As well as the regular weekly column, there is this week also a special report by Cathal Doyle on the 71st Session of the CERD Committee.

Re-Examining Pragmatism: The Continuing Challenge of Telling the Truth and Gaining Justice in South Africa

The 11th of February 1990 was a red letter day in the international community. Several thousands had gathered to watch Nelson Mandela walk to his freedom: one that had been earned after 27 years in prison. Millions more witnessed the momentous occasion on television sets and on the radio all over the globe. It was a time for optimism and held out the promise that the distasteful apartheid regime of South Africa would finally give way to a society where the dignity and worth of every individual would be respected: and where the Black population, treated as third class citizens in their own land, would gain equal rights.

Reflecting on that day Mandela was to say in his famous autobiography The Long Walk to Freedom:

At first, I could not really make out what was going on in front of us, but when I was within one hundred fifty feet or so, I saw a tremendous commotion and a great crowd of people: hundreds of photographers and television cameras and newspeople as well as several thousand well-wishers ... But this proved to be only the beginning; I realized we had not thoroughly prepared for all that was about to happen. ... When I was among the crowd I raised my right fist and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for twenty-seven years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy ... As I finally walked through those gates to enter a car on the other side, I felt even at the age of seventy-one that my life was beginning anew.

The emergence of the Rainbow Nation of the new South Africa has been well documented in recent history. What stunned the world was the manner in which, led politically by Nelson Mandela and spiritually by Bishop Desmond Tutu, the society began to move towards transition: keeping in mind the need to heal old wounds while recognising the thrust of the daggers that had rendered them. The Truth and Reconciliation process gave the opportunity for past wrongs to be confessed to, admitting the great wrong in them, in return for forgiveness and freedom from subsequent prosecution. The process was fractious, emotional and very intrusive: captured well in the film Red Dust. Yet what it did was to allow society to move on from the terrible years of darkness that had been inflicted on the vast majority of the population.

This week there is a real risk that this process may unravel. Former Police Minister Adriaan Vlok and four of his former colleagues and "securocrats" faced charges concerning their attempt to kill black activist Frank Chicane in 1989. All five had received suspended sentences for admitting their role in the attempted murder. Many fear that their prosecution now could compromise the fruits of the Truth and Reconciliation process that captured the imagination of the world community and that created a model that was adopted in many other troubled parts of the world.

For many of the victims the heinous crimes committed during apartheid need punishment. To "forgive" them was akin to letting murderers go free. Yet there was pragmatism as well as great ideology behind the decision. The decolonisation process in southern Africa was very different from similar processes elsewhere. For a start there was a significant White population in countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa who effectively held all the wealth. A failure to accommodate them would risk plunging society into the crisis that Zimbabwe is facing right now under Mugabe. A failure to create an ambience of security for the White population could have witnessed the kind of exodus experienced by Angola and Mozambique when the Portuguese left: taking with them as much as they could extract, and leaving the fledgling economies in a struggle from which they are yet to emerge.

The beauty of the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa was not only its magnanimous nature: so aptly directed by the charisma of leaders such as Mandela and Tutu. It was also the sheer pragmatism of ensuring that the White population felt they had a stake in the emerging State: enough not to divest it of its resources and flee.

Yet while the last twelve years have seen remarkable stability and a vibrant democracy, governmental policies have been unable to make a significant dent in overcoming the enormous challenges of society: poverty, HIV/AIDS, rape and violence. The result is that anger is seething among many sections of the population and ethnic division and rancour is growing.

The clamour is growing for prosecutions of apartheid era crimes. But these are not restricted only to the members of the former regime: the ANC itself and other African groups are coming under scrutiny for the killings they commissioned in what they believed was their independence struggle.

It seems like South Africa stands on a precipice: the government has to deliver real results to the vast impoverished populations, and has to continue to look to the future. Facing this future without the economic strength of its White population will make the process even slower. At the same time the impoverished are finding it difficult to understand how the enormous differences in their lifestyle and that of their former political masters is allowed to continue.

The spectre of failure is starkly visible across the border in Zimbabwe. Mugabe's land redistribution scheme has plunged that country into an economic crisis that sees no sign of abating. The political repression and wide scale human rights abuses of the regime have also ensured that the country continues to go backward instead of addressing the difficult challenges on the road to recovery.

So what will it be for South Africa: continued pragmatism with compromises along the way, or an outpouring of anger and nationalist sentiment? When Mandela talked of not being prepared, he was referring to the surprise of the huge crowds that greeted him. None of what is happening will surprise any South African, but the question is how is this new challenge to be overcome?

August 20th, 2007