Transitional justice

Abstract

This chapter discusses and assesses transitional justice through an assessment of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Achieving some sense of justice after a prolonged period of human rights abuses is essential for emerging democracies to create stable political systems. Therefore, a discussion about transitional justice and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is essential. The importance of dialogue and forgiveness through healing in a post-conflict transition cannot be underestimated. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission through embracing African values such as ubuntu, Christian values of forgiveness and creating a reciprocal relationship between perpetrator and victim - serves as an example of a post-conflict society attempting to facilitate restoration of human dignity and justice through collective healing. The chapter will discuss the rationale and motivation for a truth and reconciliation commission; focus on the three committees of the South African TRC; discuss pre-TRC Commissions; and assess the centrality of restorative justice through the creation of a reciprocal relationship between victimhood and amnesty underpinned by the notion of ubuntu. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the success of the TRC in creating a sense of collective healing and nationhood in the context of the contested nature of the meaning of justice following human rights abuses and the legacies of inequality, poverty, and unemployment that shape South African citizenship.