This collection is made up of documents containing information that relates to the negotiations that took place at the end of Apartheid in South Africa and the subsequent discussions that would precede the first ever democratic, free and fair elections in South Africa in 1994.

The National Medical and Dental Association (NAMDA), an organised body of health care professionals, was established in 1982 to directly counter the effects of apartheid policies on the provision of health care services in South Africa. Records from affiliated or associated groups are also included in the collection, including: the Organisation for Appropriate Social Services in Southern Africa (OASSSA), the Health Workers' Association (HWA), the National Emergency Services Group (NESG), the National Progressive Primary Health Care Network (NPPHCN), the South African Health and Social Services Organisation (SAHSSO), the National Health and Unity Forum (NHUF), the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (NEHAWU), and the South African Health Workers' Congress (SAHWCO).

This collection is not a large collection, comprising of 10 archival boxes. It is also not the official NIC collection but was donated to SAHA by the Centre for Community and Labour Studies (CCLS) in Durban. Some of the material given to us by CCLS has been separated from this collection as it was clear that it constituted a separate archive, that of the South African Tin Workers' Union.

Books on a variety of topics relating to South and Southern Africa donated to the South African History Archive (SAHA) by the Netherlands Institute of Southern Africa to allow researchers to consult while vising at SAHA. Also includes posters.

The collection of publications had been categorised (A-E) during a preliminary sorting by the donor. These categories have been retained as the main series in the arrangement of the collection.

A Historic Literature

B Presidential Addresses

C APDUSA

C1 Presidential Address by I.B. Tabata

C2 APDUSA Views

D NUM Bulletin

E The Education Journal

The Historical Literature series (A) is arranged in chronological order by the earlier publication date and not necessarily the date of publication of the re-issued titles and later editions found in this series. For example 'The Origin and Development Segregation in South Africa' a lecture by W.P. van Schoor was originally published in 1951. The publication in this collection is the lecture re-issued as part of the Unity Movement History Series, published by APDUSA in 1986.

The Presidential Addresses series (B) is arranged in chronological order.

The APDUSA series (C) is arranged in two subseries: Presidential Address by I.B. Tabata (C1) and APDUSA Views (C2). The APDUSA Views are arranged in chronological order by publication date for the first view issues and by the issue number for the remainder of the issues. This allows for current missing and further issues to be incorporated into the series without disrupting the order.

The NUM Bulletin series (D) is arranged in chronological order by volume and issue numbers to allow for current missing and further issues to be incorporated into the series. A subseries 'Special Bulletins' was added to accommodate a 'Special' issue and two anniversary issues. The Special Bulletins could not be included with the main series of NUM Bulletins due to an absence of volume and issue numbers for these issues.

The Educational Journal series (E) is arranged in two subseries due to their provenance and separate numbering systems. The Educational Journal was published by The Teachers' League of South Africa from 1967-1999 as their official organ (E1) and by NUPSAW Education Sector from 2000-2016 (E2). Both subseries are arranged in chronological order by volume and issue number (E1) and by publication date (E2) to allow for current missing and further issues to be incorporated.

After consultation within NUM the decision was made to include the name of Basil Brown in the collection name. Dr Basil Brown is the current President of NUM.

SAHA is expected to receive further material from the donor in the future. Additional material may include follow-up literature from NEUM/NUM/TLSA – Educational Journals as well as more recent publications from NUM.

While the collection at SAHA consists of a selection of NEUM and NUM publications, personal papers of individuals involved in these organisations are in the custody of the University of Fort Hare National Heritage and Cultural Studies (NAHECS) and the University of Cape Town Special Collections.

The records include minutes of meetings, correspondence, reports, articles, press statements, conferences and other documents which tell the story of the NGOWGR’s attempts to get the South African government to implement the recommendations of the TRC with regard to reparations and memorialisation.

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 includes annual reports for 1994-1996, a research report and newsletter, pamphlets, stickers and postcards.

A sizeable portion of the collection comprises publications issued by student organisations operating on the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Wits campuses. Noel Stott was a student at the UCT from 1978 to 1981, a period of political and social turmoil in South African society.

The Soweto students' uprising of 1976 had indelibly changed the political climate of South Africa, and students across the country were becoming increasingly militant. An ever-more desperate Apartheid regime attempted to maintain its stranglehold on the masses by invoking emergency powers, and employed its security forces to clamp down on so-called dissidents. The South African Defence Force (SADF) was embroiled in a war against the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) in what was then South West Africa (now Namibia), and was further involved in incursions into neighbouring Angola, in support of Jonas Savimbi's UNITA movement. "Preemptive strikes" into other frontline states were also launched by security forces against "enemies of the state". Internally, the SADF and South African Police (SAP) were deployed to maintain "order" in non-white townships; the atrocities and abuses committed by the security forces in the pursuit of this objective have been well documented elsewhere.

The SAP also targeted the so-called "liberal" South African universities, such as UCT, the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), and Rhodes University. Student leaders were frequently targeted, detained, and banned, and student publications were subjected to scrutiny and banned whenever "subversive" material was published. During his student years, Noel collected a large body of the material published by student organisations at UCT, such as newspapers, leaflets, flyers, and pamphlets. This body of material is augmented by similar publications from Wits, donated by acquaintances who had been students there.

This material is significant in that the "student politics" they present highlight many of the issues of the day, such as then-president PW Botha's so-called reforms, military service (which was compulsory for white males at the time), police activity on campuses, government interference in education, the "Quota system", calls for solidarity with the masses, and so on.

The publications clearly illustrate the divisions between "moderate" student organisations and those that favoured the maintenance of the status quo and so-called "radical" organisations calling for mass action to effect change. On occasion, differences between organisations espousing these different views spilled over into violent campus clashes. Student politics on the "liberal" university campuses may not have been very "polished", but it was certainly very passionate!

Noel's involvement with organisations such as JODAC and FFF are represented in the collection. UDF newsletters and magazines, JODAC newsletters and magazines, as well as FFF publications demonstrate the efforts that were being made to draw whites into the democratic movement.

However, the bulk of the collection comprises materials collected as a result of Noel's skills as a librarian and his association with ecumenically oriented NGOs. A sizeable collection of newspapers, magazines and journals, from both Catholic and Protestant organisations within South Africa as well as abroad, combine to create a vivid picture of the vast network of organisations that were working to bring about a just and democratic South Africa (and elsewhere, such as in Namibia).

This is augmented by magazines and journal from the period that deal with more general issues, such as the economy, the arts, and the environment, to name but a few.

The collection includes a passive resistance certificate, banning orders imposed on Thandray and a profile by Ahmed Kathrada.

Materials collected from TRC Archival Audit.

The TRC Archival Audit

SAHA and Historical Papers, University of Witwatersrand have embarked on a project to locate and retrieve records relating to the 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. 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://truth.wwl.wits.ac.za/trc_directory.pdf