Suffering From Post-Apartheid Fatigue

South Africa’s churches are suffering from “post-apartheid fatigue” and doing too little to promote reconciliation in the wake of apartheid’s divisions, according to Dr Charles Villa-Vicencio, executive director of Cape Town’s Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.Dr Villa-Vicencio was speaking to Ecumenical News International after taking part in a seminar in Copenhagen which was part of a two-week “Images of the World Festival”. The seminar focused on the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and winner of the Nobel Peace Price. Dr Villa-Vicencio said the commission had led South Africa through a unique reconciliation process which probably saved the country from many years of continued violence and even civil war.Villa-Vicencio told ENI that although the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had attracted international praise, there was still much hard work to be done—and the churches were not fulfilling their obligations.”Many of the churches, which were in the front in the anti-apartheid struggle, now seem to suffer from ‘post-apartheid fatigue’ and concentrate on spiritual matters. They could play an extremely important role in healing and reconciling our society, and mending the deep divisions among people, but they are not taking their role seriously.”The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up to assist South Africa’s transition from a racist, white-dominated nation to a fully democratic country. Its work took almost three years between December 1995 and October 1998. Villa-Vicencio worked as research director for the commission after holding the post of professor of religion and society at the University of Cape Town. Active for many years in the struggle against apartheid, he has written several books on South Africa, including The Theology of Reconstruction.In his interview with ENI, Dr Villa-Vicencio agreed that the commission had done more than generally expected to reconcile South Africa and to provide a new and better start for the country. But the work was not over, he said. “Reconciliation is not an event. It is a way of life. South Africa is a reconciling—not a reconciled—society.”Reconciliation is a process, if you look at it in a biblical sense. But for many reconciliation has been ‘cheapened’, because it is given a populist, religious meaning by people who do not want to face the really tough questions and go to the heart of the matter. You know, the kind of people who think that everything will be okay if everybody just hugs each other and says ‘peace’, ‘love’ and that kind of stuff.”But our country is filled with victims and survivors from the apartheid struggle. They have all their memories which will not just go away. For instance it takes a lot of time to truly forgive a person that has killed your husband.”Charles Villa-Vicencio told ENI that it was essential—if this process was to be kept alive—that the churches, not least in the townships, become much more engaged. Some churches in South Africa’s townships practice contextual theology, using tales and parables from the Bible as the starting point for discussions on taboo-subjects like sexual abuse and AIDS. In the same manner, Villa-Vicencio said, churches could hold services with a special focus on reconciliation, allowing the victims of apartheid to talk about their experiences and feelings.The Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted amnesty to many people who confessed crimes they had committed under apartheid. This was an entirely new way of dealing with the wrongdoings of a non-democratic past—a third way between, on the one hand, national amnesia and, on the other, the “winner-takes-all” justice meted out at the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War. But the South African model could not simply be exported to other countries, said Villa-Vicencio, who has received numerous invitations from abroad to explain the South African experience.”It would be extremely arrogant to go to any other country like Sierra Leone, Kosovo or Rwanda, and say: ‘This is the way to do it.’ In South Africa we took some elements from other countries, especially in Latin America, and developed our own system. Other countries might be able to use some of what we have been doing, but they all have to adapt it to their own traditions and history.”

Copyright © ENI 2000The Truth and Reconciliation Commission homepage includes transcripts of hearings, reparation policies, and sociology studies.The South African Center for the Study of Violence is dedicated to finding ways for peaceful national transformation.In 1997, CT‘s sister publication Books and Culture ran a review of Villa-Vicencio’s Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics [print only].To read Villa-Vicencio’s interview on theology and politics in South Africa, click here. Or purchase Villa-Vicencio’s latest book, The Theology of Reconstruction.Previous Christianity Today coverage of South Africa includes:Insisting He’s Innocent, Anti Apartheid Activist Begins Jail Term | Allan Boesak sentenced for theft and fraud from anti-apartheid foundation funds. (Jan. 20, 2000) ‘Help Us Develop Our Souls,’ Mandela Tells World Religious Leaders | South Africans need spiritual input. (Dec. 8, 1999) Goodbye Dalai | China pressures South Africa’s president to refuse meeting with the Dalai Lama. (Dec.2, 1999) Truth and Consequences in South Africa | A PBS documentary asks what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission achieved. (April 5, 1999)