Addressing Harms and Restoring Dignity: Reparative, Restorative and Reconciliatory Justice in the Southern Kalahari

Abstract

Using the frameworks of reparative, restorative and reconciliatory justice, this article explores the impact of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Land Reform Programme on harms caused to the ≠Khomani San of the Southern Kalahari. These harms included dehumanisation, fragmentation and genocide during the colonial and Apartheid periods. We show that, despite its objectives, the TRC failed to acknowledge the dignity and humanity of the San, reaffirming their erasure. Land restitution by restoring rights offered the community the means to address deep structural harms, restore human relationships and re-claim the narrative about themselves for a broader emancipation. The broader cultural space of reconciliation opened up by the TRC and the restoration of land rights to the ≠Khomani San enable them to re-claim the truth about themselves and their contemporary belonging in South Africa’s landscape.