In 1990, after the unbanning of various political organisations, the South African History Archive (SAHA) set up the Oral History Project with Tom Mathole as the co-ordinator.

The first project undertaken was to interview some of those who had been in exile and had returned to South Africa. It was to have focused on the circumstances leading to the exile, their life in exile and their perceptions of South Africa after having returned.

The second part of the project was to have done follow-up interviews one or two years later, to see what they were doing and how they were coping with being back in South Africa.

When the project was conceptualised, it was hoped to cover the wide spectrum of exile experience, of people based in the camps, in Lusaka, in London, in the Soviet bloc countries, in developing countries; of those who left in the 1960s; after 1976 and in the 1980s; and of those who grew up in exile; those who occupied leadership positions and those who were rank and file members.

Unfortunately, the project was never completed as it was undertaken in a climate of change and uncertainty. Due to the fact that the project was never completed some of the interviews stop before the period in exile could be covered. The interview with Soli Modise was included in this project because of his knowledge of Alexandra township, although he never went into exile. All the interviews were conducted by Tom Mathole.