TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 8

Volume FIVE Chapter EIGHT

Recommendations

■ COMMITMENT TO RECONCILIATION AND UNITY

The Commission, believing that reconciliation is a process vital and necessary for enduring peace and stability, invites fellow South Africans to:

• accept our own need for healing;
• reach out to fellow South Africans in a spirit of tolerance and understanding;
• work actively to build bridges across the divisions of language, faith and history;
• strive constantly, in the process of transformation, to be sensitive to the needs of those groups which have been particularly disadvantaged in the past, specifically women and children;
• encourage a culture of debate so that, together, we can resolve the pressing issues of our time;
• initiate programmes of action in our own spheres of interest and influence, whether it be education, religion, business, labour, arts or politics, so that the process of reconciliation can be implemented from a grassroots level;
• address the reality of ongoing racial discrimination and work towards a non-racial society;
• call upon leaders in local, provincial and national government to place the goal of reconciliation and unity at the top of their respective agendas.

In order to give expression to this commitment, we request the President of South Africa to call a National Summit on Reconciliation, not only to consider the specific recommendations made by the Commission, but to ensure maximum involvement by representatives of all sectors of our society in the pursuit of reconciliation.

The Summit should be held towards the end of 1999. In this way South Africa, on the eve of the new millennium, should re-commit itself to a future characterised by reconciliation and unity by: –

• re-looking at the haunting memories of conflicts and division;
• opening our eyes to the legacies of the past.

■ INTRODUCTION

1 The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act (the Act) required the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the Commission) to make recommendations with regard to the creation of institutions conducive to a stable and fair society and the institutional, administrative and legislative measures which should be introduced to prevent the commission of human rights violations.¹

2 However, the Act goes further and grants the Commission powers to make recommendations concerning any matter with a view to promoting or achieving national unity and reconciliation. It is with this in mind that this chapter begins with a statement entitled “Commitment to Reconciliation and Unity”. It is the conviction of the Commission that the goal of reconciliation remains elusive and deserves central importance. This section of the report will also incorporate specific recommendations which, in the opinion of the Commission, contribute to the common search for reconciliation and unity.

3 These are followed by a series of recommendations related to specific areas of the public and private sectors that the Commission believes could assist in the consolidation of democracy and the building of a culture of human rights. Although separately itemised, all the recommendations in this chapter should be seen as part of a whole and as contributing to the quest for overall stability and peace in South African society. It is important to state explicitly that there is a need for sensitivity to the particular issues pertaining to women and children.