THE POLITICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF JUSTICE: REVIEWING ANTJIE KROG’S COUNTRY OF MY SKULL AND THE APPLICATION OF AFRICAN JURISPRUDENCE

Political Agenda ◽

The Political ◽

Power Politics ◽

Positive Law ◽

Law And Politics ◽

The Law ◽

The Difference

This research aims to prove that politics shapes the law and, as such, can act as a catalyst to shape the law in accordance with African jurisprudence and Ubuntu. I structure my approach by explaining the difference between general and restricted jurisprudence and their foundations with the natural and positive law, respectively. In addition, I attempt to show that law and politics are inherently interrelated and should be viewed through a general jurisprudential perspective. I will further elaborate on the character played by politics on the South African law, both pre-1994 and in the postapartheid era. I direct my literature review to Antjie Krog’s Country of my skull. Krog’s account of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (hereinafter referred to as the TRC) provides a platform for observation and analysis of the influence politics exerted on the law (and law enforcement) during apartheid. Krog’s account of the TRC also acts as a grounding for emphasising the particular African jurisprudence portrayed by the TRC itself and, finally, showing that a political atmosphere which incorporates African jurisprudence and Ubuntu into its political agenda will allow for the reflection of such a jurisprudence in the legal sphere. Krog’s illustration of the political shaping of the law creates a clear perspective of the influence of politics over the law. Furthermore, in attempting to illustrate this inherent power politics holds, particularly focusing on apartheid policies shaping the law (pre-1994), I too aim to show the power that politics can still play in shaping the law today, in accordance with African philosophy.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Law of Prior Consultation: Obstacles and Opportunities for Democratization and Political Participation in Peru

Latin American Perspectives ◽

10.1177/0094582x19857153 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 46 (5) ◽

pp. 111-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Juan Pablo Sarmiento Barletti ◽

Lexy Seedhouse

Keyword(s):

Political Participation ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

The State ◽

The Political ◽

The Law

A study informed by long-term fieldwork with Amazonian and Andean indigenous peoples examines their experiences of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Law of Prior Consultation. It engages with these efforts, which sought to address injustice by creating a new pact between the state and its indigenous citizens, their various failures, and the unintended opportunities that they have created for the political participation of indigenous peoples and their representatives.Un estudio basado en el trabajo de campo a largo plazo con los pueblos indígenas amazónicas y andinos examine sus experiencias de la Comisión de Verdad y Reconciliación y la Ley de Consulta Previa de Perú, que buscaba abordar la injusticia creando un nuevo pacto entre el estado y sus ciudadanos indígenas. Aborda sus diversos fracasos y las oportunidades no previstas que han creado para la participación políticas de los pueblos indígenas y sus representantes.

Spectacles of Statecraft

Contradictions of Democracy ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190847180.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 57-80

Author(s):

Nicholas Rush Smith

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

State Building ◽

African History ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

Democratic State ◽

The Law ◽

Procedural Rights

Why was the democratic state unable to monopolize violence despite massive judicial reforms? By considering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, one of the most important early state-building institutions, the chapter shows the state has had difficulty disciplining relations between citizens such that they would turn to the law to resolve disputes rather than violently doing so themselves. Specifically, it examines the Victor Kheswa hearings in Sebokeng where, despite Kheswa’s alleged involvement in one of the worst massacres in South African history, his mother was put on stage as a victim of human rights abuses. The chapter argues that by proclaiming Kheswa’s mother as a victim, the TRC went against local notions of justice, as she was widely considered to be an enabler of violence, not a victim. This infelicitous performance mirrored the state’s challenges in getting citizens to turn to the law for justice, as many citizens considered suspects’ procedural rights as putting the law on the side of criminals.

“The Terrible Genius of Literature”: Reassessing Reconciliation in Nadine Gordimer’s The House Gun

Law Culture and the Humanities ◽

10.1177/1743872114566367 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 100-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Audrey J. Golden

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Case Law ◽

Law And Literature ◽

Constitutional Court ◽

The Novel ◽

The South ◽

The Law

During the three years in which Gordimer drafted The House Gun (1998), she relied heavily on South African case law, international jurisprudence, and the discerning editorial eye of Nelson Mandela’s lawyer, George Bizos. As such, my reading of The House Gun brings new attention to the novel’s engagement with the reconciliatory efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the juridical work of the South African Constitutional Court to redefine the terms of reconciliation in the country. Through language in a fictional courtroom, Gordimer’s novel turns the process of repair into one that is always immediate and ongoing. It shifts the primarily retributive focus of the law into a reparative and open-ended endeavor. Justice no longer is something that “is done,” Gordimer explains, but rather is a process equally conceived by law and literature. The novel depicts harm in terms of the interpersonal, spatial, and legal fractures it creates. In this way, it expresses reconciliation in the Commission’s language of bridging an injurious past with a present always open to healing.

Disappointed Remains: Trauma, Testimony, and Reconciliation in Post-apartheid South Africa

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195339550.013.0010 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Sean Field

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Real Life ◽

Trauma Survivors ◽

National Unity ◽

Apartheid Regime ◽

Democratic Elections

The apartheid regime in South Africa and the fight against the same, followed by the reconciliation is the crux of this article. The first democratic elections held on April 27, 1994, were surprisingly free of violence. Then, in one of its first pieces of legislation, the new democratic parliament passed the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995, which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At the outset, the South African TRC promised to “uncover the truth” about past atrocities, and forge reconciliation across a divided country. As oral historians, we should consider the oral testimonies that were given at the Human Rights Victim hearings and reflect on the reconciliation process and what it means to ask trauma survivors to forgive and reconcile with perpetrators. This article cites several real life examples to explain the trauma and testimony of apartheid and post-apartheid Africa with a hint on the still prevailing disappointments and blurred memories.

Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Hindu experiences and concerns

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v60i4.633 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 60 (4) ◽

Author(s):

P.G.J. Meiring

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Faith Communities ◽

The South ◽

Hindu Community ◽

The Way

The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th

Dealing with a traumatic past: the victim hearings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and their reconciliation discourse

Critical Discourse Studies ◽

10.1080/17405900903181135 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 297-309 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Annelies Verdoolaege

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

The South ◽

Truth And Reconciliation

Handelingen - Koninklijke Zuid-Nederlandse Maatschappij voor Taal- en Letterkunde en Geschiedenis ◽

'Papieren' voor de toekomst

10.21825/kzm.v60i0.17399 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 60 ◽

pp. 43-52

Author(s):

Gustaaf Janssens

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

The South ◽

Cultural Perception ◽

Close Relationship ◽

Archival Documents ◽

The Government

A purely cultural perception of records and archives is one-sided andincomplete. Records and archival documents are necessary to confirm therights and the obligations of both the government and the citizens. "Therecords are crucial to hold us accountable", says archbishop D. Tutu, formerpresident of the South African 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission'. Forthis reason, the government should organize the archives in such a way thatarchival services can fulfil their task as guardians of society's memorie.Citizens' rights and archives have a close relationship.

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

States of Imagination ◽

10.1215/9780822381273-006 ◽

2001 ◽

pp. 149-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

The South ◽

Truth And Reconciliation

The knowledge and perceptions of history students of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa ◽

10.4102/td.v10i1.23 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

M Oelofse ◽

A Oosthuysen

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Research Method ◽

Mixed Method Research ◽

Group Interviews ◽

The University

Using the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (TRC) and the concept of reconciliation as a case study, the article attempts to assess the knowledge and understanding of the registered undergraduate history students at the University of the Free State’s main campus about the TRC and the concept and process of reconciliation in the country at large. The research will firstly assess whether the younger generation of students, specifically students taking history as a subject, have any knowledge of such a significant and contemporary event in South African historiography as the TRC process. Secondly, in relation to the aims and recommendations of the TRC and against the background of reconciliation efforts in the country, to perceive the views and thoughts of undergraduate history students on the progress in reconciliation endeavours in South Africa. As a result, a sample of 128 undergraduate history students was randomly selected to complete a quantitative questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of both closed and open-ended questions. Group interviews, as a qualitative research method, were added and used to conduct interviews with 16 undergraduate history students selected randomly and answers were recorded. Accordingly, an explanatory mixed- method research method approach was employed by implementing both the qualitative and quantitative method.

Crimes and Accountability in Shakespeare

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.2307/2998059 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 92 (1) ◽

pp. 1-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Theodor Meron

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Former Yugoslavia ◽

Final Solution ◽

The South ◽

High Ranking ◽

The Holocaust

Accountability for crimes, a theme central to Shakespeare’s plays, is also extraordinarily pertinent to our times. Newspapers have reported on the care taken by the leaders of the former Yugoslavia to order atrocities against “enemy” populations only in the most indirect and euphemistic way. Even the Nazi leaders constantly resorted to euphemisms in referring to the Holocaust. No explicit written order from Hitler to carry out the final solution has ever been found. At the height of their power, the Nazis treated the data on the killing of Jews as top secret. Similarly, a high-ranking member of the former security police told the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that written instructions to kill antiapartheid activists were never given; squad members who carried out the killings simply got “a nod of the head or a wink-wink kind of attitude.”