TRC Final Report

Volume 1

Chapter 11

Part OtherDepts

Subsection 24

■ AMNESTY APPLICANTS

20 Although the amnesty process was a fundamental part of the Commission’s work, it was distinct from the Human Rights Violations and the Reparation and Rehabilitation committees, because it used very different processes and procedures. Amnesty applicants seldom encountered the Commission on an interpersonal level. Their association was through written applications and subsequent hearings. As the content of applications was wholly concerned with making full disclosure on the perpetration of gross human rights violations, applications were analysed by lawyers and judges on a strictly legal basis. Legal representatives usually accompanied amnesty applicants, and information about family situations and reactions, if known at all, was restricted to these parties.

21 Essentially, therefore, the Commission did not examine the effects on the perpetrator of committing a gross human rights violation. This was understandable, as this was not part of its mandate.

22 It should be noted, however, that the Mental Health Unit identified the mental health of perpetrators as an essential concern in respect of the wider goals of national reconciliation. Pursuing this, however, would have resulted in further pressure on limited resources and services available to victims. In addition, there was the danger of creating a public perception of bias and inequity.

23 Nevertheless, a commitment to reconciliation and healing means that the psychological plight of individuals who were involved in the perpetration of gross human rights violations and their families should be acknowledged. Like victims, perpetrators need to be given space to examine their emotional reactions and to reintegrate what has probably been disassociated from their emotional life. Simply declaring that one has committed an act does not constitute coming to terms with oneself emotionally. Perpetrators share with their victims the potential for and experiences of post traumatic stress disorder. Significantly, there is a commonality of psychological fall-out involved in a traumatic episode that can form the basis of reconciliatory programmes.

■ COMMUNITIES

24 It was acknowledged that the sheer pace of the Commission’s hearings programme had counterproductive effects. Perhaps the most significant of these was the perception that the Commission was failing to follow up and consolidate the truths it had uncovered. Although the Commission was unable to provide adequate follow-up meetings in some regions, acknowledgement of the problem led to the development of well thought out strategies and planning which were used in a number of follow-up workshops.

■ POST HEARING FOLLOW-UP MEETINGS

25 Post hearings workshops attempted to involve all significant stakeholders in communities, including those individuals who had made statements to the Commission but who did not testify at public hearings. On the surface, these workshops aimed at encouraging communities to assess the impact of gross human rights violations and of the hearing process, and to formulate initiatives to promote reconciliation. In many ways, however, the underlying goal of these workshops was to hand the truth and reconciliation process back to communities and to define clearly the limitations of the Commission itself. Post-hearing follow-up workshops went a long way towards consolidating the process, adding value to the development of reparations policy, and acknowledging the unique problems of different communities.

■ COMMISSION STAFF

26 Research indicated that Commission staff, in varying degrees, were vulnerable to suffering vicarious trauma because of the material and personalities to which they were exposed. The material (or the narrative content of the statements) was of an emotionally challenging nature. It could challenge the staff member’s belief systems and that individual’s ability:

a to stay focused on the task;

b to work within the constraints of the legislation;

c to integrate her or his own experience as a South African into the emerging truths about past conflicts.

27 The Commission engaged with personalities, ranging from victims to perpetrators, who encompassed every shade of trauma, from unconstrained expression to dispassionate denial. Failure to acknowledge this would have increased the likelihood of a destructive and negative working dynamic developing in the Commission, with symptoms becoming repressed and eventually finding their expression in a variety of negative coping mechanisms - both at a personal and at an organisational level.

28 Using the analogy of a therapeutic relationship, it was the responsibility of Commission staff to be, above all, emotionally and psychologically healthy to ensure that their interventions were appropriate, considered and, as far as possible, unclouded by their own defensive processes.

29 As far as the professional encounter was concerned, maintaining emotional and psychological health required:

a preparedness b knowledge of the emotional and psychological terrain c ongoing appraisal of the staff member’s own emotional, psychological and cognitive (thinking) responses