ABM - Abahlali base Mjondolo (Shack-dwellers Movement)

ACAOSA - Association for Community Based Advice Officers in South Africa

AEC - Anti-Eviction Campaign

AMCU – Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union -

ANC - African National Congress

APF - Anti-Privatisation Forum

BCEA - Basic Conditions of Employment Act

BBBEE - Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment

BEE - Black Economic Empowerment

CAPS - Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements

CALS - Centre for Applied Legal Studies

CASAC - Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution

CBO - Community-Based Organisation

CC - Constitutional Court

CCMA - Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration

CCS - Centre for Civil Society

CEC - Central Executive Committee

CER - Centre for Environmental Rights

CoRMSA - Consortium for Refugees and Migrants South Africa

COSATU - Congress of South African Trade Unions

DA - Democratic Alliance

DMR - Department of Minerals and Energy

DOJ - Department of Justice

EE - Equal Education

EFF - Economic Freedom Fighters

EJNF - Environmental Justice Networking Forum

FXI - Freedom of Expression Institute

HRC - Human Rights Commission

HSRC - Human Sciences Research Council

ICASA - Independent Communications Authority of South Africa

IDASA - Institute for Democracy in South Africa

IDP – Integrated Development Plan -

IPID - Independent Police Investigation Directorate

ISS - Institute for Security Studies

JSC - Judicial Services Commission

LASA - Legal Aid South Africa

LHR - Lawyers for Human Rights

LPM - Landless People’s Movement

LRA - Labour Relations Act

LRC - Legal Resources Centre

MDGs - Millennium Development Goals

MSA - Municipal Systems Act

MFMA - Municipal Finance Management Act

MPRDA - Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act

NADEL - National Association of Democratic Lawyers

NEMA - National Environmental Management Act

NGO - Non-Governmental Organisations

NIA - National Intelligence Agency

NPA - National Prosecuting Authority

NUMSA - National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa

ODAC - Open Democracy Advice Centre

OUTA - Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance

PAIA - Promotion of Access to Information Act

PAJA - Promotion of Access to Administrative Justice Act

PEPUDA - The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act

PIE - Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act

POSIB - Protection of State Information Bill (the ‘Secrecy Bill’)

R2K - Right to Know Campaign

RCL - Representative Council of Learners (Schools)

RDP - Reconstruction and Development Programme

RGA - Regulation of Gatherings Act

SABC - South African Broadcasting Corporation

SACP - South African Communist Party

SACE – South African Council of Educators -

SADC Tribunal – Southern African Development Community Tribunal -

SALC - Southern Africa Litigation Centre

SAMWU - South African Municipal Workers Union

SAPS - South African Police Services

SARS - South African Revenue Service

SASSA - South African Social Security Agency

SASA - South African Schools Act

SATU – South African Teachers Union -

SCA - Supreme Court of Appeal

SERI - Socio-Economic Rights Institute

SDCEA - South Durban Community Environmental Alliance

SJC - Social Justice Coalition

Sonke - Sonke Gender Justice

SSA - State Security Agency (also SASSA – South African State Security Agency)

SWEAT - Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force

TAC - Treatment Action Campaign

UISP - Upgrading Informal Settlements Programme

The Constitution and Civil Society Project collection documents a multi-faceted research and archival project conducted by the South African History Archive (SAHA) since 2014 with the primary aim to explore the changing relationship between civil society and the South African Constitution as we approach the 20th anniversary of the formal adoption of the Constitution in 1996.

The collection to date consists of thirty-three interviews (audio-recordings and transcripts) conducted by Dale McKinley with leaders of a range of civil society organisations as well as individual activists, academics and lawyers. The interviews cover the three main sectors of civil society – legal/litigation; NGO/academic, and community/union/activist. Interviewees for this project include: Alfani Yoyo (Consortium for Refugees and Migrants South Africa), Alison Tilley (Open Democracy Advice Centre), Booby Peek (Groundwork), Bonita Meyersfeld (Centre for Applied Legal Studies - University of the Witwatersrand), Cherith Sanger (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force), David Fig (BioWatch), Dustin Kramer (Social Justice Coalition), Elroy Paulus and Lynette Maart (Black Sash), Gareth Newham (Institute for Security Studies), Geoff Budlender (Human Rights Advocate/ legal Resources Centre), Jaap de Visser (Community Law Centre - University of the Western Cape), Jackie Dugard (Human Rights activist/legal scholar/Socio-Economic Rights Institute), Jacob van Garderen and David Cote (Lawyers for Human Rights), Jane Duncan (ex-Director of Freedom of Expression Institute; University of Johannesburg Department of Media/Communications), Janet Love (Legal Resources Centre), John Appolis (veteran unionist and political activist), John Clarke (Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance), Judith February (ex-IDASA; Institute for Security Studies), Kate Tissington (Socio-Economic Rights Institute), Mark Heywood (Section 27), Mashao Chauke (Schubart Park Residents Association), Melissa Fourie (Centre for Environmental Rights), Nathan Geffen (ex-TAC leader; editor of GroundUp), Nicole Fritz (Southern Africa Litigation Centre), Nthuthuzo Ndzomo and Bayanda Mazwi (Equal Education), Patrick Bond (Centre for Civil Society – University of KwaZulu-Natal), Prakashnee Govender (COSATU Parliamentary Office), Richard Callan (University of Cape Town Law School), Roger Ronnie (ex-General Secretary of SAMWU/unionist and activist), S’bu Zikode (Abahlali base Mjondolo), Samantha Hargreaves (ex-Landless People's Movement/Women’s Rights activist), Sandra Liebenberg (University of Stellenbosch Law School) and Simon Delaney (Human Rights lawyer - independent).

Complementing the interviews is a collection of research materials on crucial constitutional rights cases that have come before the Constitutional Court as well as academic, legal and activist materials written over the past two decades on civil society’s interpretation of and interactions with the constitution.

The issues explored during the research phase of this project include:

• The impact of the constitution on the work of civil society;

• The changing attitudes of civil society towards, and levels of trust in, the constitution;

• The extent to which the constitution is accessible to civil society as a tool for transformation.

These oral history and research materials as well as the project report “Riding the Transitional Rollercoaster – the shifting relationship between civil society and the Constitution in-post apartheid South Africa” by Dale McKinley form part of a broader SAHA project collection on the Constitution.

The Constitution and Civil Society Project collection also builds on the materials contained in the Constitution Hill Trust collection (AL3295). The latter comprise a wealth of materials that speak not only to the history of the site, but also the process by which heritage sites are conceptualised and developed, and the vision and development of the constitutional court within the site. It is a combination of historical archive (donated materials related to the history of the site, going back over a century) and institutional archive (materials generated by Constitution Hill Trust relating to activities of the site, and of the Constitutional Court). Materials have been donated by ex-prisoners and their families (such as drawings done by Fatima Meer while imprisoned), as well as ex-wardens and staff (such as handcuffs, batons, uniforms, etc.).

The Gender Education Training Network (GETNET) was a feminist political education organisation formed in South Africa in the 1990s that is best known for creating spaces of thinking and learning to strengthen action and intervention at numerous levels from 1992 to 2014. Recognising the need for gender transformation, GETNET was the first gender training organisation in South Africa that aimed to provide interventions to transform gender relations within South African society. The GETNET programmes were based on four key activities, namely gender training, research, materials development and regular networking events.

Glenda Webster was married to David Webster from 25 January 1969 until 5 December 1988. They both grew up in Luanshya in Zambia, attending the same class at Luanshya Primary School in 1957. They met again in 1964 as first year students when David was at the University of the Witwatersrand and Glenda at Rhodes University. David joined Glenda at Rhodes the following year where they both completed their studies, Glenda a B Com with UED and David a BA Honours in Social Anthropology.

After they got married in 1969 they went to Mozambique where David embarked on fieldwork for his PhD, living for a year amongst the vaChopi in the chiefdom of Sammuson Mcumbi. This would prove a watershed moment in both their lives.

They returned to East London, South Africa where David worked as a sub-editor on the Daily Dispatch, and Glenda as a clerk. In 1971 they moved to Cape Town and then Johannesburg. David obtained a post as junior lecturer in the Wits Anthropology Department, while Glenda worked as a high school teacher. In 1973 she started working as a course writer for the then Barclays Bank (now FNB). This was to start her professional career in two fields: writing and editing for publication, and writing training for young professionals. This was followed by a move into journalism with Management Magazine and the Financial Mail in 1975. In the same year David was awarded his PhD, supervised by Professor David Hammond-Tooke, from Rhodes University.

June 1976 proved another watershed moment for the Webster’s. The Soweto uprising happened at a time when David was about to leave on his first sabbatical year at Manchester University in England. He spent two years in Manchester while Glenda had to return home not being able to find work. After David’s return in 1978 they moved into the Crown Mines community of ‘the white left’. This would prove a third watershed moment for it was during this time that several people were detained and incarcerated without trial, many of which they knew personally. They both became involved in detainee support work.

David Webster became one of the founder members of the Detainees’ Parents’ Support Committee (DPSC). A founder member of the Detainee Support Committee (DESCOM), Glenda Webster joined the Black Sash in 1983 and was appointed magazine editor at the start of the first State of Emergency in May 1985. She remained editor until the Black Sash National Committee moved to Cape Town at the end of 1986. During that time she worked at SACHED Trust as a course writer. David Webster was assassinated on 1 May 1989 outside his home in Troyeville, Johannesburg.

Regarding her tribute to David as a "defender of legality and due process" Glenda Webster says:

“From my experience I believe that David’s involvement in the DPSC gave him a role in struggle against apartheid that was most meaningful to him. It suited his values and his personality. After he was killed I received many letters of consolation. One came from Prof Etienne Mureinik who was the Dean of the Law School at Wits University where I was working as tutor at the time. He described David as a "fearless defender of legality and due process". In my opinion, it was the best and most meaningful attribute I had received about David.”

Glenda Webster’s essay “David Webster: A fearless defence of legality and due process?” seeks to explore the validity of Prof Mureinik’s perception of David’s contribution.

This introduction is based on information provided by the donor.

ANC - African National Congress

BLA - Black Local Authorities Act 102 of 1983

CCB - Civil Cooperation Bureau

DA - Democratic Alliance

DESCOM - Detainees' Support Committee

DPSC - Detainees' Parents' Support Committee

GLA - General Laws Amendment Act 62 of 1966

JMC - Joint Management Council

JSC - Judicial Services Commission

PFP - Progressive Federal Party

SADF - South African Defence Force

TRC - Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa

UDF - United Democratic Front

The weekly newspaper "Advance" was the successor to the newspaper "Guardian" and was published under this name from November 1952 to October 1954.

Brian Bunting, who became managing editor of the "Guardian" in September 1948, had changed the name of the newspaper from "Guardian" to "Clarion" between May to August 1952, after which it was named "Advance". In October 1954 the name was changed again to "New Age", and from December 1962 to March 1963, after the banning of "New Age" the newspaper was published as "Spark". The final edition of "Spark" appeared on the 28 March 1963, after the banning of its editor and other people like Sonia Bunting, Rica Hodgson, Wolfie Kodesh, Ruth First and Fred Carneson, amongst many others.

The all-white South African Football Association, later known as Football Association of South Africa (FASA), was formed in 1892. SAFA was admitted to the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) in 1952. Later in 1956 SAFA changed its name to FASA, deleting the race exclusion clause from its Constitution. That and FASA's affiliation with the South African Bantu Football Association (SABFA) in 1958 would allow FIFA to officially recognise FASA as the sole governing body of soccer in South Africa. But in 1960 the Confederation of African Football (CAF) expels South Africa, which was followed by FIFA's suspension of FASA in 1964. The FIFA Congress in Montreal in 1976 finally decided on the total expulsion of FASA, after South Africa had already been expelled from the Olympic movement in 1970.

FASA together with other National Football bodies in South Africa unified in 1991 to become the South African Football Association (SAFA), allowing South Africa to join FIFA and international soccer again in 1992.

William Matlala is a freelance photographer specializing in Labour and Trade Union activities, who has served the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in his capacity as photographer particularly in the 1990s.

He was born and grow up in the Dithabaneng village in Mphahlele district Northern province (Limpopo). After leaving school he went to seek employment in Johannesburg. He found himself in Germiston on the East Rand where he worked in Trimpack, a food company. He started as a general worker and later trained as a machine operator. In Trimpack he joined the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) and was elected shop steward as well as chairman of the shop steward committee.

Whilst working in Trimpack he became interested in photography and started corresponding with the African School of Photography in Pretoria, where he obtained a Diploma. Initially he took photographs of colleagues at work and at their home with their families, and became fully involved in community activities particularly after the company closed in 1988. He then underwent more training in the field of photography through the Department of Manpower and later at the Market theather photo workshop and the South African Union of Journalists.

He built a large photographic archive throughout the 1990s, mainly of his own photographs but also of other South African photographers like Anna Zieminski, Cedric Nunn, Santu Mofokeng, Paul Weinberg, Morice Smithers and Abdul Shariff. His photographs focus on workers at their workplace, union activities and gatherings, community work and social issues. It covers political event during the time of transition from Apartheid to a democratic South Africa. The collection also includes a large section on personalities from various spheres ranging from trade unions, politics, art and business.

George Molefe (1901-1986) was the founder of Newell High School in Port Elizabeth. He was also the first African Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and one of the first graduates of Fort Hare University.

The South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) was launched in 1987, at the height of the State of Emergency. It brought under its banner the various local youth organisations that had sprung up all over the country. SAYCO became an important affiliate of the United Democratic Front (UDF) by representing a vast and militant constituency.

SAYCO was a unitary structure with organisations at a regional and local level. SAYCO National consisted of the national Office bearers, Head Office staff and various departments, e.g. Women, Labour or Pioneers. Peter Mokaba was the President and Rapu Molekane was the General Secretary.

After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, SAYCO immediately began the process of re-establishing the ANC Youth League, together with the ANC Youth Section. The Provisional National Youth Committee was set up to oversee this process. SAYCO dissolved once the ANC Youth League was established.

In the formative years before 1992, both SAHA and the People's History Trust were managed by activists without any formal archival training. These custodians applied techniques more often used in libraries for the collection, arrangement and description of archival materials collected or donated to the organisations. Textual materials were catalogued by subject with little attention paid to preserving documentation in accordance with the original context of the materials, what is often referred to as 'provenance' in archival discourse. After 1992, the principles of provenance began to inform the processing of SAHA material. The collections made accessible before this date could not always be rearranged into separate collections arranged by source or donor. As a result many remained, arranged by subject, in this collection. Due to the subject ordering of this collection, culled from a myriad of sources, for many years this collection was referred to as the "Database Collection".

This is a large and extensive collection, which had been donated to the periodicals section of the University of the Witwatersrand's Library. The following periodicals remain in SAHA's holdings: 'ANC Weekly News briefings', 1979-1984; 'Workers' Unity' (Organ of SACTU) Nos. 1-28, 38, 40, 41, 67 and 70 and a special issue on JB Marks 'Resister: Journal of the Committee of Southern African War Resistance (COSAWR) March 1979-June 1990.