ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that empowerment is an essential element in enabling deprived groups in South Africa to achieve their own liberation and their own system of justice. This contrasts with power intervention by outside bodies attempting to impose some kind of settlement on South Africa. The concept of conciliation in South Africa implies in the first place the normalization of race relations. The peacemaker or conciliator must have credibility on all sides of a conflict. The roles, tasks, and styles of peacemakers and prophets are different. The peacemaker, who is trying to make peace at all costs, is likely to underplay injustice and overlook its manifestations. The understanding of conciliation highlights the interplay between the goals of justice and peace, and between the problems of injustice and polarization. Attempts to create peace out of conflict are referred to in terms such as settlement, resolution, management, or accommodation of conflict.
