Call for fund contributions

2003-04-15 23:57

Cape Town - Government believed all South Africans should contribute to a reparations fund, and not just those whom the Truth and Reconciliation Commission described as the "beneficiaries of apartheid", President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday.

Introducing a special debate on the TRC's final report during a joint sitting of Parliament, he said all South Africans should respond to the consequences of the gross violations of human rights.

"In this regard, I am certain that members of our government will be among the first to make their contributions to the reparation fund, despite the fact that they stood on one side of the barricades as we engaged in struggle to end the apartheid system."

For the purpose of reparations, the government had already established the President's Fund, which had successfully dealt with the matter of urgent reparations.

"Like the TRC, we do hope that citizens from all sectors will find it within themselves to make a contribution to this fund."

Most of the resources allocated for individual and community reparations would come from this fund, over and above the normal work of the relevant departments, he said.

Government also agreed with the TRC that intensive work should be undertaken on the matter of monuments, as well as geographic and place names.

Regarding the many calls for a National Day of Prayer and Traditional Sacrifice to pay tribute to those who lost their lives and suffered under apartheid, Mbeki said government accepted this suggestion.

It would consult widely to determine the date and form of such prayer and traditional sacrifice.

- SAPA