THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission will from April 1 begin winding down its operations as a first step towards its final closure later in the year – six years after its first sitting in East London in March 1996. Commission representative Phila Ngqumba said the TRC’s East London regional office in the Eastern Cape would be the first to draw its curtains on April 1, to be followed by Gauteng on May 1, while KwaZulu-Natal would close down on July 1. The Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee would, however, remain operational in Cape Town until August 1.