we are seeing the inevitable blame about Wouter Basson’s continued employment as a doctor being placed on the TRC again

there are many valid reasons to critique the TRC of course, from its limited scope to the very idea of amnesty to deal with serious human rights violations but we cannot take for granted how perilous the situation was at the turn of democracy

moreover the TRC issued various far reaching recommendations which would’ve begun to address the economic implications of the violations of apartheid but unfortunately this is not often spoken about

BUT most importantly in the case of Wouter Basson he was NOT granted amnesty in terms of the TRC. He was tried for various crimes in what at the time was the longest and most expensive criminal trial in South African history. the case went all the way to the Constitutional Court

for various technical reasons and errors in the prosecution has was acquitted. while i understand that often people speak reflexively about “the TRC” to broadly include the entire approach to dealing with apartheid crimes (and not the TRC mechanism specifically)