Sylvia Neame was born in 1937, one of twins. There were 4 children in the family, Peter, Graham, Sylvia and her twin sister Jennifer. She studied at Rhodes University and obtained her BA in History and Social Anthropology there in 1961. Her first 90 Day detention was in 1963. Neame was again detained under the 90 Day law in mid-1964, 2 weeks in Pretoria Central prison, and 1 1/2 months at the Fordsburg police station. She was one of the accused in Case 375/64, The State vs. Abram Fischer and 13 Others, during which Bram Fischer absconded (he returned to face a second arrest and trial in 1966), where she was charged with furthering the aims of the banned Communist Party, convicted and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, 2 years to run concurrently.
She, together with the other accused was to spend the 9 months awaiting trial period in the 'Fort' in Johannesburg. Directly after being sentenced she was transferred to the North End prison in Port Elizabeth and was to face trial in the Humansdorp Magistrate's Court, for 'becoming or continuing to be an office-bearer of the ANC in Grahamstown from April 8 1960 to March 31 1961', advising or encouraging activities that furthered the aims of the ANC and with contributing funds to the ANC, to be sentenced to another 4 years but acquitted on appeal.
After being released from Barberton Prison (in what was then the Eastern Transvaal and is now Mpumalanga) in April 1967 she left South Africa on an exit permit, and lived in Britain for 4 1/2 years studying for part of this time at the University of Oxford, and later, from 1971, in in East Germany, where she completed a D.Phil (on the expulsion of the communists from the ICU ) at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig and was also awarded a 'Diplom' (equal to MA). Her doctorate was awarded in 1976. Thereafter she joined the staff of the University.
She returned to South Africa in 1993 with her husband but after some months returned to Germany. She returned to South Africa again for 1 1/2 years, 1999-2000, but again returned to Germany. Her published works include a three volume history entitled 'The Congress Movement: The Unfolding of the Congress Alliance 1912-1961' (Cape Town, HSRC Press, 2015), and 'Imprisoned' (Jacana, 2018).

NB: Sylvia testimony to the United Nations in 1967/68 - see link: E/CN.4/950: http://undocs.org/E/CN.4/950

Ernest Cole (1940-1990) was born as Ernest Levi Tsoloane Kole, in Eersterust, Pretoria. He joined the DRUM group of journalists, and thereafter started working as a freelance photographer. In 1966 he eventually decided to leave South Africa, as his work and movements became increasingly restricted by Apartheid laws. He managed to take with him a body of work which he had collected, including his negatives, which he used for the book "House of Bondage", published in New York in 1967, and one year later in London. He continued living and working in the USA, where he received a grant from the Ford Foundation to support a photographic project mainly on Afro-American issues and race relations in the USA. He also travel and lived in Sweden. He died from cancer in a hospital in New York in 1990.

Nathaniel Nakasa was a Johannesburg journalist, writer and the first editor of "The Classic" magazine of creative writing and art. He departed for the USA in 1963 on an exit permit, having been awarded the Nieman Fellowship to study at Harvard. Disillusioned, he committed suicide on the 14 July 1965, by jumping from the 7th floor of a friend's apartment in New York. His remains were repatriated to South Africa in August 2014, and he was buried in Heroes Acre Cenetry in Chesterville, Durban.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) was established during the Apartheid era as a non-profit organisation. It became a champion in supporting the rights of those who were oppressed by an unjust legal system and oppressive government. After the establishment of a democratic government in 1994, the LRC mandate extended to enforce the rights established in the new Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Jeremy Brown Shearer was born on the 4 October 1931 in Queenstown, South Africa. He obtained his LLB at the University of Stellenbosch in 1953. Working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the 1950s, he was posted as a diplomat to a number of European countries and the US, and represented South Africa at a variety of international conferences. He became Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations, where he presented his credentials to then Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in August 1988. He retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs on the 30 April 1994.

Stephen Gelb holds a PhD in Economics, with experience in research and policy in South Africa. He was an adviser to President Mbeki and his government, on macroeconomic policy and public expenditure and on international investment and trade policy.

Stephen Gelb's involvement included amongst others: working with COSATU from the mid-80s up to 1990 as the founder of the Economic Trends group of advisors; working with the ANC and its newly established Department of Economic Policy after its unbanning in the early 1990s, as well as the MERG process during the transitional period; working with the new government after 1994, including the GEAR process and projects for the Presidency relating to the arms deal affordability report and the establishment of NEPAD.

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 Historical Papers research archive, situated in the William Cullen Library, was established in 1966. Its first holdings were the Jan Hofmeyr collection and the Gubbins collection as well as other manuscripts which were transferred from the Africana section in the William Cullen Library.

It has since become one of the largest and most comprehensive independent archives in Southern Africa. We house over 3400 collections of historical, political and cultural importance, encompassing the mid-17th Century to the Present.

The Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (PCSA) became part of a union between with the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (RPCSA) to the now Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA), which was formed and constituted in 1999.