Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, CHAIRPERSON OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION, ON THE LAUNCH OF THE TRC'S DESIGNATED STATEMENT-TAKING PROGRAMME DURBAN ON APRIL 1, 1997
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission today announces a major drive to ensure that every South African who was a victim of a gross violations of human rights during the apartheid era has an opportunity to relate his or her story to the Commission.
The Commission is using R2,4 million in donor funding to enter into partnerships with Non-Governmental Organisations around the country so that we can launch an extensive campaign to gather statements from people in communities throughout the country.
Between now and the end of June, up to 300 Designated Statement- Takers from NGOs will join the TRC's statement-takers in reaching out to thousands of South Africans. Until now, most of the approxi- mately 9,000 statements which have been given to the Commission have been collected by our own statement-takers. Individuals will also be able to fill out statement forms on their own.
The campaign will help the Commission to fulfil the mandate laid down by Parliament in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. This law, which established the Commission, requires us to -
Establish as complete a picture as possible of the causes, nature and extent of gross violation of human rights during the apartheid era, and to Facilitate the gathering of information and the receiving of evidence from any person, including persons claiming to be victims of such violations...
While most people know the Commission through the widely- publicised hearings in which victims relate their experiences, in fact the public hearings make up only one part of the work of the Human Rights Violations Committee. For every one person who gives testimony, there are five others who have given us statements.
Every statement given to the Commission enjoys the same status, whether or not the person who has made it appears at a hearing. Most important in the long term, it is the making of an accurate state- ment to the Commission - and not an appearance at a public hearing - which qualifies a victim to be taken into account for the repara- tions and rehabilitation measures which Parliament will decide upon after the Commission finishes its work.
The DST programme will be co-ordinated by a Community Liaison Officer in each of the Commission's four regional offices. It is being made possible by funding provided by the Ministry of the Flemish Community of Belgium, and we thank the Belgian Government - and its Ambassador in South Africa - warmly for their support. We are particularly grateful for their concern that everyone making a statement should be able to do so in their mother tongue.
Based on the experience of our own statement-takers, the Designated Statement Takers from NGOs will be trained to receive the stories of people's experiences. These DSTs will be based in the offices of the relevant local organisations and will therefore be more accessible to members of the public. People will be able to recount their experiences in their preferred language, and the DSTs will record them in English in the necessary format for the date-processing requirements of the Commission.
We are deeply grateful for the willingness of NGOs to enter into agreements with us to carry out this campaign. It is an indication of the premium we place on our relationship with NGOs - and of our belief in their central role in civil society - that we are relying largely on them for the implementation of this crucial project.
The TRC is approaching the final stages of its term of operation. It is now more important than ever that every person, institution and organisation which may have information about gross violations of human rights furnishes it to us without delay. If we are to present as complete a picture as possible about gross violations of human rights, then individuals, NGOs, political parties and community organisations must make information at their disposal available to us.
The Commission has deliberately chosen KwaZulu-Natal for the launch of this project, because it is here in particular that we have found that people have been slow to come forward to make statements, either because they are fearful or because of the remoteness of some areas from urban centres.
We have made some important progress in persuading the Inkatha Freedom Party to assist by presenting their viewpoints to us: the leader of the IFP made an extensive presentation to us last year; IFP members, albeit in limited numbers, have made statements about the violations they have suffered; and recently we had a break- through when IFP members on the East Rand came forward to give us their perspectives on that conflict. In addition, the IFP will encourage its members to come forward to be considered for reparation and rehabilitation measures.
However, we have also had setbacks: we have had to cancel a special hearing devoted to atrocities carried out by ANC supporters in KwaZulu-Natal because of lack of co-operation from within IFP structures. This hearing, scheduled for this month, was to have been the first devoted solely to violations committed by supporters of one party.
The Commission does not belong to the Commissioners, or to any group, or even to the parties which constituted the Government of National Unity when the Commission was established. It belongs to the nation, and it is the nation's instrument for building national unity and reconciliation. We cannot present a balanced picture of the past if we receive information only from a limited range of sources or organisations. We make a special appeal to those who have not yet done so: come and make your statement to the Commission.