President Cyril Ramaphosa’s legal team is set to begin negotiations to settle a lawsuit filed against him and several government agencies by families of the victims of apartheid-era crimes, who say the State has stymied their attempts to get justice.

The case, brought by 20 victims or representatives of families impacted by the murder, torture and abductions meted out by apartheid security forces, is seeking R167-million in damages and the establishment of a commission of inquiry into why those crimes have never been prosecuted. Ramaphosa, along with the police and justice ministers have dropped their opposition to the case. The National Prosecuting Authority is still opposing it.

“It means that he won’t be opposing the relief we seek — the commission of inquiry into the political interference and the constitutional damages,” said Howard Varney, a lawyer acting on behalf of the families. Negotiations will start March 17 and the judge has urged the parties to reach a settlement by the end of the month, he said.

The lawsuit is an attempt to resolve a decades-old dispute over the failure of successive African National Congress-led administrations to pursue the cases. It alleges that governments, including that led by former president Thabo Mbeki, deliberately frustrated attempts to move forward with prosecutions and says there may have been a secret deal with officials of the former apartheid government.

“The president prefers mediation as an appropriate platform to resolve the matter with the families,” Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said.

Mbeki, who has denied interfering in prosecutions, has indicated that he intends to intervene in the case and must do so by March 31, Varney said. The former president’s foundation declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.

South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up by former President Nelson Mandela, recommended that about 300 cases be pursued when it finished its work in the early 2000s. There have only been a handful of prosecutions since.