By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a necessary exercise, which had a profound effect on the white section of that country’s nation in that it created opportunities to forgive. This is the frank view of renowned poet, academic and journalist, Antjie Krog, who paid a literature visit to Namibia last week. Krog is currently teaching post-graduate literature and leadership at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town. “This Commission was very necessary because we all realized that something was wrong and we all wanted those wrongs to be rectified in the interest of reconciliation,” said Krog, who wrote two commissioned books on the TRC, one of which was transformed into a feature film, The Country of My Skull. “Undoubtedly South Africa had been struggling with a mammoth collective memory built up of the past over many decades. However, most white South Africans have never really understood reconciliation, demanding forgiveness on all sides. Their wrong perspectives about reconciliation still have the potential to give rise to conflict,” Krog, who exclusively writes in Afrikaans since her first publication, warned. A number of her poetry anthologies and novels have been translated into English and other foreign languages. “It’s very unfortunate that my book, Country of My Skull, didn’t become an American blockbuster movie – as was expected – due to a lack of funding and too many other books on the TRC that were on the market at the time. But lessons have been learned from the making of this film. The American arguments had been that should the film have been entirely black, it would have lost Hollywood; if it had had a sad ending, the film would have lost the world,” Krog said about the movie that didn’t do particularly well at the box office. According to Krog, who was invited to Namibia by a local Afrikaans writing body known as Krit as part of its quarter century celebrations, lessons have been learned. “I think it is time that Southern African writers should write the region’s own film scripts for movie production from a southern African perspective. This would enable us to project our own stories from our own perspectives,” asserted Krog, who indicated that she is not interested in becoming a film scriptwriter. She is very optimistic about the new literature explosion currently underway among all South African writers. “Unfortunately, the status quo, as far as publishing is concerned, has remained. Established publishing houses are still hesitant to publish works from black writers, most writing in English. Despite this tendency, there is great interest for their writings being promoted on CDs and other enterprising forms such as young writers touring the country to promote their own works, and it works,” Krog said optimistically. Her direct creative and literature connection to Namibia is that she only once wrote a poem about a white woman during the Dorsland Trek. “Writing poetry demands a lot of focus, energy and time. The exciting thing is one cannot plan writing poetry as is the case with prose. In fact, as a poet I do not sit and wait for inspiration, inspiration comes spontaneously and naturally and, once inspired, I write my poems. In general, writing is a continuous process of hard work,” said the poet, who voluntarily isolates herself from the world in her study when creating any of her chosen genres.