Speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu,Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at the Handing Over of the TRC Report

Speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
at the Handing Over of the TRC Report

Pretoria, 29 October 1998.

Introduction

Your Excellency Mr President, I ask that we stand to observe a minute's silence in honour and memory of all those who were victims of gross violations of their rights at, for instance, Sharpeville, Boipatong, Sebokeng, Soweto, Table Mountain, Pietermaritzburg, King William's Town Golf Course, Church Street and St James Church, Bisho, Heidelberg Tavern, who were tortured or executed in prisons and camps inside and South Africa and those who died on the border needlessly in unnecessary wars. Thank you.

Madiba, I am wearing a cassock so that if I am not nice about your shirt you can retaliate about my so-called dress.

Dit is, Mnr die President, vir ons 'n geweldige groot voorreg om vandag hierdie verslag van die WVK aan u te kan oorhandig.

Ke motlotlo ha ele mona re tla fana ka tlaleho ena ea omishiiti ea Nete le Puelano, Li wonga eliqabileyo xa siza kunikela nga lengxelo ye Komishini ye Nyaniso no Xolelaniso.

This is an auspicious day in the history of our land, for which SA and indeed the world has waited with eager expectation. Of the original 17 Commissioners, 15 have remained to the end. One, Advocate Chris de Jager, resigned but remained as a member of the Amnesty Committee, and the other, Dr Mapule Ramashala, was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of Durban-Westville. One of our number, Wynand Malan, has produced a minority report. The Report we will hand over to you, Sir, has the enthusiastic and wholehearted endorsement of 14 out of 15 Commissioners. We are committed to cultivating a culture of respect for human rights and inculcating tolerance for diverse views. We have practised what we preached in allowing the minority report.

Thank you, Sir, for having appointed us. We know we have carried out our solemn and indeed indispensable task with a passionate commitment, diligence and integrity. Thank you Minister Dullah Omar and your departmental staff for your unwavering support. We thank other relevant Government departments which have cooperated splendidly with us. Thank you to the South African Police Services and the National Protection Service for providing security to us.

We thank foreign governments and donors for their money and personnel support, and for contribution to the President's Fund for reparations.

I want to pay a very warm tribute to all my colleagues - the Commissioners and Committee members. They have been outstanding. I want to single out Alex Boraine, without whose conscientiousness we would not have started in April 1996 with hearings as we in fact did. I want to mention Dumisa Ntsebeza and Yasmin Sooka who have done very well as acting chairperson. Dumisa gets a little upset whenever I return.

I take my hat off to our exceptional staff. Once in England we expected an English lady to bring a Mosotho clergyman to us. She arrived late and out of breath and said, 'So sorry, we worked like ... ' then recovered and said '... like Trojans'. Our staff have worked like umm - like Trojans. They have excelled themselves; starting from our brilliant CEO, Dr Minyuku, to the lowest staff person, if there is such a person.

We want to pay a special tribute to the Investigative Unit for their work on the Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme, headed by Dumisa (Ntsebeza) and our Research Department under Professor Charles Villa-Vicencio. Without their assiduous application we would almost certainly not have produced a report in time. We thank the printers for their flexibility as well.

We thank the victims and all who came to us with such dignity despite their anguish and trauma. They are the heroes and heroines of our story. We dedicate our work to all of them, and others who did not come.

Thanks too to the faith community and the NGOs who have done sterling work to support our work, particularly for the victims. Thanks too to the media, especially SABC TV and Radio for helping to take our work to every nook and cranny of our land and elsewhere.

Madiba, the world has looked in amazement and indeed awe at the remarkable example that you have set of magnanimity and generosity in your willingness to forgive and to work for reconciliation. They have thrilled as they heard the stories of Mrs Savage, of Mr Smit, of the mothers of the Gugulethu Seven, of Mrs Roux, the Biehl family, of Neville Clarence and many, many others. They have seen the miracle of April 1994 continuing in people who suffered grievously, ready to forgive.

And the world sees South Africa as a beacon of hope for those places like Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Rwanda - so different from Sierra Leone where just last week they executed 24 people by firing squad. They see a new way, a better way to deal with a post conflict, a post-repression period.

This report speaks about that. It contains more than just accounts of findings against perpetrators. It seeks to give as complete a picture as possible of the gross human rights violations that occurred as a result of the conflict of the past. It provides a setting against which to understand our past; it gives insight into the perspectives of those who supported apartheid and those who opposed it.

It makes comprehensive recommendations about rehabilitation and reparation proposals. It makes specific proposals about how we can cultivate a culture of human rights and of structures to ensure that the atrocities of the past do not recur and strong suggestions about how to advance the process of hearing and reconciliation of our traumatised and wounded nation.

The Commission can make but a contribution to this, perhaps a significant one but only a contribution. It is up to all of us South Africans to say 'this is our land'; we are committed to it. We are concerned about the welfare of all South Africans, not just of my particular section or group.

We have not been facile or superficial, heeding the cry of the prophet against those who healed the sickness of their people, superficially crying 'peace, peace' where there was no peace. We care about our land, about her people, black, white, coloured, Indian, young and old.

Many will be upset by this Report. Some have sought to discredit it pre-emptively. Even if they were to succeed, what is that to the point? It won't change the fact that they killed Stanza Bopape, that they bombed Khotso House, that they tortured their own people in their camps in Tanzania, in Angola, that they necklaced people. That is what the perpetrators told us - not an invention by the Commission.

No, dear fellow South Africans, accept this Report as a way, an indispensable way to healing. Let the waters of healing flow from Pretoria today as they flowed from the altar in Ezekiel's vision to cleanse our land, its people, and to bring unity and reconciliation.

We will have looked the beast in the eye. We will have come to terms with our horrendous past and it will no longer keep us hostage. We will cast off its shackles and, holding hands together, black and white will stride into the future, the glorious future God holds out before us - we who are the Rainbow people of God - and looking at our past we will commit ourselves:

Never again!
Nooit weer nie!
Ngeke futhi!
Ga reno tlola!

Last Revised: Tuesday, October 09, 2007



	Speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at the Handing Over of the TRC Report
Pretoria, 29 October 1998. Introduction Your Excellency Mr President, I ask that we stand to observe a minute's silence in honour and memory of all those who were victims of gross violations of their rights at, for instance, Sharpeville, Boipatong, Sebokeng, Soweto, Table Mountain, Pietermaritzburg, King William's Town Golf Course, Church Street and St James Church, Bisho, Heidelberg Tavern, who were tortured or executed in prisons and camps inside and South Africa and those who died on the border needlessly in unnecessary wars. Thank you. Madiba, I am wearing a cassock so that if I am not nice about your shirt you can retaliate about my so-called dress. Dit is, Mnr die President, vir ons 'n geweldige groot voorreg om vandag hierdie verslag van die WVK aan u te kan oorhandig. Ke motlotlo ha ele mona re tla fana ka tlaleho ena ea omishiiti ea Nete le Puelano, Li wonga eliqabileyo xa siza kunikela nga lengxelo ye Komishini ye Nyaniso no Xolelaniso. This is an auspicious day in the history of our land, for which SA and indeed the world has waited with eager expectation. Of the original 17 Commissioners, 15 have remained to the end. One, Advocate Chris de Jager, resigned but remained as a member of the Amnesty Committee, and the other, Dr Mapule Ramashala, was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of Durban-Westville. One of our number, Wynand Malan, has produced a minority report. The Report we will hand over to you, Sir, has the enthusiastic and wholehearted endorsement of 14 out of 15 Commissioners. We are committed to cultivating a culture of respect for human rights and inculcating tolerance for diverse views. We have practised what we preached in allowing the minority report. Thank you, Sir, for having appointed us. We know we have carried out our solemn and indeed indispensable task with a passionate commitment, diligence and integrity. Thank you Minister Dullah Omar and your departmental staff for your unwavering support. We thank other relevant Government departments which have cooperated splendidly with us. Thank you to the South African Police Services and the National Protection Service for providing security to us. We thank foreign governments and donors for their money and personnel support, and for contribution to the President's Fund for reparations. I want to pay a very warm tribute to all my colleagues - the Commissioners and Committee members. They have been outstanding. I want to single out Alex Boraine, without whose conscientiousness we would not have started in April 1996 with hearings as we in fact did. I want to mention Dumisa Ntsebeza and Yasmin Sooka who have done very well as acting chairperson. Dumisa gets a little upset whenever I return. I take my hat off to our exceptional staff. Once in England we expected an English lady to bring a Mosotho clergyman to us. She arrived late and out of breath and said, 'So sorry, we worked like ... ' then recovered and said '... like Trojans'. Our staff have worked like umm - like Trojans. They have excelled themselves; starting from our brilliant CEO, Dr Minyuku, to the lowest staff person, if there is such a person. We want to pay a special tribute to the Investigative Unit for their work on the Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme, headed by Dumisa (Ntsebeza) and our Research Department under Professor Charles Villa-Vicencio. Without their assiduous application we would almost certainly not have produced a report in time. We thank the printers for their flexibility as well. We thank the victims and all who came to us with such dignity despite their anguish and trauma. They are the heroes and heroines of our story. We dedicate our work to all of them, and others who did not come. Thanks too to the faith community and the NGOs who have done sterling work to support our work, particularly for the victims. Thanks too to the media, especially SABC TV and Radio for helping to take our work to every nook and cranny of our land and elsewhere. Madiba, the world has looked in amazement and indeed awe at the remarkable example that you have set of magnanimity and generosity in your willingness to forgive and to work for reconciliation. They have thrilled as they heard the stories of Mrs Savage, of Mr Smit, of the mothers of the Gugulethu Seven, of Mrs Roux, the Biehl family, of Neville Clarence and many, many others. They have seen the miracle of April 1994 continuing in people who suffered grievously, ready to forgive. And the world sees South Africa as a beacon of hope for those places like Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Rwanda - so different from Sierra Leone where just last week they executed 24 people by firing squad. They see a new way, a better way to deal with a post conflict, a post-repression period. This report speaks about that. It contains more than just accounts of findings against perpetrators. It seeks to give as complete a picture as possible of the gross human rights violations that occurred as a result of the conflict of the past. It provides a setting against which to understand our past; it gives insight into the perspectives of those who supported apartheid and those who opposed it. It makes comprehensive recommendations about rehabilitation and reparation proposals. It makes specific proposals about how we can cultivate a culture of human rights and of structures to ensure that the atrocities of the past do not recur and strong suggestions about how to advance the process of hearing and reconciliation of our traumatised and wounded nation. The Commission can make but a contribution to this, perhaps a significant one but only a contribution. It is up to all of us South Africans to say 'this is our land'; we are committed to it. We are concerned about the welfare of all South Africans, not just of my particular section or group. We have not been facile or superficial, heeding the cry of the prophet against those who healed the sickness of their people, superficially crying 'peace, peace' where there was no peace. We care about our land, about her people, black, white, coloured, Indian, young and old. Many will be upset by this Report. Some have sought to discredit it pre-emptively. Even if they were to succeed, what is that to the point? It won't change the fact that they killed Stanza Bopape, that they bombed Khotso House, that they tortured their own people in their camps in Tanzania, in Angola, that they necklaced people. That is what the perpetrators told us - not an invention by the Commission. No, dear fellow South Africans, accept this Report as a way, an indispensable way to healing. Let the waters of healing flow from Pretoria today as they flowed from the altar in Ezekiel's vision to cleanse our land, its people, and to bring unity and reconciliation. We will have looked the beast in the eye. We will have come to terms with our horrendous past and it will no longer keep us hostage. We will cast off its shackles and, holding hands together, black and white will stride into the future, the glorious future God holds out before us - we who are the Rainbow people of God - and looking at our past we will commit ourselves: Never again! Nooit weer nie! Ngeke futhi! Ga reno tlola! Last Revised: Tuesday, October 09, 2007