Statement: We demand the release of apartheid-era secrets
On Friday, 4 August, R2K Gauteng will picket outside the South Gauteng High Court where a matter between the South African History Archives (SAHA) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will be heard.
In August 2014, SAHA in consultation with Open Secrets using the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) submitted a request to SARB for copies of documents which they believe provide evidence related to economic crimes committed under apartheid.
The Reserve Bank has refused to release these documents, arguing, amongst other things, that releasing the documents threatened confidentiality and posed a risk to South Africa’s economic interests.
The need to release apartheid documents:
Two decades into democracy, we still have yet to see the full release of apartheid era secrets – millions of documents from the apartheid regime are still held by departments across government and have yet to be released to the public. The resolutions of R2K’s National Summits in 2016 and 2017 have both made the call for the release of all apartheid secret records.
As R2K, we believe that the democratic government dismally failed the nation by letting apartheid corruptors go free, and in many cases following in their footsteps. The current crisis of secrecy, corruption and state capture embodied by Zuma and his cabal, are the results of this failure.
- We demand the full release of the millions of apartheid documents buried in government archives – no more secrets!
- We demand investigation and prosecution on apartheid-era and present-day corruption!
The Reserve Bank must demonstrate its constitutionally required commitment to transparency and accountability. We demand a corrupt free nation.
Picket details:
Date: 4 August 2017
Venue: South Gauteng High Court, Pritchard & Kruis St, Joburg
Time: 10AM
