The EFF has dismissed the Day of Reconciliation as premature and dishonest, saying South Africa cannot claim unity while crimes committed during apartheid remain unresolved and the heinous regime’s economic consequences continue to shape daily life.
In a statement on Tuesday, the party asserted that decades of political compromise and inaction have undermined reconciliation.
“Reconciliation has been turned into a slogan that asks the oppressed to forget, while those who benefited from apartheid continue to live comfortably off its legacy,” the EFF said.
The party took aim at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), arguing that it failed to deliver justice for victims of apartheid violence.
According to the EFF, the TRC process allowed perpetrators to avoid prosecution through amnesty, leaving families without accountability or closure.
“Forgiveness was institutionalised, but justice was abandoned,” the party said.
The EFF said the democratic government compounded this failure by not decisively pursuing apartheid-era crimes after the TRC process ended.
The EFF highlighted the families of activists who continue to pursue justice decades after their relatives’ murders, with some disappearing completely.
“It should never have been the responsibility of grieving families to fight the state to reopen these cases. Their pain exposes the unfinished business of our democracy.”
Silence imposed on the wounded
The party also criticised delays affecting a judicial commission established to probe why apartheid-era prosecutions were stalled for years.
“Once again, the country is witnessing long extensions, little progress, and no consequences. Time has become the final shield protecting perpetrators.”
Beyond criminal accountability, the EFF argued that reconciliation cannot exist without economic transformation.
“You cannot speak of unity while land ownership remains racially skewed, while apartheid spatial planning still determines access to opportunity, and while black people remain locked out of the economy,” the party said.
The EFF warned that the failure to confront apartheid honestly has allowed distorted versions of history to gain ground.
“When truth is buried and justice postponed, dangerous lies find space to grow,” the statement reads.
The party concluded that reconciliation cannot be legislated through a public holiday.
“Reconciliation without justice, land restoration, and economic power-sharing is not unity. It is silence imposed on the wounded,” the EFF said.
