Truth, reconciliation and justice

After decades of bitter struggle, in April 1994 the anti‐apartheid liberation movements and the South African government joined forces to launch a new non‐racial democracy, which resulted in a configuration known as the Government of National Unity (GNU). This political settlement was reached after years of negotiations and compromises. One of the thorniest issues the coalition government has had to face is the question of accountability for past human rights abuses: abuses perpetrated not only by the forces of the former ruling party, but by various other political movements, including the African National Congress (ANC), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the right‐wing Afrikaner neo‐nazi group, Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging (AWB)—the Afrikaner Resistance Movement. Establishing a fair process to account for systematic gross violations of human rights carried out under a former regime—a process that is deemed acceptable to both the victims of these abuses, as well as their perpetrators—is a heavy burden for any society. The manner in which a new regime steers a course between victims and perpetrators may have important long‐term and short‐term implications for the continuation, consolidation and quality of the democratization process. South Africans have expended considerable time, energy and resources in formulating a policy for achieving political justice

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• Calling the Judiciary to Account for the Past

  Open Access•Hakeem O Yusuf•Law & Policy•2008

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