RECORDS, THE TRUTH COMMISSION, AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION: ACCOUNTABILITY IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

The research on "Records, The Truth Commission, and National Reconciliation: Accountability in Post Apartheid South Africa" was prompted by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SA TRC) was initiated by President Nelson Mandela's post-apartheid government. The aim of the commission was to collect as much information as possible about apartheid transgressions in order to use it for national reconciliation. In order to carry out its mandate the commission established three committees, namely, the Human Rights Violations Committee, the Amnesty Committee and the Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee.In line with its mandate the South African TRC collected millions of records and consigned them to the National Archives for maintenance. The transfer of all truth commission records to the National Archives in Pretoria presented this researcher with an opportunity to investigate the two research questions of this study, namely, "How has the National Archives of South Africa managed the records of its truth commissions," and "What problems and challenges have the South African National Archives experienced in preserving and making its TRC records in all media accessible to the public?"Using a historical case study method to answer both research questions this study found out that the South African National Archives has had little problems in managing the paper and audiovisual records of the truth commission. On the contrary, the South African National Archives has experienced major problems managing its truth commission's electronic records. This brings us to the second research question dealing with problems and challenges faced by the National Archives in preserving and making accessible the SA TRC records. This research found that the National Archives of South Africa is not able to provide full access to the TRC records basically because of six problems discussed in detail in this dissertation. The problems of access to TRC records have long term repercussions for accountability in South Africa. However, the true contribution of TRC records to accountability can only happen once the records have been processed and made available to the people