PublicationsResearchReconciliation, Transitional Justice, Truth CommissionsCreating a Space for Remembrance: The Healing of Memories ProcessThe aim of this report is to examine the 'Healing of Memories' (HOM) process as one intervention in the larger discourse around truth and reconciliation in South Africa since 1994 until today. HOM workshops present one of the few institutionalised post-TRC spaces for South Africans to consciously and practically engage with personal memories and with each other about the apartheid… Read More Undine Whande KayserJanuary 3, 2000
PublicationsResearchTransitional Justice, Truth CommissionsTransformation of the Magistracy: Balancing Independence and Accountability in the New Democratic OrderThis report documents this ongoing tension between independence and accountability as it affects the magistracy. It does so through three case studies that can be framed as encounters with the independence-accountability issue: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the lay assessor system, and social context training. Read More Lazarus Kgalema and Paul GreadyJanuary 3, 2000
PublicationsResearchReconciliation, Transitional Justice, Truth CommissionsRebuilding Fractured Societies: Reconstruction, Reconciliation and the Changing Nature of Violence – Some Self-Critical Insights from Post-Apartheid South AfricaBased primarily on the South African experience, this discussion paper will attempt to offer a broad analysis of some of the key challenges faced by societies emerging from intense conflict, or making the often painful transition from autocratic rule to democracy. In so doing, it will reflect self-critically on some of the challenges of transformation, reconciliation, democratisation and - in… Read More Graeme SimpsonJanuary 3, 2000
PublicationsResearchTransitional Justice, Truth CommissionsRepairing the Irreparable: Dealing With Double-Binds of Making Reparations for Crimes of the PastThis paper explores the interplay between the factors of psychological support, government strategies and socio-economic development in the reparations process and the contradictory and inherent difficulties of trying to make amends for past wrongs in post-apartheid South Africa. The competing and often diverging psychological needs of the individual and the society with regards to making reparations for gross violations of… Read More Brandon HamberJanuary 3, 2000
PublicationsResearchTransitional Justice, Truth Commissions"Telling It Like It Is…" : Understanding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from the Perspective of SurvivorsThis article focuses on survivors' perspectives of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It probes their feelings, thoughts and views both before and after interacting with the Commission. Their feelings and opinions about issues such as justice, punishment and amnesty are explored. This information, which forms the backbone of this article, was obtained from interviews with twenty survivors of political… Read More Brandon Hamber, Dineo Nageng and Gabriel O'MalleyJanuary 3, 2000
PublicationsResearchTransitional Justice, Truth CommissionsNon-Governmental Organisations and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: An Impact AssessmentThis report examines the relationship between Peace/Conflict Resolution Organisations and the TRC. Based mainly on interviews with NGO and TRC staff, the report outlines the various ways that NGOs participated in the development of the TRC legislation and engaged with TRC structures. Read More Hugo van der Merwe, Polly Dewhirst and Brandon HamberFebruary 18, 1999
