Desmond Tutu

"We cannot be facile and say bygones will be bygones, because they will not be bygones and will return to haunt us. True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness, which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know."

"We want our society to be characterised by vigorous debate and dissent, where to disagree is part and parcel of a vibrant community ... and not think that those who disagree, who express dissent, are disloyal or unpatriotic."

"When European missionaries came, the Africans had the land and the Europeans had the Bible. The Europeans asked the Africans to close their eyes in prayer. When they said amen and opened their eyes, the Europeans had the land and the Africans had the Bible. But the Africans got the better end of the deal because the Bible then gave them the rationale to ask for their land to be returned and their rights respected."