In that way we can all make the much-delayed beginning and construct our lives into the future. We cannot afford the futility of the Magnus Malan trials. Finally, during the course of its life, the TRC failed to help South Africa deal with the challenge of Reconciliation. Clearly the Report makes the point that reconciliation is not cheap, that it is costly. The point is not made, for example that there can be no reconciliation without full disclosure of the truth, without seeking and receiving forgiveness voluntarily.
Reconciliation comes about out of the recognition of a total breakdown of relationships.
That has to mean that one must at least believe that there is inherently something that binds people together with bonds of true humanity that need to and can be restored once again. In other words reconciliation is not mechanical. God made the supreme sacrifice in order to reconcile humanity with God. In the human sphere, however, reconciliation arises from the giving and receiving of forgiveness. Some of us often felt that the Commission was too anxious to give signs and symbols of forgiveness and reconciliation.