Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
September 18, 1997
STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, CHAIRPERSON, TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
After consultations with the Government, the Commission has agreed that four months should be added to our life in order to complete our work properly. We now intend to deliver our final report to the Government at the end of July next year instead of in the middle of March.
The purpose of the extension is two-fold:
To ensure that the victims and survivors of gross human rights violations who have approached the Commission have their cases finalised. About 14,000 have made statements so far and more are expected to do so. To have the amnesty process completed during the life of the full Commission and to include a full report on the work of the Amnesty Committee in the final report of the Commission.
The TRC approved this course of action at its monthly meeting today after discussions with the Government. At the last TRC monthly meeting, the Commission resolved that we should close down on schedule next March, but that the Amnesty Committee should continue to operate until all amnesty applications had been dealt with.
However, a number of difficulties have emerged in our discussions with Government and during our own deliberations:
The initial decision assumed that if the TRC did not have time to make victim findings in respect of some of those who have made statements (these findings enable people to gain access to reparations), the Commission would have to make recommendations to the Government on how to complete the work; Upon my return from New York, I raised deep concern at the prospects of controversial, potentially divisive amnesty applications being heard after the full Commission had been disbanded.
The Commission believes it would be highly undesirable to tell people who may qualify to be declared victims that we have not had time to make findings on all their statements, while amnesty applicants have a legally-enforceable right to have their applications disposed of and will thus be heard.
The amnesty process is only one part of a much wider national project of healing and reconciliation, and it needs to operate as an integral part of the total mission of the TRC. To have the amnesty hearings continue simply as a legal mechanism, without any reference to the wider objectives of the TRC could subvert what we have achieved so far.
In addition, completing the amnesty process will enable us to deliver a comprehensive report to the President next year, instead of delivering a "final report" report in March and supplementing it with an additional amnesty report later.
Parliament will be asked to amend the law which governs our operations. It is proposed that the amendment should not allow us to take on any new work after December 14, the original closing date for most of our operations.
However, the amendment would allow our committees to complete outstanding work by April 30 next year, except for the Amnesty Committee, which would have until June 30 to complete hearings. Commissioners other than those on the Amnesty Committee would complete the writing of the final report between May and July.