The ANC must request its president, Jacob Zuma, to stand down from public office until there is clarity about the charges he is facing, and the president of the South African government must “as a matter of extreme urgency” institute a judicial inquiry into the arms deal.

If the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) met today, these would be the first two recommendations it would make, TRC vice-chairman Alex Boraine said yesterday.

“We are going into a period of elections, and the statesmanlike thing for Mr Zuma to do, of his own volition, but if not, then by his party, is to stand back from the highest office in the land until found innocent of the charges against him,” Boraine said.

In the case of the arms deal, there were “too many innuendos, rumours, lies and half-truths”.

“We will never get to the bottom of all of this, and people may be wrongly charged because of the lack of clarity. Let's stop the talk, let's have a judicial commission of inquiry, and let its findings be made public, so we can set that behind us and move forward.”

Striking at the heart of the national controversies hounding the country since the end of apartheid, Boraine was explicit about the recommendations a contemporary TRC would make.

He was speaking at an event held as part of a 10th-anniversary conference, which is reflecting on and debating the recommendations made by the TRC.

A further recommendation the contemporary TRC would make, would be for the president to call together a national conference on crime.

“It's time we stopped hearing statements about a slight improvement here and a slight decrease in crime there… the incidence of rape and the assault on children is unacceptable in our democratic South Africa. It is time we put the spotlight on that, so we can address it efficiently,” Boraine said.

He also called for the government to reaffirm its commitment to the freedom of press.

“It is extremely worrying that time and time again something very drastic happens, and a government spokesperson then says it's the media blowing it up… Of course there are inefficiencies, inexperience and irresponsible reporting.

“(But) I worry about the statements saying 'don't take notice of that, it's just the media blowing it up, it's not serious'. Things are serious. Very bad things are happening, and we need to know about that.”

The next recommendation concerns the criminal justice system.

It is good that government acknowledged the criminal justice system was “in a mess”, but there was a worrying delay in the cases of high-profile people facing serious charges, Boraine said.

“How long has (suspended police commissioner Jackie) Selebi been suspended pending a trial? How much longer are we going to wait before we know where we are? The same with Jacob Zuma,” he said.

“Year after year it just drags on and drags on. If we are going to hold fast to the rule of law, then we must see that justice is done, and done speedily,” he said.

The contemporary TRC would also demand from government that it amend the electoral act so that constituency-based elections could take place again, for representatives would become accountable to the people they serve and not to their political masters.

Finally, there seemed to be “conflicting views about the judiciary, about the rule of law, and about justice”.

“At this time when new parties are being considered, we ought to challenge the ruling, but also all the other parties, to make it absolutely clear that they are completely committed to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law,” said Boraine.

“Without that, our future is at risk.”

Boraine expressed the hope that the seven recommendations of the contemporary TRC would be taken seriously, unlike the recommendations of the original TRC.

He was “gravely disappointed” at government's response to many of the recommendations made by the TRC, Boraine said, and in particular the default in terms of reparations for victims.

It was also disappointing that the recommendation that those who sought amnesty and were turned down, and those who ought to have applied for amnesty but did not, had not been prosecuted.

Boraine said there were “real bigshots” almost literally got away with murder.

And the reasons for this were “rank inefficiency”, and the fact that “they (the government) possibly felt amongst those could be some of their own party, the ANC”.

“It is a very strong charge, but I stand by it.”

With acknowledgements to Ella Smook and Cape Argus.