Many of the deep-seated social and developmental problems facing South Africa today link back to the transition processes of the early 1990s.The issue is not that we should not have had the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) or Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA). Rather, the problem is that we saw these processes - adopted as political necessity - as 'end points' rather than the beginnings of far-reaching changes. And the concern is that we are not openly discussing the flaws of these vehicles of transition.
The TRC explored reconciliation not through punishment, but through trying to build a story about gross crimes against humanity and political reform. As far as individuals went, the TRC sought to combat impunity and rebuild a culture of accountability. For victims of gross violence it aimed to uncover hidden truths of what happened and assist families in getting 'closure'. As part of the process, commitments were made to victims of gross violence about reparations and, at least in recommendations towards the end, regarding broader reforms and changes.Yet because it could not bring itself to examine wider exploitation and systematic oppression, the TRC's work was inadequate. The government has also failed to follow up and prosecute the perpetrators of violence who did not apply for amnesty. In addition, it has not fully implemented recommendations for reparations for victims of gross violations. Government has paid reparations - a pay-out of R30,000 - to less than a quarter of victims of gross human rights violation.But the TRC's bigger failure is that it failed to address the more collective loss of dignity, opportunities and systemic violence experienced by the oppressed.No hearings were held on land issues, on the education system, on the migrant labour system and on the role of companies that collaborated with, and made money from, the apartheid security system. As Mahmood Mamdani puts it:"The TRC held individual state officials criminally responsible, but for only those actions that would have been defined as crimes under apartheid law. It distinguished between the law-driven violence of the apartheid state - pass laws, forced removals, and so on - as legal if not legitimate, and the excess violence of its operatives, as illegal."CODESA played a vital role in bringing the new South Africa into being. Since no side could claim victory, adversaries were forced to negotiate.
