ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT - ISSUE/EDITION Nr 331 - 01/10/1997

ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 331 - 01/10/1997

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE


South Africa

2 - Truth and Reconciliation Commission

by Sean O'Leary, September 1997, Pretoria, South Africa

THEME = JUSTICE


INTRODUCTION

Some truth, little reconciliation, a new challenge


The two year life of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is fast coming to an end. 15 December 1997 is the official closing date. The Amnesty sub-committee will have to continue into 1998, given the volume of applications still to be processed.

As the TRC comes to an end, it is shrouded in a number of controversies. Not least is a challenge in the courts by the National Party. Ironically, it was this Party that insisted amnesty should be granted and who were therefore the initiators of the Commission, back in December 1993. In fact the interim constitution would not have been signed had the amnesty provision not been included. In a nutshell, the NP argue that the Commission is biased against their Party. They want the Vice-Chairperson, Alex Boraine removed, and Archbishop Tutu to apologise to F.W. De Klerk for the rigorous way he challenged him during the NP's second submission to the TRC. Most believe this is sour grapes. The NP have given only tepid support to the TRC. Their absurd claims indicate the case may be used for political ends, such as an attempt to rescue their degenerating social profile. What most people want, is for the NP to apologise to the nation and to take responsibility for its role in past human rights abuses.

Different perceptions

Perception is a strange thing. Like it or not, South Africans perceive issues, realities and situations very differently. A clear example of this, was seen at the Magnus Malan trial for the KwaMakhutha massacre, where eleven, mainly women and children were killed. A former Military Intelligence officer said of the incident: "The operation was a success, but the wrong people were killed during the course of the operation." More recently at an amnesty hearing one, of those convicted in the killing of the American human rights activist, Amy Biehl, when asked why he did it, explained that she was killed because of the land. (Note: The Anzanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the armed wing of the Pan African Congress (PAC), have as their primary political objective, the return of African land to Africans. They maintain that by Africans they mean those who identify themselves as such, but in reality, most membes of the PAC are black, and many of APLA's attacks have been targetted at white people such as Amy Biehl, a USA volunteer in Cape Town.)

There is not one perception of our past, but rather a kaleidoscope of opinion and perception. If we do not perceive the past in more or less the same way, then it is unlikely that we will perceive the healing of that past in the same way. In this regard an objective understanding of what really did happen would help to dispel conflicting perceptions, and move towards one acceptable history. The report that will be presented to President Mandela at the end of the TRC, process could play this role, by becoming the official history of the period 1960 to 1994.

Telling their story

To date, over 12,000 people have come forward to tell their story to the TRC. The vast majority of these have only submitted written statements, while relatively few have had the opportunity to testify at a public human rights violations hearing. They have poured their hearts out, recounting with grief the agony of losing a loved one, or of being tortured, or having lost all their worldly possessions in a bombing... the list goes on. In one sense, these hearings have played a very important role. For the first time, the pain of the victims and survivors has been officially acknowledged. The process has allowed for some healing to take place.

No policy on restitution and rehabilitation

However, it has not been enough. These people expect some kind of follow up. To-date, no policy of restitution or rehabilitation has been agreed upon by the TRC. This remains a tragedy. Victims and survivors expect some form of compensation for their suffering and loss. Recommendations will be made by the TRC to the government, on possible avenues of restitution and rehabilitation of victims and survivors. However, it may be too little, too late. These people feel let down. They leave hearings with the impression that this will be their first and last contact with the TRC. They feel cheated.

Amnesty hearings

The amnesty hearings are proving the most challenging to the TRC. It must be recalled that for a person to be granted amnesty, they must prove that: 1) What they did, was for a political motive; 2) That it happened within the dates of the TRC mandate; 3) They must give full disclosure. The TRC has received close on 7,000 applications. So far the sub-committee on amnesty has dealt with 1,700 applications. Public hearings have been held in 67 applications, of which 17 have been turned down and 50 granted. The sub-committee has further granted 23 amnesties in chambers (behind closed doors), and refused 1,648 after consideration in chambers. What is clear is that, like the human rights violations hearings, only a few applications will be heard in public.

By far the most high profile amnesty application to-date, has been that of Clive Derby-Lewis, the former Conservative Party MP, and Janusz Walus, the Polish immigrant who shot and killed Chris Hani, Secretary General of the SA Communist Party and popular heir apparent to Nelson Mandela. This case, more than any other, has focused the nation's attention on the amnesty procedures. After ten days of hearings, it was clear that there was not full disclosure about the conspiracy to kill Hani. This is the first criterion for amnesty. Secondly, the Conservative Party does not and did not embrace a policy of political assassination.These two factors alone are enough to reject the applications.

Amnesty requirements

For many South Africans the amnesty requirements are flawed. At no stage did these two applicants say they were sorry, nor do they have to. Like it or not, contrition cannot be forced. You are either contrite or you are not. But restitution of some kind can be forced. The amnesty hearings offer a golden opportunity to impose some form of penance on the perpetrators. It is important for the victim to see that the perpetrator does not walk away scot-free, and for the perpetrator himself to realise that there is a price to be paid for wrong doing. This would be an attempt to bring some form of individual justice into the equation, something that is totally lacking at the moment. We could go a step further and create a voluntary "shame tax" where civil society could contribute to the victims and survivors as an act of solidarity and reconciliation. However, these would have to be post-TRC recommendations. They do not fall within the present requirements of the Act.

Very little reconciliation

As we come to the end of the life of the TRC, we are confronted with a mixed bag. Certainly, some truth has been unearthed, and particularly for victims and survivors this is important. Some of the horror of the apartheid years has been laid bare, and it is not a pretty sight. At the same time, one must say that very little reconciliation has occurred. Perhaps this was too much to ask of the TRC, and will have to be a recommendation for the way forward in the future. South Africa needs a body to carry the process forward into the arena of reconciliation. In other words, where the work of the TRC ends, a new challenge arises.

Restoring a sense of right and wrong

As we step out of the wreckage of the past, we are confronted with the reality of a country fast becoming a moral wasteland. The post- TRC period must help us as a nation, to acknowledge that within these borders, there are many things in our past that were wrong and should never be allowed to happen again. Put simply, we have to restore a sense of right and wrong in our country. The culture of impunity must go. Apartheid and its consequences have almost destroyed traditional African values and indeed religious values that guided communities. Now as a nation we find ourselves with no common moral heritage, no common moral foundation on which we can build our economy, our society and even our new democracy.

As the TRC draws to a close, it is ideally placed to launch a campaign to introduce a new era in morality for the common good of our country. We need a structure that will build on the TRC and begin to move into the very difficult field of reconciliation. There is no quick fix for reconciliation. It will take time, but it is imperative that we acknowledge the need and do something about it. Let us seize the moment for fear of being found wanting




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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE


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