Verne Harris generated the records that constitute this collection in the period from 1996 to 2002.
They effectively document three areas of his involvement with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). However, five discrete groups of records make up the collection.
First of all, as Deputy-Director: Planning, Coordination and Transformation of the National Archives of South Africa, Harris was the official liaison between the TRC and the National Archives as a function of his portfolio. This responsibility required of him to drive the necessary processes for the transfer of the TRC archive from its various offices to the custody of the National Archives.
The records that document this function include
Proposals for an appropriate documentation classification system
Proposals for management, transfer and control of TRC records
Discussions and proposals relating to the management of the electronic records of the TRC
Discussions with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) relating to the video archives of the TRC
Secondly, in August 1997 the TRC established a Joint Committee to investigate the destruction of records by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and other government civilian intelligence bodies, the former Department of Prison Services and the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP).
The Joint Committee comprised representatives of the TRC, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the South African Secret Service (SASS), the South African Human Rights Commission and the National Archives. The Joint Committee met to receive written reports, briefings and verbal reports from identified key role-players.
The committee also conducted on-site inspections of records and records management facilities of the various agencies under investigation. Harris represented the National Archives, seconded to that position by the then serving National Archivist, Marie Olivier.
The Joint Committee completed its investigation in March 1998. Apart from the completed reports on the destruction of official records by the bodies under investigation, this group of records includes
The case of Brian Currin vs. the State President and Others in the matter of the unlawful destruction of state records (1993)
Submission by the South African Society of Archivists to the Minister of Justice recommending the investigation of the illegal destruction of state records (1995).
Thirdly, Harris was employed by the TRC in 1998 as an outside researcher to write its report on the destruction of state records by the security establishment. Harris? report ?The Destruction of Records? is included in Volume 1 Chapter 8 of the Final Report of 1998.
He also formulated the recommendations pertaining to the archiving of the Commission's materials and public access to them, as well as to the implementation of archival legislation to prevent future unauthorized and illegal destruction of records.
These recommendations are to be found in Volume 5 Chapter 8 of the Final Report of 1998. The records that document the process of Harris' writing this report include amongst others
Minutes of meetings pertinent to the contents of the report
Newspaper article on the destruction of state records
Statutes and archival (disposal) policies relevant to the report
The final report in various stages of editing.
Harris' concern with making the archives of the TRC as widely accessible as possible is documented in the correspondence on the proposal for the digitization of the TRC archive. The ensuing records constitute the fourth group of records.
Finally, a number of largely unrelated records document the recognition of the TRC-related expertise that Harris had developed during the years that he was involved in TRC processes.