This thesis examines the founding documents of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commision(SATRC) to assess if the commission was founded on restorative justice values(RJ).Following this,a discourse analysis is employed to examine a sample of transcripts from the victims’ hearings and the outcomes of the hearings to assess whether or not the victim hearings followed RJ practices and if the outcomes were indeed of a restorative nature. It is concluded that the SATRC was founded on RJ values and the practices utilized through the hearings were restorative in nature. However,it cannot be concluded that the outcomes of the hearings and the SATRC were entirely restorative in nature. This conclusion takes into account that each individual’s experiences are unique, as are his/her expectations. Furthermore, many of the outcomes identified in this thesis may take a lifetime to achieve ,if ever.
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