The perpetrators simply expressed regret often without penance and they retained all the spoils and benefits of their unjust gains. Many of them received golden handshakes which they could retain. Some even continued in their government jobs. The Commission has rejected the principle of lustration on inadequate grounds. The victims remained poor, the breadwinners or those whom they expected would support them in old age were no more.
Reparations are very vague and distant.
When people are in need, it is difficult to justify their expectations by suggesting that monuments will be built in honour of their heroic sons, fathers and daughters. The Reparations package is shrouded in mystery. Not many people understand how it works. In comparison to the perpetrators, the victims have been left with less than what they had before their loved ones died or were maimed for life. We can only hope that enough support will be forthcoming from various sources to make the Reparations fund worthwhile.