Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

It is common knowledge that the South African apartheid conflict ended effectively since 1994/95 after ravaging the society unabated for over forty-eight years. It is for this reason that it was often described in literature as one of the world’s worst intractable conflicts. The United Nations among others described it as a “crime against humanity.” This is primarily significant because such potent element that could bring an intractable conflict of this nature to an abrupt end after almost five decades, of fierce, highly devastating and calamitous struggle, will most probably be effective elsewhere if adopted and adapted appropriately. This research made some important discoveries that are fundamental contributions to knowledge in the realm of international conflict resolution. It reveals that when complex, complicated, and contradictory narratives emerge unsuppressed, are subjected to some rigorous theoretical analysis, the resultant effect is evidently the capitulation of such conflicts no matter how long they have existed just as it manifested in the case of South Africa. This paper is part of extensive research in which a set of paradoxical elements that were at the base of the success of the South African peace process were articulated and the most prominent among the emerging narratives, is that of “Truth Without Reconciliation.” Our objective therefore is to demonstrate how this seemingly contradictory narrative manifests itself in the actualisation of societal peace in Apartheid South Africa with a view towards seeing how such narratives can be extended to other existing intractable conflicts still ravaging humanity.