humanity. Remedies: the Bill does not mention remedies to certain categories of violations such as destruction or arbitrary dispossession of property, murder, torture, sexual rape and many other gross human rights violations. The Bill should state remedies such as compensation, and prosecutions. Amnesia should be categorically state that it cannot replace or substitute truth telling, compensation, and justice. Decentralisation: A Commission established to serve the country without decentralised structures may be ineffective, particularly when the most affected persons are in the countryside. The NPRC Bill symbolises such an institution as the Bill does not indicate its intention to decentralise or devolve power of facilitating peace and reconciliation to community structures. Therefore, the Bill should expressly state / compel the NPRC to decentralise its operations to the lowest level communities. Decentralisation of the NPRC will allow the promotion of peace and reconciliation to take place at community levels; hence promoting bottom up peacebuilding processes as opposed to national topdown peace building. Role of other actors: the Bill does not expressly state the involvement of other actors such as Churches and Civic Society organisations. The aforementioned stakeholders can provide technical support in the production and distribution of the NPRC analysis. Data collection and analysis, logistics and communications can be complemented by churches and civic society organisations because of their experience and expertise in community level engagement. The Bill, therefore, must demonstrate the unconditional involvement of stakeholders towards the promotion of peace, healing and reconciliation. Political parties must be compelled, in the NPRC Bill, to act in a way that promote peace, unity, national healing and reconciliation Media: In South Africa, the media played an integral role in raising awareness on national reconciliation processes and increasing the visibility of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The radio and television stations were deliberately used to “broadcast the location of future hearings, venues, and raising public awareness”15 by broadcasting live hearings of the Commission. Therefore, in the same way, it is recommended that the Bill deliberately mention the role of the media in awareness raising and messaging on reconciliation issues. Deliberately compelling the NPRC to use the media to raise awareness broadcast live hearings and announcements of NPRC outputs could make the NPRC more visible and effective. The business communities and traditional leaders are also stakeholders worth mentioning. 15 Cole, C. (2010) Performing South Africa’s Truth Commission: Stages of Transition. Bloomington, Indiana University Press. 10

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