Modise on apartheid
Teri White

Could you forgive an individual who killed your family? Could you forgive an individual who unjustly put your father in jail for 30 years? Could you forgive a government that openly treated you as worthless?

These were some of the questions that echoed in the minds of the audience that listened to Billy Modise speak last Monday night in the Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.

Modise, the South African High Commissioner to Canada, came to Wilfrid Laurier to present a passionate account of his country's search for peace and justice in the New South Africa under current President, Nelson Mandela.

According to Modise, this search began with the implementation of Human Rights to all.

"Apartheid was above all a gross violation of human rights," Modise said.

Modise described the process towards peace and justice in South Africa under President Mandela within a model based on the concepts of truth and reconcilation.

In short, the making of the new South Africa did not punish the perpetrators of Apartheid, but rather urged them to reveal their crimes and seek forgiveness from their victims.

"We had to look beyond punishment," Modise said.

For South Africa, this was the beginning of the healing process. Modise stated that punishment of the perpetrators in South Africa was like placing a bandage over a rotten wound.

"We needed to heal the country," he said. "We needed to give the victims of Apartheid a chance to know what happened."

Modise stated that out of this model arose the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the new South Africa.

He reflected bitterly on his experience as a black man living in South Africa during the time of Apartheid.

"We were told, 'You will never be civilized ever. You will never be equal to us'," he said. He also explained the intolerant nature of Apartheid in South Africa. "Apartheid crime was systematic - it was a way of life," he said.

Until 1990, Apartheid was an accepted practice in South Africa. However, with the release of Mandela from prison in 1990, it was soon abolished and a new South Africa was in the making during his reign. Modise made it quite clear that, "We did not defeat the apartheid government, but on the same token they did not defeat us."

On the 50th An-niversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Modise's address opened a two-day colloquium at Laurier entitled, Peace, Justice and Politics: The International Criminal Court.

The colloquium continued on Tuesday as panelists turned their attention to contextual issues such as Canada's commitment to the United Nations.

Discussions centred on the controversial 1998 Rome agreement to establish a new, permanent International Criminal Court, and the current status of the agreement as it moves towards full ratification.