"This dissertation seeks firstly to re-examine the merits of the competing philosophies on the role of amnesties in transitional justice. It seeks in particular to investigate the currently popular notion that justice is necessarily retributive and even beyond that, to determine the veracity of the claim that prosecution represents a necessary element of retributivist justice. The objective is to contribute to the ongoing debate by examining and drawing practical lessons from the case of South Africa, which emerged in 1994 from several generations of institutionalised gross violatoins of human rights. Accordingly the Amnesty Committee of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the law and the political philosophy undergirding its functions represent the focus of this study. ... This dissertation unfolds into five parts. Chapter 1, as an introduction to the rest of the work, sets out the relevance of the subject under review, the methodology and a brief overview of the chapters. Chapter two reviews the extensive literature on transitional justice and discusses the concepts that may be distilled therefrom. It discusses the contextual determinants of models of transitional justice and sets out the essence of the debate between vengeance and forgiveness as tools for achieving transitional justice. It also discusses the development of international law with respect to the permissiveness of amnesties and both the articulated and other justifications for their use. The burden of the third chapter is to first recount the factual circumstances of South Africa's trnsition and the factors that predicated the promulgation of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995. It then briefly examines the provisions of the statute and it's implementation. It also engages in an empirical assessment of the almost 800 amnesties granted and employs a number of indices to determine whteher the process was even handed and achieved its objectives. These indices are: the politicl affiliations of the awardees; whether or not the crimes for which they received amnesty involved the loss of life; whether or not they had already been punished for thier transgressions and; whether or not they received forgiveness from the vicitms - actual or constructive. Chapter four focuses on some fo the criticisms that the TRC received. It assesses their merits and determines to what extent they subverted the quest for justice in transitional South Africa. In particular it looks at the reasoning of the Constitutional Court in the AZAPO Case, the alleged lack of objectivity of the TRC, its almost exclusively Christian orientation and its almost exclusive focus on abuses of civil and political rights. Chapter five concludes the dissertation by first determining whether or not there are any lessons to be learnt from South Africa's amnesty experience. It then outlines what the lessons are or should be. It closes by making recommendations as to what factors or particular considerations should guide the efforts and aspirations of abused societies that embark on the quest for transitional justice." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Professor Frans Viljoen, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2001. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Masters of Art / At a lecture presented in London on June 5, 1994, Jacques Derrida discussed the complexities of the meaning of the archive. He described the duality in meaning of the word archive-in terms of temporality and spatiality-as a place of "commencement" and as the place "where men and gods command" or the ''place from which order is given". As the place of commencement, "there where things commence" the archive is more ambivalent. It houses, what could best be described as 'traces" of particular objects of the past in the form of documents. These documents were produced in the past and are subjective constructions with their own histories of negotiations and contestations. As such, the archive represents the end of instability, or the outcome of negotiations and contestations over knowledge. Yet as sources of evidence the archive also represents the moment of ending instability, of creating stasis and the fixing of meaning and knowledge.

No description available.

M.A. / The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Act was passed in 1995 and the TRC started its hearings in 1996. The purpose of the TRC was to promote national unity and reconciliation by establishing as complete a picture as possible of the human rights violations that had occurred during the apartheid era and to offer reparations to those who had been affected, as well as to grant amnesty to those who had committed these human rights violations. The TRC had to appoint people to help carry out its functions and deliver a report about human rights violations. Most of the people employed by the TRC to help carry out these functions were South African. Furthermore every South African had been involved in the past in one way or another, purely by being a South African. In this project the author explores, analyses and interprets the experiences of some of the people who were employed by the TRC. The focus of this project is to find out whether being employed by the TRC and having to listen to the stories being brought to the TRC exposed anyone to the possibility of developing what is called secondary traumatisation. This kind of traumatisation is different from the traumatisation that the people relating the stories had gone through during the apartheid years. This kind of traumatisation is said to develop from being exposed to traumatised people.

Magister Artium - MA (History) / Nokuthula Simelane, born near Bethal in Mpumalanga, joined the ANC's armed-wing uMKhonto we Sizwe (MK) as a courier while studying at the University of Swaziland in the early 1980s. In 1983 she set out on a mission to South Africa on the pretext of purchasing clothing for her up-coming graduation. Simelane was however abducted, and has since not been heard from nor has her body been found. Her disappearance was one of those examined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa. These are some facts about Simelane. This thesis seeks to explore how Simelane's biographies manifest themselves across multiple genres and in so doing determine their similarities and differences, with a view to understanding the difficulties of producing the biography of a missing person. The genres of biography I examine relation to Simelane are: the TRC's Amnesty Committee (AC) hearings, the Human Rights Violations Committee (HRVC) hearing, their transcripts and the TRC reports; a documentary film called Betrayal directed by Mark Kaplan; and a statue of Simelane located in Bethal sculpted by Ruhan Janse van Vuuren.

The role of alternative justice mechanisms (AJMs) in international criminal justice (ICJ) has been the subject of rigorous debate in recent years. This thesis joins the discussion by investigating whether AJMs can achieve the aims of ICJ that are attributed to criminal prosecutions. If AJMs can attain ICJ goals, there are important implications for the entire complementarity regime at the International Criminal Court (ICC), requiring ICC judges to defer prosecutions in their favour. By establishing a framework against which ICC trials and AJMs can be evaluated, the thesis contributes to the debate and aims to provide an element of consistency in an area which is dominated by creative ambiguity. Arguing that criminal prosecutions have a limited impact on ICJ aims, the thesis considers AJMs generally before undertaking an in-depth historical and comparative analysis of the Mato Oput process in Uganda and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SATRC). It concludes that Mato Oput does not satisfy the goals of ICJ and therefore would be unlikely to persuade the Court to defer prosecutions. It suggests, however, that an AJM based on the SATRC model would have the potential to attain many ICJ goals and therefore the ICC should declare a situation where the state adopts this method of justice and accountability inadmissible to the ICC. Finally, the thesis examines the decisions of the ICC judges in previous admissibility challenges and argues that they must demonstrate a broader and more flexible approach when interpreting the ICC's mandate if AJMs are to satisfy the complementarity principle. Doing so would also help to avert the growing antipathy of many African states towards the ICC and ensure the future support and co-operation of states parties.

Esse trabalho é uma análise do Relatório Final da Comissão da Verdade e Reconciliação do Peru (CVR) e problematiza o tratamento dado pela Comissão na avaliação dos impactos da luta armada do Partido Comunista do Peru - Sendero Luminoso (PCP-SL) e da resposta do Estado peruano a ela. A referência territorial do nosso trabalho é a serra sul central andina, particularmente o departamento de Ayacucho. Essa é uma das regiões de maior população quéchua-falante do país, é o local onde o PCP-SL surgiu e concentrou suas ações, sobretudo nos primeiros seis anos da década de 1980, e onde o conflito deixou mais vítimas e teve uma dinâmica mais acentuada de violência. Por este motivo, o foco deste trabalho é a questão indígena a partir da pergunta: de que modo ela é apresentada no Relatório Final da CVR? Para interpretar o Relatório, realizamos uma análise do discurso a partir de uma contextualização histórica e comparada do documento, e pela seleção de uma série de categorias-chave relacionadas ao horizonte étnico-racial colonial da sociedade peruana: índio, indígena, camponês(a), mestiço(a), misti e cholo(a). Como estratégias complementares para levantar e sintetizar outro tipo de dados e informações foram feitas duas viagens de campo ao Peru. A criação e o trabalho da Comissão têm uma importância histórica evidente no contexto latino-americano. Seu Relatório deve ser apreciado como ponto de partida importante para novas hipóteses, trabalhos de campo e na construção coletiva e popular de projetos de país que sejam plurais e democráticos. Quanto à questão indígena, o Relatório Final é produto de décadas de disputa de posições políticas e intelectuais, e como tal apresenta avanços, potencialidades, contradições e limites. A invisibilização dos povos indígenas andinos e o obscurecimento da questão remetem mais, portanto, a problemas próprios desses debates que antecedem à Comissão. A CVR localiza-se em um contexto de esgotamento dos discursos de mestiçagem como aposta das elites políticas e intelectuais para resolver a questão nacional pendente, mas situa-se em um momento que a valorização e o reconhecimento das diferenças como potencialidade na construção de um Estado popular e democrático é limitada / This work aims to analyze the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru (CVR in Portuguese), and discusses the Commission\'s treatment of the impacts of the armed struggle of the Communist Party of Peru - Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, PCP-SL) and the response of the Peruvian state for it. The territorial reference of our report is the southern Andean mountain range, particularly the department of Ayacucho. This region has one of the largest Quechua-speaking population in the country, it is where PCP-SL emerged and concentrated its actions, overall in the first six years of the 1980s, when the conflict left more victims and was more violent. For this reason, the focus of this work is the indigenous issue based on the question: howis it presented in the CVR Final Report? In order to interpret the Report, a discourse analysis was conducted on a historical and comparative contextualization of the document, and the selection of categories related to the ethnic-racial colonial horizon of Peruvian society: Indian, indigenous, peasant, mestizo, misti and cholo. Two field trips to Peru were made in order to complement strategies to collect and synthesize other data and information. The creation and work of the Commission have historic importance in the Latin American context. Its Report should be appreciated as an important starting point for new hypotheses, fieldwork and the collective and popular construction of plural and democratic country projects. As for the indigenous issue, the Final Report is the product of decades of dispute over political and intellectual positions, and as such, it presents advances, potentialities, contradictions and limits. The invisibility of the Andean indigenous people and the obscuring of the issue are, therefore, more akin to the problems inherent in these debates which preceded the Commission. The CVR is in a context of the depletion of mestizaje discourses as a bet by the political and intellectual elites to solve the pending national question, but it is at a time when the valorization and recognition of differences as potentialities in the construction of a Popular and democratic state is limited

Die Apartheid in Südafrika war ein Unrechtssystem. Zu den Grausamkeiten des Regimes zählten Massaker, Folter, Mord, Freiheitsberaubung, Zwangsumsiedlung, ökonomische Benachteiligung und alltägliche Diskriminierung. Was nach dem Ende eines solchen Unrechtssystems bleibt, ist die Frage nach dem Umgang mit der Vergangenheit. Die drei grundlegenden Möglichkeiten der Vergangenheitsbewältigung sind die rein justiziare Aufarbeitung, eine Generalamnestie oder ein drittes Modell, das zum Ziel hat, die Vorteile der beiden anderen Strategien zu vereinen. In Südafrika versuchte man, auch als Kompromiss aller Beteiligter, diesen dritten Weg mit der Einrichtung der Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission, die mittlerweile weltweit zum Sinnbild dieser Form der Vergangenheitsbewältigung geworden ist. Das Ziel der Studie war dabei zu klären: War die Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission in Südafrika als Strategie der Vergangenheitsbewältigung erfolgreich? Im Einzelnen widmete sich die TRC in drei Hauptausschüssen (Menschenrechtsausschuss, Amnestieausschuss und Wiedergutmachungsausschuss) den folgenden Zielen: Aufklärung der Menschenrechtsverletzungen, Klärung des Verbleibs verschwundener Personen, Klärung dessen, was während der Apartheid und der Übergangsphase zerstört wurde um die Verbrechen zu verschleiern, Wiedergutmachung für die Opfer und Amnestierung der Täter bei politisch motivierten Taten. Dieser letzte Punkt war jedoch an die völlige Offenlegung der Tat und ein öffentliches Eingeständnis gebunden. Zum einen zeigt die Analyse die großen Erfolge der Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission in Südafrika. Sie hat mehr und vor allem genauere Informationen über die Apartheid zusammengetragen, als je eine andere Untersuchung es geschafft hat. Mit der starken Beteiligung der Bevölkerung am Prozess der Aufklärung konnte sie einen Prozess in Gang bringen, der zur Entstehung einer neuen Menschenrechtskultur beitrug und auch einen Anstoß zur Versöhnung gab. Durch die intensive Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit in einem gesamtgesellschaftlichen Prozess schaffte es die TRC auch, eine politische Kultur anzuregen, die unentbehrlich ist, will man nach einem Unrechtssystem eine demokratische Zukunft aufbauen. Das Verständnis oder zumindest eine Ahnung von dem was Menschenrechtsverletzungen bedeuten, wurde in dieser Zeit tief im Bewusstsein der meisten Südafrikaner verankert. Es wurde eine „operative Wahrheit“ geschaffen, die, wenn auch unter Protesten aller Parteien, letztlich anerkannt wurde und somit ein zukünftiges Leugnen der Apartheidsverbrechen unmöglich machte. Aber auch die Befreiungsbewegungen mussten brutale Verbrechen eingestehen. Zum anderen wird ebenso deutlich, dass die gestellten Anforderungen bei weitem zu hoch waren. Obwohl große Bereiche der alltäglichen Apartheid komplett unberücksichtigt blieben. Bei der Wahrheitsfindung wurde deutlich, dass die drei Ausschüsse weit von einer wirklichen Aufklärung der Untaten der Apartheid entfernt blieben. Auch in Bezug auf die Täter erreichte die Kommission nur zum Teil ihre Ziele. Verglichen mit den aufgeklärten Verbrechen, beantragte nur ein Bruchteil der Täter Amnestie. Die Logik, durch den Anreiz der Straffreiheit eine rege Beteiligung der Täter am Aufklärungsprozess zu erreichen, ging nicht auf. Bei der Wiedergutmachung zeigte sich, dass es einer der größten Konstruktionsfehler der TRC war, die Umsetzung der Entschädigungen dem Parlament und der Regierung zu überlassen. Der Wiedergutmachungsausschuss erarbeitete lediglich Vorschläge an den Präsidenten. Die wurden jedoch nie in dieser Form umgesetzt und stellten damit die TRC als Ganze bei Teilen der schwarzen und farbigen Bevölkerung in Frage. Einen direkten Zusammenhang zwischen der TRC und einer Befriedung der Bevölkerung herzustellen, wäre vermessen. Noch immer ist Südafrika ein gespaltenes Land. Ähnliches gilt bei der Legitimierung und Konsolidierung der neuen demokratischen Ordnung. Auch hier ist die Kommission ein Baustein, auf den nicht verzichtet werden konnte. Ihr diesen Erfolg, und es ist ein Erfolg im heutigen Südafrika, alleine zuzuschreiben, wäre eine extreme Überschätzung ihrer Möglichkeiten. Unterm Strich bleibt: Die TRC konnte nicht all ihre Ziele erreichen, aber sie hat sich gerade unter den Voraussetzungen des Übergangsprozesses als eine sinnvolle Form der Vergangenheitsbewältigung erwiesen, die grundlegend wichtige Ergebnisse erarbeiten konnte. Sie kann somit trotz der Berücksichtigung einer Vielzahl von Problemen als Erfolg gewertet werden. / Apartheid in South Africa was a system of injustice. Atrocities committed by the regime were e.g. massacres, torture, murder, deprivation of personal liberty, forced relocation, economical and daily discrimination. After the existence of such an unjust system, the question of how to deal with the past remains. Basically there are three possibilities. Firstly the judicial approach, secondly a general pardon and finally a third model of coping with the past, which has the aim to combine the advantages of the first two strategies. In South Africa all parties involved tried to find such a third model as a compromise. The Truth- and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established and has become a symbol of this way of dealing with the past by now. The aim of the survey was to find out, weather the TRC in South Africa was successful as strategy of dealing with the past. In detail the TRC dealt in three main committees (Human Rights Violations Committee, Amnesty Committee, Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee) with the following goals: Clarification of the human rights violations, clarification of the fate of missing people, clarification of what has been destroyed during Apartheid and in the transitional period in order to camouflage the crimes, compensation for the victims and giving amnesty to perpetrators if their crimes have had a political motivation. This last point was tied to an entire disclosure of the crime and a public confession. On the one hand the survey shows the great successes of the TRC in South Africa. The commission brought up more, and - above all - more detailed information about the Apartheid, than any other investigation ever has before. Due to the strong participation of the population in the process of clarification, the TRC was able to stir up a process, which contributed to the emergence of a new culture and to an understanding of human rights and therefore gave an impetus to reconciliation. As a result of the intensive debate about the past in a process that involved the whole society, the TRC achieved to encourage a political culture, which is indispensable for the development of a democratic society after the experience of a system of injustice. Almost every South African gained an understanding, or at least an imagination, of what is meant by human rights violations. An “operational truth” was established, which was widely acknowledged, despite the protest of all parties. A denial of the crimes of Apartheid became impossible. But the liberation movement had to admit brutal crimes as well. On the other hand it becomes clear, that the contrived tasks were far too high, even though many parts of daily Apartheid were ignored completely. The commission did not succeed in clarifying all crimes of Apartheid. Also concerning the perpetrators, the commission did only partly achieve its goals. Compared to the clarified crimes, only a fractional amount of the perpetrators applied for amnesty. The idea, that many perpetrators would participate in the clarification-process with the perspective of being amnestied did not work out. Concerning the reparation, the TRC showed one of its most basic constructional defects. The Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee developed suggestions, which were then never implemented by the president in the way the committee had intended. This made many black and coloured people doubt the work of the commission as a whole. There is no direct relation between the TRC and a pacification of the population. South Africa still is a divided country. The same has to be said about the legitimation and consolidation of the new democratic order. The commission made a contribution that could not be set aside. But to refer this succes, and it is a succes in today’s South Africa, only to the TRC, would be a total overestimation of its possibilities. What remains is: The TRC could not achieve all its goals. Nevertheless, it proved to be a sensible form of dealing with the past. Above all, under the preconditions of a transitional process, it came to important results. Despite many problems, the commission can be judged as a success.

Die Apartheid in Südafrika war ein Unrechtssystem. Zu den Grausamkeiten des Regimes zählten Massaker, Folter, Mord, Freiheitsberaubung, Zwangsumsiedlung, ökonomische Benachteiligung und alltägliche Diskriminierung. Was nach dem Ende eines solchen Unrechtssystems bleibt, ist die Frage nach dem Umgang mit der Vergangenheit. Die drei grundlegenden Möglichkeiten der Vergangenheitsbewältigung sind die rein justiziare Aufarbeitung, eine Generalamnestie oder ein drittes Modell, das zum Ziel hat, die Vorteile der beiden anderen Strategien zu vereinen. In Südafrika versuchte man, auch als Kompromiss aller Beteiligter, diesen dritten Weg mit der Einrichtung der Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission, die mittlerweile weltweit zum Sinnbild dieser Form der Vergangenheitsbewältigung geworden ist. Das Ziel der Studie war dabei zu klären: War die Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission in Südafrika als Strategie der Vergangenheitsbewältigung erfolgreich? Im Einzelnen widmete sich die TRC in drei Hauptausschüssen (Menschenrechtsausschuss, Amnestieausschuss und Wiedergutmachungsausschuss) den folgenden Zielen: Aufklärung der Menschenrechtsverletzungen, Klärung des Verbleibs verschwundener Personen, Klärung dessen, was während der Apartheid und der Übergangsphase zerstört wurde um die Verbrechen zu verschleiern, Wiedergutmachung für die Opfer und Amnestierung der Täter bei politisch motivierten Taten. Dieser letzte Punkt war jedoch an die völlige Offenlegung der Tat und ein öffentliches Eingeständnis gebunden. Zum einen zeigt die Analyse die großen Erfolge der Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission in Südafrika. Sie hat mehr und vor allem genauere Informationen über die Apartheid zusammengetragen, als je eine andere Untersuchung es geschafft hat. Mit der starken Beteiligung der Bevölkerung am Prozess der Aufklärung konnte sie einen Prozess in Gang bringen, der zur Entstehung einer neuen Menschenrechtskultur beitrug und auch einen Anstoß zur Versöhnung gab. Durch die intensive Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit in einem gesamtgesellschaftlichen Prozess schaffte es die TRC auch, eine politische Kultur anzuregen, die unentbehrlich ist, will man nach einem Unrechtssystem eine demokratische Zukunft aufbauen. Das Verständnis oder zumindest eine Ahnung von dem was Menschenrechtsverletzungen bedeuten, wurde in dieser Zeit tief im Bewusstsein der meisten Südafrikaner verankert. Es wurde eine „operative Wahrheit“ geschaffen, die, wenn auch unter Protesten aller Parteien, letztlich anerkannt wurde und somit ein zukünftiges Leugnen der Apartheidsverbrechen unmöglich machte. Aber auch die Befreiungsbewegungen mussten brutale Verbrechen eingestehen. Zum anderen wird ebenso deutlich, dass die gestellten Anforderungen bei weitem zu hoch waren. Obwohl große Bereiche der alltäglichen Apartheid komplett unberücksichtigt blieben. Bei der Wahrheitsfindung wurde deutlich, dass die drei Ausschüsse weit von einer wirklichen Aufklärung der Untaten der Apartheid entfernt blieben. Auch in Bezug auf die Täter erreichte die Kommission nur zum Teil ihre Ziele. Verglichen mit den aufgeklärten Verbrechen, beantragte nur ein Bruchteil der Täter Amnestie. Die Logik, durch den Anreiz der Straffreiheit eine rege Beteiligung der Täter am Aufklärungsprozess zu erreichen, ging nicht auf. Bei der Wiedergutmachung zeigte sich, dass es einer der größten Konstruktionsfehler der TRC war, die Umsetzung der Entschädigungen dem Parlament und der Regierung zu überlassen. Der Wiedergutmachungsausschuss erarbeitete lediglich Vorschläge an den Präsidenten. Die wurden jedoch nie in dieser Form umgesetzt und stellten damit die TRC als Ganze bei Teilen der schwarzen und farbigen Bevölkerung in Frage. Einen direkten Zusammenhang zwischen der TRC und einer Befriedung der Bevölkerung herzustellen, wäre vermessen. Noch immer ist Südafrika ein gespaltenes Land. Ähnliches gilt bei der Legitimierung und Konsolidierung der neuen demokratischen Ordnung. Auch hier ist die Kommission ein Baustein, auf den nicht verzichtet werden konnte. Ihr diesen Erfolg, und es ist ein Erfolg im heutigen Südafrika, alleine zuzuschreiben, wäre eine extreme Überschätzung ihrer Möglichkeiten. Unterm Strich bleibt: Die TRC konnte nicht all ihre Ziele erreichen, aber sie hat sich gerade unter den Voraussetzungen des Übergangsprozesses als eine sinnvolle Form der Vergangenheitsbewältigung erwiesen, die grundlegend wichtige Ergebnisse erarbeiten konnte. Sie kann somit trotz der Berücksichtigung einer Vielzahl von Problemen als Erfolg gewertet werden. / Apartheid in South Africa was a system of injustice. Atrocities committed by the regime were e.g. massacres, torture, murder, deprivation of personal liberty, forced relocation, economical and daily discrimination. After the existence of such an unjust system, the question of how to deal with the past remains. Basically there are three possibilities. Firstly the judicial approach, secondly a general pardon and finally a third model of coping with the past, which has the aim to combine the advantages of the first two strategies. In South Africa all parties involved tried to find such a third model as a compromise. The Truth- and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established and has become a symbol of this way of dealing with the past by now. The aim of the survey was to find out, weather the TRC in South Africa was successful as strategy of dealing with the past. In detail the TRC dealt in three main committees (Human Rights Violations Committee, Amnesty Committee, Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee) with the following goals: Clarification of the human rights violations, clarification of the fate of missing people, clarification of what has been destroyed during Apartheid and in the transitional period in order to camouflage the crimes, compensation for the victims and giving amnesty to perpetrators if their crimes have had a political motivation. This last point was tied to an entire disclosure of the crime and a public confession. On the one hand the survey shows the great successes of the TRC in South Africa. The commission brought up more, and - above all - more detailed information about the Apartheid, than any other investigation ever has before. Due to the strong participation of the population in the process of clarification, the TRC was able to stir up a process, which contributed to the emergence of a new culture and to an understanding of human rights and therefore gave an impetus to reconciliation. As a result of the intensive debate about the past in a process that involved the whole society, the TRC achieved to encourage a political culture, which is indispensable for the development of a democratic society after the experience of a system of injustice. Almost every South African gained an understanding, or at least an imagination, of what is meant by human rights violations. An “operational truth” was established, which was widely acknowledged, despite the protest of all parties. A denial of the crimes of Apartheid became impossible. But the liberation movement had to admit brutal crimes as well. On the other hand it becomes clear, that the contrived tasks were far too high, even though many parts of daily Apartheid were ignored completely. The commission did not succeed in clarifying all crimes of Apartheid. Also concerning the perpetrators, the commission did only partly achieve its goals. Compared to the clarified crimes, only a fractional amount of the perpetrators applied for amnesty. The idea, that many perpetrators would participate in the clarification-process with the perspective of being amnestied did not work out. Concerning the reparation, the TRC showed one of its most basic constructional defects. The Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee developed suggestions, which were then never implemented by the president in the way the committee had intended. This made many black and coloured people doubt the work of the commission as a whole. There is no direct relation between the TRC and a pacification of the population. South Africa still is a divided country. The same has to be said about the legitimation and consolidation of the new democratic order. The commission made a contribution that could not be set aside. But to refer this succes, and it is a succes in today’s South Africa, only to the TRC, would be a total overestimation of its possibilities. What remains is: The TRC could not achieve all its goals. Nevertheless, it proved to be a sensible form of dealing with the past. Above all, under the preconditions of a transitional process, it came to important results. Despite many problems, the commission can be judged as a success.

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">This thesis is a discourse analysis of five testimonies from South Africa&rsquo / s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The aim of the analysis is to explore the ways in which the testifiers perform their identities, construe their experiences of life under apartheid, and position themselves and their audiences in relation to these experiences. The shaping role of context &ndash / both local and historical &ndash / is also considered.</p> </font></font></p>