October 29: Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (1998)
Prayer Idea
Pray for the people and government of South Africa.
Map by Peter Hermes Furian / Shutterstock.com.
History Note
Southern Africa is home to many ethnic groups, including the Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swati, Venda, and Ndebele. Dutch settlers (later known as Boers, from the Dutch word for farmer) started arriving in the 1600s, followed by the British in the 1700s. In the late 1800s, immigrants from India and other parts of Asia also started coming. The British eventually gained control and organized the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Many of the British and the Boers looked down on the Indigenous population and the Indian immigrants. Boers, known as Afrikaners, continued to have political power in the country. Between 1910 and 1948, Afrikaners developed their ethnic identity and political power and portrayed black Africans as a dangerous group.
Afrikaners won control of the government in 1948. They formalized a strict policy of apartheid (apartness or segregation) that was already largely in place by custom. The government classified people into four groups: White, Bantu (all black Africans), Coloured (people with mixed heritage), and Asian. Apartheid laws affected where people could live, where they could own land and businesses, which jobs they could hold, and which churches they could attend.
Many nonwhite people in South Africa and some white people spoke out against apartheid. The government brutally suppressed public demonstrations. Some other countries put restrictions on trade and other engagement with South Africa.
The African National Congress (ANC) was a group that worked for equality in South Africa. At first it focused on nonviolent protest actions. Albert Lutuli, an ANC leader, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961 for his efforts. However, after the South African government banned the ANC from operating, some of its leaders decided to use violent resistance. ANC leader Nelson Mandela was sent to prison in the early 1960s for his part in the violence.
Things started to change in the 1980s. Desmond Tutu, a black Anglican leader, received the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. He served as the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, the first black African to hold that position.
In 1990 the government lifted its ban on the ANC, and Nelson Mandela was freed from prison. The next year, President F. W. de Klerk announced his intention to end apartheid. De Klerk and Mandela jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Elections in 1994 gave ANC candidates over 62% of the vote. Nelson Mandela served as president from 1994 to 1999.
In 1995 the new South African government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help the country recover from the effects of human rights abuses during apartheid. Many citizens gave input on what they thought the commission should do before the law setting it up was enacted. The commission sought to hear from former government officials and from members of groups that had fought the apartheid government, but primarily it heard from victims who suffered during apartheid.
Nelson Mandela selected Desmond Tutu to chair the commission. The emphasis was on letting people tell their stories so that the truth could be known. The commission had authority to grant amnesty to perpetrators of abuse if they requested it. The commission received over 7,000 requests for amnesty and granted about 1,500. Some people received prison sentences for their actions.
The commission presented a comprehensive report to president Mandela on October 29, 1998. The commission faced criticism for aspects of its work, and South Africa has continued to struggle with the lingering effects of racism and violence. However, this quotation from Desmond Tutu’s forward offers a vision for how South Africa (and other countries) can acknowledge their broken past while working for a brighter future:
Ours is a remarkable country. Let us celebrate our diversity, our differences. God wants us as we are. South Africa wants and needs the Afrikaner, the English, the coloured, the Indian, the black. We are sisters and brothers in one family - God’s family, the human family. Having looked the beast of the past in the eye, having asked and received forgiveness and having made amends, let us shut the door on the past—not in order to forget it but in order not to allow it to imprison us. Let us move into the glorious future of a new kind of society where people count, not because of biological irrelevancies or other extraneous attributes, but because they are persons of infinite worth created in the image of God.
Nobel Square in Cape Town, South Africa, features statues of the country’s four Nobel Peace Prize winners: Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, F. W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela. Another nearby sculpture, ‘Peace and Democracy,” honors the work of women and children in the anti-apartheid movement. Photo by Marek Poplawski / Shutterstock.com.
Learn More
This video summarizes the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Please Note: There are images and descriptions of violence.
Find more resources at Homeschool History.
