Apartheid Reparations: In Search of an Appropriate Remedial Theory

Abstract

Increasingly, South African civil society groups are mobilising to obtain reparations for the gross human rights violations committed during Apartheid. This movement is in line with the international trend to recognise victims and a right to reparations. Whereas the payment of reparations is not currently a priority to the South African government, Apartheid victims are still calling for reparations that recognise the harm done and the wrongs committed. Although the term ‘Apartheid reparations’ may not yet be a commonly encountered term in international law or in political discourse, there is growing recognition of the fact that the wrongs committed in the name of Apartheid are wrongs that can be compensated by the payment of financial reparations. However, would the payment of reparations necessarily be in the interest of justice? An aspect of the reparations debate that has not received much attention is the question of what theory of justice will fit the payment of reparations.