Albie Sachs documentary offers insights on how to heal a nation

Kenya: He was arrested and placed in solitary confinement for defending those who wanted to overthrow the apartheid regime in South Africa. He lost an arm and an eye when a bomb exploded in his car. 

That did not cripple his spirit to build democracy in new-look nation. He helped in the writing of a new constitution. Nelson Mandela appointed him a judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 1994.

He has written scores of books on freedom and law, won awards and honorary degrees across four continents. 

But it is the bomb explosion that inspired Albert “Albie” Sachs’ mission as screened in his new film, Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa, on Monday night at Alliance Francaise.

Following the incident in the late ‘80s in Mozambique, Albie lay in hospital for one year. One day he received a note vowing revenge for the attempt on his life.

“What kind of country would it be, if it ended up filled with people who were blind and without arms? If we achieve democracy, freedom and the rule of law, that will be my soft vengeance; roses and lilies will grow out of my arm,” says Sachs to himself in the documentary.

The film focuses on colonialism in the southern African State, racial discrimination, end of the apartheid rule, formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and his role in the Constitutional Court, the equivalent of Kenya’s Supreme Court.

 “For me, if those people are captured and taken to court to defend themselves, and jails of guilty, that would be enough vengeance. The respect of constitution and rule of law was my way of vengeance. The importance of freedom was for it to belong to the generation and see the outcome of the freedom, not further bloodshed,” he states.

He further added that the film had nothing to do with him; he only happened to be the figure.

 “People are interested in the story for its universality. We can all know that it is not the responsibility of one person to make people forgive each other but of every citizen. Nelson Mandela had the support of the people. And for any country with a bitter past, it needs people to come together,” he says.

The film also raised the issue of the necessity of bridging the economic gap and that of poor housing. He says that farming is a way of elevating a country’s economic structures.