A persistent yet inaccurate myth prevails in South Africa that all of the apartheid state’s records were destroyed. This is not the case, in fact a vast collection of apartheid-era material remains locked away in public and private archives. Between 2012 and 2017, Open Secrets engaged in research in archives across the world in search of the lost stories of apartheid era economic crime. During this period, we collected approximately 40,000 documents in 25 public archives, consulting numerous collections in seven countries including South Africa, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. This material provided the backbone of the publication Apartheid Guns & Money: A Tale of Profit, authored by Hennie van Vuuren and published by Jacana in May 2017. The book, informed by the often newly declassified material found in this archive, tells a tale of global complicity with apartheid. It identifies a global covert network of banks, intelligence agencies, arms companies and politicians that supported apartheid through weapons and oil sanctions busting.

The bulk of the findings in the book, and the material now in this archive are from South African public archives. In mid-2013, 48 Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) requests were lodged with state agencies in terms of PAIA. Most of these documents date from the period 1978–94 and included TRC-related investigations (from the late 1990s). Most requests were ignored or refused on flimsy grounds. It was thanks to the persistence of The South African History Archive (SAHA), assisted by lawyers from Lawyers for Human Rights and pro-bono counsel from Geoff Budlender, Nasreen Rajab-Budlender, Nyoko Muvangua, Hermione Cronje, Lebogang Kutumela and Frances Hobden, that some departments finally (though only partly) relented, and provided access to this information. Much of it has been untouched by South African researchers. It’s a rich vein of material that demands our attention as we come to understand our story.

Where at all possible, the archives provided here include some of Open Secrets’ summaries of the documents contained there. All inventories, finding aids, and lists of folders requested are included wherever these are available.

ABET - Adult Basic Education and Training

APDUSA - African People's Democratic Union of Southern Africa

CAC - Coloured Advisory Council

CAPS - Curriculum Assessments Policy Statements

CASS - Continuous Assessment

CDE - Centre for Development and Enterprise

CODESA - Convention for a Democratic South Africa

CRC - Coloured Representative Council

CTMWA - Cape Town Municipal Workers' Association

CTPA - Cape Teachers' Professional Association

ELRC - Education Labour Relations Council

ESST - Educational Support Services Trust

FET - Further Education and Training

GATT - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Gear - Growth, Employment and Redistribution

IMF - International Monetary Fund

Nedlac - National Economic Development and Labour Council

Nepad - New Partnership for Africa's Development

NEPI - National Education Policy Investigation

NEUM - Non-European Unity Movement

NQF - National Qualifications Framework

NUM - New Unity Movement

NUPSAW - National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers

OBE - Outcomes-Based Education

RDP - Reconstruction and Development Programme

TIMSS - Third International Maths and Science Study

TLSA - Teachers' League of South Africa

UDUSA - Union of Democratic University Staff Associations

USSASA - United Schools Sports Association of South Africa

UWC - University of the Western Cape

WB - World Bank

Formed in 1943, the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) was a united front comprising of the All African Convention (AAC), ANTI Coloured Affairs Department (Anti-CAD) and the Anti-Segregation Council (ASC). Affiliated to the NEUM were The Teachers League of South Africa (TLSA), The Cape African Teachers Association (CATA), and the Society of Young Africans (SOYA).

Key policies and principles of NEUM constituted:

• The Ten Point Programme of minimum demands

• Policy of non-racialism

• Policy of non-collaboration and the boycott as a weapon of

struggle

• Policy of anti-imperialism

• Emphasis on importance of theory and principled approach to

struggle.

NEUM publications, such as the Ten Point Programme, Declaration to the People of South Africa and Declaration to the People of the World, The Torch Newspaper, as well as pamphlets, conference papers and Bulletins were used as a vehicle to propagate these policies and principles. A number of these publications are contained in this collection.

By 1958 the NEUM had split into two sections:

• The African Peoples Democratic Union of South Africa

(APDUSA)

was formed in 1961 under the leadership of IB Tabata who

went into exile and formed the Unity Movement of South Africa

(UMSA).

• Supporters of the leadership of the second section continued

operating in organisations like the TLSA, the Federation of

Cape Civic Associations (FCCA), a number of Educational

Fellowships and in the South African Council on Sport

(SACOS).

As the result of state repression NEUM ceased to exist by the 1960’s by which time nearly the entire leadership and its affiliates, including the editor of the Torch newspaper, were banned under the Suppression of Communism Act.

The New Unity Movement (NUM) was established in 1985 as the successor of NEUM, following a reconciliation between the two opposing sections in the 1980s. NUM continues to be dedicated and committed to the NEUM founding principles and policies.

Source: http://www.newunitymovement.org.za/

In April 1919 the Helping Hand Club for Native Girls was established by a small group of women presided over by Mrs. Clara Bridgman. They purchased a small house in Fairview where there were no restrictions on African residents.

The Club intended to provide domestic Servants working in the District with accommodation as well as instruction and recreation for others. It also attempted to find suitable work for women who resided at the hostel.

In 1930 the Helping Hand committee decided to provide training in domestic service, and atraining school was built. Lessons in cooking, dressmaking, laundry and general housework were given as well as courses in English, reading, arithmatic, first aid and home nursing. After 1940 however, the hostel side of the Club developed increasingly, while the training aspect decreased.

In 1974 the Helping Hand Club changed its constitution. Accordingly, the Helping Hand trust was formed whereby 50% of the Club's funds were to be used for black educational purposes, while the remaining 50% would take the form of donations to other black welfare organisations.

In 1990, R 84 000 was donated to the Department of Bursaries and Scholarships at the Universty of Witwatersrand for black women. The Residue of the Helping Hand Trust Funds, R10, 000 was donated to the Family Planning Association of South Africa.

At the meeting on 20th February 1990 the Helping Hand Trust was finally terminated.

The South African Post Office released a special edition postage stamp in 2012, depicting the Delegation of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) to England in 1914.

The image originates from a photographic collection which is held at Historical Papers in the collection A1384f Plaatje, Solomon Tshekisho, which shows the members of the delegation being Thomas Mapikela, Doctor Walter Rubusana, Reverend John Dube, Saul Msane and Sol Plaatje.

The special edition postage stamp was issued in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the ANC, and was released with as a stamp and first-day cover on the 6 January 2012, designed by Martin Rossouw. Following its release the South African Post Office donated a sheet of the stamps and first-day cover to Historical Papers, accompanied by a text explaining in short the historical events from the founding of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in January 1912 in Bloemfontein, to the renaming of the SANNC to African National Congress (ANC) in 1923.

The Ossewa Brandwag was a movement started in South Africa by Colonel J.C. Laas about 1938. It was semi-military in its organisation and the more active group was represented by the Stormjaers. It appealed to Afrikaner sentiment, being strongly in favour of severing the tie with the British Empire and forming a Republic.

Their aim was to make Afrikaans the only official language and to have a benevolent dictatorship, rather on the lines of Nazi Germany. Not only were they anti-imperial but also anti-communist (for fear it would lead to the end of separated societies according to race) and yet at the same time anti-capitalist. During World War II the O.B. was declared illegal and as they did not offer any clear policy the movement gradually disintegrated and the Nationalists won over their members.

On the 9th July 1875, two young missionaries, Ernest Creux and Paul Berthoud founded the Swiss Mission station of Valdezia in the Northern Transvaal. It was on many occasions a hard hit and tested society. The field of action was in the unhealthy Lowveld, on the Transvaal side as well as beyond the Portuguese East African border, into Mozambique. The mission has constantly developed, not only geographically, but in the nature of its work and variety of its undertakings

Its hospitals were famous for the efficiency of their work and the practical help which they rendered to patients. There are hospitals and clinics, three of the hospitals having training schools for nurses. Female missionaries were of great importance in teaching and social work. Its schools and Normal College have done outstanding work. From the scientific standpoint, writers such as H.A. Junod, H.P. Junod, A.A. Jacques and others have contributed much to Bantu studies in all its branches, especially in linguistics and social anthropology. The church has helped to foster good race relations

There is a feeling of affinity and friendship between the Reformed Church of Switzerland, including the Mission Suisse Romande and a large section of South Africans of the same religious faith. There is a strong desire for union between the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa Presbyterian/Congregational and the Tsonga Presbyterian Church (Swiss Mission in South Africa). Among the tribes of Portuguese East Africa as well in the Northern Transvaal, in Pretoria and Johannesburg, thousands of African people have been built into the fabric of a church whose standards are unusually high. Its relations with other missionary societies have been most cordial and brotherly.

The principal task of the mission was evangelisation, but another very important function was education. Schools were opened at Shiluvane, Lemana Training Institution, near Elim, and Rikatla Bible School for the Mozambicans. Some schools had an industrial and agricultural syllabus

Church organization, Shangaan literature, the Blue Croat (temperance movement), scout and guide troops, teaching patrols who were went out from the stations Into the bush, are all part of the work of the Swiss Mission.

TRAC is a non-profit land NGO, working to support rural communities and campaigning for land reform and redistribution.

The roots of the Koinonia movement lay in the South African Christian Leadership Assembly (1979) and in the meal groups organized by Dr Nico Smith, a Dutch Reformed minister, when he went to minister to a black congregation in Mamelodi in 1982. The Koinonia movement in South Africa began in Pretoria in 1986 when Dr Nico Smith challenged a group of concerned white Christians in Pretoria to initiate a movement that would bring about reconciliation between the alienated races in Apartheid South Africa. Koinonia South Africa came into being as a result of this challenge, and the Rev. Ivor Jenkins was appointed as its first full-time national coordinator. Initial funding came from the Swiss-based organization, Christian Solidarity International.

Koinonia is a Greek word meaning "fellowship" and this was the central tenet of Koinonia's mission - to encourage "fellowship" between white and non-white Christians. The effort centered on the "meal group" concept - small, racially mixed groups would meet in each others' homes to share a meal and thus begin to break down the barriers that had grown up between the races.

Theologically, Koinonia was predicated on the belief that justice, equality and reconciliation are central tenets of Christianity, and that each individual needed to be treated with dignity and respect irrespective of race. Politically, Koinonia was dedicated to the pursuit of a non-racial, democratic dispensation for all the peoples of South Africa.

The records in this collection reflect the workings of Koinonia throughout South Africa and abroad as it sought to achieve the following aims:

On the spiritual level, to integrate believers of all races into one body

On the family level, to promote the practice of fellowship and mutual support

On the leadership level, to facilitate cooperation between religious leaders of the different race groups

On the social-structural level, to explore non-violent means of effecting reconciliation

On the ideological level, to address the problems faced by the oppressed on the basis of Christian principles

The Association for Social Work Education in Africa (ASWEA) was organized in 1971 as a non-profit organization dedicated to social work education in Africa. ASWEA is no longer in existence but has been superseded by the Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA).

The Foundation for Human Rights was established in 1996 through a cooperation agreement between the European Union and the South African Government by signing the European Union Human Rights Programme. The aim of the Foundation is to address the historical legacy of Apartheid, support the transformation of South Africa and to build a human rights culture using the Constitution of South Africa as a tool. It receives funds primarily from the European Union as well as other donors such as DCI, Mott Foundation and Care International. The members of the Supervisory Board of the Foundation are all prominent South Africans, and include representatives of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the European Union.

The first EU-founded programme covered the period between 1996 and 2000 and the second between 2001 and 2007. During the second programme the Foundation has made a few significant changes. The first was a name change from the European Union Foundation for Human Rights to the Foundation for Human Rights- reflecting that Foundation is an indigenous organization. It was also agreed that the Foundation would expand its funding base. The second major change was the recognition that the organization should be lead by a South African - Yasmin Sooka.