6　南アフリカ真実和解委員会における「和解」の創造　ローカル正義導入とその作用の観点から

抄録

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been well analyzed as a component in the establishment of a “third way” by promoting national unity and reconciliation in order to achieve a peaceful political transition following the end of apartheid. Not much attention has been paid, however, to details of how “reconciliation” was designed by utilizing the concepts of local justice. This article argues that local justice norms such as ubuntu were used as rhetoric to direct the purposes of two different processes, granting amnesty and truth telling, in order to promote reconciliation.

The analysis of the political negotiations in South Africa shows that the extensive amnesty granted to the former regime was unavoidable. At the same time, however, the political elites knew the necessity of revealing the past in order to meet the moral demands of the victims. Thus, the idea of establishing a truth commission was proposed to address and share the past with the whole nation.

It was the concept of local justice that led the nation to be convinced that the ultimate goal of pursuing these two processes was “reconciliation”. In this sense, Desmond Tutu played a vital role in interpreting and extending the meaning of the concept of local justice into something necessary which would not only foster forgiveness but also suit the political setting at that time. His rhetoric resulted in rousing the pride of the Africans. This article concludes that the authenticity of local justice norms used in South Africa worked to direct the people to accept the course of “reconciliation”. However, the paper also notes that the concept of local justice was based on the culture of the black Africans. Thus, it argues that the motivation behind the utilization of local justice needs to be taken into account.