Red Dust is a 2000 novel written by South African-born Gillian Slovo that is structured around the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the fictional town Smitsrivier.

In post-apartheid South Africa, retired anti-apartheid activist and lawyer Ben Hoffman cannot turn down James Sizela's wish to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearing of local ex-police officer Dirk Hendricks to find out what happened to James's son Steve who has been missing since the mid-1980s confrontation between white state authorities and the black African National Congress (ANC).

He calls his former student, New York prosecutor Sarah Barcant to return to South Africa to help him with the amnesty hearing.

They hope that the questioning of MP Alex Mpondo, a torture victim of Dirk and comrade of Steve, in connection with the TRC's full disclosure law, will enable them to get hold of Pieter Muller, Smitsrivier's former police boss, who they think killed Steve Sizela.

Intended to reconcile South Africans with the violent chapter of their country's past, the hearings turn out to open up old wounds, as well as create new ones, making the characters face the truth or their ideas of it.

Gillian Slovo's interest in the TRC derives from her family background that is deeply rooted in the struggle against apartheid.

Joe Slovo returned to South Africa in 1990 to take part in the negotiations between ANC and the white government about a peaceful transition towards democracy.

She worked, after having to flee South Africa in 1964, at various English universities before returning to the continent in 1978 to continue her struggle at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique.

[1] Gillian Slovo experienced the workings of the TRC herself when she faced the murderer of her mother, Craig Williamson, in amnesty hearings in South Africa.

Yet, she understood the way they (the Security Police) thought and used her personal experiences of unwanted intimacy in Red Dust.

Her attitude towards the TRC is reflected in her assumption that "It helps a whole society reconcile itself to its past, without ignoring or denying it.

This caused an inner conflict about his responsibility of Steve's death because he isn't sure whether he broke in his interrogation and betrayed him by revealing his identity or not.

Sarah Barcant, his lawyer in his amnesty hearing, notices first his strong hands, the blue Jeans and the white T-shirt that hung beautifully from his boxer's shoulders.

Alex comes only back on James Sizela's request, who holds him accountable for his son's passing away.

But the urge to know the answer to his question drives him to keep cross-examining Dirk Hendricks, although he in many situations reaches the point, where he simply wants to quit.

Alex is ashamed of the fact that he might have broken by telling the place of the weapon storage and also anxious that by revealing this in court he could also lose his reputation of a hero.

In the end Alex Mpondo still doesn't know the truth, but yet he has gained a lot from facing Dirk Hendricks.

Her father was an optician, but nevertheless he "had not made enough money to move his family of Main Street to Francis Avenue, which was home to most of Smitsrivier white population" (p. 33).

Pieter is described as a thickset man with a big square face with narrow eyes, and heavy jowls resting on a bullish neck.

There he interrogated Steve Sizela and tortured him for over a month until he died after he and Dirk put a wager on who would break his suspect first.

In the past he must have had a bad conscience though, because he makes Dirk bury the body while getting away with some weak excuse – he had to go to church – which also was his "death sentence".

Another side of Pieter is that of a cold manipulator; he tries to influence Dirk Hendricks to not reveal any critical information.

He does this so that he doesn't have to go to the TRC and apply for amnesty, because it would be against his ideals, he would rather die than admit that he was wrong and beg for mercy.

As headmaster of the local school, he wears an old-fashioned pinstripe suit, which fits his general behaviour as he is stern and unmoving.

Even though he wants to bury his long dead and missing son he does not really do a lot to support Sarah Barcant, who fights in court to find the body.

The character James Sizela is quite important to interpret Red Dust, because he shows that everybody can become a killer given the "right" circumstances.

Ben Hoffmann is an ageing white lawyer who has already retired and who has spent all his skill and expertise into representing black people in court, even in the time of apartheid.

Ben still treats Sarah like his student instead of as a grown-up who already worked as a prosecutor in New York for several years.

Ben Hoffman's function in "Red Dust" is to establish the link between the Sizelas and Sarah Barcant.

Thus Slovo adds heavily to the message by making the reader see through the eyes of all the characters in this network of truths and lies.