Fonds AL3131 - COSATU Submission to TRC

Identity area

Reference code

ZA SAHA AL3131

Title

COSATU Submission to TRC

Date(s)

  • 1997 (Accumulation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

0.1 linear metre (1 archival box) containing 1 file

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

The submission of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was presented at the Institutional Hearing: Business and Labour. COSATU’s submission is premised on the conviction that Apartheid was more than a political system of institutionalized racism, but that the true character of the institutionalized racism was, in fact, racial capitalism. Hence in its submission COSATU argues that (white) business was a beneficiary of this system to the extent that it was not in its interest to oppose Apartheid, but indeed actively promoted this system at the expense of the black working classes.

COSATU’s submission dealt in the main with the following three themes:

  1. The history of the black working class

  2. Focus on the mining sector

  3. Problems with the amnesty provisions of the TRC enabling legislation

COSATU’s fundamental argument was verified in a variety of ways by the numerous and diverse submissions made at the Institutional Hearing: Business and Labour. These submissions are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Service 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).

Archival history

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Scope and content

Materials collected from TRC Archival Audit.

The TRC Archival Audit

Between 2003 and 2006, SAHA and Historical Papers, University of Witwatersrand embarked on a project to locate, retrieve and make available records relating to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC). The project entailed conducting an archival audit of all existing TRC records in order to identify and locate documentation in danger of being lost.

In the process of conducting the archival audit, SAHA and HP located many collections from individuals and organizations that participated in the TRC process, including this collection. Selections from these materials as well as TRC related material found in the freedom of Information Collection and other pre-existing SAHA and HP collections, were digitized and can be accessed online at http://truth.wwl.wits.ac.za/

A guide to archival resources relating to South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission can also be found at http://www.saha.org.za/pdf/trc_directory.pdf

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This collection is open for research

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Uploaded finding aid

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Dates of creation revision deletion

20090817

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