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Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice[1] body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid.[a] Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.

For other official truth and reconciliation commissions, see Truth and Reconciliation Commission (disambiguation).

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

1996

Court-like restorative justice

Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No. 34 of 1995

TRC

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation was established in 2000 as the successor organisation of the TRC.

Creation and mandate[edit]

The TRC was set up in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act,[3] No. 34 of 1995, and was based in Cape Town. The hearings started in 1996. The mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, as well as offering reparation and rehabilitation to the victims. A register of reconciliation was also established so that ordinary South Africans who wished to express regret for past failures could also express their remorse.[4]: 219 


The TRC had a number of high-profile members, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu (chairman), Alex Boraine (deputy chairman), Sisi Khampepe, Wynand Malan, Klaas de Jonge and Emma Mashinini.

The Violations Committee investigated human rights abuses that occurred between 1960 and 1994.

Human Rights

The Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee was charged with restoring victims' dignity and formulating proposals to assist with rehabilitation.

The Amnesty Committee considered applications from individuals who applied for amnesty in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

The work of the TRC was accomplished through three committees:[5]

Its usefulness in terms of confirming what had happened during the apartheid regime ("bringing out the truth")

The feelings of reconciliation that could be linked to the Commission

The positive effects (both domestically and internationally) that the Commission brought about (i.e. in the political and the economic environment of South Africa).

The TRC's emphasis on reconciliation was in sharp contrast to the approach taken by the Nuremberg trials and other de-Nazification measures. South Africa's first coalition government chose to pursue forgiveness over prosecution, and reparation over retaliation.[10]


Opinions differ about the efficacy of the restorative justice method (as employed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) as compared to the retributive justice method, of which the Nuremberg trials are an example. In one survey study,[11] the effectiveness of the TRC Commission was measured on a variety of levels:


In the study by Orlando Lentini, the opinions of three ethnic groups were measured in this study: English-speaking White South Africans, the Afrikaners, and the Xhosa.[11] According to the researchers, all of the participants perceived the TRC to be effective in bringing out the truth, but to varying degrees, depending on the group in question.


The differences in opinions about the effectiveness can be attributed to how each group viewed the proceedings. Some viewed them as not entirely accurate, as many people would lie in order to keep themselves out of trouble while receiving amnesty for their crimes. (The commission would grant amnesty to some with consideration given to the weight of the crimes committed.) Some said that the proceedings only helped to remind them of the horrors that had taken place in the past when they had been working to forget such things. Thus, the TRC's effectiveness in terms of achieving those very things within its title is still debatable.[11]

Media coverage[edit]

The hearings were initially set to be heard in camera, but the intervention of 23 non-governmental organisations eventually succeeded in gaining media access to the hearings. On 15 April 1996, the South African National Broadcaster televised the first two hours of the first human rights violation committee hearing live. With funding from the Norwegian government, radio continued to broadcast live throughout. Additional high-profile hearings, such as Winnie Mandela's testimony, were also televised live.


The rest of the hearings were presented on television each Sunday, from April 1996 to June 1998, in hour-long episodes of the Truth Commission Special Report. The programme was presented by progressive Afrikaner journalist Max du Preez, former editor of the Vrye Weekblad.[12] The producers of the programme included Anneliese Burgess, Jann Turner, Benedict Motau, Gael Reagon, Rene Schiebe and Bronwyn Nicholson, a production assistant.[13]

In the arts and popular culture[edit]

Film[edit]

Various films have been made about the commission:

an apartheid hit squad much discussed in the final TRC report[27]

Civil Cooperation Bureau

Institute for Justice and Reconciliation

Peace commission

Reconciliation theology

Restorative justice

Transitional justice

Truth commission

Terry Bell, . 2003. "Unfinished Business: South Africa, Apartheid and Truth."

Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza

Boraine, Alex. 2001. "A Country Unmasked: Inside South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

Cole, Catherine. 2010. "Performing South Africa's Truth Commission: Stages of Transition."

and Philippe-Joseph Salazar, Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. The Fundamental Documents, Cape Town: New Africa Books/David Philip, 2008.

Doxtader, Erik

Edelstein, Jillian. 2002. "Truth and Lies: Stories from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa."

. 2006. "A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness."

Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla

Grunebaum, Heidi Peta. Memorializing the Past: Everyday Life in South Africa After the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2011.

Hayner, Priscilla. 2010. "Unspeakable Truths: Transitional Justice and the Challenge of Truth Commissions"

Hendricks, Fred. 2003. "Fault-Lines in South African Democracy: Continuing Crisis of Inequality and Injustice."

. "Director's Note". In Ubu and the Truth Commission, by Jane Taylor, viii–xv. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2007.

Kentridge, William

Kesselring, Rita. 2017. Bodies of Truth: Law, memory and emancipation in post-apartheid South Africa. Stanford University Press.

. 2000. "Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa."

Krog, Antjie

Martin, Arnaud. 2009. La mémoire et le pardon. Les commissions de la vérité et de la réconciliation en Amérique latine. Paris: L'Harmattan.

Mack, Katherine. 2014. "From Apartheid to Democracy: Deliberating Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa."

Moon, Claire. 2008. "Narrating Political Reconciliation: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

Ross, Fiona. 2002. "Bearing Witness: Women and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa."

Tutu, Desmond. 2000. "No Future Without Forgiveness."

Villa-Vicencio, Charles and Wilhelm Verwoerd. 2005. "Looking Back, Reaching Forward: Reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa."

Wilson, Richard A. 2001. The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: legitimizing the post-apartheid state. Cambridge University Press.  978-0521001946

ISBN

Official website

"Traces of Truth": Documents relating to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission