President Mandela has rejected a general amnesty for human rights crimes committed during the apartheid era.

In a newspaper interview, he confirmed a recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commision that a blanket amnesty should be resisted in order to avoid a culture of impunity.

Some opposition parties have called for a general amnesty as the best way to heal the country's deep divisions.

Mr Mandela's comments follow newspaper reports that there were plans to grant a blanket amnesty to all perpetrators of human rights abuses in Kwazulu Natal province where the ANC and Inkatha have been involved in political violence for the past eleven years.