Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1985 - 1989 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
223 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Gilbert Marcus is a leading South African advocate. He obtained his degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cambridge. He served at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, and on the Human Rights Committee, amongst others.
His preferred areas of practice include constitutional and administrative law, as well as public regulation, competition, media and telecommunications and human rights law.
Name of creator
Administrative history
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The records came to Historical Papers in various instalments, the bulk of which were donated by Advocate Gilbert Marcus. Trial material was also added by Advocate George Bizos and the legal firm of Cheadle, Thompson and Haysom. The result is the most complete set of records pertaining to the trial available in South Africa.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection contains the records of the court proceedings in the case State vs. P.M. Baleka and Others, commonly referred to as the Delmas Treason Trial.
The records include the charge, indictment, applications for discharge, bail applications, admissions, evidence and argument, exhibits, judgment, pronouncement of sentence and the appeal. They jfurther contain material relating to the dismissal of the assessor and important items collected by the Defence such as indexes to the trial, trial summaries, statements, affidavits and memoranda. Notes, statements and memoranda by the accused, particularly Popo Molefe, are also included.
The records are a rich source for those researching state repression and opposition politics in the 1980's. They are of considerable interest to lawyers, historians, sociologists and political scientists. There is much about opposition to the tri-cameral parliament, the United Democratic Front, the Vaal Triangle, Azanian People's Organisation, civic associations, the Freedom Charter, the African National Congress, education, Inkatha and the South African Council of Churches.
Michele Pickover, January 1993.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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Finding aids
There is a printed inventory No.21.
Allied materials area
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Notes area
Note
Alternate title: State vs P.M Baleka and 21 Others
Note
A generous grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies funded the digitisation of court records - Sections I, K, L (July 2009)
The digitisation of the Evidence - Section J - was made possible by a generous grant from Carnegie Corporation (September 2012)
Sections A-H and S have not been digitised yet.
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Archivist's note
Compiled by Michele Pickover, 1992