State urged to revisit counsel of Madiba’s TRC

ON FEBRUARY 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and embarked on a decade of historic endeavour. South Africa’s transition from apartheid ended formally on April 27, 1994, with the first democratic election. This year is the 25th anniversary of that seminal moment.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said: “While South Africans should still celebrate the country’s break from apartheid shackles, we would argue that a quarter of a century of democracy has not delivered on the promise of the 1990s.

“Nonetheless, we urge South Africans to vote in the 2019 general election… We need a leadership… which holds the promise of the 1990s as a sacred duty, and which is not compromised by the looting which has despoiled the democratic era.”

Spokesperson Luzuko Koti said Madiba’s presidency was about making democracy stick and putting in place the instruments required to transform society. “In many ways the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) reached far beyond its mandate to reckon with oppressive pasts and promote reconciliation. We would argue that its 1998 recommendations can be read as an agenda for transformation as the 1990s drew to a close.

“The fact that, to this day, the state has not responded formally to the TRC recommendations is symptomatic. The country has not done well at reparation, restitution and redistribution, absolutely critical to transformation. In this context we welcome recent indications that the state is revisiting the TRC recommendations, but urge all decision-makers to prioritise the needs… of those intended to be the beneficiaries of the recommendations.”