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Apartheid South Africa was characterised by extreme levels of brutality and state initiated violence. To attempt to deal with the aftermath of this violence and break the silence associated with decades of human rights violations—the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established. The purpose of this Commission was to facilitate a “truth recovery process” aimed at reconciling South Africans with the past. However, like all truth commissions, the South African TRC was essentially created for political reasons. Broadly speaking, it was created to assist in smoothing the political transition from authoritarian to democratic rule. It has also been used by the new government to demonstrate their willingness to break with the past and usher in a new political and social order based on the protection, rather than violation, of human rights.
A further justification for the entire endeavour has been psychological in nature. Namely, that to deal with the thousands of traumas the apartheid system has inflicted on South Africans, the nation as a whole and its individual citizens both have to re-live the past so as to come to terms with it. It has been argued that survivors of traumatic events, and more broadly governments in transformation from past political conflict like South Africa, are often urged to let sleeping dogs lie