Achievements of South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Wounded since its inception by recurring sectarianism, unabated linguistic violence, ethnic divides, rampant corruption, internal conspiracies, treacheries, nefarious external plots and haunted by the unharnessed monster of terrorism, Pakistan today badly needs its political and military leadership to inculcate the spirit of co-existence among the country’s inhabitants by establishing a body like the globally-admired 1996 South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that could address grievances, impart justice and hence heal the nation.

Research shows that the afore-cited South African Commission had laid emphasis on a re-conciliatory approach to deal with the grave human-rights violations after the Apartheid Era or the racial segregation times in the country.

This body had reviewed and studied 7, 112 amnesty applications during the 26 months of its functioning between April 1996 and June 1998 and had thoroughly investigated the human rights abuses that occurred between 1960 and 1994.

Nobody was exempted from appearing before the Commission.

While former South African President de Klerk had appeared before the commission and reiterated his apology for the suffering caused by Apartheid, another ex-head of state PW Botha had defied a subpoena to appear before the body, calling it a "circus.”

President Botha’s defiance had resulted in a fine and suspended sentence, but these were overturned on appeal.

The then sitting President Mandela’s wife and The First Lady Winnie Mandela was also summoned to testify before the Commission that was unearthing the bitter realities.

Set up during Nelson Mandela’s Presidency, this Commission had held more than 2,500 amnesty hearings and had granted 849 amnesties for thousands of crimes committed during the Apartheid years.

The mandate of the Commission, headed by Cape Town city’s Archbishop and a respected Nobel Laureate, Desmond Tutu (born 1931), was to bear witness to, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, as well as reparation and rehabilitation.

The “Encyclopedia Britannica” had written: “The un-banning of the liberation movements and opposition political parties in 1990 by President de Klerk, the release from prison of Nelson Mandela, and the lifting of the state of emergency in South Africa paved the way for a negotiated peace settlement between the Apartheid regime and those who fought against it and brought an end to the struggle against colonialism and apartheid that had lasted in South Africa for more than 300 years. The negotiations resulted in the establishment of a date for the country’s first democratic elections and for an interim constitution to be enacted. A major obstacle to finalising the interim constitution was the question of accountability for those guilty of gross human rights violations during the years of Apartheid.”

It had added: “Its emphasis was on gathering evidence and uncovering information—from both victims and perpetrators—and not on prosecuting individuals for past crimes, which is how the commission mainly differed from the Nuremburg Trials that prosecuted Nazis after World War II. The commission released the first five volumes of its final report on Oct. 29, 1998, and the remaining two volumes of the report on March 21, 2003.

The hearings of the TRC attracted global attention, as it was the first commission to hold public hearings in which both victims and perpetrators were heard. While amnesties are generally considered inconsistent with international law, the South African TRC provided some basis for considering conditional amnesties as a useful compromise, particularly if they help to secure perpetrator confessions.”

This body empowered to grant forgiveness to those who had committed abuses during the Apartheid Era, as long as the crimes were politically motivated, proportionate, and there was full disclosure by the person seeking amnesty.

The work of this South African commission was accomplished through three committees. The Human Rights Violations Committee investigated human rights abuses that occurred between 1960 and 1994, the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee was charged with restoring victims' dignity and formulating proposals to assist with rehabilitation and the Amnesty Committee considered applications from individuals who applied for amnesty in accordance with the provisions of the “Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, Number 34 of 1995.”

The hearings were initially set to be heard “in camera,” but the intervention of 23 NGOs had eventually succeeded in gaining media access to the hearings and on April 15, 1996, the South African National Broadcaster had televised the first two hours of the first human rights violation committee hearing live. Top of Form Funded by Norway, the South African Radio had continued to broadcast live throughout.

Witnesses at this commission’s hearings were able to give testimony in their home language. Translators and transcribers worked in most of South Africa's 11 official languages plus Polish.