The 8 representatives from the political factions began working as an executive in 2003.  However,parliament only approved Organic Law in July 2004, with  Civil Society members appointed to the Commission in November 2004 [CSVR]

Mandate:  Established as one of the five institutions in support of democracy, encompassed in the Pretoria Agreement (December 2002) on power sharing during the transition.

The Organic Law for the CVR, and Article 5, defines the mandate of the Commission to “reestablish truth and promote peace, justice, reparation, forgiveness and reconciliation, with the view of consolidating national unity”. The Commission is also responsible for investigating political crimes and human rights violations which took place from June 30, 1960 to the end of the transition.  The time period is further broken down into two phases:

     1. June 1960-1992: the Commission will be required to review the files and findings of the 1992 National Conference, and hear individual claims of victims from this period;

      2. 1993-end of mandate period: the Commission will be expected to carry out investigations etc. of all hte events during this period.

The commission is supposed to submit its final report before the National Assembly and the Senate by the end of the transitional period in June 2005

October 2007: The CVR was to have completed its work by the end of the transition, to coincide with the first democratic elections. The first democratic elections are scheduled to take place in July 2006. There have been many critiques regarding the work of the CVR, with organisations calling for a second Truth Commission after the elections in order to look at truth recovery and accountability in greater depth. There are currently discussions underway to this end. [CSVR]