This collection consists of video material on various topics relating to the struggle of South Africa. These productions were put together by the apartheid government for the South African constituency and includes Die Bou van die Nasie (The Building of a Nation) and interviews with Nelson Mandela before his release from Pollsmoor Prison.

In Jill Geber's words:

I was born in Johannesburg in 1961, studied history and theology at Natal University, Pietermaritzburg 1980-82. After graduating, I attempted to study independently for the South African Diploma in Archival Science, from 1983-85.

When I completed the theory courses of the diploma in 1985, I was working in Transkei. I needed to work in an accredited Archives Depot to complete the practical part of the course. As the Transkei Archives Depot was set up by the SA Archives Service and its archivists trained by the SA Archives Service, I asked whether I could complete my training there, but was turned down.

At the same time, I became increasingly opposed to the apartheid regime in the charged climate of the States of Emergency of 1985-1986. As someone deeply interested in archives and the evidential value of their political and historical content, I began to wonder what might happen to such archives in South Africa.

A significant proportion of the archives and current records contained a mass of unique documentary evidence, including the exact details of decades of the oppressive policies of the apartheid regime.

If the regime were overthrown by a revolution as seemed a real possibility then, I was convinced that (if the track-record of similar oppressive regimes was anything to go by) the regime would try to destroy as much evidence as possible before its fall.

I decided to study for the MA in Overseas Archive Studies at University College London, to get an independent training and investigate the subject of the future of the South African Archives from outside of South Africa.

In London I was able consult the views of ANC officials and supporters and formulate some observations, propose some scenarios and strategies on how archivists might to deal with the situation and hopefully prevent archival disaster. These ideas were developed further as I completed the course in 1986-87 and my MA thesis was entirely devoted to an exploration of the SA Archives Service, it's past, present and future.

Dr. Joseph Hanlon was born in 1941 in the United States of America. In 1971 he emigrated to the United Kingdom (UK) where he gained citizenship. He holds a PhD in physics. One of his reasons for moving to the UK was to write for The New Scientist, a British magazine. While in the UK he cultivated a passion for development issues. As part of his assignment as a writer of development-related matters, he traveled to Mozambique, a country he reckoned tackled development issues seriously. Between 1979 and 1985 he also wrote for newspapers such as The Guardian in London, The Star in Johannesburg and the British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC). His interest in Mozambique increased following Zimbabwe's independence, after which South Africa started attacking Mozambique. Dr. Hanlon also did a study about South Africa in 1994 under the auspices of the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO), which focused on how funding could be done when it comes to people-driven development projects. He still writes about Mozambique. For some years he has also been teaching at the Open University in England, offering a course that involves examining Post-Civil War Intervention from a development perspective. He was also a campaigner for the Jubilee 2000, a movement that fought for the cancellation of third world debts.

Hanlon and the archives

Dr. Hanlon was the coordinator of the Commonwealth Sanctions Committee, a body that examined ways and means through which pressure could be brought to bear on the racist Pretoria regime by imposing sanctions. Prior to being approached by the Commonwealth that sought advice and suggestions on how best to impose and implement sanctions on South Africa, he had written two books on the subject. The first is titled "The Sanctions Handbook". In this book, he looked at sanctions against South Africa thus far, how effective they had been and how best they could be rendered more effective. He co-authored his second book in 1985 with Omond Roger titled "South African destabilization: begging your neighbors".

Joseph and the records

The sanctions study that Dr. Hanlon carried out specifically intended to identify a series of key areas within the South African economy, where with sanctions in place, would not perturb the economy in a very significant way, particularly as far as the job situation was concerned. It must be noted that this was one of the very few times in history that a study was ever done that pertained on how best sanctions can be implemented while at the same time, taking into consideration the people's welfare and development.

One of the findings that came out of the study was that, if the population supported sanctions, the sanctions would work because those imposing the sanctions would not be opposed. A case in point here is the Cuban situation where sanctions have been in place for a long time, but have failed to yield the expected results because the people are against them. As part of the study, experts on the South African economy were invited to shed light on areas where sanctions would not have a terrible affect on employment. If the car industry for instance was targeted for sanctions, given that it employed so many South Africans, the effect would be devastating, as such only areas that could not be subjected to such huge consequences were targeted after the study.

Therefore with immense pressure already being exerted on the mainly white business community in South Africa due to sanctions, at the end of the study a clear message was sent to the government and the business community that the screw could still be tightened on them.

The finding and the message were very influential in forcing the apartheid regime to not only release Nelson Mandela from prison, but also pressured the government to enter into meaningful discussions with the African National Congress (ANC). The collection is made up principally of records that provided material for the first book The Sanctions Handbook as well as records from studies that were commissioned by the Commonwealth, on how to handle the sanctions debacle. Also, the collection comprises records from the Southern Africa Development Coordination Council (SADCC) region as a whole dating from as far back as its creation.

SADCC - Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference

SANCO - South African National Civics Organisation

Civic associations in South Africa has been central to citizen's participation since civics have been central player in establishing a tradition of activism in civil society.

The government created Advisory Boards in 1950 as structures in these townships to represent residents.

Due to internal problems these Advisory Boards were replaced by the Urban Bantu Councils in 1967. This form of representation was also opposed by the black urban residents. As a result in 1977 the Urban Bantu Councils were replaced through the promulgation of the Community Councils Act, which provided for fully elected councils which were again opposed by the black urban residents and councilors

Following the recommendations of the Riekert and Cillie Commissions of Inquiry into the causes of the1976 uprising and the need to improve the living conditions in the black urban townships, the Community Councils were replaced by the Black Local Authorities in terms of the Black Local Authorities Act of 1982.

This new form of representation also aroused dissatisfaction among residents because it was unable to deal with the problems of housing and municipal services. Civics organised boycotts of elections of Black Local Authorities and Community Councils, more than a half a million households heeded civics call to refuse to pay rent to townships authorities.

Civic associations were formed as a response to these forms of representation that the government had established for black township residents. There was dissatisfaction among the residents about these structures (Cloete et al, 1991: 168).

The residents complained that their grievances were not being attended to and the conditions in the townships had not improved. The civic associations were then formed by the residents with the intention of unilaterally replacing the structures created by the government.

Civics in South Africa

Civics date back to the late 1970s and early 1980s as a result of issues in townships around daily living and working conditions. From the early 1980s many radical township-based local associations were formed. Some 200 civics were active in the townships of many cities and towns as well as in the rural villages, including the former TBVC states.

According to Heymans (1993:4) these civics were affiliated to one of the following 13 regional civic associations, which are: Transkei, Border, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Southern OFS, Northern OFS, Southern Natal, Northern Natal and the Midlands, Natal Coast regions, Southern Transvaal, Northern Transvaal and Eastern Transvaal.

Civics and the United Democratic Front

The formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983 was both reinforced and stimulated by the growth of community organisations. Upon its formation the UDF took upon itself the task of campaigning against the tri-cameral constitution and the problems in African townships. Civics played a leading role in the UDF campaigns.

Civics became the central players in the Vaal uprisings of September 1984 in the West Rand townships, the Eastern Cape struggle that began February and March 1985, the consumer boycott that spread from the Western Cape and the long term rent boycotts that crippled local government in Transvaal, Orange Free State and Northern Cape (Swilling, 1993:18).

Upon its formation, the UDF did not have any discernible ideology of its own because it wanted to attract as many organisations as possible. Since a few individuals serving on the executive of the UDF were identifiable with the ANC, the UDF moved closer to the ANC than other liberation movements. Its attempts to be ideologically neutral were compromised by the pressure of these individuals in its midst.

Although civic associations did not produce documents identifying them with the African National Congress (ANC), through their pronouncements and links with the UDF they were associated with the congress ideology.

It would not have been easy for the civics to try and renounce the Freedom Charter while being an integral part of the UDF and none of the civic associations raised an objection when the Charter was accepted by the UDF.

However, since their inception civic associations have been at pains to distance themselves from the ANC because members of other organizations argued that the civic movement was sectarian by aligning itself with one political liberation movement. It can be argued that while in theory the civic movement might have been ideologically non-aligned, in practice it was aligned to the ideology of the congress.

The civic associations made common cause with political organisations, hence Botha (1992:10) points out that the history of the civic association is inextricably bound to the struggle for the dismantling of apartheid institutions.

The Formation, Organisational structure and objectives of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO)

After the unbanning of the ANC and the disbanding of the UDF, hundreds of ANC-sympathetic civics came together in 1991 and were co-ordinated in South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) based on 13 regions.

Moses Mayekiso became the first president. The establishment of SANCO implied that civic associations had to disband and be replaced by SANCO branches; for example the Tembisa Civic Association gave way to the SANCO-Tembisa branch.

The organisational structure of SANCO is subdivided into provinces, regions and branches.

Among the aims and objectives of SANCO were:

To effect empowerment and capacity-building through projects, programs, campaigns, education and training?

To represent its members and negotiate on behalf of its members in dealings with other parties, organisations or authorities on any matter affecting their interest

To comment on, advance or propose any law, action or policy of any authority affecting the interest of members?

To institute legal proceedings and any other action on behalf of its members, and to defend residents? legal interest, either individually or collectively

To co-operate with other progressive and civic organisations both locally and internationally who have similar aims and objectives?

To conduct, co-ordinate and publish research on socio-economic and political democratic development and any other matter affecting members and residents

To establish and promote community projects and co-operatives which are in the interest of the community

To enter into any contracts on behalf of its members with third parties in order to provide benefits for its members

The constitution adopted by SANCO at the conference on 14 February 1993 required that all local branches should dissolve their own constitution and refrain from any local negotiations with municipal authorities, cease all local fund-raising because funds would be collected nationally and subsequently allocated to branches. The official ideology of SANCO depicts civics as independent, non-party political formations that will remain rooted in ?civil society?, rather than becoming contenders for local, regional or national governmental power (Swilling, 1993:1).

Upon its formation, the leadership of the newly-formed community organisation insisted that the movement should refrain from pledging loyalty to any political party. However, at its November 1993 conference, SANCO resolved to support the ANC in the 1994 election campaign (i.e. contrary to the sentiments raised during its formation).

A SANCO / ANC summit was convened in February 1997 to address the deteriorating relations between the two organisations.

SANCO has became an organisation at crossroads and in a bid to save the movement, the leadership has recalled its former president Mayekiso from parliament to head its business arm SANCO Investments Holdings (SIH) which was formed in 1996 and generally to beef up the organisation.

In October 1997, the Transkei SANCO's regional leadership announced its secession from the national organisation, citing its dissatisfaction with the organisation's ANC ties, promising to support independent candidates in the 1999 elections and complaining about the dropping of the RDP in favor of GEAR (Gumede, 1997:5).

After 1994, SANCO found itself with the difficulty coming to grips with post-apartheid politics. The space for protest activities became more constrained. As a result SANCO, became a civic body marginalized by government. SANCO was particularly criticized for continuing rent and bond boycotts.

According to Hlogwane, the organisation's decision to align itself with the ANC was necessitated by the demise of apartheid, where the ANC, and SANCO in particular pledged to improve social service delivery in townships. However, in the new dispensation, civics spent most of the last five years fighting for survival. The post-apartheid era conjured up problems they found difficult to cope with. Lack of income for civics in the post-apartheid era has pushed them into a state of near paralysis.

Without a specific role, civic leaders found it difficult to convince donors to fund the organisation.

Despite all the problems suffered by SANCO in post-apartheid South Africa, it has once again endorsed the ANC in the coming local government elections.

The sentiments raised by Hlogwane at the SANCO / ANC summit in 1997 and reports that suggests SANCO might transform into political organization because of the inability to play a meaningful role in post-apartheid South Africa, and their support to the ANC in 1999 local government elections

It is evident that SANCO is facing a serious challenge which is threatening the organisation?s survival. SANCO has once again put itself in an unfortunate position by endorsing its support to the ANC in the 1999 local government elections. SANCO, which was expected to play a watchdog role, seems to have failed in its endeavor to find a meaningful role in post-apartheid South Africa.

Civic associations in South Africa has been central to citizen's participation since civics have been central player in establishing a tradition of activism in civil society.

The government created Advisory Boards in 1950 as structures in these townships to represent residents.

Due to internal problems these Advisory Boards were replaced by the Urban Bantu Councils in 1967. This form of representation was also opposed by the black urban residents. As a result in 1977 the Urban Bantu Councils were replaced through the promulgation of the Community Councils Act, which provided for fully elected councils which were again opposed by the black urban residents and councilors

Following the recommendations of the Riekert and Cillie Commissions of Inquiry into the causes of the1976 uprising and the need to improve the living conditions in the black urban townships, the Community Councils were replaced by the Black Local Authorities in terms of the Black Local Authorities Act of 1982.

This new form of representation also aroused dissatisfaction among residents because it was unable to deal with the problems of housing and municipal services. Civics organised boycotts of elections of Black Local Authorities and Community Councils, more than a half a million households heeded civics call to refuse to pay rent to townships authorities.

Civic associations were formed as a response to these forms of representation that the government had established for black township residents. There was dissatisfaction among the residents about these structures (Cloete et al, 1991: 168).

The residents complained that their grievances were not being attended to and the conditions in the townships had not improved. The civic associations were then formed by the residents with the intention of unilaterally replacing the structures created by the government.

Civics in South Africa

Civics date back to the late 1970s and early 1980s as a result of issues in townships around daily living and working conditions. From the early 1980s many radical township-based local associations were formed. Some 200 civics were active in the townships of many cities and towns as well as in the rural villages, including the former TBVC states.

According to Heymans (1993:4) these civics were affiliated to one of the following 13 regional civic associations, which are: Transkei, Border, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Southern OFS, Northern OFS, Southern Natal, Northern Natal and the Midlands, Natal Coast regions, Southern Transvaal, Northern Transvaal and Eastern Transvaal.

Civics and the United Democratic Front

The formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983 was both reinforced and stimulated by the growth of community organisations. Upon its formation the UDF took upon itself the task of campaigning against the tri-cameral constitution and the problems in African townships. Civics played a leading role in the UDF campaigns.

Civics became the central players in the Vaal uprisings of September 1984 in the West Rand townships, the Eastern Cape struggle that began February and March 1985, the consumer boycott that spread from the Western Cape and the long term rent boycotts that crippled local government in Transvaal, Orange Free State and Northern Cape (Swilling, 1993:18).

Upon its formation, the UDF did not have any discernible ideology of its own because it wanted to attract as many organisations as possible. Since a few individuals serving on the executive of the UDF were identifiable with the ANC, the UDF moved closer to the ANC than other liberation movements. Its attempts to be ideologically neutral were compromised by the pressure of these individuals in its midst.

Although civic associations did not produce documents identifying them with the African National Congress (ANC), through their pronouncements and links with the UDF they were associated with the congress ideology.

It would not have been easy for the civics to try and renounce the Freedom Charter while being an integral part of the UDF and none of the civic associations raised an objection when the Charter was accepted by the UDF.

However, since their inception civic associations have been at pains to distance themselves from the ANC because members of other organizations argued that the civic movement was sectarian by aligning itself with one political liberation movement. It can be argued that while in theory the civic movement might have been ideologically non-aligned, in practice it was aligned to the ideology of the congress.

The civic associations made common cause with political organisations, hence Botha (1992:10) points out that the history of the civic association is inextricably bound to the struggle for the dismantling of apartheid institutions.

The Formation, Organisational structure and objectives of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO)

After the unbanning of the ANC and the disbanding of the UDF, hundreds of ANC-sympathetic civics came together in 1991 and were co-ordinated in South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) based on 13 regions.

Moses Mayekiso became the first president. The establishment of SANCO implied that civic associations had to disband and be replaced by SANCO branches; for example the Tembisa Civic Association gave way to the SANCO-Tembisa branch.

The organisational structure of SANCO is subdivided into provinces, regions and branches.

Among the aims and objectives of SANCO were:

To effect empowerment and capacity-building through projects, programs, campaigns, education and training?

To represent its members and negotiate on behalf of its members in dealings with other parties, organisations or authorities on any matter affecting their interest

To comment on, advance or propose any law, action or policy of any authority affecting the interest of members?

To institute legal proceedings and any other action on behalf of its members, and to defend residents? legal interest, either individually or collectively

To co-operate with other progressive and civic organisations both locally and internationally who have similar aims and objectives?

To conduct, co-ordinate and publish research on socio-economic and political democratic development and any other matter affecting members and residents

To establish and promote community projects and co-operatives which are in the interest of the community

To enter into any contracts on behalf of its members with third parties in order to provide benefits for its members

The constitution adopted by SANCO at the conference on 14 February 1993 required that all local branches should dissolve their own constitution and refrain from any local negotiations with municipal authorities, cease all local fund-raising because funds would be collected nationally and subsequently allocated to branches. The official ideology of SANCO depicts civics as independent, non-party political formations that will remain rooted in ?civil society?, rather than becoming contenders for local, regional or national governmental power (Swilling, 1993:1).

Upon its formation, the leadership of the newly-formed community organisation insisted that the movement should refrain from pledging loyalty to any political party. However, at its November 1993 conference, SANCO resolved to support the ANC in the 1994 election campaign (i.e. contrary to the sentiments raised during its formation).

A SANCO / ANC summit was convened in February 1997 to address the deteriorating relations between the two organisations.

SANCO has became an organisation at crossroads and in a bid to save the movement, the leadership has recalled its former president Mayekiso from parliament to head its business arm SANCO Investments Holdings (SIH) which was formed in 1996 and generally to beef up the organisation.

In October 1997, the Transkei SANCO's regional leadership announced its secession from the national organisation, citing its dissatisfaction with the organisation's ANC ties, promising to support independent candidates in the 1999 elections and complaining about the dropping of the RDP in favor of GEAR (Gumede, 1997:5).

After 1994, SANCO found itself with the difficulty coming to grips with post-apartheid politics. The space for protest activities became more constrained. As a result SANCO, became a civic body marginalized by government. SANCO was particularly criticized for continuing rent and bond boycotts.

According to Hlogwane, the organisation's decision to align itself with the ANC was necessitated by the demise of apartheid, where the ANC, and SANCO in particular pledged to improve social service delivery in townships. However, in the new dispensation, civics spent most of the last five years fighting for survival. The post-apartheid era conjured up problems they found difficult to cope with. Lack of income for civics in the post-apartheid era has pushed them into a state of near paralysis.

Without a specific role, civic leaders found it difficult to convince donors to fund the organisation.

Despite all the problems suffered by SANCO in post-apartheid South Africa, it has once again endorsed the ANC in the coming local government elections.

The sentiments raised by Hlogwane at the SANCO / ANC summit in 1997 and reports that suggests SANCO might transform into political organization because of the inability to play a meaningful role in post-apartheid South Africa, and their support to the ANC in 1999 local government elections

It is evident that SANCO is facing a serious challenge which is threatening the organisation?s survival. SANCO has once again put itself in an unfortunate position by endorsing its support to the ANC in the 1999 local government elections. SANCO, which was expected to play a watchdog role, seems to have failed in its endeavor to find a meaningful role in post-apartheid South Africa.

The Office of the Auditor-General audits the financial transactions of all governmental or public bodies and reports directly to Parliament.

This collection of copies of reports of the Office of the Auditor-General falls into two categories, namely the Report of the Auditor-General on the Accounts of the TRC covering the periods 1995 – 1996 and 1996 – 1997, as well as the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statement of the TRC for the periods 1997 – 1998 and for the years ending 31 March 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.These Reports are public records and are freely available in the public domain.

The Office of the Auditor-General donated them to the South African History Archive to promote transparency.

Mark was educated at the Waldorf School (postulated on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner) and at a private school that encouraged creative, unstructured learning. He completed a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Political Science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg where he was also a lecturer from 1982-1987.

He holds his Ph.D. from the University of Warwick, on social movements. As an activist in the anti-apartheid struggle, Mark concluded that transformation will only be possible if the urban poor have access to the kind of technical skills and expertise that the state and business can access.

He has received various merit awards, including election into the international Ashoka Fellowship in 1992. Mark Swilling, community activist, social entrepreneur, urban sociologist and policy advisor, has been building a southern African people-centered urban development movement to strengthen groups serving the urban poor and to transform the institutional, planning, and urban government mechanisms of southern African cities.

Professor Mark Swilling is currently the Division Head: Sustainable Development in the School of Public Management and Planning at the University of Stellenbosch, Academic Director of the Sustainability Institute, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Warwick Institute of Governance and Public Management, Warwick University (UK).

Mark has helped to establish many civic initiatives, including the National People's Bank, a federation of community banks and various service organizations in South African cities. He is widely published and is on the Editorial Board of leading academic journals, namely Urban Forum, Administratio Publico, and Politeia. He has assisted in the initiation of various NGOs in various parts of South Africa and has contributed extensively to public debate in the popular press on issues related to development, democratisation, local governance and social movements.

Mark Swilling was co-founder, former Director and Professor of the Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM), in the faculty of Management at University of the Witwatersrand, 1993-1997, that trained post-apartheid civil servants.

The programme was established to prepare South Africans from historically disadvantaged backgrounds for senior leadership positions in the post-1994 democratic government.

Prior to joining the Graduate School of Public and Development, Professor Swilling worked for PLANACT - an urban development NGO which he helped establish in 1985. Here his main duties included providing the democratic movement with technical and policy support during the lead-up to the first democratic elections in 1994, with particular reference to urban development and the transformation of local government.

He also participated in the active design, facilitation and implementation of large-scale housing delivery projects in the Eastern Cape, North West Province, and Gauteng. He assisted in the initiation of various NGOs in various parts of South Africa, is on the Editorial Boards of leading academic journals, and serves on the International Advisory Committee of CASSAD, Nigeria. With others, Mark founded PLANACT to provide this service.

However, he remained based in the University as a lecturer and then as a full-time policy researcher. He re-joined PLANACT full-time in 1990 and worked for PLANACT on a full-time basis until 1993.

Mark Swilling also helped establish the Metropolitan Chamber that negotiated an entirely new urban system for the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area.

This collection is made up of documents containing information that relates to the negotiations that took place at the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the subsequent discussions that would precede the first ever democratic, free and fair elections in South Africa in 1994.

This collection is the submission made to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by a group of South African Police (SAP) former generals under the banner of an organisation that they called Foundation for Equality before the Law. It is an attempt to defend the role of the South African Police (SAP) in the creation and maintenance of the Apartheid system.

To this end it offers analyses, from the perspective of Apartheid apologists, of various aspects of the Apartheid system and the resistance to it by opponents to Apartheid for the period under examination by the TRC.

Contextual background: Major-General HD Stadler and other former generals of the SAP established the Foundation for Equality before the Law specifically as a platform from which they could compile this particular submission, which legitimises the violation of human rights by the SAP. The submission was presented to the TRC in June 1996.

Access: No access restrictions

Comments: This submission is a copy of the original that is in the possession of the chief compiler, Major-General HD Stadler.

The Institute of Healing of Memories (IHOM) was established in 1998 and developed out of the chaplaincy work of the Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture that was conducted in partnership with the Counselling Working Group of the Religious Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The focus of the IHOM is the healing role of dealing with memory. The IHOM was conceptualized as a platform for victims of human rights abuses who could not testify before the TRC.

To this end victims, the majority of whom were active in the anti-Apartheid struggle, participate in three-day workshops geared towards personal healing and societal reconstruction.

The healing of memories workshops are modeled as parallel processes to the TRC.

Hence the records of this organisation are in the main workshops in which people could tell their stories. Because of their confidential and sensitive contents, these records are not in the public domain.

An integral component of the workshops is the creation of liturgical and artistic elements of healing such as the writing of poetry, song and prayer as well as short performances, which in themselves constitute records about the activities of the organisation.

Records that are in the public domain can be accessed from the IHOM website.

The URL is located at: info@healingofmemories.co.za

Other enquiries should be directed to Fr. Michael Lapsley at: healing@mindspring.co.za