Reconciliation in South Africa

(3 Sept 06 - RV) South Africa's apartheid-era Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok has sought forgiveness for his role in the brutal system of racial segregation and oppression of black people by washing the feet of a prominent former anti-apartheid activist this week.

The Minister arrived at the office of one of the former victims of his apartheid oppression, Rev. Frank Chikane, armed with a bible, a tub and a towel to wash the feet of the now director general in the presidential office.

But the feet-washing ceremony has caused controversy around South Africa, according to the editor of the catholic weekly newspaper The Southern Cross, Gunther Simmermacher…