Verne Harris

Verne Harris is an executive consultant at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He was Nelson Mandela’s archivist from 2004 to 2013, directed the Foundation’s archives programme for 15 years, the dialogue and advocacy programme for 5 years, and was acting chief executive in 2023-4. He is an adjunct professor at both the Nelson Mandela University and the University of Cape Town, served in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a former Deputy Director of the National Archives. 

He has authored or co-authored six books, the most recent one being Ghosts of Archive (2021). He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Cordoba (Argentina 2014) and the University of Pretoria (South Africa 2023), held the Follet Chair at Dominican University (Chicago) in 2018-9, received archival publication awards from Australia, Canada and South Africa, and both his novels were short-listed for South Africa’s M-Net Book Prize. 

He was a selection panel member for Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (2017-2022) and has served on the Boards of Archival Science, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, the Freedom of Expression Institute, the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development and the South African History Archive.