Reconciling with partial truths: An assessment of the dilemmas posed by the reconciliation process in South Africa

This paper looks critically at the “truth” that was uncovered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa that was supposed to form the basis on which the country would establish national reconciliation. Using case materials from the TRC proceedings and quotations from various authors, I set out to argue that the majority of South Africans who were brutalized by the legacy of apartheid were expected to reconcile with “partial truths.” This partiality was reflected in the manner in which the perpetrators gave their versions of truth, the way women positioned themselves and were positioned within the truth‐telling process, and lastly in the margmalization of certain truths and other processes that served consciously or unconsciously to obscure truth recovery.