Globalvision (producer of South Africa Now) Physical Archives

Description: The collection consists of ca. 2600 videotapes and selected paper files relating to the production of the television program, South Africa Now. The collection consists of videotapes and a small number of transcripts, log books, and publicity files relating to the television program South Africa Now, produced by Globalvision from 1988 to 1991. South Africa Now was produced in cooperation with The Africa Fund, which served as fiscal sponsor and provided guidance on African political issues. The collection includes a nearly complete run of tapes of the ca. 150 newscasts produced during the three year run of the program as well as ca. 2000 tapes of interviews, short reports, documentaries, stock footage, and other footage used in the program's production. The collection includes visual documentation of the final years of apartheid in South Africa and includes interviews with and other significant footage of anti-apartheid leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Walter Sisulu, Albertina Sisulu, Albie Sachs, Joe Slovo, Thabo Mbeki, Allan Boesak, Oliver Tambo, Beyers Naude, and many others. It also documents the activities of the South African government and its leaders, particularly P.W. Botha and F. W. DeKlerk. Many organizations also receive extensive coverage, such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and the South-West African Peoples Organization (SWAPO). Many editions of the program included the segment "Frontline Focus," which reported the news in the southern African states of Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. South Africa Now produced at least one cultural segment per show. The collection, therefore, contains footage of South African artists, playwrights, musicians, authors, and filmmakers, including Athol Fugard, Hugh Masakela, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mzwakhe Mbuli, Johnny Klegg, Gcina Mhlopher, Peter Magubane, and Nadine Gordimer. Finally, the collection documents the activities of the international anti-apartheid movement that put political and economic pressure on South Africa to end the system of apartheid. Globalvision was co-founded by award-winning journalists Rory O'Connor and Danny Schechter.

Description: The Africa Fund, a non-profit 501(c)3 organizations, was founded in 1966 by the American Committee on Africa (ACOA). The Africa Fund and ACOA shared office space and some staff (including the Executive Director), and there was some overlap between the boards of the two organizations. The Executive Directors were: George M. Houser (1966-1981), Jennifer Davis (1981-2000) and Salih Booker (2000-2001). The Africa Fund worked to support the struggles against colonialism and apartheid in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Namibia, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and South Africa. The Africa Fund provided material assistance to the education and health programs of African liberation movements, including the Mozambique Institute, a FRELIMO-run school in Tanzania. The Africa Fund distributed the money raised by the Sun City album, including sending $220,000 to the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) run by the African National Congress (ANC) in Tanzania; $160,000 to the South African Council of Churches to aid political prisoners and their families; and $119,000 each to TransAfrica and the ACOA for anti-apartheid educational work in the United States. The Fund also provided clothing, medicine, and other support to refugee camps run by liberation movements of South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Western Sahara in Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Algeria. It provided small emergency assistant grants to African refugees in the U.S., and conducted research into U.S. corporate involvement in southern Africa. It published numerous publications that were widely used by other solidarity organizations in the U.S., from short fact sheets to a comprehensive directory of U.S. corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa and illegally occupied Namibia. The Africa Fund sponsored a weekly half hour television news program "South Africa Now" produced by Globalvision from 1988 to 1991. The Africa Fund conducted public education campaigns in the U.S., including the "Unlock Apartheid's Jails" campaign for the release of detainees and political prisoners in South Africa. In the 1990s, The Africa Fund had an active program supporting the struggle against the dictatorship in Nigeria. Following the end of apartheid, the Fund had a program to promote the involvement of state and municipal officials with U.S. policy toward Africa, including campaigning for the cancellation of Africa's debt. In 2001, The Africa Fund, ACOA and the Washington, DC-based Africa Policy Information Center merged to form Africa Action and somewhat later the New York office was closed. Donated by The Africa Fund.