MEIDA ADVISORY - WESTERN AND NORTHERN CAPE REGIONS

Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

WESTERN AND NORTHERN CAPE REGIONS

10 JANUARY 1997 MEDIA ADVISORY

As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) enters its second and final year, it is poised to address the issue of reconciliation, and how best to generate public interest on the subject. Thus, the TRC is planning to host a series of lectures and public discussions on the broad topic of reconciliation.

We kick off this process with an academic panel discussion, hosted jointly by the University of Cape Town's Centre for African Studies and the TRC's Human Rights Violations Committee on 24 January 1997 at 12h00pm. The venue will be the Centre for African Studies (Tel: 6502308)

A number of panelists have been invited to speak on various aspects of truth and reconciliation, including:

• The relationship between reconciliation and confessions by perpetrators of atrocities, or restitution and truth;
• The relationship between painful memory and reconciliation;
• How government can make a contribution towards reconciliation, and the limitations of such an objective;
• Strategies that can be implemented by civil society to implement reconciliation effectively;
• How the media can address a past during which misinformation through the press was legalised, and expected;
• The meaning of reconciliation in the corporate sector.

Members of the media are welcome to attend and report on the discussion, but need to confirm their attendance as soon as possible, as limited space is available.

Please confirm with either Odile Pearce or Linda van Dieman at 021 - 245161.

For more information call Christelle Terreblanche - 0824588461.