Definition:
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) was established in 1995 by the Government of National Unity and placed under the chairmanship of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Commission set out to investigate and offer amnesty for political crimes undertaken in South Africa and abroad between 1960 and 1993. (It was modeled on a similar commission set up in Chile.) Amnesty was dependent upon full and public testimony about the crimes committed by individuals or political parties.
The TRC presented its report in 1998, including confessions made to the hearings by a number of key political people. Not everyone agreed to testify, and there was some public disquiet over those who were granted amnesty.
