bias or a reasonable apprehension of bias. The Chairperson further found that both applications were brought after unreasonable and unexplained delays, which on their own warranted dismissal.  

The ruling affirms the well-established legal principle that allegations of bias must be supported by cogent facts and not speculation, conjecture, or dissatisfaction with past judicial decisions.  

Particularly, Justice Khampepe found:  

• The applicants failed to demonstrate any bias arising from her prior roles at the TRC Amnesty Committee and at the National Prosecuting Authority, which ended in 2001 and 1999 respectively, and the present mandate of the Commission, which is confined to alleged interference in TRC cases from 2003 onwards. Importantly, the ruling underscores that prior service on the TRC or at the NPA does not, without more, constitute grounds for recusal.  
• Judges are presumed to act impartially by virtue of their oath, training, and experience. The applicants were found to have fallen “remarkably short” of displacing this presumption. 
• President Zuma has failed to produce any evidence of an alleged “secret communication” between the Chief Evidence Leader, Advocate Semenya SC, and Justice Khampepe in relation to Advocate Semenya’s recusal application, which was dismissed on 4 December. Although President Zuma did not participate in that application, he claimed to be in possession of emails that could suggest Justice Khampepe provided inappropriate advice to Advocate Semenya on a matter she was required to decide. Justice Khampepe dismissed this ground for recusal, finding it to be a mere threat unsupported by any evidence, and noting that President Zuma had produced no proof in the form of the alleged emails, to substantiate the allegation of bias.
• President Zuma has likewise failed to provide any evidence to substantiate his claim that Justice Khampepe is biased against him on the basis of her co-authorship of a previous Constitutional Court judgment that resulted in his imprisonment. In dismissing the recusal application, Justice Khampepe emphasised that the judgment in question was a majority judgment, that President Zuma identified no portion of the judgment indicating bias, and that while he referred to her past interviews, he cited no substantive extracts that could support his claim. Justice Khampepe concluded that the “aim is plainly to denigrate me and delegitimise the Apex Court.”
• The Chairperson noted that the recusal applications had already caused significant disruption to the work of the Commission, including the postponement of its first sitting for 2026, at considerable cost to the public purse and to the families who have waited decades for truth and accountability. 

For survivors and victims’ families, the ruling is an important reaffirmation that the Commission must be allowed to complete its work without further obstruction. The families have consistently acted in good faith and remain committed to participating in the inquiry, despite repeated delays that have compounded their pain and frustration. 

The Foundation for Human Rights reiterates that the Commission was established precisely to investigate whether political interference obstructed the investigation and prosecution of TRC cases. That mandate cannot be fulfilled if its work is continually stalled by applications that undermine the administration of justice and serve only to delay the process. 

END/ 

Media queries: 

Foundation for Human Rights: Zaid Kimmie, zkimmie@fhr.org.za / 082 883 4934 

Webber Wentzel: Asmita Thakor, asmita.thakor@webberwentzel.com  / 011 530 5000  

Background to the Commission 

In January 2025, 25 families and survivors and the FHR brought an application to compel President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a commission of inquiry into the interference in the investigation and prosecution of TRC cases, together with a claim for constitutional damages. President Ramaphosa agreed to establish an inquiry and the Khampepe Commission was launched on 29 May 2025. 

The Commission, established under the Commissions Act, is a quasi-judicial body tasked with inquiring into allegations of interference in the criminal justice system in respect of the TRC cases. This interference resulted in the blocking of hundreds of murder cases and other serious crimes from South Africa’s past from being taken forward.