This letter follows the exposure on November 1, 2011 to the public of the President's lack of awareness of the existence of the President's Fund for reparations for victims of apartheid gross human rights violations through the question posed by Khulumani Board member, Ms Shirley Gunn, to the President at the New Age-hosted Breakfast with the President, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The letter asserts that the TRC Unit remains committed to implementing the recommendations of the TRC. However, Dr de Wee then asserts that the recommendations the TRC Unit will implement are not those of the TRC but rather those agreed in Parliament by a subsequently appointed Ad Hoc Committee on Reparations that discussed alternative proposals, rather than those constructed by the TRC.
Khulumani rejects the bureaucratic arbitrariness of the TRC Unit in perpetruating its adherence to a 'closed list' of victims. Khulumani and its civil society partners will intensify the campaign for the full implementation of the original TRC recommendations. The National Campaign for REPARATIONS NOW! asserts that justice must be provided for all "those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land" (Preamble to the Constitution).
Reparations advocates have highlighted to Khulumani that the refusal to open the list of victims who suffered the same gross human rights violations as those whose names appear in the TRC's report, but who continue to be excluded from recognition due in large part to the administrative shortcomings of the TRC, is a form of discrimination.
They point out that:
* the condition of victims is not given by a list, but by what you suffered and that a list only certifies this;
* continuing adherence to a closed list policy is not smart policy because there can be no justification for "repairing some victims while excluding others". This is in fact a politically untenable position to adopt;
* in other countries, registrations processes have always ended up being re-opened through public pressure. In this process, civil society has played a central role in contributing names of victims and in providing corroborating evidence. Khulumani's Apartheid Reparations Database serves this critical function in South Africa.
Some examples of reparations practices from across the world:
- In Argentina registration for victims of different violations had been opened several times.
- In Chile a new Commission has just finished its work and has added around 9,000 victims of political imprisonment and torture to the 28,459 already registered in 2003-2005 as well as several dozen victims to the existing list of 3,195 victims of disappearances and killings registered in 1990-1996. If Chile had limited reparations only to the victims registered at the TRC (1990-1991) it would had paid reparations only to 2,280. In the case of both Argentina and Chile, new laws to reopen registration processes have been passed by Parliament. Such new laws are rquired in South Africa also.
- In Guatemala the registration process was defined to last 13 years.
- In Peru the registration process has been declared a permanent and continuning process. Peru previously identified 125,000 from an estimated 280,000, including victims of displacement.
Khulumani and its partners demand respect for the right to reparations on the basis of non-discrimination and the obligation of the state to repair gross human rights violations. A luta continua!





