Looking for the disappeared?

The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), Constitution Hill and the Khulumani Support Group invite you to join us at a public event to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared and the launch of the Siyanikhumbula (We are Missing You) Exhibition.
Date:  30 August 2007 ? 28 September 2007
Venue:  Constitution Square and Number Four Temporary Exhibition Space
Launch: Constitution Square on 30 August 2007 at 16h30 (for 17h00).
This event and the exhibition aim to remind the public of the unfinished work of the TRC and keep the urgent issue of disappearances alive on the political agenda. The media can help raise awareness around this issue and we hope that you will be able to attend.

Hundreds of families around South Africa are still looking for answers and the whereabouts of loved ones who went missing during the country?s apartheid era.

The plight of these families in their truth-finding quest is too often ignored by government and role-players while largely under-resourced work is carried out by families and civil-society organisations. They are determined not only to conduct investigations into the cases of the disappeared and hopefully to contribute to providing closure for those looking for answers, but to also highlight the impact of the dilemma and provide support for those who have loved ones missing.

Families of the disappeared are living lives dominated by continual searching; searching that has gone on for some in South Africa for as long as 30 years, affecting them psychologically, socially and economically.

The event also marks the International Day of the Disappeared. August 30 families and human rights organisations draw attention to the fate of individuals either imprisoned under secret or uncertain circumstances or killed in various forms of political and social violence. Imprisonment under secret or uncertain circumstances is a grave violation of human rights as well as, in the case of an armed conflict, of International Humanitarian Law. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance as resolution 47/133 on December 18, 1992. It is estimated that secret imprisonment is practiced in about 30 countries.

South Africa is acknowledging the International Day of the Disappeared along with the rest of the world by uniting families, friends and civil society organisations at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg to remember and honour those who went missing during apartheid era violence and the disappeared from South Africa and around the world.

The exhibition Siyanikhumbula is a culmination of the hard work done with the families of the disappeared in collaboration with the CSVR and the Art Therapy Centre. It is an intimate and emotional expression of the journeys families have taken and continue to take, in an effort to find answers to the unanswered questions which haunt them and to come to terms with the disappearance of their loved ones. Memory boxes created by the participants are at the heart of the exhibition and are part of a process designed to assist individuals to heal and commemorate their loved ones in personal and individual ways. Interactive panels serve as a vehicle for gathering and sharing information. Visitors who may have knowledge about a particular disappearance are invited to call the CSVR with this information.

The public commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared and launch of the CSVR and Khulumani exhibition, Siyakhumbula, will include a candle lighting ceremony and will be attended by a judge from the Constitutional Court, representatives of the TRC and human rights organisations. Family members will give public testimonies of their experiences and the impact the disappearances have had on their families. The event will also include talks on the history of The Day of the Disappeared, an address by former TRC Commissioner Yasmin Sooka.

?It is our hope that the exhibition becomes a platform for raising public awareness,? says Oupa Makhalemele, who is managing the project at the CSVR.

?It is very important to raise awareness. The government must consider the families of the disappeared .The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has unfinished business. Those who went into exile must come forward with the truth and the government must investigate the whereabouts of the missing. These political activists died for our freedom,?
Dumisane Khumalo, group co-ordinator and brother of Casswell Tunu Khumalo who was killed by the security police in 1989

Commemoration Event:
International Day of the Disappeared
Date: 30 August 2007
Time: 16h30 for 17h00
Venue: Constitution Squre, Constitution Hill

Parking available on Level J, Constitution Hill Superbasement

For more information please contact:

? CSVR: Oupa Makhalemele (078 702 6652) or Kindiza Ngubeni (082 098 1169) at 011 403 5650 and omakhalemele@csvr.org.za

? Khulumani: Freedom Ngubonde 011 339 5031 or 074 339 0766 info@khulumani.net

Constitution Hill is a unique mixed-use development in the Inner City of Johannesburg implemented by the JDA, funded by Blue IQ and the new home of the Constitutional Court, the protector of our basic rights and freedoms. Constitution Hill is also the site of Johannesburg?s notorious Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly known as Number Four, where thousands of ordinary people were brutally punished before the dawn of democracy in 1994. Many of South Africa?s leading political activists, including Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, were detained here. 

In addition to the permanent exhibitions, interactive experiences and educational programmes , Constitution Hill offers venues for hire, as well as the Dome, the location for film shoot service, day and night tours, a full calendar of public programmes and exhibitions that bring the site to life and enable the public to connect with the activities of the Constitutional Court.

For Constitution Hill programs, events calendar and exhibitions contact

Alice Moloto
Manager Marketing, Sales and Administration
011 381 3100

Mxolisi Dlamuka
Program Manager
011 381 3100