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).
