South African History Archive, Historical archive in Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa

The South African History Archive (SAHA) is an independent archive founded in 1988 by the Mass Democratic Movement to safeguard records of anti-apartheid organisations. Since 2022 it has been based at the University of the Witwatersrand, after a decade at the former Women's Gaol on Constitution Hill. It holds organisational records, photographs and oral history interviews, and runs the Struggle for Justice and Freedom of Information programmes.

The archive was established in 1988 to protect and collect records from organizations facing political pressure and restrictions at that time. It grew from the need to save materials about social movements before they could be lost.

SAHA's name comes from its mandate to document struggles for justice. Its Gay and Lesbian Archives, begun in 1997, became independent in 2007 as Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action, keeping the acronym GALA. The Freedom of Information Programme, set up in 2001 under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, runs workshops teaching people to request state records.

You need to arrange a visit ahead of time by contacting staff directly or reaching out to the Education Library. The archive is located at the Education Library on St Andrews Road within the Wits Education Campus and does not welcome walk-in visits.

SAHA's Freedom of Information Programme, set up in 2001 after the Promotion of Access to Information Act was passed, trains people to file PAIA requests for state and private records. It also advises requesters and publishes guides, using the law itself as an advocacy tool rather than only keeping documents.