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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is carrying out an independent assessment of minutes of the State Security Council and the Cabinet during the apartheid era to establish whether there were links between political decisions and gross violations of human rights.

The Commission has been evaluating minutes and other documents in the possession of the National Archives for some time.

The Commission was also given a document arising out of the work of the Investigation Task Board, which deals with similar issues, some weeks ago, and staff members of the Commission had discussions on the matter with Mr Howard Varney yesterday.

The Commission has neither had time to study the document fully, nor has it discussed it. However, as with all submissions made to the Commission by other organisations, we will examine the document carefully and establish how it can help us in our work.

The Commission welcomes such submissions, from whichever organisation they may come, but we will not as a matter of course release details of submissions made by other organisations.

Our own research and investigations, supplemented by submissions made by other organisations on matters such as those raised in the document given to us by Mr Varney, will assist us in our ongoing work and in drawing up the Commission's final report.

Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission

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