The Notice 282 regulations fall considerably short of addressing the needs of victims. The current reparations program lacks the accountability, transparency and accessibility required to provide marginalized communities with a post-apartheid experience of social justice that honors their sacrifices made in the struggle to achieve a democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom.

The Government of South Africa should not let the financial, temporal, and practical compromises of the past dictate the future. To knowingly allow an incomplete process to become dispositive of future benefits is to render a grave and unnecessary injustice to South Africa’s victims and to the international norms of State responsibility for reparations.

The SACTJ stands ready to work with the government to ensure that a viable reparations program that serve the needs of victims is generated through participation and consultation.