Public Disclosure Authorized                  Public Disclosure Authorized                                                           Public Disclosure Authorized   Public Disclosure Authorized




                                                       NUMBER 084
                                                                                             World Bank Group
                                                                                             Nelson Mandela, South Africa, and the



                                                       ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 2013




                               January 2016
The World Bank Group Archives Exhibit Series contains exhibits originally
published on the Archives’ external website beginning in 2002. When the
Archives’ website was transferred to a new platform in 2015, it was decided that
older exhibits would be converted to pdf format and made available as a series
on the World Bank’s external database, Documents & Reports.

These exhibits, authored by World Bank archivists, highlight key events,
personalities, and publications in the history of the World Bank. They also bring
attention to some of the more fascinating archival records contained in the
Archives’ holdings.

To view current exhibits, visit the Exhibits page on the Archives’ website.
Nelson Mandela, South Africa, and the World Bank Group

With Nelson Mandela’s passing on
5 December 2013, South Africa
and the world lost one of its great
political, social, and revolutionary
figures. One facet of Mandela’s
legacy for South Africa was the
role he played in the World Bank’s
reengagement in South African
development. While the Bank
offered substantial assistance to
                                        Bank President Lewis Preston and African National
South Africa during the 1950s and       Congress leader Nelson Mandela in Washington, 5
early 60s, its last loan before 1997       December 1991 (Archives folder #1894243)
was in 1966 (ESCOM Electric
Power Project P037482). When it became apparent in early 1990 that
negotiations between the governing National Party and Mandela’s African
National Congress (ANC) may be imminent, the Bank tentatively began a
program of informal economic and sector studies, and capacity-building. From
the outset, the Bank’s policy was that it would not begin lending to South Africa
until there was sufficient consensus in the country for an expanded role. After
discussions with Bank President Lewis Preston and Africa Region VP Edward
Jaycox between November 1991 and February 1992, Mandela gave the signal
for the Bank to start preparing projects for an interim government, and the Bank’s
program was accelerated. Subsequently, the Bank began diversifying its program
to include: workshops in South Africa on educational policy, land reform, and
small-business promotion; seminars at which South African officials could learn
more about the Bank and how it works; internships for South Africans in the
Bank’s country departments; more intensive and specific papers on key issues;
and the development of quick impact Basic Services Projects that would be
ready if and when the Bank was called upon. New loans to South Africa were not
provided until 1997 (Industrial Competitiveness and Job Creation Project
P048606); however, the groundwork was laid many years earlier.

The World Bank Group Archives’ holdings include an extensive account of the
relationship between the Bank and South Africa during this period. For instance,
the records relating to Preston’s trip to South Africa on 13-15 February 1992 and
his meetings with both Mandela and then-President F. W. de Klerk are contained
in Records of the Office of the President – Records of President Lewis T. Preston
– Travel files (WB IBRD/IDA EXC-12-5778S). Records include: extensive briefing
material; program and schedule; country summary and sector background
reports; biographies of government and ANC officials; articles and maps;
invitations; and a concluding summary of the trip.

                                    Records found in the Africa Regional Office
                                    fonds (WB IBRD/IDA AFR) provide a more
                                    detailed overview of the Bank’s activities in
                                    South Africa in the early 1990s and the renewal
                                    of its relationship with the country’s government
                                    and oppositional officials. Created in the
                                    Country Operations Division (AF6CO) of Africa
                                    Country Department 6 (AF6), these records
                                    relate to: the establishment of the Bank’s
                                    informal work program; proposed South African
                                    missions; aid coordination; the opening of a
                                    Resident Mission; economic and sector study;
A portion of the World Bank Groups  and meetings between Bank and country
 Archives' records related to South officials. Records include: chronological files;
               Africa               speeches (primarily made by South African
                                    officials and representatives); subject files;
internal Bank memoranda; status reports on South Africa; and sector files
specific to South Africa (health, transport and telecommunications, public
investment and lending, mining, etc.). See below for a letter from President Lewis
Preston to Mandela which is found in this fonds.

These records and others related to South Africa’s relationship with the World
Bank and Nelson Mandela’s role in the development of that relationship are
available to researchers through the World Bank Group Archives. Learn about
our records by viewing the descriptions linked above or access our list of Finding
Aids. Then visit our Access to Information page to submit a request. You can
also search our Projects and Operations database to view final reports specific to
South African projects.