| ANC | African National Congress |
| BL | British Library |
| BSAC | British South Africa Company |
| BSAP | British South Africa Police |
| CID | Criminal Investigation Department |
| DHA | Department of Home Affairs |
| ESAP | Economic Structural Adjustment Program |
| ETD | emergency travel document |
| GNU | Government of National Unity |
| IOM | International Organization for Migration |
| MDC | Movement for Democratic Change |
| MK | Umkhonto we Sizwe |
| MP | member of parliament |
| NASA | National Archives of South Africa |
| NAZ | National Archives of Zimbabwe |
| NRC | Native Recruiting Corporation |
| PAC | Pan African Congress |
| RC | registration certificate |
| RENAMO | Resistência Nacional Moçambicana |
| RLB | Rhodesia Labour Bureau |
| RMS | Railway Motor Services |
| RNLA | Rand Native Labour Association |
| SACP | South African Communist Party |
| SADC | Southern African Development Community |
| SADF | South African Defense Forces |
| SAIMR | South African Institute for Medical Research |
| SAMP | Southern Africa Migration Project |
| SANDF | South African National Defense Forces |
| SAPS | South African Police Services |
| SAR | South African Railways |
| SME | small to medium enterprises |
| TEBA | The Employment Bureau of Southern Africa |
| UDI | Unilateral Declaration of Independence |
| WNLA | Witwatersrand Native Labour Association |
| ZANLA | Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army |
| ZANU | Zimbabwe African National Union |
| ZANU-PF | Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front |
| ZAPU | Zimbabwe African People’s Union |
| ZDP | Zimbabwe Dispensation Program |
| ZIPRA | Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army |
