The APF collection consists of paper-based and digital documents, posters, ephemera, audio-visual and oral history materials. The documents, ephemera and audio-visual materials were collected by Dale McKinley over a two year period through the APF’s own office; through individual leaders/activists/members both at the APF and community affiliate levels, and through his own substantial personal archive accumulated over a period of ten years as a co-founding member, activist and elected leader of the APF. His countless handwritten notes found all through the collection, but particularly in sections pertaining to meetings, are testament to his commitment to and involvement in the APF on many levels. In many instances where minutes are absent, McKinley’s handwritten notes are the only records documenting a particular meeting in this collection.

The APF collection has been arranged into three distinct series for the paper-based materials, the digital born materials, and the oral history materials. The audio-visual materials, posters, t-shirts, banner and stickers have been described as a further series in the inventory. However, the posters have been added to the SAHA Poster collection (AL2446) and the t-shirts, banner and stickers to the SAHA Ephemera collection (AL2540). The call numbers for these items have been added to the inventory to facilitate access. The posters, t-shirts, banner and stickers have been digitised.

The original order of the paper-based collection has mostly been retained. Materials relating to meetings, e.g. minutes and related documents, were not regrouped into the various APF committees and sub-committees, but rather kept in chronological order, together with related material to show the organic progress of development in terms of APF campaigns and APF work-related issues.

Although the digital born series holds many of the documents contained in hard copy in the paper-based collection, a decision was made to arrange this as a separate series, as the original order of materials differs from that of the paper-based collection. The order on folder level has been retained, and on item level rearranged in a chronological order.

The oral history project materials have been arranged into two sub-series of audio interviews and transcripts in alphabetical order by interviewee surname.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was re-established on 27 October 1990 in Soweto. The South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) and the ANC Youth Section, which had operated in exile, merged at this launch. The main task of the Youth League was to mobilise all sectors of the youth into active participation in the struggle to secure democracy.

Some access conditions apply to portions of the collection.

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

This collection documents the African National Congress's (ANC) enquiry into three areas: Commission of Inquiry into Recent Developments in Angola; Commission of Inquiry Investigating the Death of Mzwakhe Ngwenya (Thami Zulu) and the Motsuenyane Commission on Treatment of ANC Prisoners.

The records accumulations that make up this collection are divided into two discrete archival groups.

The first group comprises records that document Amnesty International's immediate response to the TRC.

The second group is a detailed index of AI's archive of published materials and reports on South Africa that was used by numerous individuals and organisations for researching and compiling their respective submissions to the TRC.

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

The conference proceedings comprised a keynote address by Justice Edwin Cameron (Supreme Court Judge active in the fight for the rights of gay and HIV positive South Africans), parallel sessions (totalling 26 over three days) and panel discussions on Media and HIV/AIDS and Prevention and Behaviour change. The conference proceedings have been arranged alphabetically according to the name of the presenter. Sound recordings of some of the proceedings are included. The posters were used for the protest march held in Pretoria as part of the Treatment Action Campaign, after which they were on display at Wits to coincide with the Conference and are placed with the Poster Collection (AL2446). The ephemera were also on exhibition at Wits as part of the "Living Openly Exhibition" and are placed with the Ephemera Collection (AL2540 - A268)

This collection was first created in September 2015 as a digital collection, intended to create access to various digital records relating to the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation's work on non-racialism, through SAHA's online repository "Tracing the Unbreakable Thread"

The South African History Archive (SAHA) and Historical Papers were approached by thirty seven people, who were imprisoned on 22 September 1981 and detained for anything from fourteen days to just under one year, to document and preserve their stories. The interviewees are: Cedric de Beer, Hannchen Koornhof, Maurice Smithers, Prema Naidoo, Norman Manoim, Caroline Cullinan, Emma Mashinini, Merle Favis, Pravin Gordhan, Audrey Coleman, Gavin Anderson, Barbara Klugman, Cedric Maysom, Kathy Satchwell, Alan Fine, Monty Narsoo and Joanne Yawitch. A number of the detainees (Rob Adam, Barbara Hogan, Alan Fine, Hannchen Koornhof, Prema Naidoo and Shireesh Nanabhai) went on trial and, in the case of Hogan and Adam, were jailed until the release of political prisoners in 1990. Neil Aggett died while in detention. Whilst other people were detained during this period, the detainees listed here were picked for their links to one another.