Archives of apartheid-era economic crimes and legacies of socioeconomic violence: the truth and reconciliation commission, ‘Forgotten’ voices in the present and open secrets
The apartheid regime constructed a legacy of secrecy and economic corruption, which led to white-owned businesses and international players collaborating with the National Party. This alliance benefitted all stakeholders financially and helped sustain a “criminal economy,” which impoverished black people. During its investigations of gross human rights violations during apartheid, socioeconomic crime was side-lined by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Alternative histories entered this knowledge space to contest the history produced by the TRC. This mini-thesis poses the question, to what extent did the dominant narrative of violence constructed by the TRC inadvertently restrict investigations of alternative archives, namely the ’Forgotten’ Voices in the Present and the Open Secrets Organisation, in their attempts to fill in the gaps of the history of apartheid, by giving a voice to the marginalised, exposing the secret economy, and holding perpetrators of socioeconomic crimes accountable. The research provides an analysis of the TRC’s Business Hearings and investigations of these alternative archives. Through a comparative analysis of the three archives, the research explores the processes that contributed to these alternatives archives’ inability to become more effective in shaping the narrative of apartheid economic crime. At the same time, this research concludes that alternative archives have an important role to play in reconstructing the nation’s memory of apartheid and present-day economic corruption, by both complementing and challenging the TRC’s narrative.
Apartheid-era economic crimes, Legacies of socioeconomic violence, South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), National Party, South Africa
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