Identificatie
referentie code
Titel
Datum(s)
- 1990 (Vervaardig)
Beschrijvingsniveau
Archief
Omvang en medium
1 CD, digital format only
Context
Naam van de archiefvormer
Institutionele geschiedenis
The Commission of Inquiry into Certain alleged Murders was appointed by the then State FW de Klerk on 2 February 1990, in response to outcries by South African and international human rights groups over allegations by three former police officers in October and November 1989 that they had been members of an officially authorized and funded police death squad. In early 1990, another death squad, the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), sponsored by the South African Defense Forces, was revealed. The allegations presented the de Klerk government with one of its first major domestic crises
However, the Harms Commission suffered from extremely restricted terms of reference that were very strictly applied by Harms and which prevented the investigations to go beyond the borders of the country. Therefore, the Harms Commission was seriously flawed in both design and practice. At the outset, Justice Harms announced that he would limit the inquiry to acts committed within the borders of South Africa, even though many anti-apartheid activists had been assassinated on foreign soil. Government witnesses, some of whom showed up to testify in wigs and other disguises, were not required to produce pertinent documents. The CCB was disbanded in August, but no prosecutions resulted. The Harms Commission report, which was released in September 1990, failed to name any special units of the army or police, let alone any individual officers, as participants in the death squads. The report was denounced by opposition groups as a whitewash.
archiefbewaarplaats
Geschiedenis van het archief
Directe bron van verwerving of overbrenging
Inhoud en structuur
Bereik en inhoud
The records in this collection consist of 2957 pages of evidence heard in South Africa and 960 pages of evidence heard in London.
Waardering, vernietiging en slectie
Aanvullingen
Ordeningstelsel
Voorwaarden voor toegang en gebruik
Voorwaarden voor raadpleging
Voorwaarden voor reproductie
Taal van het materiaal
Schrift van het materiaal
Taal en schrift aantekeningen
Fysieke eigenschappen en technische eisen
Toegangen
Verwante materialen
Bestaan en verblifplaats van originelen
Bestaan en verblijfplaats van kopieën
Related units of description
Aantekeningen
Alternative identifier(s)
Trefwoorden
Onderwerp trefwoord
Geografische trefwoorden
Naam ontsluitingsterm
- Dirk Coetzee (Mederwerker)