Governance

4 Items

Former Truth And Reconciliation (TRC) Commissioner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at a public debate on the TRC legacy in Cape Town, South Africa, Apr. 20, 2006. Debated subjects included reparations for victims of apartheid and the healing process.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - The Huffington Post

Reconciliation Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

| November 20, 2009

"The world loved the Rainbow Nation success story and chose, along with many South Africans, to ignore that reconciliation can easily be used to justify impunity. Jansen's description of the Reitz Four, that they too are his children and that he cannot disown them, echoes the mythology of the TRC that perpetrators were sinners who strayed and need to be forgiven (and granted amnesty), not as individuals who broke the law and need to be held accountable. Any serious discussion about rights and responsibility is quickly marginalised, with dangerous implications for any attempts to foster a respect for human rights and a respect for the rule of law."