South African Political History Archives

Date of tip: 18 April 2011

Source: Jamie Miller jmm97@cam.ac.uk

When choosing to research the Southern African theatre of the Cold War, central to the novelty and attraction of the field was the realisation that historians and political scientists alike have made very limited use of mainstream South African archival sources. In late 2009, an early reviewer of my project wrote, with unbridled scepticism: ‘the project’s feasibility appears to depend entirely on access to archives. How solid is established access?’ Well, quite. This article will outline the terrain that confronts the researcher seeking to work in South Africa. More details on the individual archives can be found in their own articles.

The Lie of the Land

The unnamed critic would have done well to distinguish between de jure and de facto access to the archives. The state records of apartheid South Africa are subject to declassification after only fifteen years, a duration that compares very favourably with similar regulations in other Western countries and might appear astounding to the generations of British historians weaned on the fifty year rule. Moreover, the South African laws mean all records from the apartheid era should now be available, offering an open window on a troubled past. However, the formal availability of the records is in reality critically undermined by the actual practicalities of accessing the given records effectively and – most of all - efficiently.

The first obstacle is expense. South Africa remains a distant destination for most foreign researchers. Airfares from Europe alone will cost at least 450 pounds and often significantly more. Additionally, South Africa continues to possess something of a two-tiered economy, with first-world standards (and prices) for some services, and third-world standards for others. Accordingly, one could easily be forced to spend Western European rates on accommodation for archival research, but then have very little means of getting across town to the actual archives on a very non-Western European public transport system. This is not a recipe for value for money from hard-earned university research grants.

The second obstacle is language. In theory, English and Afrikaans were accorded equal recognition under apartheid. However, by at least the 1970s Afrikaans was for all intents and purposes the lingua franca not only among the political leaders themselves, the vast majority of whom were Afrikaners, but increasingly of the public service as a whole, which had been steadily “Afrikanerised” during the preceding decades of National Party rule. Accordingly, a vast amount of the documents found in the archives today are in Afrikaans rather than English.

Inside the archives, the language encountered varies depending on the type of document. Correspondence between National Party leaders was invariably written in Afrikaans, as were their personal notes and records. Similarly, military records were overwhelmingly written in Afrikaans. On the other hand, there appears to have been no protocol within the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on which language to use. Often, cables sent in one language would be answered in the other, though the preferences of certain desk officers and ambassadors for one or the other language can be detected over time. The language used in DFA documents also depended on the location of the author. Memoranda emanating from Brussels (where one could get by with Flemish-Dutch) were uniformly written in Afrikaans, while those coming from London were usually written in English.

Regardless of topic, there will be a significant amount of Afrikaans in the files and any serious researcher will need a reading knowledge of both English and Afrikaans to do their subject (and themselves) justice. The good news is that Afrikaans is not especially difficult to learn. Grammatically it is similar to northern European languages, but it contains no genders and its verbs do not conjugate. Such attributes make gaining a solid grounding in Afrikaans grammar not impossible within a limited amount of time. Dutch readers will have no problems whatsoever reading Afrikaans fluently.

The obstacles presented to the researcher by cost and language are however easily surmountable in comparison to the third obstacle: the sheer disarray of South Africa’s archives. The new South Africa, for all its progress, is confronted by a host of pressing domestic welfare problems – many bequeathed by apartheid itself. Consequently, very little in the way of public funds, resources, or attention appears to be directed towards the upkeep of South Africa’s archives, a Houghton Library travesty given the rich history of South Africa throughout the last century and beyond. Moreover, good, accessible, comprehensive archives require continual upkeep; trying to remake order out of just a short time of disarray is, as any archivist will relate, exceptionally difficult. The reality is that the history of white South Africa continues to occupy a very peripheral position in the public mindset of forward-looking, ANC-ruled South Africa and the state of the archives serves as a visible metaphor for that.

General Tips

• Email the contacts listed under each archive. All have extensive experience at their archives and working through them will save you a great deal of time, disappointment, and frustration.
• Bring an extension cord. Most of the archives do not have powerpoints near the study desks (which will, in any case, require unique adaptors).
• Be sure to note both the opening hours of the archives and South African public holidays.
• Above all, be patient. No matter how finely honed your archival skills, research in South Africa is demanding. Leave yourself more time than you would normally envisage would be necessary.
• Email me with any further queries at jmm97@cam.ac.uk