Introduction

The postapartheid government used South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as one of the vehicles to reconcile and heal a country emerging from a bitter, painful and divided past. Implemented in line with the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995 (RSA, 1995), the TRC sought to reconcile and heal all survivors of apartheid—victims and perpetrators and/or victims and beneficiaries—of human rights abuses. Guided by the post-amble of the 1993 constitution (RSA, 1993), the TRC had to create an environment in which all citizens in the new democratic dispensation would tolerate one another's differences, live together peacefully with respect and human dignity, and promote national unity in the spirit of reconstruction and understanding. This, to transcend the conflicts and divisions of the past. Thus, instituting the TRC was necessary as a transitional mechanism to foster reconciliation and nation-building in the country. It was to give hope to all survivors of apartheid, for a better life in a democratic dispensation. The process had as its objective to transform victims into victors and create active citizens who could and would fully participate in a democratic society.

Notably, since the handing over of the final reports of the TRC to the former presidents, Nelson Mandela in 1998 and Thabo Mbeki in 2003, the recommendations of the TRC have not been adequately implemented. Many victims of apartheid— including those who did not appear before the TRC—have not received sufficient redress (despite promises), and few or no steps have been taken to rehabilitate or heal the pain and emotional wounds inflicted on the people of this country. To this day, the socioeconomic conditions of many ordinary citizens who voted for democracy in 1994 have not changed much, while many perpetrators have become even better off. This confusing turn of events is often attributed to the failure to fully implement the recommendations of the TRC, leaving it as “unfinished business” (Ngcebetsha, 2012, 2016).

The objective of this chapter is to unpack the unfinished business of the TRC, by placing its failure to reconcile the nation within the current context of growing inequalities and mass poverty, stark divisions and intense racism, gender violence, feminism and xenophobia in South Africa.