Masemola v Special Pensions Appeal Board and Another

Mr Nathaniel Mashilo Masemola, a veteran of the liberation struggle and long-time ANC member, was awarded a special pension under the Special Pensions Act 69 of 1996 in 1997. In 2001 he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to imprisonment, which triggered his disqualification from receiving the pension under section 1(8)(b) of the Act. His pension payments were stopped. In 2011, he received a presidential pardon under section 84(2)(j) of the Constitution, expunging his fraud convictions. He then sought reinstatement of his special pension. The Government Pensions Administration Agency and the Special Pensions Appeal Board refused, contending that the disqualification operated by law, that pardons were not retrospective, and that the relevant part of the Act had lapsed. The High Court ordered reinstatement of the pension from the date of the pardon, but the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned that decision. Mr Masemola then approached the Constitutional Court.

Leave to appeal was granted; the appeal was upheld; the order of the Supreme Court of Appeal was set aside. It was declared that Mr Masemola’s special pension was restored from 21 July 2011, the date of his presidential pardon. The respondents were ordered to pay his pension arrears from that date and to pay his costs in the Constitutional Court and lower courts.

This case clarifies the legal effect of presidential pardons in South African law, particularly in relation to statutory disqualifications. It affirms that a pardon expunges a conviction and removes its ongoing legal consequences unless legislation clearly provides otherwise. The judgment also establishes that lapsing provisions in the Special Pensions Act do not extinguish vested pension rights, thereby protecting the dignity and financial security of liberation struggle veterans.