‘We have to recognize the past more effectively’: South African rights defender Zaid Kimmie
South African nonprofit the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) was formed in 1996 to watch over human rights after the end of Apartheid. The organization helps families of those killed in the liberation struggle to seek justice, and supports community projects on social justice issues including gender-based violence and migration.
In 2023, the FHR was awarded Argentina’s Emilio Mignone international prize for human rights, named after the award-winning Argentine writer and human rights campaigner. The Herald spoke to its executive director, Zaid Kimmie.
It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What does it mean to face the legacy of apartheid?
In South Africa, a set of liberation movements declared they would violently overthrow the state, and the state was responding. In the 1990s, there was a negotiated settlement. Each side decided to step back from violence and commit to a democratic future. But it was a compromise. This was not Nüremberg, where you had a winner in the loser.
Part of that compromise was that we would have something like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. If people fully confessed to their crimes, and they were committed for political purposes, there would be a judicial process to assess whether they’d met these conditions. If they did, they would receive amnesty, meaning there would be no further prosecutions. But there were those two components: the full truth, and it had to be a political purpose.
Rape and torture were always considered beyond the bounds of an acceptable political purpose. But several thousand people received amnesty for acts of murder. If you were refused amnesty or didn’t apply for it, the normal laws of justice would apply. That was the compromise.
The unfinished business of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) refers to the fact that several hundred cases were refused amnesty and handed........
© Buenos Aires Herald
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