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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

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 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 Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

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 people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

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 (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 Klaas de Jonge (29 June 1887 – 19 April 1958) was a Dutch trade union leader. Born in Hoogezand, de Jonge trained as a printer, then later worked in a factory. He joined the Dutch Union of Factory Workers (NVvFA), and also the Social D ...

and Emma Mashinini.

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 The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; 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, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

(at the Central Methodist Mission), and

Randburg Randburg is an area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort, ...

(at the Rhema Bible Church). The commission was empowered to grant

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 Victor's justice is a term used to refer to a distorted application of justice to the defeated by the victorious party following an armed conflict. Victor's justice generally involves excessive or unjustified punishment of defeated parties and l ...

, 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 Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Sculpture * ''Reconciliation'' (Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture), a sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos in Coventry Cathedra ...

was in sharp contrast to the approach taken by the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the 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, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

and other

de-Nazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

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 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 Afrikaners, and the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

.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 ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

'', 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 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

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 se ...

'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 Max du Preez (born 10 March 1951) is a South African author, columnist and documentary filmmaker and was the founding editor of '' Vrye Weekblad''. Vrye Weekblad Online or Vrye Weekblad II was launched on 5 April 2019 again with Max du Preez as ...

, 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 Jann Turner (born 1964) is a South African film director, novelist, television director and screenwriter. Her feature film directorial debut was the 2009 film ''White Wedding''. Life and career Turner was born to anti-Apartheid academic Rick ...

, 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. Produced in association with the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other pea ...

. * '' Facing the Truth'' (1999) by

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

. Two-part ''

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

'' series. * '' Long Night's Journey into Day'' (2000) by

Frances Reid Frances Reid (December 9, 1914 – February 3, 2010) was an American dramatic actress. Reid acted on television for nearly all of the second half of the 20th century. Her career continued into the early 2000s. Although she starred in ma ...

. Won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

Feature films

* '' Forgiveness'' (2004) by Ian Gabriel. A South African feature film, starring South African–born actor

Arnold Vosloo Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is a South African-American actor. He is famous for roles such as Imhotep in '' The Mummy'' and ''The Mummy Returns'', Colonel Coetzee in ''Blood Diamond'', Pik van Cleef in ''Hard Target'', Dr. Peyton Westlak ...

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 nota ...

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 Antjie Krog (born 23 October 1952) is a South African writer and academic, best known for her Afrikaans poetry, her reporting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and her 1998 book '' Country of My Skull''. In 2004, she joined the Arts f ...

that dealt with her coverage of the hearings. With

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

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 move ...

. With

Hilary Swank Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress and film producer. She first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series '' Camp Wilder'' and made her film debut with a minor role in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1992 ...

, Jamie Bartlett and

Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

. * '' Zulu Love Letter'' (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 Kin ...

. * '' The Forgiven'' (2018). A film by

Roland Joffé Roland Joffé (born 17 November 1945) is a British director and producer of film and television, known for the Academy Award-winning films ''The Killing Fields'' and '' The Mission''. He began his career in television, his early credits inclu ...

, 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 Eric Banadinović, (born 9 August 1968), known professionally as Eric Bana (), is an Australian actor and comedian. He began his career in the sketch comedy series '' Full Frontal'' before gaining notice in the comedy drama '' The Castle'' (19 ...

as Piet Blomfeld.

Theatre

Several plays have been produced about the TRC: * '' Truth in Translation'' (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 ...

and the company of Colonnades Theatre Lab, South Africa. * ''

Ubu and the Truth Commission ''Ubu and the Truth Commission'' is a South African play by Jane Taylor. It was first produced on 26 May 1997, directed by William Kentridge at The Laboratory in Johannesburg's Market Theatre. Produced by the Handspring Puppet Company, and empl ...

'' (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 Bonisile John Kani (born 30 August 1943) is a South African actor, author, director and playwright. He is known for portraying T'Chaka in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films '' Captain America: Civil War'' (2016) and ''Black Panther'' (2018), ...

. * '' The Story I Am About to Tell'', created in collaboration with the Khulumani support group. * '' The Dead Wait'', by Paul Herzberg. * ''Truth and reconciliation'', debbie tucker green (2011) *''Strange Courtesies'' San Jose Stagte Company (March 2021 )

Fiction

* Taylor, Jane. ''

''.

: University of Cape Town Press, 2007. * Wicomb, Zoe. 2006
''Playing in the Light''
* Slovo, Gillian 2000. '' Red Dust''. Virago * Flanery, Patrick. ''

Absolution Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pr ...

''.

Poetry

* Some of

Ingrid de Kok Ingrid de Kok aka Ingrid Fiske (born 1951) is a South African author and poet. Biography Ingrid de Kok grew up in Stilfontein, a gold mining town in what was then the Western Transvaal. When she was 12 years old, her parents moved to Johanne ...

'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 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 Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbisho ...

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, 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. Th ...

''. 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 P.W. Botha 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 ''

'', 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 Philippe-Joseph Salazar (), a French rhetorician and philosopher, was born on 10 February 1955 in Casablanca, then part of French Morocco. Salazar attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand a prestigious secondary-school in Paris (founded 1563) before ...

, ''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 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, 2007. * 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