Govan Mbeki once spoke of ‘reconciliation’ being as South African as “pap en vleis”. Reconciliation is part of the lifeblood of the South African transition.  Offering no quick fix, it is process as much as vision and goal. It takes time, providing the only realistic alternative to escalating violence and abuse that gripped our country prior to 1994.

Four years ago the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation instituted an annual reconciliation award for South Africans who promote reconciliation, by enabling people and communities from diverse backgrounds to learn live together with respect, dignity and in pursuit of the common good.  It was resolved not to give the award to people of exceptional high profile, but rather to those who through their daily work and attitude to life promote national and communal reconciliation.   As such the award has not been given to President Mandela or Archbishop Tutu, the supreme icons of reconciliation in South Africa and the world.  We have instead given it to Tim Modise for getting the nation talking; to Pieter Dirk Uys for getting the nation laughing – primarily at itself; to Sibongile Khumalo and PJ Powers for getting us to understand and appreciate one another’s culture through music.

We depart from this tradition tonight by making the award to the late Minister Dullah Omar and Farieda Omar.  As the first Minister of Justice in a democratic South Africa, it was under his watch that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was born. In this sense, he was the father of the TRC, recognising that many others contributed to the birth of the Commission in other ways.  He opened the way for perpetrators; even those who plotted to end his life and those of members of his own family, to receive amnesty and to be reintegrated into South African society.  Later he became Minister of Transport.  He was in many ways an icon of reconciliation.

Farieda is, in turn, a quite remarkable woman. She was, and continues to be at the forefront of initiatives to promote understanding and reconciliation at community and national level. Long before Dullah and Farieda gained public recognition, they were engaged in low-key initiatives to enable South Africans to make peace among themselves in pursuit of the democratic principles that we today celebrate as a nation.  They were, and I use the word deliberately, “ordinary” people and remained “ordinary” people, without airs and graces, after they achieved the national recognition they so richly deserve. They have always been “our people’, “ordinary people”, who walked with us in marches, mourned with us in losses and celebrated with us in successes.   In this sense, while Dullah and Farieda, as icons of our time, transcend the model we projected of those who should receive the reconciliation award, they also affirm that model by demonstrating how great people can affirm their roots in being the people we have come to know in our communities, on our streets and in our struggle.

By Dr Charles Villa-Vicencio, Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

Click here to read Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's speech

Click here to read Mrs Farieda Omar's acceptance speech

	Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Director of the IJR Charles Villa-Vicencio and the young Omar's
	Farieda Omar accepts the Award from  Archbishop Desmond Tutu
	Mother and Son
	Mother and Daughter
	Professor Jakes Gerwel, Minister of Finance Trevor Manual and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
	Kader Asmal and Farieda Omar