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Preserving Memory of African Liberation through access to Heritage Archives

18/03/2022
16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (UNESCO ROSA) and the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) conducted a preliminary survey of nine countries in Southern Africa of existing heritage archives related to the independence movement. The mapping was conducted to identify archives that may need support for preservation or proposed to be inscribed in the Memory of the World (MoW) registries. 

The heritage archives mapping survey contains 12 case studies, which identify unique and irreplaceable archives that need further protection and maintenance for posterity. It identifies some existing heritage archives in the nine countries covered by UNESCO ROSA - Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

UNESCO Memory of the World Programme aims to ensure universal and permanent access to preserve documentary heritage and chart the legacy of the past to the present and future, by maintaining a register of Documentary Heritage of international, regional, and national significance, thus facilitating preservation and access.

The Memory of the World register contains only eight entries in total from four countries in Southern Africa and these are primarily pre-independence or anthropological or court records, although all are of great significance to the region and would not be accessible without the MoW register. The inscribed archives are essential to understanding the recent history of the region, including the trial records of Nelson Mandela in 1963, and records of the execution of Nehanda and Kaguvi by colonial authorities in 1898, in what was then called Southern Rhodesia.

Negotiations for the end of apartheid are registered through the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) documents, but documentary evidence of the resistance that brought about CODESA is not registered. The Dutch East India records are registered, and valuable anthropological records on the San culture are preserved. Some audio-visual material from South Africa is registered as a liberation archive.  

South Africa has played a leading role in preserving and making accessible liberation heritage records in various ways, through online access platforms that are very well presented and accurate references to liberation heritage, through personal collections deposited at universities, foundations, and museums, and through personal leadership foundation and museums, and interactive museums. 

This initiative by UNESCO and SARDC marks a significant contribution to the recent history of Southern Africa and provide the basis and inspiration to preserve and protect the documentary heritage. Identification and preservation of documentary heritage of liberation is urgent so that the valuable archives are not lost but retained for future generations to learn about the struggles of their forefathers. The mapping has been documented in a publication titled:  Preserving Memory of African Liberation through access to Heritage Archives which can be accessed here.

Contact Person

Al Amin Yusuph
Advisor for Communication and Information