After the abo­li­tion of apartheid in South Africa, the groups that were pre­vi­ous­ly opposed to each oth­er had to find a way to deal with the past. For this, the Truth and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Com­mis­sion was estab­lished, led by Desmond Tutu. There had been so many human rights vio­la­tions that it was impos­si­ble to build crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion cas­es against all per­pe­tra­tors. In order to still find out the truth, the com­mis­sion offered amnesty if some­one would tell hon­est­ly what they had done. This was often in front of (fam­i­ly of) the vic­tims. In this way, there was recog­ni­tion of the crime, and per­pe­tra­tors asked for for­give­ness. Between 1996 and 2000, the Com­mis­sion heard thou­sands of vic­tims and per­pe­tra­tors (an exam­ple is the sto­ry of the mur­der of four men from Cradock).

Desmond Tutu writes:

Gen­uine rec­on­cil­i­a­tion is based on for­give­ness, and for­give­ness is based on true con­fes­sion, and con­fes­sion is based on penance, repen­tance, grief about what you’ve done.

By just say­ing “what has been, has been,” you do not come to terms with what hap­pened, you can­not leave the past behind like that. How can you for­give if you do not know who and what you need to forgive?

The work of the Truth and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Com­mis­sion is an exam­ple of restora­tive jus­tice instead of ret­ribu­tive jus­tice. It is aims to restore rather than to pun­ish. This res­onates with an old penal sys­tem in the African ubun­tu phi­los­o­phy, where rela­tions between peo­ple were the key. The amnesty that was offered was not an end in itself but a means to restore relationships.

It so hap­pens that I will prob­a­bly per­son­al­ly gain expe­ri­ence in this area. A few weeks ago my bike was stolen at the sta­tion in Gilling­ham. Because the police caught the thief in the act, I had my bike back on the same evening. So con­grat­u­la­tions to Kent Police, and even more so because they want to apply Restora­tive Jus­tice in this case. Over the next month I will be invit­ed for that. I’m curious!

This Lent I am writ­ing about break­ing down walls of hos­til­i­ty; part­ly on the basis of a book by Belousek. Many, prob­a­bly all, peo­ple feel that restora­tive jus­tice con­flicts with an instinc­tive cry for ret­ri­bu­tion. Belousek sees this as a human char­ac­ter­is­tic that is ’tamed’ God in the Torah to a pro­por­tion­al exchange: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. But Jesus makes it clear that God does not ask for ret­ri­bu­tion. You should treat oth­ers, not as they have treat­ed you, but as you would have them treat you. In that way we can break the vicious cir­cle of retaliation.

Sources:

• Desmond Tutu, 2004. God has a dream, A vision of hope for our time
• Dar­rin W. Sny­der Belousek, 2011, Atone­ment, Jus­tice and Peace