situations where some cases of past injustices were handled by police officers that have since
been transferred to other duty stations.
Early Warning System Architecture
The Bill must speak to the setting up of an early warning system that detects cases of violence
especially since the country is headed towards the 2018 elections as stated in Section 252g-h of
the Constitution. The section makes it clear that the commission should “develop mechanisms
for early detection of areas of potential conflicts and disputes and to take appropriate preventive
measures”. The Bill however, does not clearly state what mechanisms have been put in place to
guarantee non-recurrence of violations.
Funding for the Commission
According to Clause 14 of the Bill, the responsible Minister has the overall with regards to
funding of the Commission. The Minister must first approve any donations and grants. The
current 2016 budget, the Ministry responsible for reconciliation only received $200 000 which
shows lack of seriousness on the part of the government to fully operationalize the commission
given the number of cases that have to be investigated.
In South Africa, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission was working on an annual budget of USD 18million from donor
agencies and taxes among other sources. It is therefore recommended that the Commission must
be empowered to fund itself so as to avoid manipulation by politicians and failing to carry out its
mandate due to inadequate funding.
Considered Omissions to the NPRC Bill:
i) Involvement of the Church and Civil Society.
The communities made submissions that church leaders must be the frontrunners of the healing
process since some government officials were chief perpetrators and facilitators of gross human
rights violations. The South African Truth and Reconciliation can exemplify this as Archbishop
Desmond Tutu chaired the Commission.
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