The recent death of Adriaan Vlok, the prominent South African apartheid-era law and order minister, brought the issue of political apologies for past wrongs back into the public arena.
It remains an emotional subject in the country, given that almost none of the leaders of the apartheid government apologised for their actions in a process set up precisely for that purpose. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created in 1995, was designed to steer South Africa through the transition from apartheid to democracy. It allowed former apartheid crime perpetrators to obtain amnesty in exchange for full cooperation with the commission.
