Statement: R2K welcomes the SCA ruling over the release of apartheid-era secrets!

The Right2Know Campaign welcomes the ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) against the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The SCA on Friday found the decision by the SARB  to refuse access to the records requested by the South African History Archive (SAHA) and Open Secrets  in respect of the late Brigadier Blaauw, Robert Hill and Vito Palazzolo in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) application unlawful and in conflict with the provisions of PAIA. 

In 2016, SAHA and Open Secrets filed court papers seeking a final order compelling the Reserve Bank to grant access to apartheid-era records of financial fraud under PAIA . These records are related to suspected financial corruption that may have occurred during the apartheid era, including fraud through manipulation of the financial rand dual currency, foreign exchange and/or the forging of Eskom bonds. 

Two decades into democracy, we  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 2016 and 2017 R2K National Summits made the call for the release of all apartheid secret records.  

We salute the work of SAHA and Open Secrets in accessing documents that were used for the research of Apartheid, Guns and Money, an important book about the networks of corruption and profit of our apartheid past. The book is authored by Open Secrets co-founder and founding R2K member, Dr Hennie Van Vuuren. 

As R2K, we believe that the democratic government has dismally failed the nation, by firstly covering up the apartheid secrets and secondly,  letting apartheid corruptors go free, and in many cases following in their footsteps. The current crisis of secrecy, corruption and state capture embodied by the ANC government are the results of this failure as it has become embedded in the fabric of our society.  Now is the time for the government to do the right thing. R2K once again demands:

- The full release of the millions of apartheid documents buried in government archives – no more secrets!

- The investigation and prosecution of those implicated in corruption during the  apartheid-era and in the post-1994 period;  starting with those implicated in State Capture!

Statement issued by the Right2Know Campaign, 2 June 2020