Issued by: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
CAPE TOWN - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has appointed a former Delmas treason trialist and a leader of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk as additional members of one of its committees.
Mr Tom Manthata, formerly a fieldworker for the South African Council of Churches, and Professor Piet Meiring, moderator of the NG Kerk's Eastern Transvaal Synod, have been appointed to the Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation.
This was announced by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairperson of the commission, after a meeting of its executive committee in Cape Town today.
He said the commission hoped to finalise the names of additional members of the Committee on Human Rights Violations on Monday. He also announced that the commission had not yet decided on the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer.
The full text of his statement follows:
"I have great pleasure in announcing that Mr Tom Manthata and Professor Piet Meiring have been appointed as additional members of the Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
"Mr Manthata is a former fieldworker for the Dependants' Conference and for the division of Justice and Reconciliation of the South African Council of Churches. He has had long experience of providing relief to victims of injustice. He was convicted in the so-called Delmas treason trial during the 1980s, and spent years in detention before being released after a successful appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
"Professor Meiring was elected moderator of the Synod of Eastern Transvaal of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in 1995. He is head of the Department of Science of Religion and Science of Mission at the Theological Faculty of the NG Kerk at the University of Pretoria. He has occupied a wide range of senior positions in the structures of the NG Kerk and has published widely. In 1982 he was one of 134 NG Kerk ministers who called the church to task for its justification of apartheid.
"The Commission has the power to appoint two additional members to the Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation, and 10 to the Committee on Human Rights Violations. We hope to announce the 10 extra members of the latter after a meeting of the Committee next Monday.
"The Executive Committee today decided not to make an immediate appointment of a Chief Executive Officer, but to extend its search before making a final decision. We intend making an appointment as quickly as possible."
Inquiries: John Allen, Media Liaison (082) 452-7859