Remembering the truth : an oral history perspective on the victim hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, 1996-1998

Abstract

English: Every individual, family and place has a history of its own which may contribute knowledge and understanding to the study of history. Written sources are not always readily available on all themes or periods and/or are at times inadequate. Oral history can provide a type of historical source to gain information, fill gaps and add to a more balanced view of events and occurrences. By using oral history methods the researcher may obtain, from the lips of the living survivors/victims, a fuller record of their participation in events of historical significance by tending to the complex legacy of memory. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (TRC) shone a profoundly illuminating spotlight on South Africa’s past. The Commission’s mandate, as contained in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995, had to provide the space within which victims could share the story of their trauma with the nation. The Human Rights Violations Committee (HRV Committee) filled this vacuum, providing a more complete picture of the past as it emanated from the larger narratives of victims. These victim hearings in particular, meant that thousands who experienced human rights violations could convey their story. The public nature of these hearings broke the silence, lifted the veil of secrecy and gave authority to the voices of ordinary people. Through the process of personal recollection, the Commission could provide more answers for more people to gain ultimately a more all-inclusive picture of what constituted the past. The study highlights the importance of oral history by using the victim hearings of the South African TRC as a case study where ordinary people were given an opportunity to tell their stories. Thus, this research brings another perspective and dimension to the reliability of oral testimonies made before the TRC. To assess the workable successes of oral evidence, the challenges facing oral history are explored by examining the problematic nature, limitations and usefulness of memory as a potential source of oral evidence. Furthermore, the limitations of memory are taken into account to test the reliability of oral accounts when striving for the creation of a more representative all-inclusive history. Within this context, the significance of the establishment of a Commission on Truth and Reconciliation for South Africa as the formal genesis of another process of confronting the past through official truth-seeking, is emphasised. Against this background, the victim hearings of the TRC where ordinary people could express their views and illuminate a fragment of the past transmitted by word of mouth, are evaluated. Only if one understands oral history, with its focus on memory and narrative, can one begin to try to fathom the oral narratives made before the TRC’s Committee on Human Rights Violations as a broader process of events and an account of human experience that took place in the South African history. Using the TRC as a model for confronting a tormented and divided history, the study provides deeper insights into and a greater analytical understanding of past human rights violations through oral narratives and the process of coming to terms with it.

Afrikaans: Elke individu, familie en plek het ‘n geskiedenis van hul eie wat ‘n bydrae kan lewer tot kennis en begrip van die studie van geskiedenis. Geskrewe bronne oor alle temas of periodes is nie altyd geredelik beskikbaar nie en/of is met tye onvoldoende. Mondelinge geskiedenis kan ‘n tipe van historiese bron verskaf om informasie te verkry, gapings te vul en by te dra tot ‘n meer gebalanseerde perspektief van gebeure en voorvalle. Deur gebruik te maak van mondelinge geskiedenis metodes, kan die navorser ‘n meer volledige rekord verkry van die lippe van die lewende oorlewendes/slagoffers rondom hul deelname in gebeure van historiese belang deur te neig tot die komplekse nalatenskap van geheue. Die Waarheids-en-Versoeningskommissie van Suid-Afrika (WVK) het ‘n diepgaande, insiggewende soeklig geplaas op die verlede van Suid-Afrika. Die Kommissie se mandaat, soos ingesluit in die Bevordering van Nasionale Eenheid en Versoenings Wet Nr. 34 van 1995, moes die ruimte veskaf waarbinne slagoffers hul verhale van trauma kon deel met die nasie. Die Menseregteskendingskomitee het hierdie vakuum gevul om sodoende ‘n meer volledige beskrywing van die verlede te verskaf soos dit na vore gekom het uit die groter verhale van die slagoffers. Hierdie slagoffer verhore spesifiek, het beteken dat duisende wat menseregte skendings ervaar het, hul verhaal kon deel. Die openbare aard van hierdie verhore het die stilte verbreek, die sluier van geheimsinnigheid gelig en gesag verleen aan die stemme van gewone mense. Deur die proses van persoonlike herinneringe, kon die Kommissie meer antwoorde verskaf aan meer mense om ten laaste ‘n allesomvattende verhaal te verkry van wat die verlede behels het. Die studie beklemtoon die belangrikheid van mondelinge geskiedenis deur gebruik te maak van die slagoffer verhore van die Suid-Afrikaanse WVK as ‘n gevallestudie waar gewone mense ‘n geleentheid gegee is om hul verhale te deel. Die navorsing bring dus ‘n ander perspektief en dimensie tot die betroubaarheid van mondelinge getuienis wat gemaak is voor die WVK. Om die werkbare suksesse van mondelinge bewyse te waardeer, moet die uitdagings wat mondelinge geskiedenis konfronteer ondersoek word deur die problematiese aard, beperkinge en bruikbaarheid van geheue as ‘n potensiële bron van mondelinge bewyse te evalueer. Verder moet die beperkinge van geheue in ag geneem word om die betroubaarheid van mondelinge weergawes te toets as daar gestreef word na ‘n groter verteenwoordigende en allesomvattende geskiedenis. Binne hierdie konteks word die veelseggendheid van die instelling van ‘n Kommissie van Waarheid en Versoening vir Suid-Afrika beklemtoon as die formele begin van nog ‘n proses om die verlede te konfronteer deur die offisiële soeke na waarheid. Teen hierdie agtergrond word die slagoffer verhore van die WVK geëvalueer, waar gewone mense hul perspektiewe kon uitdruk en ‘n fragment van die verlede mondelings belig. Slegs as ‘n persoon mondelinge geskiedenis verstaan, met die fokus daarvan op geheue en verhale, kan mens begin om te probeer om die mondelinge verhale, soos vertel voor die WVK se Komitee vir Menseregteskendings, te deurgrond as ‘n wyer proses van gebeure en ‘n verslag van menslike ervaring wat plaasgevind het in die Suid- Afrikaaanse geskiedenis. Deur gebruik te maak van die WVK as ‘n model vir die konfrontering van ‘n gefolterde en verdeelde geskiedenis, verskaf die studie ‘n dieper insig in en groter analitiese begrip vir menseregte skendings van die verlede deur middel van mondelinge vertellings, asook die proses hoe om dit te hanteer en te verwerk.