Certainly, South Africans are coming nearer to a common view of the recent past. When the emotional victims' hearings began, angry denial was the order of the day. But the cumulative effect of hundreds of accounts of horror and human pain has changed this mood. The sheer volume of similar experiences from every corner of the country, rather than accuracy of detail, has proved the veracity of the stories. What has emerged is a horrific picture of deliberate state terrorism.
Victims do seem to have been helped by telling their stories.
Many have said that they now feel able to move forward with their lives. The issue of amnesty has been more controversial. The new constitution guarantees due process and justice for all. Amnesty, they say, denies them that justice. Nevertheless, distasteful as it may be to envisage these brutal state assassins at liberty, most victims seem determined not to become obsessed by their previous tormentors.