The idea to undertake this project began when Zed Press commissioned Ben Turok as editor for a collection of documents on the above subject as part of a series called ‘The African Liberation Reader’. The scope of the collection of documents was to be determined by its editor, Ben Turok, who had been briefed to collect documents for publication in two volumes.

Such a task required collaborative effort, both in terms of identifying sources/institutions to write to at home and abroad as well as ascertaining if any relevant material already existed locally. In effect, a strategy had to be worked out in order to undertake the project with some measure of success, especially since any cost involved in collecting the documents would not be met by the publisher.