Wraak van vergifnis : moraliteit, geskiedskrywing en politiek in Suid-Afrika

Abstract

Hierdie artikel is gebaseer op 'n kritiese beskouing van die boek van Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, A Human Being Died That Night, wat wye lof uitgelok het. In haar gesprekke met Eugene de Kock (voormalige aanvoerder van moordbendes wat deur die eertydse apartheidsregime gesanksioneer is), het die outeur fundamentele vraagstukke soos byvoorbeeld skuld, boetedoening en vergifnis oordink. Die boek is geskryf vanuit 'n kliniese sielkundige se perspektief, maar is ook vir professionele geskiedskrywing in Suid-Afrika van belang. Dit werp veral lig op wyses waarop volgens 'n internasionale en 'n vergelykende siening na behore met die nalatenskap van gewelddadige gemeenskappe gehandel kan word. Dit sluit aan by die algemene neiging van sowel die historiese as die sosiale wetenskappe om in die dialoog oor volksmoord en grootskaalse geweld, eerder op die aggressors as op die slagoffers te fokus. Die boek help ons om die dinamiek van geweld en die verwerking daarvan in die hede, doeltreffender te kan ondersoek en begryp. Tog moet die tekortkominge van die boek ook genoem word, veral betreffende die outeur se neiging om die spesifieke politieke en historiese konteks van die grootskaalse geweld waaroor sy skryf, te ignoreer. A Human Being Died That Night is nogtans 'n boek met 'n diepgaande politieke boodskap - dit identifiseer die kritiese probleme en uitdagings waarvoor die hedendaagse Suid-Afrika teen die agtergrond van die nalatenskap uit die verlede te staan kom. ENGLISH: This article is based on a critical reading of Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela's widely acclaimed book A Human Being Died That Night. In her interviews with Eugene de Kock, the former commanding officer of state sanctioned death squads under apartheid, she reflects on the fundamental issues of guilt, remorse and forgiveness. This book was written from the angle of a clinical psychologist, but it also offers new perspectives for the current process of history writing in South Africa. Above all, it sheds light on proper ways of dealing with the legacies of violent societies in an international and comparative perspective. It reflects the general tendency in the historical and social sciences to focus on perpetrators rather than on victims in the discourse on genocide and mass violence. The book offers useful tools to analyze the dynamics of mass violence as well as its continuities into the present. The article, however, also discusses critical shortcomings in Gobodo-Madikizela's analysis, particularly the way in which she tends to neglect the impact of a particular political and historical context on the executing of violence. A Human Being Died That Night is, notwithstanding, a book with a profound political message, as it points at actual pressing problems and challenges of present-day South Africa in light of it its troublesome past.