There are two dominant prerequisites for South Africa’s stability and growth. The first is the requirement for reconciliation, in particular between white Afrikaners and black nationalists. The second is that of sustained levels of economic growth. The one is not possible without the other and, it could be argued, reconciliation is a prerequisite for economic growth. If reconciliation fails, the torrent of skills leaving South Africa will turn into a flood. Neither will foreign investment materialise in South Africa. If reconciliation does not deliver a truly non-racial society, firm action against violent crime will not succeed and there is little chance of building a common citizenship within which respect for the rule of law and for civic obligations regain its rightful place.

With its first public hearings now behind us, it is time to look at the real contribution that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) can make to the future of reconciliation.

Apartheid was a carefully designed system of social engineering which had entirely predictable results. Its institutionalised racial oppression led to many bitter and tragic abuses. Despite the fact that it is impossible, in 1996, to find a firm supporter of these policies, it remains a fact that the majority of whites supported apartheid, voted for the National Party and, at best, turned a blind eye to the excesses which the system inevitably brought about. There were whites, a minority, who opposed apartheid. Many have left, most because their moral outrage against an unjust system was surpassed only by their fear of black majority rule. Some stayed in the country, resisted and paid a high price in the process. A handful were prepared to take up arms and now reap the benefits of their courage. But they are by far a minority.

Whether directly ordered or not, members of the Security Force (the Security Branch apparently more so than most) murdered, tortured and maimed dozens, perhaps hundreds, of opponents against apartheid. In return, after having tried most forms of non-violent protest and been denied all other forms of protest and agitation, the ANC and PAC embarked on a slowly escalating strategy of violence to fight the system until such time as the social tide of collective black anger in Soweto and beyond engulfed the country in 1976, and swept all before it into a situation where violence, repression and reaction merged into a very brutal world. Means and ends became confused and intertwined. But the simple questions remain to this day. Who suffered most - the mother whose son was gunned down in Sebokong when he threw stones at the police, or the father who had to witness his young daughter die in the Winterfeld without food, desperately ill and too far away from medical attention because they had to relocate as a result of group areas legislation? Or the innocent bystander who just happened to pass by when the Church street bomb detonated in Pretoria? Does political correctness and direct intention reduce either guilt or pain? Is murder committed in defence of an unjust system, less serious than the death of a child caused by an institutional system of social engineering? Is the death of an innocent passer-by of less consequence than either of the above?

Are we, with the TRC, trying to hold the few members of the Security Forces, who committed clearly identifiable crimes, responsible for a whole system? Then what about white business which often exploited the same skewed system for its own financial gain? Or what about homeland leaders and their officials who benefited so luxuriously from their gravy train, abusing their positions for private gain, while the people they had to serve suffered in poverty? What about the bureaucrats who administered the apartheid system, ran the pass laws, staffed the jails, set minimum wages, and formulated the legislation? And what about the family who paid their gardener and maid appalling wages because supply so dramatically outstripped demand? Are we going to try all of these in public? Are we going to find a way of expressing the pain and suffering that a system caused to millions of South Africans? It is exactly because of this dilemma that the TRC is floundering, not certain if it should also look at the role of the judicial system and of the media during recent decades. Clearly, if we try and individualise systemic or collective guilt within the context of a negotiated settlement within which there is such a high interdependence between supposed past victim, bystander and perpetrator, we stand to destroy reconciliation. It will tear our society apart, drive the wedge between white and black in even further, and in the process destroy our chances for both reconciliation and economic growth.

In fact, what constructive future purpose does a commission serve that attempts to pin the responsibility for a social plan on select foot-soldiers, leaving the architects of repression to languish in parliament or at home in the comfort provided by a fat pension? What do we achieve for our future common destiny in this country by reliving, through the very subjective eyes of the victim, the brutality of one individual against another?

How can we really reconcile what happened in our country with the requirement to build a unified, prosperous society? There is a just, systematic and constructive way to do this - but then we have to take a careful look at the TRC. First, we need to study and document, sociologically, economically and psychologically, the effects of apartheid as a system on society as a whole, not only on an individual basis. We need to quantify and qualify the costs and dangers of racism and the abuse of power. This can be done at a relative small cost, since the source material is aleady available. We need to document our recent history systematically. The results should both be academically rigorous and comprehensive, but should also be available through accessible means.

Second, we need to establish a compulsory educational component at every secondary educational institution which teaches our children and young adults the basic or core values which collectively frame our common South African citizenry. Call it citizen training or civic education - and do not confuse this with political or ideological indoctrination. We need to teach the basic tenets of our constitution, the bill of rights, the functioning of our government, about civic duties and good citizenship. We need to instil in people not only their rights, but also their obligations to pay tax, not to litter, to obey the rules of the road, to be fair, to work hard and to accept responsibility for their own actions. Of all the positive actions that can be taken, this is certainly the most important for our future. This is not a justification for legitimising neo-authoritarism, but a quest for responsible citizenship.

Reconciliation will not come by itself. It requires structures and processes to make it work and to give it meaning. Indulging in endless self-pity and recrimination is a meaningless exercise without an action plan for the future. Therefore, as the experience in the US demonstrated with the first years of affirmative action programmes in the sixties, educational measures should focus on the present and the future. Harping too much on the cultural and political reasons for injustice often had a negative effect, serving to divide rather than to unify. Already the TRC has split our society, with black and white opinion on the utility and nature of the process markedly different from one another. Africa is replete with the accusations that colonialism and racism is responsible for all its woes. Yet Liberia is a basket case, even though it was never under formal colonial rule, and things are not markedly better in states with a long history of independence, such as Ethiopia.

Perhaps we still need the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Murder is murder and a government and its officials who commit crimes must be brought to book. Both a person who plants a bomb that kills innocent civilians and the policeman who tortures and murders a suspect during interrogation are guilty of murder. In both cases ‘cause and effect’ is clearly definable. But what about the 19 million persons who were arrested and detained for pass law offences? What about the hundreds of thousands of people who suffered from malnutrition and were denied opportunities through relocation, cleaning up of ‘black spots’, and the like? And how do we reconcile the requirement for reconciliation against the background of a negotiated settlement (as opposed to a victor vs. vanquished situtation)? We cannot rectify the past nor compensate for it. But we can take positive measures to ensure that it is not repeated and that we have a solid base upon which to build a prosperous society.

We need to have an ongoing public and private campaign to combat racism, bigotry and authoritarianism in our society, by the formalisation and institutionalisation of appropriate measures. At every appraisal level under government control, no incident of racism may be tolerated. Non-racialism should be taught and demonstrated throughout our society. Non-racism means exactly that - it implies that race does not play a part in decisions or actions. Difficult as this may be, it also means that affirmative action programmes should be dealt with in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

We should use our collective experience to try and ensure that our country does not repeat its past mistakes. We need to look at the total effect of apartheid. We need to study, quantify and illustrate the effects of racism in our society. But more important than anything else, we need to teach people how to behave in a non-racial and responsible society. That must be the real contribution of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the future of South Africa.