Eddie Koch
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) went into its Christmas recess a fter a one-year performance that was “quite remarkable compared to other truth -seeking processes around the world”, says an international expert.
Priscilla Hayner, an international researcher writing a book on truth commiss ions in various parts of the world, says it is premature to say South Africa’s TRC has so far failed to lure significant sections of apartheid’s security fo
rces into its ambit.
“The process going on in South Africa is quite remarkable, as compared to othe r truth-seeking processes, and has already gone much further in some important ways. That perpetrators are speaking out at all, and letting out some remarka
ble new layers to the truth of the past, is quite astonishing compared with el sewhere,” Hayner told the Mail &Guardian this week.
“In Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, Haiti and other places, truth commissions r eceived virtually no co-operation at all from the armed forces, except for a f ew private, confidential conversations with individuals (usually retired offic ers) who were willing to come clean.
“In Chile and El Salvador, for example, the military still flatly deny their r ole in past abuses, or the extent of the abuses described by truth commissions that operated in those countries. After viewing these examples, the process t
aking place in South Africa is quite remarkable.”
Hayner was responding to reports that the TRC, with one year of its lifespan l eft, had so far been dominated by public hearings for victims of South Africa’ s past and that, so far, relatively few security force operatives had come for ward to confess their role and apply for amnesty.
TRC statistics show the organisation held 47 human rights violations hearings countrywide during 1996. Five hearings dealt with major events such as the Bis ho Massacre or the Seven-Day War in Pietermaritzburg while the others were des igned for residents of the region to tell of their experiences.
There were, by contrast, only 10 amnesty hearings and a number of these relate d to relatively obscure events. In addition, some 4 000 individual amnesty app lications were received by the end of the year and the great majority of these were from convicted prisoners who have nothing to lose by talking about what
they did.
There were five public events where political parties made their submissions a nd one for the South African Defence Force to describe the role it played in t he apartheid era. With the partial exception of the African National Congress report, each of these accounts failed to make any significant revelations abou t why the 1970s and 1980s were the most brutal period of this country’s turbul ent histor y.
Hayner says the TRC’s greatest strength to date has been its ability to organi se, and keep a record of, numerous human rights violations in hearings even in remote parts of the country. Significant details about official involvement
in these violations have emerged.
She points out the South African truth commission stands out because it has be en extremely “process conscious”. “They seem to appreciate the TRC is not just an exercise aimed at product but, just as important, will make its impact thr
ough process… the involvement and interest and understanding from the public . On this score, the TRC is far ahead of most other truth commissions, which h ave focuss ed their energies on a final report to be read and discussed after the fact.”
But the TRC has played another vital role. It has shaped the way this country’ s people can describe their past and, in so doing, offers them the prospect of a better future. “My sense is that the overwhelming quantity of stories and t
estimony has changed the dynamics of ‘the past’ in South Africa: that is, ther e are few today who would argue that abuses didn’t take place on a grand scale ,” says Ha yner.
“It was interesting to ask people during my visit there whether they were lear ning anything new from the TRC hearings or whether they already knew what was coming out. The most interesting responses were from those who clearly used to support apartheid (although they wouldn’t admit to it directly), and would sa
y they knew ‘nothing’ about all this – but they did not deny that everything c oming out in the hearings was the truth.
“Without a truth commission, where would the conversation stand on this questi on? I would assume there would still be massive denial by many, many differen t versions of the truth, and a strong desire by some to ‘lighten’ the histori cal account of ‘errors made’. That is no longer possible.”
And, because denial has been made impossible, a repeat of the past is made les s likely. Which is good enough reason to say that Bishop Desmond Tutu, his dep uty, Alec Boraine, and the men and women who run the TRC deserve their Christm as break.
l Priscilla Hayner is currently in Brazil conducting research for her book. Sh e has written numerous reports for human rights organisations comparing the ro le and performance of truth commissions in more than 10 countries.