Issued by: The Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
27 JULY 1998
Mr H F Oppenheimer has donated a microfilm copy of a set of proceedings of the Supreme Court case, the State versus Nelson Mandela and Other (Case No. CC 253 of 1964) to the National Archives.
Mr Oppenheimer's purchase of the records from Dr. Percy Yutar (who was the State Prosecutor in the case), for preservation in his private Brenthurst Library, previously received attention in the press, particularly since the National Archives' set of the official records of the proceedings of the trail was incomplete. The acquisition of this microfilm copy, at the request of the National Archivist, will to a large extent, serve to fill the gaps in the National Archives' holdings.
In terms of the previous Archives Act (No 6 of 1962), the official records of the proceedings of the Rivonia Treason Trial would have qualified for transfer to the National Archives from the Office of the Registrar for the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court after a period of 30 years, i.e. at the end of 1994. In 1994, the National Archives took pro-active steps to ensure that the records would be transferred to archival custody. It was then established that only certain volumes of the records could be located at the Supreme Court. These were taken into the custody of the National Archives. After a thorough search, requested by the National Archivist, the Chief Registrar formally certified that no further volumes could be located.
It was then learnt that Dr Yutar was in possession of a set of records. The National Archivist, in 1995, approached him with a request to make copies available for archival custody. Dr Yutar expressed his willingness, but did not fulfil his promise. In may of 1996 it became known that Dr Yutar had in fact sold his set of records to Mr Oppenheimer. The National Archivist, in July 1996, formally approached Mr Oppenheimer with a request for a complete set of copies of the records to be donated for custody at the National Archives.
Besides acquiring the copy of the records in the Brenthurst Library, the National Archives is also pursuing other options to complete its holdings of the proceedings of the Trial. These include the possibility of coming to agreements to obtain copies from incomplete sets of the records in the custody of other institutions, such as the libraries of the Universities of South Africa and the Witwatersrand.
Enquiries: Ms Marie Olivier: Tel.: (012) 323 5300