Ministerial Interference with appointments to the NPRC (Secretariat) Section 234 of the Constitution states that the “Independent Commissions have power to employ staff and, subject to the law, to regulate their conditions of service”. This means that clauses 10 and 11 that empower the Minister to appoint the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of the Commission are an interference with the activities of the Commission. The communities are therefore of the view that the Minister has too much power and his intensive involvements with the work of the NPRC are a threat to its independence. This is especially with regards to appointing staff of the Commission, the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary for the Commission. The recommendation is that appointments must be the sole responsibility of the Commission itself. Protection of victims/witnesses Section 8(13) of the Bill provides for protection of any persons associated with the investigation. Clause 7 states that before carrying out an investigation, the Commission must give at least 14 days’ notice, in the Gazette and in newspapers, before it conducts an investigation. The issue raised by communities regarding this is that the 14-30 days’ time period of publishing cases is too much such that perpetrators are alerted and can affect the process by either running away, destroying evidence or by intimidating and harassing witnesses. The advertising days must therefore be completely removed or reduced to a more reasonable time frame such that victims remain protected and need not fear revictimisation. Prosecuting Language The prosecuting language used in the Bill seems to actually instill fear in the witnesses and victims. Section 8(11a and b) of the Bill states that those who are said to provide false evidence will be prosecuted or subjected to still penalties. The criminalization of the actions of people summoned to appear before the Commission has the potential of instilling fear in the victims of past violations. This therefore means the Bill must make clear what real evidence is given 7