An evaluation of a set of TRC public hearings in Worcester: a small rural community in South Africa

The public role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been well documented and has sparked enormous debate. However the implications for the person whose human rights were violated are not always known. This paper seeks to uncover how the residents of two small rural towns saw and evaluated a set of public hearings that took place in a rural town in July of 1996. Depth interviews were conducted with 18 subjects prior to the hearings, in the week following the hearings and at a five-month follow-up point to ascertain attitudes and perceptions of the TRC. Overall the TRC was rated favourably by the respondents and the hearings were seen as assisting in the healing of individuals and of advancing the communities. Community members felt ownership of the TRC via their participation in the political process. At the same time, there were misperceptions over the role and function of the TRC and some problems identified. The major problems centred on the delay in the provision of reparation for those in need, the short period over which the TRC was present in the community and the unresolved reawakened trauma and conflicts the TRC left behind after the hearings. The TRC is seen as the start of a process of healing in South Africa that now has to be taken up by other structures.