Monday, February 2, 1998 at 16:23:02
The TRUTH will set you free and you will be FREE indeed.
Ernst & Eugenie van der Walt, Cape Town, South Africa
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Monday, February 2, 1998 at 20:44:43
We commit ourselves to a future in which we are all able to share equally in the fruits of our Land for an equal effort. which has no preconditions.
Mr SW and Mrs ED Allenberg, Westville, SA
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Tuesday, February 3, 1998 at 08:42:10
A commitment to participate in social reconciliation in South Africa, difficult and challenging though that may be, to ensure a future nation and continent of peace, justice and respect for human rights. I regret and apologise for my lack of courage to sufficiently stand up to and more actively resist the intrinsic evil of apartheid perpetrated on fellow South Africans. How dangerous it was and still can be to remain a bystander.
Mark Hay, Pietermaritzburg, SA
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Tuesday, February 3, 1998 at 09:43:41
May all South Africans look at the TRC as a commission with a mission not to avenge but to heal the wounds and hatreage of the past.
David T. Farirai, Pretoria, South Africa
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Tuesday, February 3, 1998 at 10:14:36
I am in awe of what the TRC has set out to do and how much it has achieved. It has given me back my lost birthright and a sense of citizenship I never had. I willingly acknowledge my collaborative guilt and naivete and proudly add my pledge to my country and people.
John van Wyngaard, Pietermaritzburg, SA
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Tuesday, February 3, 1998 at 20:20:27
A great gesture of tangible commemoration of past horrors, & building for the future would be the setting up of libraries where there are none, or installing internet facilities where there are. My father was a victim, but he lived to see the start of democracy and reconciliation. The TRC is doing very good work. Knowing can lead to healing. Acknowledgement of suffering can help to ease the suffering, even if the physical effects of it are long past.
Colleen Matthews, Johannesburg, SA
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Wednesday, February 4, 1998 at 11:12:07
I regret that I did not do more to prevent gross human rights violations in the past. I regret that I did not speak out more often. I am committed to a new kind of future in which human rights abuses will never again take place.
Kevin Johnston, Cape Town, SA
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Wednesday, February 4, 1998 at 14:48:58
I did not actively oppose by word, deed or action the excesses of the apartheid era. I hid from myself the terrible effects of apartheid and white 'baaskap"'.
It is only in recent times that I have come to realise the extent of the humiliating and dehumanising practices that were meeted out to so many peoples. I was blind to the true situation in South Africa.
I humbly apologise to the people of South Africa for the many years of persecution that they experienced. I hope that the will to forgive the apartheid perpertrators and their silent supporters will be always be a part of the South African experience. May truth and reconciliation become the South African beacon for the future. It is with a deep sense of relief that I welcome the changes which have brought about the new South Africa. May we never have a repeat of the past and bring our children up to eliminate all forms of discrimination.
May God forgive me.
A repentant white.
Gerry Peach, Florida Glen, SA
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Wednesday, February 4, 1998 at 16:42:15
An apology for the hardships heap upon our fellow citizens by the white race because of there greed and ignorance. An expression of relief and joy that true democracy is finally taking hold of our society. And an expression of peace and love to all, with a commitmant to work for a better society for all.
Aum Shanti.
Edward de la Rey, Grahamstown, SA
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Wednesday, February 4, 1998 at 22:49:16
May God help us all to know the truth and accept what has happened to us.
May God help me and many other people to reconcile with the past and buil our future.
Nkosikhulule Nyembezi, Durban, SA
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