Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s silence on reparations for apartheid survivors was deafening, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation said on Wednesday in response to the annual budget speech earlier in the day.
“It is deeply disappointing that there is no relief in sight to ease painful memories. We expected this budget to bring closure to this matter,” the ICJ said in a statement.
“Instead it reinforces a sense of inadequate acknowledgement of those that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) declared to be victims of gross human rights violations.”
Late last year, the government reported it had made reparation payments of R50m to 18 000 people for harm they suffered under apartheid, as an interim measure in line with recommendations by the TRC.
