Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
October 22, 1998
CONFIDENTIAL ADVISORY NOTE:
The TRC is being flooded with calls from journalists asking for details of the handover of the Commission's Report to President Mandela, as listed in a GCIS news diary recently, and for interviews with Archbishop Desmond Tutu upon his return from the United States. Calls are coming in faster than they can be returned.
Arrangements for the handover are not the exclusive preserve of the TRC. An announcement of the details of the handover will follow early next week.
However, it is important for planning purposes that journalists who wish to cover the hand-over fax details of their names, their affiliations and their job categories as soon as possible to Odile Pearce at Cape Town (021) 23-5205. We need these details tomorrow, at the latest by Monday, to enable us to calculate the number of Reports - and the tonnage - to be shipped to the "lock-up" venue.
With the report running to more than 3,000 pages, in five volumes, the number of copies which can be made available will need to be carefully calculated. Please do not phone with requests for early copies - NO copies will be made available before the day of release.
Note also: - That space constraints will necessitate pooling arrangements and strict access control at the venue; - That Archbishop Tutu's schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday is already full, although he is addressing a Cape Town Press Club lunch on Wednesday before leaving for Pretoria.
Please await a detailed announcement of arrangements early next week.
CONTACTS: Mdu Lembede, 082- 458-8464 John Allen, 082- 452-7859