Overcoming the apartheid legacy: the special case of the Freedom Charter

This paper outlines the construction of the ‘‘official’’ archives of the South African apartheid state and the distorted view they contain concerning social and political realities. Therefore, the colonial and apartheid legacies are examined in a broader context as an oppressive social and political system, as well as in the more specific context of how their legacy is reflected in the official archives. The development and popular endorsement of the Freedom Charter of 1955 was a seminal moment of challenge to the increasing oppression of the apartheid state. In later decades, the Freedom Charter became an iconic reference point in the antiapartheid struggle and the inspiration for the construction of a constitutional democracy in the 1990s. The process of its creation stands in stark contrast to the processes of creation of official records and archives. The paper also examines the survival of the Freedom Charter and the struggle to save it from auction in London and secure its safe passage to the National Archives of South Africa. Finally, questions of meaning and ideological significance are asked in relation to the role of a National Archives in the current dominant historical narrative.