Apartheid in South Africa

• Apartheid existed in South Africa between 1948-1994

• Called for separate development of different racial groups in South Africa
• banned intermarriage
• forced removals of African and Indian people

• Resistance was met with police brutality. Armed with military-grade equipment the police were authorized to maintain order using methods such as mass detention, torture and killings

• The final apartheid laws were lifted in 1991 with new leadership in the Government of National Unity taking place in 1994 and establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995

• "... a commission is a necessary exercise to enable South Africans to come to terms with their past on a morally accepted basis and to advance the cause of reconciliation." -Mr Dullah Omar, former Minister of Justice

• Official mandate of the TRC: to bear witness to, record and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, reparation and rehabilitation.

• The TRC was split into 3 subcommittees, each with a distinct purpose
• The Human Rights Violations: investigated human rights abuses based on statements made to the TRC 
• Reparation and Rehabilitation: provided support to those seeking reparation of these abuses through testimony to TRC
• Amnesty: allowed applicants to apply for amnesty for any criminal act committed with political motive between 1960-1994 as long as they told the whole truth 

• The TRC is generally thought of as successful- victims were able to tell their stories and begin to heal; perpetrators were encouraged to self-reflect on their actions and those that had committed horrendous acts were still punished (5932 people were refused amnesty)

• A writer's note from Jane Taylor: "What has engaged me as I have followed the Commission, is the way in which individual narratives come to stand for the larger national narrative. The stories of personal grief, loss, triumph and violation now stand as an account of South Africa's recent past. History and autobiography merge. This marks a significant shift, because in the past decades of popular resistance, personal suffering was eclipsed — subordinated to a larger project of mass liberation. Now, however, we hear in individual testimony the very private patterns of language and thought that structure memory and mourning. Ubu and the Truth Commission uses these circumstances as a starting point."

• Works Cited
• “Forced Removals.” South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid, overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=65-259-6.
• Schiffrin, Anya. “Exposing Apartheid Death Squads – A Trail of Murder and Terror.” CityPress, 24.Com, 15 Nov. 2017, city-press.news24.com/Voices/exposing-apartheid-death-squads-a-trail-of-murder-and-terror-20171114.
• STEINER, ALEX. “Washington State University.” Spring 2015 Policing Apartheid A History of Control and Resistance in South Africa Comments, 20 Jan. 2015, history.libraries.wsu.edu/spring2015/2015/01/20/police-brutality-a-history-of-race/.
• "Welcome to the official Truth and Reconciliation Commission Website." Truth and Reconciliation Commission, http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/. 
• "Truth and Reconciliation Commission." South African History, http://www.sahistory.org.za/.