The De Souza papers consist primarily of copies of telegrams which were kept by Louis de Souza in his capacity of Secretary for War in Krugers cabinet. When the British captured Pretoria in June 1900, he took the telegrams to a place of safety. For many years they lay in a tin trunk of the garage of his son Cyril Webley Lovell de Souza. They were re-discovered in 1950 when the tin trunk was opened and 7 cardboard files were found in it, containing tissue-thin copies in perfect condition. C.W.L. de Souzas first attempt to have a selection published came to nothing and the papers were replaced in the trunk. In 1966 a reporter from The Star visited Mr de Souza at Pafuri on the Mozambique border and asked permission to publish a few. These articles aroused the interest of Professor Marais of the Department of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, who spent some time going through the telegrams and said they were a most valuable treasure of Africana. The papers were subsequently purchased by the University of the Witwatersrand, 16 April 1972, from F.C.L de Souza and J.J.L de Souza, the sons of C.W.L. de Souza, who died in 1967 before the publication of a selection of the telegrams under the title No charge for delivery, Cape Town, Books of Africa in 1969.

The papers consist of 7118 items, of which 7049 were telegrams and 69 other miscellaneous items. They cover the years 1899-1900, from the beginning of the War to the capture of Pretoria in June 1900. They are mostly in High Dutch and a few are in English. The telegrams consist of 6999 flimsy copies and 19 originals. From them, a very clear picture emerges of the difficulties of fighting a war with volunteer commandos, the members of which were not amenable to discipline. The senders and recipients included the Presidents of the Boer republics, the Boer generals, other civilian and military officials and a few from the British officials and military officers. Subjects covered included descriptions of skirmishes and battles, requests for reinforcements, news of enemy troop movements.

The British blockade prevented supplies reaching the republics. There is much concerning the treatment of prisoners, the cutting of railway lines, the effect of the war on the civilian population and differences between the Boer generals.

In addition to the telegrams, there are 69 miscellaneous items of correspondence, notes, count summonses, proclamations and notes. They refer mainly to the treatment of British prisoners in Pretoria and to the Boer and British casualties. Of there the most interesting are 3 drafts of telegrams apparently in the handwriting of W.S. Churchill, describing his capture and giving his impressions of the Boers and the possible length of the war. They were attached to a letter from Dr. J.W.B. Gunning, a member of the Board of Management which administered the officers prisoner-of- war camp in the State Model School, Pretoria, to L. de Souza (also a member of the Board), in which Gunning recommends the censorship of certain words as likely to persuade the Imperial government to send more troops from India and Britain to fight against the Boers. He also accuses Churchill of continued jingoism and says he doesnt trust him. It appears that the telegrams were never sent. This is substantiated by Churchills own account of the armoured train incident in which he was captured, published by The Morning Post on 1 January 1900 and later reprinted in his book. London to Ladysmith via Pretoria was dispatched by him from Durban in late December (see R. Churchill Winston Churchill v.1, p.461). The handwriting of these drafts has been compared with real and facsimile versions of Churchills script and the similarities are so great that it seems certain that they were written by Churchill.