“THOUGH force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
Dwight David Eisenhower, a five-star general in the US army during World War 2, and the 34th president of the USA, uttered those words at the conclusion of World War 2 as the victorious western allies had suffered enormous loss of life and faced the task of reconstructing and developing parts of a war annihilated world.
Twenty-one years away from our heinous past, the scars of apartheid are still visible – and the reconciliation and reconstruction of our ailing society appears to be on the back-burner.
Over the intervening years, one has been hard-pressed to find former supporters of the apartheid regime and its atrocious inhuman laws voluntarily confessing their allegiance and seeking forgiveness.
In the same vein is the prevalent myth that all black people were participants in the liberation struggle. Bearing such misconceptions in mind, is it a wonder that our country continues to wallow in the depths of bigotry and racial hatred? Are we ever likely to heal as a nation if we refuse to acknowledge our woundedness and the reason behind its existence?
How can a person begin to cure an illness that he or she continues to deny? HIV/Aids is a death sentence to those in denial. In the same way our failure to fully confront our horrible past is likely to lead to an incessantly ill nation that is never cured.
The recent release from prison of the 79-year-old assassin, Clive Derby-Lewis, which sparked a furore, is a perfect illustration of our ailing society. According to the SACP the root of the opposition to Derby-Lewis’ parole is the fact that he “has never been remorseful” for the killing of SACP leader, Chris Hani, as Judge Selby Baqwa claimed.
In addition, Hani’s family believes that Derby-Lewis has not fully disclosed the circumstances behind Hani’s murder.
Of greater concern in this context are the increasing number of voices from the broader black community that see the South African truth and reconciliation project as a one-sided affair. In the main, the argument centres on the victims of apartheid atrocities being expected to forgive the perpetrators and move on with their lives, while those responsible refuse to fully disclose the extent of their crimes and persist in showing little remorse.
Consequently many ask, how does one forgive someone who refuses to take responsibility for his actions, tell the whole truth and offer a genuine apology? Why does it appear that sufferers are required to reconcile with themselves?
Perhaps, the only logical explanation for the current prevailing extraordinary phenomenon, is to be found in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, at the setting up of the TRC when he declared, “the most forgiving people I have ever come across are people who have suffered – it is as if suffering has ripped them open into empathy. I am talking about wounded healers”.
Could that be the reason for the perception that only those who suffered greatly under apartheid seem preoccupied with absolution, clemency and compassion?
Marianne Williamson, a spiritual teacher, maintains: “Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness”.
Where do justice and fairness feature in all this? Because, if true justice is denied, and apology and remorse are not forthcoming from those who have committed dastardly acts, peace and prosperity are likely to continue eluding our young democracy.
Further as Alex Boraine, the TRC deputy chair, asserted: “Transparency, accountability and truth are essential ingredients in any nation which seeks integrity, the consolidation of democracy, and a culture of human rights”.
And therein lies the rub for those dissatisfied with the release of Derby-Lewis; they believe that transparency, accountability and truth are conditions that the fresh parole has not satisfied. Though he spent 22 years behind bars and suffers from terminal cancer, to his detractors, Derby-Lewis has not shown sufficient visible remorse to entitle him, even to medical parole.
As the psychiatrist Thomas Szasz cautions: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget, the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” South Africans should take the wise choice.
True forgiveness
Dwight David Eisenhower, a five-star general in the US army during World War 2, and the 34th president of the USA, uttered those words at the conclusion of World War 2 as the victorious western allies had suffered enormous loss of life and faced the task of reconstructing and developing parts of a war annihilated world.
Twenty-one years away from our heinous past, the scars of apartheid are still visible – and the reconciliation and reconstruction of our ailing society appears to be on the back-burner.
Over the intervening years, one has been hard-pressed to find former supporters of the apartheid regime and its atrocious inhuman laws voluntarily confessing their allegiance and seeking forgiveness.
In the same vein is the prevalent myth that all black people were participants in the liberation struggle. Bearing such misconceptions in mind, is it a wonder that our country continues to wallow in the depths of bigotry and racial hatred? Are we ever likely to heal as a nation if we refuse to acknowledge our woundedness and the reason behind its existence?
How can a person begin to cure an illness that he or she continues to deny? HIV/Aids is a death sentence to those in denial. In the same way our failure to fully confront our horrible past is likely to lead to an incessantly ill nation that is never cured.
The recent release from prison of the 79-year-old assassin, Clive Derby-Lewis, which sparked a furore, is a perfect illustration of our ailing society. According to the SACP the root of the opposition to Derby-Lewis’ parole is the fact that he “has never been remorseful” for the killing of SACP leader, Chris Hani, as Judge Selby Baqwa claimed.
In addition, Hani’s family believes that Derby-Lewis has not fully disclosed the circumstances behind Hani’s murder.
Of greater concern in this context are the increasing number of voices from the broader black community that see the South African truth and reconciliation project as a one-sided affair. In the main, the argument centres on the victims of apartheid atrocities being expected to forgive the perpetrators and move on with their lives, while those responsible refuse to fully disclose the extent of their crimes and persist in showing little remorse.
Consequently many ask, how does one forgive someone who refuses to take responsibility for his actions, tell the whole truth and offer a genuine apology? Why does it appear that sufferers are required to reconcile with themselves?
Perhaps, the only logical explanation for the current prevailing extraordinary phenomenon, is to be found in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, at the setting up of the TRC when he declared, “the most forgiving people I have ever come across are people who have suffered – it is as if suffering has ripped them open into empathy. I am talking about wounded healers”.
Could that be the reason for the perception that only those who suffered greatly under apartheid seem preoccupied with absolution, clemency and compassion?
Marianne Williamson, a spiritual teacher, maintains: “Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness”.
Where do justice and fairness feature in all this? Because, if true justice is denied, and apology and remorse are not forthcoming from those who have committed dastardly acts, peace and prosperity are likely to continue eluding our young democracy.
Further as Alex Boraine, the TRC deputy chair, asserted: “Transparency, accountability and truth are essential ingredients in any nation which seeks integrity, the consolidation of democracy, and a culture of human rights”.
And therein lies the rub for those dissatisfied with the release of Derby-Lewis; they believe that transparency, accountability and truth are conditions that the fresh parole has not satisfied. Though he spent 22 years behind bars and suffers from terminal cancer, to his detractors, Derby-Lewis has not shown sufficient visible remorse to entitle him, even to medical parole.
As the psychiatrist Thomas Szasz cautions: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget, the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” South Africans should take the wise choice.
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