The letter, written by Albert Lutuli, is addressed to Prof ZK Matthews, dated 15 June 1953

Albert Lutuli makes reference to a letter he received from ZK Matthews on 11 June 1953, and assures him that the letter has not been tempered with. He goes on explaining that he learned from the 'White Press' that Matthews had arrived from the U.S.A. He agrees with Matthews that the bans (Lutuli was a banned person at the time) 'have much nuisance value'. Lutuli then attends to suggestions made by Matthews for the commemoration of 'June 26' 1953, saying that he will be issuing a PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE AND CALL (written in capital letters) for the whole Union. He also promised that the Working Committee has approved the statement, and that it will be distributed to branches, as well as published in the newspapers 'Bantu World', 'Ilanga' and 'Imvo'. He finally passes greetings to all friends at Fort Hare and signs "Yours in the National Service Albert Lutuli President-General, A.N.C".

The 26 June was traditionally observed by the African National Congress and other organisations, because it was on the 26 June 1950 that the Suppression of Communism Act was passed by the South African government, sparking national protest actions. Following this letter, Albert Lutuli issued his public statement for the commemoration of the 26 June 1953. Furthermore, ZK Matthews proposed a national convention in 1953, calling for a Freedom Charter for a democratic South Africa.

The collection relates to the events surrounding the court case MKWAYI & Others, often referred to as "Little Rivonia", as well as the arrest and trial of Nandha Naidoo in the Supreme Court of South Africa. It contains copies of Nandha Naidoo's Security Branch police file and the statement he made to his lawyers.
Also included a copy of the police list of items found at 21 Pearce Street, Doornfontein, the address at which Mac Maharaj stayed at the time and which was published in a book by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation entitled "Men of Dynamite".
Also included is a recollection of events by Nandha Naidoo entitled "The benefit of hindsight: the challenge of untangling history from legend". Here he relates to the circumstances which led to his arrest and a review of Mac Maharaj's references to him in the former memoirs written by Padraig O'Malley.

Further included an Open Letter to Mac Maharaj, 27 August 2019, and published here in digital format.

Reference is made to collection no. & item AD1901 / 35.2 State v. Nandhagopaul Naidoo in the Supreme Court of South Africa (Witwatersrand Local Division). Records of proceedings, judgement, 1965.

Further reference is made to collection AK2520 Mkwayi & Others, Trial records, 1964, which has been digitised and is fully available online.

The compilation contains a list of persons which were held in custody or listed as members of subversive organisations in terms of the Act on Terrorism, Section 6 and 29. Some of the listed persons were charged and tried.

Trade Unions, Community Organisations and politics: a local case study on the East Rand, 1980-1986.

Unpublished BA Honours Dissertation submitted at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Paramount chief of the Pondos

Statement in Zulu, to the government of Natal, signed with Faku's mark.

Sealed letter written in King Williams town to Faku, Chief of the Pondo, condemning Faku's behavior 'You did most wrongly ... your conduct has been bad. Now I call upon you ... to fall on Kreli'.

Hitsquads. Testimony of a South African Security Policeman: the full story, by Dirk Coetzee

The testimony was written by Dirk Coetzee in exile, at the ANC Headquarters in Lusaka and in London, with the help of his brother Ben Coetzee. The main body was completed in 1990, and was spell checked and reprinted by Ben Coetzee in 1994.

Dirk Coetzee's testimony would also form part of the submissions to the Harms Commission of Inquiry, which he gave in London.

Oral interviews related to the history of Swaziland and neighbouring regions, mostly taken from oral accounts of events passed down through clans. Mainly in SiSwati with English translations in some cases.

The bulk of the material dates from 1970, collected by Philip Bonner, and 1983, collected by Carolyn Hamilton, working with a number of SiSwati-speaking researchers and assistants. Some of the interviews were undertaken at the behest of Bonner and Hamilton. Others were undertaken at the behest of the Swazi King, Sobhuza II, or by the Swaziland Broadcasting Corporation and others were collected by or given to the Swaziland Oral History Project in the early 1980's.

The description of this collection is mainly based on the written information available on the outside of tapes and tape boxes, microfiche pockets, and on the covers of the 'jotters'. It was not possible to establish the exact content on the tapes, the microfiches and slides.

In her diary she describes social activities in India and at the Cape of Good Hope. 44 pages relate to the Cape, where she was married on 19 April 1836, and where she and her husband stayed for two periods from 22 April to the 22 September 1836 and again from 9 February 1839 to the 17 September 1840.

Handwritten diary of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1876-1932), interpreter, journalist, author and politician. The diary was written during the Siege of Mafeking, which took place during the South African War of 1899-1902. It contains the only known surviving written account of the Siege by an African. The first entry is dated Sunday, 29 October 1899, and the last entry Friday, 30March 1900.

The diary makes reference to entries in the Mafeking Mail, a newspaper which was published as a Special Siege Slip during the Siege of Mafeking from 1 November 1899 - 31 May 1900.

Further reference needs to be made to the Centenary Edition of "The Mafeking Diary of Sol T. Plaatje", edited by John Comaroff and Brian Willan with Solomon Molema and Andrew Reed, published in 1999:

The Centenary edition has been greatly improved from its first edition, providing the historical context around the diary, Sol Plaatje's life and the Siege of Mafeking during the Anglo-Boer war. At the same time it has included parts which the diary omits, and it explains circumstances and historical events around the diary:

1) A letter to which Sol Plaatje refers as "public property" in his entry of the 8 December 1899 in the text of his diary, and which he meant to reproduce, but which he omits thereafter. The letter was written by Colonel Baden-Powell to General Snyman, dated 8 December 1899, and it was reproduced in the Mafeking Mail on the 11 December 1899.

2) A document by Colonel Baden-Powell dealing with the writer's threat to penalize 'grumblers' when their compensation claims were considered after the siege, published in the Mafeking Mail, 29 March. The editors of the book chose to reproduce the document in full, following Plaatje's entry of Friday 30 March 1900, where he made reference to the document.

3) The entry for Friday 30 March 1900 is the last of Plaatje's diary. The editors of the book mention some further 20 sheets of blank paper remaining in the notebook in which the diary was written, which are no longer present.

4) The Introduction and Endnotes in the book mentions earlier notes, written on loose paper. One of these notes which has survived exists in the collection A979 of Silas Molema and Solomon Plaatje, in Aa3, General correspondence, 1916-1920. It is part of a page which contains a correspondence presumably written to Silas Molema, dated 28 November 1919, written in ink. The part related to Plaatje's notebook is written in pencil, and it has the page number 7 written above the text, which reads as follows: ".... applied these remarks in order to pull them together a bit. 'It will take them 12 months, shelling every day to completely destroy a town like [Mafeking]. They will only knock a house or two down. I saw some good rocks down at your place and if you remained behind them you are perfectly safe.' We spent some of the 48 hours in sleep, when it was night, and the balance in preparing shelters."

5) The last entry of 30 March 1900 is followed by a letter, which the editors of the book explain to be the copy of a letter from Plaatje to Isaiah Bud-M'belle, Plaatje's brother-in-law. Although undated it is said to have been written at the end of February 1900.

There are a further 3 pages which cannot be related to the diary but seem to originate from the same notebook.