International Defence and Aid Fund

After learning of those accused of treason for protesting against apartheid, including Nelson Mandela, Collins created the fund in order to pay all legal expenses and look after the families of those on trial.

[3] This was one of the first examples of foreign intervention against apartheid in South Africa and proved very successful with over £75,000 being raised towards defending those accused.

[2] The IDAF had its start with Collins, who first wired funds to help the 156 South Africans facing charges of High Treason.

[6] Ambrose Reeves, the Bishop of Johannesburg, felt that there would be other treason trials in the future and so he asked Collins to set a "more permanent structure to defend political prisoners.

[3] Collins invited delegates from the countries that had branches to come to the Russell Hotel in Bloomsbury and together they officially founded the newly named International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) on 20 June 1964.

[3] Activist Phyllis Altman, who worked with the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), became the general secretary of projects under Programme 1.

[3] In the 1970s, a spy, named Craig Williamson, infiltrated an organization called the International University Exchange Fund (IUEF), which gave money to students leaving repressive regimes.