“What kinds of people are we?” – values education after apartheid

South Africa’s formal transition to democracy in 1994 was an inspiring moment. However, it would be naive to assume that the task of transforming so evil a social order as apartheid can be accomplished in a moment. Many practices of the apartheid era persist, as do age-old vices such as murder and incest. Add to these, widespread corruption at all levels of the public service and apparently new vices such as a shocking spate of baby-rapes, and there may be good reason for moral outrage if not despair. Values education would seem to be an obvious place to begin to overcome these ills. A central aim of this chapter is to describe and evaluate South Africa’s approach to values education for an emergent democracy built on the foundations of a corrupt and divided society. South Africa is a society which chose to come to terms with its violent and divided past with the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Stories that emerged in the TRC hearings may help us see more clearly some of what is required for the moral reconstruction of the society and what role values education might play in it. Take, for example, the story of Captain Jeffrey Benzien, notorious for his expertise in the torture of suspected political activists. He suffocated his victims by placing a wet bag over their heads. During a hearing of the TRC, Benzien demonstrated his method. Tony Yengeni, one of his victims and an activist who became a member of parliament, asked at the hearing: