The South African Truth and reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established after a public debate on how the state should respond to knowledge of extensive human rights violations perpetrated by the National Party government that ruled from 1948-1994. Many advocated a policy that would let bygones be bygones. The position that won out was one that held that there could be no peace, no unity, no reconciliation without the truth, painful as it may be to victim or perpetrator.