moving speech of the day and she got the loudest applause –
louder than I got after nearly two decades in exile… Ginn stood
up and asked for forgiveness from the people on behalf of her
ancestors… She understood me where other people couldn’t
understand these terrorists still being unapologetic… but she
understood that this person is remorseful.’
Can forgiveness be a substitute for justice?
For justice to be achieved it is assumed that when a crime has
been committed, if found guilty, appropriate sentence is given
through the criminal justice system and served. In restorative
justice, bringing victim and perpetrator face to face, offenders
are still held to account for what they have done and required
to take responsibility and make amends. With Letlapa’s
impassioned rhetoric: ’You cannot reconcile the dispossessed
with the dispossessor; the oppressed with the oppressor’, has
his position changed and does he believe forgiveness can be a
substitute for justice?
Letlapa is very clear in his response: ‘For me forgiveness
should not substitute justice. I was more than prepared to be
tried in a criminal court to answer for my actions… Even after
Ginn had forgiven me I did not go to withdraw charges. The
justice factors should be independent from what people do in
forgiving and not be part of legislature.’ Letlapa added: ‘Today
all forgiveness and conciliation is concentrated just on one rail
to the detriment of another… Reconciliation should not move
strictly on one rail – that of morality and religious belief that is
deemed to be good. Reconciliation and forgiveness should move
on two rails – that of social, political and economic justice.’
Ginn also comments on the need for a justice that beckons
us all to take collective responsibility. ‘Just imagine if in our
woundedness, separation, alienation and loneliness, we
acknowledge our complicity in the injustices of the past. Reach
across the divide as individuals and communities and then hold
ourselves and our leaders accountable.’
Forgiveness is an endless subject with no clear answers.
The debate on whether violence is justified remains
controversial. Letlapa stresses he does not feel the need to
‘apologise’ but it does raise the paradoxical issue of doing the
wrong thing for the right reasons’ and the duality of the world
we live in.
‘Reach across
the divide’
Today, Letlapa voluntarily works with Ginn through the
Lyndi Fourie Foundation to help others, through conciliation,
heal from the wounds of conflict and war. He concludes: ‘When
people say who was Lyndi Fourie the story will be told and retold
and Lyndi’s name forever will be associated with conciliation.’
In Letlapa’s home town trees have been planted in memory
of those killed by the bullets of APLA. An outward gesture of
sorrow for the blood of innocents that has seeded forgiveness
and hope in South Africa and beyond.