The government appears determined to set up a Truth and Justice Commission ? a promise dating from the electoral campaign. The prime minister?s announcement in Parliament last week that Robert Shell, a South African university professor, has been chosen to shed some light on slavery and indentured labourers and recommend, if needed, possible reparation for the descendants, is indeed good news. If a chairperson has been identified, this commission should normally follow.

Born in the Cape Province in 1949, Professor Robert Shell is a professor of historical demography in the University of Western Cape Statistics Department. He has written several books on slavery and slave trade during his career. But the appointment of a chairman is far from the first and only sign given by the prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, that he was seriously working on the implementation of the commission.

At the beginning of last month, in a speech on the abolition of slavery and its legacy in Mauritius at the University of Hull for the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slave trade, he recalled the reasons why his government had committed to implement a Truth and Justice commission. ?We want to build a nation where descendants of slaves will put behind them humiliation and rancour and make of equality a fact of daily life.?

The commitment actually goes back to the electoral campaign of the Social Alliance and was mentioned in the programme-speech soon after its victory in July 2005. ?To address issues pertaining to historical grievances, Government will set up a Truth and Justice Commission to establish the facts regarding slavery and indentured labourers and to make recommendations with respect to reparation for the descendants of slaves and indentured labourers.?

<B>Accelerate the process... </B>

Moreover, the government has given itself the means of achieving its objectives. The PM seized the opportunity of the recent visit of Archbishop Desmond Tutu to ?help create a Truth and Justice commission?. The latter is said to have given ?the Mauritian government precious advice? on the setting up of this commission.

As the chairman of a similar one in South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), there is no doubt that Desmond Tutu?s visit in Mauritius has been providential. It might even have accelerated the process, as Desmond Tutu proposed the names of three different personalities to the PM as potential chairpersons.

In South Africa, the TRC was set up after the end of apartheid. Anybody who felt he had been a victim of violence could come forward and be heard by the TRC. In fact, the mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record and, in some cases, grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violation, reparation and rehabilitation. It was actually seen as a crucial element in the transition made by South Africa to achieve full freedom and democracy.

More generally, the mission of such a commission worldwide is to discover and reveal past wrongdoings in the hope of resolving conflicts or injustice left over from the past. In Mauritius, it is seen as a ?healing exercise, so that (we) can move forward?.

It lies in the context of the government?s determination to democratise the economy since it reached power. By recognising the wrong made to slaves, indentured labourers and their descendants and possibly give them reparation, the government hopes to atone the prejudice caused to them and provide them with an opportunity to catch up with development. The OF/Les Verts, who have fought for such a commission for several years, will certainly find cause to rejoice!