4. Debates concerning the TRC

Question 1

Why did the TRC cause such controversy?

Answer 1

Even before the TRC started its work there were debates and differences of opinion about it. Some people believed that there should be war crimes tribunals Instead, like the Nuremberg Trials, Others opposed the whole idea of ​​a truth commission, believing that it would re-open old wounds that were beginning to heal.

Question 2

What did Mandela and many others believe about the TRC?

Answer 2

But Mandela and many others firmly believed that it was essential to uncover the injustices of the past so that South Africa could move forwards.

Question 3

What did some whites believe about the TRC?

Answer 3

Some whites tried to ignore the proceedings and thought that the past should be left alone; others denounced it as a witch-hunt; other embraced it and many were shocked by the revelations.

Question 4

What did many blacks believe about the TRC?

Answer 4

Many blacks believed that justice had not been done and that too many murderers were able to walk free.

Question 5

What did the families of the victims believe about the TRC?

Answer 5

Some families of the victims were critical of the whole process, notably the families of the murdered Black Consciousness leader, Steve Biko, and others who applied unsuccessfully to the Constitutional Court for the whole TRC process to be stopped.

Question 6

What was one of the main aims of the TRC?

Answer 6

One of the aims of the TRC was to overcome the past through confession and forgiveness, so that South Africans could start to be reconciled with each other and work together more effectively to build a new nation.

Question 7

What did the new Constitution support?

Answer 7

The new Constitution supported the idea of ​​national unity based on reconciliation and the reconstruction of society.

Question 8

True or false, Many people believed that there was a strong link between the TRC and nation-building.

Answer 8

True

Question 9

What was the main example of ‘nation-building’?

Answer 9

Televised sessions showed perpetrators asking for forgiveness and victims granting forgiveness in scenes which promoted the positive advantages of reconciliation for creating a better nation.

Question 10

Who emphasised the Christian principle of forgiveness?

Answer 10

The appointment of Archbishop Tutu as Chairman also gave an emphasis to the Christian principle of granting forgiveness to those who were truly repentant in order to live a better life in the future.

Question 11

Why were some people critical of this Christian emphasis and what did they question?

Answer 11

However, some people were critical of the Christian emphasis of the rhetoric and style of the TRC. Some people questioned whether it was possible to build a single South African nation in this way. They questioned whether the TRC had brought about reconciliation or simply created further divisions.

Question 12

What did some families want instead of forgiveness?

Answer 12

Not all victims or their families were willing to forgive; they wanted justice rather than merely truth.

Question 13

The whole issue of amnesty was __________. Some of the _______ or their families were _______ that the perpetrators of gross ______ ______ violations escaped _________.

Answer 13

controversial
victims 
angry 
human rights 
punishment

Question 14

What did these families believe?

Answer 14

They believed that they should have been tried in a court of law and sentenced for their crimes.

Question 15

What two families were examples of those that believed that perpetrators should be tried in a court of law?

Answer 15

For example, the Biko and Mxenge families took the one that removed their constitutional right to seek TRC to the Constitutional Court to challenge amnesty provisions on the grounds redress in the criminal courts. They lost their case.

Question 16

What did many victims find difficult?

Answer 16

Many victims found it difficult to accept that people who were guilty of appalling crimes should be allowed to walk free simply because they had made a public confession.

Question 17

What were many applicant using the TRC for after they had already been convicted?

Answer 17

Also, not that many applicants came forward and often they were people who had already been convicted of the crime in court and now were using the amnesty process to get out of jail.

Question 18

What was another factor that angered people?

Answer 18

Another factor that angered many people was that not all of those who applied for amnesty expressed any remorse for their actions.

Question 19

However, _________ was by no means __________: of the _______ applications for amnesty only ______ were granted.

Answer 19

amnesty
automatic
7 116
1 167

Question 20

What did granting amnesty mean for victims and perpetrators?

Answer 20

Granting amnesty was a political compromise but, for the victims and perpetrators directly involved, it was meeting each other face-to-face and hearing the story of the other that helped them to move forward.

Question 21

What allowed for the TRC to carry out further investigations and how?

Answer 21

More importantly, having the testimony of perpetrators enabled the Commission to carry out further investigations. In this way much more of the truth about the period was uncovered through their testimonies than would have been the case if only victims had been allowed to testify.

Question 22

What was a further problem for those that did not apply for amnesty?

Answer 22

A further problem was that those who did not apply for amnesty should have faced prosecution, but this did not happen. Leading apartheid politicians such as P.W. Botha refused to admit to any wrongdoing or to apply for amnesty. They escaped any kind of punishment.

Question 23

What happened to Magnus Malan?

Answer 23

Magnus Malan, the former Minister of Defense, was put on trial but because of uncertainties over how far he was directly responsible for actions carried out by members of the security forces, he was not convicted.

Question 24

What was the issue of selective focus?

Answer 24

Because the TRC focused on human rights abuses that had taken place during the 1980s, it ignored many other injustices that had taken place during the apartheid era.

Question 25

What was an example of the TRC’s selective focus?

Answer 25

For example, it did not investigate the wider human rights abuses of the earlier phases of apartheid, such as the imprisonment of millions of law offenders, detention without trial, and the forced removal of over 4 million people.

Question 26

What did the TRC sometimes fail to do?

Answer 26

The TRC had the power to subpoena (force by law) people to appear before it. However in the interests of reconciliation, it sometimes failed to do this.

Question 27

Who was the main example of the TRC’s failure to subpoena?

Answer 27

For example the TRC decided not to subpoena the Inkatha leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi

Question 28

What was the fear of forcing him to appear in front of the TRC?

Answer 28

because it was feared that forcing him to appear might lead to further violence between Inkatha and ANC supporters.

Question 29

What was the result of this fear? (2)

Answer 29

1. As a result the underlying causes of institutionalized violence between Inkatha and the ANC in the late 1980s and early 1990s were not fully investigated.
2. A further issue was the limited investigation of institutions as perpetrators of injustice since most of the TRC’s focus was on individuals.

Question 30

_________ hearings were held with testimonies from _______ and ______ organisations, _____ communities, the _______ community, ______ sector, the _____ and ______ parties, and former _______ conscripts. However, there was no _________ to give evidence or acknowledge wrong doing.

Answer 30

Special
business 
labor 
faith 
legal
health 
media
political 
military
compulsion

Question 31

What did many believe about key institutions?

Answer 31

Many believed that key institutions which had supported apartheid, such as mining companies, were left untouched by proceedings which focused on individual human rights abuses.

Question 32

What did people think about the issue of reparations? (2)

Answer 32

1. The issue of reparations was also controversial. Some people, including some victims and their families, thought that the idea of ​​a monetary payment was wrong in principle as this was not why they had come forward to give evidence.
2. They believed that the suffering of the people could not be compensated for in this way.

Question 33

What did Hlengiwe Mkhize believe?

Answer 33

Others, such as Hlengiwe Mkhize, the senior commissioner on the Reparations Committee. It was argued that reparations were necessary for the victims to balance the generosity that amnesty provided for perpetrators.

Question 34

At the time of the closing of the TRC in _____, only ______ reparation claims had been ________ , while more than ______ remained unprocessed.

Answer 34

1998
1000
approved
25 0000

Question 35

Why did victims receive little compensation?

Answer 35

However, many of the victims who were awarded reparations received little compensation, partly because the government could not afford it.

Question 36

Why were attempts to get business companies to contribute not successful?

Answer 36

Attempts to get business companies to contribute were not very successful. Some believed that the perpetrators, rather than the government, should provide compensation to victims, but there were no provisions for this in the Act.

Question 37

What forms did some reparations take place?

Answer 37

Some reparations took the form of non-financial benefits. For example, death certificates were issued, details were given of burial places and tombstones were erected which enabled families to appropriately commemorate their dead. This gave many people emotional closure around their loss.