No Future Without Forgiveness

Desmond Tutu

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2009

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Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapter 9-Postscript

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Themes

The Power of Restorative Justice and Forgiveness

Tutu stalwartly defends the model of restorative justice for South Africa and beyond. This model of justice, grounded in the African tradition of ubuntu, seeks to unify a community by reintegrating offenders and healing victims. It stems from the premise that harm to any community member is harm to all. A strong temptation for any oppressed people is to seek revenge—to punish those responsible for their oppression. In South Africa, a white minority oppressed the Black (and other non-white South African) majority for centuries. Tutu urges South Africans to resist the temptation of retribution and instead follow the path of restorative justice.

Distinguishing restorative justice from general amnesty, Tutu emphasizes its demands. Restorative justice requires a full reckoning with the past to expose the ugly truth. Victims must tell their stories, and perpetrators must confess their crimes publicly and accept responsibility for them. This process is not easy. For victims, the opportunity to finally share their experiences, which were often horrific, can bring relief. Perpetrators face public disapproval and often the breakup of personal relationships. Tutu notes that a retribution model of justice was impractical for South Africa. Not only did the nation simply not have the resources to prosecute the many perpetrators, but the outgoing government would not have accepted such a model. The peaceful transition to a democratic system, negotiated by de Klerk and Mandela, would have been impossible. In addition to noting the practical difficulties of a retribution model, Tutu strongly believes in the humanitarian merits of restorative justice.

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The restorative justice model is consistent with Tutu’s Christian philosophy. As he explains, the Bible commands people to love all human beings. Although a human may commit evil acts, the human is still sacred. God, Tutu believes, does not give up on people. In fact, Jesus embraced sinners. Restorative justice uses the same approach. It condemns evil acts but gives the human who committed those acts a chance for redemption. Tutu believes that implementing this model is the only way forward—the only way to break the cycle of violence and recriminations—in a conflicted society. In his view, people are doing the work of God when they seek unity through forgiveness. Only by unifying can a people succeed. This is his wish for South Africa, and he argues that it is the only way forward for other societies in which ethnic tensions are high, such as Northern Ireland, Rwanda, and Israel.

The Dehumanizing Impact of Apartheid

As Tutu describes his experience as TRC chair, he gives much insight into South Africa’s history, especially from 1960 through 1994. Through both a description of his own experiences and the testimony of victims and perpetrators at the TRC, Tutu reveals the horrors of apartheid. The apartheid government unjustly imprisoned, tortured, and murdered many people—and often discarded the bodies of those they killed. It considered these people worthless, simply enemies to slay, and forced them to move from their homes, gave them a poor education, denied them adequate health care, and systematically impoverished them. Additionally, it subjected people to daily humiliation, like requiring them to show passes to travel. Store clerks insulted them and prohibited them from using public facilities. For Tutu, the daily injustices wore him down, and he saw how, together with the unjust policies and atrocities, they ate away at people’s dignity and self-worth. They were dehumanizing.

Tutu argues that this system dehumanized the white ruling class as well. To treat another human being in such a negative way is to debase oneself. How could anyone have a barbecue while simultaneously burning a body? Such people have lost their humanity. Through testimony and evidence, Tutu reveals the lasting effects of such debasement. Some perpetrators found it difficult to live with themselves. The system poisoned its victims at times as well. Imitating their oppressors’ methods, they killed innocent people and brutalized those they considered traitors. The police coerced such traitors, often young, into that role. In committing brutality themselves, these victims of apartheid, like their oppressors, lost sight of their humanity. In addition, the systematic debasement that victims endured daily permeated their psyche, and they subconsciously accepted an inferior status. Dehumanization was thus both overt and insidious.

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What made apartheid egregious for Tutu was its affront to God. Every human being is sacred, and apartheid blatantly disregarded that. It robbed people of their humanity. The hypocrisy inherent in the Dutch Reformed Church’s support of apartheid during this period enrages Tutu: How could any Christian community defend such a system? For Tutu, the motivation to oppose apartheid during this long and difficult period was not political but spiritual. To devalue any human being, let alone millions, was wrong. To reclaim their humanity, people had to resist this system and now must behave contrary to it. In governance, Black people must not devalue white people but instead treat all equally.

The TRC’s Contribution to National Unity in the New South Africa

As Tutu’s memoir is primarily about his chairing the TRC, he evaluates its performance. Its primary goal was to promote national reconciliation and unity through reckoning with the past and exposing the truth. While fully honest about the TRC’s flaws and challenges, Tutu is happy that it did help promote unity. The TRC’s membership represented South Africa in all its diversity. While being inclusive in this way was essential, it also presented a challenge. Just as the population of South Africa was suffering from deep wounds, so too was the TRC. Its members did not trust each other at first and easily took offense. Tutu admits that early mistakes in staffing decisions contributed to the challenges of the working environment. The TRC was working under a microscope, with critics ready to sully its reputation. Eventually, the group developed a working relationship, but tensions erupted until the end, when Tutu broke a tie vote to deny the ANC an additional hearing. This last-minute disagreement muted the celebrations surrounding the TRC’s presentation of its final report to President Mandela in 1998.

Evaluating the TRC’s work, Tutu laments the small percentage of white people who took part. However, some may have watched the proceedings on television. While many police officers came forward to apply for amnesty and detail their crimes, the South African Defence Force took little part. Tutu regretted that organization’s lack of participation, given its involvement in atrocities. He also wished that victims could have had access to long-term counseling and that the reparations process was not so slow to deliver.

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Nevertheless, the TRC did its job, gathering more than 20,000 victims’ statements and more than 7,000 applications for amnesty. In telling their stories, victims experienced catharsis, and the TRC learned much from the amnesty applicants who gave the details of their atrocities and crimes. The process revealed the literal locations of some victims’ bodies, giving their families closure. Describing the spirit of graciousness and generosity that so many victims exemplified, Tutu took away a message of hope for South Africa. Despite the TRC’s faults and its psychological toll on the Commissioners, it did good work. Tutu, who argued that every South African had to contribute to this process of reconciliation, clearly did more than his share and felt privileged to do so. However, he fully acknowledges that the ultimate success of reconciliation depends on the future actions of the government and the South African people. Specifically, forgiveness and unity will survive only if the Black majority’s material conditions improve.