‘…if it means he gets his humanity back…’: The Worldview Underpinning the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Abstract

Despite the fact that the process of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was open and public, there were virtually no calls for revenge, very few displays of anger and several incidences of reconciliation. Many scholars linked this ‘unusual’ behaviour, or the absence of explicit vengeance and revenge, to Christianity. Some well-respected TRC analysts suggested that victims were intimidated and pressurised into forgiveness by high profile people such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I disagree. I use several recorded oral texts, including 44 TRC testimonies, to show how, instead of Christianity or an awareness of restorative justice, a particular ontological sense largely underpinned what was happening during the South African TRC process.