Stop Shooting The Messenger High Commissioner for South Africa

Thursday, January 02, 2014 Following the recent expression of interest to assist in a reconciliation process in Sri Lanka by South Africa, New Delhi based SA High Co issioner to Sri Lanka, !eoff Doidge told "he Sunday Leader that while Sri Lanka already had a good base with which to take the country forward in the LL#C where $excellent work was done%, there also was the need for another process& '( don%t ha)e a agic answer for Sri Lanka what that process should be but there needs to be one that precedes the "#C,* he added& +, "he idea of a "ruth and #econciliation Co ission as a first step towards reconciliation has been ooted in the Sri Lankan context& -hat in your opinion is the rele)ance of such a echanis here. A, (f you want to know the rele)ance to Sri Lanka it says to e ulate /r& Nelson /andela& -e ha)e a good exa ple and any can look at hi and say ( want to be like /andela& He%s pro)en to us that it can be done under difficult circu stances& /any speak )ery loosely of apartheid but if you%)e ne)er been a )icti of it you can ne)er really know how inhu ane it was& For, a lot of South Africans e)en used to 0uestion in1ustices being fought& '"his is a syste 2 it%s not going to change& So why not li)e with it*, they said& 3ut when liberation ca e, so e of the had the courage to co e to us and appreciate it& 3ut /andela always held that we will ne)er

seek retributi)e 1ustice in SA2 that we had to de)elop a syste with the ene y&

of negotiating across a table

(%)e had three atte pts on y life and a few years later ( could go and purchase a house fro the an behind it& "hat was what /andela taught us& (f you look at the SA issue, there is a )ery real struggle that was fought& 3ut our leaders taught us that when the liberation ca e there was no past& +, "he concern here is whether such a echanis of forgetting the past can truly take place.

A, (n the "#C hearings there was a white Afrikaans who was a security force e ber gi)ing e)idence to the "#C and he asked 3ishop "utu if he%d be allowed to ake a re0uest& He asked if the other of the person he had urdered was in the audience, he%d like her to stand up so that he can seek forgi)eness& "hen this wo an stood up and said, $( forgi)e you because all ( e)er wanted was to find out what happened& Now (% at peace&% "he 0uestion for Sri Lanka is what the people want out of a "#C. #etributi)e 1ustice or take the whole nation forward& (n SA the blacks were the a1ority co unity so they could decide whether to forgi)e or not, and it was the capacity of the black South Africans to forgi)e that o)ed SA forward& (t wasn%t so uch the other co unities that had that capacity& Now, gi)en that there has been a re0uest for SA%s assistance, there is role for e)eryone to play in finding out what the people wanted& ( think Sri Lanka has the opportunity of designing its own odel of the "#C& "aking the SA odel and i ple enting it would be a disaster& At the ti e of our "#C, there was no Hu an #ights Co ission or an (nternational Cri inal Court, nor any of the international legal processes that you ha)e today2 dealing with issues of war cri es, allegations of hu an rights abuses& Also how we applied a nesty in SA is not necessarily fully legal in the present syste & A nesty has o)ed on and not all aspects that 0ualified in the SA syste 45675 years ago are applicable in today%s legal fra ework& "herefore the process of a "#C has to be extre ely thorough and open to international scrutiny& (t cannot be a 0uick fix& (t%s a difficult thing& "here ha)e been any "#Cs and ours was the one that ca e out with a nesty& +, -hat aspects, if at all, in your own "#C can be shared in your opinion. A, "he ad)antage SA had was that they had one regi e co ing to an end at idnight and the other taking o)er& So we literally started fro afresh& So it was easy but in any countries it%s not so& "hey don%t ha)e a clear cut end or a beginning& (t%s not a si ple solution when you ha)e a process on6going when you begin to deal with co plex issues as these& (t is the responsibility of politics to ensure that these things are not rushed into& 3ecause SA had a process 8 when /andela was released he ade it clear that he was going to negotiate with the go)ern ent, and any ti es the talks broke down but he re ained focused that a solution would be negotiated2 one that would be acceptable to all& As difficult as that was,

there was a process before an interi constitution2 there had to be a new constitution in SA before 9::; that would facilitate the changes that would happen then& -hat we want to share with Sri Lanka is how those discussions take place and with great ad)ersity& "hat is what we%re currently sharing with Sri Lanka& +, (n the presence of coalition parties within the go)ern ent, who are critical of a "#C process, how opti istic are you that a process will be sought. A, -hat people ust stop is shooting the essenger, with articles that critici<e the process& ( don%t think people are sufficiently infor ed of the "#C 8 it%s not what a lot of people think it is& /any things about the "#C go beyond the scope of the "#C into issues of transfor ing society& (f anyone wants to sit in 1udg ent of the "#C2 first look at the history 8 the education spending was structured in a way that the essage was that $blacks don%t get education%& "he history will tell you that the "#C was a )ery necessary step to put closure to any things that happened, that if you took it to court it would take a 955 years 8 and the "#C was able to deal not only with hu an rights abuses but was also an opportunity for people to co e and say and hear what happened and take away with the so e satisfaction of the process& A lot of people see to think that it was a a1ority that was oppressed there and that it is a inority that is here& 3ut at the end of the day what do you want, retributi)e 1ustice or transitional 1ustice. -e are not prescripti)e to the exposure we gi)e the Sri Lankans, because we know the lessons with hindsight& -e know what the shortco ings of the "#C are but at the sa e ti e we know what it was able to achie)e for us 8 which far outweighs any of the negati)es& +, (s there a cost of the country not going through that process. A, Do you en1oy being a national of a country that%s getting a ha ering fro all organi<ations. Did we en1oy being SA when our passports were worth nothing. No, ( think we ust ask what role the citi<ens% play in assisting the leadership of the country in taking it forward& (t%s i portant that people say what they want out of a process such as this& =ou can%t ignore international pressure 8 it%s )ery unwise to do so& "hat pressure is )ery unpleasant& =ou ust of course, still do things that are conduci)e to your en)iron ent& A country ust do the right thing& "here wasn%t of course agree ent by all on the "#C then 8 there were any who opposed it& For so e it was their fatherland they clai ed belonged to the 8 they owned SA and on the other side too it was the exact sa e story, but at the end of the day sense has to pre)ail& =ou can%t ha)e a long open ended process& >ur process had a ti e plan& +, (sn%t there a danger of politically oti)ated agenda at work when there is such a strict ti e fra e in place. -ouldn%t it put undue pressure on the process. A, "he ti e fra e ust co e fro within& "he ti e fra e in SA ca e fro within& 3ut fro where, ( can%t tell you& =our do estic situation is co plex, but not in a derogatory sense, but (

can see the co plexity of the Sri Lankan situation& "his is not an easy situation& 3ut whilst you ha)e this co plexity there is enor ous potential& ( can see that here& "here is a lot that is going right for Sri Lanka& +, -hat then is going wrong for Sri Lanka. A, -ho a ( to say.

+, SA is in)ol)ed in obtaining the concerns of the !"F as well. A, (% not directly in)ol)ed in talks but our tea there is& (% not sure what their position is with regard to a "#C& -e ha)en%t e)en asked the "NA what their concerns are& At this point a re0uest has been ade to ?resident @u a and there is an in)itation to co e to SA and find out what is needed& So until that eeting takes places we can%t really say 8 whether it%s going to be a odified "#C or whate)er& So at the eeting in SA which is expected to happen in Aanuary, clearly there will be a better understanding of what Sri Lanka wants SA to assist with& -e don%t want to speculate anything, but there is a re0uest in ter s of a "#C& -e are happy that a re0uest is ade and as far as (% concerned there are areas of potential& 3ut these things don%t happen o)ernight& 3ut (%)e seen so e )ery positi)e signs since (%)e co e here& +, -hat are these signs. A, -ell, you couldn%t talk about these things in 4599& "oday 1ournalists are writing about it 8 people are talking about it& "hings ha)e o)ed on in a )ery short space of ti e& 3ut the window of opportunity doesn%t last fore)er 8 it o)es on& "herefore there is urgency to what you ha)e to do 8 and it has to be done for the right reasons and not because of anything happening anywhere else& ( think (% hearing the right things and (% sensing eagerness fro within& 3ut those within ust start talking to the sel)es& (t is a difficult process& So e people said we were selling out 8 e)en recently one of our young politicians said /andela sold out to the whites& So there are these co plexities 8 but one ust find how one can add )alue to the process&