Apartheid victims demanded on Friday that the state honour its reparations obligations to everyone and not just those identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). “We reject regulations which fail to provide the full gambit of reparations needed… as a result of apartheid atrocities,” the SA Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ) said at a briefing in Braamfontein.
“We plead with government to reconsider the regulations,” said Paul Verryn, representing the Khulumani Support Group in the coalition.
The Government Gazette of May 11 contained regulations for the payment of educational assistance and health benefits exclusively to victims identified by the TRC.
SACTJ claimed the justice and constitutional development departments gazetted the regulations without proper consultation with victims and other stakeholders.
The SACTJ consists of the Khulumani Support Group, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, the SA History Archives, the Human Rights Media Centre, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, the Freedom of Expression Institute and the Trauma Centre for Victims of Torture and Trauma.
