I recently went through my papers to collect my
correspondence with Oliver Tambo in order to send it to archives.
The correspondence was quite extensive. I had met him in 1960 and we became friends. As one who was involved in the freedom movement in India, I felt that any support for a freedom struggle should be in consultation with those who are struggling. I began to write to him at some risk, since I became Principal Secretary of the Special Committee against Apartheid in 1963, detailed letters informing him of what we were doing at the United Nations and what we had in mind, and seeking his guidance. I received replies from him, unless we were due to meet soon or he could convey his views personally through Robert Resha and other colleagues. This lasted until the mid-1970s when the ANC was given observer status in the Special Committee and I could travel more often to Europe and Africa and meet Oliver.
Looking through the correspondence revived many old memories of the problems we encountered in trying to make the United Nations go beyond speeches and resolutions to ensure effective support to the liberation struggle in southern Africa, and especially of the friendship, thoughtfulness, integrity and statesmanship of O.R.
I decided to type a few extracts from the letters and share them with some friends who loved Oliver as I did and who knew the preoccupations of the UN, the liberation movement and the anti-apartheid groups in those days between the Rivonia Trial and the resurgence of the struggle in the 1970s.
E.S. Reddy
New York
August 1995
LETTER FROM LONDON, JANUARY 1964
The Christmas holiday has brought a temporary lull, particularly because of the absence of any significant developments in S.A. Now, however, programmes for the new year have been worked out and are in the process of execution. Reports on activities flowing from these will soon be forthcoming...
Alan Paton is reported to have welcomed the establishment of a group of experts.(1)
Other influential circles have also reacted very favourably to the idea. In part this is out of respect for the UN and the Scandinavians, and an expression of support for any move that has as its target the apartheid policies of the S.A. Government. In part this reflects an attitude of mind towards the South African situation which lacks the sense of urgency which underlies demands for sanctions. People who are sacrificing or are willing to make sacrifices to end apartheid immediately react to the idea of a group of experts by asking: "What exactly are they supposed to do?" This has turned out to be a difficult question... Of course I respect every one of the names so far mentioned, but I do think the UN ought to exercise great care in its use of such terms as "experts" for they necessarily relate to the scale or standard of values which it observes and employs.
The establishment of a UN Relief Fund for S.A. families of apartheid victims has aroused considerable interest here and enquiries are being persistently made as to what progress has been made in the matter, and also what machinery has been set up for administering it.(2)
LETTER FROM LONDON, JANUARY 30, 1964
Many thanks for your notes. I'm delighted to learn you will be coming through here...
I am glad to note your reactions to the team [Group of Experts on South Africa]. I was already in the middle of an article in which I was not being very (merciful?). But I shall now take a softer line.
Instructions have been given for appointments to be made for you as soon as you advise the office of the date of arrival.
Finally, there are many organisations and people who are interested in handling the relief fund. Some are good organisations and I think all are manned by honest people. But not frequently you find people who are driven by ambitions rather than the zeal to serve... Should you have to give any guide as to the machinery, I trust you will bear in mind the necessity of keeping the Fund outside of any area of conflict or rivalry, which would tend to give it a party-political complexion.(3)
My wife has very much improved - Thanks.
Regards to the family.
LETTER FROM LONDON, 14 FEBRUARY 1964
...It was a great privilege for us all to have you in London for a few days, and you helped to place the United Nations resolutions in perspective...
I expect to be leaving for Africa quite soon, but it should be possible for me to keep in close touch with the United Nations.
I hope you had a successful time in Geneva, and I wish you all success with your vast work at the United Nations.
LETTER FROM DAR ES SALAAM, MAY 6, 1964
Many thanks for your letter and for informing me of the impending meeting of the Security Council...
As it is, the probabilities are that I shall not come personally and may have to ask Mr. [Robert] Resha from London to attend. We are short of funds and are rapidly approaching a situation when it will be difficult for us to do the things we feel should be done.
I have received a very nice letter from Mrs. Myrdal and will be writing to her. I have also received a copy of the Experts' report, which is in many respects a happy surprise, considering my apprehensions last year. Of equal surprise is the importance which the sanctions conference(4)
and its deliberations and conclusions assumed, after a small and faulty beginning some time last year. With the interest which the Special Committee has taken in both the sanctions conference and the Experts' report, a powerful case for action by the Security Council can be made out, and would be the weightier if debated while these issues are hot, fresh and topical. On the other hand, however, any proposal for action must be based on events in South Africa. One of these events is the Rivonia Trial. I hope a formula can be found which enables the Security Council, in its discussions and decisions, not only to take into account the Experts' Report, the sanctions conference findings and the report of the Special Committee, but also to accommodate the results of the Rivonia trials and the impending executions of Mini and others.
We are giving this aspect some thought and hope to be able to make a feasible suggestion.
On the question of pressures, my view is that we must press for the kind of action which the situation demands and cast the burden of inaction on the big powers. At this time, with the mood that has been inspired by Mandela's statement, this is a burden they would not find it easy to accept. Let them offer compromises because it is they who are at fault by reason of their involvement. Last year things were made very easy and comfortable for them in the compromise resolutions adopted. This year they should be called upon to indicate where they now stand, since apartheid, especially with the rising numbers of executions and the Bantu Laws Amendment Bill, is mounting an offensive against us and world opinion. Besides, rightly or wrongly, the African States started off with strong demands. It is of course necessary to be realistic, but it would be a mistake to demand less, for if South Africa persists and the big powers in the West continue to resist action, a stepping down on demands could be the beginning of a complete withdrawal, ending in the disbandment of the Afro-Asian forces as far as this issue is concerned.
LETTER FROM DAR ES SALAAM, MAY 18, 1964
We thank you for your letter of 12th May, 1964, wherewith you enclosed a press summary of the meeting of the Special Committee.
We very much appreciate your sending us this summary, and are gratified by the efforts of the Special Committee to direct the attention of the United Nations to the need for immediate action against the policies of apartheid which, given a little more time, will set the world on fire. The threatened execution of the leaders of our people is a pointer to the vital importance of the time factor in the South African situation. We are happy to note that the Special Committee sees this so clearly.
LETTER FROM DAR ES SALAAM, OCTOBER 15, 1964
...We welcome the statement issued by the Special Committee on Apartheid on the case of Mini and others. In our view the Committee discharged a very important duty to all concerned when it warned of the dangerous implications of South Africa's habit of killing our people under the pretext that they have committed a crime. Nothing that the South African Government's Courts do or say can ever alter the fact that the criminals are those who are perpetrating or assisting in the perpetration of the heinous crime known as apartheid. South Africa will surely find some day that it has taken one life too many from those it has learnt to decimate with impunity.
Thanking you and your Committee on behalf of my organisation and people...
LETTER FROM DAR ES SALAAM, FEBRUARY 6, 1965
Many thanks for your letter of Jan. 22, and for the enclosures which are very interesting and most informative.
I have been carefully perusing all the documents you have been sending me and much appreciate your continued assistance.
Give my regards to Mrs. Reddy and the kids, and a most successful New Year, both UN-wise and otherwise.
LETTER FROM DAR ES SALAAM, FEBRUARY 11, 1965
It was a relief to me to note that the element of time did not remove the effect of the [Christmas] card I sent you.
I have been following the events in the General Assembly over the financial crisis. It is to be regretted that important and urgent questions have had to be shelved for lack of a satisfactory formula.
The response to the appeal for relief [for families of political prisoners] is indeed disappointing. The burden placed on emerging countries is a heavy one and I am persuaded to agree with your suggestion to Canon Collins.
The mode of contact which could possibly yield results would be a visit to Sweden. It is difficult to say how soon this could be arranged.(5)
The cost of sending children of prisoners to school would, in the context of the UN budget, be negligible. I should favour their being recommended for scholarship grants by individual Governments or semi-governmental bodies. In the meantime, however, we shall ascertain what is being done about their applications and furnish you with particulars.(6)
I read Amb. Marof's(7)
powerful reply to Muller. I'll get you a copy of the songs.
Your visit to East Africa is long overdue I should think. Let us know when you expect to be here...
LETTER FROM DAR ES SALAAM, JANUARY 17, 1967
NEW YEAR MESSAGE
At the beginning of the New Year, I would like to send cordial seasonal greetings to all friends of our cause, and particularly to our friends in the U.N. Special Committee on Apartheid.
Those of us who are engaged in the struggle for justice and for the destruction of racial oppression in our country are deeply grateful for all the help that is being given, both materially and morally, in our fight against a ruthless tyranny.
At this time of joy, there is much for us to sorrow over in our country, and unhappiness for many persons and families in South Africa who are bearing the brunt of apartheid oppression. But we are also conscious of the generous help which is being given by our friends, to alleviate hardship, to give legal assistance to those being persecuted for their resistance to apartheid, and to enable us to go on fighting in good heart.
For this we are especially grateful to the U.N. Special Committee on Apartheid and all
its devoted workers. The Special Committee on Apartheid has engaged in many worthy
ventures on behalf of the struggling masses of South Africa and I would particularly like
to commend support for the Campaign for the Release of Imprisoned Politicians in South
Africa; this is one project which we can never abandon, and which we must continually be
working on. There can be no letting up until the men who are condemned to spend their
lives in prison because they fought injustice are free: this is the duty which we owe to
them and which we cannot abandon, and so I am especially glad to commend this project to
which Defence and Aid International are now giving a great deal of their support and
attention.(8)
The fight for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free and happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest. And so, at the beginning of a New Year, I greet you all and wish you well and say: Thank you, and forward to the freedom of our country.
LETTER FROM MOROGORO, APRIL 21, 1967
I owe you a thousand apologies for the delay in replying to your letters. I have been plagued by the thought that I deprived you of a Christmas day by writing rather unrestrainedly on a matter which, as I found out from your explanations, I had not all the facts. I hope a brief cable I sent you immediately on receiving your letter sufficiently indicated my full and unreserved acceptance of your explanation...(9)
I would strongly advise you against your taking any precipitate step.(10)
I need hardly say that there is so much at stake in the field in which we are involved that drastic decisions should follow painful, painstaking, and hard assessing and re-assessing of all the facts, and taking that decision only which in the final analysis must serve the ultimate cause. I don't have to say that I hope these things will be sorted out quickly and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
I look forward to three great events:
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, AUGUST 31, 1967
This is a short note to apologise to you for my failure to return to the U.N. Seminar in Kitwe as promised. We had a very short time together on the night I was in Kitwe, and as you may have noticed I was tired and exhausted. I had looked forward to the end of the Seminar when we would have had time to examine a wide variety of problems of planning action for the future under more relaxed conditions.
But perhaps you understand now why I could not stay at the Seminar and why I was unable to come back later.(12)
The situation in Rhodesia seems to be taking a turn for the better from the point of view of those who support and work for the African cause in that country. But as indicated in our many memoranda, and as was borne out by the very subject matter of the Kitwe Seminar, Rhodesia is an indivisible part of Southern Africa, hence the predictable involvement of South Africa in the battles which our Freedom Fighters are waging stubbornly and courageously in the bushes of Matabaleland. Soon the whole area, and I repeat, the WHOLE area of Southern Africa, will be caught up in the crisis. Unfortunately what happened at Wankie was the beginning of a racial war which may escalate into an international conflagration. Certainly for us the alternative to war disappeared when South Africa rejected the solution so ably and effectively advocated by the A.N.C. under the leadership of the now late Chief Lutuli. With his death on July the 21st this year the last hope for South Africa went.
As usual I am hoping to get out of here and go round the world begging for moral and material support for our struggle. But as usual also, I am likely to stay pinned down to the day-to-day problems imposed on us by apartheid, racial discrimination and colonialism in Southern Africa.
I hope you were satisfied with the results of the Seminar and that the decisions taken will form a basis for future action by the U.N. With some luck I might see you this year.
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, AUGUST (?) 1969
Many thanks for your letter of July 3 - quite a long time ago, because I have been away.
About mid-July, when I was preparing to go to Sweden, I learnt from Raymond [Kunene] that the Swedes would not be ready to go ahead with the [Lutuli Memorial] Foundation on the date proposed. I have not heard from either Raymond or Robbie [Resha] since, but I wish to thank you for your ideas in the matter, and, needless to say your sense of involvement. I have been under somewhat heavy pressures lately - and still am. The result has been that it has not been possible to keep pace with all projects and developments. But the clouds should disperse soon, leaving a reasonably clear sky under which to think, work and get things done.
I shall keep you informed of developments on the Foundation project, and I retain the hope of landing in the U.N. corridors later in the year. In this connection, however, I believe I have two leading figures recently come out of S.A. - Dr. W.Z. Conco is already in London and I notice has given evidence in Geneva;(13)
and the other is under a Deportation Order requiring him to leave Swaziland by the end of this month. He is Mr. M.B. Yengwa, a lawyer, who offended the Swaziland Government by giving help to the dependents of jailed victims of apartheid.
Robbie has been having passport problems. I do not know if these have now been resolved. The delay in his getting to the U.S. has been frustrating, like much else that is happening.
Hope to hear from you from time to time, and look forward to the next opportunity for discussion on various questions.
P.S. This letter was drafted about 3 weeks ago when I returned to Zambia. I found it in the files the other day and am sending it on to you only for the purposes of record.(14)
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, AUGUST 20, 1969
I had fleeting talks with Mr. Zoubeidi, whom I was regretfully unable to help as much as I should have liked to. Worse still, I could not personally meet the Sub-Committee. I had to be away on a mission I could not cancel. The ANC delegation which met the Sub-Committee was not of the usual ANC level, all being new in this kind of operation. I must confess I had not had time to study your voluminous correspondence and out-pourings of your very active intellect, and could not - indeed had no time, to brief our group. I handed them the papers to enable them to use them as best they could. I am hoping and expecting Alfred [Nzo] will be prepared in Dar.
Tonight, on arrival from "outer space", I found, and had dinner with, Bensid and Alo.(15)
I came away quite excited over the prospects for the Lutuli Foundation. They will report fully to you, unless I find cause to write to you before they return to New York. I cannot write now because I am waiting to hear from Robbie [Resha] and Raymond [Kunene] who have a report to submit to me on this project. In any case until your brief holiday is over, I do not want to "burden" you - although I suspect you suffer from a feeling of mental "weightlessness" when you do not have a South African problem to solve or an anti-apartheid offensive to mount.
I am at present attending to certain vital things that have to be done, all of which are as difficult as they are urgent; but as soon as I can find adequate breathing space, I shall follow up the many ideas you have, and perhaps Robbie will come armed with these. In the meantime, accept my expressions of very deep appreciation of your work and your infectious devotion and commitment to the liberation struggle in South Africa. Your personal contribution is most remarkable for its quality and quantity. It will not be long, I think, before we evolve a machinery that will maximise its effectiveness.
And now, my brother, let me bring this hurried note to a close with my very best wishes for a restful holiday and, after it, fruitful and rewarding service...
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, JANUARY 25, 1970
This is no more than a note to thank you for your letters and documents, in particular
the "Notes and Documents" series as well as Chief Lutuli's statements.(16)
I can only say you are doing excellent work and to express my profound appreciation of your initiative and that of members of the Unit. Needless to say, the material is both interesting and of immense value for our work.
I have been unwell in the past ten days and still am. This is in part the result of rather strenuous meetings we have been having of our National Executive and Revolutionary Council. But I expect to show sound health soon. Then I shall devote some thinking on what we can and should do to complement and maximise the initiatives that have been forthcoming from the United Nations. As you will surely agree, it is absolutely imperative that we confront apartheid at its base in an effective manner if work done at the international level is in the long run to yield any fruit. This is why I have lately featured so little in international work. Yet I am attracted by the possibilities of some of the United Nations decisions. I seem to feel, reading the resolutions, that something immensely meaningful can be done, and it is to these possibilities that I intend to direct some hard thinking.
When shall I ever see you for exchanges? I suppose not before some Government agrees to give me an air ticket enabling me to visit a few countries and places, which I want to in order to ensure firm support for our immediate plans. It's time racism got it in the neck, is it not?
Sorry I can't write further. I'm beginning to feel the strain. Bye-Bye, now...
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, APRIL 3, 1970
I have an extremely peculiar case to handle and I would like you to give more assistance. Somewhere about 1961 - I should say about the middle of 1961, the Secretary-General received a letter purporting to have been signed by Chief Albert Lutuli in which he was expressing support for apartheid, for Bantu Education and so on. As I recall, the Secretary-General, no doubt stunned by this document, passed the letter to some of the African Representatives, among them, I think, Quaison-Sackey. The letter was suppressed and in the meantime we were contacted about. We naturally declared it a forgery. Later that year Chief Lutuli visited Oslo and I believe he then wrote to the Secretary-General, stating that he had written no such document.
We now want this document or a photostat of it and we want it most urgently. Please do everything you can to trace it, and if you have any news, cable or send an express mail to me at the above address.
I do not have the time to tell you the fantastic and incredible developments that have led to the frantic hunt for this 9-year old document. But you will get the story in time. Meanwhile, please get cracking. Time is against me and I am only just recovering from three weeks of asthma, during which I could not do a stick of work.
I look forward to hearing from you.(17)
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, JULY 10, 1970(18)
...A South African young man, at present teaching in Zambia, wants to study law... I came to meet him personally. It is as a result of the profound impression he has made on me that I am now trying, in turn, to seek advice by way of assisting him towards fulfilment of what turns out to have been a life-long desire and ambition, namely, to serve his people in the field of law...
... Mr. X is not a member of the ANC, or indeed of any South African political organisation, and yet I have been moved to support him fully in his desire and aim. Several cases of non-ANC persons seeking assistance of one kind or another, including the matter of scholarships, have been brought to my attention from time to time, and wherever I could I have readily helped my fellow countrymen, notwithstanding their being members of what we call rival Parties in some instances. But in none of these cases have I discovered such a deep-seated but silent and noiseless commitment to the cause of one's people as I did in the case of Mr. X...
May I conclude by saying that if I had my way, I would spread carefully selected students over a world-wide network of educational institutions, and assign to them courses of study which combine to provide our people with a full spectrum of experts covering every sphere and aspect of the political, economic, social, cultural and military life of a normal State. But then I do not have my way, neither does the ANC. In the meantime, the UN can help - and it does...
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, NOVEMBER 16, 1970
Many thanks for your letter of the 26th and for the enclosed form.
The Unit's publications are very good indeed and we highly appreciate the work being done by the U.N. in this field.
I have made up my mind to prepare a Paper as requested and have selected for my topic, "The Roots of Apartheid and Racism", in which I have regard to 1971 as the International Year of Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. In this connection I enclose a brief outline of the Paper, which serves merely to indicate what I have in mind at the moment...
I notice that there is a fee payable in respect of this Paper. In my financial circumstances this is more than welcome. But I am at a loss to understand why, for the purpose of doing a Paper for the Unit on Apartheid, I have to tell the world that I obtained a Science Degree with a distinction in Mathematics, or give my employment record from month to month and year to year, complete with the name of the Supervisor.(19)
If it is in exchange for this detailed personal information that the fee is paid, or if the payment rests on the condition that I disclose all this information, then, on principle, I would not accept payment; but I will certainly prepare and let you have the Paper for use by the Unit as it deems fit. The U.N., I believe, has all the information about me which, in my view, it reasonably needs for the purposes of identifying the author of the Paper in question.(20)
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, NOVEMBER 11, 1970
In the middle of July I went to the U.K. Before leaving I wrote you a letter, seeking your assistance and advice on behalf of a prospective applicant for a UN scholarship. I have been looking through all the letters I have received from you since. There is no reference to this matter. On the other hand many of my letters from abroad get intercepted by someone and I am constantly finding that letters have been written to me which I have not received. This has in the past happened to one or two letters you wrote me. It is therefore possible that you have written to me. It is also possible of course that something went wrong in the despatch of the letter to you. For that reason I am sending you a copy of the letter, which I have signed to enable you to act on it if the need should arise.
Please do what you can if you have not done so already...(21)
AIRLETTER FROM LUSAKA, NOT DATED, EARLY 1973
Let me thank you for your note which I received on arriving back here from a 5-month "tour" of Europe and Africa.
Alfred will by now have cabled advising that should the Special Committee finally agree or decide to invite us, I shall be available and I look forward to seeing you and numerous old friends and acquaintances...
Finally, when are you going to become my special advisor on UN affairs and draft for me the kind of things...
LETTER FROM ADDIS ABABA, MAY 29, 1973
I can see you've fully recovered from the Oslo flu [pneumonia] and have got plunged into work.
I have been all too mobile since Oslo.(22)
London was no exception. In the next few days, I'll be better able to sort myself out properly, especially in regard to work in Europe. It is clear that is where effort should be concentrated...
In regard to the other place you suggest, we need a discussion. I can foresee problems in the method you have in mind. I hope to drop in on the Geneva meeting on my way to London for a meeting there. This means we should meet in Europe somehow in the course of the next 3 weeks...
Now let me wish you sound health and all success in your work. Look forward to seeing you soon.
LETTER FROM LUSAKA, 5 OCTOBER 1981
Your letter of September 7th, addressed to Comrade Nzo, our Secretary General, was discussed at our Headquarters and a decision taken that I write to you, responding specifically to your proposals for the observance of the 20th Anniversary of M.K. and the 70th Anniversary of the ANC.
May I, at the very outset, place on record our deep appreciation and acknowledgement of yet another act in support of our cause by the U.N. Special Committee against Apartheid in its decision to observe these two historic landmarks in our struggle. This decision has, in our view, opened up new areas of close co-operation between the ANC on the one hand and, on the other, both the Special Committee and the Centre. It is in this context that we consider it necessary to explain our approach to the observance of, in particular, the 70th Anniversary.
For any political organization, especially among the countries of the non-aligned world, the 70th Anniversary is a momentous occasion. In Africa, it is unique. Therefore, in order to give full meaning to the occasion and effectively project its essence, we consider it imperative that commemorative activities by the friends and supporters of our struggle around the world should be co-ordinated by the ANC through its headquarters machinery.
Further, we feel it is essential that, as a specific act of commemoration of the occasion, the ANC should itself publish as much material as possible, broadly covering the period of the past 70 years, bearing upon the present and making projections into the future. Needless to say, our published material will incorporate statements made by ANC and other leaders, such as Seme, Abdurahman, Thema, Lutuli and others.
We face two major problems: First, although we are working on a programme which extends to January 8th, 1983, it is in the course of the period before January 8th 1982 that the foundations for fruitful commemoration must be laid. The time factor, therefore, confronts us with serious problems. Second, we lack the funds necessary for the fulfillment of our programme.
In regard to the time factor, we trust we can rely on your co-operation on such matters as research, translation into the major United Nations languages, and distribution.
On the question of funds, we should like to appeal to the Centre, as well as to the Special Committee, for a special donation to help us finance our 70th Anniversary publications programme.
Our delegation to the Political Prisoners and other meetings in New York has been asked to discuss our proposals and requests with you, and with the Chairman of the Special Committee Against Apartheid, H.E. Ambassador Sule.
With very best wishes
Yours fraternally,
(sd.) O. R. Tambo
President, ANC (SA)
1. The UN Security Council decided in December 1963, on a Nordic initiative, to ask the Secretary-General to establish a small group of experts to examine methods of resolving the situation in South Africa. The Expert Group was set up in January 1964, with Mrs. Alva Myrdal (Sweden) as Chairman and Sir Hugh Foot (United Kingdom) as Rapporteur.
Oliver, who was in New York from October to December 1963, had serious reservations about this move. I agreed to serve as secretary of the Group - in addition to my responsibilities as Principal Secretary of the Special Committee against Apartheid - and kept Oliver informed of its work. Eventually, when the Group reported in April, Oliver expressed full satisfaction.
2. In December 1963, the UN General Assembly invited Governments and organisations to contribute to relief and assistance to families of persons persecuted by the South African Government for opposing apartheid, and requested the Secretary-General to seek ways and means to provide such assistance. It did not, at that time, set up a UN fund for this purpose.
3. Oliver was always firm that assistance should be provided to all political prisoners and their families, irrespective of their affiliations.
4. International Conference on Sanctions against South Africa, London, April 1964
5. The Special Committee sent an appeal to Governments in November 1964 to contribute to Defence and Aid Fund (D&A) and other agencies assisting political prisoners and their families in South Africa and refugees from South Africa. There was no response for two months except for a grant of $5,000 to D&A by India. Canon Collins and I contacted Sweden before the letter from Oliver arrived and, in January 1965, the Swedish Government announced a grant of $100,000 to D&A and $100,000 to World Council of Churches. Substantial contributions from Nordic countries, Netherlands, etc., followed.
6. We were soon able to arrange grants for the education of children of prisoners through the D&A; grants for correspondence courses for prisoners through D&A and NUSAS; and UN scholarships for education of South Africans abroad at university level.
7. Achkar Marof (Guinea), then Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid
8. The International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF), led by the Reverend Canon L. John Collins, set up a World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in South Africa - initiated earlier by the Anti-Apartheid Movement - with Dennis Brutus as Director. The Special Committee, which gave great attention to this matter since 1963, welcomed that Campaign as a means to promote greater public action.
9. This concerned the question of grants to IDAF after it was banned in South Africa in 1966. I explained to Oliver that UN was providing funds to Canon Collins through a new trust he had set up and working out procedures for confidential direct grants to IDAF.
10. As some questions were raised by some Africans concerning my recruitment of two South Africans (supporters of the ANC) to the staff of my office, I wrote to Oliver, and informed the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, that I would offer my resignation from the United Nations if they had any doubt about my honesty and integrity.
11. International Seminar on Apartheid, Racial Discrimination and Colonialism in Southern Africa, organised by the United Nations in Kitwe, Zambia, in July-August 1967
12. Oliver left the Seminar shortly after the opening session, and asked his coleagues to inform me that he could not bid farewell to me because of some urgent work. ANC and ZAPU guerillas move into Rhodesia early in August.
13. Before the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on South Africa of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
14. The letter, undated, was received by me on September 3, 1969.
15. Algerian and Nigerian representatives on the Special Committee.
16. I had published a collection of Chief Lutuli's statements in the "Notes and Documents" series of the United Nations Unit on Apartheid.
17. I could not trace any letter from 1961. But in April or May 1963, a forged letter purportedly from Chief Lutuli was received, opposing sanctions against South Africa. A copy was sent to Oliver and soon after the Secretary-General received a letter from Chief Lutuli. I sent Oliver the particulars.
18. This letter was an enquiry about a United Nations scholarship for a South African to study law. The name is omitted, but extracts are reproduced to show how Oliver used to recommend people from outside the ANC, even those from other organisations, for assistance.
19. I had requested Oliver to prepare a paper for the Unit on Apartheid arranged a fee. He had prepared a paper in 1968, but since then, the United Nations Secretariat had issued new instructions that consultants preparing papers had to fill the detailed form used by applicants for a job in the Secretariat.
20. I then prepared a short biography of Oliver and obtained approval by the Secretariat. But he was unable to prepare the paper because of pressure of work.
21. The reference was to the letter of July 10 which I never received. As soon as this letter was received, I took immediate action.
22. The reference was to the International Conference of Experts for the Support of Victims of Colonialism and Apartheid in Southern Africa, held in Oslo from 9 to 14 April 1973. I had caught pneumonia in Oslo.