Date: 00/01/20

I come in peace. Having followed with awe and horror the tribulations the peoples of SA and the ensuing struggle for justice, I cried in joy at the asendency of President Mandela and followed with great interest the efforts of the TRC as they were reported in the newpapers I read.

Now that I can read this website and acknowledge my name as a matter of historical record, I feel a profound sense of community with SA for its effort to find the Truth about its shameful history and reconciling with both perpetrators and victims in the name of forgiveness.

Thank you so much for this opportunity. Yours in love and struggle... Jack C Hewitt, father and worker.

jack clarence hewitt, wisconsin, usa
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Date:            00/01/25

My life was turned upside down by Project Echoes, an SADF disinformation exercise aimed at demonstrating a non-existent link between the ANC and the Irish Republican Army.  A story planted in an English newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, in 1991, published the day before Nelson Mandela's visit to Britain, alleged that I was involved in a conspiracy between the two organisations.  The truth is that I had no connection with either group: I was, and am, a journalist with no IRA connections and no links with South Africa other than past activity in the Irish Anti-Apatheid Movement.  The false story put my life in immediate danger from Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, where I live, and it destroyed my professional reputation.  I was able to sue the newspaper for libel, and won substantial compensation, but it took a long time to rebuild my career, and on several occasions I was targeted for assasination.  I support the concept of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

O Maolain, Ciaran, Ireland
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Date:            00/01/31

TRC honoured past and coming century.
God bless you men and women of Sudafrica!

Ariel Barrios Medina, Buenos Aires - Argentina
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Date:            00/02/02

South Africa will become a beacon of hope in the 21st century as it wrestles with the legacy of apartheid. Humanity can only move forward if we learn to forgive and help each other as members of the human race. There is no doubt that all nations will learn from the work done by the Truth Commission. Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu, members of the Commission and the South African people should be commended for their fortitude and forthrightness in dealing with such a crucial issue. Nations become great when they can weave a common fabric which reflects the aspirations of all its citizens. South Africa has been blessed with great leaders who are weaving the basket of unity, which ultimately will serve as a catalyst for other countries in Africa and the world at large.There should be no compromise over the value of human life, and the truth will always prevail.Thanks.

SABA M. JALLOW, STATESBORO, GA 30458
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Date:            00/02/05

Peace & Justice for Human rights victims & their families.

Lee Chang-soo, South Korea
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Date:            00/02/16

The concept underlying all truth and reconciliation for non-Jewish peoples, and the unity behind their differences, is the Seven Noachide Laws of the Jewish Torah for all non-Jews, endorsed by the US Congress in 1990 and subsequently (H.J. Res. 104, Public Law 102-14). This endorsement has given birth to our present era of development. The Laws also cover the place of Israel in the non-Jewish world, and the wide range of issues concerning personal and family life. Corporate questions are of prime importance, since business corporations are themselves Noachide-law entities; please see www.schuellerhouse.com/noahdin.htm  I am the author of the standard teaching guide to the Laws, 'The Seven Colors of the Rainbow'; With good wishes, I commend this concept to all the peoples of South Africa.

Rabbi Yirmeyahu Bindman, Israel
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Date:            00/02/17

My personal determination is to respect, protect and nurture all life everywhere.  I will continue to advance along this path of self-reflection and courageous action.  I hope to contribute -- even in a small way -- to the advancement of South Africa.  I send deepest and warmest wishes for the good health, happiness, security, prosperity, and growth of all people in South Africa.  Thank you! -- Allen Massiah

Allen B. Massiah, Bridgeport / Connecticut / USA
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Date:            00/02/22

It is an honor -- a gripping and terrible honor, but an honor all the same -- to read the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

I know, from my own experience, that without courage there can be no real truth; without truth there can be no real forgiveness; and without forgiveness there can be no peace. I feel great gratitude that in my time the people of South Africa have had the leadership and foresight to follow a path of healing. I shall always be indebted to your experience.

Jonathan Siegel, Portage, MI
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Date:            00/03/14

As a Nigerian pastor currently living in United States, I pray always for Peace in South Africa as I do for my Country. I hope and pray that the Shalom of God will bring a lasting sense of reconciliation to all South Africans and citizens of the Global village. Amen.

The Reverend Okokon O. Udo, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Date:           00/04/16

(I hope you can show this to Archbishop Tutu - there is a piece towards the end about the day I met him, in Adelaide, under suspicious circumstances. He will have a laugh. I adore him).

I hope blacks can forgive me for anything I did which offended them. Although I worked in my small way against apartheid since the 1953 election, when I was 10 years old, and can honestly say the policy enraged me all my years - bearing such a strong resemblance to Nazi Germany, of which I heard when I was 6 years old, I too enjoyed the benefits of their sweat and labour in my daily living through a higher "standard" of living; some standard when it does not measure society's misery as well as the usual "standard" we mean in economics. It is hard to escape guilt - when one should have said then "I am not going to live this way". We were caught in a tangle of threads of complicity merely by being there.  And yet, we also had a right to live:  the Nationalist Party government took away our humanity as well as that of the blacks.

The right to treat people morally without breaking the country's laws and living in fear!!!

I am extremely saddened by the hate mail I see on different websites in S-A; it upsets me so much that I often cannot view S-A sites at all for months, I get so depressed (I look to see if there has been any lessening of the hate mail - but no, I don't think so).

Dit klink miskien gek, maar ek wil byna die hele geskrewe hierbô in Afrikaans skryf. Ek gaan dan liewer verder, deur te sê dat ek bly is dat ons almal kan praat sonder vrees, want dit het ek daagliks met die swartes gedeel. Bang, bang , bang. Vir jou bure.  Vir vreemdelinge - is hulle dalk SAP? Bang om 'n brief te skryf aan 'n koerant; selfs die Star het my briewe nie laat verskyn nie - en dan is jy regtig stemmeloos en in die geval van die swartes, stemloos daarby, wanneer jy nie uiting MAG gee aan jou gedagtes, vrese en wense nie.

Wat 'n nagmerrie!!! Dink net: 'n multi-taal nagmerrie, in Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, Venda, ens, ens. Watter land kon multi-taal nagmerries hê? Die land van D F Malan, Strijdom, Dr V, and all the other Broeders!!!

Die opwindendste dag in my lewe was ongeveer 8 of wat jare gelede, toe ek Biskop Tutu in die Anglikaanse Katedraal in Adelaide gehoor het. 'n Paar dae daarna, in 'n privaat vergadering van die Uniting Church (?), in die voorstede van Adelaide, het ek onuitgenodigd opgedaag. Die blankes, onder wie 'n belangrike Suid-Afrikaanse banneling/vlugteling, het my skuins aangekyk en uitgevra, denken de dat ek miskien 'n Nat spioen was!!! My aksent!!!  My naam!!! (die verbande persoon, 'n Engelssprekende "Church Minister" (not sure of his rank!) se naam vergeet ek, maar ek onthou uit die Sunday Times, Rand Daily Mail en Star dat hy "aktief"
was by Fort Hare(?)in die Oos-Kaap).  Biskop Tutu het begin met 'n "van der Merwe" grappie.  Ek was geen 4 treë van die groot man nie! Waarom was ek daar?  Net om hom weer te hoor. Hoe het ek uitgevind? Na die Katedraal toespraak, het ek 'n groep swart dominees gevra waar hy nou heen gaan. Hulle het my beleefd die adres gegee. Die onskuldige dominees was uit die Sudan - hulle het vermoedelik geen begrip gehad van die vrees en agterdog waaronder jy in S-A geleef het nie in ons polisie-staat. En dus het hulle, nie-verder-denkend, my die adres gegee. Ek is hulle baie dankbaar.

Dankie vir die geleentheid om verskoning te vra aan die mense van Suid-Afrika, vir myself in daardie jare. Ek voel nou beter, ook omdat ek gedink het aan Biskop Tutu.  

It doesn't hurt to say "Im sorry", John Howard!!

Groete,
Johan van Es, Adelaide, Australië.
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Date:            00/05/04

 TRC is doing outstanding job healing wound. I can not even imagine myself being a victim of aparthied and white
supremist. My question is how come Gandhi was able to kick european out of India and Mandela wasn't. If I were in Mandela's position, I would have started the country by first taking sending white people home. South Africa can never get out of hole, atleast in my generation or my children's genration if integration between white
and black is in present day pace. First wealth distribution should taken care and then I would be ready to forgive
white perpetrators.

kiran thapa, new york, usa
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Date:            00/05/23

Having lived in SA for almost 2 years and having had a first-hand realisation of what it was like and still is for black people in this stunning country I feel extremely embarrassed and sad and angry with myself not to have joined the anti-apartheid-group that was so active in Amsterdam. When I lived in Capetown I went to an exhibition in the old ford about the Dutch participation in the struggle and found myself crying and asking myself: where the hell was I?
Now I write letters for Amnesty International to rulers of countries who deprive their people of human rights. This way I at least have the feeling I can give a small contribution to make this earth a better place.

Catherina Sitsen, Amsterdam, Holland

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