A practical theological perspective on reconciling relationships in a post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This research is an investigation into the Christian notions of reconciliation within the context of apartheid and its current and palpable racial legacies. It is now more than two decades since the dawn of democracy and the word ‘reconciliation’ has come to evoke strong emotions in South Africa – especially between black and white peoples. Both the concepts of ‘national reconciliation’ and the ‘rainbow nation’ have become highly contested, not only across racial lines but also across class, gender and ethnic lines. In this study, I will reflect on the place of reconciliation in the political and contemporary life of Adriaan Vlok - the former apartheid Minister of Law and Order. In terms of epistemology and methodology, this thesis will use the post-foundational and narrative approaches. I will argue that in his life, first as an advocate of apartheid, then as a repentant Christian who asked for forgiveness from some of his victims, also as one who appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and disclosed as much as humanly possible, and later as an ordinary South African who tried to give back to the communities that were disadvantaged by the apartheid regime he was part of. He, Vlok was a personification of post-apartheid reconciliation. This is in the sense that he, from the Apartheid’s Nats high echelons were the only one to acknowledge and accept his own political criminality as far as Apartheid is concerned (Giliomee 2003:654 & Pikoli/Wiener 2013:221).