The series Annexure A: Various CODESA Records contains transcripts of plenary proceedings, terms of reference for working groups and ephemera from CODESA plenaries.

The series Applications contains correspondence from parties and organisations agreeing to participate, and requesting representation in the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum and  Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Additionally, a body of correspondence containing complaints, submissions, and requests for further information on the process from the parties, organisations and the general public can be found here.  

This series contains the audio recordings of the Negotiating Council. Documents of the Negotiating Council can be found in the series Negotiating Council.

The Negotiating Council, originally the Facilitating Committee, was the representative negotiating body of the Multi-Party Negotiation Process (MPNP) and established the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) to serve as its successor. It was ultimately responsible for the negotiating, drafting, finalising and implementation of the Interim Constitution as endorsed by the MPNP Plenary. 

The series CODESA 1 contains Preparatory Meetings in addition to the plenary documents. 

During the Preparatory Meeting (29 to 30 November 1991), three task groups were created to facilitate planning and creating an agenda and aims under the direction of the Steering Committee. 

During the Plenary (20 and 21 December 1991), five working groups were established, each with their own terms of reference and specific tasks related to the agenda of CODESA. Material created by the working groups can be found in the series CODESA 2.

The series CODESA 2 contains all meetings post CODESA 1 and preparatory to CODESA 2 and the associated plenary documents.

The series Commission on National Symbols contains a small digitised subset of public submissions made to the Commission on National Symbols. Further material is available from the National Archives and Record Service of South Africa.

The Technical Committee on Constitutional Issues on 27 July 1993 recommended to the Negotiations Council that the selection of national symbols be removed from its tasks due the deeply political rather than technical nature. The Negotiating Council agreed and appointed a Commission on National Symbols on 7 September 1993. Commission on National Symbols ran a public submission campaign from which National Symbols were selected.

The series Communications Committee contains the minutes, planning for the attendance of media, and draft codes of conduct for media attending meetings of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process (MPNP) and its bodies. Media statements of committees can be found in the units of description named for that committee.

The Communications Committee was formed on 30 March 1993 by the Negotiations Council and was composed of one representative of each party and organisation sending delegations to the Multi-party Negotiation Forum.

In the lead up to and during the Negotiating Forum on 1 and 2 April 1993, the Communication Committee led interactions with the media on behalf of parties and organisations within the Negotiating Forum. After the Forum, the Communication Committee drafted a code of conduct and was advised to meet on an ad hoc basis as required by the Planning Committee to which it reported.

The series Constitutional Assembly contains materials produced by departments and units of the Constitutional Assembly of the Republic of South Africa between 1994 and 1996. While this series does contain some general documents from the Constitutional Assembly, the majority cover public participation in the constitution writing process.

The material was collected by Edward Shalala during his time as the head of the Constitutional Assembly Community Liaison Department (CLD) with some later additions.

The Constitutional Assembly was tasked with writing a new constitution for a non-racial South Africa within two years of its first sitting. It was the final deciding body of the contents of the new constitutional text.

This series includes audio recordings of Constitutional Assembly meetings, submission, reports, draft constitutional texts, bills and other materials from the structures of the Constitutional Assembly. Many if these materials were prepared by the Constitutional Committee.

The Constitutional Assembly created several structures to assist in fulfilling its mandate, of which the Constitutional Committee was primary. The Constitutional Committee functioned as the primary negotiating and driving body of the Constitutional Assembly. Other structures were outlined and required by the Interim Constitution (Act 200 of 1993: Constitution of the Republic of South Africa).

The Constitutional Assembly determined that the constitution-making process would be an integrated and transparent one. Integration required that the ideas of political parties in the Constitutional Assembly, civil society and the broader public be considered.

Integration was a significant task of the theme committees in receiving and processing public submissions. Transparency was facilitated by requiring all meetings of the Constitutional Assembly and its structures to be open to the public and the media.

Membership for the Constitutional Committee and theme committees were drawn directly from the Constitutional Assembly.

The Constitutional Committee was responsible for creating refined working drafts of the constitution and incorporating amendments adopted by the Constitutional Assembly. The Constitutional Committee acted as both a negotiating forum and a driving body of the Constitutional Assembly.

The series Constitutional Committee contains the working documents of the Constitutional Committee, audio recordings of Constitutional Committee meetings and reports submitted to it from all other structures of the Constitutional Assembly. Drafts bills, amendments, and reports on contentious issues and debates can be found in this series.

As a negotiating body the Constitutional Committee created sub-committees and ad hoc committees to assist in negotiating and drafting. Primary among these was the Constitutional Committee Sub-committee which dealt with substantive issues that the Constitutional Committee was unable to process because of time constraints.

As the driving body of the constitution-making process, it supervised the establishment of the theme committees and related structures such as technical committees, formed the Management Committee, and outlined the work plan for the Constitutional Assembly and its structures.