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The latest events in South Africa have proven to be not only historical but extremely educational as well. Ever since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created immediately after the fall of apartheid, South Africans have demonstrated their willingness to truly learn from the past and understand its significance on all affected. This is still the case today.
Recently President Jacob Zuma met with a convicted former apartheid commander named Eugene De Kock who is serving up to 212 years for 89 different criminal charges including murder. This meeting in which De Kock is hoping for a pardon was instrumental because he is cooperating with the still ongoing investigations into atrocities committed under the apartheid regime. President Zuma has given no assurances that he will consider a full pardon, and yet De Kock remains cooperative in providing details bringing to justice other criminals that he says have escaped accountability.
Ever since apartheid officially ended the oppressed and their oppressors have been at a crossroads. In one direction the oppressed could have chosen to seek an eye for an eye, and a life for a life, in the other direction the oppressors could have chosen to pretend as if the impact of their injustices and human atrocities were minimal. However, both groups chose a path that would encourage criminal admission of guilt, accountability, repentance thus clearing the way that once these prerequisites had been fulfilled, forgiveness might become possible on the part of the oppressed. In doing so all individuals can begin to understand the direct part they play in not only ensuring the future of South Africa but preserving its history some good, some bad, thus preventing its revision.
The process of reconciliation, repentance, and accountability in order to get to the stage of forgiveness actually helps bring out higher virtues of humanity. Through this process people can learn the difference between seeking justice and seeking retribution, the difference between assigning blame and acknowledging one is worthy of that blame, the difference between telling someone to forget about the past and asking someone to forgive you of your past injustices done to them. In doing such, the oppressed are forced to acknowledge the one aspect of the oppressed they were previously unwilling to address: their humanity and self respect.
In the run up to the 2003 Iraq War, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that Iraq should follow South Africa’s lead as a role model in declaring their nuclear arsenal in order to avert what he termed a necessary war. I wonder what countries that have and still formulate their policies from racism, imperialism, or colonialism could learn from South Africa. What do you think? | 
