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“The judge said to us: ‘Because these people [perpetrators] are here, you must forgive them.
That’s the only [reason why] we call you here. You must forgive them.’ And then we said we
cannot just forgive them like that. Because we do not know where are the bodies. … They
told us ‘you must forgive’ that day. And we were not ready to forgive. I told them I can’t
forgive unless I have the remains.” (Interviewee No. 48)
Despite the traumatic experience of telling their stories, most victims mentioned that they would
testify again if necessary. Some respondents, however, would consider such testimony as an
opportunity to take revenge against the TRC.
Would you testify again? I would. I felt very angry at that time and a few years afterwards.
Angry at what? Angry at the way they dealt with [other] victims, at the promises. They said
they would investigate every case. They never set up any means of communication. They
should set up a liaison. It was very difficult to engage with victims. … This anger was also
related to a lack of organisation. They had no systematic way to do things at all. They did
not inform victims properly. The way of dealing with people on the ground was frustrating.
People heard that they were called one day before. They lacked a plan. Therefore they left
so many people aside. Also the budget was not sufficient. It was flawed since the very
beginning. They should have stopped pretending what they were really doing.” (No. 59)
Continuing deficiencies:
Given the economic situation of victims and the failure of the TRC to compensate them (at the time
of conducting the survey), it is not surprising that financial compensation is so unanimously
demanded by our respondents. When asked what amount they would consider “just”, some came up
with concrete numbers that were supposed to cover basic needs, including schooling and provide for
children whose parents were killed or disabled (Interviewees 8, 21, 30, 31, 32, 33, 41). A few came
up with an amount in terms of hundreds of thousands. Many demanded the same amount of financial
compensation that was promised at the TRC process (interviewees 4, 7, 24), although a few
interviewees did not consider the TRC recommendations being fair enough (interviewees no 42, 59).
Overall, however, their demands were fairly modest. Some said that they would accept whatever
amount they would be given (No 6, 9, 13, 36, 38). However, the modest demands of victims cannot
be interpreted in a way that financial compensation has lost its importance. On the contrary, many
live in dire poverty, in which any small amount of money makes a huge difference.
Convention