For more than two decades, survivors of human rights violations have been protesting, petitioning and even sleeping outside government buildings for days on end out of desperation for their plight to be recognised and addressed. Despite the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, many victims have been abandoned. We profiled some of these determined protesters -- these are their stories, with visual portraits by Leon Sadiki.

Each year, senior victims of the apartheid era have petitioned, sent memorandums, appealed to meet with government officials, marched, demanded and pleaded, but to no avail, for reparations. They have also spent nights outside prestigious buildings such as the Constitutional Hill precinct in Johannesburg, the Union Buildings in Pretoria and the National assembly in Cape Town for their struggle and need for reparations to be heard.

In May 2022, after spending 13 nights sleeping outside the Constitutional Hill precinct, elderly campaigners finally met the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola. However, the campaigners say they came away with nothing again. They allege the minister told them that the department could only pay reparations in line with existing regulations and processes and, to this point, all Truth and Reconciliation Commission-identified beneficiaries had already received...