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Reconciliation and Revenge in Post-Apartheid South Africa In Willow’s work, I see that a nation which has experienced civil and political unrest has to use a multidimensional approach in the process of rebuilding itself. For instance, the South Africans employed the use of Truth and Reconciliation commission, religious leaders and the legal framework to restore peace and unity among all the human races involved. This perfectly worked well for them after the citizens committed themselves in realizing the new South Africa nation.
Even though the truth and Reconciliation Commission is normally used by the present regime emerging from authoritarianism, which seek to unify a fragment legal structure inherited from the ancient regime and then disbanded, in my opinion, the present regime should not do away with it upon realizing their goal. (13) Rather, it should be integrated within other legal bodies and institutions to realize harmony in various laws such as the customary law, social law and state law.
This will empower members f the community from the grass root level when their basic laws enjoy the autonomy deserved to make them relevant from one generation to the next. I strongly disagree that customary laws should be made state laws. This will erode moral values enjoyed by the community members and make them captives of their own inherited norms and value enjoyed by their forefathers. State law should be clearly distinguished from other dominant laws in the land. Many administrators manipulate state laws to tit their interest and to escape Justice each and every day.
I think that the African and European colonial administrators disregarded the existing laws and were never meant to deliver Justice to the citizens. The laws were flaunted and designed to suit the interest of the administrators while the ordinary citizens suffered. The integrity of the laws use by the Apartheid regime is questionable. It was a mere copy-paste of customary law clauses which supported their objectives and quickly amend those that no longer served their interests well.