A general or blanket amnesty with no preconditions attached.

A limited or qualified amnesty.

Amnesty where the individuals concerned had to apply for it and have
their case heard in public.

The act had to be politically motivated.  It could not be for personal gain or personal malice.

The act had to be committed between 1960 and May 10th, 1994.

The perpetrator had to apply for amnesty within a stated time frame and ‘make full disclosure’ of the details of the human rights violation.

The applicant had to appear before the Amnesty Committee of the TRC in a public hearing.

If granted amnesty the perpetrator could not be found criminally or civilly liable for the violation.

No state or organization or body vicariously associated with the act could be found liable.

Without such an amnesty the perpetrators would have no incentive to disclose the truth.

The need for reconciliation and reconstruction in South Africa was critical to the country’s future and deemed unachievable without truth-telling.

The amnesty provision was a critical component that enabled the parties to achieve a negotiated settlement.

The amnesty was not based on legal terms nor human rights arguments but was rather a political decision taken by the parties leading up to the settlement which resulted in the 1994 election.

Apartheid had been so pervasive and lasted so long that it would have very difficult to determine whom to prosecute.

The cost of hundreds of lengthy trials would have removed monies from essential social development. 

Financial reparations to help with repairing a house; 

providing education; 

unemployment compensation for not being able to work any longer.
To get the truth; to break the silence.

To know where the body of their loved one is and to have some part of the body for a proper burial.

To know why the perpetrators had done these terrible things to them and their families.

To have a memorial e.g. to name a school after the victim; a peace park; a place to go and mourn quietly.

Assistance with and opportunities for health care and treatment for the physical, mental and spiritual problems ensuing from these gross violations of human rights.

Urgent Interim Reparations: to provide immediate access to services and facilities.

Individual Reparation Grants: each victim of a gross violation of human rights to receive a financial grant over a six year period.

Symbolic Reparations: measures to facilitate a communal process of remembering and commemorating the pain and victories of the past.  e.g. a national day of remembrance and reconciliation; memorials and monuments; creation of museums.

Legal and Administrative Measures: assistance to individuals to finally obtain death certificates; help in expediting legal matters; expunging criminal records.

Community Rehabilitation Measures: to establish community-based services and activities aimed at promoting the healing and recovery of individuals and communities affected by gross violations of human rights.

Institutional Reforms:  legal, administrative and institutional measures to prevent recurrences of human rights abuses.

Enable victims to experience in a concrete way the state’s acknowledgement of the wrongs done to them.

Restore survivor’s dignity.
Affirm the values, interests, aspirations and rights advanced by those who suffered.

Raise consciousness about the public’s moral responsibility to participate in healing the victims and facilitating nation-building.
To date few of these recommendations have been implemented and where financial reparations have been made, the amounts have been very, very small.