Category Archive: Uncategorized

Oct
25

South Africa – a Window of Opportunity (Jeremy Burnham)

Jeremy Burnham

I am a white male, and have been listening to some black people in my country talking about where we are on our journey towards racial companionship.  I do not pretend to speak for them;  I reflect on what I hear and the conclusions to which I am drawn. My impression is that there remains …

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Dec
21

Worcester Hope and Reconciliation Process

The community of Worcester are drawing together in the Worcester Hope and Reconciliation Process! The process is a partnership between the people of Worcester, The Restitution Foundation and Khulumani Support Group.  You’ll find more about our journey on the page describing the Day of National Reconciliation.  And more information about the ideas behind community led …

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Dec
19

Stefaans Coetzee – letter to the victims of the Worcester Bomb

16 December 2011 Dear Victims, Community and My family Since early childhood I battled to find my space in the sun. Life threw me with many lemons and at the time of the bombing, I projected what I believed was right, into a deed impacting the lives ofmany innocent people, the community, my family and …

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Dec
19

Floris Brown – Worcesteriete

Worcesteriete© Floris Brown So het ons gekom tot by hierdie punt waar ons elkeen met ‘n groot goiingsak ons verlede kom uitstrooi in die wind kulture respekteer, probleme pak   Worcesteriete wat ‘n verskil wil maak steek hande op loof prys jubel en juig hul maak die sirkel groter vir SY taak as hul vroegmôre …

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Dec
19

Worcester remembers…and builds hope!

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On the National Day of Reconciliation the people of Worcester joined a process of Hope and Reconciliation to remember those who died and those who were injured in the 1996 Christmas Eve Shoprite Centre bombing.  They gathered not only to mourn a difficult past, but to build a hope-filled future.  Recognising that this horrific event …

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Sep
19

Real restitution is about real dignity for everyone – Mzonke Poni, Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape

Mzonke Poni

The modern economy of South Africa was founded on conquest. It was born in blood. From the moment of conquest on the same historical and economic processes that made some people rich made others poor. The exploitation and exclusion of the oppressed did not end in 1994. It continues to this day. People are still …

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Sep
15

Restitution is not possible before equality – Braam Hanekom coordinator of PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty)

braam

If we want justice, we need restitution. However, without equality or the victims obtaining influence, we cannot achieve restitution. In the case of immigrants who have been displaced by xenophobic violence the sad reality is that victims are often forced to forgive or forget as a prerequisite to reintegration. In their cases restitution could make …

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Sep
08

Sacrificing Justice for Cheap Reconciliation – Prof Nico A Botha, Department of Missiology, UNISA

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It is perhaps more appropriate to start with a lament on the manner in which the poor of South Africa have been betrayed. Neither the Peace Accord of the early nineteen nineties, nor the negotiated political settlement or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had delivered to the poor of the country. In fact, it would …

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Sep
02

The theological basis for restitution within the South African context – Prof Hans Engdahl, Department of Theology and Religion, University of the Western Cape

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There are two pitfalls. To think that you can redeem yourself by paying back for damages, to think that you are able to make good what was destroyed or lost To think that God’s forgiveness which is a free gift allows you to walk off as a free man/woman without obligations leading to restitution Reconciliation, …

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Sep
02

Restitution is essential as a basis for the restoration of justice and peace in South Africa – The Most Rev Stephen Brislin, Catholic Archbishop of Cape Town

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Where a wrong has been committed and relationships have broken down, there can be no healing without some restitution. This is basic to forgiveness, reconciliation and normalization of relationships. If there is to be peace and justice, restitution is a basic essential element both for the perpetrator and the victim. In South Africa so many …

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