The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

visual terms as part of a presidential pantheon and the inheritor of a leadership
tradition. 166
In the 1990s, more generally, biographies of repression, violence, suffering and survival
were inscribed into the very sinews of the institutional workings of social transformation.
The submission of evidence of gross violations of human rights to the TRC required the
construction of a story of by a deponent of his or her own experience or that of another
person in a formal statement. These statements of “killing, torture, severe ill‐treatment,
abduction and disappearance” that occurred “in a political context” between 1960 and
1994 were made following a narrative order prescribed on a pro forma violations statement
form. This included specific details about the violation, the details of the victim, including
organisational involvement, the political context or circumstances, the event, perpetrators,
possible witnesses, resulting medical and legal processes, and physical, psychological and
financial consequences. To assist deponents, the statement form provided examples of
detailed descriptions as a guide. People were assured that in making their statement about
an experience of violation, they would help the country “come to terms with the past” and
contribute to “restor[ing] human and civil dignity” to victims of abuses. 167
In the statement, the person also had to supply information on previous statements made
about the violation to any other body as well as any supporting documents that would
assist the TRC in understanding the experience described. Designated TRC statement
takers and others who facilitated the official submission of the story of violation were
asked to assist in ensuring forensic completeness by checking that the statement had been
“completed as fully as possible”, and to make any observations of the process of taking
the statement that may have been necessary. Significantly, deponents were also asked to
indicate what their expectations were of the process “for individuals”, “for the
Community” and “for the Nation”. They were also asked to consider any “symbolic acts
166 Vukani Mde, ‘Comrades pay tribute to Slovo’, This Day, 7 January 2004; Cape Times, 21 October 2002;
‘For 87 years we acted together for change. Now we must move forward even faster to achieve our
goals’ (ANC Advertisement), Sunday Times, 10 January 1999.
167 ‘Statement concerning Gross Violations of Human Rights’ (Pro Forma statement form (Version 5,
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, December 1996).
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