TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 8

Subsection 1

■ RECONCILIATION AND UNITY

4 A common criticism of the Commission is that it has been strong on truth but has made little or no contribution to reconciliation.

5 History will judge whether or not this particular criticism is accurate. It is, nevertheless, worth making two points in this regard. The first is that, while truth may not always lead to reconciliation, there can be no genuine, lasting reconciliation without truth. Certainly, lies, half-truths and denial are not a desirable foundation on which to build the new South Africa. Second, it is readily conceded that it is not possible for one commission, with a limited life-span and resources, on its own to achieve reconciliation against the background of decades of oppression, conflict and deep divisions.

6 The Commission accepts that, if reconciliation and unity are to become a reality in South Africa, the energy and commitment of all of its people will be required. While the Commission may have made a small contribution to laying some foundation stones, proactive steps from all institutions, organisations and individuals will be required if the building is to be completed.

7 During the life of the Commission, Commissioners and staff travelled the length and breadth of South Africa. Hearings were held in rural towns and urban cities – in small church halls and large, dignified city halls, in the offices of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), school classrooms, town halls and magistrates’ courts. Sometimes attendance was quite small – an intimate community huddled together in grief and memory. On other occasions, halls have been packed to overflowing. The largest audience, in a Port Elizabeth township, consisted of three and a half thousand people, with long queues of people waiting to take the places of those who left. Most times the mood was sombre and dignified; at others, there was an undercurrent of anger. Yet always there was an awareness of a spirit of compassion and acceptance which enabled victims to talk freely and in their own language.

8 Above all, the Commission tried to listen, really to listen – not passively but actively – to voices that for so long had been stilled. And as it listened to stories of horror, of pathos and of tragic proportion, it became aware again of the high cost that has been paid by so many for freedom. Commissioners were almost overwhelmed by the capacity of human beings to damage and destroy each other. Yet they listened, too, to stories of great courage, concluding often with an astonishing generosity of spirit, from those who had for so long carried the burden of loss and tragedy. It was often a deeply humbling experience.

9 The Commission also listened to perpetrators describing in awful detail the acts of terror, assassination and torture that they inflicted on so many over so long a period. Here the mood was very different. Encouraging, though, were the expressions of remorse and a seeking for forgiveness on the part of some of those who applied for amnesty.

10 In this complicated process of conflict and pain, the Commission often became aware that one of the most destructive legacies of the past is the labelling of sometimes innocent people as ‘informers’ or collaborators. Individuals and their families were killed, assaulted, harassed and ostracised as a result of this stigmatisation. Many people still live with the daily experience of rejection because they were identified as informers during the period of the Commission’s mandate. The problem is complex and not readily resolved and the Commission was unable, in the vast majority of cases, to prove or disprove such allegations. However, the ongoing persecution of these so-called informers is a serious hindrance to the process of reconciliation.

11 After so long a journey with so many different and challenging experiences, the Commission concluded that all of South Africa – rural, urban, black, white, men, women and children – had been caught up in oppression and resistance that left no one with clean hands. Reconciliation is necessary for all, because all need to be healed.

12 These experiences and conclusions reinforced the view that reconciliation is not something that the Commission alone can achieve. The Commission believes that reconciliation without cost and pain is cheap, shallow and must be spurned. Those who, through the Commission, witnessed the scars on so many human bodies and spirits as well as the deep scars on the country as a whole, found themselves unable to remain onlookers. They came to acknowledge their own complicity, their own weakness, and accepted their own need for healing.

13 It is in this spirit of listening, sharing and acknowledging its own need for reconciliation, that the Commission invites its fellow South Africans to share a commitment to reconciliation and unity.