TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 9

Subsection 26

102 The following statements illustrate this vital need for broad participation, especially by those who have been unjustly privileged in the past, together with some of the obstacles to restitution. Dr Laurie Nathan, director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution and former Chairperson of the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), said at a special hearing on compulsory military service in Cape Town:

I want to end by addressing the question of how, in the light of this history, we should manage the past, and I want to address these comments in particular to the white community. The white community tends to take one of three positions in this regard.

First, they say they are shocked by the revelations of the [Commission]. Had they only known about the atrocities at the time, they would surely have objected. This is a self-serving myth. It is patently dishonest to claim today that any of us were unaware of apartheid; unaware of forced removals and pass laws; unaware of deaths in detention or unaware of the killing of children in our streets.

The second response from the white community is that, well we knew what was happening, and we did everything in our power to object. This is also a myth. The truth of the matter is that a tiny minority of whites voiced any opposition and then mostly in conditions of relative safety and comfort. An even smaller minority of whites participated directly in the campaigns, in the daily struggle of the black community.

The third position comes from whites who say, let bygones be bygones. Rehashing the past will only perpetuate divisions and inhibit reconciliation. Let us concentrate instead, they say, on building a new future. In my view, this position adds insult to injury. It’s a monumental deceit. Whatever the individual talents and efforts of whites, our lives of privilege today are the product of a grand historical act of theft. We stole the land, the labour, the dignity and, in countless instances, the lives of the black people of our country. The majority of blacks still live with the consequences, and the majority of whites still enjoy the fruits of our acts of violence. The past is present. It is present in our suburbs and in our townships. It’s present in our individual and national psyche. White domination may have been eliminated in the political arena but it still prevails at an economic level and in forums like universities and the media which have a powerful impact on the ideas and the debates of broader society.

White racism is alive and kicking. It no longer takes the form of legislated supremacy, but it continues to manifest itself in crude and subtle ways. The most insidious is the assumption that white values are universal and by implication superior to those of other groups. The most offensive is the endless complaining about corruption, inefficiency and falling standards. This is one of the bad jokes of the new South Africa. The previous government set unsurpassed standards for corruption, incompetence and neglect.

There is a fourth position which is seldom heard and which I believe is the appropriate response. The white community should confront its pervasive racism, and stare our ugly history and its long shelf life in the face. We should acknowledge collective responsibility for our efforts and our acquiescence in constructing and maintaining a wretched system of discrimination, exclusion and repression. To invoke theological terminology, we should confess and engage in meaningful acts of contrition.

These acts of contrition could take many forms: establishing or funding memorials like those which commemorate the holocaust in Nazi Germany, funding bursaries for black students or basic facilities for pupils, providing medical supplies to amputee hospitals in Mozambique and Angola, church actions such as fasts and others, training in respect for human rights and multi-cultural diversity for teachers and pupils. These are only some examples. These and other actions are forms of reparation, but it’s critical that they are undertaken, not as charity, but in partnership with black communities…

Let me say in closing that whites who interpret this argument to mean that they should become passive and sycophantic have misunderstood the nature of the challenge. The challenge is to become self-critical not uncritical, to acquire some humility, not be submissive; to become empathetic, not paternalistic. The challenge has nothing to do with self-flagellation or wallowing in guilt. It has everything to do with accepting responsibility for our actions and our lack of action.