South Africa has been hailed for its peaceful transition to democracy, yet the past still haunts those who were oppressed by the racist apartheid regime.

This month, the country marks the 10th anniversary since the first sitting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), designed to allow victims to deal with the horrors of apartheid, which ended in 1994.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who led the commission, acknowledges the forum’s success in setting an international benchmark for dealing with post-conflict situations.

But, he adds, it failed to uncover the truth in many cases or meet the needs of victims.

“We probably shouldn’t have operated as we did. Amnesty was granted with immediate effect,” he said at a gathering in Cape Town, South Africa, to mark the anniversary.

Tutu was also unhappy with the “ungenerous reparations” paid to apartheid victims who appeared before the commission.

“We should have had a budget (for victims) and estimated what they should get, with immediate effect.”

Instead, the ANC government decided in 2003 to grant a once-off reparations payment of 30,000 rand ($3,670 at the time) to apartheid victims who gave testimony to the commission.

Many among the more than 21,000 victims thought the amount wasn’t even enough to meet their medical expenses.
aljazeera.net

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