45 pages • 1 hour read •
Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa
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EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 5: “Unwinding”
Epilogue Summary
The Epilogue, written a year after Country of My Skull received initial publication, looks at the final report of the TRC and the aftermath of the TRC finishing its work. Problems that arose during the TRC process continue after the final report, including lack of cooperation from the NP and ANC parties. F.W. de Klerk demands that authorities remove the information on him entirely. The ANC continues demanding special attention and attempts to stop the report going public with an interdict, claiming it should be able to see the report first, despite missing multiple deadlines for being able to do so. Blacks in South Africa remain divided: “[O]ne black caller after another says: I vote ANC, but they have made a mistake” (370), while others say: “The ANC has fought a just war and therefore could not have committed gross human-rights violations” (370).
Much of the country, Krog included, feels disheartened by what seems like a complete failure of the TRC. The unity that inspired Krog is gone, though she is relieved that Mandela and Tutu have come out on the other side still clean, and still persevering. None of the political parties fully accept the TRC’s final report, with many condemning it and the process as a whole.
Afrikaner leadership in particular does not have a good response to the TRC or apartheid, leaving many Afrikaners feeling lost and not understanding what they should do in order for the country to move forward. Krog sums up those feelings: “We are being told who we are, what we have done wrong, but not what we owe” (376). Blacks and whites withdraw from each other, leaving South Africa more separated and further apart than before. Krog queries the TRC’s success by offering a variety of viewpoints—in some the TRC is very successful, as in giving the voiceless a voice, and in others a “total failure,” as in failing to prevent future humanitarian crises. Krog concludes on a hopeful note, wondering if perhaps at least the seeds of reconciliation have been sown and will simply take a few generations before they truly take hold.
Epilogue Analysis
While Krog does not offer much in the way of answers in the main text of Country of My Skull, she becomes more willing to do so in the Epilogue. She still has questions about the future of South Africa and of the place of Afrikaners as the country moves forward, but suggests some ways to address these questions. Some aspects of Krog’s analysis at the end of the TRC’s lifespan are simply continuations of the same problems that have been plaguing the TRC since the beginning—political parties refusing to cooperate, the ANC refusing to acknowledge possible human rights violations, and divisions between races. As much as things have changed over the course of the TRC process, much is the same, and is unlikely to change for a long time.
Krog’s final assessment of the TRC does not ask questions about its purpose or potential, but does offer an evaluation of its success in various arenas: As a “vehicle to grant amnesty, it succeeded reasonably” (384). Krog concludes that the TRC also found success as a forum for victims to have their voices heard, and in establishing factual truth. As far as healing trauma or preventing human rights violations, the TRC is a failure. While many feel that the TRC also fails as a vehicle for reconciliation, Krog believes that the TRC started a necessary but lengthy process that might ultimately lead to success on that front.
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