The Brian Currin Collection offers a small insight into the life of a person who, trained as a lawyer, dedicated his life and work for the vindication of human rights fearlessly and with integrity.

Currin, born 20 September 1950, studied law at the University of Stellenbosch. He practiced in Pretoria from 1977 to 1987, specializing in labour law and civil and human rights. Currin established a labour practice from which he represented mainly trade unions and workers in the politically stormy 1980s.

His experiences in these fields of law led him to establish the National Directorate of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) in 1987. He led the LHR until the end of 1994. He then worked as an independent consultant in two areas:

As a legal consultant he dealt with issues relating to constitutional law, human rights, labour and employment law;

Currin acted as a conflict resolution consultant in arbitration, mediation and negotiation for parties from labour, community and politics.

In 1989 Currin led a delegation of human rights lawyers to meet with the then exiled African National Congress's (ANC) Constitutional Team. During the Multi-Party negotiations (1991 to 1993) he made representations to the Technical Committee that had been tasked with drawing up the Bill of Rights.

In the field of conflict resolution Currin has mediated disputes both nationally and internationally. In addition to mediation interventions, Currin was instrumental in numerous transformation processes such as the establishment of the Broad Transformation Forum at the University of South Africa (UNISA), the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Negotiating Forum, the Transformation of Student Governance at the University of Pretoria (UP) as well as servicing the following government departments: Education, Environmental Affairs, Office of the Deputy President, Safety and Security and Foreign Affairs.

The records accumulations that resulted from these particular areas of work do not form part of this Collection, but are in the custody of the archives and registries of the individual organisations for which Currin had undertaken the interventions.

While the national conflict resolution interventions often went hand in hand with transformation processes, the international interventions, to wit in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Palestine and Israel, were oftentimes purely attempts at conflict resolution, mediation or acting in advisory capacities.

Interventions in Northern Ireland form the main part of Currin's international engagement. Indeed he 'commutes' between South Africa and Northern Ireland to this end. Work in Northern Ireland includes:

Acting as the Chairperson since 1998 of one of the Commissions of the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement (GFA) which represents the British and Northern Ireland governments

Mediation of the Drumcree/Orange Order standoff in 2000 and 2001

Appointment as Chairperson of the Sentence Review Commissioners by the British Government in terms of the Northern Ireland (Sentences Act) of 1998.

This body provides for the early release of political prisoners.

While the actual records accumulations generated by these activities reside with the organisation that created the records, there are references in this Collection to many of these activities.

Currin was highly sought after for his expertise and engagement in the processes of conflict resolution and transformation. As his records testify, he was requested to deliver presentations, or act as an expert advisor in these broader fields in the Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe as well as in North America, always part of the transnational community involved in transitional justice and human rights

With regard to the release and representation of political prisoners in South Africa, Currin has been involved in the following initiatives:

From 1990 to 1991 he headed the Political Prisoners Release Programme that acted in terms of an agreement concluded to that end by the Apartheid government and the ANC

Currin was both a Trustee and Board member of the South African Legal Defence Fund which funded and represented anti-Apartheid activists in the political trials of the early 1990s

From 1993 to 1995 Currin was the Chairperson of the Department of Justice Advisory Committee on Amnesty and Indemnity for Political Prisoners. He was appointed by Cabinet to make recommendations on amnesty and indemnity to prepare the way for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

While still the National Director of the LHR (in 1993), Currin challenged the mass destruction of state records ordered by Johan Mostert, Head of the former Security Secretariat. Currin took the Apartheid State President, the Minister of National Education (the then State Archives Service SAS, now National Archives, was an office within the National Education Ministry), the Director of Archives and the Director-General of National Intelligence Services (NIS) to the former Supreme Court to argue that state records, even when 'classified' fall within the ambit of the current Archives Act, which provides for conditions for destruction or, to employ the technical term, its 'disposal'. Currin's was a Pyrrhic victory at best.

There are references to this court challenge in Currin Collection. A brief discussion of this intervention can be found in the Final Report of the TRC: Volume 1 Chapter 8: 'The Destruction of Records'. Citation details of the court case are: Case No. 19304/93, Supreme Court of South Africa, Transvaal Provincial Division.

In 2003 Currin was made Director of Diversity and Transformation Solutions, a BEE company that operates in the fields of dispute management, management consulting and transformation facilitation. However, Currin still operates internationally as well.

While the Brian Currin Collection is a private collection, the records do give substantial insight into the professional life of the donor. As a private collection it is incomplete in the sense that a number of items that were regarded as being too personal for the public domain were removed from the Collection. Some items were faxed transmissions and had faded to the point of being illegible.

These documents were disposed of, while those that had maintained a certain degree of legibility have been photocopied and form part of the collection. This was done in collaboration with Currin himself.

The processor of this Collection was given several lever arch files of documents. After a number of bouts of sorting, the records were divided into three discrete groups:

Personal letters, which provide insight into personal and working relationships with individuals and organisations

Diary files that covers events over a period of 7 years, from 1987 to 1993

Subject files including topics such as: Political prisoners and Indemnity

The records are paper-based records and comprise correspondence, diary entries, invitations to events, programmes of conferences and the like, newspaper clippings and cards. However, an audio cassette entitled: 'Diakonia Breakfast Briefing 4/8/94. Brian Currin on the Truth Commission,' forms part of an otherwise entirely paper-based collection. [Ethel appears to have misplaces this cassette as it is not in the boxes.]

As the largest part of the collection comprises 'diary files' consisting of multiple types of documents - traditional diary entries, letters, newspaper articles, drafts of addresses and press statements - the methodology employed was to arrange and classify the records/records accumulations strictly chronologically - but taking into account how the donor had arranged his documents in the lever arch files.

ACCORD African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes -

ACLU American Civil Liberties Union -

AIUSA Amnesty International USA -

ANC African National Congress -

ARMSCOR Armaments Corporation of South Africa -

CCMA Commission for Mediation and Arbitration -

CIDSE Cooperation Internationale pour le Developpement et la Solidarit -

CODESA Convention for a Democratic South Africa -

COMSA Commonwealth Observer Mission to South Africa -

CRIMSA Criminological Society of Southern Africa -

EAC Employee Advisory Centre -

FOYSA Four Outstanding Young South Africans Award -

GFA Good Friday Agreement -

IDDA Institute for Democracy and Development in Africa -

IRA Irish Republican Army -

JMC Joint Management Committee -

LHR Lawyers for Human Rights -

MEC Member of the Executive Council -

NDA National Development Agency -

NEHAWU National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union -

NGO Non - governmental organisation

NI Northern Ireland -

NIACRO Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders -

NOVIB Nederlandse Organisatie voor Internationale Bijstand (Also: Oxfam - Netherlands)

SACBC Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference -

SACCON South African Constitutional Consultants -

SADF South African Defence Force -

SADTU South African Democratic Teachers' Union -

SAHA South African History Archive -

SAHWCO South African Health Workers' Congress -

SAIRR South Africa Institute of Race Relations -

SAP South African Police -

SRC Sentence Review Commission -

TEC Transitional Executive Council -

TNDT Transitional national Development Trust -

UCIP Catholic Union of the Press -

UDF United Democratic Front -

UN United Nations -

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation -

UNISA University of South Africa -

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Wendy Watson was appointed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to manage its KwaZulu-Natal/Free State regional office in Durban for the entire duration of its operations.

The records of this collection reflect Watson's private reflections on some of the tasks which she faced as the Regional Manager for the TRC in the KwaZulu-Natal/Free State Region.

Working Group on International Relations (WGIR)

During the late 1980s, it became apparent that momentous changes were afoot in South Africa. These changes to some degree mirrored changes that were taking place on the African continent as well as internationally. In the international arena, a new spirit of rapprochement existed between the USA and USSR. Traditional 'East vs. West' polarities were receding. The Cold War was ending; Soviet Communism was in decline; Germany would soon be reunified. On the African continent, negotiated settlements were being sought for conflicts in Namibia, Angola and Mozambique.

In South Africa, too, the winds of change were blowing. Continued mass-based protest, together with international diplomatic and economic interventions, had brought South Africa to the point where it was increasingly clear that Apartheid was in the last stages of its ignominious existence. However, the African National Congress (ANC) was still banned, along with many other organisations. The United Democratic Front (UDF) and other organs of the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) spearheaded resistance efforts within the country. The WGIR was a project of the UDF set up to facilitate the following aims:[1]

To research international events and the institutions and governments that influence such events.

To initiate consultation and evaluation of events and policies and the data that flows from such research.

To provide a structured reference point within the country easily accessible to community groups.

To provide those parties engaged in the process of peaceful and fundamental change the data base and access to an evaluative process on international questions of importance to the country.

The material in the collection conforms to these aims. International events are analysed, and relevance to South Africa is evaluated. Contacts and consultations with international organizations are fostered. On the unbanning of the ANC and other parties, the WGIR served as a contact point between the newly released leaders and the international community. The WGIR also facilitated links between prospective black leaders and international training providers, particularly in the areas of public administration and science and technology.

As the ANC became better organized, it developed its own departments dealing with international relations. The WGIR thus shifted its focus from macro international relations to networking with local community based organizations in the area of development.

The Jane Argall Collection comprises documents that reflect the research work that Argall had done for the KwaZulu-Natal/Free State regional office of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in her capacity as a researcher in the Research Department of the Durban TRC regional office.

Argall produced, but also co-authored the documents that make up the collection.

The office operated across the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, whereby KwaZulu-Natal was treated as two separate regional entries.

The records accumulations can be divided into three parts. The three areas are the Free State region, the KwaZulu and Natal regions and miscellaneous research documents.

Foci of the research of KwaZulu-Natal include the widespread political violence in that Province. The research interrogated the collaboration between two police forces, namely the South African Police and the KwaZulu Police with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

Historical overviews of clashing political activity and the ensuing state and parastatal repression (chiefly through the agency of the IFP) in the region are provided as well as analyses of civil conflict resulting from the release of former President Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC) - the so-called 'Seven Day War'.

In the case of the Free State region enquiry into violations of human rights focused on the fact that the Apartheid state had established two 'homelands' in that region resulting in resistance to Apartheid being directed at 'homeland' authorities and institutions.

Another point of focus was the phenomenon that the Free State was the closest neighbour to the sovereign state of Lesotho, a fact which facilitated South Africans entering Lesotho to join the ANC and/or its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) there.

This in turn led to the cross-border political persecution of refugees and exiles living in Lesotho by the Apartheid security establishment.

An important point of investigation into human rights abuses in the Free State was located in a special hearing on the plight of children resulting from the political activities and harassment, such as torture and deaths in custody, of their parents. Revolutionary and counter-revolutionary violence were also investigated.

A third accumulation of documents deals with discrete research issues such as state-orchestrated violence, the integration of Amnesty and HRV data and the Self-Defence Units (SDUs).

The research conducted by Argall was additionally used in the chapter of the Final Report dealing with the Findings and Conclusion of the Commission.

Laura Pollecutt's political activism started with her involvement in the Progressive Party. She later became a prominent member of the Southern Transvaal branch of the Black Sash. During this period she participated in numerous alliances and campaigns, as a Black Sash representative or in her individual capacity. Pollecutt worked for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Johannesburg office, for 4 to 5 months in 1997, first as Communications Officer, and later as special researcher for the hearing into the Media Under Apartheid. This led to her role in research and co-ordination for the TRC hearing on Media and Apartheid in September 1997. Pollecutt wrote the final report with the assistance of Hugh Lewin.

In accordance with the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, no. 34 of 1995, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was constituted. The TRC was required to consider and decide on amnesty applications.

The Commission had the power to grant amnesty if it was satisfied that the submitted application had complied with formal requirements stipulated in the Act. Furthermore, it had to be convinced that the incidents being addressed indeed were constituted as political acts.

The Commission also had to be convinced that the applicants had made full disclosures of all the facts related to the relevant incidents. The Act also exempted successful amnesty applicants from criminal and civil prosecutions.

Julian Knight and Rudolph Jansen were the legal representatives of several former security force members who had been part of the elite South African security police unit, known as C1 or Vlakplaas. From 1981 until the early 1990s, the main mission of this unit was to eliminate and harass apartheid government opposition. The unit was made up of several white officials and askaris, who were former ANC operatives who had switched sides. During this period, these security forces were responsible for gross human rights violations.

From 1980 to 1989, Captain Dirk Johannes Coetzee commanded this unit. During this period, Coetzee and his co-perpetrators were involved with killing Ruth First, Gonisizwe Kondile, Marius Schoon's wife and daughter, Durban lawyer - Griffiths Mxenge, Cradock Four, PEBCO 3 and Piet Retief murders.

The unit was also responsible for bombing, arson, theft and damage to property of activists and church organisations befriending the apartheid government opponents such as incidents at COSATU House, Khotso House, Khanya House, cinemas and shopping centres to discourage the public from watching the Cry Freedom film. Apartheid spy, Major Craig Williamson played an instrumental role in bombing ANC offices in Lusaka and London, the attempted murder of Joe Slovo, and the murder of Ruth First and Schoon family.

Towards the end of 1989, Almond Nofomela, a former Vlakplaas policeman, on death row for the murder of a farmer, exposed the activities of Vlakplaas under Coetzee. Dirk Coetzee fled to Mauritius, United Kingdom and Zambia under the protection of the ANC to whom he revealed the Vlakplaas operations. Nofomela and Coetzee's revelations resulted in the President FW de Klerk appointing the Harms Commission to investigate alleged Vlakplaas murders, hit squads and activities of the CCB. Security force members were encouraged to lie at the Harms Commission thereby discrediting Coetzee and Nofomela.

As a result of Dirk Coetzee's departure from Vlakplaas, Colonel Eugene Alexander de Kock became the new commander until 1994. De Kock and his co-perpetrators, including Marthinus Ras and Gideon Nieuwoudt, continued with the tasks previously entrusted to Dirk Coetzee. During his command, further incidents of abductions, arms caches, bombings and arson, cover-ups, body mutilations, disinformation and discrediting actions, fraud and theft, illegal weapons, intimidations, killings, torture and assaults occurred in defence of the interests of the apartheid regime. Included in these events was the killing of the Motherwell Four, askaris planning to inform the ANC of activities concerning the Cradock Four; parcel bomb sent to Zambia with the intention of killing Dirk Coetzee; Duli Coup and Operation Katzen which ended with the deaths of Onward Guzane and Chales Sebe, framed as conspirators of an attempted Transkei coup and assassination of Bantu Holomisa.

In October 1996, Eugene Alexander de Kock, found guilty of 89 charges and sentenced to 212 years of imprisonment, was one of the first to apply for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

His application, in turn, encouraged many of his co-perpetrators to submit individual amnesty applications.

This collection contains amnesty applications, hearings, evidence and related materials concerning the applications of individuals such as Marthinus Ras, Dirk Johannes Coetzee and Eugene de Kock as well as other individuals involved in the incidents. Included is newspaper cuttings and information on amnesty decisions.

References:

M. Du Preez: Pale Native. Memories of a Renegade Reporter. 2003. Cape Town: Zebra Press

Truth and Reconciliation Report. The Intersection between Work of the Human Rights Violations Committee and the Amnesty Committee. The Former South African Government and Its Security Forces. Vol. 6. Sections 1 - 4.

The records that make up this collection are the proceedings of the conference 'Confession and Reconciliation'.

'A challenge to the churches in South Africa' convened by the Research Institute for Theology and Religion of the University of South Africa (Unisa) from 23 to 24 March 1998. The records come in three formats:

The paper-based manuscript of the conference proceedings for publication

The publication of the conference proceedings entitled 'Confession and reconciliation. A challenge to the churches in South Africa'. The publication is edited by C W du Toit

Two discs of the unedited conference proceedings

Professor CW du Toit, the Director of the Research Institute for Theology and Religion of Unisa, offers seminars within two overarching themes: 'The Forum for Religious Dialogue' and 'Science and Religion'.

In 1997 he elected to conduct a seminar on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as it was the single most socio-ethical challenge of the day. To this end a working committee comprising critical theologians such as the late Dr Beyers Naude, Professor Nico Smith, Dr Nico Botha, Professor Tinyiko Maluleke and others was established.

The working group decided to draft an Open Letter of Confession, which expressed the co-responsibility of religious leaders for Apartheid.

This Letter was sent to twelve thousand ministers of religion. Six hundred and ten of them endorsed the Open Letter with their signatures.

The Open Letter, complete with the signatures, was submitted to the TRC on 15 November 1997. It is now in the custody of the National Archives and Records Services of South Africa, the custodian of all records produced as a result of the TRC process.

The Open Letter had stated that a conference would result from the response of the religious leaders.

The ensuing conference dealt with the TRC itself as presented by Archbishop Tutu, the rationale for and responses to the Open Letter, the necessity of Confession, restitution options and suggestions for a way forward for religious groups.

This conference may well have been the catalyst for members of the various faith communities to respond positively to an invitation by the TRC to make submissions on the role and status of faith communities under and during Apartheid.

The more than forty responses of the faith communities are dealt with in this Directory in the Research Institute for Christianity in South Africa (RICSA) Collection.

The Collection comprises submissions and statements which the African National Congress (ANC) presented to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) at two sets of hearings: the Armed Forces Hearing and the Political Parties Hearing.

This phenomenon is to be understood against the background that the ANC, while still a political party that was to contest the first democratic elections of 1994, had actively campaigned for provisions for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be included in the Interim Constitution of 1993.

It did so in the conviction that such a commission would contribute to the healing of a society traumatized by Apartheid in order for it to deal with the promotion of societal justice for the emerging post-Apartheid democracy.

The ANC's submissions and appearance before the TRC were unique in that the former liberation movement took collective responsibility for violations of human rights and dealt openly with all questions set by the TRC.

Gertrude Fester is an academic, a gender and political activist and writer. In May 1988 Fester was detained for the recruitment to and promotion of the African National Congress.

She was put on trial with thirteen other political activists in a trial that had come to be known as 'The Yengeni 14'.

In March 1990 charges were dropped and Fester was released.

Fester initiated the Women's Education Artistic Voice and Expressions (WEAVE), a black women's writing collective that encourages and facilitates women's writing as a means to deal with challenges that are specific to the situation of women in South Africa.

It is within these contexts that this paper, which was written in July/August 2001, is to be understood.

Charles Villa-Vicencio is the former Director of Research of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The records accumulations that were generated by the Research Department during Villa-Vicencio's tenure are official TRC records and are therefore in the custody of the National Archives and Records Services of South Africa (NARS). Access to the records accumulations in the custody of the National Archives is governed by provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act No. 2 of 2000 (PAIA).

The request for such access is conducted through the Department of Justice.

The URL of officials dealing with PAIA requests is located at: wkekana@justice.gov.za and nlouw@justice.gov.za

The papers that make up this collection originated at various national and international conferences that focused on the South African TRC to which Villa-Vicencio had been invited to speak in his private capacity, but as an expert on the TRC.

Villa-Vicencio has published prolifically. His TRC-related publications are reflected in the Select Bibliography on the South African Truth and Reconciliation that is appended to the Directory of TRC Archival Resources.