Human Rights Day this year marks exactly 10 years since the final TRC recommendations were handed over to then-President Thabo Mbeki.
Civil society says there is a significant amount of unfinished business relating to these recommendations with issues like reparations, compensation, and prosecutions needing to be addressed.
The TRC gripped the nation. It was called a crying commission by some, but the man at the helm of the process was confident about its outcomes.
“It’s been incredible. There are two impressions. One: how could we ever be so ghastly? The depth of depravity takes your breath away. That’s the one side. The other side is almost exhilarating – that people, who have suffered so much as these, should have the capacity to forgive …and the dignity that is being affirmed,” says former Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Very few of the Apartheid Government’s top brass gave unequivocal apologies, but at least some were brave enough.
One of the them, Leon Wessels said: “In many respects I believe I did want to know. In my own way I had suspicions of things that caused discomfort in official circles but because I did not have the facts to substantiate my suspicions or I had lacked the courage to shout from the rooftops. I have to confess that I only whispered in the corridors. That I believe is the accusation that people many level at many of us that has not been levelled. We simply did not and I did not confront the reports of injustices head-on.”
But the question is being asked whether that was enough. After all, it could not undo the past.
It is clear that it will take a very long time before South Africa can close the door on its dark past
In an extensive interview with SABC actuality programme Fokus, one former TRC Commissioner says only the TRC recommendation with regards to missing persons was implemented.
“If you look at the other recommendations, many which have enormous significance for what our country is going through, then I think it is time that government actually goes back and look at these recommendations because it deals with almost every one of the issues we are grappling with today,” says Yasmeen Sooka
Among the major recommendations that still need to be fully implemented are those relating to reparation and compensation.
“I think if we don’t address this social-economic justice, the question of unemployment, the question of education, but also building a just society … all of these issues the commission spoke to in its recommendations, now if we had begun to grapple with that we would see a more equal society,” Sooka says.
It is clear that it will take a very long time before South Africa can close the door on its dark past.
The SABC and SAHA have launched a website that provides unique insight into the TRC process through multimedia and documents about the TRC, including the final TRC report and recommendations. The site can be accessed at www.sabc.co.za/trc <http://www.sabc.co.za/trc>
You can also see the full interview with Yasmeen Sooka on Fokus on Sunday night at 6:30 on SABC 2.
– By Christelle du Toit
