The epoch of South African apartheid ended in 1994. One of the main goals of the new democratically elected government and its president, Nelson Mandela, was national reconciliation after decades of severe injustice and division in the country. This diploma dissertation seeks to show the most important steps and actions South Africans and their leaders took during the Mandela government. Firstly, I presented how this effort was reflected in the formation and work of the Government of National Unity, in the new Constitution and Legislation of the South African Republic. I also discussed the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up to investigate human rights violations during apartheid, collect victims and perpetrators testimonies, rehabilitate victims and make reparations, deal with amnesty applications and promote a process of reconciliation between citizens through public hearings. Lastly, I will address some of the monumental (symbolic) South African acts of reconciliation during those five years. In the last chapter, I found that the Mandela government had laid an important foundation for the process of national reconciliation, which is still ongoing.
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