Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The SA History Archive Trust (Saha) is set to battle it out in court with the minister of defence over access to certain information contained in apartheid-era SA Defence Force (SADF) military intelligence files relating to ties between South Africa and various foreign governments.

Saha accused the SANDF of masking the bulk of information and refusing to hand it over to them.

The minister said the files were back in Zimbabwe “where they belong” and that this was done “to prevent embarrassment to South Africa”.

Saha, however, is determined to obtain a Pretoria high court order to force the government to hand over the documents.

If they had been sent to Zimbabwe, they should be returned. Saha also wants the court to order that the department declare the names and positions of the officials responsible for sending the documents to Zimbabwe so that it can take legal action against them.

Piers Pigou, Saha’s director, said in papers filed before court that the archive was dedicated to recapturing the country’s lost and neglected history and recording history in the making.

More than four years ago Dr John Seiler, a former professor of international studies who has since died, applied for access to certain documents from the department in terms of the provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

The defence department eventually informed Saha that eight of the 22 files requested had been declassified and the rest had to be masked. Pigou said they were told that some of the records were protected and not available for release. The records protected were described as box 260, volume 1-4, American Ambassadors 1966-1977.

Pigou said that two months later the department wrote to them stating that the archive was no longer the custodian of some of the documents pertaining to military information, as these had been “transferred to the country of origin” – Zimbabwe.

He said the department did not give any explanation for not providing the remainder of the documents requested.

Pigou said the grounds for refusing access to the protected records were that the disclosure “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of an individual”.

It was also stated that the records contained information relating to military tactics in preparation for hostilities.

Saha expressed its concern that the records were transferred, despite the request to hand them over before the transfer. The trust also objected that no copies of the documents had been retained.

Pigou said access to information was central to meaningful participation in the democratic process. He also stated that he had reason to believe the documents were not transferred to Zimbabwe, as authorities there claimed they had not received any documents from South Africa.

But Siviwe Njikela, of the SANDF’s legal services, stated that the documents were in Zimbabwe because they belonged to that country.

He said the files were official Rhodesian security force records from 1964 to 1979. They had been obtained unofficially by the SADF’s military intelligence division in 1980 and kept in the archives for safekeeping.

“At the time the provenance of the Rhodesian files was not realised … The issue was discussed and all the relevant aspects, including security, were considered. It was decided to return them to Zimbabwe to prevent embarrassment to South Africa should their provenance become known,” he said.

Njikela said no court can order the SANDF to have them returned from Zimbabwe.

It is believed that the application will be heard early next year.