Changemakers Special Forgiveness Issue | Page 8

‘South Africa is suffering from soul sickness’ if you don’t indicate, young babies are being raped and these for me are all manifestations of “soul sickness” – the propensity towards violence… This is a country that cannot disengage from an ingrained culture of violence… So 20 years is too short a time to cure people who have been afflicted by this disease over centuries.’ I applied for amnesty for everything that happened they stated that crime cannot be generalised, it has to be individualised. So I have a problem with the criminalisation of the “struggle”… I don’t think TRC has a monopoly on forgiveness.’ Whilst injustices and war are often blamed for needless innocent deaths, the reasons behind the violence in Letlapa’s eyes were justifiable. Twenty years on, I asked why had he refused to apologise or take part in the TRC process. There is much to reflect on forgiveness, for many it is difficult to comprehend and for most it does not come easily. Christians are taught to forgive everyone, to let go of the feeling of anger or resentment and to keep on forgiving. With criminal charges mysteriously dropped and little or no justice for a victim’s family, it is difficult to imagine that forgiveness is at all possible – but Ginn Fourie did forgive. Letlapa responded, ‘It was a just war and there was no reason to apply for amnesty or apologise for the attack. I did not think that it is a good precedent for a freedom fighter to ask for forgiveness for fighting for freedom otherwise what message does this give.’ He adds, ‘I was critical of the process of TRC because the outcome of TRC did an injustice to the struggle of liberation and those who have been oppressed… I was not prepared to face the TRC as I believed it was a sham where those who were accompanied by lawyers manipulate the truth… If TRC were to be reinstated today, I still wouldn’t appear before the TRC tomorrow… The reason being, when As a Christian, Ginn Fourie took such steps and reached out and offered forgiveness to the men who killed her daughter. Ginn gives a moving account of her first meeting with Letlapa: ‘I started to feel admiration for his honesty and integrity… the remorse in his eyes and in his body language and understood why he could not say sorry.’ Ginn adds: ‘Forgiv