Truth or Reconciliation Mechanism – 1995
1995
Even after the enactment of the National Unity and Reconciliation Bill in the Parliament, the appointment of the commission was delayed. President Mandela said in his statement that the, “Cabinet will select the commissioners before the year end”. His statement said that “the number of people on the final short list would be 25 and that the panel would have nine members, consisting of persons ranging from politicians to lawyers and churchmen.”1
On November 29, 1995, the following people were named to sit on the Truth and Reconciliation commission:
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu (chairperson): One of three Nobel Peace Prize winners from South Africa, Tutu is a household name. He is the archbishop of Cape Town of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa.
– Dr. Alex Boraine (deputy chairperson): Boraine now serves as executive director of Justice in Transition, formed in August last year to focus on redressing past human rights violations. Ordained as a Methodist minister in 1938, he served as executive director of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa from 1986 to 1994.
– Mrs. Mary Burton: Burton was president of the Black Sash from 1986 to 1990 and is still a member of the organization. She has been involved in discussions and workshops relating to the Truth Commission.
– Advocate Chris de Jager: De Jager, a lawyer, is a member of the Volkstaat Afrikaner homeland Council and a member of the Human Rights Commission.
– Rev. Bongani Finca: Finca was appointed interim administrator of Ciskei after military ruler Brig Oupa Gqoza’s administration collapsed. He is now president of the Eastern Cape Provincial Council of Churches and a member of the National Executive Committee of the South African Council of Churches.
– Ms. Sisi Kamphephe: Kamphephe is a lawyer and a member of the Black Lawyers’ Association.
– Mr. Richard Lyster: Lyster is a lawyer and has been director of the Legal Resources Centre in Durban since 1990. He serves on the arbitration panel of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa.
– Mr. Wynand Malan: Malan resigned as a National Party MP under former state President P .W. Botha. He then formed the National Democratic Movement, which later merged with the Progressive Federal Party to form the Democratic Party. He quit politics in 1989 and practices as an attorney and value systems management consultant.
– Ms. Hlengiwe Mkhize: Mkhize, the national director of mental health and substance abuse, is a psychologist who specializes in treating people traumatized by violence. She is a member of the South African Black Social Workers’ Association and the International Society of Medicine.
– Mr. Sumisa Ntsebeza: Ntsebeza is an attorney and served as founder president of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers and later as president of the Black Lawyers’ Association (BLA). He is now the BLA’s publicity secretary and serves as chairman of the prisoners welfare programme.
– Dr. Wendy Orr: Orr compiled a list of detainees who were tortured in Port Elizabeth in the mid 1980s and successfully filed an interdict against the minister of law and order to prevent police from assaulting prisoners. She is presently deputy registrar of student affairs at the University of Cape Town.
– Dr. Mapule Ramashala: Ramashala is a clinical psychologist and medical researcher who recently returned to South Africa.
– Dr. Faizel Randera: Randera was a member of a committee of the National Medical and Dental Association that investigated the poisoning of former South African Council of Churches leader Rev. Frank Chikane in 1989. Randera has worked extensively with human rights lawyers, providing medical/legal reports on people who suffered physical and psychological abuse.
– Dr. Yasmin Sooka: Sooka, a lawyer, is the national president of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. He served as a member of the legal task force in the National Coordinating Committee for the Repatriation of South African Exiles.
– Ms. Glenda Wildschut: Ms Wildschut is a social worker at the Western Cape Trauma Centre and has worked in the underprivileged communities in the Western Cape. She has also worked with victims of violence.
– Rev. K M Mqojo: Mqojo is a Methodist clergyman from KwaZulu-Natal.
– Advocate Denzil Potgieter: Potgieter is a member of the Cape Bar who has appeared in various civil and political rights matters. He acted as secretary for the presidential panel which shortlisted the Truth Commission candidates.[fnalue=6]”SOUTH AFRICA; Members of Truth and Reconciliation Commission named,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, November 30, 1995.[/efn_note]
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission met for the first time on December 16, 1995, in Cape Town.2