A new exhibition at the Apartheid Museum titled: ‘Grave Injustice: The Unfinished Business of the TRC’, will open to the public on 24 September and highlights the ongoing struggle for justice and reparations since the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2003. Curated by the Apartheid Museum in partnership with the Foundation for Human Rights, the exhibition sheds light on the enduring legacy of impunity and the urgent need for truth by sharing the powerful stories of the families and survivors who have led this decades-long fight for accountability.
In January 2025, twenty-five families of apartheid-era victims filed a lawsuit against the South African government, seeking R167 million in constitutional damages for its failure to pursue justice after the TRC ended in 2003. They also urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a commission of inquiry into longstanding allegations of political interference in these cases.
The lawsuit and call for a commission follow over two decades of struggle by families and survivors seeking accountability and closure for the loss of their loved ones in the fight for democracy.
In May 2025, President Ramaphosa announced the formation of an independent judicial commission of inquiry, led by former Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Kamphepe, to investigate alleged political obstruction of apartheid-era prosecutions handed to the NPA since 2003.
The Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System will begin its hearings later this year, and is to complete its work in six months. Survivors, families and civil society organisations have welcomed the establishment of the commission, expressing hope that it will finally uncover who was responsible – and why – for obstructing investigations and prosecutions related to TRC cases.
“The exhibition brings renewed attention to this ongoing struggle for justice. It exposes the democratic state’s failure to hold perpetrators responsible for atrocities committed during the apartheid era. Through the testimonies of survivors and their families, it acknowledges and honours the anguish of the many families who have been involved in a struggle for justice over more than two decades,” says Emilia Potenza, curator of Grave Injustice: The Unfinished Business of the TRC.
The contract that families and victims entered into to allow for the creation of South Africa’s much-hailed TRC was based on an understanding that perpetrators would receive amnesty for apartheid-era crimes if they were found to have made full disclosure and demonstrated political motivation for their actions. In those cases where amnesty was denied or perpetrators failed to apply for amnesty from the TRC, perpetrators would be subject to prosecution.
Instead, from 2003, families of victims found themselves in a nightmare of inaction, bureaucratic machinations, and little movement on the part of the democratic government to honour the promises made to them.
Though the NPA has recently announced the reopening of several new inquests and the institution of a handful of prosecutions, for many families the significant amount of time that has elapsed since 2003 has made any chance of real justice or meaningful closure almost impossible.
Grave Injustice traces the long struggle for justice, closure, and reparations by victims and their families – from the promises of the TRC to the broken commitments of the democratic era. It highlights the state’s poor record on prosecutions and reparations since the TRC’s final report was handed to President Mbeki in 2003.
Drawing on the testimonies of survivors and families, the historical record, and allegations made in relation to political interference, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the constitutional and moral crisis that the failure to deliver justice and reparations has created for families of victims, and the nation as a whole.
The exhibition features striking visuals, video archives, family interviews, a timeline of key events, and bold new artworks by Lusanda Ndita. Together, these elements bring to life a story too often sidelined in post-apartheid discourse.
“As the Commission of Inquiry begins to unpack the tangled web of potentially damning allegations of political interference, Grave Injustice: The Unfinished Business of the TRC offers a fundamental introduction to the issues at stake. It also demonstrates that the struggle for justice, closure, and reparations for apartheid-era victims and their families is ongoing and vital to healing the violent, long-reaching wounds of the past, and securing a more peaceful future for South Africa,” says Zaid Kimmie, Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights.
“We expected that a new post-apartheid government would stand with us, and hold the perpetrators to account. We were wrong. Successive post-apartheid governments found ways to shield perpetrators from justice. This betrayal cut the deepest.” Thembi Simelane, sister of Nokuthula Simelane, who disappeared in 1983 after being abducted and tortured.
“The failure by the post-apartheid dispensation to prosecute apartheid atrocities is a deep injustice that only the families of the victims can comprehend. The institutions that are constitutionally obliged to protect our fundamental rights have treated us with utter contempt. We are mere pawns in their political game.” Kim Turner, daughter of Rick Turner, assassinated in 1978 in his Durban home.
Grave Injustice: The Unfinished Business of the TRC opens on Heritage Day, 24 September 2025 and will be on display at the Apartheid Museum until 31 March 2026.
Kerry Simpson
Soweto Sunrise News
