The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in South Africa in July 1995 and worked until August 1997, and its main goal is to provide national reconciliation, thus preventing a bloodbath and establishing civil peace. Each one who asks for amnesty is required to speak the truth in a full disclosure context. Therefore, it's not the case of a global amnesty which is automatically granted. Once the commission insists upon the possibility of "doing things with words", there is, amid the testimonies and narratives, a quest for some truth that would be enough to provide a consensus, to the acknowledgement of the past and to the assumption of the crimes committed. In such context, I propose a reflection on the relation between translation and testimony, as well as on the role played by the interpreter as witness, stressing the fact that the English language, which was adopted in the context of the commission, is a language used for translation purposes and is neither the language spoken by the victims nor by the torturers.
translation-interpretation; testimony; Ttruth and Reconciliation Comission