The choice we do have is how to manage this process. This, precisely, is the task of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This Commission will provide a means to make known the fearful aspects of the darkest time in our history. It will bring a light which will ensure that our security forces free themselves, once and for all, of the legacy of a past on which our society has turned its back. However, the commission will, objectively, not be the only vehicle for this process.
Various institutions have a role to play, including the media.
And, political and other leaders ignore this reality at their own peril. Whatever creates in the public mind a suspicion that there are important matters known to leaders still to be revealed, can undermine national confidence. Those in public office therefore have a responsibility as leaders to declare their own knowledge of the past. To wait for others to reveal such information or to sit tight in the hope that some human rights violations will not come out, certainly is not in anyone's interest. The people of South Africa have demonstrated unmistakably their desire for reconciliation and to build a nation at ease with itself.