Identity area
Reference code
ZA COM RCB-1230
Title
Breakthrough: The Struggles and Secret Talks that Brought Apartheid South Africa to the Negotiating Table
Date(s)
- 2021 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
2x Printed matter, 224 pages
Dimensions: 23.1cm x 15cm
Publishers: Penguin Books
Place of Publication: Cape Town
ISBN 978 1 77609 647 3
Dimensions: 23.1cm x 15cm
Publishers: Penguin Books
Place of Publication: Cape Town
ISBN 978 1 77609 647 3
Context area
Name of creator
(1935 -)
Biographical history
Academic, politician, political and anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner and MP. Leading member of the ANC, SACP and MK. Convicted of sabotage in 1964 and sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment which he served on Robben Island. Helped to secretly transcribe Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and smuggled it out of prison when he was released in 1976. Commanded Operation Vulindlela (Vula), an ANC underground operation to establish an internal underground leadership. Maharaj served on the secretariat of CODESA. Minister of transport, 1994–99. Envoy to President Jacob Zuma.
Name of creator
(22 May 1942-)
Biographical history
Anti-apartheid activist and politician. Worked for the ANC in London from 1975. Head of the ANC research division, 1979–88, based at the Centre for African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique, where, in 1982, he was badly injured when a parcel bomb sent by the apartheid regime exploded in the office, leaving him deaf in one ear and killing his colleague, anti-apartheid activist Ruth First. Minister of posts, telecommunications and broadcasting in Mandela’s government, 1994–96. Minister of environmental affairs and tourism, 1996–99. Minister of arts and culture under President Mbeki, 2004–09.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Purchased by NMF
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Breakthrough sheds new light on the process that led to the formal negotiations. Focusing on the years before 1990, the book reveals the skirmishes that took place away from the public glare, as the principal adversaries engaged in a battle of positions that carved a pathway to the negotiating table. Drawing from material in the prison files of Nelson Mandela, minutes of the meetings of the ANC Constitutional Committee, the NWC and the NEC, notes about the Mells Park talks led by Professor Willie Esterhuyse and Thabo Mbeki, communications between Oliver Tambo and Operation Vula, the Kobie Coetsee Papers, the Broederbond archives and numerous other sources, the authors have pieced together a definitive account of these historic developments. While most accounts of South Africa's transition deal with what happened during the formal negotiations, Breakthrough demonstrates that an account of how the opposing parties reached the negotiating table in the first place is indispensable for an understanding of how South Africa broke free from a spiralling war and began the journey to democracy.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
NMCM: Reading room
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
1 book loaned to Mr Verne Harris.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Tambo, Oliver Reginald (Subject)
- Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla [use] (Subject)
- De Klerk, Frederik Willem (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Nelson Mandela Foundation
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English