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Journal articles on the topic 'Truth commissions – South Africa'

Author: Grafiati

Published: 4 June 2021

Last updated: 14 February 2022

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1

Hayner, Priscilla B. "Truth commissions: a schematic overview." International Review of the Red Cross 88, no. 862 (June 2006): 295–310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1816383106000531.

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Numerous truth commissions of different types are being created around the world. The purpose of this schematic overview is to study the variety and to sketch out the differences and similarities between the different truth commissions established since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa launched in 1995.

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2

Nelaeva, G., and N. Sidorova. "Transitional Justice in South Africa and Brazil: Introducing a Gendered Approach to Reconciliation." BRICS Law Journal 6, no. 2 (June 13, 2019): 82–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2019-6-2-82-107.

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The concept of transitional justice has been associated with the periods of political change when a country emerges from a war or turmoil and attempts to address the wrongdoings of the past. Among various instruments of transitional justice, truth commissions stand out as an example of a non-judicial form of addressing the crimes of the past. While their setup and operation can be criticized on different grounds, including excessive politization of hearings and the virtual impossibility of meaningfully assessing their impact, it has been widely acknowledged in the literature that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa can be regarded as a success story due to its relatively strong mandate and widespread coverage and resonance it had in South African society. We would like to compare this commission from the 1990s with a more recent example, the Brazilian National Truth Commission, so as to be able to address the question of incorporation of gendered aspects in transitional justice (including examination of sexual violence cases, representation of women in truth-telling bodies, etc.), since gender often remains an overlooked and silenced aspect in such initiatives. Gendered narratives of transitional justice often do not fit into the wider narratives of post-war reconciliation. A more general question addressed in this research is whether the lack of formal procedure in truth commissions facilitates or hinders examination of sexual crimes in transitional settings.

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3

Iwu, Chux Gervase. "Leadership Effectiveness, Truth Commissions and Democratization in Africa." Journal of Social and Development Sciences 2, no. 3 (September 15, 2011): 121–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.22610/jsds.v2i3.661.

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This paper explores the significance of transformational and political leadership in strengthening the capacities of truth commissions as effective mechanisms for democratization in transitional polities. First, the paper sets out to trace some of the conflicting goals and political compromises that attend to the establishment of truth commissions in Africa as well as lack of political will on the part of political leadership. The paper then identifies and discusses major problems that confront the institutionalization of truth commissions as veritable instruments of post-conflict transformation and democratic consolidation in the continent. Drawing insights from South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, the paper argues that national reconciliation processes in Africa are characterized by a paradigm shift from the primary concern of leadership choices to those of justice, truth-seeking, granting of amnesty and forgiveness. In conclusion, the paper stresses the role of transformative leadership as crucial to enhancing the capacities of truth commissions in consolidating democracy in post-conflict states.

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4

Sooka, Yasmin. "Dealing with the past and transitional justice: building peace through accountability." International Review of the Red Cross 88, no. 862 (June 2006): 311–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1816383106000543.

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Based on her experience as a member of the South African and the Sierra Leonean truth and reconciliation commissions, the author formulates guiding principles and looks at the circumstances in which a truth and reconciliation commission constitutes an appropriate instrument to deal with transitional justice issues. The author also identifies possible contributions that truth and reconciliation commissions can make during a period of transition.

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5

Pathak, Professor Bishnu. "A Comparative Study of World’s Truth Commissions —From Madness to Hope." World Journal of Social Science Research 4, no. 3 (June 29, 2017): 192. http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/wjssr.v4n3p192.

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<em>The objective of this paper is to explore the initiatives and practices of different countries in truth seeking. Many countries during the post-conflict, colonial, slavery, anarchical and cultural genocide periods establish the Truth Commissions to respond to the past human wrongdoings: crimes and crimes against humanity. Enforced Disappearances (ED), killings, rapes and inhumane tortures are wrongdoings. Truth Commission applies the method of recovering silences from the victims for structured testimonies. The paper is prepared based on the victim-centric approach. The purpose reveals the piecemeal fact-findings to heal the past, reconcile the present and protect the future. The study covers more than 50 Commissions in a chronological order: beginning from Uganda in 1974 and concluding to Nepal in February 2015. Two Commissions in Uruguay were formed to find-out enforced disappearances. Colombian and Rwandan Commissions have established permanent bodies. The Liberian TRC threatened the government to submit its findings to the ICC if the government failed to establish an international tribunal. The Commissions of Bolivia, Ecuador, Haiti, former Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe were disbanded, and consequently, their reports could not be produced. No public hearings were conducted in Argentina and former Yugoslavia. It is noted that only 8 public hearings in Ghana, 8 national hearings in East-Timor and 15 in Brazil were conducted. Moroccan Commission held public hearings after signing the bond paper for not to disclose the names of the perpetrators whereas Guatemala did not include the perpetrators’ names in the report. The Shining Path’s activists are serving sentences based on civil-anti-terrorist court, but Alberto Fujimori is convicted for 25 years. Chadian Commission worked even against illicit narcotics trafficking. The UN established its Commissions in Sierra Leon, El Salvador and East-Timor, but failed to restore normalcy in Kosovo. Haiti prosecuted 50 perpetrators whereas Guatemala prosecuted its former military dictator. The Philippines’ Commission had limited investigation jurisdiction over army, but treated the insurgents differently. In El Salvador, the State security forces were responsible for 85 percent and the non-state actors for 15 percent similar to CIEDP, Nepal. The TRCs of Argentina, East-Timor, Guatemala, Morocco, Peru and South Africa partially succeeded. Large numbers of victims have failed to register the complaints fearing of possible actions. All perpetrators were controversially granted amnesty despite the TRC recommendation in South Africa. The victims and people still blamed Mandela that he sold out black people’s struggle. Ironically, the perpetrators have received justice, but the victims are further victimized. As perpetrator-centric Government prioritizes cronyism, most of the Commissioners defend their respective institution and individuals. Besides, perpetrators influence Governments on the formation of Truth Commission for ‘forgetting the victims to forgive the perpetrators’. A commission is a Court-liked judicial and non-judicial processes body, but without binding authority except Sierra Leone. Transitional Justice body exists with a five-pillar policy: truth, justice, healing, prosecution and reparation. It has a long neglected history owing to anarchical roles of the perpetrators and weak-poor nature of the victims. Almost all TRCs worked in low budget, lack of officials, inadequate laws and regulations, insufficient infrastructures and constraints of moral supports including Liberia, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Uganda and Nepal. The perpetrators controlled Governments ordered to destroy documents, evidences and testimonies in their chain of command that could have proven guilty to them.</em>

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6

Chapman, Audrey R., and Patrick (Patrick Donnell) Ball. "The Truth of Truth Commissions: Comparative Lessons from Haiti, South Africa, and Guatemala." Human Rights Quarterly 23, no. 1 (2001): 1–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2001.0005.

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7

Hovland, Ingie. "Macro/Micro Dynamics in South Africa: Why the Reconciliation Process Will Not Reduce Violence." Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 1, no. 2 (September 2003): 6–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15423166.2003.194812506437.

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The reconciliation process in South Africa has been hailed as an astounding example of a non-violent transition to democracy, and its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has subsequently served as the starting point for reflections on reconciliation, transitional justice and the possibility of truth commissions in other countries. This article suggests that it is necessary to examine South Africa's reconciliation process more critically, focusing on why it has not brought about a reduction in the high levels of violence. It is argued that the reconciliation process has failed in this respect - despite good intentions - because it has not managed to transform the macro/micro dynamic in South Africa, i.e. the interaction between macro-level divisions and micro-level tensions which have fed off each other throughout South Africa's history. Macro-level violence has included - and still includes - economic policies that generate wealth for a minority while perpetuating the production of poverty for the majority. Micro-level violence includes extremely high levels of violent incidents at an interpersonal and local level. The use of the concept ‘reconciliation’ in post-apartheid South Africa may in certain respects have served as opium for the people - opium that has enabled continued accommodation of the interaction between macro and micro-level violence in the country.

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8

Maclean, Iain S. "Truth and Reconciliation: Irreconcilable Differences? an Ethical Evaluation of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Religion and Theology 6, no. 3 (1999): 269–302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157430199x00191.

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AbstractThis article is a theologico-ethical evaluation of the five-volume Report, published in October 1998, of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It comprises two major parts, the first a summary of the principles and political decisions that led to the formation of the commission and focusing primarily on the first volume, which deals with the TRC's mandate, method, structure and methodology, and on the fifth, which deals with the broader ethical, philosophical and religious principles which underlay that mandate. The second part is a theological and ethical evaluation which draws on the experiences of other such commissions, contemporary South African theologians and ethicists. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is found to have begun the process of bringing truth and reconciliation together, a process that requires, in addition, constructive action by the state, civil society, particularly churches (and other religions) and individuals, as the bearers of a moral order.

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9

Chapman, Audrey R. "Truth commissions and intergroup forgiveness: The case of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 13, no. 1 (March 2007): 51–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0094024.

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10

Pathak, Professor Bishnu. "World’s Disappearance Commissions: An Inhumanious Quest for Truth." World Journal of Social Science Research 3, no. 3 (June 8, 2016): 274. http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/wjssr.v3n3p274.

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<p><em>Enforced </em><em>D</em><em>isappearance (ED) is a crime against humanity. </em><em>It has been a long, but neglected history. It is a denial </em><em>of all access to the families, lawyers and the like. </em><em>The families of </em><em>ED persons </em><em>recall the whereabouts the fate of their loved ones dawn to dusk. </em><em>A total of 54 post-countries have experienced having Truth Commissions. Such Commissions identify, investigate and reveal the past wrongdoings hoping to resolve crises. Out of these, 15 Truth Commissions were or are formed focusing more on ED persons to provide justice to the families of the victims and to end impunity prosecuting the (alleged) perpetrators. Ironically, the (alleged) perpetrators have received justice, but families of victims are further victimized. </em><em>The paper is prepared based on the victim-centric approach following the human security theories: Freedom to Perpetrator, Freedom of Perpetrator-Victim, and Freedom at Victim. The Freedom to Perpetrator includes Algeria, Colombia, East-Timor, El Salvador, Jambu-Kashmir, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Uruguay; Freedom of Perpetrator-Victim comprises Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru; and Freedom at Victim consists of Nepal.</em><em> Besides, amnesty and reconciliation measures were studied to analyze the failed, moderated and successful Truth Commissions. Nepal’s disappearance Commission has neither amnesty nor reconciliation provision.</em></p>

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11

Sacco, Therese, and Wilma Hoffmann. "Seeking Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa." International Social Work 47, no. 2 (April 2004): 157–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020872804041410.

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South Africa’s attempt to come to terms with its horrific past; mechanisms and responsibilities of countries endeavoring to deal with such pasts; objectives of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and critiques of it are identified. A public acknowledgement submitted by some South African social work educators is included.

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12

Villa-Vicencio, Charles. "Truth Commissions and Transitional Justice: A Select Bibliography on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Debate." Journal of Law and Religion 16, no. 1 (2001): 69–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0748081400004318.

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13

Savage, Tyrone, Barbara Schmid, and Keith A. Vermeulen. "Truth Commissions and Transitional Justice: A Select Bibliography on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Debate." Journal of Law and Religion 16, no. 1 (2001): 73–186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s074808140000432x.

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14

van Rensburg, Bernard Janse. "Reconciliation and psychiatry in South Africa." BJPsych. International 12, no. 3 (August 2015): 62–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/s2056474000000441.

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Although psychiatrists did not form part of the structures of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa (SPSA) at the time did make a submission. Since then, the local association of psychiatrists has been reconstituted as the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP). Psychiatry and psychiatrists may have to extend their activities beyond rehabilitation and restoration, to include endeavours to prevent future violations of human rights.

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15

Sarkin, Jeremy. "The truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa." Commonwealth Law Bulletin 23, no. 1-2 (January 1997): 528–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050718.1997.9986472.

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16

Awoh, Emmanuel Lohkoko, and Walter Gam Nkwi. "South Africa and Rwanda: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Peacebuilding, Religious and Local African Authorities in Conflict Situations." Conflict Studies Quarterly, no. 20 (July 3, 2017): 20–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.24193/csq.20.2.

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17

Alexander, Karin, Diana Batchelor, Alexis Durand, and Tyrone Savage. "Truth Commissions and Transitional Justice: Update on a Select Bibliography on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Debate." Journal of Law and Religion 20, no. 2 (2004): 525. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4144673.

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18

Meiring, P. G. J. "Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Jewish Voices and Perspectives." Verbum et Ecclesia 25, no. 2 (October 6, 2004): 546–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v25i2.288.

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The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) focuses on the Jewish experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris submitted a statement on behalf of his community. Two earlier documents were also put at the TRC’s disposal: a statement on Reconciliation presented by Gesher (a Jewish movement for social action) as a well as a comprehensive volume containing 27 interviews with Jewish activists (Cutting Through the Mountain). Taking his cue from both the Chief Rabbi’s presentation and the earlier documents, the author discusses the role of the Jewish community in overtly and covertly supporting the apartheid regime, as well the experiences of many Jews in struggling against apartheid. Finally the contribution of the Jewish community towards healing and reconciliation in South Africa comes under the spotlight.

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19

Borer, Tristan Anne. "Gendered War and Gendered Peace: Truth Commissions and Postconflict Gender Violence: Lessons From South Africa." Violence Against Women 15, no. 10 (August 25, 2009): 1169–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077801209344676.

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20

Quinn, Joanna R., and Mark Freeman. "Lessons Learned: Practical Lessons Gleaned from Inside the Truth Commissions of Guatemala and South Africa." Human Rights Quarterly 25, no. 4 (2003): 1117–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2003.0050.

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21

Summerfield, D. "South Africa: does a truth commission promote social reconciliation?" BMJ 315, no. 7120 (November 29, 1997): 1393. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.315.7120.1393.

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22

The Lancet. "South Africa needs an HIV truth and reconciliation commission." Lancet 367, no. 9523 (May 2006): 1629. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(06)68705-9.

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23

Graham, Shane. "The Truth Commission and Postapartheid Literature in South Africa." Research in African Literatures 34, no. 1 (2003): 11–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ral.2003.0006.

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24

Foster, Don. "Evaluating the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa." Social Justice Research 19, no. 4 (November 11, 2006): 527–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11211-006-0022-8.

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25

Stanley, Elizabeth. "Evaluating the Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Journal of Modern African Studies 39, no. 3 (September 2001): 525–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x01003706.

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Following a negotiated transition to democracy in South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to deal with crimes of the past regime. Despite the detail of submissions and the length of the Final Report, this article highlights the partiality of truth recognised by the Commission. The usefulness of acknowledged truth to deal with South Africa's past is shown to have been neutralised by wider concerns of social and criminal justice. In detailing the governmental reticence to provide reparations, the judicial disregard to pursue prosecutions, and the dismissal of responsibility for apartheid at a wider social level, the author argues that opportunities for reconciliation and developmental change are limited. Against the problems of crime, violence and unresolved land issues, the potential of the TRC to build a ‘reconciliatory bridge’ is called into question. The truth offered by the Commission increasingly appears of limited value.

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26

Gathogo, Julius. "Reconciliation Paradigm in the Post Colonial Africa: A Critical Analysis." Religion & Theology 19, no. 1-2 (2012): 74–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15743012-12341235.

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Abstract The article sets out to stir up the debate on reconciliation project in the post colonial Africa. As we strategise on ways and means of delivering the promise of reconstruction, there is need to pay more attention on the reconciliation for individual and society. In other words, does reconciliation mean blanket forgiveness or reparation? How can we ensure that those who looted Africa account for their misdeeds without further complicating the situation? The article is set on the premise that even though there are many paradigms in African theology of the twenty-first century, minor paradigms (refer to reconciliation, liberation, inculturation, market-theology and charismatic among others) and the dominant paradigm (refer to reconstruction) are both critical in the holistic rebuilding of the post colonial Africa. This said; it is imperative to critically assess reconciliation as an important paradigm – as it runs concurrently with other paradigms in Africa today. In particular, are the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commissions taking place in various countries of the tropical Africa, since Tutu’s South African sample of 1995, rooted in African cultural and religious heritage, and hence authentic? How can Africa go about her reconciliative phase?

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27

Meiring, P. G. J. "Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: the role of the faith communities." Verbum et Ecclesia 26, no. 1 (October 2, 2005): 146–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v26i1.217.

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Ten years after the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission commenced with its work (1995), the author – using the statements made by representatives of the different faith communities in South Africa – analyses the role the communities played in the past: as agents of oppression, as victims of apartheid, as opponents of apartheid, as well as their role in the country’s transition to a new democratic society. Finally, the contribution of the faith communities in the process of reconciliation and nation building is discussed.

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28

Kaminer, Debra, Dan J. Stein, Irene Mbanga, and Nompumelelo Zungu-Dirwayi. "The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa: relation to psychiatric status and forgiveness among survivors of human rights abuses." British Journal of Psychiatry 178, no. 4 (April 2001): 373–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.178.4.373.

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BackgroundThe impact on individual survivors of human rights abuses of testifying before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has not been established.AimsTo examine the degree to which participation in the TRC is related to current psychiatric status and forgiveness among survivors.MethodSurvivors (n=134) who gave public, closed or no testimony to the TRC completed instruments measuring exposure to human rights abuses, exposure to other traumatic events, current psychiatric status and forgiveness attitudes towards the perpetrator(s).ResultsThere was no significant association between TRC participation and current psychiatric status or current forgiveness attitudes, and low forgiveness was associated with poorer psychiatric health.ConclusionsTruth commissions should form part of, rather than be a substitute for, comprehensive therapeutic interventions for survivors of human rights abuses. Lack of forgiveness may be an important predictor of psychiatric risk in this population.

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GUELKE, ADRIAN. "South Africa's morality tale for our time." Review of International Studies 26, no. 2 (April 2000): 303–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s026021050000303x.

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report: Five Volumes, Basingstoke and Oxford, Macmillan, 1999On 29 October 1998 Archbishop Desmond Tutu presented the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to President Nelson Mandela. This massive report has now been published by Macmillan in a handsome, extensively illustrated five-volume set. The fine quality of the production would seem appropriate to what has been hailed as a document of lasting importance for South Africa. Indeed, it is evident that many foreign commentators see it as important not just for South Africa but for the whole world. That has been reflected in the interest shown in the TRC by commentators, such as Timothy Garton Ash and Michael Ignatieff, who have not previously written about South Africa. The report was the culmination of nearly three years of work by the TRC. President Mandela announced the names of the 17 commissioners (designating Desmond Tutu as chairperson and Alex Boraine as deputy chairperson) in November 1995. It began to function in December that year, while the first public hearings were held on 15 April 1996. However, while the report has been the most significant product of the TRC's endeavours, it is not the end of its work. In particular, the Committee on Amnesty will continue to function until it has reached decisions on all the outstanding applications for amnesty received by the deadline of 30 September 1997. When it has completed this task a further volume of the final report will be published.

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30

Graham, Shane. "The Truth Commission and Post-Apartheid Literature in South Africa." Research in African Literatures 34, no. 1 (March 2003): 11–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/ral.2003.34.1.11.

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31

Jenkins, C. "A Truth Commission for East Timor: Lessons from South Africa?" Journal of Conflict and Security Law 7, no. 2 (October 1, 2002): 233–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jcsl/7.2.233.

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32

Gibson, James L., and Amanda Gouws. "Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Attributions of Blame and the Struggle over Apartheid." American Political Science Review 93, no. 3 (September 1999): 501–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2585571.

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In an effort to put its past firmly behind, the New South Africa created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document human rights abuses under apartheid and to grant amnesty to those confessing their nefarious deeds. South Africa's democratic experiment depends mightily upon whether truth does in fact bring about reconciliation. Consequently, we examine whether ordinary South Africans accept the theories of blame that underlie the truth and reconciliation process. Based on a formal experiment within a representative sample of South Africans, our results confirm some conventional hypotheses (e.g., leaders are judged more responsible for their deeds than followers), repudiate others (noble motives do little to exonerate violent actions), and modify still others (actors are judged by the severity of their action's consequences, although it matters little whether “combatants” or “civilians” were the victims). We conclude that the dark legacy of the apartheid past makes the consolidation of the democratic transformation problematical.

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Rombouts, Heidy. "Truth and reconciliation: Should the key notions be revised?: Experiences from South-Africa and Rwanda." Temida 5, no. 4 (2002): 33–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/tem0204033r.

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Both the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Gacaca tribunals, which started recently in Rwanda, are framed in terms of truth and reconciliation. But what does the truth mean? What does reconciliation mean? It can be argued that searching the truth has a very precise meaning - namely determining the details of what factually happened. And it is in this sense that most people understand the search for the truth. However it can be questioned whether this fact-finding is what the search for truth aims at in a context of transitional justice. .

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34

du Toit, André. "A Need for ‘Truth’." International Journal of Public Theology 8, no. 4 (November 25, 2014): 393–419. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341365.

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The origins of the South African trc process, which made such a dramatic contribution towards opening up a new more inclusive political culture in post-apartheid South Africa, are usually found in the constitutional negotiations and settlement reflected in the Postamble of the 1993 Interim Constitution. This article starts from the apparent paradox that a secretive amnesty pact by political elites could have been responsible for a public truth process uncovering human rights violations in past political conflicts. It suggests that an alternative trc genealogy may rather be found in the public amnesty debate since mid-1992 that issued in a civil society-based proposal for a truth and reconciliation process. The ‘amnesty for truth’ compromise, conjoining the political elites’ concerns for amnesty with the human rights quest for a victim-based truth and reconciliation process, resulted in the incoherence of the actual trc process. The ambivalent legacy of the trc, shaped both by secretive elite political deals as well as by the quest for public truth in politics, still informs unresolved tensions in the Marikana Commission, and those between the Promotion of Access to Information Act and the controversial Protection of State Information Bill.

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Burton, Mary. "Custodians of Memory: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission." International Journal of Legal Information 32, no. 2 (2004): 417–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0731126500004236.

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South Africa is widely admired for its peaceful transition from a period of discrimination and oppression to a legitimate functioning democracy in which human rights are recognized and protected by the Constitution and the courts. Nevertheless, it is still a country traumatized by its recent past. There is a great need for building and strengthening processes of development, reparation, reconciliation and the healing of painful memories. The country has just celebrated National Heritage Day, and these memorial occasions are important in reminding us all of how far we have come, and the people and events which brought us to this point.

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36

Barney Pityana, N. "The truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa: perspectives and prospects." Journal of Global Ethics 14, no. 2 (May 4, 2018): 194–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449626.2018.1517819.

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37

Stein, Dan J. "Psychiatric aspects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa." British Journal of Psychiatry 173, no. 6 (December 1998): 455–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.173.6.455.

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38

Molatoli, H. M. "Teaching health care ethics in physiotherapy education : Proposal for South Africa." South African Journal of Physiotherapy 55, no. 4 (November 30, 1999): 7–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajp.v55i4.574.

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This paper presents views of the role of the physiotherapy profession during the Apartheid era in South Africa. It analyses aspects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission document and finally suggestions are made to prevent similar situations from developing ever again.

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39

Meiring, P. G. J. "Leadership for reconciliation: A Truth and Reconciliation Commission perspective." Verbum et Ecclesia 23, no. 3 (August 7, 2002): 719–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v23i3.1235.

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As important as the need for authentic leadership in the fields of politics, economy and education in Africa may be, the continent is also in dire need of leadership for reconciliation. Against the backdrop of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the author – who served on the Commission – discusses five characteristics of leaders for reconciliation. Leaders need to be: leaders with a clear understanding of the issues at stake; leaders with respect for the truth; leaders with a sense of justice; leaders with a comprehension of the dynamics of forgiveness; and leaders with a firm commitment. The insights and experiences of both the chairperson of the TRC, Desmond Tutu, and the deputy chair, Alex Boraine, form the backbone of the article.

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Nolan, M. "The Elusive Pursuit of Truth and Justice: A Review Essay; History after Apartheid: Visual Culture and Public Memory in a Democratic South Africa; Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa; Shattered Voices: Language, Violence, and the Work of Truth Commissions; Commissioning the Past: Understanding South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Bearing Witness: Women and the Truth Commission in South Africa.; Truth Commissions and Courts: The Tension between Criminal Justice and the Search for Truth; The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the Post-apartheid State." Radical History Review 2007, no. 97 (January 1, 2007): 143–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/01636545-2006-020.

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Hook, Derek, and Bronwyn Harris. "Discourses of Order and Their Disruption: The Texts of the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission." South African Journal of Psychology 30, no. 1 (March 2000): 14–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/008124630003000104.

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This paper asserts that selected texts of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission possess a powerful political potential in their ability to challenge and refute historical relations of racialised power in South Africa. The prospective political efficacy of these texts is seen as residing in their critical ability to subvert and challenge the predominant understandings, discourses and representations of Apartheid, or the ‘old’, South Africa. Three overlapping routes of enquiry are explored in this regard. Firstly, the political efficacy of such texts is seen as arising from their role in terms of the recovery of previously repressed histories. This recovery enlarges the archive of South Africa's past and contributes to the constitution of a new body of knowledge, from which credible standpoints of resistance and opposition may be articulated. A second explanation highlights the fact these texts are able to exert a form of discursive critique upon the predominant practices and representations of both former and reigning social orders. This level of critique enables us, in Foucautt's (1981) terms to restore to political discourses their nature as contextual and discontinuous practices of construction as opposed to naturally-occurring, seamlessly-unified, purely significatory instances of language. The last account engages more directly with the radical and transgressive nature of these texts, with their affective and ultimately symptomatic qualities. It is here suggested that these texts have earned their extraordinary visceral charge, their special power and horror, for many South Africans, precisely because they have exposed and stretched to the limit the boundaries of the past discursive order, of what had been known, what was understood and what could be represented in the Apartheid State.

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Little, David. "A Different Kind of Justice: Dealing with Human Rights Violations in Transitional Societies." Ethics & International Affairs 13 (March 1999): 65–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7093.1999.tb00327.x.

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In “transitional societies” like South Africa and Bosnia, which are currently moving from authoritarianism, and often violent repression, to democracy, questions arise about the appropriate way to deal with serious human rights offenders. Will a system of retributive justice bring about the healing and harmony necessary for peace and stability? Or, is “a different kind of justice” required, one explicitly aimed at reconciliation, and designed to repair and restore relations, and, perhaps, to forgive offenders rather than prosecute them? Are the systems mutually exclusive, or can they be combined in some way?In an effort to clarify terms and sharpen practical choices, this essay distinguishes between retributive and restorative justice and relates the distinction to constructive proposals concerning the ideas of forgiveness and reconciliation. The essay then applies the proposed framework to two recent efforts to cope with the problem: the truth and reconciliation commissions of South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Meiring, P. G. J. "Bonhoeffer and costly reconciliation in South Africa – through the lens of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Verbum et Ecclesia 38, no. 3 (October 6, 2017): 18–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v38i3.1559.

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer never visited South Africa, and he probably did not know a great deal about the country. But the relevance of the German theologian for South Africa was never in doubt. In the struggle against apartheid his message and his theology served to guide theologians, church leaders as well as lay Christians alike. His life and his death served to inspire many during their darkest hours. Theologians, with John de Gruchy in the lead, studied his works extensively. Heroes from the struggle against apartheid, Beyers Naudé, Desmond Tutu and Steve Biko, among others, were hailed as latter-day Bonhoeffers. Nelson Mandela’s famous ‘Speech from the dock’ before his conviction and imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial was compared to Bonhoeffer’s essay on The structure of responsible life (1995). At ecumenical gatherings, his name and his teachings were often invoked, whenever protest was lodged against the injustices of apartheid. But it was especially in the aftermath of apartheid, when the very serious challenges of reconciliation and nation building, of healing and forgiveness, as well as of amnesty for perpetrators weighed against the demands of justice to the victims were at stake, that many turned to Bonhoeffer for guidance. The author who served with Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the TRC, discusses the prerequisites for reconciliation in South Africa against the backdrop of the TRC experience, emphasising the real need for South Africans, following in the footsteps of Bonhoeffer, to look for ‘costly reconciliation’.

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Rakate, Phenyo Keiseng. "The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report: A Review Essay." Verfassung in Recht und Übersee 33, no. 3 (2000): 371–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2000-3-371.

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Krabill, Ron. "Symbiosis: mass media and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa." Media, Culture & Society 23, no. 5 (September 2001): 567–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/016344301023005002.

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Lyons, Beth S. "Between Nuremburg and Amnesia: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa." Monthly Review 49, no. 4 (September 2, 1997): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.14452/mr-049-04-1997-08_2.

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Landman, Christina. "Telling Sacred Stories Eersterust and the Forced Removals of the 1960S." Religion and Theology 6, no. 3 (1999): 415–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157430199x00254.

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AbstractThe Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has introduced a process in South Africa in which healing became possible through storytelling. The Research Institute for Theology and Religion (University of South Africa) has taken up the challenge of extending this process to people who, for a variety of reasons, did not have the chance to tell their stories to this commission. This introduces a new era in oral history research in South Africa in which healing, that is discontinuity, and not truth or the establishment of a continuous tradition, is the aim of research on and through storytelling. Also, the present government, by withdrawing from moral legislation, now allows for religious communities to assist civil society in the formation of a social ethos. Consequently, the aim of oral history research for the RITR has shifted from establishing the liberational and interventionary moment in storytelling to that of focusing on its religious, healing and moral subtext. This article deals exclusively with the stories of coloured people in Eersterust, a town just outside Pretoria, which focus on the forced removals of the 1960s.

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Cassin, Barbara. "“Removing the perpetuity of hatred”: on South Africa as a model example." International Review of the Red Cross 88, no. 862 (June 2006): 235–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1816383106000506.

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Based on the example of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, the author analyses the conditions necessary from a philosophical and philological perspective — even if they are never enough — to move from war to reconciliation, and thus to deal with hatred: a policy of remembrance, a policy of justice and a policy of speech.

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Clark, Janine Natalya. "Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation: An Under-Explored Relationship." International Criminal Law Review 11, no. 2 (2011): 241–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157181211x551390.

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AbstractMuch of the literature on transitional justice suffers from a critical impact gap, which scholars are only now beginning to address. One particular manifestation of this aforementioned gap, and one which forms the particular focus of this article, is the frequently-cited yet empirically under-researched claim that "truth" fosters post-conflict reconciliation. Theoretically and empirically critiquing this argument, this article both questions the comprehensiveness of truth established through criminal trials and truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and underscores the often overlooked problem of denial, thus raising fundamental questions about the reputed healing properties of truth in such contexts. Advocating the case for evidence-based transitional justice, it reflects upon empirical research on South Africa's TRC and the author's own work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

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de la Rey, Cheryl, and Ingrid Owens. "Perceptions of psychosocial healing and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa." Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 4, no. 3 (1998): 257–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327949pac0403_4.

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