The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

in 1996 after the end of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Authorised by

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

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. The TRC was seen by many as a crucial component of the transition to full and free

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

in South Africa. Despite some flaws, it is generally (although not universally) thought to have been successful. The

Institute for Justice and Reconciliation The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) is a non-governmental organisation and think tank based in Cape Town, South Africa. It was forged out of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2000. The aim was to ensure that less ...

was established in 2000 as the successor organisation of the TRC.

Creation and mandate

The TRC was set up in terms of the ''Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act'', No. 34 of 1995, and was based in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. 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. The TRC had a number of high-profile members, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu (chairman),

Alex Boraine Alexander Lionel Boraine (10 January 1931 – 5 December 2018) was a South African politician, minister, and anti-apartheid activist. Early life Alex Boraine was born in Cape Town and grew up in a poor white housing estate. He would leave h ...

(deputy chairman), Sisi Khampepe,

Wynand Malan Wynand Malan (born 25 May 1943) is a liberal Afrikaner South African politician. A lawyer, Malan entered politics in the 1977 South African election when he was elected to the South Africa's all white parliament as the National Party MP for ...

, Klaas de Jonge and

Emma Mashinini Emma Mashinini (21 August 1929 – 10 July 2017) was a South African trade unionist and political leader. Living in Johannesburg, her family was forcibly displaced several times during her childhood. She started working at age 14 and soon beca ...

Committees

The work of the TRC was accomplished through three committees: * The Human Rights Violations Committee investigated human rights abuses that occurred between 1960 and 1994. * 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.

Process

Public hearings of the Human Rights Violations Committee and the Amnesty Committee were held at many venues around South Africa, including

(at the University of the Western Cape),

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

(at the Central Methodist Mission), and Randburg (at the Rhema Bible Church). The commission was empowered to grant amnesty to those who committed abuses during the apartheid era, as long as the crimes were politically motivated, proportionate, and there was full disclosure by the person seeking amnesty. To avoid victor's justice, no side was exempt from appearing before the commission. The commission heard reports of human rights violations and considered amnesty applications from all sides, from the apartheid state to the liberation forces, including the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

Numbers

The Commission found more than 19,050 people had been victims of gross human rights violations. An additional 2,975 victims were identified through the applications for amnesty. In reporting these numbers, the Commission voiced its regret that there was very little overlap of victims between those seeking restitution and those seeking amnesty. A total of 5,392 amnesty applications were refused, granting only 849 out of the 7,111 (which includes the number of additional categories, such as "withdrawn").

Significance and impact

The TRC's emphasis on reconciliation was in sharp contrast to the approach taken by the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

and other de-Nazification measures. South Africa's first black government chose to pursue forgiveness over prosecution, and reparation over retaliation. Opinions differ about the efficacy of the restorative justice method (as employed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) as compared to the

retributive justice Retributive justice is a theory of punishment that when an offender breaks the law, justice requires that they suffer in return, and that the response to a crime is proportional to the offence. As opposed to revenge, retribution—and thus ret ...

method, of which the Nuremberg trials are an example. In one survey study, the effectiveness of the TRC Commission was measured on a variety of levels: * 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). In the study by Orlando Lentini, the opinions of three ethnic groups were measured in this study: the British Africans, the

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cast ...

s, and the Xhosa.Vora, Jay A., and Erika Vora. 2004. "The Effectiveness of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Perceptions of Xhosa, Afrikaner, and English South Africans." ''Journal of Black Studies'' 34.3: 301–322. 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.

Media coverage

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 Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She ser ...

'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 ''Vrye Weekblad'' was a groundbreaking progressive, anti-apartheid Afrikaans national weekly newspaper that was launched in November 1988 and forced to close in February 1994. The paper was driven into bankruptcy by the legal costs of defendin ...

''. The producers of the programme included Anneliese Burgess, Jann Turner, Benedict Motau, Gael Reagon, Rene Schiebe and Bronwyn Nicholson, a production assistant.

In the arts and popular culture

Film

Various films have been made about the commission:

Documentary films

* '' Confronting the Truth'' (2006) by

Steve York Steven H. York (born July 1, 1943) is a documentary filmmaker and video game creator who has worked in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America on subjects ranging from religious fundamentalism to American history to nonviolent conflict. ...

. Produced in association with the United States Institute of Peace. * '' Facing the Truth'' (1999) by Bill Moyers. Two-part '' PBS'' series. * ''

Long Night's Journey into Day ''Long Night's Journey Into Day'' is a 2000 American documentary film about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-Apartheid South Africa. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Reception Critical response '' ...

'' (2000) by Frances Reid. Won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

Feature films

* ''

Forgiveness Forgiveness, in a psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may initially feel victimized or wronged, goes through a change in feelings and attitude regarding a given offender, and overcomes the impact of t ...

'' (2004) by

Ian Gabriel Ian Gabriel is a South African film and commercials director based in Cape Town, South Africa. He directed the film ''Forgiveness'' starring Arnold Vosloo, which treats the theme of forgiveness in post-apartheid South Africa. And directed a ...

. A South African feature film, starring South African–born actor Arnold Vosloo as a disgraced ex-cop seeking forgiveness from the family of the activist he killed under the apartheid regime. With

Quanita Adams Quanita Adams is stage and screen actress living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has performed in the movies ''Forgiveness'' (2004, alongside Arnold Vosloo), ''Cape of Good Hope'' (2004) and ''Skeem'' (2011). She has appeared on stage in not ...

and Zane Meas. * '' In My Country'' (2004). A feature film very loosely based on '' Country of My Skull'', a 1998 autobiographical text by Antjie Krog that dealt with her coverage of the hearings. With Samuel L. Jackson and

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer. She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...

. * '' Red Dust'' (2004). A feature film based on the novel of the same title by South African writer

Gillian Slovo Gillian Slovo (born 15 March 1952) is a South African-born writer who lives in the UK. She was a recipient of the Golden PEN Award. Early life and education Gillian Slovo was born on 15 March 1952 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her family moved ...

. With Hilary Swank,

Jamie Bartlett James Bartlett (9 July 1966 – 23 May 2022) was a British-born South African actor best known for his role as the wicked puppet master, David Genaro, in '' Rhythm City'' and his theatre work. Career Television Bartlett was a well-known South ...

and Chiwetel Ejiofor. * ''

Zulu Love Letter ''Zulu Love Letter'' is a 2004 film. Synopsis Thandeka, a young Black journalist, lives in fear of Johannesburg's past. She's so troubled that she can't work, and her relationship with her 13-year-old deaf daughter Mangi goes from bad to worse ...

'' (2004). A film by Ramadan Suleman, starring

Pamela Nomvete Pamela Nomvete (born 1963) is an Ethiopian-born South African/British actress. Life Pamela Nomvete was born in Ethiopia to South African parents. She spent her childhood in many different countries, and attended boarding school in the United Ki ...

. * '' The Forgiven'' (2018). A film by Roland Joffé, starring

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making his f ...

as Desmond Tutu and Eric Bana as Piet Blomfeld.

Theatre

Several plays have been produced about the TRC: * ''

Truth in Translation ''Truth in Translation'' is a stage play conceived and directed by Michael Lessac, with music by Hugh Masekela. It tells the story of the interpreters at South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The play was written in a collabora ...

'' (2006), by Paavo Tom Tammi, in collaboration with American director,

Michael Lessac Michael Lessac (born 1940) is a theatre, television, and film director and screenwriter. Lessac is also the Artistic Director of Colonnades Theatre Lab, Inc and of Colonnades Theatre Lab, South Africa. He is the Project Creator & Director of th ...

and the company of Colonnades Theatre Lab, South Africa. * '' Ubu and the Truth Commission'' (1997), by Jane Taylor and

William Kentridge William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by ...

. * ''Nothing but the Truth'' (2002), by John Kani. * ''

The Story I Am About to Tell ''The Story I Am About to Tell'' was a successful South African play by Duma Kumalo. Produced by a support group for survivors giving testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and starring three of them, it ran for five years both at ...

'', created in collaboration with the Khulumani support group. * '' The Dead Wait'', by

Paul Herzberg Paul Herzberg (born 1953) is an actor and writer, known for ''The Honourable Woman'' (2014), '' Black Earth Rising'' (2019), ''My Week with Marilyn'' (2011), '' Room 36'' (2005), '' Blood'' and ''Cry Freedom'' (1987). Early life Born in Cape ...

. * ''Truth and reconciliation'',

debbie tucker green debbie tucker green is a British playwright, screenwriter, and director. She spells her name in lower-case. She has written a number of plays, including ''born bad'' (2003), for which she won the Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 2004. ...

(2011) *''Strange Courtesies'' San Jose Stagte Company (March 2021 )

Fiction

* Taylor, Jane. '' Ubu and the Truth Commission''.

: University of Cape Town Press,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

. * Wicomb, Zoe. 2006
''Playing in the Light''
* Slovo, Gillian 2000. '' Red Dust''. Virago * Flanery, Patrick. '' Absolution''.

Poetry

* Some of Ingrid de Kok's poetry in ''Terrestrial Things'' (2002) deals with the TRC (e.g. "The Archbishop Chairs the First Session", "The Transcriber Speaks", "The Sound Engineer").

Criticisms

A 1998 study by South Africa's Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation & the Khulumani Support Group, which surveyed several hundred victims of human rights abuse during the Apartheid era, found that most felt that the TRC had failed to achieve reconciliation between the black and white communities. Most believed that justice was a prerequisite for reconciliation rather than an alternative to it, and that the TRC had been weighted in favour of the perpetrators of abuse. As a result of the TRC's shortcomings and the unaddressed injuries of many victims, victims' groups, together with NGOs and lawyers, took various TRC-related matters to South African and US courts in the early 2000s. Another dilemma facing the TRC was how to do justice to the testimonials of those witnesses for whom translation was necessary. It was believed that, with the great discrepancy between the emotions of the witnesses and those translating them, much of the impact was lost in interlingual rendition. A briefly tried solution was to have the translators mimic the witnesses' emotions, but this proved disastrous and was quickly scrapped. While former president

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South ...

appeared before the commission and reiterated his apology for the suffering caused by apartheid, many black South Africans were angered at amnesty being granted for human rights abuses committed by the apartheid government; local reports at the time noted that his failure to accept that the former NP government's policies had given security forces a "licence to kill" - evidenced to him personally in different ways - drove the chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu almost to tears. The BBC described such criticisms as stemming from a "basic misunderstanding" about the TRC's mandate, which was to ''uncover the truth'' about past abuse, using amnesty as a mechanism, rather than to ''punish past crimes''. Critics of the TRC dispute this, saying that their position is not a misunderstanding but a rejection of the TRC's mandate. Among the highest-profile of these objections were the criticisms levelled by the family of prominent anti-apartheid activist

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...

, who was killed by the security police, and whose story was featured in the film ''

Cry Freedom ''Cry Freedom'' is a 1987 epic apartheid drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods. ...

''. Biko's family described the TRC as a "vehicle for political expediency", which "robbed" them of their right to justice. The family opposed amnesty for his killers on these grounds and brought a legal action in South Africa's highest court, arguing that the TRC was unconstitutional. On the other side of the spectrum, former apartheid

State President The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...

P.W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...

defied a subpoena to appear before the commission, calling it a "circus". His defiance resulted in a fine and suspended sentence, but these were overturned on appeal. Playwright Jane Taylor, responsible for the acclaimed '' Ubu and the Truth Commission'', found fault with the commission's lopsided influence:

The TRC is unquestionably a monumental process, the consequences of which will take years to unravel. For all its pervasive weight, however, it infiltrates our culture asymmetrically, unevenly across multiple sectors. Its place in small rural communities, for example, when it establishes itself in a local church hall, and absorbs substantial numbers of the population, is very different from its situation in large urban centres, where its presence is marginalised by other social and economic activities.

References

Bibliography

Non-fiction

* Terry Bell, Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza. 2003. "Unfinished Business: South Africa, Apartheid and Truth." * 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." * Doxtader, Erik and Philippe-Joseph Salazar, ''Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. The Fundamental Documents'', Cape Town: New Africa Books/David Philip, 2008. * Edelstein, Jillian. 2002. "Truth and Lies: Stories from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa." * Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla. 2006. "

A Human Being Died That Night ''A Human Being Died That Night'' is a 2003 book by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela. The book is Gobodo-Madikizela's account of her interviews with state-sanctioned mass murderer Eugene De Kock from the time of apartheid in South Africa. These intervi ...

: A South African Story of Forgiveness." * 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." * Kentridge, William. "Director's Note". In ''Ubu and the Truth Commission'', by Jane Taylor, viii–xv.

: University of Cape Town Press,

. * Kesselring, Rita. 2017. ''Bodies of Truth: Law, memory and emancipation in post-apartheid South Africa''. Stanford University Press. * Krog, Antjie. 2000. "'' Country of My Skull'': Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa."
Martin, Arnaud. 2009. ''La mémoire et le pardon. Les commissions de la vérité et de la réconciliation en Amérique latine''. Paris: L'Harmattan.
* 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.

External links

Official website

"Traces of Truth": Documents relating to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truth And Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) 1996 establishments in South Africa Reconciliation Organisations associated with apartheid Events associated with apartheid Defunct organisations based in South Africa Political history of South Africa Public inquiries in South Africa

Creation and mandate

Committees

Process

Numbers

Significance and impact

Media coverage

In the arts and popular culture

Film

Documentary films

Feature films

Theatre

Fiction

Poetry

Criticisms

See also

References

Bibliography

Non-fiction

External links