Series NMAP 2010/9 - Judge Thumba Pillay Collection

NMF_Smuggled_Letter_001.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_002.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_003.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_004.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_005.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_006.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_007.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_008.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_009.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_010.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_011.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_012.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_013.tif NMF_Smuggled_Letter_014.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_001.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_002.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_003.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_004.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_005.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_006.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_007.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_008.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_009.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_010.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_011.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_012.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_013.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_014.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_015.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_016.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_017.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_018.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_019.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_020.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_021.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_022.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_023.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_024.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_025.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_026.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_027.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_028.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_029.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_030.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_031.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_032.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_033.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_034.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_035.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_036.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_037.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_038.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_039.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_040.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_041.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_042.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_043.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_044.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_3_045.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_001.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_002.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_003.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_004.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_005.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_006.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_007.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_008.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_009.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_010.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_011.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_012.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_013.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_014.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_015.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_016.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_017.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_018.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_019.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_020.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_021.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_022.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_023.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_024.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_025.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_026.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_027.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_028.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_029.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_030.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_031.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_032.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_033.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_034.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_035.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_036.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_037.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_038.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_039.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_040.tif Pillay_Box_1_Folder_2_041.tif
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Identity area

Reference code

ZA COM NMAP 2010/9

Title

Judge Thumba Pillay Collection

Date(s)

  • 1959-01-01 - 1979-12-31 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

7 files contained in 2 archival boxes

Context area

Name of creator

(18 July 1918-5 December 2013)

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

(08 August 1929 - 28 March 2017)

Biographical history

Anti-apartheid activist, politician, political prisoner and MP. Leading member of the ANC and of the SACP. Founding member of the Transvaal Indian Volunteer Corps and its successor, the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress. Imprisoned for one month in 1946 for his participation in the SAIC’s Passive Resistance Campaign against the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act. Convicted for his participation in the 1952 Defiance Campaign. Banned in 1954. Co-organiser of the Congress of the People and a member of the Congress Alliance General Purpose Committee. Detained during the 1960 State of Emergency. One of the last twenty-eight accused in the Treason Trial acquitted in 1961. Placed under house arrest in 1962. Arrested at Liliesleaf Farm in July 1963 and charged with sabotage in the Rivonia Trial. Imprisoned on Robben Island, 1964–82, then Pollsmoor Prison until his release on 15 October 1989. MP from 1994, after South Africa’s first democratic elections, and served as political adviser to President Mandela.

Archival history

Judge Thumba Pillay has been politically active since the 1950s and has practiced as an attorney since 1962. He was contacted by Mac Maharaj in 1976/7 who handed him 2 handwritten manuscripts of letters addressed to his firm by Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada. Judge Thumba Pillay donated the two letters to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in 2009 followed by a second donation in 2010 with records related to the subsequent court cases of Mandela vs Minister of Prisons. A memo from Judge Thumba Pillay detailing the events is stored with the accession form.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Judge Thumba Pillay

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This series consists of two letters smuggled out of Robben Island in 1977. Mac Maharaj gave them to Judge Thumba Pillay of legal firm of Pillay Seedat & Co. The letters are written by Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada, both of them wishing to appoint the firm to act on their behalf in legal proceedings against the Department of Prisons. Since the authorities refused contact with their attorneys, they had to use this "illegal" method to seek legal representation. The collection includes an envelope that Judge Pillay had posted addressed to his law firm. He did this in the event that the Security Police questioned him about how he received the letters, he would be able to prove that they were posted anonymously to him.
A second donation of Judge Thumba Pillay contains correspondence and documents (mainly copies) pertaining to the case of Mandela vs Minister of Prisons.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Access by permission of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

Conditions governing reproduction

Copyright held by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

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Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

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Related genres