The South African Council of Churches welcomes President Thabo Mbeki's parliamentary speech on the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report, and the positive recommendations as they relate to the payment of reparations to the victims of Apartheid atrocities.

In a statement, the General Secretary of the SACC, Dr Molefe Tsele, said the Council expressed satisfaction with the manner in which the question of reparations was expedited, considering that the President received the final report on March 21, and that within three weeks he had responded to a very detailed TRC report. This goes to show the seriousness with which the President treated this matter.

However, the SACC must express a concern about some inaccuracies referred to by the President in relation to the Reverend Frank Chikane's alleged involvement in the killing of people. As it turned out, this proved to be an inexplicable account for which Archbishop Desmond Tutu had to apologise.

But the SACC believes the President did not go far enough to address issues of reparations in relation to the TRC's "closed list policy". We are concerned that because of this policy, many apartheid victims who did not appear before the TRC hearings either because of coercion or intimidation, will find that their stories remain "a closed book", and this might just have the effect of haunting all of us in the future.

The SACC hopes that the various government departments who are tasked with carrying out the process further will be hospitable in their approach to this mammoth task.

For further information contact Fr Joe Mdhlela at 083 641 1281 or Canon Luke Pato at 083 357 3961