They wait tirelessly on Constitution Hill above the center of Johannesburg. Their singing echoes across the grounds of the old prison and former military fort. The country’s modern Constitutional Court is also located there, partly built from the bricks of a demolished prison block.
The group of older people have been occupying this symbolic place for five months as a place for their protest and as a place to sleep – in their fight for justice: they are victims of the violent acts of the apartheid regime. But did not benefit from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings 28 years ago.
Abandoned
Thabo Shabangu was shot in the back by police officers during a demonstration against the oppression of the majority black population by the white regime in 1990, he said in an interview with DW. “I’m disappointed. We are the revolutionaries from back then, we formed this government and fought for it,” says Shabangu.
Constitution Hill in Johannesburg: Apartheid victims demand compensationImage: Dianne Hawker/DW
The South African government is not there for the people. He feels abandoned and demands financial compensation for the suffering he suffered in the anti-apartheid struggle, but also for medical and social support. This assistance was recommended by the Commission for Recognized Victims. Shabangu – like around a third of South Africans – is unemployed and money for feeding the family and schooling is scarce.
“We believed that the commission would bring us justice,” he complains. But none of the members of the Khulumani Support Group for victims and survivors of serious human rights violations, who are seeking recognition with its sister organization Galela, feel reconciled.
“No reparations – no vote”
After 30 years of democracy in the new South Africa, the cruel past is not over for them: “No reparations – no vote,” says Shabangu. This is how most people in the group want it to be when South Africa elects a new president on May 29th.
A look back: The hearings before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began in April 1996 and ended in October 1998. The then President Nelson Mandela had appointed Archbishop Desmond Tutu to chair them. Its aim was to promote reconciliation and forgiveness – rather than retaliation – between perpetrators and victims of apartheid.
Sharpeville 1960: A mass funeral took place in the township after white police officers shot 69 black people in a massacreImage: AP Photo/picture alliance
Those affected were encouraged to come forward and provide testimony. During this period, the commission focused on evidence of killings, abductions and torture of people, as well as serious ill-treatment.
Amnesty for perpetrators
Perpetrators who fully reported what happened received amnesty – a painful compromise for many victims. But through the promise of impunity, the truth came to light about the fate of many people who had disappeared without a trace: abducted, killed and buried somewhere.
Victims and perpetrators often sat opposite each other in community halls and churches across the country, and for the first time there were live reports from truth commission hearings. Just two years after the African National Congress (ANC) came to power, the atrocities of the past were made public. Predominantly black South Africans suffered from state violence, but also whites whose relatives died in attacks by freedom fighters.
When the commission completed its work in 2002, it recommended that the more than 21,000 recognized victims be paid monthly subsidies as compensation from the established “President’s Fund”. However, the then President Thabo Mbeki arranged for a one-off aid amounting to 30,000 rand (just under 3,600 euros at the time), which around 17,000 people received.
Don’t lock doors
According to the fund’s annual report, almost two billion rand (today 97 million euros) were still available in 2023. Critics claim that the commission’s recommendations are being implemented only slowly. The government says it will use the compensation fund for housing, education and healthcare for the 22,000 people on the current list.
Victims of apartheid sing and clap in protest in front of the Constitutional Court. They are demanding compensation from the stateImage: Thuso Khumalo
More than 82,000 South Africans have joined Khulumani since it was founded in 1995, but have not yet been able to make any claims. At the time, the state did not adequately disclose how victims could provide their statements to the commission, said Marjorie Dobson, the organization’s director.
Many would not have had the money to get into the appropriate positions. “We documented all of this for the Justice Department. It’s completely unjustified to just close the doors when the mistakes are actually on the state’s side,” Dobson told DW.
Danisile Mabanga is also still hoping for compensation. Her family was forcibly displaced during apartheid. “We knew about the commission, but we didn’t manage to go there,” she told DW. “Times were hard and we were scared.” Mandela would have initiated a worthwhile cause, but the perpetrators got off too well, is her impression, which is shared by many South Africans.
Unused opportunities
A total of 7,000 perpetrators asked for amnesty, and the commission granted 1,500 applications. They were mainly foot soldiers of the security forces and people who had already been detained. Senior politicians in the apartheid government did not apply for amnesty.
The prosecution of perpetrators made little progress back then, and today some of the main suspects are already dead. “In many of these cases, time is against us, in some there is still a chance of prosecution, and we will continue,” says Zaid Kimmie, director of the NGO Foundation for Human Rights. “Ultimately the question will be why we were unable to do this, what decisions were made and who was involved.” Families have a right to answers.
Unrest before the free elections in 1994: A police officer from the then apartheid government rejects a demonstratorImage: ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images
The short window of opportunity for the truth resulted in 2,500 hearings – an impetus to build a reconciled nation, that was its purpose. “We had hope back then, because it was about the process of rebuilding the country, building peace. We wanted to be part of the change,” Nomarussia Bonase, Khulumani’s coordinator, told DW. “We are being victimized again by the current government.”
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola sees no reason for people to sit at Constitution Hill. You should go home, he says. “Parliament has the list, it is closed. And it would be an irregularity if we reopened the list.”
Collaboration: Dianne Hawker