Political power and politics: selecting, creating, and preserving liberation movement archives in South Africa
| Date | 23 October 2023 |
| Pages | 148-153 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-05-2023-0019 |
| Published date | 23 October 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Collection building & management |
| Author | Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma |
Political power and politics: selecting,
creating, and preserving liberation
movement archives in South Africa
Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma
Department of Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of the study is to assess the role of political power and politics in selecting, creating and preserving Liberation Movement
archives in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach –A review of literature focusing on liberations archives was carried out.
Findings –Politics and the associated power play an essential role in the selection, creation and preservation of liberation movement archives. The
study found out that the African National Congress (ANC) selected the University of Fort Hare as the center to preserve liberation movements
repatriated from all over the world to South Africa. The National Archives of South Africa did not play a role in t he preservation of liberation
movement archives. The study also noted that there existed an ineffective collaboration between the ANC and the National Archives of South Africa
regarding the preservation of liberation movements archives.
Research limitations/implications –The study focused on the liberation movement archives created by the ANC of South Africa only.
Social implications –The establishment of liberation archives may promote social cohesion.
Originality/value –The liberation movement archives are a part of the history of South Africa and present perspectives on the history of the
liberation of South Africa. This study, which builds on the post-colonial scholarship on liberation movement archives, discussed the significance of
liberation archives.
Keywords Apartheid, African National Congress, Appraisal, Selection, Liberation movements archives
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
The liberation movement archives are a source of interest and
preoccupation in postcolonialAfrica and post-apartheid South
Africa in particular. The notion, liberationmovement archives,
draws on the history and historiography of the struggle for the
emancipation of black people against colonialism and
apartheid, as expounded within post-colonial discourses. The
management of these archives is part of a social and public
discourse designed to advance a political direction (Manetsi,
2017, p. 92) of inclusiveness by recognizing previously
suppressed histories. This implies that power politics and
powers influence the type of archives to be preserved by
National Archives (Bramantya and Prasetyo, 2019, p. 145).
Hence, the article assessed the role of political power and
politics in selecting, creating and preserving liberation
movement archives.
Liberation movement archives are records created and used
by liberation movements, such as the African National
Congress (ANC), Azanian People Organization and Pan
Africanist Congress in South Africa, during the liberation
struggle from colonialism or apartheid in the case of South
Africa. In the context of this study, liberation movement
archives are records with historical and cultural significance
(Linebaugh (2022a,2022b). The archives contain historical
memories, even if they are traumatic memories, which should
be preserved for the future generations. As a result, liberation
movements have resolved to preserveand promote the archives
that document both their fight againstapartheid and ascension
to power. This means that the liberation movement archives
strengthen the histories about the liberation struggle, and
documents the political history of the apartheidperiod and the
liberation movement as well as the immediate post-
independenceyears.
The end of the apartheid in South Africa posed a challenge
regarding the management of liberation movement archives.
The ANC had to deal with the selection and preservation of its
liberation movement archives. Thus, the ANC used the
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to
transform its archives (Josias,2013). The use of the RDP was a
development initiative to lay the foundation for the
transformation of archives in South Africa is also confirmed in
the study by Ngoepe (2019).It should be noted that the archive
management transformation, in the South African context,
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9326.htm
Collection and Curation
42/4 (2023) 148–153
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2514-9326]
[DOI 10.1108/CC-05-2023-0019]
Funding: This study was supported by the National Institute for the
Humanities and Social Science ( NIHSS) https://nihss.ac.za.
Received 24 May 2023
Revised 18 September 2023
Accepted 25 September 2023
148
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