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).