Special Hearings — Mental Health Workshop — UNKNOWN

PROF NICHOLAS: Lionel Nicholas, I'm a professor from the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town.  I think many of us are disappointed and I include myself that the TRC isn't called Budget Unlimited because I think that often when people come to this kind of process there is the hope that all of the needs would in fact be satisfied.  I think particularly this committee should probably be labelled the most limited budget committee in all of the TRC from what I can gather but what is important for me is that in June and here this process stimulated a lot of activity that may be quite hidden from view and from the discussions that we're having here and I know there are processes going on in Cape Town as a result of that because I'm based there and I've also made links with people, I've already discussed bringing out a special issue of the South African Journal of Psychology and doing different writings and so on.  So there are other things that are going on as a result of it and I think that the TRC process was also meant to be a process that stimulates something rather than completely sees to everything that the whole nation could probably require.  And I know that particular responsibilities lie outside of the TRC, especially the ones that you've mentioned but I think the one responsibility that the TRC might be evading and I think is central to its responsibility is to secure all of the data, all of the information, all of the resources that you have brought together up to now for the future use of the nation and that is I think, very much of your responsibility and not agencies outside of the TRC.  Thank you.

UNKNOWN: Sorry Lionel if I can just reassure you that that's not a responsibility we're evading, we have documentation offices in each place and we have an archival officer, so we will make very sure that all of our material, video, audio, written material is preserved, it will 1, go to the National Archives which I know isn't very accessible, but we're also exploring storing duplicate copies in other more accessible places.
MS MAGWAZA(?): If I may, it's not a surprise that the psychologists have said what they've said about psychology and actually what they've said about psychiatry, I'm not even surprised that Dr, Prof Nel had said this morning of psychiatry as being a discipline of just mental illnesses because it does hurt me now when I'm just sort of reconnecting with the whole process because all I was talking about earlier on was just what I had perceived in the Health hearings per se.  But I've wondered where they were, actually not only the psychiatrists but I've wondered where they were, the mental health workers, you know the people who understand the distresses of people, the people who know how a road from one point to change or to healing goes, how they have been very very scarce in the community.  How they have not been in the media. I mean I know the society had very resourceful people but in situations like this you'd want to see them out there in the media talking, analysing about what is happening, analysing the TRC itself, the processes, the religiosities, the beliefs and the professionalism, analysing the society generally on what it's about; going into philosophies.  So now I want to say openly that I am going to leave here and I'm going to cook up a storm in the Psychiatric Association and if that storm means I'm going to beg for restructuring completely or start something com....(tape ends)..who shared a common paradigm.  Am I living in another planet?  And I thank the TRC for making us aware of this.

MS MKHIZE: Thank you I hope you're not going to split again.

MR ELS: No I'm Guys Els, on behalf of the Institute for  the Study for Leadership and authority.  I just want to  bring to the attention of ourselves then that at least there are some efforts to try and connect, not split and understand and there Volume 4 of '96 of the Psychoanalytic Therapy in South Africa, this journalises extensively looking at the aftermath of violence and there are quite a few articles in this that I think might help our thinking on this.