Audiences witnessed a charged moment in South Africa’s reconciliatory landscape when author Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela welcomed an apartheid victim’s mother on stage during her book launch on Sunday.
200 people applauded and cheered Jean Fourie as she stepped up to the podium and shared her own tale of loss and remorse.
Fourie’s daughter Lyndi was killed in the Heidelberg Tavern massacre nearly ten years ago. Some months ago, Fourie met with the man who ordered the bombing and made her peace.
Fourie said she had read Madikizela’s book A Human Being Died That Night’: A Story of Forgiveness that inspired her to confront her own grief.
Madikizela spent more than 40 hours with convicted apartheid death squad commander Eugene de Kock to produce her chilling testimony about the man whose murderous actions earned him the nickname “Prime Evil”.
During the keynote speech, Judge Albie Sachs commended Gobodo-Madikizela for her “poise, balance and sheer dignity in conveying a tale that followed the path of truth”.
“To explore the thinking of a man who represented the old South Africa with as much poise as she possesses is remarkable,” he said.
“She has that quality South Africans need to bring everyone together, to make everyone feel part and parcel of this country, similar to the enormous moral and political leadership shown by Nelson Mandela.”
Gobodo-Madikizela will be participating in the Ceremony of Reconciliation on Thursday evening, as well as `No Future Without Forgiveness’, the event that will be held earlier that afternoon. — ECN Cuewire