‘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