I have often heard that a victim can best reclaim their power by confronting the person who inflicted the act of violence on them.  Here in America this is done best through the justice system.  Whether it is an act of violence or a simple injustice.  Americans are able to use the justice system to file criminal charges or even civil charges.  In doing so citizens who at one point felt like victims are able to reclaim some self empowerment by confronting the perpetrator and holding them responsible for the wrong that was done. 

     In reading A Human Being Died That Night by Pumla Gobodo-Madikeizela, I have learned that in post Apartheid South Africa things are much different.  It would seem to easy for the victims of apartheid to hold on to the hatred they rightly feel.  Pumla is a psychologist who grew up in a black South African township and knows first hand of the violence suffered there.  She reflects on her interviews with Eugene de Kock, the commanding officer of state-sanctioned death squads under apartheid (back cover).  At one point she explains that there was nothing as satisfying as returning from an interview with de Kock and realizing that I could not regard him with the same dehumanizing hatred and disdain that he had trained on his victims.  In fact, I did not want hatred to make me his victims (p118).  This is a truly profound statement, realizing that hatred in a sense can take over a persons soul. 

     I believe that the act of forgiveness is what can start to repair the victims soul and enable the victim to reclaim their personal power.  Pumla explains this best in her chapter "I Have No Hatred in My Heart".  Forgiveness may appear to condone the offense, thus further disempowering the victim.  But forgiveness does not overlook the deed: it rises above it.  "This is what it means to be human," it says.  "I cannot and will not return the evil you inflicted on me."  And that is the victims triumph (p117).  This is what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) aimed to achieve when they conducted their hearings and I believe they succeeded to some degree.  The TRC gave the victims of apartheid the ability to confront their perpetrators and enabled them to learn the truth of what happened.  Nothing can ever bring back their loved ones but knowing the truth of how they died can give them some sense ofclosure.  Having the perpetrators accept responsibility for their actions and acknowledge the pain they inflicted, this enables the victims to reclaim some of their power.

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