‘The Young Wind Once Was a Man’

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-392
Author(s):  
Antjie Krog
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Comic Strip ◽  
Just World ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
The One ◽  
Desmond Tutu

Twenty years ago, the democratic vocabulary of tolerance and forgiveness was powerfully introduced to South Africans, especially by President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Both their words and actions were later broadened during the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, what remains neglected in studies around the transition is what the underpinnings of the words by these two gentlemen were. This article makes a case that a radically different ontology, different to the one made available by the Christian religion, informed them, an ontology that has its roots in the work of the First People. Comparing the sense of self as it appears in indigenous /Xam texts to the sense of self which comfortably misinterpret Mandela’s words in some comic strip frames, the article underlines how important a new sense of self is in redefining concepts desiring a more just world.

scholarly journals Taking responsibility for reconciliation: a Christian response to the legacy and challenges of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Barry
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Healing Process ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Good News ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
To Come ◽  
Desmond Tutu

At the conclusion of the TRC, Desmond Tutu stated that the Commission’s task was to promote, not to achieve, reconci- liation. Reconciliation, he maintained, is the responsibility of all South Africans, and expressed the hope that the Christian churches would be in the forefront of this healing process.  This article explores how the Christian church can be in the forefront of binding up the wounds, facilitating the healing pro- cess, and living as a people and a sign of hope. The answers it seeks to offer fall under three interrelated themes, namely the church’s:  • spirituality of reconciliation; • ministry and mission of reconciliation; and • resources for its ministry and mission of reconciliation. Cultivating a spirituality of reconciliation would mean making reconciliation a lifestyle, rather than a series of strategies, pro- grammes or initiatives, yet remaining concrete, practical, mea- surable and accountable.   The church’s mission is primarily to proclaim the good news of God’s Kingdom that is already here, but not yet fully here and therefore still to come. This proclamation is the message of reconciliation between God, others and the self, and anticipates the unity of all creation in Jesus Christ.   The resources given to the church to fulfil this apostolic ministry include prophecy, evangelism, pastoral care and teaching, as well as its liturgical and sacramental life, its ministry of pre- sence, its people and its commitment to social justice.

Deification, Demonization and Dispossession

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan A. Boesak
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Primary Obstacle ◽  
Reconciliation Project ◽  
Reconciliation Process

Many regard South Africa’s reconciliation process as a model for a search for peace in and among nations. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission played an admirable part in this. However, problems remain in continuing and completing this reconciliation project. For many the failure to secure social justice through reconciliation remains one challenge. At issue is also how South Africans deal with their fractured and painful past. This article revisits issues of culpability and responsibility by asking whether a primary obstacle towards reconciliation might be that South Africans, instead of taking personal and collective responsibility for reconciliation, have hidden behind two major and completely opposite South African figures: Nelson Mandela and Eugene De Kock. It is argued that the ‘deification’ of Mandela and the ‘demonization’ of De Kock pose an important obstacle for the acceptance of culpability and responsibility for addressing historic wrongs with a view to true reconciliation.

Rethinking the Self within an African Philosophical Paradigm

2021 ◽  
pp. 326-348
Author(s):  
Antjie Krog
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Self ◽  
News Story ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Current Affairs ◽  
Desmond Tutu ◽  
A Current

This chapter explores the interconnected-Self manifesting within African Philosophy. Philosopher Michael Onyebuchi Eze suggests that ‘humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual . . . Humanity is a quality we owe to each other. We create each other and need to sustain this otherness creation.’ A current affairs news story about the parole of an apartheid-assassin, a poem, as well as the analyses of various concepts hallmarking South Africa’s move into full democracy, are the lenses through which this interconnected-Self is viewed. The exploration is underpinned by three areas: the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, texts of the /Xam (First People) and various utterances by Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

scholarly journals Bonhoeffer and costly reconciliation in South Africa – through the lens of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-34
Author(s):  
P. G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Desmond Tutu

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’.

South Africa's morality tale for our time

2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADRIAN GUELKE
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Public Hearings ◽  
Desmond Tutu

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.

scholarly journals Reconciliation: A way of life for the world

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Masango
Keyword(s):  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The World

This article deals with the issue of reconciliation as a new way of life for the world. It focuses on scriptural passages that support the topic. It also examines the spiritual aspect of reconciliation which is forgotten by many writers. It seeks to restore harmony in relationships, especially where there are broken relationships. It challenges people to seek the truth as South Africans did, through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

scholarly journals Het Suggereren van Verzoening Tijdens de Hoorzittingen van de Waarheids- en Verzoeningscommissie

Afrika Focus ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-94
Author(s):  
Annelies Verdoolaege
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Other ◽  
The South ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
African Context ◽  
The One

Suggesting reconciliation at the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) took place under unique circumstances and in a very particular historical context. This article will explore how such a specific kind of reality gave rise to a specific kind of discourse, a so-called ‘reconciliation discourse’. On the one hand, this discourse offered the apartheid victims a lot of opportunities regarding linguistic expression. On the other hand, though, this discourse was also regimented and limited to a certain extent. By means of fragments from the TRC victim testimonies, this article will deal with one aspect of this linguistic manipulation, namely the introduction of the concept of reconciliation. In the first part of the article, I will explain which linguistic methods were used during the TRC hearings in order to emphasize the notion of reconciliation in the narratives of the testifying victims. In doing so, a lot of attention will be paid to the concrete interaction between the testifiers and the TRC commissioners. In a second part, I will try to investigate why the construction of this specific reconciliation discourse was necessary in the South African context. We will see that, amongst others, also political considerations played a role in the control exercised over the discourse of the TRC victims. In this way, we will understand that the reconciliation discourse of the Commission was a reflection of a very ambiguous social attitude: this discourse had to reveal as much as possible about the apartheid past – and this in a manner as spontaneous, as transparent and as open as possible -, but it also had to be adapted to certain socio-political needs. This will tell us that also a quasi-judicial institution such as the TRC involves an inevitable interplay between language on the one hand and ideology and society on the other.

The Role of the Legal Profession in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-298
Author(s):  
Heidy Rombouts ◽  
Stephan Parmentier
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth Commission ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

In situations of a transition to democracy, the legal profession tends to have a strong impact. While this is quite clear in the case when criminal prosecutions are initiated against perpetrators of gross human rights violations, and when amnesty provisions are enacted for some violations, it is far less obvious in cases when a truth commission is set up. The current article looks into the role that the legal profession, i.e. the judiciary, the bar and the non-governmental organisations, has played in the notorious case of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It draws on the systems analysis of political life by David Easton, which identifies how demands (input) that rise in society, are processed (conversion) and produce results (output), which provide new inputs to the political system. This ‘flow model’ is applied to two separate processes during the life of the TRC: the Special Legal Hearing of October 1997, and the legal challenges put to the Commission in Court in 1996. Our analysis reveals a number of interesting conclusions. One is that the organised profession approached the Special Legal Hearing from a very legalistic point of view, despite the non-judicial character of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at large. This stands in contrast with the position of the Constitutional Court, which recognised the limits of the traditional judicial system and came out in support of the TRC. Another conclusion is that, although the participation of the judges and the magistrates in the Special Legal Hearing was limited to written submissions, their influence proved very large, as they threatened the TRC with a constitutional crisis. Finally, throughout the two processes under review, breaches became visible within the legal profession, between the ‘progressive’ non-governmental organisations and the ‘conservative’ organised profession on the one hand, and between the organised profession on the one hand and the judges on the other hand. In sum, it can convincingly be concluded that the impact of the legal profession remains quite important when a truth commission is opted for in a context of transition to democracy.

When the Landscape of the Face is Hidden from Us

2017 ◽  
pp. 68-71
Author(s):  
Paula Horta
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Affective Quality ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Ethical Response ◽  
Desmond Tutu

How do we respond to the vulnerability of the Other when we do not see his face? How do photographer and viewers position themselves ethically in relation to the (hi)story of suffering they are called to witness? These are the questions that steer my reflection about Jillian Edelstein’s unpublished photograph of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Taken shortly after the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) completed its work, the photograph evokes the moment during the TRC hearings when the Archbishop, Chairman of the commission, laid down his head and wept. Drawing on Emmanuel Levinas’s conceptualization of “the face”; I discuss how affect is produced within and through Edelstein’s photograph, and specifically how the affective quality of the photograph both contributes to an understanding of the experience of suffering within the context of the TRC and summons an ethical response from the viewer. Keywords: Desmund Tutu, Emmanuel Levinas, gesture and photography, Jillian Edelstein, photography portrait

scholarly journals APLA and the Amnesty Committee of the TRC? An Ethical Analysis of the Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tshepo Lephakga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
White People ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Bona Fide ◽  
White Settlers ◽  
Political Objective ◽  
Desmond Tutu

This article examines the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It focuses on the amnesty committee and challenges regarding amnesty applications of members and supporters of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), an armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). These complications emanated from policies and politics of the mother-body (PAC) and APLA, which made it difficult to distinguish between acts with a political objective committed by bona fide APLA members and purely criminal acts committed for personal gain. Such policies were expressed in: 1) The APLA slogan “One Settler, One Bullet”; and 2) The policy regarding “Repossession of property” by Azanians. The position of APLA needs to be understood against the fundamental politics of the PAC that the presence of white settlers in South Africa (occupied Azania) is an act of occupation, dispossession and colonisation. Thus, all white people in South Africa are regarded as settlers and targets for APLA. This position contends that, as a result of the settler status of all white people in South Africa, everything that they purportedly own belongs to Azanians and must be repossessed. Another complication—according to the TRC—was for some applicants to meet at least one of the requirements for amnesty, since any incident committed had to constitute an act associated with a political objective. Other challenges were lack of documentation to prove membership of APLA, and the autonomy or independence of the mother body (PAC) and its armed wing (APLA).

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